1 Mom, 4 Kids, and a Swell September Surprise!

[ssommerville]

Hi y'all and welcome to my very first PTR which will, hopefully, be followed by my very first TR. Yay! I'm Shannon, a single mom to the four Disney obsessed kids pictured below:

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I'm currently planning a surprise WDW trip for September 17-27 and keeping the secret is driving me crazy! I usually plan everything with my three older kids, but now I can't- I've almost spilled the beans a few times already. I usually just lurk on here and don't say much, but I'm dying to share all my Disney plans with someone and I figured this PTR would be an awesome way to do it- so here it is. I'm so excited for this trip and can't wait to share all the details with y'all, hope you enjoy!

Up next, I'll introduce all of us.

 

[ssommerville]

Time for introductions! I'll start with myself, since I'm the leader of this pack.

This is me with my two boys a couple years ago:



And me with my baby boy last October, he was getting ready to have his tonsils removed:



I'm 34 years old and work as medical assistant in an OB/GYN office; I also homeschool the older kids in the evening. We're a family of former carnies and are planning to return to life on the road next spring. Right now my life pretty much revolves around the kids, work, and trying to get my own little business started so we can hit the road next year. I love Disney and traveling and I can't wait until September gets here so I can surprise these wonderful kids of mine!

 

[ssommerville]

Next up is my 14yr old DD, Savannah:



Savannah is the brains of our family- it's a good thing too, because since baby number 4 came along, my brain is mommy mush a lot of the time. She loves reading, writing, and all things Disney. Right now, she loves Frozen- along with mostly everyone on the planet and is always walking around singing the songs and trying to teach them to her baby brother, which is too stinkin' cute!

Here are a few pics of her on our past trips- she's grown up a lot since our first trip.

On the Teacups 2008:

Celebrating her 9th B-day 2009:

2010:

Ready for California Grill 2012:

Relaxing at the Resort 2013:

She's going to be beyond excited when she finally finds out about this trip and probably super surprised that she didn't figure me out- it's gonna be awesome to see the look on her face!

 

[ssommerville]

Now we have my 13yr old DD, Theresa:



Theresa pretty much eats, sleeps, and breathes Disney- she is beyond obsessed! She wants to be an imagineer someday and has notebooks full of drawings and ideas for new rides, restaurants, and lands. Her MP3 player is loaded with tons of Disney music- she even has the monorail spiel and insists on playing it whenever we get in the van and close the automatic sliding door.

Here's a look back at her on our past trips:

Trying Ghirardelli Chocolate 2008 (she didn't like the caramel):

Hollywood Studios 2009:

Celebrating her 10th B-day 2010:

Chef Mickey's 2012:

Animal Kingdom 2013:

Theresa can be a little eccentric at times, but our lives would be pretty boring without her- she gives us all something to smile about everyday.

 

[ssommerville]

Time for the boys! I'll start with TJ, my 12yr old DS:



TJ is a little more laid back in his love for Disney than us girls, but he definitely enjoys being there and is pretty bummed thinking that we're not going to be able to go this year. His real obsession right now is minecraft; he plays whenever he gets the chance.

A few pics of TJ on our past trips:

At Tony's Town Square 2008:

Riding the Train 2009:

Morocco 2010 (he loves the glasses there ):

California Grill 2012:

TJ and Stitch (he still sleeps with that pillow pet every night) 2013:

So, there you have my little buddy and our man of the house. He's awesome and always looking out for his mom, sisters, and baby brother. It's going to be great to surprise him with this trip and see the excitement on his face when he finds out about it.

 

[ssommerville]

Bringing up the rear is my 2yr old DS, Elliott (he'll be 2.5 in a couple of weeks):



Elliott was born after my Disney craze kicked in and managed to score himself a Disney inspired name- it fits him perfectly too because he can definitely be a little fire breathing dragon at times . Elliott loves Mickey Mouse, but he couldn't care less about Disney World. I ask him everyday if wants to go to Disney and everyday he tells me nope- I know he's too little to really understand, but it would be great if he said yes once in a while.

This will be Elliott's third Disney trip- he was 5wks on the first one and 20months last time. Here he is on his first two trips:

With Savannah 2012:

With Theresa 2012:

With TJ 2012:

Elliott and His Mini Build-a-Dino 2012:

Waiting for Little Mermaid with Savannah 2013:

Ready for Crystal Palace with Theresa 2013:

On the Boat to DTD with TJ 2013:

Waiting for the Boat to DTD at POR 2013:

That's our little boss man- he's fiesty and temperamental, but loving and super cuddly and we wouldn't have him any other way. I know he's going to have a great time on our trip this year (even though he's not very enthusiastic) and hopefully he'll be able to remember a little of it this time.

 

[ssommerville]

First off, I have some pretty exciting trip news- I was able to move our trip up a couple of weeks, so our new dates are September 3 thru September 13 ! I couldn't sleep at all the night after I made the change because I was too excited. I worked on ADRs, FP+, and touring plans the whole night- it turned out well though because I got pretty much everything at the times I wanted . (Luckily the kids only know we're going to Florida in September, not the exact dates- so they won't be suspicious of the change)

I guess I should get back on track and give some background on how this trip came to be.

We started planning for it before we even checked out of our resort on our trip last September. We all talked about what we wanted to do and we were all pretty excited about this trip. I originally booked POR and the kids knew about the trip but then I had some unexpected expenses and I was getting short hours at work so I had to tell the kids that we would have to put this trip off until 2015 - they took it pretty well and I told them that we would take a long weekend to go down to one of the other Orlando theme parks (at the time this was the complete truth- I really didn't think I would be able to swing a trip this year).

