Love, Death and New Life through the lens of Disney

spurk5532

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 5, 2010
This is the story of love, death and new life. It is a story full of joy and love. There will be some painful and sad parts but I hope you see joy and hope throughout every word. Some of these memories are my happiest memories where some of them bring me deep pain. But in that deep pain I find joy for the life that was lived and the love that I have received and continue to receive.

It all starts back in 2004. Yes that was over 6 years ago. I know most trip reports are based on recent trip but for me to do a trip report on my recent trips you must first her about my other trips. They are dependent upon each other and would not exist with out the other. Disney has been a place where I went to celebrate new love, to mourn and remember love and now to rejoice and share that love.

Within the past six years I visited Disney World three times and Disneyland twice. Well I haven't actually made the third trip to Disney World at this moment in time but by the time I get to that part I will have been gotten back. My Disneyland experiences will be touched on but this story is mainly about my Disney World experiences. If you jump on board know that this is going to be a journey through my life. It is definitely not perfect and it is full of love, joy, laughter and happiness, while at the same time full of sorrow, grief, and loneliness. I hope you will see the life of a young girl in love with all the hope in the world to a strong woman full of love with all the hope in the world.
 
There will be many in the cast of characters and they will be introduced as they enter the scene. In the beginning it was just a girl and a boy.

The girl
(Myself, Kirstin 23 years old in 2004)

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The boy
(My husband, Ben 23 years old in 2004)

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Ben and I met when we were 21 years old and in college. He had noticed me our sophomore year of college when I transferred to a new school and just happened to sit behind him in my first class. I did not notice him. During our junior year he would continually walk past my dorm room and look at the pictures of me on my door and think to himself “I really wish I knew her better, she is cute.” I still didn't notice him. By our Senior year we ended up in a class together again. I still had never noticed him. Part of the class was a weekend field trip to Mammoth Cave National Park half way through the semester. As we loaded up the vans and got ready to take off I finally noticed him. He was wearing a cowboy hat and had a nasty mustache. I figured he was just the friend of somebody in our class and was saying goodbye, until he jumped in the van next to me. I couldn’t believe I had never seen this kid in my class before, especially since there were only 14 people in our class. Oh well I guess I just am not that observant. We ended up spending the entire weekend together on the trip and never stopped. A year and a half later we were married in the Chapel at our university.

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During the wedding planning we knew we wanted to go on a honeymoon. We knew that we didn’t want to go to a tropical location and sit on a beach. We wanted to go somewhere that we could go out and do things each day. The first thought was Yellowstone/Grand Tetons (We are huge national park buffs). Ben had never been to Yellowstone and he just loved everything outdoors. Then I have no clue who mentioned it first but the idea of Disney World for a honeymoon came up. I had always dreamed of going to Disney World. I had been to Disneyland when I was in 2nd grade and had always dreamed of going back. When I had been as a kid they were building Splash Mountain and I was so bummed that I didn’t get to go on it. Over the years it even got worse when all my friends came home with they famous picture of them flying down the hill. Growing up I dreamed of the day I would get to take the plunge. After some great debate between Yellowstone and Disney we decided on Disney. Our reasoning was that we knew for a fact that when we had kids that we would have the opportunity to take them to Yellowstone but we didn’t know if we would for Disney. I know this sounds a little backwards for choosing a honeymoon. I think for us it was that we thought this could possibly be our only chance at going to Disney World. Also knowing that we were huge national parks buffs and always got an annual pass and that we lived pretty close to Yellowstone there was a much stronger chance to get there later in life. I now know that our choice on where to go for our honeymoon couldn’t have been a better choice and has changed the course of my life in many ways.

As soon as the decision for a Disneymoon was made I began researching to find the perfect on property hotel. We decided on Animal Kingdom Lodge. We definitely wanted a Savannah View Room and we were so excited. Ben had been to Disney World when he was younger and his family had stayed at then Dixie Landings. He really wanted to make sure we stayed somewhere else so he could try out something new. Also through our research we decided that we definitely wanted a meal plan of some sort. At that time the plans had different names than now. They were the bronze plan, the silver plan, the gold plan and the platinum plan. We chose the Gold Plan. The gold plan was all-inclusive. Almost all property activities were complimentary, free tickets to La Nouba, Planet Hollywood Voucher, a Free Game of Miniature Golf, a Pin Lanyard and pin for every member in the group, and three meals a day. Each meal included an appetizer, entrée, dessert, non-alcoholic drink. The day I decided I would book our trip I decided to go online and just see what the price difference would be for a moderate hotel compared to the deluxe. Turns out it ended up being $1000 difference. Ben loves to save money in any way and he couldn’t believe we were going to spend $1000 more just for the room. So at the last minute we changed the hotel to Coronado Springs Resort. I think this ended up being a great decision for us and I am happy we made the choices we did.
 
