When I became involved in the online Disney fan community in 2001, I encountered a phenomenon known as the Trip Report.
A trip report is a type of travelogue, detailing someone's visit to a particular place, in this case Walt Disney World. Folks in the online Disney fan community love to read each others trip reports, both to live vicariously and to get a sense of what to expect on their own upcoming trips. Some trip reports are not much more than notes, while others are more like novellas, describing the writer's entire day in painstaking detail, and including pictures.
I wrote my first trip report in late 2001 after my September 11 trip, and following that effort I dug up my old notes from the two previous trips and used them to write trip reports more than two years after the fact. Since then I have taken more detailed notes on my trips specifically for the purpose of writing a trip report when I get home, and have written one for each trip.
My own trip reports are long-winded and full of as much detail as I can squeeze into them. But my main motivation in writing a trip report is not to share with others, although I do enjoy that; my main motivation is to document each of my trips well enough to refresh my own memory of them years later. I actually enjoy reading my own trip reports far more than writing them, because with each word and each photo, my own memories are brought back, fresher and stronger, and I enjoy reminiscing about the good times I have had at my favorite vacation spot.
By sharing my trip reports with you, I hope to give you a strong sense of what each of my WDW experiences was like, so that you can use my experience to help you better plan your own trips, to avoid mistakes I have made, and not to miss some of the Magical experiences that I have had over the years.
Below are links to my WDW trip reports, beginning in 1999. Each report also contains daily high and low temps, and my own pedometer and odometer readings.
Dates | Descriptions |
Friday April 16, 1999 to Friday April 23, 1999 | My first solo trip to WDW, on the occasion of my 30th birthday. |
Friday October 27, 2000 to Friday November 3, 2000 | My second solo trip, through Halloween week and the fabulous Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. |
Tuesday September 11, 2001 through Friday, September 21, 2001 | A trip with my friend Frank, taken in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. |
Saturday June 15, 2002 through Monday June 24, 2002 | Another solo trip, this one including a fabulous cruise on the Disney Wonder. |
Wednesday September 4, 2002 through Saturday September 7, 2002 | Another short solo trip, planned as a last blast on my Annual Pass before it expired. |
Thursday December 4, 2003 through Friday December 12, 2003 | My first MouseFest, and my first time at WDW during the Christmas season. |
Wednesday December 8, 2004 through Monday December 13, 2004 | MouseFest #2 - the trip that almost didn't happen for me, thanks to rough financial times. |
Thursday May 19, 2005 through Friday May 27, 2005 | My first time to Star Wars Weekends, and the first time to WDW in the hot weather in almost 3 years. |
Wednesday November 30, 2005 through Monday December 5, 2005 | My third MouseFest, the biggest and best yet. NOTE: This is just my notes - I have not yet written a trip report for this trip. |
Wednesday December 6, 2006 through Tuesday December 12, 2006 | MouseFest #4, even biggerer and betterer than last year - over 2,000 people were registered! NOTE: This is just my photos and notes - I have not yet written a full trip report. |
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Last Revision: 2009-07-04