Skip this if you don't want details of why...
We have been to WDW 10-12 times and only 3 of those with kids. It's just hard to get "that feeling" anywhere else. Or, at least, it used to be. Last October we took our 10 year old gd, our 38 yr old son and his wife, and our 30 year old son and it seemed like one problem after another. We lucked into a pin code for free dining and booked an All Star resort to relieve some expense for the kids. The best thing about the trip was how well the Magic Bands worked, the worst was the crowd level at a time when we thought it would be pretty relaxed based on prior experience of that particular week.
Additional stress came from a "potential cancer" lab results that my husband found out about a few days before departure and me being in a wheelchair due to a really badly sprained ankle. It was our first time on the dining plan and we hit a few hiccups that I won't go into detail about, but it was enough to bring me to tears a few times. Then younger son got sick in the middle of the trip but hid it from us. After he got home he was still having some bleeding and found out he had both a hiatal hernia that Mission Space triggered...then in testing for that found out he had renal carcinoma and had to have a kidney removed. (He is fine now, by the way).
And that lab test of DH...turns out to be cancer that needed surgery. We did a "rush back" trip to WDW in February to try to recapture the magic we had missed and spend 4 days on club level at the Yacht Club and of that only 2 days in the parks. I was constantly astounded at the still outrageous crowd levels...multiple South American tour groups everywhere we went. It was a good trip, but still not the magic we had hoped for.
The surgery went well and the recovery slow, and all he can think about is trying one more time to capture the magic (3rd time the charm?). Our best trips have been during the Christmas season and we really, really love the music and decorations. Since we have 4 days in town and 3 days left on our non-expiring park hoppers, we thought we would also go to the dark side and visit the new Harry Potter attractions and other rides we haven't done in the past 10 years.
Unfortunately, the week we chose is the week before free dining but we locked into that week and decided we'll either pay from a dining package or just splurge out of pocket. I let dh choose the restaurants and he picked Kona Cafe, Raglan Road, Cape May Buffet, and Mama Melrose. Our main objective is not to commando rides like we do with the 10 year old, but relax and enjoy. I want another shot at Remember the Magic since it bombed out due to "technical difficulty" last February right as I was getting a good cry on.
And I missed the Haunted Mansion on the previous two trips so that's a definite FP, and I'm hoping to ride the Seven Dwarves just because it's new.
Our friends think we are crazy for not choosing somewhere like Vegas or Antigua. We thought about it, but we just had to give WDW one more shot and hope our faith is renewed. And it gives me even more reason to read DisBoards every day!
We have been to WDW 10-12 times and only 3 of those with kids. It's just hard to get "that feeling" anywhere else. Or, at least, it used to be. Last October we took our 10 year old gd, our 38 yr old son and his wife, and our 30 year old son and it seemed like one problem after another. We lucked into a pin code for free dining and booked an All Star resort to relieve some expense for the kids. The best thing about the trip was how well the Magic Bands worked, the worst was the crowd level at a time when we thought it would be pretty relaxed based on prior experience of that particular week.
Additional stress came from a "potential cancer" lab results that my husband found out about a few days before departure and me being in a wheelchair due to a really badly sprained ankle. It was our first time on the dining plan and we hit a few hiccups that I won't go into detail about, but it was enough to bring me to tears a few times. Then younger son got sick in the middle of the trip but hid it from us. After he got home he was still having some bleeding and found out he had both a hiatal hernia that Mission Space triggered...then in testing for that found out he had renal carcinoma and had to have a kidney removed. (He is fine now, by the way).
And that lab test of DH...turns out to be cancer that needed surgery. We did a "rush back" trip to WDW in February to try to recapture the magic we had missed and spend 4 days on club level at the Yacht Club and of that only 2 days in the parks. I was constantly astounded at the still outrageous crowd levels...multiple South American tour groups everywhere we went. It was a good trip, but still not the magic we had hoped for.
The surgery went well and the recovery slow, and all he can think about is trying one more time to capture the magic (3rd time the charm?). Our best trips have been during the Christmas season and we really, really love the music and decorations. Since we have 4 days in town and 3 days left on our non-expiring park hoppers, we thought we would also go to the dark side and visit the new Harry Potter attractions and other rides we haven't done in the past 10 years.
Unfortunately, the week we chose is the week before free dining but we locked into that week and decided we'll either pay from a dining package or just splurge out of pocket. I let dh choose the restaurants and he picked Kona Cafe, Raglan Road, Cape May Buffet, and Mama Melrose. Our main objective is not to commando rides like we do with the 10 year old, but relax and enjoy. I want another shot at Remember the Magic since it bombed out due to "technical difficulty" last February right as I was getting a good cry on.
And I missed the Haunted Mansion on the previous two trips so that's a definite FP, and I'm hoping to ride the Seven Dwarves just because it's new.
Our friends think we are crazy for not choosing somewhere like Vegas or Antigua. We thought about it, but we just had to give WDW one more shot and hope our faith is renewed. And it gives me even more reason to read DisBoards every day!
