Hi all. a bit of background for those that don’t know me from chat. I have loved Disney forever but especially WtP. Now stitch and Disney in generalo.We are from Oz and got married in 98 and moved to Canada for a year. That was when in first went to DLR. loved it and my dreams then became to get my butt to WDW. After a year we moved to London and I went to DLP twice in the next few years. Came home in 2002, had babies , got a mortgage and went nowhere lol for a long time. in 2011 when the kids were 8/5 we had our dream trip to Hawaii, Disneyland, whistler and Vancouver. We all loved it and I was still dreaming of WDW. In 2014, we nearly went to WDW but DH has a stressful job and needed a restful holiday so back to Hawaii for us. About 2 years ago I started planning dream holiday 2 all based around my dream trip of WDW. I spent hours on chat, booked everything my heart desired, the Polynesian, ddp (which ended up being free, memory maker, mnnshp) the whole shebang. DH used his long service and we added on other USA destinations and did everything we had ever wanted. This trip cost about 50k.
So, planning done, money saved, and here comes Irma. we had made it to Waikiki which was our first stop and she was barrelling towards Orlando. What to do. I changed my mind 50 times in an hour. DH said it was up to me. but every time I decided we would still go I felt sick. We dont have hurricanes where we live and my TA and others said to still go. I knew Disney would take care of us but I was worried about being stuck and both my kids are anxious types so I canned it. first time my kids have ever seen me cry and I admit I sobbed. 18 years worth of dreams crushed. But I played travel agent for a day and my Aus TA and Monica Bryant at Mousetrip travel were amazing and cancelled and rebooked so we could go to Disneyland instead. managed to get close accommodations but if I were going to DLR I would have stayed on property etc etc. Anyway, accommodation was fine but lets just say it wasn’t the poly.
Thanks to the amazing people on DLR chat I booked a world of colour dessert party and got lunch at BluE Bayou and had a fantasmic lunch package. Max pass worked great too. This is why I am glad I didn’t got to WDW. we would have arrived fri as we did in Anaheim and after a 10 hr flight (only hitch with the redirected travel was we had to fly Waikiki-dallas-lax) instead of Waikiki straight to lax. added 4-5 hrs flying time and was like a knife in the back at the time as I was 2.5 hrs away from WDW but couldn’t t be there.
I digress, bottom line is we were exhausted, got to the hotel, slept for 4 hrs and went to Disneyland that arvo/night. it was great. We planned 5 nights for 4 Disney days and 1 universal and then palm springs for a few days. Then my DS11 got sick. luckily I had generic antibiotics with me but it meant he needed a rest day and a reshuffle of accommodation. Palm Springs now off the table. 4 Disney days, 1 rest day and 2 nights at the Hilton universal. If I had gone to WDW we would have had that 1 night at MK, then 2 days on lock down, then my son was sick, so 3 park days to fit my time at WDW into. universal would have been fine and I am sad we missed that.
So how was DLR you ask? Great! we loved DCA - loves soarin and GOTG (AKA TOT) and I loved that the kids could decide what to do next and having been there before we didn’t feel the need to see everything. I learnt my family are NOT rope droppers. I am disappointed with the shopping at DLR and still haven’t got the Jim shore things I wanted but will maybe have to find them online from home. Universal Hollywood was crap. Apart from the Harry Potter stuff (ds11 had the wand pick him which was a highlight) Forbidden journey made DH and DD sick and we spent the day casting spells but after Disney was a letdown. I am as disappointed about missing universal orlando as anything else.l
I dont know if it was the disappointment of it all, but I found myself having a good time but it lost the magic for me. may kids 14/11 had outgrown the characters, my DH isn’t a Disney fanatic and while we loved the rides I dont think I will get to WDW now. kids dont care and DH certainly doesn’t want to spend this type of money againin So I think my dream is over. I have to go now but I will write more later about the rest of our amazing trip. I am devastated but we had had lots of fun. stay tuned!
