August Pre-Trip Report

Cast -
Arriving 8/13 and departing 8/24 (first four days will be off property and mostly non-Disney days)

Me - Last trip I successfully rediscovered the Disney Magic for myself and got to share it with my DH (then boyfriend) for his first trip...that was 5 years ago, though so I’m ready for a redo!

DH - Joe - His first real trip was 5 years ago, and he fell in love with the Disney magic.

DS - H - just turned 2. First trip. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse addict and animal lover. Fell in love with watching Dumbo (“Wheee!”) and touring the AKL and Kilamanjaro Safaris (More giraffe? More rhino? More elphant! More hippo!”) on YouTube. Squeals “Castle” with glee when he sees pictures. Asked for "Tinkerbell" before the fireworks this year. Has started echoing his father’s excitement of “Disney, Disney, Disney!” when we talk about going to Disney World.

Arriving 8/15 and departing 8/22.
Kels, John and J. - Our best friends, back for the their first trip in fourish years and their two year old daughter on her first trip.

Arriving 8/18 and departing 8/27.
John and Mary - My parents, back for their first trip in three years. Looking forward to their first trip with their grandson.

Since I went to college, I’ve never traveled to the world with anyone under the age of 21, so this will be my first experience with kids when I was not a kid myself. I traveled with a group of 6 in the past, but that was pre-Fastpass+ and before having toddlers in the group. And the group trip aspect is slightly complicated by a staggered arrival/departure time depending on the family group, but I think we’re pretty well planned out, and we’re all aware that we’re doing a slower more toddler friendly trip than in years past. Mostly we’re just looking forward to experiencing the magic through the kids (and getting to see some of our favorite things, too, of course).

8/13 - 8/16 Pre - Disney family Florida trip
Not only will this be H’s first trip to Florida, it will also be his first flight. He’s currently airplane obsessed (can spot one flying from distances that blow my mind and usually before I do) and we’re talking it up, so hopefully it’ll go smoothly. We have an afternoon flight and our plan on the first day is just to relax in our hotel. Our first full day, we’re driving up to Deland for an Eco Tour on the St. John’s River. My sixth grade teacher, who has remained a friend of the family, now runs Blue Heron River Tours in Deland, so we’re going to spend a morning checking that out and maybe exploring the area a little bit before heading back to the Kissimmee area for a low key evening. Other plans for those days before the Disney portion of our trip include possibly heading out to Clearwater to check out a Gulf Coast beach for the first time and visit with a friend of mine from grad school, possibly exploring the Orlando area or doing some Disney hotel explorations of places we haven’t been yet. On Sunday we’ll be hitting Downtown Disney, or Disney Springs whatever we’re calling it now, and meeting Kels, John and J for dinner at Paradisio 37. We’ve never been here before and I’m really looking forward to it.

8/17 - 8/24
We’re staying at AKL in a DVC studio (thank you to my friend, Kelly!). We’ve planned out our trips, knowing that most plans are subject to change based on how H and J are feeling on a given day at a given time, even if both H and J have done long days of excitement and shown us that they travel well.

Highlights that we’re looking forward to
Dinners at Biergarten (a first for us), Boma (a family favorite), Chef Mickey’s (I dream about those mashed potatoes), Sanaa (another first), Restaurant Marrakesh (another family favorite) and Coral Reef (H loves “FISHIES!!”)

Lunches at Flame Tree BBQ (a first) and Cosmic Ray’s (a family favorite is to have a meal each trip with Sonny Eclipse).

Breakfasts at Tusker House (Joe and I ate there on our last trip, but my parents couldn’t get a reservation that would work for them on their last trip and my mother has been looking forward to this) and Boma (although we walked by Boma’s breakfast several times on our last trip and talked about how delicious it smelled we didn’t get a chance to partake ourselves).

School Bread, Dole Whips

Watching the kids at Disney Junior Live on Stage and the Frozen Sing-a-long
Watching H on Dumbo and the Safari
Experiencing things like the Tam Tam Drummers of Harambe and entertainment acts around the parks through the kids eyes.

Surprising Kels with a Behind the Seeds tour (we did it on our last trip, and she loves growing things and greenhouses and innovention like that and the last two trips she’s taken she hasn’t even been able to go on the Land, so we’re treating her to both the ride and a fun peek inside).