Surprising the Kids with a NYE Trip! Jan '16 PTR (Update 12/29 We're off! See ya in 10 days!)

[JoshAndEvsMom]

We did a T-shirt once. The problem with a T-shirt or pillowcase is that you have to bring something that you can stretch the fabric across for them to sign. (You can't do it while wearing the shirt.) It was sort of a pain to have them sign it. She still wears the shirt though, even though we did it when she was about 6. (We went with a large shirt for that reason.) A lot of the signatures have faded away with repeated washing.

We had a package of 12 individual princess books that we got all the princesses to sign another time. I thought that came out extremely cool the year we did it. Some princesses just signed, but other wrote little notes. One of the books was a "Jessie the cowgirl" book, and Jessie was so thrilled that we were asking her to autograph "HER" book, it was one of the best non-face character interactions ever. There's Disney/Pixar storybooks out there that I've always thought would be neat to try and get signed by as many characters as possible, but we haven't done that.

My MIL had a canvas bag that she had all the characters sign the year we did the shirt. This was pretty good too, though I don't know if she uses it. A picture frame could work pretty well too!

Awesome ideas! I wondered how to stretch the fabric of the pillowcase to make it stable enough to sign. Clipboard maybe?? I do like the picture frame idea too. Evelyn has a Disney Princess book that would be really cool to have each of the princesses sign "her" story... Its kind of heavy (it's an all-in-one type book) but maybe if we devoted one whole day to Princess stalking we wouldn't have to carry the thing around the entire time... Hmmmmm... You've given me something to think about!!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Also we did a picture frame. See result attached! I should probably put a picture in it and frame it.... One day! I will say it was a pain to lug around so we only took it to character meals. View attachment 114492

I really like this idea! I think I actually found the same Etsy seller who does these too. They're super cute! I think you should put in the "shhhhh" picture from your TR... If you want my 2 cents!

 

[RunnerMommyof4]

Whaaaat?!! You met Richard Sherman?! So cool!! And thanks for joining in! Continue at your own risk... I fear the remainder of this PTR will be filled with family drama. Consider yourself warned!

Oh trust me I may be an only child but my dads sibling have showered enough family drama on me to last a lifetime, at least yours will be sprinkled with Pixie Dust! Yes we met him and actually a lot of other players that night as well. We found out from our server they frequent the restaurant we ate at after the game.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Well, I did it! After weeks and weeks of checking...


the Fantasmic! Dinner Package opened up for January 4 and I TOTALLY booked that baby and booked it good!

Of course I got all excited when I heard that Miss Mouse, herself, was hosting a holiday dinner with the Fantasmic! package as an option but it only goes until January 3. Boo. So, I decided to go with our original choice of...



Mama Melrose. And got a pretty decent time of 4:15! Considering that Fantasmic! shows at 7:00 pm that night, having an early dinner doesn't really bother me. We'll probably just do an early lunch/brunch then have snacks later in the evening. I'm a little disappointed that we won't get to try 50's this time around so, here's hoping it escapes the chopping block when MGM/DHS/(DHA??) plans are announced!​

 

[NJlauren]

Nice! Congrats on picking that up! Can I just stay I was thinking about how much I would want to go to Disney for the holidays and now I'm extra jealous of your trip!

 

[Elevationist]

I hope you enjoy Mama Melrose! It's still on my bucket list. Everytime I sit down and start planning ADRs for a trip, it's on my first draft list. Sadly, it never makes the final cut for one reason or another. One of these days, though! One of these days!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Nice! Congrats on picking that up! Can I just stay I was thinking about how much I would want to go to Disney for the holidays and now I'm extra jealous of your trip!

Thanks! I have to admit, though, i'm a bit nervoxcided. Nervous for the crowds but excited for the festivities! I think the thing i'm most looking forward to is the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Oh, and the NYE Fireworks should be pretty cool too

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

I hope you enjoy Mama Melrose! It's still on my bucket list. Everytime I sit down and start planning ADRs for a trip, it's on my first draft list. Sadly, it never makes the final cut for one reason or another. One of these days, though! One of these days!

Thank you! I'm looking forward to this one! Because I stalk the DFB, I had to look up their reviews and that steak w/mac & cheese is calling for me... "eat me, Lauren... eat me!"

I'm really pleased I was able to get the F! package. The app will be a nice addition but not having to stress about lining up for the show hours in advance is the real draw. F! is definitely on Josh's must-do list! (Even though he doesn't really know he HAS a must-do list! )

 

[locashaina]

I haven't had a chance to read your whole trip report (I'm at work ) but I will be there 12/25/-1/7 I am super excited and hoping to get ideas off of others who are going during that time!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

I haven't had a chance to read your whole trip report (I'm at work ) but I will be there 12/25/-1/7 I am super excited and hoping to get ideas off of others who are going during that time!

