A Very Merry Christmas Surprise - Our first ever family vacation!

[sarabguerra]

Hello and welcome to my first Trip Report! I'm going to give this a fair shot and hopefully start a Pre-trip report for our upcoming 2015 cruise if all goes well.

First off - I'm a MAJOR Type A planner and the owner of the "clip board of fun" (totally stole that from a DCL CM whom I just spoke with ) - so please bear with me.

Introductions!
We are a Massachusetts family of 5 - Me, DH, DD10, DD7 and DS5. We are raising two high functioning autistic kids (DD10 and DS5) and one awesome neurotypical sib (DD7). DH is a high school teacher, so prime season travel is all we get to do.

Prime season prices and crowds have stopped us from vacationing for forever. The kids were just never ready to handle all the sensory overload that is a WDW vacation on an easy day. After months of major progress by DS, we finally decided it was time to attempt a family vacation. And while we're at it, let's just dive right in with a surprise trip to WDW for Christmas!

So that's where we begin.

A Christmas Eve Scavenger Hunt

After months and months of secret planning, covert buying and packing & conversations in code, it was time to execute the BIG surprise!

While the kids hung with their grandparents and I worked, DH readied the house for our Christmas Eve guests & packed the car.

Our guests all arrive, so from as far away as 2 hours, all aware that mayhem is about to ensue. Midway through Christmas Eve festivities, DFIL pointed out, loudly, that one of DD7's Barbies (Anna from Frozen) was stuck in the Advent calendar. Anna was holding the first clue.

She's quick as a whip and knew what to do before she finished reading it..Down the stairs everyone flew to Barbie Land where Goofy was waiting with the 2nd clue for DS...

Again, they are much too smart and were headed up the stairs in no time, where an ornament of Sally was waiting for DD10 with this clue...

All 3 went racing down the hall to the tree, desperately searching for Jack Skeleton and this, the final clue...

Around the corner and through the kitchen to the back deck, where they found the biggest box they had ever seen.

They all pulled the ribbon strings at the same time and out popped Mickey!

(Now here is where you'd expect screaming right? Well you'd be wrong. They didn't get it....yet!)

In the bottom of the box there were 3 sweatshirts, with this on the back

(now surely they got it by now right? Well you'd still be wrong.)
ETA: The design is not my own, but something purchased off Etsy by the very talented and super duper AreWeThereYetDesigns.

In the end we had to just say, "You're going to Disney World!" Blank stares.. "Do you want to know when? How about tomorrow?"

Now they are screaming! All except DD7 who thinks we're playing a joke on her until I send her down to the garage and show her the car, all packed.

Now we're all laughing so hard we're crying and it's good, cuz I was crying just because...
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[sarabguerra]

We're going to Disney World!

Oh, but there's a catch. We have to leave the house at 4am for a 7am flight.

Off to bed they went while all the guests in the house rushed to pack up their doggie bags, clean all my dishes and put the house in order.

Our puppy hesitantly got in grandma's car at 10pm headed off to her own vacation where table scraps and bones are aplenty.

DH and I barely slept, afraid we'd miss the 14 alarms we set.

4am finally arrived and we whisked sleepy kids from their beds and into the warm car. Less than an hour drive to Providence, DH dropped us at the Departures gate and parked the car in the closest week long lot.

By now the kids were waking up and ready to start their adventure

Quick run to the JetBlue counter to drop our checked bags where the kids were treated like rock stars, got pilot's wings & stickers and a little dance from the ticket agent.

I had registered for TSA special screening due to my DS's difficulties with following directions in a crowd. I didn't want to hold up the line if he wouldn't walk through by himself or had a major meltdown. For anyone traveling with a disability, this is a good program to investigate and was super simple to request. They knew we were coming because JetBlue called the TSA desk and we were greeted at the Handicap Entrance to security by two of the friendliest TSA agents ever. They whisked us to our own private screening area, where 3 more agents were waiting to help us through. They were so patient and understanding and we actually got through with zero stress! They even let DS walk through 3 more times because he thought is was so much fun. We got even more stickers from them and an escort to our gate. I can not stress enough what a relief it was to have this program available to us.

Now for more fun. Santa packed the kids' backpacks full of goodies for the plane, which we allowed them to open while we waited to board.

We boarded last so they didn't have to wait too long for takeoff. While the girls had flown before as infants, this would be the first trip they'd remember.

