This week we are featuring a short Q&A with our Journey Planner April Watson! Read on to learn more about April and her love for travel.
How many years have you been a Vacation Planner?
I have been a Vacation Planner since September 2014.
What’s your favorite thing about your job?
My favorite thing about my job is getting to help people plan their dream adventures so that they can make lifetime memories. I love learning about and planning trips to new and different places. It definitely helps add ideas to my own travel bucket list!
You became a grandma this year what has that been like?
Becoming a mamaw has been amazing! I never thought that I could love a child more than my own children, but Princess Emma has definitely proved that wrong. She has her papaw wrapped around her little finger too! We are excited to take her on her first of many trips (I’m sure!) to Walt Disney World to celebrate her 1st birthday in November. As she’s growing up, she’ll get to travel to other great places too. I’m so fortunate to get to spend a lot of time with her!
What is one thing most people would be surprised to learn about you?
I worked at Chrysler’s different transmission manufacturing plants for 14 years, and 8 of those years, was as a skilled trades toolmaker. I was one of only 4 female toolmakers across the transmission plants in Kokomo! I was the lowest seniority and getting ready to be put on second shift (3PM-11PM) so I took a buyout to be able to spend more time with my family.
I always kid you about this because I have heard you say Walt Disney World is your favorite but in reality, I think it’s Disneyland that you love most. LOL- Tell me a little about what you LOVE about Disneyland.
Our kids grew up going to Walt Disney World, but my first trip to Disneyland had me in awe! I love that it’s where Walt Disney actually walked and had an apartment above the Fire Department. The history is there! In my opinion, Pirates of The Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world, and Space Mountain are better at Disneyland.
It’s smaller and more intimate to me. I think it’s great for families with smaller children in strollers since they can walk from several hotels close by and walk between Disneyland and California Adventure in about 2 1/2 minutes time. Park hopping is so much easier at Disneyland! In my opinion, there is just as much to do at Disneyland and California Adventure as there is at Walt Disney World.
I miss characters roaming at Walt Disney World and they still do that at Disneyland some. We saw Peter Pan skipping through Fantasyland at Disneyland without a character handler and he stopped and kneeled down to talk to a little girl. Mad Hatter and Alice were riding the teacups while other guests were riding. Captain Hook took the hand of a little boy and walked through the park with him. It was amazing!
My daughter has autism and is nonverbal. I like Disneyland’s Disability Access System much better than Walt Disney World’s. I wrote a blog post all about this if you want to know more!
What’s the one thing you always pack when traveling?
I always make sure to have a rechargeable battery back up and charging cord for my phone since I use it to take pictures and look things up while we’re on the move.
If our adventure includes a trip to a theme park, I also make sure to pack rain ponchos that fold up small just in case it rains. Plus, you can use them on water rides (Splash Mountain, Kali River Rapids, etc.) if you don’t want to get drenched and have to walk around in wet clothes for most of the day! We take them off wrong side out so when they are folded up the wet side is inside and then put them all in a large ziplock bag to make sure they don’t get anything else in our bag wet. Once we get back to our hotel, we take them out and hang them up to dry overnight so they are ready for the next day.
Want to learn more about April? View her about page profile here.
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