A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes... Our Sharing the World pretrip report

[Travel Guru]

Can’t believe it, just two weeks till the planning and packing is done and the adventure begins! We started planning back in early June when we found great airfares and had a business function that happened to be in Orlando...oh gee, what a shame!I should probably title this “The BIG kids go to Disney World” because that’s closer to the truth. For now, I’ll borrow that famous line...A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes... Our Sharing the World pretrip report This is how it started...Once upon a time...for that is how many of the best stories begin... A small princess and her princely siblings went to visit the Land, Disneyland to be specific. Now all of them fell under the enchantment of this magical Kingdom, and begged to return from time to time to renew their acquaintance with old friends found there. Each time they visited they made new friends as well. But perhaps I have to go back a bit farther...The Princess Karen was the eldest of the three. She made her first visit to the Land in 1957 when her her family was residing in a nearby village. The following year the family took up residence in a shire to the north, far from the magical land, but it lived in her heart. The young princes, her brothers, arrived in 1959 and 1964. The first, Prince Mark was quite lovable but sometimes tried the patience of the princess sorely. (He would grow to be the finest pirate of the lot!) He won’t come into this story much, as he prefers not to travel by plane and elected not to travel to the World at this time. The second was a gentler soul, imaginative and artistic. Prince Thomas would one day become a fine troubadour. He was always fascinated with pyrotechnics (Cue the fireworks!) and was enamored with amusement parks.All of them loved their rare visits to the Land, enduring hours, dare I say, an entire day or more, of travel by auto coach. Before they reached their destination there would certainly be crushing games of “jelly” in the backseat, to say nothing of asking “how much farther?” innumerable times. The Queen, their mother, would patiently entertain them, while the King drove.When the day of a visit arrived, all eyes were glued to the coach windows hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse of the Matterhorn. (or later, Space Mountain) On each visit they found new adventures. Once they met bands of pirates, then ghosts moved into the mansion that had stood empty for so long. They Journeyed through Inner Space and visited the Carousel of Progress as well as touring the House of the Future. Having faithfully watched the World of Disney on Sunday evenings, (The first TV was purchased amid great fanfare when the princess was 6) the wonders of audioanimatronics were no less amazing when the Tiki Room birds serenaded or the Small World children sang.In time the family moved farther away, to the distant state of Michigan. Visits to the Land were too difficult (expensive) said the King and Queen. It was during that time that a proclamation was heard announcing the opening of a new Land, a World in fact. Oh how the princess and princes wished they could go! They studied the maps, read every scrap of paper relating to the new World and watched through the years as it grew.As the World grew, so did the princess and her brothers. They moved yet again (the actual number of moves they made was astounding) back to the west, from whence it was once again possible to make occasional visits to the beloved Land of Disney. Following one such visit the youngest prince, Prince Thomas, put together a marvelous tribute and presentation on Disneyland. The slides he used are still marked with the code he devised for this event.When the time came for the princess to marry, she was fortunate to meet Prince Brian from a neighboring village, who also loved to visit the Land. When the two were married, Prince Thomas, then 14, bestowed admission tickets to the land as his wedding gift. A wonderful time was had by all. While the Land remained wonderful, the dream of one day traveling to the World continued to flourish. As time passed the Princess and her Prince had a child of their own. They were able to take him to visit the Land as he grew but the World was far, far away...would they ever be able to go? Time flew by until one day they looked at one another and said “Soon our child will be grown, if we want to go as a family we must go soon!” And so, in 2001, they scraped their pennies together and began to plan a first visit to Disney World for January 2002.To say they had a grand adventure would be an understatement! Even before the plane landed on their return flight, they had begun to talk about what they might do on a return trip! When they returned home after visiting the World, the Princess shared her excitement with her parents and brothers, encouraging them to take adventures of their own. As time passed, Princess Karen and Prince Brian traveled to the World again, both alone and with the Queen who was delighted discover things she had never imagined! Each time they visited and watched the fireworks and electrical parades they would say, “Wouldn’t Prince Thomas love that!?” And so, a new dream was born to bring Prince Thomas to the World.Now Prince Thomas had always kept the dream of the World alive in his heart, but it had been many years since he had been even to the Land. As a fine, but often unemployed troubadour, it’s sometimes hard to make ends meet. At one time, when he thought the dream was almost within reach, he discovered a conflict with his childrens education, and the plan was shelved.This year, as the Princess and her Prince were about to celebrate their 30th anniversary, they discovered some exceedingly good airfares from West coast destinations and decided to invite Prince Thomas to be their guest for an October adventure. After shuffling the schedule a bit, he agreed. Prince Thomas then asked his love, the Lady Marguerite, to accompany him as she has never visited the World either.And so, our cast of characters is met:Myself, Princess Karen, 52Dear husband, Prince Brian, 52Brother, Prince Thomas, 44His Love, Lady Marguerite, 53