Pre-Trip Report: Our Last Trip to Disney…for a Really Long Time - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
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Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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Trip Report AND Pre-Trip Report: Our Last Trip to Disney…for a Really Long Time
Our Last Trip to Disney…for a Really Long Time A Pre-Trip Report
June 18-26, 2009 Cast Members: Me (Michele) Chris (my husband) and Peter (our 9 year old son) Destination: WDW!! We will stay 4 nights at the Marriott Grande Vista and 4 nights at BWV About the Title: This trip to WDW will be our third. The previous trips were in 2005 and 2006. I don’t want to paint Chris as a villain, because he is an amazing husband and father. However, he agreed to this trip under the condition that it is our last for several years. Don’t get me wrong, he likes Disney. He just doesn’t love it the way Peter and I do. So we’ll hike the Grand Canyon in 2010, climb mountains in Yosemite in 2011, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll return to WDW in the future. At any rate, I want this trip to be amazing and unforgettable, and I want to take lots of great pictures, so I can preserve our memories in a digital scrapbook. About Us: We live in Ohio, where DH is a college professor and I’m a teacher. We’re both musicians, and we do a lot of fund raising and volunteer work for the March of Dimes. This began in 2003, after we lost our second son, Ben, to complications of his premature birth. We were blessed to have Ben in our lives for a year and a half. WDW is such a magical place, and when we’re there, I like to imagine that Ben is with us. Our Trip: On June 18 we will drive from Ohio to the Marriott Grande Vista. We are staying there for a ridiculously low price in exchange for our souls. No, not really! We just have to attend a 90 minute time share presentation. It looks like a nice place. I know the time share salespeople drive a hard bargain, but we can take it.
On June21, we will move to BWV, where we have rented points for 4 nights in a villa with a Boardwalk View!! I’m very excited about this part of the trip! I dream of one day being a DVC member, so for 4 nights I’ll get to pretend. We’ve never rented points in the past, but I’m feeling strangely comfortable with the arrangement. Our Plans:So far, our plans are pretty loose. We hope to hit a Star Wars Weekend at DHS, there are a few attractions we don’t want to miss (Toy Story Mania, Soarin’, ToT, Star Tours, EE) and we are hoping to get ADR’s for some places we’ve never been. Peter LOVES water parks, so this will be the first time we’ve sprung for the Water Park Fun and More ticket option. What Will We Celebrate? Our 20th wedding anniversary is in August, so our big splurge will (hopefully – who knows with the ADR situation!) be dinner at the California Grill, just before the fireworks begin at MK. Other than that, we are celebrating life, celebrating family, and celebrating just being together. ADR’s: In addition to the California Grill, we hope to dine at Sci-Fi, Le Cellier, Boma, Crystal Palace, and maybe Chef Mickey’s or Les Chefs de France (something with Chef in the name, anyway!) All of these restaurants are new to us. Spoodles is an old favorite, so we may eat there as well.
Stay tuned for exciting updates, as I try to select the best parks to visit each day, and comtemplate purchasing the services of Tour Guide Mike.
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What great plans you've got! And by the way, you have some awesome vacations in store for 2010 and 2011 - we're hoping to visit Yellowstone in 2011 as well, but no hiking for us there. :
Pre-Trip Report: Our Last Trip to Disney…for a Really Long Time - Updated 01/07/09
My First Update:
First let me say that I am surprised and pleased that people have actually read this thing! Thanks for all of your comments and encouragement. Changes:
Only two small changes have occurred since I wrote the initial pre-trip report. 1. We had hoped that our June 18-26 trip would coincide with a Star Wars Weekend. It would have been our first, and both Chris and Peter are huge Star Wars fans. Sadly, the dates have been announced, and we'll be there 4 days too late. On the up-side, we no longer have to arrange our days around being at DHS on Saturday and Sunday. 2. I may be able to squeeze an extra half-day out of this trip! Typically, Chris is a drive-straight-through type of traveler. Though Ohio to Orlando is a fairly long journey, we do it in one day. However, Chris' uncle and aunt have a lovely home in South Carolina, about 8 hours from WDW. They have invited us to stay the night with them on our way home. So why not spend half of our departure day at a park or water park, and then leave WDW around noon? As it is, we won't be able to use all of our Water Park Fun + More visits, so I think this is a great solution!!
I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
About This Page: 
in the name, anyway!) All of these restaurants are new to us. Spoodles is an old favorite, so we may eat there as well. 
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Pixie Dust
Melanie
![[SIGPIC]](signaturepics/sigpic18031_16.gif)
You plans sound great!
PassPorter Guide Author
And by the way, you have some awesome vacations in store for 2010 and 2011 - we're hoping to visit Yellowstone in 2011 as well, but no hiking for us there. 
:
On the up-side, we no longer have to arrange our days around being at DHS on Saturday and Sunday. 
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