A MouseEars View of the World: *Updated: Pt. 7 Grumpy, Dopey and Alberto Do EPCOT*

[MouseEarsJenny]

I think it may be a sign of mental illness if you wrote your "pre-trip" introductions, oh, say, *blush*, 56 days before your trip. But since I'm actually posting this two days before we go, can we just chalk it up to extreme boredom on a rainy Good Friday? Yes? Good.

We're heading to Disney for 7 days, 6 nights on June 9th. We're driving from Pennsylvania, and we'll stop over twice on the way. (Yes, we know. We could make it in two days instead of three. Probably even in one. But we don't want to.) So our first Disney day will actually be the 11th. This trip is a surprise for dd and ds. Specifically, it's to celebrate ds's graduation from Kindergarten (we did the same for his sister 4 years ago, only it wasn't a surprise). One of the reasons I wrote this pre-trip report so early is that if I didn't say all of this to SOMEONE I would have ended up spilling the beans to the kids. I think this has been the most torturous secret I have EVER had to keep.

The plan for the surprise is to send the kids off to school on the 9th (they have a half day) and run around like crazy monkeys packing the car and dropping the dog at the kennel. Then, we show up at their school to pick them up and hand them a book. We'll insist that dd read it to ds right away. It will be a custom photo book, and you can see the pages here. Or, if you just wanna get to the point... it talks about ds's year in kindergarten and the last two pages read: So Mommy and Daddy picked him up at school and said.... (last page) We're going to Disney World! From there, we walk them to the car where they find Mickey and Minnie strapped in their seats and off we go.

At any rate, here's the cast for this little excursion:

Me: I'm a mother, wife, seventh grade teacher, drama coach, Children's Ministry director, scrapbooker, and all around busy person. I'm 29 (really) but will be turning 29 again right after our trip.

DH (Scott): Father, husband, computer programmer, Children's Ministry co-director, guitar player, and all around adorable person. He's also 29, but will be turning a respectable 30 after our trip, unlike some people. (Easy for him to say - he's 17 days younger!)

DD: Nine year old prodigy (No, I'm not at all biased! ;-) How dare you say so!) who SERIOUSLY needs a vacation. In addition to the 4th grade, she's spent the past year on a competition dance team, playing piano, learning french horn, performing in the Nutcracker and in church plays and singing in the elementary chorus. She was threatened with the removal of any or all of these things if she didn't practice, maintain her grades, etc. I expected her to last a week before we cut down her schedule. She showed me. *sigh* But she needs to be a KID for at least a week. She's Kairi, Kai or Princess.

DS: 6 year old wild child, he's our comic relief. Our family would be WAY too serious without this little bundle of energy. He's a constant goof, but also a bit of a ride phobic. We're not at all sure how he's gonna handle Disney. But it will be entertaining, that I can bet the farm on. If I had a farm. Which I don't. He is also a dancer, and just finished Kindergarten. He wants to start karate and guitar next year, too. We're afraid. Very afraid. At home, we just call him Trouble. But for the purposes of the report, we'll call him Nicky.

So there you have it. We'll be staying in the Pop Century Resort, 60's Building (we hope - now that they've changed what's considered "Preferred" we may be elsewhere). We're on the dining plan, are planning to follow a touring plan (based loosely on Unofficial Guide, with snippets of TGM, and sprinklings of our own style).

I can't WAIT to tell the kids.

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

I loved that book! You did such a GOOD JOB!
& your kids are going to be SO surprised!
HAVE A GREAT TIME!

 

[OhMari]

Loved the pre-trip report. I started the piano in 2nd grade and the french horn in 5th. No dancing for me though and I still cannot carry a tune. Hope everything goes as planned. Like the Tag Fairy put in my signature "Nothin like a road trip to WDW.

 

[heaven2dc]

Oh how exciting!! At first I thought you might wait until day 3 of your journey to tell them but I'm sure the Welcome to Florida sign would give it away

This looks like a promising delightful report - can't wait for more!!

