I can't believe it took me 6 months to write this trip report.
What a journey it was, a bittersweet adventure. When I got home, I think I did a Disney detox for about a month. No more Disney songs, movies, or even a MENTION of Disney...it made me too sad and disappointed. When people asked how the honeymoon was, I told them, "Well, DH got to watch a lot of cartoons on the resort TV." Which is entirely true. When I would be in bed sick, he would go to the lobby of AKL and watch cartoons with the little kids, until he discovered we could get them on the TV in our room. The same 6 cartoons. Over and over. But DH didn't care...he was delighted that Disney provided this service....until he thought, "Wait a minute...why do they not CHANGE the cartoons?" The same 6 cartoons in a loop played 24 hours a day. I told him I didn't know, and that he should write a letter to Disney and tell them his opinion.
DH brought this up about a month after we came home, and I told him the same thing: write a letter to Disney. Make your voice heard!
And DH said, "You know what?"
"What?" I said, half-heartedly.
"I miss Disney World."
"You do? Why?"
DH shrugged. "It was fun. Our trip was fun."
Umm, was he talking about the same trip?
"Maybe for you it was," I said sadly. "For me, it was a nightmare."
DH looked at me. "Oh come on," he said. "It wasn't THAT bad."
I shook my head and didn't reply. I had nothing more to say on the subject. How sad for the little Disney-obsessed girl, to be so bitter about something she once loved!
But as the weeks and months passed, it started small. It started with DH playing with his ringtones on his phone, and saying, "Hey, doesn't this one sound like the music they play in the Space Mountain line?"
And sure enough, it did. "How do you remember what the Space Mountain line music sounded like?" I asked.
DH shrugged. "I liked Space Mountain."
And the funny thing was, any time DH was asked how HE enjoyed the honeymoon, his reply was the same, "Oh, it was great! The food was AWESOME! Best food I've had in my life!"
And the Cynical-People-Who-Think-They're-Big-and-Tough-Realists would say, "But wasn't it, like, a kid place?"
At these times, I would hold my breath. Because I expected DH to agree and say, "Yeah...that was the bad thing." But no. He said, "Sure, but it's a heck of a lot of fun! You don't really even notice."
Something had happened. Some Freaky Friday switcheroonie. Because now I was the negative, "let's not bring up Disney again" person, and DH had taken my place. Now when people asked, "So would you recommend it?" DH wholeheartedly replied, "Yes!"
How...What...Huh?
And it came in stronger waves, too. As winter was ending, DH got me to start actually reminiscing about our trip. "Remember when we watched Wishes the first time?" he would say. "That was a great show." And then, "You remember being at the Grand Floridian, walking on the beach?" And endless, ENDLESS talk of Le Cellier's famous filet mignon. I can't tell you how many times that boy could turn a conversation into talking about that piece of meat.
Then, one day, I asked, "So what are we going to do for anniversary in June? Are we going to go somewhere?"
"Sure," DH said. "Where does SkyBus go?"
I looked it up online. "Boston...Ft. Lauderdale...Los Angeles...."
"Los Angeles!"
I gave him a quizzical look. "What would we do in Los Angeles?"
"I don't know," he said. "Isn't
Disneyland nearby?"
That, ladies and gentlemen, was when my jaw dropped to the floor.
"You want to go to Disneyland?" I repeated. "You?"
He looked at me strangely. "Yesss," he said slowly, as if he couldn't believe I would question him. "I had fun on our trip, Colleen. I'd like to see Walt Disney's original prototype."
This...was...weird.
"OK," I said. "Let's plan a trip to Disneyland."
The seed was planted. The dream began to grow, until it finally took root again in my heart. I couldn't believe what had happened. It really was a truth universally acknowledged that being sick (or being sick with someone else) in Disney is better than being healthy anyplace else in the world!
We were going to Disneyland!
I've never been to Disneyland! I am a Disneyland virgin!
But....there was a catch.
When we did the math, we realized it would cost us almost as much to go to Disneyland for less than a week than it did for our 10-day honeymoon in a Disney deluxe resort.
And then, my sister-in-law told me they're going to Disney World in the spring and staying off property at one of those timeshare places where they make you sit through a spiel and then give you 2 or 3 days at Disney World for free, for less than $400 for a few nights.
"What if we went back to Disney World instead," I suggested, "and visited a beach while we were there?"
