"I Promise No One Is Dead!" My One More Disney Day Grand Prize 6/2/12 Pre Trip Report

[Toystoryfan32]

Hi everyone! I should start by saying that I love reading trip reports but I have never been brave enough to write one. I have been on the Dis for awhile but I have always been more of a lurker than a poster. So please be patient with me as we take this journey together and hopefully I won’t bore you to tears. Lol I thought I would start by introducing myself and my family and then I will go into some details about how I won my One More Disney Day trip and the reason behind my Pre Trip report title.

My name is Lori and I am a huge fan of all things Disney. We never really traveled when I was a kid, other than to the lake. So in 2000, when my first daughter Mackenzie was about four years old we decided to take a trip to Walt Disney World. My husband, daughter, and I were immediately hooked! Since then we have traveled to WDW every year and sometimes twice a year. My youngest daughter Isabella has been going since she was a baby and now both my girls are seasoned WDW travelers. I am so thankful that my husband is a WDW nut too! We really enjoy spending time together there as a family, away from our busy schedules and normal school/work stress.

We are a little Disney obsessed and some people just don’t get it but it doesn’t bother us one bit! That said, we actually have several friends whose families also enjoy traveling to WDW frequently and we love the fact that they really get us!

So here are the cast of characters!

My two sweet girls! Mackenzie is 16 and acts low key about Disney to her friends but is just as crazy about it as the rest of us. Isabella is 10 years old. She is our little wild child and loves everything about thrill rides. They are both great at touring the parks commando style and love to stay as late as they can at the parks.

My husband of 17 years, Mark. He is also a Disney nut. He is kind enough to let me do all the crazy obsessive Disney trip planning and spreadsheets even though he is usually the organized one. He is also great about listening to my Disney ramblings for months on end while we are waiting for our next WDW trip.

This is me....... the over the edge, talks about Disney daily, listens to Disney music at work, checks her Disney phone apps constantly, stares at and revises her trip spreadsheets a gazillion times, super planner Disney freak.



So my family is currently giving the stink eye because I am supposed to be getting ready to head out to see Avengers! So I will continue with how I won the trip tonight!

 

[DisFanEY]

Count me in! I entered the contest daily, and even though I came up short, I am glad to find a winner!

So excited for you!

 

[Toystoryfan32]

Thank you! I never in a million years dreamed we would win. The whole thing just seemed to good to be true! We are so excited, and grateful.
My husband spilled water on our laptop last night soooo I hope it survived and will add more to this trip report as soon as I can. Posting from my phone is a pain!

 

[Toystoryfan32]

Ok, on to how I won and some details about our trip! On New Year’s Eve we were visiting family in Kansas City and I waited up anxiously to hear the announcement Disney was going to make about 2012. I have to say I was kind of disappointed because I didn’t have a trip planned for Leap Day so I couldn’t enjoy the park being open 24 hours. I also never considered being lucky enough to win a trip, I was really hoping for some sort of awesome discount or something. Anyhoo, I decided to give it a shot and I started entering by text daily.


Fast forward a couple of weeks and I am home with my youngest daughter who was sick with some sort of virus. I received a call from a number I didn’t recognize and I was busy with my daughter so I didn’t answer. A little while later I get another call from the same number, again I ignored it thinking it was probably a sales call. Shortly after that, I get THE TEXT. It read “Hi, this message it in regards to your entry in the One More Disney Day Sweepstakes! Please call or reply within 24 hours.”
I swear I almost wet my pants. My oldest daughter had just gotten home from school and I was shaking like a leaf. She asked me what was wrong and I said I think this is big….really big!!! Both the girls just looked at me as if I had lost my mind. I called the number in the text and spoke with a very nice lady who told me that I was a potential winner in the sweepstakes and that I need to sign an affidavit and get it back to them within a few days. She offered to email me the forms and I accepted.

Now first off, I am usually very skeptical but for some reason I never doubted her. Crazy, I know. I received the forms in just a few minutes, after I found them in my Spam folder. YIKES!!!!! After I read them, I immediately started bawling. My kids were freaking out; they were not sure what to think. I speed dialed my husband at his office. As soon as he picked up I said sobbing profusely “you know that trip Disney trip I keep trying to win????” His response…..”What’s wrong is everyone ok???” He couldn’t understand a thing I was saying through my sobbing. I was able to spit out “I promise no one is dead!” After I was able to gain my composure and explain that I was pretty sure we had one of the One More Disney Day trips he calmed down and was just as shocked as I was.


Of course I kept thinking to myself, Lori, you shouldn’t get so worked up what if something happens and it turns out you don’t get certified as an official winner. The next few days were like torture. I got my news on a Wednesday; mailed my affidavit on Thursday and by Friday around noon they notified me via email that I was indeed a winner! By Monday my name was rolling across the Disney OMDD website and I was officially freaking out with excitement!