 

[TLinden16]

What a great way to spring the trip on the kids! They are going to be so excited. I think you need to stop at home and post their reaction (with pictures) before hitting the road for Disney

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

We're back! We had a fabulous time! If you like pictures and pixie dust, stick around, 'cause I took lots of the former, and we were blessed with lots of the latter as well! Let's just say a future picture will feature the MouseEars family with _10_ characters!!!

Since our trip was a surprise for our kids, I have to start the trip report by describing how the surprise went! So, without further ado, part one!

Part One: The Surprise

Scott and I acted as though we were going to work as usual. The kids knew that my last day was actually the day before, but I had convinced them I had a meeting with my team. Unfortunately, Scott came downstairs in shorts. I said, in my best exaggerated adult-keeping-a-secret voice, "Did you forget you had to go to work today??" Never let it be said dh can't think on his feet. "Oh, we did such a great job solving a problem for one of our districts that the boss is giving us a picnic for lunch today. We're allowed to wear shorts." Liar, liar, shorts on fire. So anyway, we finally dropped the kids off at school, and told them I would get them later. And then we breathed. Because we couldn't POSSIBLY spill the beans now. It had been so very hard to keep the secret, especially the last night when we needed to be packing and had to wait for them to sleep! We ran back to the house and grabbed our dog Honey. She needed to go to the kennel, we needed to go to the bank, to Wal-mart (for batteries), pack the rest of the things we needed, pack the car, and get back in 4 hours. We did it in 3. And sat. And waited. Finally, we heard the dismissal announcement and went in to get the kids. Kai showed up first. She was surprised to see her dad, who was supposed to be at work. Another quick lie (horrible parents that we are) and she believed that he came home just to go to Mickey Dee's for lunch with us. (Obviously she had forgotten he had a picnic at work. Hmmm.) We sent her off to find her brother, and when she returned with him in tow, they wanted to show us their report cards. We're all, yeah, whatever, read this book. (We later discovered they both rocked their grades. We just didn't really care at that point. Did I mention we're horrible parents?)

They read the book. After a stunned second, this was their response.

I gotta say, I love that my kids' first impulse was gratitude. They threw their arms around Daddy and didn't let go. Then we had to explain that we were going RIGHT THAT SECOND. At that point, they were completely flipping. I'm sure people all around were staring, but I can't say for sure, cause I was so busy grabbing bookbags and musical instruments and hustling two kids to the car. There, Nicky found the Mickey Mouse we had bought him to match his sister's Minnie (from her kindergarten graduation). He loved him instantly, and spent the ride to the house (to ditch the bags and horn) hugging him and playing with his ears and making "wow" faces. Kai meanwhile was babbling and trying to determine if we had packed and prepared adequately. Cause how could we possibly have managed without her input? Also, she wanted to know details like when we'd get there, how long we'd stay, where we were staying... she's the practical one, Nicky's the dreamer.

So I'd say, Surprise: Successful!

Stay Tuned for Part Two: ROAD TRIP!

PS Sorry for the blur on the pic - they were moving pretty fast!

 

[noodles]

I love your surprise! We tried to surprise our kids last year and my DD who was turning 7 that day did not want to go to Disneyworld to celebrate her birthday because she would miss some school days.. Cant wait to read more!

 

[zacksmammie]

Can't wait to read the rest! My niece did a "surprise" like yours once, but not quite as unique. She had a book prepared when her daughters got home from school--telling of the surprise trip - as they finished reading - a limo drove up to take them all to the airport--it was terrific!

 

[monymony3471]

LOVED your story book. Did you do that with a computer program?

That hooked me right in. I will be reading......

 

[averill94]

AAWWW- that pic says it all! How great.
I am looking forward to more.
Thanks

 

[PoohGal05]

I LOVE the picture of your kids! That's just beautiful! Can't wait to read more!

 

[smwf71]

Yeah - how totally cool! We will surprise DD 8 in Sept when we go for the free dining!

 

[Dismom+two]

Great start!!! Can't wait to read all about your trip!!

 

[tinkerbell3747]

I started planning my trip a year ago ( will be going July 1st -16th 06') and the second I made reservations I blurted it out to my kids DS 5 DD 1 (at the time!) That's wonderful! I definatley would love to surprise my son that way and I will try next time. You are an inspiration.