JetBlue worked so well for our family that we'll have a hard time flying anyone else. The TVs and free snacks & bags are worth a little bit more.

Next stop! Orlando!
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[ChiBub]

Following along! Sounds like an exciting first visit. Great scavenger hunt and adorable shirt design!

 

[sarabguerra]

Following along! Sounds like an exciting first visit. Great scavenger hunt and adorable shirt design!

Thanks! DH did most of the poems but I can't take credit for the design. That was from Etsy. I should probably go note that!

 

[jojosam]

What an awesome surprise for the kids! Looking forward to more!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining! What a fun scavenger hunt - though if I were you I would have been so antsy for them to get it right away what was happening

Oh, and don't feel bad about stealing "Clipboard of fun" from the DCL CM ... that CM stole it from Danny Tanner of Full House

Glad the flight went well and that is so great that they have that TSA service

 

[BOG Obsessed]

Following along.
Love the trip title, cause it was the exact same situation for our family. First family vacation & Disney during Christmas week.

 

[sarabguerra]

Joining! What a fun scavenger hunt - though if I were you I would have been so antsy for them to get it right away what was happening

Oh, and don't feel bad about stealing "Clipboard of fun" from the DCL CM ... that CM stole it from Danny Tanner of Full House

Glad the flight went well and that is so great that they have that TSA service

I thought that sounded to familiar! No wonder! I was obsessed with that show.

Following along.
Love the trip title, cause it was the exact same situation for our family. First family vacation & Disney during Christmas week.

I hope you had loads and loads of fun!

 

[sarabguerra]

What an awesome surprise for the kids! Looking forward to more!

DIS is being wonky and only let me mulitquote 2!

So glad to have you!

 

[sarabguerra]

Holding for TOC!

 

[sarabguerra]

WELCOME TO ORLANDO!

So by now you know we've surprised the kids with a Christmas Day trip to WDW, flew out of Providence at an ungodly hour and managed to do so pretty stress free. Yippee

Three short hours later, we safely landed, collected our carryons from the overhead compartment and beelined for the nearest bathrooms!! Did I mention my DS, who's autistic, had JUST pottytrained 2 months before our trip. No? Oh yeah, well, that puts a whole new spin on our game plan

DS is obsessed with trains so the next event was super exciting...the little tram (which I've seen called the fake-o-rail here)!

Down the stairs to our next surprise...our fully clad in steam punk attire LIMO driver! The girls' heads almost exploded when they saw the stretch limo we were walking to!

Please excuse the blurry iPhone photos, the real camera was in the trunk Oops!

A quick drive through beautiful Celebration and we arrived at our final destination - the Melia Resort! I think the people checking out thought we were some sort of celebrity because suddenly cameras were being pulled out and jaws were dropping. Yup, we rocked it real good.

Our room wasn't ready yet (it was only 11am) so DH & DS shuttled over to grab our car in DTD and the girls and I sat by the pool and napped. Well, they napped, I just stared...at this....

An hour later and we piled in the car and headed over to DTD.

Now I can't say enough about the location of the Melia & how easy it is to get anywhere on property. 10 minutes after pulling onto 192 and we saw this wonderful site while the kids hooted and hollered!

We parked (stupidly forgot to grab DS' handicap placard - doh) and hooved it over to the Lego store lickedty split.

Then into every shop where the kids were itching to use the dozens of giftcards everyone gave them for Christmas. We needed them to pace themselves so we allowed $25 per child per day for trinkets and snacks.

First day purchases were mild - 2 Disney Princess Mickey Ear hats and a monorail!

We had preordered the Memory Maker so DH went to Guest Services while we relaxed and people watched, and did a little fooling around. DD7 was beginning to crash at this point and we new it was time to head out.

Since we were all beat by then, we decided to take a boat ride back over to the other side where we parked. 30 mintues later we were finally on our way.

Back to the car, then a quick stop at the grocery store and back to the Melia. We finally checked in to our 2 bedroom 2 bath suite, our home-suite-home for the week. The kids wanted to take a quick dip in the pool so DH obliged while I unpacked and made some dinner. They came back popsicles, took quick showers, gobbled down some dinner and jumped into the most comfortable beds we have ever slept in. DH and I packed our park bags and then turned in for the night.

Sweet Dreams!
You're going to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow!


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