A Surprise January 2012 Vacation!!! TRIP REPORT has begun!!

[ash-n-brensmom]

Okay, now on to the surprise!

We have surprised our girls two other times. Once in 2010,on the day we left we woke them up at an ungodly hour and had them open a big Rubbermaid box that was wrapped in Disney paper. Inside were two HUGE Mylar balloons. One Mickey, one Minnie. We told them we were going to WDW. It was too early in the morning, they were dazed and confused to say the least. It was an amazing vacation and we sure did surprise them! The video is kinda funny. I'll have to get Ferb to post the link. Then last Xmas morning we surprised them with two huge boards wrapped in paper with our countdown on them for the March trip. It was anti-climactic for sure! They were like, what were not leaving today? Um, no..but don't forget about all those starving kids in Africa...you should be grateful you are going at all...I didn't really say that, but you know what I mean? Once the reality hit that we were going to countdown on the boards with HD Mickey paint chips they were happy and excited! That trip was also fun! You will not be seeing that video because it is pretty sad

This time...the plan so far is to surprise them at the airport! Our flight is late enough that we can get the girls up and out the door without saying where we are going. We will have everything in the trunk and ready to go. The only problem we may run into is at the border. We live in Canada and are flying out of Buffalo, NY. When we cross we always tell them where we are going...this time I plan to have a note to pass to the guard with our itinerary and a note begging them to not give it away.... They will probably want to check the trunk but that is fine. Whether they will go along with the charade is another story. It's night and day sometimes with these guys.

I want to have Ferb take a video of the reveal and hopefully it will be better than before! Either way, it's fun to mess with your kids!!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

We are at 59 days today!!

Love that we got to jump ahead with our countdown..the next trip after this one is a longer wait and the one after that will be a whole year...yikes

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Shameless bump

 

[lledman]

Joining in to read about your fun. Glad your surprise for DH went well, hopefully the one for the girls will be just as awesome!!!

 

[OziJo]

Just followed over from the Jan 2012 thread and I am in awe at your planning prowess and ability to keep stuff a secret!

You are so lucky to be able to make so many trips but as you mentioned you had been "working until midnight" I say you certainly deserve it!

We will be in WDW from Jan 4-15. We are staying at FW Cabins but if we had stayed offsite we would have chosen Bonnet Creek. It sounds great!!

Enjoy your planning and have fun surprising your girls

 

[cyndiloveswalt]

We are doing a surprise jan trip too. From the 13th-17th. My DH and I usually go away in jan for an adults only trip but we decided to treat the kid this time too. Also planning on waiting til we get to the airport to tell them. I've had a couple of close calls where I've almost let it slip but so far so good. I'm terrible at secrets and actually quite proud, we've had the reservations 4 months! We're staying at WL for the first time.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Joining in to read about your fun. Glad your surprise for DH went well, hopefully the one for the girls will be just as awesome!!!

And thanks for joining us! I was sweating it out a bit before the reveal, I must say....it was a great idea in theory..but you never know.

Just followed over from the Jan 2012 thread and I am in awe at your planning prowess and ability to keep stuff a secret!

You are so lucky to be able to make so many trips but as you mentioned you had been "working until midnight" I say you certainly deserve it!

We will be in WDW from Jan 4-15. We are staying at FW Cabins but if we had stayed offsite we would have chosen Bonnet Creek. It sounds great!!

Enjoy your planning and have fun surprising your girls

Thanks for coming along for the ride! Yeah working nights is hard...I actually start at midnight and work all night. It's not a bad job..it's fun for the most part. But I think it would be nice to work days, weekends and holidays off....oh to dream... But alas, this is my lot in life and Disney makes it easier to bear... I jumped over to yours and posted..gonna be following along and counting down with you!!

