Thompson & Buss Disney Vacation Web Site

In 1999, our family made our first trip to Walt Disney World and the Disney cruise ship. Our love of all things Disney quickly grew after that trip. This web site lists the trips we have taken and includes many pictures from the trips. We hope to continually add more information and pictures as well as links to Disney information.

Planned Disney Vacations

2012

February 2012 at Champions Gate (DVC)

The trip is planned for 2/3/2012 - 2/13/2012. A 1 BR Theme Park view room at Bay Lake Towers has been booked for 2/5/2012 - 2/10/2012. The balance of the nights will be spent in Champions Gate.

Delta - depart 2/3/2012 11:13 am (Flt 5131 Seats 2C, 2D), arrive Atlanta 2:09 pm. Depart Atlanta 4:50 pm (Flt 925 Seats 2C, 2D), arrive Orlando (MCO) 6:20 pm.
Delta - depart 2/13/2012 11:30 pm (Flt 2018 Seats 2C, 2D), arrive Atlanta 1:05 pm. Depart Atlanta 3:10 pm (Flt 3801 Seats 2C, 2D), arrive Des Moines 4:27 pm.

March 2012 Disney Magic Eastern Caribbean Cruise (Cash)

We have rescheduled the 2011 cruise that we had cancelled. The sail date is March 10, 2012. We will fly to Orlando on Thursday 3/8, then stay Thu and Fri at Champions Gate. We will travel to the port on Saturday morning. We are booked for room 8534. This trip was scheduled to include Stephanie; however, she was accepted into the Disney College Program and will be working at Walt Disney Word during this time. She may be able to ask for the week off. We hope to find out if she will cruise with us in early February.

Delta - depart 3/8/2011 11:01 am (Flt 5131 Seats 2C, 2D), arrive Atlanta 2:05 pm. Depart Atlanta 3:55 pm (Flt 11 Seats 3C, 3D), arrive Orlando (MCO) 5:26 pm.
Delta - depart 3/19/2012 3:30 pm (Flt 1950 Seats 3A, 3B), arrive Atlanta 5:11 pm. Depart Atlanta 8:45 pm (Flt 2273 Seats 2C, 2D), arrive Des Moines 10:04 pm.

April 2012 Trip to Atlanta, then to Orlando

We have scheduled a split trip in April. The first 2 days will be in Atlanta to visit Ryan, Meghan and Isabelle. We then will travel to Orlando to stay at the house for 8 nights. We have no plans to stay at Disney, but we are sure we will visit the parks and/or resorts. Golf, golf lessons and working on the house may also be part of the plan. And of course, visiting Stephanie at Disney will be part of the trip.

Delta - depart 4/20/2012 4:00 (Flt 5312 Seats 5C, 5D), arrive Atlanta 6:59 pm. Depart Atlanta 4/22/2012 12:50 pm (Flt 2369 Seats 17D, 17E), arrive Orlando (MCO) 2:19 pm.
Delta - depart 4/30/2012 11:30 am (Flt 2018 Seats 21D, 21E), arrive Atlanta 1:03 pm. Depart Atlanta 2:11 pm (Flt 5312 Seats 5C, 5D), arrive Des Moines 3:22 pm.

June 2012 at Champions Gate and Boardwalk Villas (DVC)

The primary purpose of this trip it to visit Stephanie at Disney for her birthday and to attend the last weekend of Star Wars Weekend. We will stay at Boardwalk Villas for 4 nights.

Delta - depart 6/6/2012 11:30 am (Flt 5131 Seats 6C, 6D), arrive Atlanta 2:45 pm. Depart Atlanta 3:55 pm (Flt 25 Seats 21D, 21E), arrive Orlando (MCO) 5:29 pm.
Delta - depart 6/13/2012 3:30 pm (Flt 2369 Seats 17D, 17E), arrive Atlanta 5:04 pm. Depart Atlanta 8:40 pm (Flt 1953 Seats 11D, 11E), arrive Des Moines 9:53 pm.

