Valentine's Day/Birthday Celebration. Our suprise one day adventure

[3girls4me05]

Ok so this is my first trip report so have patience with me. I will start first with our family. On this trip was me (Kat), MIL (Grammy), S (birthday girl), L (age 9), T (age 4), Uncle D and Uncle G.

Background: Uncle D and G live in Ft. Lauderdale. The original plan was to drive down to spend February vacation week with them. Then I realized that S's 13th birthday was that Sunday (she is a Valentine baby) and the Give a Day, Get a Day promotion came out and a plan started to formulate. I did not tell the kids because I was too afraid that something was going to happen (someone getting sick etc..) and we wouldn't be able to go. Then it became fun to keep it a secret. We drove from MA. We left on Friday, stayed in N. Carolina that night and got to Orlando on Saturday at about 5 or so.

Stayed tune for a brief description of our driving adventure and how I broke the surprise to the children.

 

[3girls4me05]

Well I may be writing to myself but that is ok.

Day 1: MIL and I woke the children at 4am. No school and get in the car. I had the van all packed. They moaned and groaned but got in the van. S looked around at the luggage and said "Wait! Where are we going?" I gave three clues (sun, sand, seeing someone whose name has five letters) They still didn't get it. I finally gave the last clue that we were going to see two people we don't see often because they live so far away. That S got! Her mouth flew open and said "We are going to see Uncles D and G?" Yes! We happily headed off and then S said, "How are we getting there?" Funny you should mention that. See this van we are in?

 

[3girls4me05]

Here is how my children spent much of the ride
S (the birthday girl)

T (4yr old)

L is behind T so you really can't see her but she was sleeping back there too.

Now the original plan was to have FIL come too but he slipped on the ice the day before we left and hurt his back so he bailed on us. I ended up driving from 4:30am to midnight that night. We hit awful traffic in Virginia that backed us up for 2 hours. We then hit the first measurable snow that section of North Carolina had seen in ten years.

 

[3girls4me05]

Day 2 was sunny and lovely and ride was beautiful. My van looked quite funny covered in snow in North Carolina! I had to take a picture of course!

However now it was time for me to tell S the second part of our surprise trip. So we pulled over and I gave her her birthday card. The card said something about how having a Valentine's Birthday was perfect for her since she is such a loving person. I then worte "And the perfect place to spend your 13th birthday is at the Magic Kingdom!"
Here is her face reading the card

And L's face when she found out the news

 

[3girls4me05]

Here is how T reacted to the news of Disney. As you can tell she didn't get it right away till her favorite princess was mentioned

 

[3girls4me05]

So now it is confession time. We are not staying on Disney property (I heard that gasp you all let out). Through Disboards we got an amazing deal at the Comfort Inn just outside Downtown Disney. $32 a night couldn't be beat. I was a bit nervous about being in a fleabag hotel but there were others on the board who have been there who assured me it wasn't fancy but it was clean. So we arrived in Orlando at about 5:30 or so and easily found the hotel. We went to check in. S took a few pictures of her sisters as we were at the desk.

MIL and I went to check in and were told that our rooms were being renovated. So they were "upgrading" us to one of their sister hotels. I was a bit annoyed since it was further out. Then we got there. Umm...I'll take this hotel for $32 a night!

It is called Shingle Creek Resort and it caters to the golfers and convention attendees. It has several huge ballrooms so I imagine they host quite a few large events. It was beautiful. No taxis allowed there..only Lincoln Navigators and Town Cars. There was always a fleet of at least ten of them out front waiting to take you where ever you wanted to go. We pulled up and MIL asked where I was going to park the minivan to unload. After looking around I decided to pull it in behind the nice shiny Corvette.

So we got settled into our room

We had ADRs for Chef Mickey's but the kids decided to head to Downtown Disney instead. It was so cold! Where was that wonderful Florida weather? Brrrr!
This seemed an appropriate place to have the children pose since the very next day my S was turning into a teenager!

It was crazy crowded with those infamous school groups. I was super nervous as it seemed like your child could get easily swallowed up in their huge group as they paraded by with one flag holder in the front and another in the back.
We got something to eat outside of DTD. Soon after our food arrived we all hit our wall and suddenly were way too tired to eat much at all. Back to our nice, high class hotel to collapse in the comfy beds.
Tomorrow we hit Disney!!!!

