Walt Disney World 2009

Does the series countdown seem to be speeding up, or is it just me?! We are now just 11 days away from the 50th Anniversary. The excitement is building, and with that, we welcome Lynn from My Pixie Dust Diary to take us back to Walt Disney World 2009.

2009 was a huge year for my family both in Disney and in real life. 2008 was my family’s first trip to Disney World. I instantly fell in love and knew we had to go back soon and often. In September 2008 we bought annual passes and I put them to good use in 2009. 2008 saw us move 1,000 miles across the country from everyone we knew to a place where we knew no one. So, when friends wanted to come down and visit in 2009, it was cheaper for them to fly to Disney than to our home.

Having annual passes made it much easier for us to agree to meet them for their trip. The trip fell in February so the daddies and sons were all excited about our first ESPN The Weekend experience. This was also our friend’s son’s first Disney trip so to be able to share that experience with them was beyond magical. While we were in Disney, my best friend’s daughter was giving birth to a sweet baby girl that our new friends from our new city were going to adopt. Disney is a great place to get a call about a healthy little baby coming into the world!

Disney PhotoPass

Having totally fallen in love with Disney and looking for another reason for a trip. So I planned a surprise birthday trip for my husband and son’s birthday in July 2009. They share the same birthday which made the trip planning a little bit easier. I worked out the details with my husband’s boss, packed everyone’s things and told them we were headed to a very special dinner.

When we stopped for a potty break at the Florida Welcome Center, I gave them cards I’d made with clues to where we were headed. My then two year old knew before anyone where we were going and happily screamed “DISNEY”! The birthday boys were beyond excited and in a little bit of shock. Our long weekend was filled with lots of Disney magic and memories. Sadly, this trip I relied mostly on Disney PhotoPass pictures and was never able to retrieve them so I have no pictures from the trip. This is why I now take about a million pictures every trip and don’t rely on PhotoPass 100%.

We survived the summer heat and in just a few short months, my family was lucky enough to go to Disney with our friends who’d adopted the baby when they took their new little one on her first Disney vacation that September. Two “first trips” in the same year was beyond exciting!! Still being a newbie myself to Disney and all the ins and outs of when to visit certain attractions made me very nervous but thankfully both trips went very well and only made my Disney obsession grow.