Enjoying your trip report so far Can't wait to read more!

Melissa
 


The next couple of months were full of wedding planning and researching Disney World and schoolwork for Grad School. I bought the unofficial guide for couples and some other Disney planning books. I also read a bunch of stuff online but at this time I can’t remember what websites I even went to. During this time one of my friends moved to Los Angeles. She invited me to visit her during my winter break in January. I jumped on the chance to escape the stress of wedding planning and school and relax in warm California. We were living in Minnesota at the time. Turns out the week I headed to California ended up being the coldest week of the year in Minnesota. I couldn’t visit LA and not make a trip down to Anaheim and Disneyland. So we spent two days at the parks. One day at Disneyland and the other at California Adventure. I fell in love with the parks all over. The last time I had been there was in second grade and now I was 22. I cried at the parade, thought the castle looked way too small and loved Pirates just as much as back when I was a kid. This time I got to do many things that I had not done before. I experienced the Enchanted Tiki Room, traveled through the Haunted Mansion and witnessed Fantasmic, but the most important was I finally got my picture on Splash Mountain. I actually cried while riding it. I know kinda crazy but I had literally been waiting 16 years to take the plunge. This trip was a great preview to what I was going to experience in just 8 months.

Eventually our wedding day came. It was one of the most wonderful days of my life. I was so excited to get married. I remember waiting at the back of the chapel with my dad just before we were to walk down the aisle. I was jumping up and down and trying to calm down because I was just so excited. Ben looked so good that day and all the most important people in my life were there. The wedding was exactly what I wanted and everyone had a great time.

Our Wedding was Saturday, August 14, 2004. You may not remember but on August 13, 2004 Hurricane Charlie hit Orlando. This was no little hurricane. The day before our wedding all we could do is watch the weather reports and hear that not only was Disney World closed but that MCO as well had extensive damage and was closed. We had no clue going into our wedding whether we would be flying out the next day or not. The Day after the wedding we all gathered at my grandparents house opened our gifts and then headed off to Orlando, thankfully the airport opened back up that day and we were able to fly in. The airport was crazy when we got there. Not many flights actually were flying in and the airport was a disaster. The carpets were soaking wet, like your foot would sink into the wet squishiness when you stepped on them, there were holes in the walls and the ceiling tiles and lights had fallen down or were hanging by wires. I couldn’t believe that they had actually opened up the airport when there was still so much damage.

We were so exhausted and just wanted to get to the hotel. We had gotten into Orlando around 10pm so we decided we would just find a hotel near Disney and then take a taxi in the morning to Coronado. This would save us some money on our package. We had no clue where we were going or even the name of any of the hotels around Disney. We just asked our taxi driver to take us to a reasonably priced hotel near Disney. He took us to a Best Western right outside Downtown Disney. I was surprised to see that even though it wasn’t a Disney hotel it was themed for Disney. I don’t know why I was surprised that totally makes sense but oh well. We were full of excitement but exhausted so we immediately went to bed.
 
In the morning we ordered room service. This was actually one of my first times actually ever getting room service. When I was in high school I went on a trip with a friend and her parents ordered it for us all the time but this was my first time ordering and paying for it myself. I felt like it was such a luxury and something only rich people did. Ha ha. It is so funny how we view the world when we are so young. Since then I have ordered room service many times and by no means am I rich. At the time I remember thinking this is the beginning of our life. We have so much ahead of us. I was so happy and full of love and joy.

Before getting married Ben and I had traveled a lot. It was almost all road trips and to national parks. We loved to travel and we always were our happiest when travelling. We joked about how we were going to be an old couple traveling the world in an RV one day. So to be starting our lives as a married couple with a trip was the most perfect thing ever.

After breakfast we got ready packed up and headed to Coronado Springs. I couldn’t believe I was actually on Disney World property. I never in my life ever thought that I would ever have the opportunity or means to go to Disney World and stay on property. Growing up in Washington State only extremely rich people made the trip all the way to Florida. I always envied the kids who got to go to Florida and not California to see Mickey. I guess I even envied the kids going to California. Family vacations any place besides to see family was not a priority in my family growing up. My mom’s parents lived in Chicago so we would go there and go to all the museums, Six Flags and zoos, which I loved as a kid more than anything. We also would go to a lake resort that my extended family owned every summer. That was the best as well because my whole family would go and I would get to spend a week with my cousins swimming, boating, fishing and just playing. I loved the vacations we did take but we never went anywhere we had to stay in a hotel. The time we actually did go to Disneyland was only because my aunt and uncle were living in San Diego and we went to see them. We only took one day to go to Disneyland another to go to Sea World and one day for Universal Studios. The rest of the week was just spending time with family. As a kid I always wanted to go on vacation where we would stay in a hotel, but this just was not something we did.

