3 generations on a girls only trip...live from OKW now!!

[Pixieflip]

Tomorrow is Disney Eve! Don't you love that phrase? I could have used that a lot over the years. Thanks franandaj for the inspiration.

Tomorrow after school, we are surprising our daughter with a birthday trip to WDW. We have four kids, so a "mom, grandma and me" trip is a very big deal. We'll get to spend time doing only things she wants to do...if you come from a bigger family, you know how special this will be. She will be 13 in June and like her older siblings, I'm whisking her away for a memorable entrance into the teen years.

The surprise has almost been spoiled several times this week! My mom is the worst!! But tonight we are really busy and so if we can get through to bedtime, we should be home free tomorrow.

After we reveal the surprise, we'll have a quick pizza dinner and piece of the castle cake I have ordered. Then we can pack! Our flight is 8am on Saturday and we should arrive at MCO around 12:30. On to DME and OKW!!! Can't wait to see the refurbished room - ours will be a Studio. We'll see, the room might be ready, it might not, we'll be okay either way.

The Magic Kingdom is first on our list. One of my favorite things in the whole world is the feeling you get standing on Main Street in the first moments of a trip, gazing at the Castle, hearing the happy people, smelling the sweets from the Confectionery, knowing you were just at home that very morning and you still have your whole trip ahead of you.

BUT...before we get to that moment...I have a lot to do! Off to accomplish something behind the scenes while the kids are at school.

So you are welcome to join us on our adventure. Will post photos as we can. Wait. I'd better go pack the fire wire for the laptop.

 

[mdsd8700]

Sounds wonderful! I know that it will be an awesome time and I am looking forward to reading your posts!!

Have a Magical Trip!!

 

[Uncle Remus]

Please don't forget pictures of the food.

 

[SusieBea]

Oh, I'm tearing up! Have a safe trip, and keep us informed. Castle cake - what a good idea!

 

[sherylcin]

I am so excited to have found this thread. My oldest granddaughter turns 13 next February and my daughter and I were just talking about doing this exact thing.

Can't wait to read how your trip goes. How long are you staying?

Hope you have a wonderful trip and make lots of priceless memories!

 

[bobbiwoz]

That is going to be a very special trip! Enjoy!!!

Bobbi

PS. DH and I will have our 8 yr. old DGD for 2 nights for our first special time with a DGC. Her siblings are 7 and 6 right now. After their turns, we'll have to work on 13s! For the present trip, we have lunch at Norway with the Princesses booked!

 

[Disney Princess]

Have fun!!! What a WONDERFUL time you will have. My mom took me on a special girls only trip for my high school graduation. It was so great to be just the two of us, doing whatever I wanted. Your daughter will love it, and having grandma there will be special too! Can't wait to read more and see pictures.

 

[Pixieflip]

Sounds wonderful! I know that it will be an awesome time and I am looking forward to reading your posts!!

Have a Magical Trip!!

Thank you! I'm excited, that's for sure.

Please don't forget pictures of the food.

Oh, my gosh, I love food pictures. Have no fear!! They will be here!

Oh, I'm tearing up! Have a safe trip, and keep us informed. Castle cake - what a good idea!

The Castle cake is pink, not blue. It's after a cute card I found that will be part of the reveal. We did a blue castle cake last year for our older DD and thought it would be nice for it to be different. Sometime they love to be the same and sometimes they hate it. Just switching it up.

That is going to be a very special trip! Enjoy!!!

Bobbi

PS. DH and I will have our 8 yr. old DGD for 2 nights for our first special time with a DGC. Her siblings are 7 and 6 right now. After their turns, we'll have to work on 13s! For the present trip, we have lunch at Norway with the Princesses booked!

8 is such a fun age, that'll be great. I have 4 kids. DS is 16, DD is 14 DD is 12 and DS is 10. 13 is still young enough to hang with your parents but old enough to appreciate a solo trip, too.

DS16 is going to be a senior this fall so we'll have to plan something special for that graduation milestone, too. Have to be careful. They've been know to read these forums!

Have fun!!! What a WONDERFUL time you will have. My mom took me on a special girls only trip for my high school graduation. It was so great to be just the two of us, doing whatever I wanted. Your daughter will love it, and having grandma there will be special too! Can't wait to read more and see pictures.

Pictures are definitely coming!

 

[Pixieflip]

Well, now I feel ready. Thanks to my friend Rustmanfan over on the DISign board, I now have all the personalized things I needed to make this trip complete. My computer crashed two days ago. Not sure if it was related to the big storm that day or not, but we'll have to deal with that when we return.

What a day. My DD14 had her show choir auditions tonight for her upcoming freshman year. 3 months of voice lessons definitely paid off. She rocked it!! And her dance audition went great, too. Unfortunately we have to wait 2 weeks to see who makes it and for which show choir. But for now, the stress of that is over.

Picked up some last minute items at Walmart. Stocked the kitchen with some easy dinners for DH to handle. Laundry is basically done.

Tomorrow is a huge day. Obviously. But I have to get through a lot before the fun after school. It's our last MOPS meeting of the year. I'm the teaching mentor so I have a bunch of responsibilities including giving the devotional. It was on the other computer. But I think I can do it from memory. Then it's off to

• pick up the cake
• pick up the Mickey balloon
• fill the gift bag and drop it off at my mom's house
• pick up the cards Rustmanfan made to go with the other ones I made
• assemble her trip binder

The question is: will I get to make the tshirts? Time will tell.