DH liked this idea as well. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
And then another catch! Renting a car would be CRAZY expensive, since neither of us are 25. And in one week, the price to fly went from $150 round trip per person to $230!! So much for a cheap anniversary trip!
I was devestated. Here again was another Disney Disappointment, and just when I started my Disney parade, somebody had to go and rain on it.
That was around the time I got really sick with the flu-bronchitis bug, in mid-March.
That week while I was sick in bed, my mother-in-law calls.
She says almost immediately, "We want to go on a
Disney cruise."
I sighed. "OK. When?"
"Either this year or next. Would you and Andy want to go?"
"Uhhhh....."
"I want to take my granddaughter before she gets too old," she said. She's talking, of course, about Madeleine, Andy's niece, who is 10. Madi's mom is a single mom, and Madi's little brother is 8 and has moderate to severe autism. Needless to say, Madi is in need of a little Disney magic and family time.
My mother-in-law continued, "Would YOUR parents go with us too?"
"Uhhhh....." I said again.
"Well, ask them and let me know. I'll ask Bob and see what he says, about this year or next."
The next day, Bob said this year, and my mom nearly jumped out of her skin when I told her what my mother-in-law had proposed. That very day, the decision was made and the trip was booked: A Land & Sea Vacation, 4 days at Disney, 3 days in the Caribbean.
I had a fever of like 103 when my mom called to tell me it was a done deal. I smiled and I think my lips were so chapped that they bled. I was about as excited about it as going on a trip to visit the dentist...because I was SICK again, of course.
But do you know who was the MOST excited about the trip?
That's right. DH.
"Oh, this trip is going to be FUN!" he'd say. "Your parents, my parents, Madi...!!!!!!! Colleen, can't you be the least bit excited?"
He was saying this when I was coughing my head off. "If I get sick," I told him, "I'm going to throw myself into the ocean. I can't go through that again."
"You're NOT getting sick," he replied.
I wasn't so sure. This is ME we're talking about, after all.
It was a whole week before I could get out of bed, and on the first day of feeling semi-well, I got on the
Disney Cruise Line website and Disney this and Disney that, looking for tips and tricks, because of course I've never been on a Disney cruise before and I had to know EVERYTHING.
And then, I stumbled across a Soarin' video on YouTube. I pressed play. I heard the first swells of music...you know how it goes..."Do DOOOO, do-do-do, do-doooo!" and I began to feel sort of....light and feathery. It almost felt like I was floating in the air, riding Soarin' I suppose, and then it hit me like exploding fireworks above Cinderella Castle:
We're going BACK to Disney World.
This year, September 7-11, and on a Disney Cruise from 12-14.
With my parents, my in-laws, my niece, and my husband.
My family.
And I thought back to when we were watching Wishes that first time, and then it occurred to me how much I wished and WISHED that we could come back and bring my parents, and make new memories all over again. And now, my wish was coming true.
There it was again. That Disney Magic taking root in my heart.
It's back and quite possibly worse than ever!
But the best thing is, now I have someone to share it with.
Last week, we all got together to plan our trip, my parents and his parents, and us. We talked about how to surprise Madi. We decided to eat at Kona Cafe one night, and DH tried to convince his dad how much of a good time he was going to have, and how great the food is.
DH asked him, "Are you excited, Dad? Or are you doing this mainly for mom?"
His dad looked at me, and I knew what he was thinking. "I'd rather not say," he said.
"So you're doing this mainly for mom," DH concluded.
His dad shrugged, and kept on looking at me.
"Well," DH said, "I have to admit, I went to Disney World primarily for
her (me), and I wound up loving it almost as much as she does!"
I laughed in amusement and amazement. The impossible had happened. And when he said he wants to squeeze every possible moment he can out of the theme parks, and watch Wishes again TWICE, and get up at the crack of dawn every morning and stay until the park closes, I realized my DH had become a Disney Snob.
Before my very eyes, my dreams had come true...in a rather roundabout way, I have to admit.
That night, on our way home, we listened to the Wishes soundtrack and made firework noises at all the right times. And we listened to the Year of a Million Dreams theme song (otherwise known as the music from the live-action Peter Pan) and I rolled down the windows and screamed, "We're going to Disney World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
DH laughed. "She's back," he said.
And so I guess, after all was said and done, Disney really is 4 lovers, too.
THE END
It's back on and rolling though--and we're going back this year, too! It was DH's idea, so I know how you feel about your DH wanting to go back. It was a big shocker for me. This will be our 3rd year in a row! 