December 2012 at Disney World (Cash)

We will travel to Disneyworld in December 2012 for 11-12 nights. We plan to travel to Orlando on Wednesday, December 26, 2012 and return to Des Moines on Sunday, January 6, 2013 or Monday, January 7, 2013. We have booked a room at the Disney Polynesian resort from December 29th through Jan 5th. We will celebrate New Year's Eve at Disneyworld.

Previous Disney Trips

Disney Trip Count (total # of Disney trips, DCL, WDW)

1973

KATHY'S 1973 TRIP

1999

AUGUST 1999 LAND AND SEA - (1/1/1) This trip was a 3 day land / 4 day cruise package. For the land portion of the vacation, we stayed at Boardwalk. The cruise (in rooms 6534 & 6532) was aboard the Disney Magic and sailed to Nassau and Castaway Cay.

2000

JULY and AUGUST 2000 LAND AND SEA - (2,1,2) and (3,2,2) Our second was much different. It began on July 26, 2000 with 10 days in Kissimmee, FL with David's baseball team, the Iowa Sting, for the 16U AAU National Championship. We stayed in a hotel 2.5 miles from Disney World. Mom, Tony, Ryan and Steph spent most of this time at the parks. After the tournament, we flew back to Des Moines on August 5, 2000 and spent 1 week preparing for a 7 day cruise. We returned to Orlando on August 11, 2000 for the inaugural Disney Magic 7 day cruise (in room 6046) that began on the 12th. We sailed to St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Castaway Cay.

2001

AUGUST 2001 CRUISE - (4,3,2) Our next Disney adventure was another cruise (in room 6046) in August 2001. We were in the same 2 rooms that we were in during the 2000 cruise.

2002

MARCH 2002 CRUISE - (5,4,2) We next took a cruise (in room 6120) during Spring Break 2002. This cruise added some excitement because the ship caught fire a few days before our cruise began.

2003

MARCH 2003 CRUISE - (6,5,2) We next took a cruise during Spring Break 2003. This cruise sailed to Key West, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel (8548). We could not go ashore at Grand Cayman because the seas were too rough for the tenders..

2004

MARCH 2004 CRUISE - (7,6,2) Our Spring Break 2004 cruise again took us on the eastern route (8548). We visited St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Castaway Cay.

NEW YEARS EVE 2004 CRUISE - (8,7,2) We surprised Stephanie on Christmas morning 2004. She opened one of her gifts and found homework inside. After she showed us a very bewildered look, we handed her our "gift certificate" that informed her that we were about to embark on another Disney cruise; however, she had until 7:30 the next morning to prepare. What a surprise! We spent a fun New Years Eve on the Disney Magic.

2005

NEW YEARS EVE 2005 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (9,7,3) We traveled to the Polynesian Resort at Disneyworld from December 27, 2005 through January 3, 2006. This resort is across a small lake from Magic Kingdom. We visited all of the parks and had a great time!

2006

MARCH 2006 CRUISE - (10,8,3) Our next one was a cruise on the Disney Magic (8548) during March 2006. We sailed on the Disney Magic 7 day cruise starting March 18, 2006. We flew in the night before. The cruise took an eastern Caribbean route. The route took us to St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Castaway Cay.

NEW YEARS EVE 2006 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (11,8,4) We traveled to the Polynesian Resort at Disneyworld from December 26, 2006 through January 2, 2007. We visited all of the parks and had a great time!

2007

JULY 2007 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (12,8,5) We traveled to the Polynesian Resort at Disneyworld from July 7, 2007 through July 14, 2007. We celebrated Mom's 50th birthday by visiting all of the parks and had a great time!

NOVEMBER 2007 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (13,8,6) In November 2007, Dad and Mom traveled to the Grand Floridian Resort at Disneyworld from November 3rd through the 10th, 2007. We visited all of the parks and had a great time!

NEW YEARS EVE 2007 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (14,8,7) In December 2007, we traveled to the Polynesian Resort at Disneyworld from December 26, 2007 through January 2, 2008. This resort is across a small lake from Magic Kingdom. We visited all of the parks and had a great time! We had so much fun that we decided to purchase shares in the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) which will allow us to enjoy Disney vacation for years to come!

