A year ago today....

After much hope and lots of waiting we boarded a plane in Kansas City to take a special little girl on her 1st special trip. You see we are a Disney family through and through. My wife has been a fan of the mouse as long as I've known her which has rubbed off on me. She used to be a travel agent, graduated the Disney College of Knowledge and was director of The Disney Club (when it was around) for Norwest Corporation (now Wells Fargo). I didn't experience Disney World for the 1st time until I was an adult with her and considering how hot and busy it was it's surprising I ever wanted to go back. Since then the trip planning baton has been passed on to me as we've put together a "book" of our suggestive plans. We have also created so many great memories after numerous trips with our families, our boys and even a friend that screams like a girl but this was going to be different. We were finally getting the chance to take our own little girl to see the castle and the Princesses and this was going to create a whole new set of memories filled with pretty dresses, hair bows and matching shoes.

Now generally it takes us several years to plan a trip to Disney...well to save for it but it's actually gotten cheaper to go since they instituted new ticket pricing options and are more frequently offering deals to entice you to come to sunny central Florida. The greatest of these deals comes in the form of free dining because if you've been to Disney or any amusement park then you know the food can be the priciest part of the day. Figuring out where we want to eat is a fun part of our planning and now that we have a little girl in our midst that meant getting to eat with the Princesses. My parents had been to Disney World one other time and that was in 2001 when a large group of us went and even though we have been several times since then  it was them that received one of Disney's secretive random email offers with free dining and a hotel discount that enabled us to book this trip with my parents & little sister, my other sister & her family and my wife's parents.
Now as with any vacation there are a few hopes. 1. the weather is perfect 2. everyone stays healthy & safe 3. everyone enjoys themselves 4. the travel to & fro goes smoothly...but when it comes do Disney World and you are traveling with a young child a new hope/wish/prayer needs to be added to the list. That addition is that your child is not afraid or even worse scared to death of Mickey Mouse. Having taken all 3 of our boys to Disney when they were 1 or 1 1/2 we knew of this new added possibility because we had experienced this parental nightmare first hand with our middle son Luke. Our only hope now was that this wasn't an every other child phenomenon and it would hopefully skip our own little princess. We found out soon enough on our 1st night at the Magic Kingdom eating with Winnie the Pooh and friends and the answer wasn't what we hoped for.
Having been through this before we knew the drill. We would just have to make sure Chip and Dale didn't sneak up on her and we would wave at Buzz from a distance before attempting to move in closer and someone would have to accompany her to meet the Princesses. And they eventually warm-up to Mickey you just have to hope it's not until the last day. With having previous Disney experience and 3 boys who know Disney World like their own backyard it makes it very easy to plan our days around the things we most want to do on every trip like our favorite places to eat, fireworks, parades and special shows. Plus we discover new things every trip like the boys partaking in the pin trading craze. With Cole being the oldest he always got to experience the big kid rides first. Luke has got to go on his 1/2 birthday and he loves the food. Zack got his 1st haircut at the Main St Barber shop. Elli helped us all meet the Princesses. 

Looking back through the nearly 2000 pictures makes me look forward to the next set of memories and getting to see Elli's face as we stand in line to go on Splash Mountain just like I can picture each of her brother's as they did the same. We'll also look to find something new but I'll always look towards getting to enjoy the evening activities with my family.

People have asked me what's the point in taking kids when they are so young when they aren't going to remember it. I always say when they are little it's for you; the parents and the grandparents. The memories aren't just for them they're for the family. Taking a child to Disney for the 1st time when they are 2 is quite a bit different than taking them for the 1st time when they are 13. So we will continue to make our pilgrimages to Disney World and partake in our family tradition of eating with Mickey & his friends at Chef Mickey's, we'll stop in EPCOT at Club Cool and drink Beverly even though we know we shouldn't, the boys will grow their pin collections, as the kids get tall enough (with out stuffing paper towels under their insoles...oh yeah we've done it) I'll take them on the new to them rides, we'll cross another hidden Mickey off the list then we'll sneak a Dole Whip before mom gets a chance to and I'll still hold my wife's hand the last night of fireworks when no one wants to go home. You see each trip is special and unique in it's own way and the life time of memories they create are worth every penny. So if you need help planning or just have a question....I'm full of random and helpful but sometimes quite useless Disney knowledge.