It is time to start planning your family vacation for 2010. Maybe money is a little tighter this year, but you still want to provide your family with a vacation they can enjoy. Some good news for Disney guests is that Disney has answered the budget conscious needs of their guests. Lots of good discounts have been available for Disney packages. Every Disney Destination has had some kind of special discount offer. Of course, different restrictions apply to each offer.

Adventures by Disney has an offer out now for a free cruise with select booked itineraries.

Walt Disney World is offering a free Disney Gift card, worth up to $750.00, with Magic Your Way Packages. Also, at Walt Disney World, you will find room only discounts. Your Our Laughing Place Travel agent will find the best deal for you.

Disney Cruise Line has a few offers for kids to sail for free!

Disneyland is offering two free nights at their resorts, if you pay for three nights

Making family memories, being together, it is so important, right? You want to take your family, and escape to a place where you can have some fun. Disney provides a vacation escape. Being able to leave your cares behind, and let your inner child out Disney style, skipping down Main Street USA in Disneyland, or throwing your hands in the air and dancing on the Disney Wonder during the sail away party. How about a visit to an exotic faraway land, Like the Galapagos Islands? The ultimate Disney escape, Walt Disney World, gives Disney’s guests the best escape.

Disney strives to provide their guests with a vacation experience; something that will provide such good feeling that the guest will want to repeat that feeling. Being Disney’s guest is what it is about. No matter what your budget is, Disney has a vacation for your family, and there will be magic if it is a Disney destination.

If you have ever taken a cruise on a Disney Cruise Line ship, you probably had the chance to see Roy E. Disney on the big screen, during the show The Golden Mickey’s. He speaks to Ensign Benson, inspiring her to believe in herself. Soft spoken on the screen, but powerful, and affective, Roy reaches out as if he is there in the theater. I don’t know why, but his part in the show touched me.

Roy E. Disney passed away today, December 16, 2009. He was 79 years old. Roy stepped in a two times, to make his opinions known in the Disney Company. He was never afraid to follow what he believed in. In my opinion, it is Roy who is responsible for starting a process that instilled the Disney Difference in the Disney Destinations we know today. He may not have been as famous as his Uncle Walt, but he held the same ideals.

In 1984 Roy was very unhappy with the leadership capabilities of Walt Disney’s son-in-law, Ron Miller. Roy resigned from the Disney Board of Directors, and sought out investors to back him up in a bid to install new management. His efforts at that time led to the hiring of the famous team of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. Roy rejoined the Board of Directors, and rose to be vice chairman of the Disney Company and chairman of Disney Animation. Roy was very involved in the making of The Lion King, and several other animated films. We can all thank Roy for the return of good Disney animation.

Frank Wells died in 1994, and Roy became disenchanted with Eisner, and again stepped up to the plate. He was forced to resign. Here is an excerpt of his resignation letter to Michael Eisner.

“In conclusion, Michael, it is my sincere belief that it is you who should be leaving and not me. Accordingly, I once again call for your resignation or retirement. The Walt Disney Company deserves fresh, energetic leadership at this challenging time in its history just as it did in 1984 when I headed a restructuring which resulted in your recruitment to the Company.

I have and will always have an enormous allegiance and respect for this Company, founded by my uncle, Walt, and father, Roy, and to our faithful employees and loyal stockholders. I don’t know if you and other directors can comprehend how painful it is for me and the extended Disney family to arrive at this decision. ”

Roy saw the quality of the Disney product slipping away. He did not back away quietly. It was at a shareholders meeting in 2004 that Roy got a standing ovation after making this comment.

“One of the reasons for my leaving, other than the fact that they fired me, was that I saw that quality slipping away from us,”

Roy kept up with what he believed in, and in fact in 2005 Michael Eisner retired, one year shy of his contract. Robert Iger replaced him.

You will be missed Roy E Disney. Thank you for helping keep your Uncle Walt’s dream alive. When I visit Disneyland or Walt Disney World, cruise on Disney Cruise Line, or enjoy the uniqueness of a Adventures by Disney vacation, I will always know that you helped create this magic. You did so in a quiet mannered, yet ever so powerful, way. Rest in Peace, Roy.

When I hear adults object to a Disney vacation because they think the parks are for children only, I get sad. Not only do I think the world would be a better place if we spent more time embracing our inner child… but Disney is so much more than a playground for the young and young at heart.

For those who want their vacations to be mind-growing in addition to mind-blowing, there are Adventures by Disney — where you’ll travel the world with the Disney perspective and see what most ordinary tourists will never experience.

For example, on Ireland Family Adventure, you’ll go sheep herding in Shannon, take jig lessons in Killarney, and tour cathedrals in Dublin. Or, on Australia Family Adventure you’ll plunge into the largest coral reef system on earth, ride camels through the desert to watch the sun set on Ayers Rock, and feel the rush of adrenaline as you zoom around famed Sydney Harbour on a high-speed boat. These are adventures you’ve got to hike, bike and swim to believe.

Take it from me, on Wyoming Family Adventure I experienced a Wyoming I never even knew existed. I mean, who knew that Yellowstone National Park is the site of a “super volcano?”

With destinations all around the globe, you’ll experience the world’s authentic wonders come to life. And that’s way more than kid’s stuff!  If you’d like to travel with Alan and me to some of the Adventures by Disney travels we’ve taken, check our multi-media trip reports.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m an adult who will still visit the Disney parks as often as I can to immerse myself in the creative wonder and magic of Disney – but isn’t it fun to think about the magic of Disney in Peru’s Macchu Picchu or Ecuador’s Galapagos islands?  Recently, Disney announced they’d be building Avatar-land in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  Now that’s an “Adventures by Disney” I am EAGER to experience!