Prologue

At the end of last year's wedding anniversary, I wondered where our next anniversary trip would take place. A return to the Grand Californian, where we had just spent our third anniversary? Back to the Disneyland Hotel, where we actually wed and returned for our first and second anniversaries? Or a trip to Walt Disney World, where we had spent our honeymoon?

Little did I know then that we'd be catching a flight back east to experience eight nights at the Wilderness Lodge and adventures all over the World.

Since Kathy and I were "started by a mouse," we always try to plan a fun-filled weekend at the Disneyland Resort for each wedding anniversary. I had been wanting to get back to Walt Disney World for a vacation and suggested that perhaps instead of staying at Disneyland this year, we should head for Florida. We already had planned to vacation in Hawaii to visit Kathy's family this summer so the thought of a second week in Florida seemed little but a remote dream. But the more we thought about it, the more the thought appealed to us.

In April, we began to research the possibility of visiting more earnestly. I asked for advice on the discussion boards. We began looking for airfare the week we'd be visiting in July. And we watched the Travel Channel for programs on the various "Great Hotels" at Walt Disney World. Our original plan was to stay on-site, perhaps at a less-expensive hotel and buy four- or five-day passes at the Disney Store, which we would supplement with some one-day passes that we still had. After checking out all of our options, we decided to stay a little nicer at the Wilderness Lodge -- a deluxe hotel that was offering off-season pricing in the middle of summer.

After booking airfare and hotel, along came a great offer from Disney. Called the Fairy Tale Package, we were able to get three free days of hotel and park-hopper passes if we bought at least four nights of hotel with passes. The deal worked out to where we basically got free tickets for the same price as our original hotel stay quote. So I changed our reservations to the new package and we were good to go.

A Mickey Mouse head with countdown number to our trip to Walt Disney World. These would show up in some strange locations to much glee wherever they were found.

The anticipation for our trip was almost as much fun as we imagined the trip itself would be. I printed up Mickey Mouse heads with numbers representing how many days until our departure. Each day, Kathy or I would post the corresponding countdown head somewhere fun -- in our lunch boxes, on the mirror in the bathroom, tacked to the ceiling above our bed, on the steering wheel of our car. We never knew exactly where it would turn up but it always put a huge smile on our faces whenever we found it. Every night, each of us would read an entry from Birnbaum's guide for an attraction, shop or restaurant we wanted to visit. We even changed our sleep schedule to go to bed by 9 p.m. and get up by 4 a.m. so that we'd be better adjusted to the time change between California and Florida.

The traditional fourth-anniversary gift is fruit, so we got a Mickey Mouse fruit plate for dessert at our anniversary dinner at Yamabuki's.

A few days before our departure, our actual anniversary occurred. I took off from work early and picked Kathy up for an evening at Disneyland. We decided to have dinner at Yamabuki's, the Japanese restaurant at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel and the site of our rehearsal dinner four years before. We always come back to eat at Yamabuki's for each year's anniversary. We each had our usual teriyaki beef combination dinner. For dessert, Kathy decided that she was going to have the Mickey Mouse fruit plate. I laughed and told her that's what I was going to order for us. The fourth-year traditional anniversary gift is fruit, so I planned on getting this for us as our "gift."

Our brick in the esplanade between Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. It was close to be covered by a structure advertising the XGames Xperience at DCA.

After dinner, we decided to go visit the theme parks for a little while before heading home. We always visit our brick in the esplanade between Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure whenever we visit the resort. It has our names and anniversary date on it, so it was particularly appropriate to visit it this day. However, as we approached the area, a giant display had been set up to advertise the XGames Xperience at DCA. It appeared to be in the area where our brick was located. I pannicked a bit but was relieved to find that we were safe by a few bricks. It would have been a bummer to not get to visit our brick that day and must be a bummer for anyone who's brick was covered by this huge display.

More

We Were Started By A Mouse Too!  •  When In Cyberspace ... Disney Link Directory  •  

  •  Purchase Walt Disney World Tickets here - DISNEY TICKETS via DWTickets.com  •  

  •  Receive discounts on ORLANDO VACATION HOMES near Disney World from OrlandoVacation.com  •