amazingact21
Upendi
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2010
Welcome one and welcome all to my 12th trip report here on the DIS!
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Alicia.
And my partner in crime is my hubby of almost 11 years, Alex:
Our love of Disney began together. We were dating at the time, way way back in 2010, and we decided to take a trip to Walt Disney World.
Little did we know that one trip would spark a lifelong love of the Disney company, leading to a Disney Cruise, three runDisney events, and multiple trips to Disneyland Paris.
In between all the Disney fun, Alex and I got married and had two amazing children.
Meet Landon:
Our fellow Disney fanatic. This trip really solidified his love of the theme parks, and even at 9 years old, he swears he’s going to do the College Program one day.
Accompanying her brother on his Disney expeditions through every theme park is our daughter, Evelyn:
The theme parks are…..ehhhh, how shall I say, OKAY to Evelyn. We’ve managed to blossom a little bit of interest out of her, compared to previous trips where she cried and/or moped every minute in the parks.
But to say she’s in love with the parks?
That would be a bit of a stretch.
Honestly, the only factors that made her have a good time were the food and the animals.
But that’s okay.
She’s only six.
The window to turn her hasn’t closed yet.
We’ve still got time.
Because my family enjoys torturing ourselves and were interested in seeing how walking upon the surface of the sun would feel like, our trip spanned July 6th to July 26th.
No, we were not at Disney that entire time.
Yes, we wish we could have been.
You see, for those unaware, my family currently lives in the United Kingdom. (Hello, heat wave! What a gal would give for a little rain and clouds right about now. Apparently, the country thought we missed the Florida temps and decided to gift us with 90 degree weather sans air conditioning. Don’t mind me, I’m just perched in front of my fan, dreaming of that blessed moment of relief when you walk into the Emporium at two o’clock in the afternoon and are blasted with the cool air. One can dream, am I right?)
Because we live in the U.K., our vacations to the states were postponed by a few years.
You know why.
I don’t need to say it.
It’s the new Voldermort. THE ILLNESS THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED.
So, Alex and I knew when we did eventually make it back to the good ol’ U.S. of A., we were going to want to go all out.
I’m talking too much food, too many park days, too much of everything.
(Mind you, the kids took this to mean too many stuffies. Oh, the stuffies….How many plush characters in one bedroom constitutes a problem? Because I’m pretty sure both my children fall under that category.)
July would not be our first choice of months to participate in an over-indulgent splurge trip, but alas.
Kids.
In order to take as long as we wanted, we had to wait for those tiny humans to not be in school.
Blasted educations…
And of course in June my parents came over for a visit. Where their one and only experience in England was full of a quarantined house swarming with Covid (oh blast! I’m jinxed, right? I said the name. I MEANT THE ILLNESS THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED.) and splurged with an extra week in my home of residence, stuck in my guest room recovering.
I know how to show people some hospitality…
Disregarding THAT mess, our trip had to be in July. And because Alex and I don’t do anything easy, we turned the trip into a variety of stays and visits.
Why make something straightforward when you can take the roundabout way and complicate matters?
The outline of our trip looked like this:
- Fly into Orlando.
- Stay at Alex’s mom’s house for two nights.
- Live in an AirBnB for ten nights. The last three of which my mom, brother, and SIL join us.
- Alex and I move to a Disney hotel for two nights. The kids leave with their Nana.
- Alex and I move AGAIN to another hotel.
- Alex and I drive up to my mom’s house and stay two nights.
- The four us go back to Alex’s mom’s house and stay two nights.
- Fly home.
Confused yet?
Don’t worry, I’ll make it worse throughout this report. Especially once I throw in extra guests here and there.
I’d suggest not stressing about keeping up. Alex and I barely did.
It added to the excitement.
Despite all the accommodation changes, the bouncing around, the heat. Oh the heat! Regardless of all those inconveniences, this trip was unbelievable. It was more fun than I could have hoped for, better than other trips we’ve taken in the past, and the memories are still floating in the forefront of my mind three weeks later.
I am beyond excited to share my experience in this trip report, and I hope that you will follow along. If for no other reason than to bear witness to some of the biggest, most colossal mistakes we made along the way.
I mean, everyone enjoys the fun and heartwarming scenes. But let’s be real, it’s the things that go wrong that keep us coming back. At least, in terms of my reports, I know that’s why all you returning friends are here.
To see how Alicia got turned around this time.Never fear, friends.
This trip did not disappoint.
Makes me locking Alex and baby Landon out of our AKL room at two in the morning look like minor league moves.
So please, grab a cool drink (seriously, if you have something cold and refreshing on hand I’d love it at this point) sit back, hold on to your hats and glasses, and enjoy the ride!
Up Next….It’s Like We’re Watching a Race Where Everyone’s Losing
. Maybe one day 
.
