A Tale of Two Great Men

 

The man to the far left in the photo above was my Uncle Leo.  The man standing next to him was my father.  Two great men; both taken away too soon due to cancer.

Uncle Leo introduced my young family to Walt Disney World back in 1985.  As a WWII vet who saw some horrific things, Disney was his escape.  He traveled to the WDW resort in Florida yearly since it's opening in 1971, always staying at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, until the first time he took us to WDW.  It was definitely his happy place.  As he was getting older, he scaled his trips down to only going when we could go with him.

My mom and dad joined us for a few days on that very first WDW trip, shown in the happy photo above, but we really didn't get to spend much time with them as they were also visiting long-time family friends in Miami.  My daughter, the youngest out of my three children, never got to make any memories at WDW with her grandpop.  

Fortunately, we were able to spend 5 vacations in total at WDW with Uncle Leo, the first two staying at the Polynesian, then staying at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort to celebrate my daughter's 7th birthday, and the next two vacations with Uncle Leo staying at Disney's Beach Club Resort, the last being in 1995 when my children's then 5 year old cousin also got to come along.  Those memories are etched in our memories forever.  We can't walk into the Polynesian without thinking about Uncle Leo.  Every time I get on the Haunted Mansion attraction I think of him, as that, and Pirates of the Caribbean were his favorites, along with It's a Small World.  I always wonder what he would think of WDW now.  He never got to see Animal Kingdom.  I think he would have loved that park.

We were supposed to celebrate my dad's 65th birthday at WDW in December 1996, but that trip never happened, as he was taken from this world way too soon six months before his 65th birthday.  We kept putting that trip off, and then it was too late.  Uncle Leo passed four months before my dad. \

I don't want this to be a sad post; quite the opposite.  What I'm saying is take the trip, whether it's to WDW, or elsewhere.  Make the memories.  This is why I do what I do.  This is my purpose.  I want everyone to have the happy memories of the magical moments we made at WDW, and it's why I take as many trips with family & friends as I possibly can.  

Sincerely,

Teresa, The Happiest Disney Travel Planner In The World!