A Whole New World
About This Page: This is a discussion on A Whole New World within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; Great last day! I like how the girls wanted to eek out every last little minute they could before leaving....
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
What a cool day! A VIP backstage tour of TSMM commerical shoots, flash mobs, great lunch. For being the last day of your trip, it seemed to be a good one.
I love the old lady on the train story. Glad she was having a ball at her own private party.
Sorry the trip is over, but I am sure you are not far off from another
What a great last day. How cool to have the behind the scenes tour of TSMM. That sounds neat - even if it did take half an hour. I've been thinking about taking the train on our next trip to WDW and having a sleeper car - I'll have to pick your brain as I begin the planning. Sorry this is all comng to an end.
What a fun last day! Interesting story about getting stuck on TSM Sounds like the perfect ending to a perfect trip! Thanks again for sharing your vacation memories with us. Are you going again in June for your annual Family trip? I hope so.
I've just devoured your trip report in one sitting, Jill, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I just cannot get over how Maddie has grown from baby to little girl, and Mary Devall from little girl to little lady, so quickly.
I love your take on the Waldorf Astoria too. Steve and I ate at the Bull and Bear once and found it was the kind of place where I had better not cut my steak with the butter knife or eat dessert with the soup spoon (both of which I am more than capable of) and so I wondered if I would find the hotel a bit pretentious - though it doesn't seem so at all.
Thanks for sharing.
This little trip ended up being an oasis for us in these first few months of 2012. It gave us something to look forward to and something to remember when our real world seemed to be spinning out of control at times.
It was probably about as perfect as a trip could be. The weather was warm and beautiful; the train was on time; the accommodations were outstanding and the parks were not too crowded. We played hard during the day and then were able to relax at night at the hotel with a band and a chocolate bar to boot. Life was good.
We did manage to have some interesting moments (and oddly enough, they all happened within hours of each other). At DHS, we experienced being in a commercial shoot (be kind to our acting abilities if we actually make it into the commercial and not on the cutting room floor), a flash mob and a ride breakdown. And people wonder if we ever find new things to do at Disney!
My favorite thing to do at Disney is (and will always be) simply wandering around World Showcase. We spent an entire afternoon doing just that and I’m pretty sure that my family enjoyed it every bit as much as I did. From watching an animal being carved at the Outpost to seeing Maddie all aglow in her kimono, we slowed down and reveled in the moment. We all had a good laugh when I overheard a lady ask a CM in Japan “Where are all the rides?” Bless her heart. The magic is harder for some people to see.
Speaking of magic, the only moment of contention came when Mary Devall revealed that as much as she loved our suite at the Waldorf that nothing took the place of being onsite to her. We had spent our last two family trips at Hilton resorts thanks to Thom’s many nights of business travel in 2011, but while Thom was totally in love with the low (or non-existent) price and the upgrades, Mary Devall just wasn’t feeling it. She was even missing the Disney buses! I couldn’t fault her though because I felt the same exact way. You can take the girl out of the Disney resorts, but you can’t take the Disney resorts out of the girl!
When we returned home, my mom’s struggles continued even though she and my dad were in a one floor apartment at a retirement home. Due to swelling in her legs, she continued to fall and she finally broke her hip about four weeks ago. She came through surgery like a champ and we hoped that she would be able to go to rehab, but the doctors informed us that her cancer had spread and that we didn’t have long with her. She had been at peace for a long time with dying, but it took a while for the rest of us to let her go. On April 7th, she passed away finally knowing that we were all going to be okay.
Her memorial service was a celebration of life and simply beautiful. Mary Devall asked to speak and I was in awe as she and Maddie approached the altar. Mary Devall was perfectly poised and without a hint of nerves as she recounted one of the last things that my mom had told her: that if she felt a breeze go by and touch her check, then it would be her Junebug.
Being the good English student that she is and knowing that my former English teacher mom would love it, Mary Devall also wrote an acrostic poem spelling out “Junebug.” Finally, she read what Maddie wanted to say – that Junebug was funny and very nice and that she loved her.
So . . . life must continue, but it’s still unthinkable that I now live in a world without my momma and my girls’ Junebug. In another way, I still feel like she’s with me - - in everything beautiful that I see and in those two precious faces that fill my life with love and hope. A whole new world, indeed.
About This Page: This is a discussion on A Whole New World within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; Great last day! I like how the girls wanted to eek out every last little minute they could before leaving....
commerical shoots, flash mobs, great lunch. For being the last day of your trip, it seemed to be a good one.
. Glad she was having a ball at her own private party.
" border="0" />
Sounds like the perfect ending to a perfect trip! Thanks again for sharing your vacation memories with us. Are you going again in June for your annual Family trip? I hope so. 
Linear Mode