 

[reyasmommy]

WOW!!! SCORE!!!

$32.00 for such a lovely hotel! I love when things like that happen. ((Not that it happens that often for me))

Looking forward to more.

 

[cmp1111]

Wow, you're brave to drive from MA! Great start, and great deal on the hotel, too! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[3girls4me05]

WOW!!! SCORE!!!

$32.00 for such a lovely hotel! I love when things like that happen. ((Not that it happens that often for me))

Looking forward to more.

They never happen to me either. I was seriously giddy every time I thought about that hotel.

 

[3girls4me05]

Wow, you're brave to drive from MA! Great start, and great deal on the hotel, too! Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks for reading! I will be back on tonight to write more. I actually did the whole drive myself too. MIL is not a super comfortable driver and the few times I was about to let her take over something would happen (traffic, snow etc..)

 

[3girls4me05]

The next AM we got up fairly early. I programmed Gloria (what I nicknamed the GPS) to get me to the Magic Kingdom parking lot without going on a highway. We sailed there with no traffic at all and we were in the lot within about 10-15 minutes. We unloaded and hopped on a tram
Here is the birthday girl on the tram

Now it was time to use our Give a Day/Get a Day vouchers. See this really was a bargain trip..$32 hotel rooms, free day at Disney, driving down etc.. MIL had secretly made blankets for Project Linus and we all got our vouchers. So off to wait in line. It was long but moving quickly and not too bad. I saw quite a few vouchers in hands as I was waiting so I would say the program is a success. While in line I pulled out S's birthday princess sash that I insisted she wear the whole day. Nothing like embarrasing a teenager!

 

[3girls4me05]

A couple of quick shots from the Transportation and Ticket Center and then it was time to get to the Magic Kingdom

And you are not at Disney to you see the Monorail!

 

[reyasmommy]

Even seeing pictures of the monorail is giving me butterflies in my stomach. We leave in a couple of days, and I'm giddy with excitment. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

 

[3girls4me05]

Even seeing pictures of the monorail is giving me butterflies in my stomach. We leave in a couple of days, and I'm giddy with excitment. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Glad I am not the only one. My heart flutters in my chest when I see it for the first time!

 

[RachelNinja]

What a great birthday surprise! It's even such a surprise for T and L too! Even though I'm 25, I still wish that I had sisters so I could enjoy WDW with them! Thankfully, my younger brother is a very easy person to pump up with Disney trivia!

Looking forward to more!

 

[3girls4me05]

What a great birthday surprise! It's even such a surprise for T and L too! Even though I'm 25, I still wish that I had sisters so I could enjoy WDW with them! Thankfully, my younger brother is a very easy person to pump up with Disney trivia!

Looking forward to more!

It was a pretty magical day. Stayed tuned for more!

 

[3girls4me05]

So we arrived at the ticket counter and had no problem using our vouchers. They even commented on how the husbands couldn't join us (we had gotten them vouchers too just in case but will donate them instead). Samantha got her birthday pin and we all got our Volunt"ears" pins. They are super cute and based on the commercial with the Muppets but I didn't think to take a picture of it. I did save them for memories sake so maybe I will take a picture here at home. After leaving the ticket counter we took a moment to get our bearings. The line for the monorail was down the ramp. The line for the boat? None! Score! T got into her princess best (Belle dress of course) and we were on the boat in no time.
Here we are waiting for the boat to dock

Once we got on the boat we realized why the line was not to be found. Brrrr...was it cold!
I got some nice pictures from the boat.

 

[3girls4me05]

A few more shots of the girls on the boat (did I mention how cold it was?)

Soon we reach the promise land...The Magic Kingdom!

 

[3girls4me05]

So off the boat and through the entrance we went! We were here. Of course we first had to stop and admire the castle. Time for a picture! But here is where I made my first mistake..camera batteries died! Augh! Then a parade was coming through (local marching band) so we had to clear Main St. Off to get batteries! L made the mistake of wearing her crocs with no socks and her feet were freezing! So it was a quick stop for batteries and socks. We had the best conversations about volunteering in the store with a CM who was super friendly and helpful.
Now that I had batteries in my camera I had to take a picture of L putting on her new socks. I love that she picked out this super fluffy, striped socks. Nothing like being subtle with your sock collection!

Finally got a castle shot but forgot to take one with my children in front of it!

 

[3girls4me05]

Can you spy anyone in that picture?