So this trip, this amazing trip that I am about to embark on with my fellow travelers has been a long time coming. 

The first trip was planned for 2012 and was going to be amazing. Jaw dropping. Epic. And then it got cancelled. I got really sick and landed in the hospital. 

But a good travel fanatic and OCD planner can't be kept down, and I furiously got through a rough case of cancelled-plans-itis with the cure that was prescribed to me by so many of my other travel fanatic friends -- plan a new trip!!

So this amazing, fantastical, magical, awesome trip came into being. It's been a rough road, and required another hospitalisation along the way, but now we are here... the final countdown.  Our three intrepid travellers (myself, my man Carlo and my sister Katrina) have all had our share of ups and downs this year, and this trip has been the light at the end of the tunnel... 

So, we have just 18 more days to get our respective posterior's in gear, to get everything packed and ready, for me to get all my checklists checked, all my final preparations prepped... and then we are off! 

Our final itinerary looks like this: 

October 18th - fly Brisbane to Los Angeles, head down to Anaheim and stay across the street from Disneyland. Explore the local area, celebrate Carlo's birthday at Disneyland Resort, and attend Mickey's Halloween Party on the 21st. 

October 24th - fly Los Angeles to Orlando, head over to Walt Disney World and spend some time there at their new resort Art of Animation, catch the Not So Scary Halloween Party on the 25th and hopefully spend some time in all four of the theme parks. 

October 26th - board the Disney Fantasy for a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise departing from Port Canaveral (so sad we won't have time to stop in at NASA). We have 2 sea days, a stop in Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands) where we will be taking a tour around the island including a stop at a turtle farm, a stop in Costa Maya (Mexico) where we will be going to Chacchoben to visit some Mayan ruins, a stop in Cozumel (Mexico) where we will be just meandering through the local port & town square to shop then spending more time on board to catch up with some of the offered activities, and finally, a stop at Castaway Cay (island in the Azores, Bahamas) which is Disney's private island in the area, and we will have a total relaxation day at the beach. While on board, we will be celebrating Halloween, so we are looking forward to seeing what exciting plans Disney has scheduled on board.

November 2nd - debark the Disney Fantasy in Port Canaveral and head up to Universal Orlando to spend some time at Royal Pacific Resort and the Islands of Adventure theme park, including Wizarding World of Harry Potter (cause we are giant nerds and couldn't be in Orlando and not go there!). Also, I have been craving one of their frozen Butterbeer drinks ever since our 2011 trip :) 

Update:  my sister just called me and she just met at her work here in Brisvegas, Australia, the executive pastry chef who is shortly flying back to the USA for his next rotation on board the Disney Fantasy!  So excited as he told her to look him up while we are on board --- I see glorious pastries in our future :) 

So... that's the plan, pumpkins! Wish me luck with the final preparations...so much still to organise... deep breaths! :)