A Brief History of Everything
Well, everything that matters. I do believe that to know where you’re going,
you have to know where you’ve been. So a quick recap of our
Disney/Universal/SeaWorld/etc adventures. It will definitely influence this trip,
and it just seems like fun to write it all out 
Childhood (80’s and 90’s) I grew up mostly in Tennessee, and took lots of trips to Orlando. Usually spontaneous. Like,
hey let’s go to Disney World next week! (And by “
Disney World”, my parents really meant
Orlando, including
Universal, Sea World, etc. They still have a hard time differentiating between them. We would bounce back and forth between them throughout the week.)
We would drive down, not even bothering to find a hotel until we were there. Nothing was planned or researched. We just showed up when we felt like it, and bought our tickets at the gate. We didn’t talk about which park we were going to until we got up that day.
And I didn’t even know that TS restaurants existed, lol! I realize now that we did miss out on a lot by doing it this way, but I also have a lot of good memories from those trips, so it’s okay. (But, no pictures, sadly. Probably buried in boxes in my parents storage unit, lol!)
In
college, DH and I made several short trips as well, similar in nature to my childhood ones. Both
Disney and
Universal. Sometimes my parents came along, sometimes it was just to two of us.
Our planning was so poor, that one time we showed up at the parking booths only to realize we had no money. Wasted an hour trying to find an ATM, ended up in the middle of some chaos at
ASSp looking for one, and to this day
DH still refuses to ever set foot in a value resort again! The kids and I have snuck in a few trips without him though, they really aren’t that bad.
Very few pictures of these trips exist unfortunately, since I didn't own a camera in college. But that may be a good thing, lol!
Universal / IoA - March 2001 DH had recently started his first career job, and I was finishing up my senior year (at Georgia Tech, in Atlanta. We had gotten married the year before) One Saturday afternoon, we happened to catch a
Travel Channel show about the new park that had just opened at
Universal - Islands of Adventure. It was the first we had heard of it, and sat intrigued while they talked about all the cutting edge technology they had used.
We were mesmerized. I think we went online that very night and booked our trip, lol!
It was the first trip that we actually did any planning and research for. Of course, still nothing to the extent that I do now,
but it was revolutionary for me at the time. It opened my eyes to how much more you can do when you put a little effort into your plans, and I would carry that with me for all future vacations.
We invited my parents along (they live in FL) and my sister came as well. We packed all 5 of us into a tiny little cabin at the KOA, lol!
My parents were not amused, but it fit the budget at the time.
Overall, it was a great trip. We were amazed at the theming of
IoA, and really enjoyed the new coasters as well as
Jurassic Park. though we were bummed that we couldn’t go on
Pteranodon Flyers, since we did have a kid with us, lol! And DH was especially fond of
Seuss Landing, having been a Dr. Seuss fan since he was a kid.
And that was the last time I went to
Universal. Actually, after this trip,
we entered a theme park void for the next 7 years.
I guess we were just busy. Starting our careers, having a baby, moving across the country, buying a house, etc. We did take some other vacations, including
Yellowstone, Hawaii, and Mexico. But for whatever reason,
Orlando had fallen off our radar.
Disney World - June 2008 This was THE Disney trip.
The trip of a lifetime. DD’s first Disney experience, and we wanted to give her what we felt we had never really had as a kid - a true
“Disney Vacation”. So we did it up right. 9 days at POLY.
And just about every character meal on property, lol! She was in princess heaven, and we had an amazing time. It was a
magical week, one that I would spend the next few years trying desperately to repeat,
to no avail. But it re-awakened my love for Disney, and I was now
obsessed.
Disney World & Sea World - December 2008 Desperately missing our vacation from summer, we spent a couple of days here with my parents, sister, and my brother’s family when we came to visit them at Christmas. Wasn’t the same for sure, but we did have a LOT of fun.
Disney World- June 2010 This was supposed to be my magical repeat of 2008. But, we had decided to bring all my IL’s. (9 of us total)
And I was 6 months pregnant. (Hadn’t expected that to be the case when we booked the trip a year earlier!) Long story short, there were challenges.