We are doing a surprise jan trip too. From the 13th-17th. My DH and I usually go away in jan for an adults only trip but we decided to treat the kid this time too. Also planning on waiting til we get to the airport to tell them. I've had a couple of close calls where I've almost let it slip but so far so good. I'm terrible at secrets and actually quite proud, we've had the reservations 4 months! We're staying at WL for the first time.

It's sooo hard isn't it? We'll have to use the disboards to help us keep the secret...if we are on here maybe we will be able to keep our mouths shut around the kids!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Hey there! I have been busy setting up a Facebook group for our January travelers..just add me as a friend if you want to join: Kara McCarville Wheeler.

I have also been adding a couple more ADR's to the list. I mentioned Raglan Rd earlier so I took care of that, but I also added a lunch at T-rex. There have been some mixed reviews for this restaurant...mostly for the price and lack of DDP. We were there in March and had a great time and found the prices reasonable. But, we are Canadian and everything is more expensive here anyways, maybe we just don't see a difference?

So I figured I would list all the ADR's I have booked to date:

January 5th: Raglan Rd 7:30 PM
January 6th: The Plaza 12:15 PM
January 7th: Le Cellier 1:15 PM
January 8th: O'hana 7:45 AM
January 9th: T-Rex 12:00 PM
January 10th: Sci-Fi 1:10 PM
January 12th: Tusker House 8:05 AM

I couldn't think of a cute smiley for The Plaza..we like it there. The burgers are good and the service is pretty quick.
I'm really happy with these ADR's and their times. We get to try some new things with O'hana and Tusker House breakfasts. Plus we get our faves in like Le'Cellier and Raglan Rd!

DH and I went out to lunch yesterday and while we were waiting for our food we made a tentative list of what needs to be done for this vacation. We want to make autograph books again...this time using a different site though. We used Walmart last year and they were good, but I have a feeling they could be better if we used shutterfly or artscow. Any suggestions?
Also we want to either make more iron-on shirts, or order some tie dyed shirts from etsy. I need to check on the prices of those etsy shirts before we decide. I can't forget that Xmas is coming and we need to be careful how we spend our money in the next month or so!
Last year we made passports for the World Showcase..not sure if we will do that again. We are working on a design for our LGMH tags for our bags. Waiting for some input from others on the January thread before we print them. I think that's all for now...I will be back tomorrow maybe to start posting our daily plan. I have a wedding on Fri that I need to finish shopping for. I hate dressing up, but this wedding will be on tv here in Canada for the 4weddings show. I need to look decent!! DH and I will be sitting with the three other brides so I need to be careful with my look..
I never wear a dress and I am for this, so I need to buy shoes now...urgh don't like shoes...I know what kind of girl am I...I like to be comfortable so I can do this:


Alright, gotta go..need to get to the dentist to replace some old fillings

 

[lledman]

Your ADRs look yummy.

I've been busy making all sorts of things for our trip - passports, intives, tip envelopes, and stuff - it's a lot of fun.

How exciting about the wedding.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Your ADRs look yummy.

I've been busy making all sorts of things for our trip - passports, intives, tip envelopes, and stuff - it's a lot of fun.

How exciting about the wedding.

I just checked you out and you have been VERY busy making stuff!! Good for you..we are not that crafty, and we need to be sneaky because of the surprise. But I think once this wedding is over we will be busy bees, too!!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

I am delaying the inevitable (shoe shopping) and updating here instead! I know that tomorrow I will be wearing a new pair of shoes..and a dress...I just don't want to think about it!

Day 1, Travel Day:

Now you all know that this is a surprise trip for our DD's. And you now know that we live in Canada...you are all paying attention, right? These two things can make for a complicated travel day in January. I am worried about the weather. If we have snow overnight we may have trouble getting to the airport. So we are looking into staying overnight at a hotel by the airport. This will make the surprise a little more complicated, depending on where the hotel is the girls will ask so many questions! So, I might try to find one farther away that offers a shuttle and weekly parking...breakfast included hopefully.
That being said..here are the official details of the day:

We are flying with Southwest which makes us happy because of their baggage allowances. With the iffy weather in January we will be packing for every contingency! Our flight leaves at 10:55 AM. We will need to be there by 9 no matter where we stay the night before. We love the Buffalo airport..one time we used the airport in Toronto to fly to the Bahamas... The traffic alone is enough to drive me to drink! But then you have such high taxes and airport fees!!

