karsen11
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2014
Pre-Trip Report
September 27- October 3
A little background information-
Hello and welcome to my very first PTR/TR!!! I have been reading along many of yours for the last three years and I have always wanted to write my own, but for some reason or another it never really came to fruition. This time I am determined!!!
I grew up going to Disney World as a child many times with my large extended family every few years and was always absolutely in love with all things Disney! It was the place that no matter what was going on in my life, I felt happy and blissfully at peace with being who I was! Some of my best childhood memories take place there and I want my daughter to feel that same feeling!
In the 8th grade, we took a trip to Disney World with my family, my Grandmother, and my aunt’s family. It was wonderful and we had an amazing time being together. About a month after being home, my Grandmother passed away suddenly. Those Disney World memories were something that I hung onto and help me get through that rough time. The following year my parents and my aunt decided that our family would go back to WDW to help us prolong those positive memories and help escape from the grieving process a bit. Being in WDW did just that and I am so thankful that my parents were able to give us that gift. Years passed and we had a booked calendar and life in high school and college was busy and trips to the most Magical Place on Earth were not really high on my parents’ radar.
It wasn’t until 2013 that WDW really entered back into my life. My husband, who I’ll be introducing in just a moment was going to a work training in Orlando and surprised me by saying that he wanted to go down a few days early and take me to Disney World!!! Ummmm YES!!!! We booked 3 park days just 18 days out from when we would be leaving. There were no dining reservations for that trip, but I did book 3 FPs using the brand new FP+ technology, although paper FPs were still being used. We arrived the evening of Oct, 18 and stayed through 22. The parks were pretty empty and we were able to do what we thought was a lot at the time. It was a very quick trip, and by the end of just day one, I had caught the Disney bug, and I was hooked!!!
You see, at this time in our lives, my husband and I had some extra stressors and we needed this trip. Less than a year prior my husband’s sister passed away in a very tragic manner, so we were still very much feel the pain of that loss. Throughout the year we had sought comfort in the idea of starting our own family, however as one by one our friends were able to get pregnant without batting an eyelash, we started to wonder what was going on with us? This trip signified the end of us “trying” on our own, as if I was not pregnant this cycle I would be starting to see a specialist. Being in Disney World for that short time was so helpful, as I left all of those stressors at the door and just enjoyed be child like and playful with my husband. I was a breath of fresh air, and I craved more.
Upon returning home and seeing multiple doctors, we learned that we were down to one option of starting a family, IVF- aka “hell”. We struggled through the year in and out of doctors offices, emotionally drained and overall extremely defeated. As we scheduled our second IVF cycle and in February, I told my husband if this didn’t work I needed to return to happy for a little while, so I needed to return to Disney World. In March the doctors pulled the plug on our cycle as my husband’s cells showed them that he may have leukemia. Talk about needing a break!!! We quickly booked a trip to begin the day after schools got out, as I am a Physical Education teacher. That week we also happened to be celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary, so it was perfect. We spent the week in utter bliss, away from stress, doctors, and reality, it was everything we had dreamed of and more. And now I can admit I had become 100% completely obsessed with my new Disney life.
After having what we referred to as “The Summer of Fun” that had kicked off with our Disney World dream vacation, and ended with a cruise to Bermuda, I returned to work and doctors’ visits ready to take on a third and final IVF cycle. And this time, we hit the lottery, as we were announced to be pregnant by the end of September. Joy does not begin to describe how we felt. I spent the following 36 weeks knocking on deaths door due to my body’s uncontrollable need to throw up around the clock. I was sick as a dog throughout my entire pregnancy, but it was a minor price to pay. What kept me going throughout my days curled up in the fetal position on the couch was the planning of a huge family trip to Disney World the following September with my 5 month old in tow! Yes 11 days of non-stop Disney utopia before my maternity leave ended was in the works.
That September trip was nothing short of amazing. It definitely was a different experience with an infant and other family members, since our prior trips consisted of Tom and I only having to worry about ourselves and how many times we could ride each “E” ticket in a row. But we were able to nail down a pretty good system and I have to say I am pretty amazed at how naturally it all came together. The only real bump in the road came when I woke up with a pretty bad sinus infection on our first full day of the trip. Basically the stress of packing, worrying about an infant, and the lack of sleep prior to the trip had my immune system completely down before even getting the chance to enjoy a little bit of our vacation. It was rough, but I was determined to suck it up and not let it rule my dream vacation. It was the trip of a lifetime and I am so glad that we got to have that experience with family and close friends.
