Saturday, January 5, 2013

Anticipation is Half the Fun

Anyone who has planned a trip to any Disney park (or anywhere for that matter) knows the excitement of anticipation is often as much fun as the actual trip. First the decision is made - that is usually the hardest part actually - then the planning begins. Finally there is the "getting ready" portion that includes the actually packing.

For us right now, we are in the final two weeks before we cruise aboard the Disney Wonder. My wife and I will be taking a five night cruise out of Miami along with my daughter and her husband, and his mom. This will be our second Disney cruise, but our first one in eight years! At that time we took a seven night Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Disney Magic.

We started talking about this trip before our last visit to Disney World, and my daughter would send me dates and prices as they came out. Since my wife and I are now both retired, our plans depended strictly on when my daughter and her husband could get the time off together for us to go. One night she called me and everything fell into place and while we were on the phone the cruise was booked. The planning (and the anticipation) had begun!

This trip I swear I will start packing before the night we have to leave. Although I do have it down to a science, this is the time of year when we can expect the unexpected when it comes to weather. More than 20 years ago we spent the beginning of January in the Bahamas. Much to our surprise, we were on a snow alert there! Since nobody actually expected it, the resort shop quickly sold out of every sweatshirt and piece of warm clothing it had. The snow only reached as far south as Miami, but it was darn cold that week in Eleuthera! So warm weather and cold weather items are a must pack!

And if the anticipation of the cruise were not enough, when we return, we will head back up to Disney World for a week there before we come home. And while we have already been through New Fantasyland, there is still new stuff for us to see - such as the new version of Test Track! Always something to see and do of course, even if there is nothing new!

So while there won't be much activity on this blog for a while, there will be trip reports, and lots of photos to share when we return, so keep an eye out!