My sister and I in front of Cinderella’s Castle (Photo taken by author)
Congrats everyone on making it to the last post! After explaining almost every Disney World concept in the book, I wanted to take the last post to share a little bit about my own Disney vacation experiences, both the good and the bad. I hope if you learn or remember anything after reading this post, it’s that even me (a person who knows so much about how to plan Disney World vacations) has not ever had “the perfect vacation”. There will always be a point in which your vacation plan falls short, or something happens that doesn’t allow you to complete your step-by-step itinerary exactly as you had hoped. It is your response during obstacles like these, however, which determine how great your vacation is- not the fact that there was on obstacle in the first place!
February 2020 Trip
This trip was taken right before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I had somehow convinced my parents to take a trip to Disney World for my “Sweet 16”, and so this was the first trip that we took to Disney World together since February 2016. Since this was my first Disney Trip where I was old enough to help with all of the planning, I took it as my civic duty to plan every Fastpass, dining reservation, and so much more for the trip. Something we did not expect to happen, however, was days before the trip I fell prey to one of the worst fevers I have ever had. Each day I suffered from something different, from a running nose one day, to endless coughing another, and loosing my voice on the third.
Although this did not prevent us from taking our trip, it did force us to modify a couple things so that I could get better. Firstly, we decided to cancel the majority of our meals out so that we could prioritize making food in our hotel room; secondly, we decided to sleep in instead of prioritizing rope drop; thirdly, we decided to limit our park time each day and be sure to space out our time with plenty of break times in between. In total, these breaks helped me to feel good enough so that I was able to enjoy every ounce of park time I had, and the Fastpass reservations helped to ensure that we were able to ride more attractions than we would have been able to otherwise.
My sister and I on the Disney Skyliner on my “Sweet 16th” birthday (Photo taken by author)
February 2021 Trip
During this trip, my family and I decided to splurge with an entire week of vacationing in Walt Disney World, instead of our past 3-4 day adventures. At that point we had joined Disney Vacation Club, so we were able to save more money on our hotel room, making it easier to stay for longer trips. Something we weren’t exactly expecting when traveling to Central-Florida, however, was visiting in the middle of a cold front. While the crowds were still dwindling as a result of 1) the winter months, and 2) the COVID 19 pandemic, in the winter months of Florida the temperature still usually lingers around the 60-70 degree mark. S0, when the “highs” for the day ended up being around 45 degrees while on vacation, my whole family was in shock.
Thankfully, we had packed enough warm clothes to last the week, and we even ended up buying hats, gloves, and even a winter coat, from the Disney World parks. Although the weather certainly did put a damper on our trip, we were still able to enjoy all the rides we wanted to with limited wait times, find time to enjoy our wonderful hotel room, and stay warm with what we brought and what we bought. Plus, it warmed up enough for the last couple of days that we were finally able to wear some of our warmer outfits!
My sister and I staying warm in Universal Studios Orlando (Photo taken by author)
June/July 2022 Trip
This trip was planned as the biggest graduation gift a person could receive! My parents were kind enough to let my sister and I take a (partly) solo trip down to Disney World as a celebration for graduating from high school. Since this was a special trip, I spent so long planning it (once again!), booking restaurant reservations, planning out which rides to ride and when, and even coming up with a strategy to booking Lightening-lane passes each day! It seems that karma struck when it was least expected, however, since I caught COVID 19 (for the first time!) right before the trip. Thankfully, I tested negative before flying; however, my symptoms of sickness persisted through almost the entire trip. I once again had a fever and everything that came with it: runny nose, scratchy throat, tiredness, you name it.
Thankfully, my sister and I had ordered groceries and had enough nutritious things to eat that we were able to eat foods that would help me to get better, as well as canceling the majority of dining reservations so that I would have more time to rest. Unfortunately, as soon as I was better, my sister got sick! Since I now had experience being the sick person, we essentially switched roles as I became the caretaker, telling her when to rest, setting up a medicine schedule, and making sure her temperature was low enough before going to the parks each day. It was certainly an eventful trip, but without our periods of rest and Lightening-lane strategies, it could have easily been a whole lot worse.
My sister and I after riding “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” in Epcot (Photo taken by author)
In conclusion…
It is always important to keep in mind that there is always a possibility that things could go wrong. No matter how much research you put into something, or how much time you spend planning your vacation, simple things like sickness or the weather can throw your plans completely off balance. The best thing to do when things aren’t exactly going your way is to remember that 1) you can still have a great time on vacation, and 2) you can always adapt to your new circumstances! In all three vacations that I just discussed, something did go wrong; however, I was still able to have amazing and memorable vacations since I adjusted my plan to the new circumstances, instead of getting frustrated and giving up. I am so glad that I was able to find ways around my obstacles, and hope that if you ever encounter obstacles on vacation, you adapt to your new situation instead of letting your challenges ruin everyone’s mood!
I hope you have enjoyed my Disney World blog, and with that being said…