Fast forward to my first year as a fulltime working mother, saying that I struggled would be the greatest understatement that I could make. I missed my daughter all day, every day. I can’t begin to count the number of tears I shed just thinking of not being with her while I was at work. She was in great hands with my parents all day, but I still was extremely depressed throughout the year that I had to leave her five days a week. You see, we struggled for her, and now that she is here, she is our world. Tom and I don’t even go out to dinner without her. If we are not at work we are soaking up as much of her as possible, so after five months of being with her 24/7 while on maternity leave, the transition back to working full time was awful. So feeling pretty down, I floated the idea of taking Gigi to Disney World for her first birthday to Tom, and I was beyond shocked when he agreed!!! A quick trip from May 5th through the 10th was booked just a couple months out and we could not be more excited. This would be our first vacation with just the three of us! It was awesome! We had a blast and nothing will ever replace our daughter’s first birthday pictures with a cupcake sitting on Main Street with Cinderella’s Castle behind her. It was sheer bliss! The only issue was, I was coming off the flu and I got a sinus infection a couple days before leaving for the trip. I felt so sick! My body was tired and achy and my head felt like it was going to explode. Apparently the stress leading up to a Disney World vacation attacks my poor immune system and there is nothing else that can be done except to just push through as much as possible. And that’s what I did, I pushed through and made the absolute best of it. The trip was short but jam packed with magic and left me wanting more!
So here we are, all booked for September 27-October 3! This trip will again be just the three of us and it is much needed! We had a very rough summer, as just one week into summer Tom’s dad very suddenly and expectedly passed away. We spent our summer grieving and trying to make it through the best we could, but it was just a huge dark cloud for us and made enjoying anything pretty difficult. Thankfully we have Gigi and she provides us with a great distraction and makes us smile even when our hearts are breaking. Once I was back at work and we were starting to get into a little routine and dig ourselves out of the rut we were in, we got a call that my cousin had also passed away suddenly and expectedly. Talk about insult to injury! If there is any family in need of a little bit of a magical vacation it is us! We need to smile, we need to laugh, we need to let go, and we need to just leave our cares at the Disney World entrance sign, we may have to pick them up on the way back, but at least we know they are in good hands there.
Thank you all in advance for following along with us as we get the much need break we deserve!
September 27- October 3
A little background information-
Hello and welcome to my very first PTR/TR!!! I have been reading along many of yours for the last three years and I have always wanted to write my own, but for some reason or another it never really came to fruition. This time I am determined!!!
I grew up going to Disney World as a child many times with my large extended family every few years and was always absolutely in love with all things Disney! It was the place that no matter what was going on in my life, I felt happy and blissfully at peace with being who I was! Some of my best childhood memories take place there and I want my daughter to feel that same feeling!
In the 8th grade, we took a trip to Disney World with my family, my Grandmother, and my aunt’s family. It was wonderful and we had an amazing time being together. About a month after being home, my Grandmother passed away suddenly. Those Disney World memories were something that I hung onto and help me get through that rough time. The following year my parents and my aunt decided that our family would go back to WDW to help us prolong those positive memories and help escape from the grieving process a bit. Being in WDW did just that and I am so thankful that my parents were able to give us that gift. Years passed and we had a booked calendar and life in high school and college was busy and trips to the most Magical Place on Earth were not really high on my parents’ radar.
It wasn’t until 2013 that WDW really entered back into my life. My husband, who I’ll be introducing in just a moment was going to a work training in Orlando and surprised me by saying that he wanted to go down a few days early and take me to Disney World!!! Ummmm YES!!!! We booked 3 park days just 18 days out from when we would be leaving. There were no dining reservations for that trip, but I did book 3 FPs using the brand new FP+ technology, although paper FPs were still being used. We arrived the evening of Oct, 18 and stayed through 22. The parks were pretty empty and we were able to do what we thought was a lot at the time. It was a very quick trip, and by the end of just day one, I had caught the Disney bug, and I was hooked!!!
You see, at this time in our lives, my husband and I had some extra stressors and we needed this trip. Less than a year prior my husband’s sister passed away in a very tragic manner, so we were still very much feel the pain of that loss. Throughout the year we had sought comfort in the idea of starting our own family, however as one by one our friends were able to get pregnant without batting an eyelash, we started to wonder what was going on with us? This trip signified the end of us “trying” on our own, as if I was not pregnant this cycle I would be starting to see a specialist. Being in Disney World for that short time was so helpful, as I left all of those stressors at the door and just enjoyed be child like and playful with my husband. I was a breath of fresh air, and I craved more.
