The first Disney trip we took as a family was back in 1999. My oldest daughter was 10 years old at the time and Disney had huge plans for a Millennium Celebration.
This was her first trip, it was four days prior to Christmas, and we pretty much had to see
everything. We did four parks in as many days, rode every single ride, saw every show,
and all of the Millennium and Christmas activities. We saw the lighting of the castle and holiday fireworks at the Magic Kingdom; the Christmas parade at Animal Kingdom; the Obsorne Lights and fake snow at MGM Studios; and
Tapestry of Nations, Illuminations, and the Candlelight Processional at Epcot, in addition to the Santas around the world (I particularly loved Kris Kringle).
Walt Disney World saw record freezing temperatures that year and we hit the parks for early entry in the mornings and then park hopped to the parks with late openings in the evening. Four parks, four days, park hopping, early open until late close. My feet hurt when they hit the floor in the morning, but
we had to see it all. I'd be lying if I told you this was a perfectly magical trip, but we did manage to cross off everything on the bucket list that year.
After that trip, as magical as it was, we decided not to go back for a while. Imagine that! However, a decade later, we had two more children who had never been to Disney so it was time to go back and there were, of course, many new things to see.
