Patience may be a virtue, but let’s face it – it really stinks to wait for next vacation.  There is something about Walt Disney World that makes waiting especially hard as well.  We all have something we look forward to before we head down to Orlando.  You could be a first timer, looking forward to experiencing anything and everything Disney has to offer; or you could be a seasoned veteran, looking forward to the updates to the Haunted Mansion or just walking around the parks with your family.   For once, this week’s What in the World? Column is not about me at all – it’s all about what you are looking forward to.  As you know, two weeks ago, our site announced a contest where we wanted to know what you were looking forward to most on your next trip or visit to Walt Disney World.  We got some great responses, so here we go!

We start off with our very own Dark Lord of the Sith:

My next visit to Walt Disney World will be for Star Wars Weekends, an event that my family and I have attended before. I am very fortunate to be able to say that I have gone to WDW with my family several times now. Growing up, my family was only able to come there once in the mid 70’s. My wife traveled there with her father each year from junior High School through graduation. Once we were married and had our own little family we realized the value of making time to focus on each other. Since my daughter is an only child, this also meant picking something where we could all share in the experience. WDW is the type of place that forgives the adults for playing like the children. What that means to me is that my family goes there not just as Father, Mother and daughter, but also as friends out for a great time. 

During my next visit to WDW and Star Wars Weekends I’m looking forward to many things. I can’t wait to arrive at the park and hear the Star Wars theme music across the park. I’m excited to see the Storm Troopers carrying on with the guests at the front gate and all of the other Disney/Star Wars Fans talking back and forth with excitement over what is to come and reminiscing about Star Wars or previous Disney visits. The smell of food and goodies comes to mind as well. Anytime I don’t have to cook is a good time. I’m looking forward to the excitement of deciding which ride to go on first and how we are going to fit everything in our schedule for that day. I smile just thinking about hearing my daughters happy shrill as the Tower of Terror drops or as Star Tours comes to a stop. 

Just having the time to share a soda with my wife or get a silly picture of her with one of the characters is enough to get me excited about the trip. Where else are you going to get a family picture with a Wookie, Darth Vader, Mickey Mouse, Goofy or the members of the Jedi Council? I’m excited about doing something new and different by attending the StudiosCentral Dinner at SWW, meeting up with friends old and new for a good time by everyone young and old. Maybe I am just looking forward to getting a hold of those Star Wars Big Figs or meeting a celebrity who participated in the making of my favorite films? No, what I am looking forward to more than anything else is simply being able to walk up Main Street USA without a care in the world, holding hands with my wife and my daughter, because at that moment, I have everything in the world that I’ll ever need, and I’ll have it at the happiest place on Earth.

Fred W. discusses a trip (and a competition) he is planning with his family in 2010:

I was a single father for many years.   My best friend David, who lives in Tampa, would take my son and me to WDW for a week.   Because he was a hotel employee, he got free rooms.  As a single father, I had to really budget each year.  Going to WDW with my little boy and my best friend was something I looked forward to as a way to give me a small reprieve from the challenges in life.  Fast forward some years later and I remarried.  My son will be 15 years old in 2010 and probably his last trip in his youth.  Along our journey I gained a lot of weight and my wife and I joined weight watchers in 2004.  Since then I've hit the “holy grail of lifetime” and kept it off.  I discovered mountain bike racing and compete at a national level.  My weight loss journey and level of fitness from what I hear inspires people.  As with life, though, I have discovered it is important to have a balance so I thought I'd try something new and share that with the people I love the most.  So in May 2010, I am going to compete in the Florida Ironman 70.3.  Not only will my son, wife and best friend be my support team, but my wife's sister, husband and two daughters will also be there with us.  As I train, I think about that experience and focus on where I've been, how hard I have worked to overcome and what the future holds.  It will be an emotional experience for me, and I hope to cross that finish line in honor of the people I love the most who have supported me...and oh yeah, after a day of recovery enjoy the World with them.

Michelle F. shared a little surprise she’s planning for her children with us:

Our next Disney Trip is planned for October 8-13, 2008.   There are so many things that I am looking forward to during this trip.  But what am I looking forward to the most… is it staying at our home DVC resort, Saratoga Springs, for the first time?  Is it attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, our favorite special event at WDW?  No not entirely. 