Upon returning home and seeing multiple doctors, we learned that we were down to one option of starting a family, IVF- aka “hell”. We struggled through the year in and out of doctors offices, emotionally drained and overall extremely defeated. As we scheduled our second IVF cycle and in February, I told my husband if this didn’t work I needed to return to happy for a little while, so I needed to return to Disney World. In March the doctors pulled the plug on our cycle as my husband’s cells showed them that he may have leukemia. Talk about needing a break!!! We quickly booked a trip to begin the day after schools got out, as I am a Physical Education teacher. That week we also happened to be celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary, so it was perfect. We spent the week in utter bliss, away from stress, doctors, and reality, it was everything we had dreamed of and more. And now I can admit I had become 100% completely obsessed with my new Disney life.
After having what we referred to as “The Summer of Fun” that had kicked off with our Disney World dream vacation, and ended with a cruise to Bermuda, I returned to work and doctors’ visits ready to take on a third and final IVF cycle. And this time, we hit the lottery, as we were announced to be pregnant by the end of September. Joy does not begin to describe how we felt. I spent the following 36 weeks knocking on deaths door due to my body’s uncontrollable need to throw up around the clock. I was sick as a dog throughout my entire pregnancy, but it was a minor price to pay. What kept me going throughout my days curled up in the fetal position on the couch was the planning of a huge family trip to Disney World the following September with my 5 month old in tow! Yes 11 days of non-stop Disney utopia before my maternity leave ended was in the works.
That September trip was nothing short of amazing. It definitely was a different experience with an infant and other family members, since our prior trips consisted of Tom and I only having to worry about ourselves and how many times we could ride each “E” ticket in a row. But we were able to nail down a pretty good system and I have to say I am pretty amazed at how naturally it all came together. The only real bump in the road came when I woke up with a pretty bad sinus infection on our first full day of the trip. Basically the stress of packing, worrying about an infant, and the lack of sleep prior to the trip had my immune system completely down before even getting the chance to enjoy a little bit of our vacation. It was rough, but I was determined to suck it up and not let it rule my dream vacation. It was the trip of a lifetime and I am so glad that we got to have that experience with family and close friends.
Fast forward to my first year as a fulltime working mother, saying that I struggled would be the greatest understatement that I could make. I missed my daughter all day, every day. I can’t begin to count the number of tears I shed just thinking of not being with her while I was at work. She was in great hands with my parents all day, but I still was extremely depressed throughout the year that I had to leave her five days a week. You see, we struggled for her, and now that she is here, she is our world. Tom and I don’t even go out to dinner without her. If we are not at work we are soaking up as much of her as possible, so after five months of being with her 24/7 while on maternity leave, the transition back to working full time was awful. So feeling pretty down, I floated the idea of taking Gigi to Disney World for her first birthday to Tom, and I was beyond shocked when he agreed!!! A quick trip from May 5th through the 10th was booked just a couple months out and we could not be more excited. This would be our first vacation with just the three of us! It was awesome! We had a blast and nothing will ever replace our daughter’s first birthday pictures with a cupcake sitting on Main Street with Cinderella’s Castle behind her. It was sheer bliss! The only issue was, I was coming off the flu and I got a sinus infection a couple days before leaving for the trip. I felt so sick! My body was tired and achy and my head felt like it was going to explode. Apparently the stress leading up to a Disney World vacation attacks my poor immune system and there is nothing else that can be done except to just push through as much as possible. And that’s what I did, I pushed through and made the absolute best of it. The trip was short but jam packed with magic and left me wanting more!
So here we are, all booked for September 27-October 3! This trip will again be just the three of us and it is much needed! We had a very rough summer, as just one week into summer Tom’s dad very suddenly and expectedly passed away. We spent our summer grieving and trying to make it through the best we could, but it was just a huge dark cloud for us and made enjoying anything pretty difficult. Thankfully we have Gigi and she provides us with a great distraction and makes us smile even when our hearts are breaking. Once I was back at work and we were starting to get into a little routine and dig ourselves out of the rut we were in, we got a call that my cousin had also passed away suddenly and expectedly. Talk about insult to injury! If there is any family in need of a little bit of a magical vacation it is us! We need to smile, we need to laugh, we need to let go, and we need to just leave our cares at the Disney World entrance sign, we may have to pick them up on the way back, but at least we know they are in good hands there.
Thank you all in advance for following along with us as we get the much need break we deserve!
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!!!!!!!!!
reservations at Be Our Guest quick service for lunch