 

[ohboyx3]

This is great! We got back in January and are already planning a "surprise" trip in September of '07. Well...... I am anyways. My husband doesn't know I'm planning another trip already. I guess it'll be a surprise for him too. LOL. I think a surprise for my boys would be awesome. I'm terrible at keeping secrets though. Keep em coming.

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

This next part is about our trip to Disney. I consider that part of the trip because it's where our vacation really begins. Plus, I tried to add some helpful hints about hotels, food and fun on the way that might be useful to another Disney driver. At any rate, if you don't want to hear about our 18 hour drive, you may want to skip this part. Also, my apologies in advance if I've over-brightened the photos. My monitor is failing, and everything looks SUPER dark on this monitor. So to make the photos look normal, I brightened them, which may make them quite VIVID on a working monitor!

Part Two: Road Trip

So there's one problem with this whole "surprise" deal. We didn't really get to prep the kids on what to expect with this road trip. Which is fine, in Kai's case. On our last trip, she was a very grown up 5, and she remembers clearly that it took "forever" to get to Florida. So we grab some fast food lunches (see, we didn't lie! DH did come home to have McDonald's with the kids....sort of...), and she settles right in for the long haul. Gets out her DS to feed her "dogs", and starts rummaging through the basket of activities I put in the backseat. She has a moment's glee when she discovers I re-printed the "Mickey's Road Trip" activity books from last time, and starts looking for out-of-state plates. Nicky is still making his "wow" face.

So far, so good.

Cheerfully and jokingly, Scott and I lay down the rules of the road. They're pretty simple, really.

1. NO saying "Are we there yet?"
2. When we stop, EVERYONE goes to the bathroom.
3. There will be ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY no stopping at *spit* South of the Border. (Sorry if there are any SotB fans out there - the place just looks so filthy and flea-baggy from the road, and we HATE the signs for hundreds of miles!)

We explain (we thought) to Nicky that the trip will take 3 days, stopping that night in Emporia, Virginia and the next night in Savannah, Georgia. Then we spring the next surprise. We can either get up late on Sunday and just hang around the pool... OR.... we can get up at 3AM and drive straight to Orlando and Nicky can maybe, just maybe.... FIGHT DARTH VADER!

Well, Trouble is a huge Star Wars nut, so the answer is a no-brainer. For a few minutes, he's occupied as we tell him all about the characters who will be there, the Star Tours ride, and the Jedi Academy.

But as we drive....and drive...and drive.... it becomes painfully obvious that Nicky DOES NOT remember the last trip. (He was 2 at the time...) He adheres to the rules, and not a single "Are we there yet?" is heard. But every few minutes, a huge sigh is heaved in the backseat, and a little voice pipes up: "How many minutes?" or "How much time is left?" or similar. Meanwhile, it starts to rain rather hard, and dh gets a bit tense - he despises driving in low visibility. Eventually, though, we get out of the rain, and Nicky gets involved in DVD's (after some debate with his sister who is on a Muppets kick and only wants to watch 70's episodes of the Muppet show). We drove out of our way to avoid Washington, so we enjoy the scenery of I-64 in Virginia - winding through all those distant blue-ish mountains and sudden stunning vistas keeps the grown-ups occupied. So, after calculating how much longer countless times, we meet up with 95 and pull into Emporia in about 8 hours. The kids were actually quite quiet and behaved, if a bit impatient, and I tell them their patience will be rewarded with an indoor pool at the hotel (Fairfield Inn and Suites, Emporia).

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. We eat a rather nasty Burger King dinner. (I highly DON'T reccommend the BK in Emporia, VA - cold food, dirty floors and tables.)Then, we go straight to the room, change into our suits, come right back to the pool and see the sign. "Pool closed for deep cleaning. Sorry for the inconvenience. Spa open." ARGH!!! I picked this hotel SPECIFICALLY for the indoor pool. It does irk me a bit that it wasn't mentioned at check-in, but I cheer up the kids, and pop them in the hot tub. After all, no hot tubs in the values, right?

