Trip Reports
Quick IndexDates of the Trip | Event Location / Where I stayed | Who was with me | # images | Highlights of the Trip |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sep 29 to Oct 5, 2002 | Walt Disney World/Caribbean Beach Resort Universal Orlando/Royal Pacific Resort |
Bruce | None | First time at a Disney Resort |
Oct 17 to Oct 27, 2007 | Great Smoky Mountain NP-Blue Ridge Pkwy-Kennedy Space Center Walt Disney World/Saratoga Springs Resort Universal Orlando/Portofino Bay Resort |
PiC | 960 | Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party |
Dec 12 to Dec 22, 2008 | Walt Disney World/All-Star Music and Port Orleans-French Quarter Universal Orlando/Royal Pacific Resort |
Bruce | 709 | RADP 13, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, Christmas in Disney World |
Dec 2 to Dec 13, 2009 | Walt Disney World/Kidani Village, Animal Kingdom Lodge Venice Island/Inn at the Beach |
PiC | 622 | The Varsity RADP Meet, RADP 14, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, Gulf Beaches |
June 16, 2010 | The Disney Store, Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL | PiC | 32 | D23 Event - Toy Story 3/Jessie Doll, Joan Cusack meet&greet |
Dec 5 to Dec 14, 2010 | Walt Disney World/Old Key West Resort | PiC | 484 | Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, RADP 15, Christmas in Disney World |
Feb 21, 2011 | MCA Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago | PiC | 20 | D23/Walt Disney Studios Platinum Edition Bambi Screening, Donnie Dunagan and Andreas Deja Meet&Greet |
May 8 to May 17, 2011 | Walt Disney World/Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary Resorts | PiC, Jenny | 1042 | D23/Destination D: WDW 40th |
June 25, 2011 | AMC Loews, 600 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL | PiC | None | D23/Cars 2 Cross Country Screening Event |
Aug 15 to Aug 22, 2011 | Walt Disney World/Coronado Springs Resort | Jenny, Cathy | 494 | A Meat Meet, Rain, Typhoon Lagoon |
Sep 26 to Oct 4, 2011 | Walt Disney World/2BR Villa, Saratoga Springs Resort | Miss Marie, Jenny | 561 | Taking my mobility impaired Mom to Disney World, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party |
Dec 4 to Dec 14, 2011 | Walt Disney World/Port Orleans - Riverside | Jenny, Cathy | 1084 | D23/2012 Magic and Merriment, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, Cinderella Castle Dream Suite Visit |
Mar 3 to Mar 12, 2012 | Walt Disney World/2BR Villa, Kidani Village, Animal Kingdom Lodge | Miss Marie, Jenny | 826 | Taking Mom to Disney World again, D23/John Carter preview |
June 24, 2012 | MCA Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago | PiC | None | D23's Disney FaNNIVERSARY 2012 |
Sep 27 to Oct 6, 2012 | Walt Disney World/Art of Animation Resort | Miss Marie, Jenny | 1251 | D23's Epcot 30th Anniversary Celebration, D23's Super Scream (Dinner in Great Movie Ride), D23's 2012 Sip & Scream |
March 10, 2013 | MCA Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago | PiC | None | D23's Disney FaNNIVERSARY 2013 |
December 4, 2013 | The Music Box Theater, Chicago | PiC | None | Mary Poppins and Saving Mr. Banks Preview (and movie review) |
September 6, 2014 | MCA Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago | PiC | None | D23's Disney FaNNIVERSARY 2014 |
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In December 2011, I visited Cinderella's Castle Suite... |
While my Road Trips are mostly trip reports, the theme parks section of this site is set up more like a stroll through the park.
So it's a separate section here, for those theme park vacations (or somewhat related events) I actually wrote up.
All of these were posted to the Usenet group rec.arts.disney.parks in text form about 1 to 4 weeks before the picture versions you see here. Some additions and corrections were made, but otherwise remain intact. (The 2002 Trip Report was never a picture report.)