I have been told to put more pics in here so here is a nice shot from the plane in March just before we landed!

If we take off on time we should be landing in Ft Lauderdale by 2:05. We will be there for a couple hours so we will get something to eat and then hopefully find some wi-fi to update Facebook and disboards! We are supposed to leave there at 3:50 and land in MCO at 4:55. Just long enough to get up get a drink and go down again. I really don't like these connections...if SW has a sale and we can change it we will...but for now all the other flights are priced really high.

We have a rental at Alamo so I will probably take the carry-ons with me and take care of the car. DH will take DD's with him to get the luggage and meet me downstairs. This worked out really well last month when it was just the two of us. We will hop in the car and head out to a Super Walmart for groceries for the week and then to WBC to check in. I am estimating this will take us until around 7ish. We have a reservation for dinner at Raglan Rd at 7:30. We have a tradition with Raglan Rd and arrival day..it will be nice to continue this. We really like the food there and the entertainment is fantastic!
See how close we got to the dancer in 2010!

With a car it shouldn't take us any time at all to reach DTD...finding somewhere to park may be another thing altogether.

Here is a pic of WBC that I took last month from our balcony!

After dinner it will be to bed for sure!! We need to be up and ready for rope drop in the morning..Magic Kingdom here we come!!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

I've been neglecting this report! I had that wedding on Friday and then worked all weekend so it's been busy! The wedding went really well, my feet were killing me by the end of the night, but it was worth it. And if I do say so myself, I think I cleaned up pretty well that night.

We had a great time. If anyone reading is from Canada the wedding will be aired sometime in January on the new season of FourWeddings on Slice network. We sat with the other brides and let me tell you, the one in pink is a piece of work. That's all I can say.

I have been keeping up with our planning a bit. We are now in a photopass share, which is saving us a bundle. I love these things...I dread the day that Disney wises up and won't let this continue. This will be the fifth time we are in a share and so far they have been great. We haven't received the disc from our Oct trip yet..can't wait to see those. I think we have settled on using Artscow for our autograph books. We are always getting coupons for them, and they are great prices even before a discount. If anyone has any experience with them, good or bad, let us know!

I think that's it for now. I am way tired..need to get some sleep tonight before I can do a full day update. So hopefully that will be tomorrow.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Okay, I see that the number of people checking our PTR has gone up...so I know you are out there. It's okay to lurk here all you want...this is a lurk-safe zone I will keep posting so long as the lurkers are still here.

I am sitting here listening to the music from a Christmas Parade on youtube. I know that they are already playing xmas music on the radio, but I refuse to turn it on until after the American Thanksgiving. People put up their decorations right after Halloween here in Canada...I am going to follow the PROPER timeline and wait until after Thanksgiving! I'll always be an American deep down! But that doesn't mean I can't listen to DISNEY xmas music...there's always a loophole.

So that's what I'm doing...updating my PTR, listening to Disney's Xmas Parade...

I left off showing off my party finery ..Ferb looked pretty good too didn't he? That guy creeps me out, but in a way like a car accident..I can't seem to look away!

Okay, back to business...


Day 2

It's our first day in the parks and we are headed to the best park!!
Magic Kingdom

We will definitely be there for rope drop...it seems as if these are an endangered species! Sadly, there is nothing at Epcot anymore..and I just heard that they are doing away with AK's as well. We never got a chance to see that one, and I heard it's a good one, too. In the meantime, we are huge fans of the one at MK. Even Stitch loves seeing the train pull up...she gets all excited when she see's which characters are there!