On this trip, my parents are also going to be at WDW.  But my 4 and 6 year old children do not know this.  So on the night of Mickey’s Halloween Party, we plan to be waiting near the boat launch from the Wilderness Lodge and to have my parents get off the boat.  I am most looking forward to seeing the look on my children’s face when Nana and Grandpa get off the boat and get to go inside the Magic Kingdom with us.   It will definitely be one of those magical moments that my kids will remember for the rest of their lives.

Tyler T. sent us this submission about another Star Wars Weekend trip:

                I'm a student in a high school and I'm just about to finish my junior year. My family and I are heading to Walt Disney world June 24th. So I'll be there for Star Wars Weekends. I love WDW. This will be just my third trip there and I am very excited.  The thing I am looking forward to the most is definitely the experience.  You can go to any theme park in the country and get your thrills.  But it is only at Disney Parks where you can get that intimate magical feeling you can share with your friends and family. I think Walt Disney World is something everyone should experience.  Every time I've gone I've gotten the feeling that anything is possible when you put your mind to it. All the parades, attractions, and shows represent this mentality.  The Wishes fireworks show is a great example of this.  Every time I've seen the show I've left the Magic Kingdom feeling that all my dreams and wishes really can come true.  I know that sounds very cliché and corny but it is really how I feel.   

Most importantly, the number one thing about a Disney vacation for me is family.  For one week it is like everyone in my family can be a kid again and enjoy such a wonderful experience with the people they love. I already have a great relationship with everyone in my family.  A trip to Walt Disney World just strengthens our love for one another.   Thanks for the opportunity to show how I feel through this contest. I love studioscentral.com by the way and frequently am on it during my 2nd period computer class. 

Kathy G. talks about her first trip to Star Wars Weekends:

Well, my next trip is right around the corner.  This will be my first Star Wars Weekend experience.  I'm looking forward to many things on this trip:

1.  Experiencing all that is SWW, including the walk-around characters and the interesting people that attend SWW.
2.  The Studios Central sponsored dinner event during weekend 1.
3.  My first 'weekend' visit to WDW.  Living on the west coast, my visits are usually for a full week. 

 But most of all . . .

4.  Seeing friends again.  I met so many great people at MouseFest 2007, and some of them will be at SWW 1.  I'm really excited to hang out with these great people again.

Peter F. discusses a forum post he made on a similar subject:

I don't know if you're like me, but not a day goes by when I don't think about what I would rather be doing while at Walt Disney World. For me, I have specific plans for when I visit the parks.   Here are a few of them:

-           Presenting Francis Floot with his cartoon portrait done by me. Filming Dorma Nesmond as I would a wildlife documentary while getting her autograph on a photo that I have stored.

-          Finally tracking down Ron Stoppable and getting him to autograph the photo that Kim Possible started to sign.

-          Letting Mickey Mouse know that, despite my innate trepidation towards him, I have the utmost respect for him and his kind.

-          Saying goodbye to Ariel for the last time since she is a Princess and I'm not a girl.

-          Looking to where else I could possibly fit in among the Magic Kingdom, starting with Cinderella's step-family.

As you can see, I'm not exactly the conventional Disney traveler. I march to the beat of a different drum, even though I still need to follow Disney's rules, which would pretty much explain respecting the furries and saying farewell to some of the faces.   I guess you could say that if I do meet characters, I'd have to have a reason to visit them; otherwise, I'm just like everyone else.   But don't get me wrong. Having an autograph book can be handy at times.   It buys you time enough to converse with the characters.

Eric from MouseGuest.com gave us a head’s up about an event his site is hosting:

On my next trip to Walt Disney World, I'm really looking forward to the entire experience.  Or should I say, the entire Experience, as in The Mouse Guest Experience. The staff over here at MouseGuest.com are organizing a fan meet this October to bring together as many of our friends as possible.  We even have some special guests joining us, such as Matt Hochberg from Studios Central.  We'll be hosting various meets throughout the week as we hang out and enjoy the parks that we all love so much.  It should be a great time to renew the many friendships we've started over the past three years, and to meet new friends for the first time.