The kids are too giggly to sleep (not surprisingly) when we get to the room.

As hotels go, this one was clean and efficient with very very soft beds. Almost too soft - I felt like I was drowning in marshmallows. The rest of the family loved it though. *shrug* After discovering that we got like 9 channels, we flipped off the TV and Scott told the kids about his first trip to Disney. Nicky had a brief moment of panic because he noticed the sprinklers. He decided that the hotel was going to catch fire and asked what we would do if there was a fire. Every day. For the rest of vacation. Sometime after 10, everyone but me drifted off. Did I tell you it was a marshmallow bed? I couldn't get comfortable, kept being smothered.

The continental breakfast was quite good. They had a make your own waffle station, which we all enjoyed. Except Nicky. He wanted Fruit Loops. (The fruit loop.) But then, we don't keep sugared cereal at home, so I guess that's not too surprising. By 7:15 we were on our way.

Saturday's drive was completely smooth. Nicky had figured out that asking how long it would take eighty times didn't really change the answer. We ran into some traffic in North Carolina around 8:30ish, and played Weird Al's "Traffic Jam" which magically cleared it up. We also added a rule:

4. No mentioning the "T"(raffic) word.

Sadly, when we got through we saw the reason for the jam - someone's RV had caught fire, and was by the side of the road, horribly burnt. :-( I prayed that whoever got out safely, but it was sobering. Since I can't find anything about it on-line, I'm hoping no one was injured.

Nicky fell asleep shortly after that, and we drove into Savannah at 2 in the afternoon. This precipitated our first debate. I felt that stopping for the night at 2 in the afternoon, only 4 hours from our destination, was insane. I thought we should push on, find a hotel in Orlando, and be ready to hop over to Pop first thing in the morning to get our park passes. We pulled into a Sonic (yum.... try their cream pie shakes... not really shakes, but quite nice nevertheless... oh, and the popcorn chicken is good too) to eat lunch and debate. Much as with the beds the night before, I was overruled, 3 to 1. Everyone else wanted to stop. I made dire predictions about getting up at 3, but no one was dissuaded.

We checked in at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Savannah. The difference between the two hotels was immediately evident. The staff here was friendly and interested. They asked where we were headed, chatted up the kids, generally made us feel welcome. We went in the pool for a bit, discovered that Nicky is terrified of water all of a sudden (he was in the pool for hours a bare fortnight ago at my sister's luau). We had fun anyway, and enjoyed the pool and whirlpool greatly. Getting out, it was still hours before bedtime. We had gotten directions to the local theater, hoping to see Cars, but it wasn't playing. So we asked at the desk about playgrounds. A great young man helped us to find the Savannah Mall just down the street, where a FABULOUS indoor playground called Skukuzoo kept the kids occupied happily for only $3 each!

They also had mini-golf and air hockey. We didn't bother with the golf, but DH and I have an on-going rivalry in air hockey, so we played a quick game. I was defeated. No, I don't want to talk about it. The mall also featured an Outdoor World where the kids saw some museum quality "stuffed" animals, along with a escalator ride behind a waterfall and a local fish aquarium. Add in the Lord of the Rings sword and armor display and the food court with carousel and we had no trouble wasting our Savannah time. Kai didn't ride the carousel though, because we told them they had to use their own souvenir money - $75 each we gave them at the start of the trip. We figured $2 a ride was a bit silly when they could ride all they wanted the next day!

Another dip in the pool, and we all went to bed. I clearly didn't understand the buttons on the alarm clock, cause I woke up at nearly 4 instead of 3. I panicked and hustled, and we were on our way by 4:30. Too early for the breakfast, but we didn't care. Nick fell right back to sleep, and Kai tried, as directed.

Four hours later, we were pulling under those wonderful, wonderful gates. I was tearing up, the kids were goggle eyed... it was all good.

Scott suggested, ever so sweetly, that I direct him instead of being sentimental, unless I never wanted to find the resort. So I did, and we did, and that's where I will leave you for this segment - with our kids saying "THIS is the hotel???" as we pulled into the GIANT parking lot of the Pop Century with Classic Hall looming in front of us.