More about the reveal next.

 

[Pixieflip]

I should totally go to bed, but after the adrenaline of the auditions, I'm up for a while.

Here's my plan...

We go to Mom's after school to hang out and have pizza. After we arrive, my DS16 will ding dong ditch us leaving the big Tinkerbell (one of her fav characters) gift bag on the porch with glitter and Mickey confetti all around it. It will have her name on it, so she'll know what's up.

Pulling out the tissue will allow the Mickey balloon to float up. Attached to the bottom will be her plush Mickey that says, "Happy Disney Bday!" After that will be the tiny cards. She loves anything that's tiny because she's so tiny. They look like this:

There will be 4 to open. They will each talk about having a happy Disney birthday, staying at OKW, being on the DP and leaving in the morning on a plane!

The rest of the bag will just be whatever order I guess. An envelope with all the ADR invites. Trader pins. An OKW pin for keeps. A scrapbook. DME luggage tags. Her trip binder. And the tshirts, if I get them done. And my mom has some new clothes for the trip for her, too.

We hope to be able to grab the Justin Bieber movie so we can watch it on the plane. Do you really think it'll be difficult to get? We have one store here that's not even carrying it because they didn't want the chaos. I'll have to ask Mom which store that was.

Do I need anything else? Don't let me forget anything important!

 

[moredisneyplease]

how magical!!!!! have a great time and enjoy that one on one time with your mother and daughter!

 

[Uncle Remus]

I should totally go to bed, but after the adrenaline of the auditions, I'm up for a while.

Here's my plan...

We go to Mom's after school to hang out and have pizza. After we arrive, my DS16 will ding dong ditch us leaving the big Tinkerbell (one of her fav characters) gift bag on the porch with glitter and Mickey confetti all around it. It will have her name on it, so she'll know what's up.

Pulling out the tissue will allow the Mickey balloon to float up. Attached to the bottom will be her plush Mickey that says, "Happy Disney Bday!" After that will be the tiny cards. She loves anything that's tiny because she's so tiny. They look like this:

There will be 4 to open. They will each talk about having a happy Disney birthday, staying at OKW, being on the DP and leaving in the morning on a plane!

The rest of the bag will just be whatever order I guess. An envelope with all the ADR invites. Trader pins. An OKW pin for keeps. A scrapbook. DME luggage tags. Her trip binder. And the tshirts, if I get them done. And my mom has some new clothes for the trip for her, too.

We hope to be able to grab the Justin Bieber movie so we can watch it on the plane. Do you really think it'll be difficult to get? We have one store here that's not even carrying it because they didn't want the chaos. I'll have to ask Mom which store that was.

Do I need anything else? Don't let me forget anything important!

Okay, now I'm excited too!!

Well, except for the Justin Beiber movie.

 

[Pixieflip]

It's DISNEY EVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's sitting right next to me and has no idea!!! I'm exhausted from all the running around today, but everything's done and in the trunk! Just waiting for my DS10 to get home from school in 5 min and then we're going to Grandma's for the reveal.

AGHHHHHHHHHhh!!! Will come back later with photos.

 

[Donald is #1]

Have a great time!

 

[supersuperwendy]

What an awesome surprise! I know how hard it is to keep it a secret!!! We surprised our kids once...it was awesome!

I can't wait for you to get down there...I wanna see pictures!

Have a safe journey and looking forward to the rest of live report!

 

[clayfolks]

How did it go? Was she surprised??

 

[Pixieflip]

Well, the reveal went great! She was super excited. She said when I told her we couldn't go exactly on her birthday because we couldn't leave the other kids home alone in the summer and that maybe we'd have to go during school...she was imagining September! Yeah! We made her so happy.

We are all packed and ready. Alarm is set for 5:15 am. But, as you know, a Disney alarm is never as bad as anything else ever.

A few photos from tonight's excitement.

She always wanted a yellow Mickey balloon floating up for her. So, here it is:

This was the 4th card she opened and it said that her flight leaves tomorrow morning:

Of all the ADR's, she was most excited about Afternoon Tea at the Grand Flordian. She has no idea that I've ordered a Mini Wedding Cake for it!

And this is the cake. It sparkles and everything.

After that photo, my camera battery died. Ugh. I love that camera, my Canon SLR, but it doesn't give me any warning at all when the battery is about to die. I'm just glad we got some cute ones before that.

And now everything is packed. Chargers are accounted for. Alarms are set. Off to bed. I would be too excited to sleep except I'm running on only 4 hours from last night! Good night!

Next time we chat, I will be near my Castle again. So many emotions, I need to use all of these!

 

[Pixieflip]

Okay, now I'm excited too!!

Well, except for the Justin Beiber movie.

Uncle Remus, I didn't intend to like the Justin Beiber movie, it just sort of happened. I hope that doesn't change your opinion of me!!!

 

[sherylcin]

Loved the surprise reveal! The cake is really cute and, of course, your daughter is beautiful! Such creative people on this board! I wonder which is better, the planning or the actual watching your daughter find out she's leaving for Disney TOMORROW!!

P.S. I wish someone would surprise me by saying I was leaving for Disney tomorrow morning!!

 

[supersuperwendy]

What a great surprise! I love the mickey balloon!