Panama Canal Cruise EB August 2008 Disney Cruise Line

Lori & Michael’s 25th Anniversary Cruise

This is my first blog with AllEars.net (actually my first blog ever). Let me introduce myself.

My name is Lori and my husband, Michael, and our 16-year-old son, Aaron, live in Beaverton, OR. We’re in the ‘burbs of Portland. J Michael and I both grew up in Southern California (San Fernando Valley and Ventura) with Disneyland in our backyard. We have many fond memories of family vacations and even our high school grad nights spent at the original “Happiest Place on Earth”.

Our first family trip to Walt Disney World was in 1993 when our older son, Brandon, was 7 years old (he’s now 22) and Aaron was a few months shy of his second birthday! I remember wanting to stay at the Polynesian, but “settling” for a tower room facing the Magic Kingdom at the Contemporary Resort. How perfect! That was only the first of countless travels to the World; each giving our family new adventures and wonderful memories.

Unfortunately for us we didn’t join Disney Vacation Club until 2000! What were we thinking??? By this time we had not only made several visits to the World, but we were lucky enough to cruise on the maiden voyages of both the Disney Magic and the Wonder. With DVC, we have had even more visits to the World, Vero Beach, Disneyland, and twp one-week cruises on the Magic.

Back in 2006, I was excited to hear about plans in 2008 for the Disney Magic to return to the west coast. We had tried unsuccessfully to get on the first Disney cruise through the Canal. This time I was determined to get a cabin on one of the Panama Canal cruises. So, January 31, 2007, at a very early hour here on the west coast, I was on the phone with DVC and snagged the perfect cabin for our family, mid-ship, Deck 8. I’m certain my shouts of joy were heard all around the neighborhood!

We’ve watched the countdown tick away one day at a time for over a year. Unbelievably, one week from right now we’ll be onboard! We have our passports, we have our airline reservations, we have our transfers from LAX to the port and from Port Canaveral to MCO (don’t want to think about that), we have a couple of excursions booked (more on that later), Michael and Aaron have reserved their tuxedos from CruiseLineFormal.com, we’ve made arrangements for our puppies and our house (thanks, Brandon!), and now we just have to pack. Five more days of work and then we can be on our way!

Yes, we are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. The date was actually back in May which would have been perfect for the Westbound cruise. However, Aaron would have disowned us if we didn’t take him along! Originally, Brandon planned to join us, but life has taken him in other directions. He chose to stay home to hold down the fort and care for the doggies.

P.S. As you can see, we are well-prepared for “Pirates in the Caribbean” and always ready for fun!