Stay Tuned For Part 3: Padawan Nicky and the Sith Lords

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We're back! We had a fabulous time! If you like pictures and pixie dust, stick around, 'cause I took lots of the former, and we were blessed with lots of the latter as well! Let's just say a future picture will feature the MouseEars family with _10_ characters!!!

That's the MouseEars-Flightless Family (hmmm...Flightless Mouse Ears?)

Since our trip was a surprise for our kids, I have to start the trip report by describing how the surprise went! So, without further ado, part one!

While it's not interesting, there was so much to do up until surprise day. It's weird, looking back on it, how many things we did specifically because of the trip and the kids never realized it (getting the new car, having the dog's rabies vaccine updated, buying the portable DVD player...).

Unfortunately, Scott came downstairs in shorts. I said, in my best exaggerated adult-keeping-a-secret voice, "Did you forget you had to go to work today??" Never let it be said dh can't think on his feet. "Oh, we did such a great job solving a problem for one of our districts that the boss is giving us a picnic for lunch today. We're allowed to wear shorts." Liar, liar, shorts on fire.

It didn't occur to me until halfway down the stairs that I wouldn't be wearing shorts and a t-shirt to work. Fridays may be "casual day", but that still meant a collared shirt (and jeans). Fortunately, I had the story cooked up in case MEJ mentioned it. So, I'm not that quick on the draw.

So anyway, we finally dropped the kids off at school, and told them I would get them later. And then we breathed. Because we couldn't POSSIBLY spill the beans now. ... And sat. And waited.

This was probably the hardest part for me. I wanted to go get the kids early and jump up and down, but we waited until the kids were dismissed.

We sent her off to find her brother, and when she returned with him in tow, they wanted to show us their report cards. We're all, yeah, whatever, read this book. (We later discovered they both rocked their grades. We just didn't really care at that point. Did I mention we're horrible parents?)

Actualy, I did grab their report cards, just to make sure everything was on the up-and-up. I didn't pay too much attention to the grades at the time (quick scanned for bad grades, but that was it).

Kai meanwhile was babbling and trying to determine if we had packed and prepared adequately. Cause how could we possibly have managed without her input? Also, she wanted to know details like when we'd get there, how long we'd stay, where we were staying... she's the practical one, Nicky's the dreamer.

Where she gets it from, I have no idea. Not that I am as much of a freespirit as Trouble. Maybe at 6, I was.

My biggest concern this day was visualiing everything that could possibly go wrong. Maybe the kennel wouldn't take the dog because of the bump under her eye. Maybe we'll get in a horrible car accident hours before leaving. Maybe one of the kids would be sick. The one thing that I didn't bother to think about was the weather. Tropical storms don't show up this early in Floirda, right? RIGHT?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

So there's one problem with this whole "surprise" deal. We didn't really get to prep the kids on what to expect with this road trip. Which is fine, in Kai's case. On our last trip, she was a very grown up 5, and she remembers clearly that it took "forever" to get to Florida.

Trouble didn't really get the whole "staying over night twice on the way down." thing We stopped in Emporia (ugh, what a place that was!) and he thought we were already in Florida. When we got to Savannah, I don't think he realized how far we had goon since we were staying at another Fairfield Inn. He did get it eventually that the NEXT day we would be at Disney. He's usually very good with spatial problems and directions, but I think the roadtrip thing was a little over his head. Maybe if we had a map with us, we could have showed him.

So we grab some fast food lunches (see, we didn't lie! DH did come home to have McDonald's with the kids....sort of...), and she settles right in for the long haul. Gets out her DS to feed her "dogs", and starts rummaging through the basket of activities I put in the backseat. She has a moment's glee when she discovers I re-printed the "Mickey's Road Trip" activity books from last time, and starts looking for out-of-state plates. Nicky is still making his "wow" face.

Princess did eventually give up on her three dogs (in her Nintendogs game). At first she was worried about feeding them every day, but once we got to Disney, she didn't worry about it so much. I was also happy to see the Mickey's Road Trip book MEJ made last time. We didn't find as many out-of-state plates this time though.

