Let The Memories Begin: My Memories Part 2

A little while back, I started this series here on the blog to share with you all some of my memories of trips that have been quite influential in my life.  The ones that have really stuck with me and have become super special.  (For those who would like to read my first memory, please read Part 1.)

It was around this time that my love for Disney was starting to grow more rapidly.  I had been trying to find a way to get all my best girl friends together for a trip down to WDW, since we'd all gone away to different colleges.  It would be the perfect way to celebrate that first year back together.  Unfortunately, that trip never did pan out (I'm still waiting to go with my best friend...who has promised me as soon as she gets back from Kuwait next year, that going to WDW and trying to find the Seven Dwarves will be of top priority!  I so hope she's right!) The trip I had taken the previous year had shown me how much fun the theme parks were and I wanted so badly to share that with my best friends.

So, it was then that I started the research.    I joined a not so little forum in WDWMagic and read as much as I possibly could about the wonder that is Walt Disney World.  I couldn't get enough.  I absorbed it like a sponge.  Everything I read made me just a little more excited and anxious to finally get there, actually having an appreciation of what the parks were made of. 

Another big thing happened around this same time.  I stopped being afraid.  Before when I would go to theme parks, you could hardly get me on anything.  I was terrified of roller coasters, but I was getting my courage and was anxious to experience the attractions at WDW that made it famous that I'd been so scared to experience before! 

With all that being said, the second trip I would like to share with you all is one that shouldn't have ever happened.  You see, in 2003, my dad and I were photographing a wedding at Clearwater Beach and we had a job to do.  This was a purely working trip.  (In the fun and sun...I mean, who can argue with that?!)  We didn't realize it until we got down there, but my dad had somehow made a mistake.  He had gotten the dates of our flight back home wrong...we would be staying in Florida an extra day! 

Now my dad knew how much I was obsessing over Disney in recent months...and with an extra day that we didn't intend on having, he decided he was going to take me to Walt Disney World.

Now, for those of you who don't know...my dad isn't a very theme park type person.  He would go when we were kids because he felt it was the thing to do, to take your kids to Disney World...but I don't know if he ever really enjoyed it.  It was also one of the few times in my life when I can remember just doing something with my dad...there was no one but him and I.

I was over the moon excited!  The details of this trip are foggy at best again...and I do have some pictures, but most I lost due to a computer that I didn't save the files from.  (NOTE!!!  ALWAYS save your files somewhere else!!!!  If your computer crashes and you don't have a backup...it sucks....your memories are gone!)

I remember we drove up from Tampa and we managed to get a hotel room at the Holiday Inn Maingate.  We used to stay there when we were kids.  No longer did they have Holiday Hound and the kids club that I remembered so fondly, but the feel of the resort was the same.  It felt like an old friend. 

The next day, we went to the Magic Kingdom that day and I remember waiting in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and being so mad at the Cast Member who was working the line at the merge point for the Fastpass and Standby lines.  At the time, I thought she was doing a terrible job, even waiting as some Fastpassers came up the path...they weren't even at her yet!  (I still to this day don't remember why we didn't grab Fastpasses.  I knew what Fastpass was.  I can only assume we already had Fastpasses for another attraction in our hands.)  It's because of this encounter that I will never ride Big Thunder without a Fastpass. 

I also remember taking my first official ride on Space Mountain!  Yes, I'd been on it before, but it had scared the beejesus out of me!  This time, I faced my fear and rode.  I was brave!  And I was so excited that my dad was there with me, getting to experience that...seeing as how he was there the last time I chickened out.

But the thing that I will always carry with me was that I got to have a special day with my dad at a place that I love more than most.  That to me, is one of the best things that could have ever happened.  So I'm thankful that my dad messed up the flights.  Because this trip was meant to be. 

As I mentioned, I do have a few photos that I scrapbooked.  These, are the memories that stick with me about this trip. 

My favorite photo is the one of my dad.  We were standing in line for the monorail and I said pretend like you're having a good time.  :)

You see, it was this trip that really got the ball rolling for me in a swift manner, because after this trip, my life was about to change...I just didn't know it yet.