Hello! And I'm so pleased to have you following along! I've never been during Christmas/NYE so i'm super excited too. Please feel free to share your plans as well! I love hearing what others are going to be up to and I've found there's a distinct lack of TRs for NYE... maybe because most of these disney vets know it's absolutely crazy to attempt!

 

[sara1215]

This week I took a break from planning our family vacation and put on my WBDTA hat (That's Wanna Be Disney Travel Agent, if you didn't know ) to help Eric get the ball roling on his HS Band trip. Wow! Have you ever planned a Disney trip for 200+ people?

There's all these components that all need to fit together like a puzzle and they all need to happen semi-simultaneously. First, they need a room reservation - which aren't available to book yet. Then they need to book the DTD stage for the kids to do a concert - which requires an application/approval process - which needs to happen by the end of the month because the stage is booking quickly with other school/dance/music groups. This part is crucial because if they do a concert its considered "educational" and Disney gives us huge discounts. If they don't do a concert its considered a "field trip" and does not come with discounts. We aren't worried about being approved. These kids are amazing! Most of the time I forget I'm listening to high school students and just listen in awe. And I don't usually have the patience for concerts of any kind! (I know... how did I end up marrying a musician? ) Along with the concert we're scheduling a workshop for the band/orchestra kids and another one for the colorguard kids. These workshops are really, really cool. Disney does a fantastic job giving the kids a world class experience with fantastic instruction.

So after the room reservation an the music program acceptance, we have plans to do a catered dinner for the kids. In 2011 we had around 60 kids, 8 chaperones and 3 staff members so we got the Fantasmic Patio and had this great dinner while we watched the show. It was such a highlight of our trip that we wanted to repeat it! However, this time we have 180 students so far, and the number of chaperones & staff has yet to be determined! Mostly because there's a particular ratio we're going for and more and more kids are confirming that they're going!... The point of this lengthly explanation is that we're way too big for the Fantasmic Patio so we're looking at doing our dinner on Ile de France for Illuminations! But... we can't hold the space without a room reservation... which aren't available to book yet... and can't be confirmed until our application is in so we can get the education discount.

The next wrench in the chain is flights. Because we're so large we probably won't be able to all fly in/out on the same day which will also affect our room reservation. I assume we'll be able to make changes once we get flights confirmed but it also means we'll probably have to add a day to the beginning and one to the end of the contract.

So far our group sales lady, Gail and our youth catering guy, Rick have been great. I worked with Rick last time and can't say enough great things about him. He was awesome and really went out of his way for us. I'm looking forward to working with this team for the next year!

The other great news is that I GET TO GO!!! We're leaving our kids behind and "adopting" 180 teens for a week! I'm seriously so excited to hang out with them and hopefully hubby & I will get a few hours to ourselves in Disney Even if we don't it will be such a different trip without "little" kids (shhhhh... don't tell Josh I called him little!)

In other news, we're headded to Seattle to visit my family for a couple days so when I get back, I'll do a mini TR if anyone is interested! I ADORE Seattle, my hometown. Its absolutely the most beautiful city in the world on a nice day. And if you happen to be there on a day when the mountain is out... pure delight! We're hoping to do the Woodland Park Zoo or the Pacific Science Center. It will depend on if its raining or not. Also hoping to hit up Bellevue Square to browse the Disney Store, Lego Store and Lush. I am obsessed with Lush so there's a couple things I want to stock up on!! Kids want to see if the Disney Store has any Tsum Tsums; I'll probably check out the t-shirt sitch & see if there are any good Mickey ones for our trip. I want to get us all Mickey shirts to wear one day, like all in the same color, but not totally matchy-matchy. I would love coordinating our outfits but I CANT do matchy-matchy. Yeeeesh.

Speaking of good shopping - did anyone see the cute Cinderella shirts for adults at Kohls? They're adorable! I really want one but I can't decide which one I like better!!

Okay, enough rambling for tonight. What kinds of shopping do you do for your trips?

Check on eBay for the Lauren Conrad Disney clothes. Way better prices! I got the cutest glass slipper shirt.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Check on eBay for the Lauren Conrad Disney clothes. Way better prices! I got the cutest glass slipper shirt.

Thanks for the tip! I kind of forgot about those shirts and never bought one. Mostly because I am decision-phobic and couldn't decide which one I liked best! Anyhow, I was thinking about them the other day and was sure I was tough out of luck so I'll definitely check it out!

 

[sara1215]

What a great trip this is going to be! Do you have a creative way you're telling the kids or just waking them up with a "we're going to Disney!!"?

