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Being from Southern California, many would ask why I'd want to spend the money to go to Walt Disney World in Florida when I had Disneyland in my backyard. I would say that if you ask that question, you've never been there. It is a magical world unto itself.
Our first trip was in 1987, and my wife and I made annual trips until 1993 when we found out we were going to be parents.
Anyone with kids knows that life changes. We waited until our son was old enough and returned as a family in 1998. It was even more magical with children. By the time he was 8, we gave him a walkie-talkie and let him run around the hotel as long as he checked in with us.
At the time, I never thought that one day, we would return without children.
Life is all about change, especially with kids. The next two decades saw many family trips to the magical world in Florida. When the economy changed in 2007, we switched to driving across the Western US with our camping trailer, but always as a family. Being a dad wasn't just something I did; it was who I was.
But life changes; children don't stay children forever. As a teen, it was no longer cool for my son to go on trips with Mom and Dad. Then, the inevitable happened: high school graduation, college, and the Army. We had officially become empty-nesters.
By 2017, our financial situation had improved, and I was once again working as an executive. I felt secure and decided it was time to reward ourselves. It would be our first trip to Disney World without kids in decades, and it felt weird. We had originally planned for September, but Hurricane Irma had other plans. We rescheduled for February of 2018. We'd never gone in Spring; we'd always gone in August to close out the summer before school started.
I worked late the night before answering final emails. Then I clicked "save" on my out-of-office message. I was officially on vacation. I had years of airline miles accumulated and had enough for two first-class round-trip tickets.
We headed first to Universal Studios and a two-night stay at the Royal Pacific Resort Hotel. We did all the parks and all the Harry Potter attractions. We even got a Butter Beer. But we'd come to Florida for another reason.
On our third day, we drove to Disney's Wilderness Lodge. We've stayed at a half dozen resorts on the property over the years, but this is our favorite. The architecture is reminiscent of the great national park lodges. A pine forest surrounds it and overlooks Bay Lake. There is even a geyser (artificial) that erupts regularly. Our room overlooked the lake, pool, and geyser. Every nigh,t we watched the Bay Lake Electrical Water Pageant from our balcony.
Being at Disney World just as a couple brought back a lot of memories. We were a little older, but it was as if no time had passed at all since that first trip as a young couple all those years ago, except that I had less hair. One of my favorite photos of all time is from this trip. It's a selfie of us at the Universal Hotel, me in my Disney polo shirt, her auburn hair gently resting on her bare shoulders.
Holding hands, we walked to the Magic Kingdom. For the next six days, we hopped from one park to the next. Exploring all the changes to the resort since our last trip. Enjoying all the rides, shows, attractions, and dining experiences. EPCOT was having its International Flower & Garden Festival. The park was filled with beautiful floral displays and unique food carts in every land. We rented bikes at the Fort Wilderness Campground and had a picnic lunch by the lake. Walked around Disney Springs and toured the hotels and the campground.
It was a perfect trip, but the one thing that I would do differently next time is not have a rental car. Though the Alamo rental was only $331 for the eight days, it was another $25 per day for parking at the hotel. And the traffic was so bad on the resort that we ended up just using the resort transit. The hotel cost for 8 days was $3,697. We also spent another $2,080 on taxes, dining, and souvenirs on our Disney gift card from our Chase Disney Rewards Visa.
Though I did have to take a couple of work calls and was "allowed" one hour per day to catch up on emails, it was one of the first vacations in a long time where I felt relaxed and refreshed. We didn't have an itinerary, no schedule to keep. We enjoyed the experiences and our time together and reconnected as a couple.
