stackyallred
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2008
5 in 5: Brainwashing No Longer Required!
Hello! If you are reading this, it means that either:
1. My attempt to somehow come up with a new, clever TR title worked!
OR
2. You accidentally clicked on my link while trying to read the TR you love and have followed for weeks.
Whether by accident or by choice, welcome and I hope you will stick around! In the spirit of Dr. Doofenshmirtz and his love for backstories, let us begin with some history, shall we?
Side note: My son has heard the phrase “back story” on Phineas and Ferb multiple times and now asks, “Is this a backstory?” when someone starts to tell about their past.
We are a 3 person family established in 2009 and prior to that we were a 2 person family that was established in 2003. In other words, my husband, Philip and I got married (and honeymooned in WDW) 11 years ago and our son ( we shall call him “E”) joined us 5 years ago. It was never our plan to have only one kiddo but that is who we are and we are thankful for our little family. We like to joke that God knew we would only have one and so he packed the personality of 3 kids into one just for us (just wait, you will see)!
Our honeymoon... so long ago that I don't have a digital copy!
Our first trip with E (including my MIL and SIL)!
Philip and I both had the chance to visit Disney World a few times with our families growing up but our love for it definitely did not really reach the point of fan girl proportions until we were married. As I said, we honeymooned there and then had another vacation there in 2005. In 2007, at 3 weeks out, a friend offered us a week long stay in his condo at Bonnet Creek. Something happened that trip that we can only chalk up to Disney magic. We had loved WDW before, but something just clicked this trip. Maybe our surface love grew into something deeper or more meaningful... Maybe we unknowingly drank some kind of kool-aid... Maybe we finally understood that when they say, “Welcome Home” that they mean it and it really is now our new home. Whatever the reason, we got the bug and have been trying to get back whenever we can every second since.
On our 3rd trip together... when we became officially hooked!
Philip and I will be taking our 15th trip together back “home” soon and E will be taking his 6th later this year. But this trip report you are reading is celebrating E's 5th WDW visit in 5 years as the title suggests. As for the “brainwashing” tagline... When we first knew we were about to be blessed with a baby, we had many conversations between us and with others about how we would attempt to brainwash our child into loving Disney World like we do. Well, attempt, we did.
On our "Babymoon" trip. We had the characters hold these up for our Disney baby on the way!
We had him watching Youtube videos of Wishes by 8 months and knowing the Magic Kingdom Welcome Medley word for word before his 2nd birthday. He seemed to have an early love for all things Disney so it wasn't any effort to get him into the spirit of things!
Introducing Baby E to Wishes!
By his 4th trip in 2013, he was leading the way through each park and resort, no maps needed.
Our family (including my awesome SIL again) dressed as the Jake and the Neverland Pirates crew at MNSSHP on E's 4th trip
Just 10 days before this most recent trip, E turned 5 and had already been a Disney World aficionado for approximately 3 years. He had been in the habit of asking daily if we could go back and it was clear to us that by now, brainwashing was no longer required. Success! We had another Disney World-obsessed family member on our hands and two equally excited parents ready to pull off a surprise trip!
So there you have it.. our backstory! Stay tuned for the who, the what, then when and the where!
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