A Random Excited Eeeeek! AKL September Pre-Trip Report

[NLD]

Welcome! to these incohesive ramblings... ummm... top-notch, Pulitzer-prize winning writings, otherwise known as a pre-trip report!

The Basics

What: An adults-only, girls-only Disney World trip
Who: Two sisters, Kelly (age 27) and Nicole (age 31) <--That's me!
When: September 18-24, 2010
Where: Animal Kingdom Lodge
Why: Well, let's save the "why" for later.... (Ooooh, suspense!)

So come on, grab yourself a cup of coffee, and settle in for a spell-binding tale of ADRs, park hours, philosophical ponderings ("To parkhop or not to parkhop, that is the question"), random excited squeals, and spreadsheets complete with calculus equations ... we're planning a trip to Disney World!


Table of Contents

Chapter One: Sister Dynamics
Chapter Two: On Sunshine
Chapter Three: And This Is What We Said
Chapter Four: No Matter How Your Heart Is Grieving, If You Keep On Believing...
Chapter Five: ...The Dream That You Wish Will Come True

 

[NLD]

Sister Dynamics

Kelly and I are four years apart in age. We are each others' only siblings. We have always loved each other. But the degree of closeness in our relationship waxes and wanes over the years, simply because our lives always tend to be in different places.

These days I'm married with a kid of my own. Kelly's single and lives with Mom and Dad.

We're only a half-hour apart geographically... so we do see each other fairly often. However, it is usually with other family members in tow--and that would include my darling daughter.

 

[NLD]

On Sunshine

Now: Sunshine is, well, my sunshine. She is an absolute joy, and I love, love, love being a mom.

And Kelly is the PERFECT aunt. (Seriously you all should be jealous. Perfect.) She has always adored kids, and kids have always adored Kelly. She is still a kid at heart herself, and can happily play for hours with just about any child, but especially Sunshine. So she also loves Sunshine to pieces.

This being said... any moms reading know how it is with a little one. The opportunities for adult conversation become limited.

So late last fall, Kelly and I started talking....

 

[NLD]

And This Is What We Said:

Wouldn't it be nice to take a vacation together? To reconnect... do some sisterly bonding?

The original plan was to jet off together this past February. But <insert long story about life getting in the way> ... that didn't happen.

So our sister vacation got shelved. We weren't sure whether permanently or temporarily (they were some pretty serious life happenings)--all we knew was definitely not February.

But prior to shelving the February vacation, we had settled on a location. And that location was...





(drum roll)....






Six Flags!



...Oh, sorry, I mean....


Walt Disney World!

(Just seeing if you're paying attention! )


The HAPPIEST place on earth.

 

[NLD]

No Matter How Your Heart Is Grieving, If You Keep On Believing...

So the February trip never materialized.

But now we both had a vision in our heads of the two of us lying around a pool in Florida sipping icy drinks, talking, leisurely looking at our watches and saying "Hey, wanna go to Magic Kingdom tonight?" (Okay, so neither of us wears a watch, but anyway.)

And I am happy to say that slowly, over the winter months, the storms of my life calmed and a rainbow began to smile through the storms...

 

[NLD]

...The Dream that You Wish Will Come True

...And slowly, over this past spring, life improved.

Then, two weeks ago, Sunshine and I were at my parents' house.

And we were having a blast. Kel was teaching us some silly game involving rhythmic cups (don't ask); and we had just visited with old friends from our childhood, when we lived in Southern California (and the childhood memories include Disneyland as well as growing up together).

So I got wistful about the desire to spend more time with my little sis, and well... I came home that night, hopped on the Internet (hop, hop, hop!), and started pricing out Disney for September.

Within hours I'd found several decent packages.

Within days Kelly and I found mutually agreeable dates.

And within a week we'd booked a package.

And so now... it's real! Our deposit is paid with the balance due August 4th. We booked six nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge with seven-day park tickets.

We are going to Disney!