Rediscovering (Walt) Disney

I was looking at Mark Dominy's DAK photos and feeling a little jealous. So here is a re-posting of some of my pics from DAK in 2009.

4 Days Until Disney! It's 2009 and we have been blessed with the arrival (Surprise!) of our very own princess, Maddy. As an excuse to return to WDW, celebrate Maddy's birthday (late) and subconsciously create an annual pilgrimage, we decide to book a vacation. Jumping in feet first Lisa starts the research and planning process. We buy every possible WDW guidebook, bookmark every relevant (and useless) WDW related website, and begin the all-important making of lists (Which are discarded, revised and updated with gleeful abandon!). We settle on a time (September), and length of trip (6 days) and then book the hotel; the Wilderness Lodge . In the process of making the hotel reservations Lisa is asked if she wants to upgrade to a Villa. Since it's a great deal and we'll have our own kitchen and laundry facility the answer is YES! Again, we had not been thinking about Disney Vacation Club and were only peripherally aware of it. Were we in for a treat! The trip is a ...

6 Days to Disney! We'll take another trip back in time... The year is 2006; Disney's Animal Kingdom opens with a new mountain. Expedition Everest puts Disney's Animal Kingdom back on the map as a popular place to visit. Disney announces the Year of a Milion Dreams. This time Lisa and I are headed to WDW for our first joint venture. Our good friends from PA, Barb & Mark, have invited us to go on a grown-ups only trip. Barb was able to get a good package deal through a friend, we got Park Hopper passes and we'd be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge! We had just about perfect October weather, the hotel was amazing, the food was excellent and we got to go, go, go without slowing down for diaper changes, naps or early bedtimes. Even though we missed Wishes and the SpectroMagic! parade at Magic Kingdom we did get to see Illuminations at Epcot. We also spent some very relaxing time at the lodge (at night and early in the morning) spotting many of the local animal po...