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

What a great trip this is going to be! Do you have a creative way you're telling the kids or just waking them up with a "we're going to Disney!!"?

Not yet! I have a few ideas but nothing completely thought through.

Idea #1: Wrap a big box filled with balloons & tie a sign to one saying "we're going to Disney!"

Idea #2: Scavenger Hunt that leads back to the Christmas tree with the Magic Bands all wrapped up

Idea #3: some mixture of the two... now that their cousins are, once again, joining us for part of the trip I kind of want them to be able to FaceTime the surprise together...

I don't know!! Any ideas??

 

[sara1215]

We are taking our kids (will be 4 and almost 7) in February for the first time. We are going to surprise them a week before (they need a little time to process stuff like this.) I'm going to do a scavenger hunt with a puzzle piece at each clue and the puzzle when it's all put together will have a picture of Mickey and/or cinderellas castle. Then we will have a whole Disney theme day--watch youtubes from the park to prepare, eat Mickey food, stuff like that.

I like your scavenger hunt idea.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

We are taking our kids (will be 4 and almost 7) in February for the first time. We are going to surprise them a week before (they need a little time to process stuff like this.) I'm going to do a scavenger hunt with a puzzle piece at each clue and the puzzle when it's all put together will have a picture of Mickey and/or cinderellas castle. Then we will have a whole Disney theme day--watch youtubes from the park to prepare, eat Mickey food, stuff like that.

I like your scavenger hunt idea.

Ooh! I like your puzzle idea!

One thing i'very been doing to "prep" our kids is playing "This or That". I say "If we were in Disney today, would you rather go to the Magic Kingdom or Epcot?" Then I'll ask "Would you rather meet a character first or ride a ride?" Then "Would you rather ride Test Track or Soarin'". They take turns answering and we plan an imaginary day at Disney. Little do they know that I'm secretly conducting field research by gaining their opinions on everything from restaurants to touring plans!

Sneaky mommy!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I followed you over from my PTR. I am so excited to find other people going during the same time. I haven't really found many PTR or TR's during that time. I know it will be crazy crowded, but I am still so excited!

Your plans look good! I am kind of jealous you get to stay a few days past the first to take advantage of the lower crowds. My DH is also a teacher and won't take his personal days for a trip! I hate it!

I am looking forward to following along with the rest of your trip and hearing all about your plans.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

I followed you over from my PTR. I am so excited to find other people going during the same time. I haven't really found many PTR or TR's during that time. I know it will be crazy crowded, but I am still so excited!

Your plans look good! I am kind of jealous you get to stay a few days past the first to take advantage of the lower crowds. My DH is also a teacher and won't take his personal days for a trip! I hate it!

I am looking forward to following along with the rest of your trip and hearing all about your plans.

Hi JackieMarie! I'm so pleased you followed me over! I know what you mean about not finding many TRs/PTRs for NYE... I guess it just means we're the crazy ones for giving it a go! At least we're prepared for the insane crowds. Where are you planning on being for the NYE celebration?

I am looking forward to the week after and some (hopefully) lower crowd days! The teacher thing is tough, isn't it? My dream is to go in the fall for MNSSHP but since that's marching band season, that ain't never gonna happen! Having the holidays together is awesome but sometimes I get a little jealous of people who can plan a vacation in the "off" seasons.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your plans too! Maybe we should start a chat thread for all the NYE planners so we can compare notes....

 

[chunkymonkey]

Followed you from my PTR...I'm definitely along for the ride! You have a beautiful family!! Your NYE trip sounds amazing, and what a surprise it will be!!
I wish I got surprises like that when I was growing up! Your ADRs look great! Very yummy choices and the Fantasmic package is great - very good seats for the show!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Hi JackieMarie! I'm so pleased you followed me over! I know what you mean about not finding many TRs/PTRs for NYE... I guess it just means we're the crazy ones for giving it a go! At least we're prepared for the insane crowds. Where are you planning on being for the NYE celebration?

I am looking forward to the week after and some (hopefully) lower crowd days! The teacher thing is tough, isn't it? My dream is to go in the fall for MNSSHP but since that's marching band season, that ain't never gonna happen! Having the holidays together is awesome but sometimes I get a little jealous of people who can plan a vacation in the "off" seasons.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your plans too! Maybe we should start a chat thread for all the NYE planners so we can compare notes....

For NYE we are going to Animal Kingdom during the day and that night we are going to hang around our resort. As much as I would love to check out MK or HS or EPCOT I am worry that it will be too crowded to be enjoyable. Really, its only the actual NYE crowds that scare me, I think the other days will be manageable.

Oh I hate being bound by the school calendar. What a pain! I want to go to MNSSHP so badly, we have even planned two different trips and both ended up canceled. Maybe, after Bob retires we will make it?