3. There will be ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY no stopping at *spit* South of the Border.

A friend of mine from work likes this place, but I'm not sure I understand why. The rides never seem to be running when we drive by.

Nicky gets involved in DVD's (after some debate with his sister who is on a Muppets kick and only wants to watch 70's episodes of the Muppet show).

The problem was the fact that Princess had watched the same disc from the Season 1 Muppets box set three times the week before the trip. I could probably sing all of Valerie Harper's opening number on the show she guest starred in by heart now, if need be. And I think Princess is the only 9 year old in the world who knows who Kay Ballard is.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. We eat a rather nasty Burger King dinner. (I highly DON'T reccommend the BK in Emporia, VA - cold food, dirty floors and tables.)

I don't recommend ANYTHING about Emporia, VA (except the hotel). But more on that on the way back.

As hotels go, this one was clean and efficient with very very soft beds. Almost too soft - I felt like I was drowning in marshmallows. The rest of the family loved it though. *shrug*

It was like I was floating on a happy little cloud. Like the ones Bob Ross paints.

Scott told the kids about his first trip to Disney.

Or tried to, at least. I remember taking Amtrak from New York, having one of those small sleeper room thingies, and waking up at 2AM in Rocky Mount, NC. I don't remember how long it took and I don't even remember what year it was (1990 or 1991, I think). I remember going on Space Mountain and not being too impressed. I remember Epcot being crowded and hot. I remember it was late December and that I thought it was cool that I could go swimming. I remember going to Sea World, staying at the Sheraton Lakeside (off property, shocking!), and I also remember NOT getting to go to MGM Studios. It was a rather short story.

Nicky had a brief moment of panic because he noticed the sprinklers.

While normally the least practical of the family, he does have his fits of anxiety. Fire seems to be one of them. The fact that sprinklers existed in the hotel room automatically meant to him that fires happen on a regular basis in hotels.

Sometime after 10, everyone but me drifted off. Did I tell you it was a marshmallow bed? I couldn't get comfortable, kept being smothered.

Ah, happy little clouds.

Saturday's drive was completely smooth. Nicky had figured out that asking how long it would take eighty times didn't really change the answer. We ran into some traffic in North Carolina around 8:30ish, and played Weird Al's "Traffic Jam" which magically cleared it up. We also added a rule:

4. No mentioning the "T"(raffic) word.

Normally traffic jams get me cranky, but the Weird Al song usually brightens me up. Nicky took the "no T-word" rule to heart, and even pointed out when I said it after the rule was made. "Ah, you said the T-word!"

Nicky fell asleep shortly after that, and we drove into Savannah at 2 in the afternoon. This precipitated our first debate. I felt that stopping for the night at 2 in the afternoon, only 4 hours from our destination, was insane.

I could really see MEJ's point of view, but in Savannah we already had reservations at the Fairfield Inn. If we headed farther south, we'd have to decide where to stay and see if we could get reservations. And I didn't want to stay in Orlando proper (too expensive, and I would get lost easily!). Since we didn't have a map, had no way of calling ahead, and since this hotel was right off I-95, I figured it would make more sense to stay where we were.

As it turns out, we did have fun at the Savannah Mall. And no one really had a problem with getting up the next day (although the alarm didn't go off and we woke up at 3:30AM instead of 3AM).

They also had mini-golf and air hockey. We didn't bother with the golf, but DH and I have an on-going rivalry in air hockey, so we played a quick game. I was defeated. No, I don't want to talk about it.

It was a game of epic proportions! It was only through stout effort, ingenious strategy, and quick reflexes that the Flightless Ducks were able to beat the Mouse Ears 7 - 5. I only wish Al Michaels was there to do the announcing.

Scott suggested, ever so sweetly, that I direct him instead of being sentimental, unless I never wanted to find the resort.

I had no idea where I was going, although since everything is so well marked, I probably could have found Pop Century by myself (then again, I did get lost picking the dog up from the kennel this morning...).

 

[Disney owl]

Brilliant surprise & great reports, can't wait to read more.

 

[noodles]

I love both sides of the story!! Cant wait for more, sounds like you guys had a great time and were not even to Disney yet!