A couple months ago we finally decided on where we are going for this year’s family vacation. Originally, we were planning to join my parents, my sister, and a few other people on an almost-2-week cruise through the Baltic Nations. However, after thinking about it some more, we decided that bringing a 10 month old on an international flight to Europe followed by a cruise with almost-daily excursions into the city was probably not the easist thing to do.
Since we already had the time off from work we decided we would use the time for a family vacation that was more do-able considering our situation. At first my ambitions got the best of me and I started planning an epic two week road trip that would take us through several states and national parks.
Faith, though, decided to grow up. You see, when she was a few months old we took a road trip to St. George, Utah. We planned to stop every 2 hours or so and other than that, it was easy as pie. As soon as she got back into the car seat she would fall back asleep.
But kids grow up. And now she’s more awake and alert. She usually can sit and nap for 1 to 1.5 hours in a car seat and then she gets restless. She’s just recently started crawling around and wants to be abel to stretch out and look around. So her increased mobility made me reconsider the whole epic road-trip endeavor.
Several more weeks went by and finally we decided to fly to Florida for a 2 week vacation. My parents have a timeshare that we could use. The apartment would have a full kitchen and allow us a base of operations to return to each night or as needed. I was excited to return. The last time I visited Florida was as a kid on a family vacation. Allison had been to Florida once and it was for a competition. She remembers visitng Disney World for only a few hours.
And so it was decided. We booked our flights and started planning out our time there. Allison quickly began planning out which parks she wanted to visit. We scanned the ticket options. I openly questioned our decision. How would the baby handle a full day at a theme park? What if the baby decides to throw a fit and we need to leave after only a few hours? Is that even worth it? Should we plan multiple days at a park?
After weighing the options we finally decided to take the plunge on a Disney Premium Pass allowing us to visit any of the Disney parks in Florida or California. It gave us the most flexibility in planning for the trip. It also allowed us to make quick trips down to Disneyland/California Adventure as much as we want for the next year — another plus.
In the month that we have had the passes, we have made 4 trips already to Disneyland/California Adventure. I doubt that I can keep up a rate of 4 visits per month. But I’m going to try!
I have also noticed that Faith is just mesmerized when we go. Though she is only 8 months, she loves watching things happening. She is constnatly looking everywhere. I’ve have been recording videos of her at Disneyland and I think that I’m going to continue to record clips at every visit we make. I think that would make for an interesting video at the end of the year showing “growing up” at Disneyland.
Well, here’s to a very Disney year!