We have one reservation today. It's here:
The Plaza

Our ADR is for dinner at 5:25 so we might be able to see the castle all lit up from our table again..not sure what time the sun goes down in Jan, but I know it's pretty early..

After rope drop we will follow our Touring Plan that I printed up...the only deviation from the plan this year will be for characters. We need to ride Dumbo and BTMRR as many times as possible this day....they are planned for refurb and movement later in our week. I scheduled 2 MK days early in the week for BTMRR as it's Rapunzel's fave
We followed a TP only once before, and it was so easy! We did everything on our list and Ferb was impressed. We haven't really needed one since, mostly because there have been specially scheduled events that made it impossible, like the Rapunzel mad dash! That being said we have no need to deviate this time and so we can see just how good they still are. I call it research..

 

[tankgirl427]

Hi there! I'm joining in. I am going on a surprise trip in January too! We're going from the 6th - 15th. I'm trying to surprise my cousin, if we ever get together between now and then she'll find out where we are going. She might not be able to make Thnksgiving. All she knows is we're going somewhere and the dates.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Hi there! I'm joining in. I am going on a surprise trip in January too! We're going from the 6th - 15th. I'm trying to surprise my cousin, if we ever get together between now and then she'll find out where we are going. She might not be able to make Thnksgiving. All she knows is we're going somewhere and the dates.

Welcome!! I love surprises!! I am just checking out your PTR as well...I was a little confused at first until I realized I was reading about two different trips...lucky girl!!

 

[2 princess 3 princes]

Hope you don't mind me joining in the fun! I am planning a surprise trip for my DH in January. I am also from Canada and we will be flying out of Buffalo. I got a great deal on airfare from SW too! Maybe the same seat sale?! I am a little concerned about the border too. I was hoping to keep it a surprise until we got to the airport. We have surprised our daughters a couple of times now too, I know what you mean by "anti-climactic" Last time we told them we were taking them to Great Wolf Lodge. When we were at the self parking lot, DH said do you know where we're going? They said Great Wolf Lodge. DH said "How 'bout Great Mickey Lodge"? My daughter says "MOOOOOM why do you keep tricking us? I just love a good surprise!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Hope you don't mind me joining in the fun! I am planning a surprise trip for my DH in January. I am also from Canada and we will be flying out of Buffalo. I got a great deal on airfare from SW too! Maybe the same seat sale?! I am a little concerned about the border too. I was hoping to keep it a surprise until we got to the airport. We have surprised our daughters a couple of times now too, I know what you mean by "anti-climactic" Last time we told them we were taking them to Great Wolf Lodge. When we were at the self parking lot, DH said do you know where we're going? They said Great Wolf Lodge. DH said "How 'bout Great Mickey Lodge"? My daughter says "MOOOOOM why do you keep tricking us? I just love a good surprise!

Thanks for joining us! That's too funny, the similarities are weird! Well, except you have a family that rivals the Duggars!! We are in Niagara...what about you?

 

[2 princess 3 princes]

The Duggars! Nope, 5 is definately "it" for me! We are in Newmarket. Have you ever tried Hotwire for your car rentals? I've done a couple of last minute rentals, and can get cars (without the insurance mind you) from 11.95 a day! (That's from Orlando though)

 

[tankgirl427]

Welcome!! I love surprises!! I am just checking out your PTR as well...I was a little confused at first until I realized I was reading about two different trips...lucky girl!!

Actually there was three trips, but I'm done with the October trip. But I started writing about the January trip, which was the second one I planned, and then a friend and I decided to do a quick December trip and the 3rd trip came about. We might have a few more trips on the horizon.

 

[OziJo]

Just catching up! Nice to see you all dressed up for the wedding. Last wedding I went to I wore heels and danced all night. I couldn't walk properly for days. I haven't worn heels since!

We are both into the 40's with our countdown . Can you give us an outline of your touring plan? I'm thinking we are just going to go with the flow (well that's what DH and the DD's think) but I'd like to see what a TP looks like.