[brumcg]

Howdy folks,

We're back from our first trip to WDW in 2 years. Before the gap, we had been on trips for 7 straight years. Simply put, absence does make the heart grow fonder. Our last few trips really started to slow down quite a bit, but the anticipation for this trip - and the crowds - put us in, well, let's say "half-commando" mode.

I've done a non-standard trip report due to the slow pace of our last several trips. In my commando days, I used to write blow-by-blow reports; then as our trips changed, I started to write "highlight" based reports... and I'll stick to that format. I'll break the report down into food, the resort, the parks, and the kitchen sink. The kitchen sink is going to be big this year. At the end, I'll post some pics.

Planning prior to the trip is done on a very democratic basis. For the parks, everyone gets a pick of an attraction that they HAVE to do and then we rate the rest; from this, a list comes together that we use to prioritize what we'd like to do. For dining, it's the same; we all pick one place, and then take the highest rated places. This said, we're always ready to zig when everyone else zags.

The cast is myself (age 44), my wife Sandy (age greater than me), my daughter Mags (age 17), and my daughter Mo (age 9).

Food is, not surprisingly, still a huge priority for us... so I'll do that first.