I was so impressed with Coronado Springs, I couldn’t believe how nice it was. I loved the theme and the fountain in the entryway. We checked in and remarkably our room was ready. We headed to the room basically just tossed our luggage in it and headed straight to the bus stop. We decided that we wanted our trip to be laid back and as stress free as possible. We had not made any ADRs which really wasn’t needed at that time and we had no touring plans. I don’t believe we had even made a list of what rides we really wanted to go on. The only thing I remember wanting to see was Fantasmic. I had been so impressed with it at Disneyland and couldn’t wait for Ben to see it. At the bus stop we didn’t really have any idea of which park we wanted to head to first. We just decided that whatever bus pulled up first would be the one we got on. Well the first bus was Downtown Disney and we knew we wanted to go to a park so we passed and waited for the next bus. The MGM (It wasn’t Hollywood Studios yet) bus pulled up and we hopped on. I had no clue really what to expect at MGM. The image I had in my head was from when I was a kid and watched the Disney Channel. Every day after school I would rush home to watch Mickey Mouse Club. Oh how I loved that show and dreamed of going to a taping one day. I had a friend that got to go a couple times and even had a MMC jacket. Oh I was so jealous. At the end of the show they would always show the water tower with the Mickey ears and state that the show was taped in front of a live audience at MGM studios.
 


As we pulled up to the park I was bursting with excitement for a trip I had dreamed about since I was a little kid. I was so excited to see the Sorcerer’s hat and that is when we got our first photopass picture taken.

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I was shocked to find out that they would take a picture with your camera too. I was so happy because I was thinking Ben and I were going to have to continually ask other people to take our picture or we would end up with a lot of pictures of just one of us. My first impression was that MGM reminded me a lot of California Adventure. The first thing I wanted to do was head straight to Tower of Terror. I had not gone on it at California Adventure so I was super excited. I love thrill rides and rollercoasters. Ben always says he doesn’t want to go on and complains the whole time we are in line but in the end gets on and has a good time. He was not too excited for ToT but he always follows my lead. Ben is the most giving and caring man I have ever met. I have a strong opinion and always know exactly what I want. On the other hand he is the most indecisive person I know. We always joke that the only decision he has ever made on his own was to propose to me. Usually he just follows my lead. I fell guilty about it a lot of times because I feel like I am the one always choosing what happens in our life. But whenever I ask for his input or what he wants he just says that he wants to do whatever I want. Nothing makes Ben happier then to see me happy. I try as much as I can to make decisions based on what I think he will want so that it isn’t always about me and what I want. Well anyway we made our way to ToT. It was the perfect way to start our trip. The adrenaline rush from the ride matched the excitement both of us were feeling being at Disney World.

After ToT we headed on over to Rockin’ Rollercoaster. Ben is a huge music fan. He loves all types of music and plays guitar. He has always been in a band and couldn’t imagine life without his guitar. He was very excited for this ride. My uncle had told us about it and said it was his favorite ride ever. We both loved it. I love rides in the dark. I also loved the speakers blasting Aerosmith music. After RR we were starving. We hadn’t really done much yet but it was already getting late. We had gotten a late start to the day. Ben really felt like pizza. I am not a fan of pizza at all and that just sounded awful. We decided we would still head over to Pizza Planet anyway. I figured there would be something else on the menu that I could order and I really wanted to see it since I am a huge Toy Story fan. I have loved Mr. Potato Head since I was a little kid and just loved everything about the Toy Story movies. I ended up ordering a Caesar salad and Ben had the pizza he was craving.

We headed over to the back lot tour after lunch. We ended up sitting next to another couple that was on their honeymoon as well. It was fun to chat with another young couple just starting out their lives together too.

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The other couple took a picture of us on the tram waiting for the backlot tour to begin.

The backlot tour at Universal Studios is one of the most vivid memories I have from our trip to California when I was a kid. The earthquake, the flood, Jaws and of course the Back to the Future town square. I was hoping this would be just as good. It was just okay. I wasn’t too impressed. We then decided to head on over to Indiana Jones. Ben is a huge Indiana Jones fan. He loved the stunt show and I was entertained. I would rather be on a ride than watching a stunt show. Ben really wanted to also see Lights, Motors, Action. I wasn’t too excited about it but headed over there anyway. I actually ended up liking this better than Indiana Jones. I felt like after the initial boost of energy from ToT and RR things had started to fade. We had been sitting forever. So we just wandered around and looked in the shops and took random pictures.

