Valentine's Day/Birthday Celebration. Our suprise one day adventure - The DIS Discussion Forums

3girls4me05 · 02-27-2010, 08:41 PM

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 · 02-28-2010, 08:44 AM

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 · 02-28-2010, 08:49 AM

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 · 02-28-2010, 08:56 AM

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 · 02-28-2010, 09:08 AM

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 · 03-01-2010, 05:58 PM

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 · 03-01-2010, 06:38 PM

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 · 03-01-2010, 08:28 PM

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

3girls4me05 · 03-02-2010, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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

3girls4me05 · 03-02-2010, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmp1111

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 · 03-02-2010, 03:31 PM

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 · 03-02-2010, 03:33 PM

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 · 03-02-2010, 04:16 PM

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 · 03-02-2010, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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

RachelNinja · 03-02-2010, 07:52 PM

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!

02-27-2010, 08:41 PM	#1
3girls4me05 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 639	Valentine's Day/Birthday Celebration. Our suprise one day adventure 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. __________________ Kat April 10-17, 2013 Boardwalk. 2/14-2/15/2010 Previous trips 8/29-8/30/08-ASSp 8/21-8/29/08-ASMu 4/02-CSR 6/89-FW (trailers back then)

02-28-2010, 08:44 AM	#2
3girls4me05 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 639	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? __________________ Kat April 10-17, 2013 Boardwalk. 2/14-2/15/2010 Previous trips 8/29-8/30/08-ASSp 8/21-8/29/08-ASMu 4/02-CSR 6/89-FW (trailers back then)

02-28-2010, 08:49 AM	#3
3girls4me05 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 639	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. __________________ Kat April 10-17, 2013 Boardwalk. 2/14-2/15/2010 Previous trips 8/29-8/30/08-ASSp 8/21-8/29/08-ASMu 4/02-CSR 6/89-FW (trailers back then)

02-28-2010, 08:56 AM	#4
3girls4me05 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 639	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 __________________ Kat April 10-17, 2013 Boardwalk. 2/14-2/15/2010 Previous trips 8/29-8/30/08-ASSp 8/21-8/29/08-ASMu 4/02-CSR 6/89-FW (trailers back then)

02-28-2010, 09:08 AM	#5
3girls4me05 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 639	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 __________________ Kat April 10-17, 2013 Boardwalk. 2/14-2/15/2010 Previous trips 8/29-8/30/08-ASSp 8/21-8/29/08-ASMu 4/02-CSR 6/89-FW (trailers back then)

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03-01-2010, 05:58 PM	#6
3girls4me05 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 639	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!!!! __________________ Kat April 10-17, 2013 Boardwalk. 2/14-2/15/2010 Previous trips 8/29-8/30/08-ASSp 8/21-8/29/08-ASMu 4/02-CSR 6/89-FW (trailers back then)

03-01-2010, 06:38 PM	#7
reyasmommy DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,730	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. __________________ November 2012 PTR http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2941902

03-01-2010, 08:28 PM	#8
cmp1111 DIS Veteran Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: New England Posts: 7,181	Wow, you're brave to drive from MA! Great start, and great deal on the hotel, too! Can't wait to hear more! __________________ Me - C.E.! DH - D. DS10 - Woody DS10 - Buzz See my " The Decoy Trip" Report here. May 2007 - AKL Aug. 2008 - The Big Group Pre-Trip Report is here. And the Rain, Rain, Rain TR: Here

03-02-2010, 03:31 PM	#11
3girls4me05 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 639	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! __________________ Kat April 10-17, 2013 Boardwalk. 2/14-2/15/2010 Previous trips 8/29-8/30/08-ASSp 8/21-8/29/08-ASMu 4/02-CSR 6/89-FW (trailers back then)

03-02-2010, 03:33 PM	#12
3girls4me05 DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 639	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! __________________ Kat April 10-17, 2013 Boardwalk. 2/14-2/15/2010 Previous trips 8/29-8/30/08-ASSp 8/21-8/29/08-ASMu 4/02-CSR 6/89-FW (trailers back then)

03-02-2010, 04:16 PM	#13
reyasmommy DIS Veteran Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,730	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. __________________ November 2012 PTR http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2941902

03-02-2010, 07:52 PM	#15
RachelNinja Sometimes I'd rather live in VMK than in real life! Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: New York Posts: 3,023	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! __________________ Always the Weird to my Ninja Mr. and Mrs. Weak Sauce Go the Distance (Disneymoon TR in progress) Saving Dole Whip Float Money - PTR for Feb 2011 // Delicious Indeed! - TR for February 2011 It's Better Than Stuffed Mezzaluna with Sausage! - PTR for April 2010 // Weird and Ninja’s Pre-Disneymoon - TR for April 2010 A DISer's Trip of Firsts! - TR for Feb 2008 // The Flat Adventures of Weird and Ninja! - Living the Life Outside of VMK

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