 

[juliehoey]

Lori this is so great! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Toystoryfan32]

Lori this is so great! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Julie! So glad you are here.

 

[VmBorrayo]

Lori, this is great! So excited for you and your family! Can't wait to hear about your dream vacation!

 

[lvjen777]

yay! Great job so far! Can't wait to follow along

 

[Toystoryfan32]

Thanks guys! I was so nervous about doing this but its turning out to be kind of fun. I promise I will try to figure out how to do links or chapters or something eventually.

 

[Toystoryfan32]

Just for fun here are some older pictures of the girls at Disney. They love looking at Disney pictures from when they were younger. I love it too!

 

[J.J.]

Man, I wish I had won.

 

[skhermsmeyer]

yay! So glad you started a PTR!!

BTW, JEALOUS you got to meet Hercules and Phil!!! Favorite Disney movie!!

 

[Toystoryfan32]

Man, I wish I had won.

 

[Toystoryfan32]

yay! So glad you started a PTR!!

BTW, JEALOUS you got to meet Hercules and Phil!!! Favorite Disney movie!!

Thank you! Glad you and JJ decided to join me! Hercules and Phil were a hoot but Bella hated Hercules and Tarzan when she was little, she had a thing about not liking men. Not even Santa. Why she liked Phil is beyond me, he is kinda of freaky looking. lol

 

[Toystoryfan32]

Decisions, tough ones! So once I knew things were official I started to relax a bit. At least until I had to decide where we wanted to go. I had the option of choosing either Walt Disney World or Disneyland. This was really a tough decision for our family. I have always wanted to go to Disneyland but the resort I have dreamed of staying at for the last twelve years was on the line. Go to WDW and possibly get to stay at my dream resort, the Grand Floridian. Or go to Disneyland, a place I have always wanted to see but have never been brave enough to try. My husband was born in Anaheim and has been to Disneyland several times, it didn’t hold the same magic for him as WDW does. So after many family discussions we went with our hearts and chose WDW. This is the place where we share so many special memories as a family and this is such an incredible gift! It seemed only fitting for us to choose the place we cherish most. We were not even sure we were going to be able to swing our yearly trip to WDW this year, for us, this has been such a blessing.


So, we submitted our decision to the company handling the sweepstakes and anxiously awaited their response. Now keep in mind the following takes place over several weeks as Disney had so many winners it seemed like sometimes we would wait an eternity for our details. Sometimes my patience was seriously lacking due to my excitement. Lol

Once I received my WDW paperwork I was given the option to choose a deluxe resort and we were asked to list three in order of preference. That was easy! The Grand Floridian!!!!!! I think I listed Poly 2nd and Contemp 3rd. We were also able to choose from a $500 tour package, $500 spa package or a $5oo Downtown Disney shopping spree, we chose the latter. We were also asked to list our top three travel dates, this part was hard but were able to narrow those down. It’s so hard to choose travel dates with older kids who can’t miss school or always have activities so this left us with summer dates. Our top pick was the first week of June so we could attend Star Wars Weekends. Eventually we heard back from Disney and we were approved for the Grand and for travel during the dates we wanted! woohoo

 

[MamaT2]

YooHoo Lori, I love it! Can't wait to hear all the details!

 

[dbbydk]

Lori- This is awesome so far. I was tearing up reading about the conversation with your husband when you told him you won.

And my daughter loves, loves, loves Hercules. If I tell her she can meet Herc at WDW she is going to be so ticked at me that we didn't pick WDW.

 

[Toystoryfan32]

YooHoo Lori, I love it! Can't wait to hear all the details!

Thank you! I promise I will add some more details about our planning soon.

Lori- This is awesome so far. I was tearing up reading about the conversation with your husband when you told him you won.

And my daughter loves, loves, loves Hercules. If I tell her she can meet Herc at WDW she is going to be so ticked at me that we didn't pick WDW.

Awww thank you Debby. I tear up when I think of it myself. I don't think I will forget this experience for as long as I live!

You daughter has good taste. I love Hercules too! Does he ever make appearances at Disneyland?


BTW, I am so glad you both are here following along.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

Ack, this is so amazing! Congratulations!!!!

 

[MK2010]

So cool! i was reading your introduction of yourself to my co workers. They were laughing. They think you sound just like me! how great to go during Star Wars Weekends. Our first trip was in Dec. 2009 when Christmas Decorations were up. We'll be there early fall this year. The boys have decided if they get to go back they want to go during Star Wars weekend! My husband and I want to go to WDW for our 20th anniversary just the two of us. He wants to do a split stay at ASSp and the Grand Floridian. I just laugh at him. Can you get any farther apart on the spectrum of WDW resorts. I love the younger pics of your girls. They are so cute!