![]() | This is my early September 2002 Trip Report, where digital officially ended my lifelong relationship with film. That said, since it was posted to a text only group, I kept it the way it originally was. (With a few pictures added just to break up the text.) The 400 or so pics I took are seeded in the various theme park pages... I stayed at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, with a trip to Universal Orlando. |
September 2007 started a serious effort to photo-document the parks, with a new 10MP Canon G7. It was the first camera that I felt had the controls perfect, and really opened up photography to me in a way my analog Nikon F3 or the earlier G series cameras could not. This report starts in the Smoky Mountain National Park, with stops along the way on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Kennedy Space Center before getting to Walt Disney World. We stayed at Saratoga Springs, and attended a Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Finally, a couple of days was spent at the Portofino Bay Resort in Universal Orlando. | ![]() |
![]() | This is my December 2008 Trip Report where I had almost perfect weather with me in Florida, as the rest of the country got snowed on. It was Christmas everywhere, and had highs in the mid-80's every day. (sigh) I stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, and attended RADP 13. |
This is my December 2009 Trip Report, where meeting people was just as important as beating PiC in Toy Story Midway Mania. Sub-par weather, but you can't win 'em all. From hot dogs in Atlanta to hunting for Shark's Teeth in the Gulf, it was a fun winter vacation... I stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village, attended RADP 14, and took a trip to Venice Island. | ![]() |
![]() | On June 16, 2010, Disney and D23 had a Toy Story 3/Joan Cusack meet and greet promotion. You could buy a limited edition Jessie Doll, and meet the voice herself, Joan Cusack. There was a D23 promotional tie-in, where the first 40 people to send an e-mail to D23 would be guaranteed a dol... Action Figure. I got one, and wrote a trip report on the experience... |
This is my December 2010 Trip Report, where frigid temperatures made for a cold trip. Still, it was a trip to Walt Disney World. Stayed at Old Key West, with visits to a few other resorts for Christmas. Highlights include RADP 15. | ![]() |
![]() | On February 21, 2011, D23 and Walt Disney Studios had a Blu-Ray Bambi screening at the MCA Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art, in celebration of the Blu-ray Platinum Edition release of the movie. |
After a terrible trip in December 2010, I thought I'd make up for it by attending the "Destination D: Walt Disney World 40th" event, which celebrated WDW's 40th anniversary. So in May 2011, I reported on my Disney Up North, Not A December Trip trip. I stayed at both Disney's Wilderness Lodge and The Contemporary hotel this trip. | ![]() |
![]() | On June 25, 2011, D23 held a Cars 2 Cross Country Screening Event. |
This is my It Was Hot, Then It Rained, Repeat Tomorrow Trip Report, where I broke two of my (sorta) WDW rules. First (with the exception of Animal Kingdom Lodge,) stay at a different resort every trip. Second, don't go during June, July or August. But rules were made to be broken, right? So in August 2011, I went to Florida and stayed at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort... | ![]() |
![]() | September/October of 2011 was my Now, For Something Completely Different Trip, where I took my mobility impaired Mom (Miss Marie) to Disney World with help from BYPT Jenny... I rented DVC points for a two-bedroom mobility accessible villa at Saratoga Springs and a scooter... |
This was my fifth trip to WDW in December, so I decided to do something different and bought tickets to D23's 2011 Magic and Merriment event. I would make my December 2011 one of my most memorable vacations at Disney World. Highlights would include a visit to the Cinderella Castle Suite, and a couple of holiday backstage areas. I stayed in a preferred room at Port Orleans Riverside, which I hadn't stayed at since 2003. | ![]() |
![]() | In March 2012 I took "Miss Marie", my mobility (and memory) impaired Mom to Disney World again, for my Let The Memories Begin... Again... trip. We stayed in a two-bedroom mobility accessible villa at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kidani Village. Oh, I also attended the D23 preview of John Carter... |
D23 takes one of their shows on the road to ten locations through the US. D23's Disney Fanniversary Celebration 2012 was a presentation of those things Disney having a major anniversary in years ending in '2' and '7'. I attended the June 24 event in Chicago. | ![]() |
![]() | In September/October 2012 I documented my This Is Too Good To Pass Up Walt Disney World trip. I attended D23's Epcot 30th Anniversary Celebration and D23's Super Scream / 2012 Sip & Scream Event, with the highlight of dinner in The Great Movie Ride. We rented two value rooms (one was a mobility accessible room) in the Little Mermaid section of the Art of Animation Resort. |
D23 takes their second road show to ten locations through the US. D23's Disney Fanniversary Celebration 2013 was a presentation of those things Disney having a major anniversary in years ending in '3' and '8'. I attended the March 10, 2pm event in Chicago. | ![]() |
![]() | In December 2013, D23 offered a double feature of Mary Poppins and Saving Mr. Banks on the big screen two weeks before the movie's general release. I'd been waiting to see this movie since July, so I got tickets. |
D23 takes their third road show to ten locations through the US. D23's Disney Fanniversary Celebration 2014 was a presentation of those things Disney having a major anniversary in years ending in '4' and '9'. I attended the September 6, 10:30am event in Chicago. | ![]() |
- 12/25/2010 - 2010 Trip report added
- 07/22/2011 - Trip Reports made its own page
- 09/18/2011 - Page updated (Aug 2011 & D23 Cars Event)
- 10/20/2011 - Page updated (Sept 2011 TR)
- 01/14/2012 - Page updated (Dec 2011 TR)
- 02/10/2012 - Theme Parks and Trip Reports recombined, updated to new format
- 04/05/2012 - Added March 2012 Trip Report
- 06/28/2012 - Added June 2012 D23 Fanniversary Event
- 08/20/2012 - Added Sept 2007 TR, minor updates
- 10/27/2012 - Added Sept/Oct 2012 TR
- 11/10/2012 - Trip Reports made its own page again
- 12/31/2012 - Update to v3.1
- 03/10/2013 - Added March 2013 Fanniversary Event
- 12/11/2013 - Added Mary Poppins/Saving Mr. Banks page
- 09/01/2014 - Update to v3.2