So this arrived to our house…
For anyone who has been on an Adventures by Disney vacation before, this is when the butterflies of excitement arrives. For anyone traveling on their first Adventure- this is a HUGE surprise to receive in the mail.
Now, this will be my third Adventure, my husband’s second and the kids’ first (Tricia’s family will be with her- this will be her second Adventure and her family’s first). Each time the welcome box has been very different. For my Adventure to Peru in 2012 I received a back pack, pre-departure handbook, and some TSA approved toiletry bottles and bags. Tricia and I were floored and SO EXCITED when our boxes arrived. For our Adventure to Italy last summer, we received a canvas tote bag with our Adventure Handbook, luggage tags, and straps to put around our luggage.
This year wasn’t much different than the last, except in the type of bag we received- the backpack is so much more functional and I am sure we will bring one (we received 2 of everything because we have two reservations for the 5 of us, there is a maximum of 4 guests per reservation- traditionally, I will put our ABD momentoes inside it for safe keeping) with us on our adventure (the tote bag is top open, and doesn’t zipper- I didn’t trust I wouldn’t lose something along the way with that bag). The only reason I can think of the difference is that backpacks are issued for family Adventures (In Peru, we traveled with 5 kids) and the tote is reserved for adults-only Adventures.
There really isn’t too much more to report that I haven’t already– and I am not entirely sure what to expect as there hasn’t been much, recently reported, about this trip. We have been watching American Experience: Walt Disney to learn a lot more about Walt Disney and the empire he built with his brother, Roy. We land in LAX at 10:15 am and after checking in we are planning to head to the Hard Rock Hollywood for lunch before our rooms are ready at The Loews Hollywood Hotel so we can freshen up before the welcome event. We are staying quite late on our check out day, taking the red eye back to NY. We reserved a family dinner at Naples before we leave- right inside Downtown Disney, not far from our hotel where we will be picked up to head back to the airport. We LOVED their sister restaurant in Epcot, Via Napoli, so much when we visited in April- it seemed fitting to end the trip there.