Both IL and preggo related. Didn’t really love CBR.
And it wasn’t the magical week I had hoped for. But, we did enjoy it, and the cousins had a lot of fun together.
My FIL passed away unexpectedly less than two years later, so we definitely don’t regret having those memories with him.
Disney World - March 2012 Quick, non-parks trip with my parents at
ASMo. I was missing Disney something fierce, and this quelled the urge a little. DH wasn’t with us and made us promise "no parks" without him,
but we did just about everything else! I was surprised at how much I liked ASMo.
Legoland - December 2012 My brother & his family, as well as my dad, joined us for a quick visit, as part of the kid’s Christmas present. I wish we had more time here, it really is a fun park with a lot of unique stuff. I’m determined to get back sometime soon, now that Owen would be able to do more.
Disney World - April 2013 Owen’s first “real” Disney vacation, 9 days at YC. I was hoping that finally,
I could repeat that special 1st visit magic. But, this was the trip of the
Plan Fail. It was the
best, most
perfected, and most
obsessed-
over plan I had ever made.
And it completely fell apart by day 3. But, it was okay. We regrouped, re-prioritized, and still had a lot of fun. I learned a lot on this trip. A lot about vacations, about our family, about life in general. And finally, I think I realized that our trip in 2008 was special.
And that it deserved to be. And was finally okay with never repeating it.
Disney World - March 2014 A
mixed bag sort of trip. When we
weren’t busy dealing with temper tantrums, a sick boy, tickets that wouldn’t work, etc, we actually
fell in love with
AKL, and spent a couple of nice days at
AK and
Epcot, as well as
Kennedy Space Center. DH could only stay a few days, then my parents joined us for the rest of the week at
AoA.
(Mental note - never transition to a value FROM a deluxe, lol!) This was the beginning of a new era for us- more frequent but shorter trips. I was finally willing to be more “casual” about our Disney-ing,
now that I wasn’t trying to recreate our first trip.
Busch Gardens, Williamsburg -July 2014 I only mention this because the theming reminded me so much of Disney and Universal. I had totally underestimated it, assuming it was just a typical "amusement park". Now I really want to get to the one in FL sometime!
Disney World - October 2014 A very quick trip, just for
MNSSHP. My parents came, and brought my niece and nephew along.
There was drama from the kids (the cousins had a falling-out almost immediately, and Owen was afraid of all the rides), but an overall enjoyable evening,
once the dust settled. And I liked
POR more than I thought I would.
Disney World - December 2014 Probably my
second favorite trip of all (after 2008) Another short trip, but man we packed in a
LOT. Including an epic, 18-hr day at MK.
And the best character meal ever at 1900PF, while DD was obsessed with the Mad Hatter. The boys also spent a morning at
Epcot, while us girls got pampered at
GF. We stayed at WL - the location was great, but I still liked the theming of AKL better.
Nickelodeon - May 2015 Okay, random, but I had to add it because it was
so much fun. Just a quick visit with my parents for Owen to meet the
Ninja Turtles at their pizza dinner. The hotel rooms leave a little to be desired, but the character interaction was far better than anything Disney does.
We had a couple of other trips planned in 2015 (one of which was THIS Universal trip, more about that later) but both got nixed because of various scheduling issues.
Disneyland - February 2016 We had originally planned to go back to
WDW, and maybe
Universal too, in March. But, DD joined a water polo team, and they had a tournament in California, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the
west-coast Disney. It meant giving up our spring break plans, but I was glad we got the chance to see
DL and
DCA. Not quite the immersive experience that WDW is, but they have some unique attractions.
And that brings us to now! If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all these trips,
it’s to be careful about expectations. When I get it in my head that a trip is going to “be” a certain way, I am setting myself up for failure.
The magic always happens during the things I didn’t expect. And I have to be open to those moments, not distracted by trying to create different ones. So, while I want to know enough, and have enough of a plan, to make sure we don’t miss out,
I don’t want to feel like I’ve lived the whole trip in my head before it actually happens. It’s a fine line to walk, lol!