2008

FEBRUARY 2008 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (15,8,8) In February 2008, Dad and Mom traveled to the Polynesian Resort at Disneyworld from February 2 - 9, 2008. This resort is across a small lake from Magic Kingdom. The primary purpose of the trip was to allow Dad to attend the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in Orlando. While we were there, we also visited all of the parks and had a great time!

MARCH 2008 LAND AND SEA - (16,9,9) In March 2008, we traveled to Orlando on March 13, 2008 and stayed for 2 nights at Polynesian Resort and visited Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios. We then boarded the Disney Magic on Saturday, March 15th and returned to port on Saturday, March 22nd. We visited St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Disney's Castaway Cay. Dad, Mom & Stephanie were in room 8534. David, Jessica and Zach were in room 7014. David and Jessica got engaged on the beach in St. Maarten!!

JUNE 2008 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (17,9,10) We traveled to the Boardwalk Villas at Disneyworld from June 7, 2008 through June 12, 2008 and celebrated Stephanie's birthday on June 10th. Emily joined us during this trip for her birthday. We stayed in a 1 BR DVC Villa at Boardwalk resort, which is between Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios.

AUGUST 2008 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (18,9,11) We traveled to the Boardwalk Inn at Disneyworld from August 13, 2008 through August 18, 2008 because our Lake was flooded (what an excuse!!). We visited all of the parks except Animal Kingdom and had a great time!

NOVEMBER 2008 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (19,9,12) Dad & Mom traveled to the Boardwalk Villas at Disneyworld from November 2008 through November 15, 2008. We stayed in a 1 BR DVC Villa at Boardwalk resort, which is between Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios. During this trip, we purchased DVC points at Bay Lake Towers.

NEW YEARS EVE 2008 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (20,9,13) In December 2008, we traveled to the Polynesian Resort at Disneyworld from December 26, 2008 through January 5, 2009. This resort is across a small lake from Magic Kingdom. We hosted a web cam (Ustream.tv) during the entire stay.

2009

FEBRUARY 2009 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (21,9,14) Dad & Mom traveled to Disneyworld from February 6-15, 2009. We stayed in a 1 BR DVC villa at Saratoga Springs resort. We visited all of the parks and had a great time! We hosted a web cam (Eyesonears.com) during the entire stay.

MARCH 2009 LAND AND SEA - (22, 10, 15) We traveled to Orlando in March 2009. We stayed at the Polynesian for two nights before boarding the Disney Magic (room 8548) for a 7 night eastern Caribbean cruise We then returned to the Polynesian for 2 nights before returning home. The vacation ran from March 12, 2009 through March 23, 2009. We hosted a web cam (Eyesonears.com) during the entire stay. Streaming from the ship while at sea was an experience.

JULY 2009 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (23,10,16) Dad, Mom, Stephanie & Emily traveled to Disneyworld in July 2009 for 9 nights (July 24th through August 2nd). We stayed in a 1 BR DVC villa at Boardwalk resort. We hosted a web cam (Eyesonears.com) during the entire stay.

NOVEMBER 2009 WALT DISNEY WORLD - (24,10,17) Dad & Mom traveled to Disneyworld in November 2009 for 9 nights. We stayed at Bay Lake Towers. Bay Lake is the newest Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resort. It opened in August 2009. Our names are included on the fountain out front as being one of the 1st 1000 families to purchase an ownership stake in this resort. We hosted a web cam (Eyesonears.com) during the entire stay.

DECEMBER 2009 WALT DISNEY WORLD (25,10,18) - Dad, Mom & Steph traveled to Disneyworld in December 2009 for 9 nights. We stayed at the Disney Polynesian resort and celebrated New Year's Eve at Disneyworld. We hosted a web cam (Eyesonears.com) during the entire stay. Everyone enjoyed watching NYE fireworks. We even had families who watched the fireworks last year on the internet join us at our room this visit.

