Ah, January. I always head into this month with mixed feelings – relief that we can get back to “normalcy” after the craziness of the holidays but also a little bit of sadness/letdown after all the excitement from the past month. Because of that, I try to find something fun to focus on, like vacation planning! Although we don’t have as many Disney trips planned this year as we had the past two years, we do have some good stuff planned, starting with our first trip in just 15 days!

Here are the trips I’m going to be planning this year.

January
A surprise trip to Disneyland for Colorado Boy’s 9th birthday. This is the first time Colorado Dad and I have kept a trip secret from the kids. So far, we’ve done ok, but we keep catching ourselves talking about things we’re going to do while we’re there while we’re in front of the kids. Oops! We couldn’t get DVC ressies for Grand Californian for this trip since it’s pretty last minute, so we’ll be staying at the Disneyland Hotel. Although we have already stayed in one of the updated rooms (very nice!), we haven’t been to Trader Sam’s, so we’re looking forward to enjoying a Krakatoa Punch or maybe a Schweitzer Falls while we’re there!

June
This is the big one for the year – our cruise to Alaska! We won’t be able to start booking our excursions and spa treatments until late March, but I’ve already started combing the interwebs for info. We’re leaving from Seattle, which just happens to be where my company is headquartered, so might spend a couple days there beforehand with some of my work buddies. As we get closer, I’ll be posting various tips we’ve learned on our previous cruises and will, of course, post pictures of our adventure when we return.

August
Are you 23? D23 that is…Colorado Dad and I are both D23 members and are looking forward to another great event in August’s Destination D. This year, the event is focusing on 75 Years of Disney Animation, so I’m sure there will be some great presentations. There aren’t a lot of details on this event yet, but we have already booked our DVC room at the Grand Californian. I’m embarassed to say that we’ve only spent one night at our home resort since becoming members back in 2009, so we are very excited to be spending several days there.

So, that’s what we have on tap for this year…at least so far. Colorado Dad will be in Anaheim for sure in March for a convention, with a possibility to dine in Club 33, so if that happens, I will definitely be joining him

What Disney trips are you planning this year?