When it all began...

I'll admit, I'm a Disney World late bloomer. I wasn't one of the fortunate ones who was able to visit The World regularly - or even as a child. The one encounter I had was in 1990 when I was 15 and it was only for a day and a half on a trip down to visit my uncle who lived in Tampa.  The only thing I remember about the place was that we got lost looking for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and that Epcot was "totally boring."  And, honestly, I never even thought about the place again - until 2008.

My husband and I love to go on vacation. We go on at least two really fun trips a year, and have done so since we started dating in 2000. They mostly consisted of yearly trips to Destin, mixed with trips to Vegas, Breckenridge, Aruba and our usual trips to New Orleans for Saints games (Who Dat!).  But in 2008, something came over me and I had this dire NEED to visit Disney World.  I don't know why, but I became obsessed with taking a trip there. I just had to see that mouse.

We decided to go, but I was clueless. I was so intimidated with that place and understood nothing. I became completely overwhelmed while trying to even pick a resort. I didn't know how anything worked, and what the heck was a Fast Pass?  So, being the planner and slave to detail that I am, I started reading. And reading. And reading. 

Our trip was booked a good 6 months in advance. In that time I was doing so much research and reading that by the time we got there I had everything completely planned out. I had laminated cards for each day of our trip complete with park hours, dinner reservation numbers, Fast Pass attractions and "must do's" for the day.  I was completely ready to tackle this new adventure.

We landed at MCO on a beautiful September morning and made our way down to board the Magical Express.  From the moment the welcome video came on, and the tears welled up in my eyes, I knew this was going to forever be something special in my life.  Once we arrived at Port Orleans French Quarter and checked in, it was time to explore, as I had planned it all out  in the months before.

I won't go into the details of that first trip today - that will be saved for future blogs.  I can't let all the stories free at once now can I?  But, I can promise you this - of all the places my husband and I had visited before, there was nothing to compare to the sheer joy and FUN we had together at our first trip to Disney World.

So, what made at first trip so memorable and life changing?  I'll let you in on that later.