2010

FEBRUARY 2010 WALT DISNEY WORLD (26,10,19) - Dad and Mom traveled to Disneyworld February 5th - 16th, 2010 for 11 nights. We stayed at the Disney Boardwalk Villas resort. We hosted a web cam (Eyesonears.com) during the entire stay. The original plan was to return to Des Moines on Sunday, February 14th. The weather forecast in Des Moines raised safety concerns and also the concern that we may be forced to spend the night in Minneapolis led us to change our return date by one day. The airline could not accommodate us with a return on Monday, February 15th, but could on Tuesday, February 16th. Despite what everyone may believe, this was not done just to stay at Disney 2 more days. Although we made sure we enjoyed it. As a footnote, Dad actually got more work done this week than in a normal work week in the office (less distractions). This cannot become a habit however. During the bonus day, we did get a chance to check out the golfing facilities at Disney World. We also got the ball rolling on the addition of more DVC points.

MARCH 2010 WALT DISNEY WORLD PLUS DISNEY CRUISE (27,11,20)

Dad, Mom & Steph traveled to Orlando in March 2010. We stayed at Bay Lake Towers (room 7726 - same as last November) for two nights before boarding the Disney Magic ( room 8534) for a 7 night eastern Caribbean cruise We then returned to the Bay Lake Towers (room 7626) for 2 nights before returning home. The vacation ran from March 11, 2010 through March 22, 2010. Our servers on the ship were Raman from India and Stephanie from New Zealand. We hosted a web cam (Eyesonears.com) during as much of the trip as possible.

JUNE 2010 WALT DISNEY WORLD (28,11,21)

Dad, Mom & Steph traveled to Disneyworld in June 2010 to celebrate Steph's graduation and visit Disney's Star Wars Weekend. We stayed at Boardwalk Villas. The trip was very short. We flew down on Friday June 11th and returned on Monday, June 14th. We hosted a web cam (Eyesonears.com) during the entire stay.

JUNE/JULY 2010 WALT DISNEY WORLD / CHAMPIONS GATE (29,11,22)

Dad, Mom & Steph traveled to Disneyworld on June 28, 2010. The primary purpose of the trip was to close on our new vacation home and to move in. We stayed at Saratoga Springs resort at Disney World. We also spent some time at the parks. We watched the 4th of July fireworks. We flew down on Monday, June 28th and returned on Monday, July 5th. Our furniture was not delivered as scheduled. Another trip was scheduled to move in. We hosted a web cam on this trip as we have done before.

AUGUST 2010 AT CHAMPIONS GATE/OMNI (30,11,23)

Dad & Mom traveled to Florida in August. The primary purpose of the trip was to set up our new home and to enjoy both the new neighborhood and Disney World. We stayed at the Omni Hotel in Champions Gate for 2 nights before staying in our new vacation home. Pictures of our new home after we put everything in place. We did briefly visit Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney.

SEPTEMBER 2010 AT CHAMPIONS GATE (31,11,24)

Dad & Mom traveled to Florida for a long weekend in September. We flew down on Friday, September 24th and returned on Monday, September 27th. We had not planned to visit Disney World during this trip; however, we could not resist. On Sunday, we ate at Rain Forest Cafe outside of Animal Kingdom. We then drove to Epcot and spend a few hours there. We then walked to Hollywood Studios to eat at Prime Time. We then walked back to Epcot to watch Illuminations, then drove back to the house.

NOVEMBER 2010 AT DISNEY WORLD/CHAMPIONS GATE (DVC) (32,11,25)

Dad & Mom traveled to Disneyworld in November 2010. We stayed at Bay Lake Towers for part of the time with rest of the time at our new townhouse. We booked the trip for 10 nights (November 5-15, 2010). Dad golfed at the course in Champions Gate.

NOVEMBER 2010 (THANKSGIVING) AT CHAMPIONS GATE (CASH) (33,11,26)

We traveled to Disneyworld over Thanksgiving week (6 nights). We traveled to Orlando on Sunday, November 21, 2010 and returned to Des Moines on Saturday, November 27, 2010. Ryan & Meghan flew down on Wednesday to join us for Thanksgiving at Disney World. We stayed at our vacation home in Champions Gate, FL.

DECEMBER 2010 AT DISNEY WORLD (CASH) (34,11,27)

We traveled to Disneyworld in December 2010 for 10 nights. We traveled to Orlando on Sunday, December 26, 2010 and returned to Des Moines on Wednesday, January 5, 2011. We stayed at the Disney Polynesian resort and celebrated New Year's Eve at Disneyworld. We visited the parks all 9 days during this trip. The was probably the first time for a trip of this duration to not have at least one down day. We did web cast the entire trip. Viewership on www.eyesonears.com exceeded 300 during the fireworks show.

