[Caldercup]

<u>Using My Powers for Good</u>
Or, Why would anyone have to prove that Walt Disney World can be fun?

<u>A little background:</u>
If you’ve read my other trip reports, you know that I lost my mother 5 years ago to a sudden illness. After 41 years of marriage, it took my father a while to come out of his deep grief. Luckily, he was introduced to a lovely widow named Joan and they married a year later. The two families mesh well together and their five kids and 10 grandkids get along very well – especially the Lloyds and the Esterles, who have boys that are 19 days apart and good friends.

You may also know that I got Annual Passes (APs) last May when Calder and I went on our "Surprise Mother's Day Weekend" trip. We used them again when we "Avoided Hurricane Ivan" in September. The last time I thought they would see use was for the only planned trip of the year – "My Birthday with the Mouse" in November. I figured they’d sit in a drawer until they expired this May, &lt;sigh&gt; since I had no excuses to take Calder down again to finish the year off.

Well, rewind to Christmas. I was happily sipping some nog when Joan’s son Frank approached me. He and his wife wanted my “expert” opinion on whether they should go to WDW with their three boys (12, 9 and 4) for Easter break. Knowing that the crowds were expected to be larger this year because of the timing of spring breaks and the actual Easter week, I’m sure I grimaced a little. They both jumped in before I could say anything and added that they didn’t mind taking their kids out of school if they would have a better time on the trip. &lt;BIG SIGH&gt; “Excellent”, I said, “because I’d go in the off-season and that way you’ll have a much better time.” I told them that I preferred mid-November to any other time I’ve gone, but they were too excited and wanted to go before summer. So, I suggested May… and I joked that Calder and I would come down and hang out with them one afternoon if they went before May 7th. They jumped on this idea and were very excited to begin planning.

Let me stop the narrative here to tell you that I’m a Plan-a-holic and that my Disney World obsession can get, I’ll admit, a tad overbearing. My husband is generally accepting of this, but I worry that I’ll make other people crazy by chattering away about planning a trip. So, I wanted to be very low-key about talking to them or suggesting that CJ and I would join them. Well, I needn’t have worried as Frank’s wife Donna matched me obsession-for-obsession when it came to making decisions and we ramped up each other’s excitement for going. They begged us to come for the entire week they were going to be there.

I gave Donna my old 2003-2004 Passporter and the woman devoured it. I got my new Deluxe 2005 Passporter and started making notes, gathering ideas and generally trying to make this as memorable a trip as I could.

&lt;More to come&gt;