Work picked back up and I managed to get those pesky expenses taken care of, which made it possible to go back to Disney this year. When Free Dining rolled out, I booked it ASAP- that's when I decided to make this a surprise trip.
It's been fun planning everything and throwing some extra little surprises in for the kids (I'll tell you about those later), but it's going to be really awesome to reveal everything to them- I can't wait!

 

[angelabrezovsky]

I can't wait to hear more. I subscribed to your thread. I am taking my girls down Deptember 2015 wheich they know about but then hoping to do the bounce back offer and surprise them again. I surprised them in NOvember 2013 with a trip and I surprised my little sister (10) and took her with us. She won't be going in 2015 but I will suprise her and take her in 2016. I am also a single mom, I love it just being my girls and me on our trips so I get every moment with them!! How exciting for you!

 

[ssommerville]

I can't wait to hear more. I subscribed to your thread. I am taking my girls down Deptember 2015 wheich they know about but then hoping to do the bounce back offer and surprise them again. I surprised them in NOvember 2013 with a trip and I surprised my little sister (10) and took her with us. She won't be going in 2015 but I will suprise her and take her in 2016. I am also a single mom, I love it just being my girls and me on our trips so I get every moment with them!! How exciting for you!

Welcome and thanks for following along! I know exactly what you mean about having every moment with them on the trips- that's why I love going so much. It's just me and the kids having a great time and not having to worry about any of the stuff back in "real" life.

 

[ssommerville]

We've stayed at POR on our last two trips and I had originally planned to stay there this year too, the kids think of it as "home", but with FD not being offered there I had to switch things up.

We're booked at Caribbean Beach. I was a little nervous at first about staying somewhere different, but now I'm actually really excited about being there. All of the photos I've seen are beautiful and Theresa is going to love the tropical flowers everywhere- she will literally stop and smell all the flowers .

The pool looks amazing and I'm sure the kids will have a ton of fun there. The only problem is going to be getting Elliott to leave the toddler splash area. It's hard to get him out of the bathtub most nights, so I can only imagine how much of a fight he's going to put up when there are baby water slides involved.

I'm also loving all of the playgrounds they have around the resort. It will be nice to let the older kids take Elliott out to play while I get things ready to go for the day or just get a few quiet minutes before bed. (They'll probably be playing too though because they still love playgrounds )

I've put in a room request for a refurbished room with a murphy bed, so hopefully we'll get some pixie dust there. It would be great to have the extra bed and not have to mess with the air mattress while we're there.

So, that's where we'll be staying this trip. I can't wait to be there exploring a new resort!

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Following

 

[ssommerville]

Following

 

[annegirl]

Following! Your kids are cute. I love the name Elliot. You just don't hear it that much but it's a really nice name.
I am surprising my girls (aged 4 and 8) with the trip this year. It is SO hard not to tell them. But I think it is so much fun when you finally tell them!

 

[ssommerville]

Following! Your kids are cute. I love the name Elliot. You just don't hear it that much but it's a really nice name.
I am surprising my girls (aged 4 and 8) with the trip this year. It is SO hard not to tell them. But I think it is so much fun when you finally tell them!

Hi! Thanks for following. I hadn't even considered Elliott as a name choice, but after he was born it just seemed to suit him. The surprise is definitely hard to keep, but it is going to be pretty great when they finally find out. I'm still working on the reveal- I have a few ideas, but I'm not really sure how I'm going to do it yet. When are you planning to tell your kids?

 

[annegirl]

The day of. We are going to set up a reveal breakfast that morning. And then be on the plane a few hours later.

 

[ssommerville]

The day of. We are going to set up a reveal breakfast that morning. And then be on the plane a few hours later.

That's a great idea. I'm planning to wait until we're there to tell mine.

 

[annegirl]

That's a great idea. I'm planning to wait until we're there to tell mine.

That's what we did last time. It was right as we were about to get to the gate. It was awesome. I would love to someday have them help plan a trip. But for now I just love surprising them.

 

[ssommerville]

That's what we did last time. It was right as we were about to get to the gate. It was awesome. I would love to someday have them help plan a trip. But for now I just love surprising them.

It's alot of fun having them help with the planning and see how excited they are about it all. Mine helped plan our other trips, so it's been hard not to share it with them this time. For the older kids, this will be their only suprise trip. I know they'll want to do surprise trips for Elliott someday, so we'll plan those together and that should be really fun.

 

[ssommerville]

Since this is a surprise trip, I want to do a few little things to make it extra special.

I plan on dropping the big kids off to play mini-golf while I take Elliott to check in to the resort (they still won't know we're actually staying at Disney yet). I've got some decorations for the room and a welcome bag for each of the kids that I want to get situated before the big reveal.

This is what I have for the room:



There are some cut outs for the window and a bunch of little stuff to put around the room. They ask every year if we can decorate our window and we never have, so this year I'm going to do it for them.

I also made a banner to hang in the room:



At one time, I had thought about letting the decorations and banner be the way they found out about the surprise- but now I don't think we'll be back at the room until after dinner, so I may tell them somehow before we get back to the resort that evening- I'm still working that part out!

Here are their welcome bags:



And what's inside them:









Elliott's looks fuller, but it's really not- his stuff is just bigger than the older kids. Savannah, Theresa, and TJ each have a new lanyard with a pouch full of trading pins and Elliott's still a little too young for those.

That's what I've got so far. I'm still working on a special banner for the window with photos from our past trips, a family autograph book, a trip itinerary/journal, and a sticker book (to hopefully keep Elliott calm a few extra minutes at meals )- I'll post pics of those once they're all done.

 

[annegirl]

Everything looks great! I LOVE your room decorations and banner! Did you make the banner? Their welcome bags look like so much fun.