2011

FEBRUARY 2011 AT CHAMPIONS GATE (35,11,28)

We traveled to Florida in February 2011 (4th - 14th) for 10 nights. We had planned to split our time between Champions Gate and Boardwalk. Instead we spent the entire time at Champions Gate working on our new vacation home.. Dave also attended a 3 day golf retreat at the Champions Gate Golf Course (www.DavidLeadbetter.com). We did visit Disney's Hollywood Studios one afternoon for lunch at Mama Melrose. We rode Toy Story Mania 3 times in the standby line because the crowd level was so low.

MARCH 2011 DISNEY WORLD / CHAMPIONS GATE (36, 11, 29)

We booked 5 nights at Animal Kingdom Villas and stayed 2 nights before and 1 nights after at our vacation home in Champions Gate. The trips was from 3/11 - 3/19. We also attended a showing of Wicked in downtown Orlando on March 15th.

MAY 2011 AT CHAMPIONS GATE (37, 11, 30)

We traveled to Florida in May (14th - 21st) to spend a week at the house. During the trip, we purchased new dining room and office furniture. Dave attended a half day at David Leadbetter for more golf lessons. We both went to the community pool several times. We also spent one full day at Epcot for the last day of Flower and Garden festival.

JUNE 2011 AT CHAMPIONS GATE AND DISNEY WORLD - STAR WARS WEEKEND (38,11, 31)

We traveled to Disney World for Star Wars Weekend. We flew down on June 8th and returned on June 15th. We stayed one night in Champions Gate, then spend 4 nights at Boardwalk Villas, then 2 more nights at Champions Gate before returning home. Stephanie's birthday was on June 10th. Our 20th anniversary was on June 15th.

4TH OF JULY AT CHAMPIONS GATE AND DISNEY WORLD (39, 11, 32)

We traveled to Champions Gate on July 2nd to spend some time at the vacation home as well as the Polynesian for the 4th of July fireworks (which were shown on both the 3rd and 4th). We web-casted the fireworks on Eyesonears.com.

JULY 2011 AT CHAMPIONS GATE (40,11,33)

We traveled to Champions Gate in late July to spend some time at the vacation home. During this trip, we completed the furnishing of the vacation home (furniture for 3rd bedroom) as well as played some golf and enjoyed some of the restaurants at Disney World

SEPTEMBER 2011 AT CHAMPIONS GATE AND DISNEY WORLD (41, 11, 34)

We traveled to Champions Gate in September 2011 to spend some time at the vacation home. We also stayed 3 nights at Winderness Lodge Villas (9/18 - 9/21) and attended Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on Tuesday, September 20th.

NOVEMBER 2011 AT CHAMPIONS GATE AND DISNEY WORLD (42, 11, 35)

This was a busy trip. We flew to Orlando on Friday, November 4th. We spent 2 nights at our house in Champions Gate. We then checked into Boardwalk Villas and spent 4 nights. We enjoyed Walt Disney World (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot). One of the highlights was watching Air Supply on the Epcot stage. We checked out on Thursday and returned to the house for one night. We drove to Stuart, FL on Friday to see our new boat. We stayed at a Hamption Inn on Friday. We spent some time out on the water then stayed on the boat Saturday. We then returned to Champions Gate on Sunday and flew home on Monday, November 14th.

DECEMBER 2011 AT CHAMPIONS GATE AND DISNEY WORLD (43,11,36)

We traveled to Disneyworld in December 2011 for 12 nights. We arrived in Orlando on Monday, December 26, 2011 and returned to Des Moines on Saturday, January 7, 2012. We stayed at the Disney Polynesian resort from December 29th through Jan 4th. We celebrated New Year's Eve at Disneyworld. We webcasted the New Year's Eve fireworks on www.eyesonears.com. Stephanie did not join us on this trip because she marched in a college bowl game (Pinstripe Bowl in New York City). We did enjoy the parks but did not ride any rides. We also spent 2 days at Port Canaveral enjoying our boat.