My Disney Scrapbook

Now that my photos are all sorted and organized I have begun actually scrapbooking again. I am beginning by making pages for our Disneyworld trips. Megan gave me a Disney album along with various Disney themed scrapbooking supplies for Christmas last year, and I am excited to be using them now! The first thing I did was type a summary of our Disney trips for a title page. Here is what I journaled:



Our Disney Vacations

Jimmy and I have vacationed at Disneyworld five times together. We have traveled there with different amounts of children at various ages. Some Disney vacations proved more stressful than others, but overall we have enjoyed our time at Disney immensely.

Disneyworld Trip 1: July, 1992—We took my brother Rhett (13) and Jimmy’s brother Russ (10) with us. We had been married just one year, and we thought that a trip to Disneyworld would be a fun way to celebrate. We drove, but as best as I can remember, the trip was uneventful. Russ and Rhett were very well-behaved! We stayed at the Dixie Landings Hotel. Since we were a party of four and also since Russ and Rhett were both tall enough and brave enough for all of the rides, we easily rode whatever we wanted. However, this was before the days of the FastPass, and it was in July, so we waited in long lines in extreme heat….but we were young, so it didn’t seem to bother us.

Disneyworld Trip 2: October, 2001—This time we took our own children…Olivia (6), Julie (4), and Clay (2). It was the first airplane trip for the children. They behaved remarkably well on the plane. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, which was the same hotel as Dixie Landings, just with a new name. Our family of 5 easily fit into a standard room—2 double beds and one single trundle bed. Clay was still in diapers, and he and Julie both still took sippee cups. We rented a double and a single stroller each day. The weather was pleasant, and we had a super time!

Disneyworld Trip 3: January, 2005—Now we have 4 children…Olivia (9), Julie (7), Clay (5), and Leah (1). This was Leah’s first airplane ride. Of course Leah is in diapers, and I am still nursing her. We stayed in the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which nicely accommodated our family of 6. The room had a double bed, a bunk bed with a double on bottom and a single on top, and a crib for Leah. However, at the time, Leah slept terribly away from home, so I spent every night holding her in a chair most of the night. She napped frequently throughout the days at the park. We rented a single stroller. We played pass the baby in order for everyone to ride the rides. Pass the baby coupled with FastPasses enabled the older children to ride most attractions twice in a row with little or no waiting. The weather was cool and very enjoyable.

Disneyworld Trip 4: December, 2006—We decided that 5 children would not be enough to take to Disneyworld, so we invited my two nephews, Will and Seth to vacation with us! The children’s ages were: Will (15), Olivia (11), Seth (11), Julie (9), Clay (7), Leah (2) and Sam (10 months). This was Will’s and Seth’s first airplane ride. Sam’s first airplane ride was 2 months prior, on a trip to New York City with Jimmy and me. We required two hotel rooms this time at the Pop Century Resort. Sam was in diapers and still nursing, Leah drank from a sippee cup, and we rented a double stroller each day. This trip proved to be the most stressful Disney vacation ever for me! I guess it was counting 7 heads over and over again. We played pass the two babies and used FastPasses, and everyone got to ride all of the thrilling rides as much as they wanted. Since it was December, the crowds were bigger than I expected, and the weather was hot.

Disneyworld Trip 5: January, 2009—Again, we wanted extra children, so we invited a dear friend, Rebekah to come along. The children were now: Rebekah (15), Olivia (13), Julie (11), Clay (9), Leah (5), and Sam (turned 3 while we were there). We also decided that more would be merrier, so we vacationed with our close friends, Kelly and Lynn Mims and their four children…John Parker (9), Carson (7), Jared (5), and Avery (4). This time I got to count 10 heads repeatedly, but thankfully, there were three other adults to help me keep up with all of the children! For the first time since our very first Disney trip, we traveled with NO DIAPERS, NO SIPPEE CUPS, and I was NOT nursing a baby. What a difference that made. Another not so pleasant resemblance to our first Disney trip was that we drove. All the way! Two days to get there, two days to get home. We took two vans, seven people per van, and we stayed in two hotel rooms, seven people per room. Our accommodations were located at Shades of Green, the Disney military resort. We rented a double stroller each day, but Leah joined the older kids and rode every thrilling ride repeatedly thanks to pass the baby and FastPasses. The weather couldn’t have been better. This was a fun vacation.