Ken G. shared what he is looking forward to the most on his next trip down to the World:

I am very excited about my next trip to "The World".  There are going to be several things that I haven't experienced before.  The things on that list will be eating at Artist Point, eating and viewing the Spirit of Aloha show, and taking some tours.   It is the tours and the reasons why that is the thing I am most excited about.  

When planning the trip, my friend and I were trying to think of what to do on our "Free Day". In the past it has usually been something outside the parks, like Disney Quest, touring the resorts, or freezing our behinds off at Typhoon Lagoon.  Well this time we are going to spend two days at Epcot.  Yes this will be a first for me and I am excited about it.  We will be able to take everything in, and just enjoy the park and the details.  Our first day at Epcot will be to take in Future World and as much of World Showcase as we can before we head off to the Poly for the Luau.  The second day will be even more exciting as we are planning on taking both the "Undiscovered Future World Tour" and the "Behind the Seeds Tour".   I am looking forward to the tours as I am information junkie and love to take in the stats and figures and trivia that I am sure the tour will provide.  After the tours it will be focusing on the rest of the World Showcase and having a nice dinner in France before watching Illuminations.

So you asked what I am most looking forward to.  Well it just slowing down and enjoying more of Epcot than I have ever done before.

Chip J. talks about our favorite subject, the Studios!

My most recent trip to the World (September 2007) was fresh off the heels of the announcement that Disney-MGM Studios was soon to see its name change to “Disney’s Hollywood Studios”.   Being a Studios purist, I found the news upsetting, but I was grateful that I would have this last chance to visit while it was still, as we all admittedly called it for short, “MGM” (and hey, some of us still do). So on this trip, I was sure to take special notice of the amount of signage saying “MGM” all over property and thought to myself “Wow, they’ve got their work cut out for them…it will take a while before everything says ‘Hollywood Studios’” I was selected to participate in the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular as an extra on this trip, and when I looked into my costume, noticed the “Property of Disney-MGM Studios” tags sewn into the lining. It was then that I thought “okay, there’s no way they could ever be thorough enough in the name change to get around to changing these tags.”

So, for my next trip (which I’m not entirely sure when that will be, but hopefully sooner rather than later) I’m on a hunt: I am anxious to see just how many references to “Disney-MGM Studios” I can still find on property. I figure the longer I wait to go back, the fewer chances I will have. But, I fully plan on being selected for the Indy stunt show again (even if I have to embarrass myself to get picked) just so I can check the tags in the lining of the costume…

Yulady R. wanted to proclaim her excite about Star Wars Weekend with us:

I'm so excited about SWW you have no idea (or maybe you do). We go to all 4 weekends being local we take advantage of our annual pass.  We celebrate my son's b-day (June 6th) there every year.  Now this time around is extra special for us because my sister and her husband just moved to Orlando and he's a big Star Wars fan.   Also his daughter is coming for the summer and we'll be taking all of them to DHS for the first time.

Also I got a special surprise for my son; we are dinning at 50's Prime Time for his birthday and I hope we get a really cool server to make our experience extra special.   I hope they pick on my brother in-law because he doesn't really like to eat vegetables that much.  

Also I'm looking forward to meeting people from this board.  It's fun to put a face to the screen names and to speak to other people that are as enthusiastic of DHS as I am. 

Conclusion

Before we announce the winner of the Disney Gift Card Giveaway, I wanted to conclude this article by sharing what I am looking forward to the most on my next visit.   As you may or may not know, I’ll be taking the next few weeks off as I make the journey across the country.   I can honestly say I am looking forward to finally be able to go to the World as often as I want (or as often as work permits me).  There is no longer a need to do commando-style touring.  I don’t have to fit every attraction and show into my day.  Heck, I can go to the parks and just sit on a bench if I was so inclined.  The pressure to get my money’s worth is no longer there and I think I will have a better chance to truly appreciate the World. 

And now, the winner of the $50 Disney Gift Card (selected by a random number generator online) is Michelle!  I will be emailing her separately and letting her know. 

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to sharing what you are looking forward to the most on your next trip.  It was a great response, and I hope to hold similar contests in the future.  So keep an eye out!

Until next time!