First Things First

Planning another Disney World vacation!  Just typing those words gives me goosebumps.

I find that I need a little dose of Disney everyday and perusing the websites, making the ADRs, reserving, confirming - are great ways to experience your vacation even before it starts.

So, it's been three years since my last foray into Disney vacation planning.  Yes, of course, I planned several imaginary vacations since then.  Like the:

• Extended Family Grand Villa Vacation
• Can We All Fit Into Port Orleans Riverside Vacation
• Can We All Fit Into the Contemporary Vacation
• Dream Concierge Level Vacation
• Let's Rent an RV And Stay At Fort Wilderness Vacation

and, of course, I played around with the

• Staying Off Property in a Hotel Vacation, and the
• Staying Off Property in an All Star Vacation Home Vacation (with variations on the Extended Family Vacation theme)

But this time it was for real and there were a few things I decided to do differently from the outset.

1. 2010 is not 2007 - must not have definite expectations.  Our 2007 vacation was so wonderful in so many ways - all the Magic Moments; however, I realized I needed to be ready for completely new and different experiences.  We shouldn't expect the same things from this trip and we shouldn't try to make it into the same vacation as before. This one could turn out quite differently and I needed to take it on its own terms.
2. Books - must invest in more books.  I love buying books.  Most of my purchases are for school, but I'm always scouring used sites for books about Disney World.  The Unofficial Guide has been secured and I've added Birnbaum's for Kids and the Neals lovely full-color tome to my collection.
3. Countdown Calendar - must make one for this trip.
4. Photos - must take more.  One thing we realized after our last trip was that we did not take enough pictures.  The good thing is that we were having too much fun to constantly be experiencing it from behind a camera or posing for the perfect shot, but there are so many pictures in our mind that we would love to look at with our eyes.
5. Organize - must keep better records.  Last trip I jotted everything down in a spiral notebook and eventually ripped out the pages and threw them away.  Eek!  I know!  What was I thinking?  All those price comparisons would be fun to look at next to 2010's prices.

And, there are other things that came up as we went along that I'll touch on.

Planning!  The anticipation!  We're going to Disney World!  Again!