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Ben and I are known for taking pictures at any photo op. We also stopped in at Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey. I think that was possible the worst attraction we experienced the entire time we were in Disney. The day had started of so great and was starting to fade. I was hoping that the rest of the evening would be better and that Fantasmic would top off a great first day at Disney World.
 
i'm in, sounds good so far :) your wedding dress was beautiful!

Yay! I have another reader. Thanks for the compliment on my dress. I loved it. It actually was the first one I tried on and it ended up being on clearance, so I really lucked out.
 
Great updates! I never went to Disney as a child either, but always wanted too. It was so amazing the first time we went and I have been addicted ever since. Can't wait to read more!


Melissa
 
I'm in. Looking forward to more

:wizard:

I'm here also...can't wait to read more!! :goodvibes

Great report so far. I am looking forward (yet dreading) the rest of your reports!

Thanks for sharing your report!

Amy

Great updates! I never went to Disney as a child either, but always wanted too. It was so amazing the first time we went and I have been addicted ever since. Can't wait to read more!


Melissa

This trip account is an enjoyable read. I can't wait to read more!

CaptainHypersock out.

Thanks for reading everyone. I should have an update up later today.
 
Count me in..... I have a feeling I'm going to need some tissues, I love what you have written so far and it looks like you made some beautiful memories on that trip....we were married 2 weeks after you on August 27,2004! It was a beautiful summer to get married! I can't wait to read more!!

God Bless!
 
It was getting later and we knew we wanted to eat dinner before we got in line for Fantasmic. We decided to head to the Brown Derby. We had actually never heard of the original Brown Derby, but it was fun to read about it on the menu. We also liked all the caricatures on the walls. The food was amazing. Honestly I don’t remember what we ate I just remember it was amazing. This was our first sit down meal with the Gold Plan and we ate all of our appetizers and then our meal. We were so full but we still had dessert coming. We realized at that moment that we were going to have to pace ourselves during our meals. We also decided if all the food at Disney was this good that our days were going to be set up around meals. For dessert I don’t remember what Ben got but I got crème brulee. This was the first time I had ever eaten crème brulee and had always wanted to try it. It was amazing, and now it is my favorite dessert and I order it every single time I find it on a menu.

We always forgot to get pictures before the meal so we have a ton of pictures like this with empty plates. ha ha
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I was so excited for Fantasmic. I had truly loved it when I had seen it at Disneyland. I was actually expecting it to be the exact same. I was surprised to find out that it wasn’t at the Magic Kingdom and that they had a whole amphitheater for it. Standing actually wasn’t all that bad. We ended up being next to a couple with two younger kids. We struck up a wonderful conversation. They had honeymooned at Disney as well. They told us about how carefree they were on their honeymoon and how the world was in front of them. They also told us about how wonderful it was to bring their kids Disney and see their faces light up. What they thought was the best though was that they had so many wonderful memories from Disney from all their stages of life. From when they were dating, their honeymoon, before they had kids and now with kids. What I remember most was what the dad said to me, “Just wait in a couple years you will be back here with your kids too.” From that moment on Ben and I dreamed of the day we would be bringing our children to Disney.

Our first sprinkling of Pixie Dust occurred while entering the amphitheater for Fantasmic. Ben and I had read somewhere that if the castmembers knew you were on your honeymoon that sometimes you would get special treatment. We thought hey why don’t we make Just Married or Bride/Groom shirts. We bought a bunch of different colored t-shirts and iron on letters. I actually ran out of time to make them before our trip so I just brought the letters and shirts along with us. Each morning I would wake up and make our shirt for the day. On the first day we wore red shirts that said Just Married. The rest of the time we wore Bride/Groom shirts. Everywhere we went we would get congratulations. We couldn’t pass a CM without them telling us congrats. Well at Fantasmic a castmemeber spotted us and decided our seats just weren’t good enough and moved us to the priority seating area. We couldn’t believe that the shirts were actually working.

Fantasmic was great but not the same as what I had seen as Disneyland. I actually liked the version at Disneyland better. The addition of Pocahontas was nice and I like the rock-climbing scene and all but I missed my favorite part from DL. I loved the Pirate ship and Peter Pan and Hook. Seriously that was what made Fantasmic so impressive the first time I saw it. I think there is also something different about sitting in an amphitheatre and watching it take place on Tom Sawyer Island. The music of course was exactly the same and even to this day when I hear Fantasmic music it makes me get excited. There is just something about it.

We were exhausted once Fantasmic let out. We headed back to the hotel for a good night of sleep. We had no clue where we were going to go the next day and figured we would just wait at the bus stop and take the first bus that showed up as long as it wasn’t MGM.
 

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