Balloon question

[pepperderr]

I am not sure where to post this. We are taking my boys to disney in April for my son's suprise 7th birthday. I saw this huge balloon at Walmart today that was a Mickey Mouse head. They also have these balloons at the Dollar Tree that have the fab 5 on them that says happy birthday. How expensive are balloons and where would I get some kind of birthday balloon at Disney? I am thinking the only way I could get these balloons is if I bought them deflated and then got one of those tanks and filled them while we are at Disney but I hate to have to pack a helium tank for the long drive.

Thanks.

pepperderr

 

[ArmandXG]

Are you staying on or off property? If you are staying on property, have partner take the kids to the park via Disney buses while you jump in the vehicle and go off property to the local store and buy the same balloons at the cheap price, come back, set up the room and then catch a bus or drive over to the park to meet the family.

Off property, I'm not sure, but I think you can still pay for one day parking, drop the family off and then go do the above, come back and not have to re-pay for parking again.

I don't know if they still do it, but when we celebrated my Nephews 8th birthday, they (All Star Movies) surprised him the morning of with a balloon and a card signed by the characters of his choice (Buzz and Woody). Maybe you can ask if they will fill your deflated balloons for you, if you brought them from home! It never hurts to ask!

I hope this helped!

 

[Dismom55]

I would have to agree, I know there is a walmart really close. If you are trying to make this a surprise. Just tell the kids you have a headache, let hubby take the kids to the park, have map in hand and head out to the walmart. I think taking a helium tank would give away the surprise. If you don't want to take the chance of not finding the balloon and other supplies, go ahead purchase them in your hometown, then head out to the local walmart for the helium tank and maybe a cake, decorate the room and join the kids at a prearranged spot.

Good luck on the surprise.

 

[mickey50]

Go with getting balloons there. You might also ask the front desk when you get there or call. They are great at helping make birthdays special.
Have a magical time!

 

[Dorisk3]

Go with getting balloons there. You might also ask the front desk when you get there or call. They are great at helping make birthdays special.
Have a magical time!

I totally agree, think of how much time you will miss out and stress you will have on just for the cost of a few balloons.

 

[BeefJerky]

Wait, you would rather pack a helium tank and lug it all away to Florida rather then just spend a couple of bucks on a balloon? I mean, you are on vacation and then you want to leave the park to get some balloons and then go back to the park?

 

[ma2nojo]

Seriously? Please don't lug a tank and balloons all of the way from home....just buy one at the park.

 

[MAH4546]

This has to be a joke. Seriously?

 

[Bonnie40]

Go with getting balloons there. You might also ask the front desk when you get there or call. They are great at helping make birthdays special.
Have a magical time!

This suggestion isn't a bad one, except that if everyone starts to ask/expect this service, the entire thing will be discontinued because the demand will be so high! The number of circumstances where Disney has offered some small service/experience that, once Diser's get ahold of it, gets cancelled, are too many to count!

Honestly, as much as I think the cost of things inside Disney is crazy, lugging helium tanks and driving offsite to get a cheap balloons, isn't worth the hassle when you're on vacation. Just buy the balloon on Main Street and watch your son's smile! Worth every penny!

 

[pepperderr]

It never fails on the Disboards that someone has to make a rude comment no matter what the subject.

The reason I was thinking of taking the tank is because I already saw the balloons that I want at the store here. If I wait and get the balloons down there, I am not sure if they will still have the ones I want. I wasn't planning on buying them at the park because I didn't want DS to see them ahead of time but that may be unavoidable. I asked where to get balloons at Disney but no one commented on WHERE other than Walmart. Could I get a birthday balloon at one of the parks? The only time I recall seeing balloons last time I was there was during a parade and I didn't see birthday ones. Also on the day of his party I am not sure we are even going to the parks. Maybe we will just skip the balloons all together.

pepperderr

 

[pepperderr]

It never fails on the Disboards that someone has to make a rude comment no matter what the subject.

The reason I was thinking of taking the tank is because I already saw the balloons that I want at the store here. If I wait and get the balloons down there, I am not sure if they will still have the ones I want. I wasn't planning on buying them at the park because I didn't want DS to see them ahead of time but that may be unavoidable. I asked where to get balloons at Disney but no one commented on WHERE other than Walmart. Could I get a birthday balloon at one of the parks? The only time I recall seeing balloons last time I was there was during a parade and I didn't see birthday ones. Also on the day of his party I am not sure we are even going to the parks. Maybe we will just skip the balloons all together.

pepperderr

 

[dopeynme]

The resort concierge desk can help you arrange a surprise if you are staying on site. It is pricey, and of course, you will not necessarily be able to get the ones you liked at home. Also, they will not guarantee that it will arrive by a particular time and they will not deliver to the room before you check in.

All that said, we sent a fun surprise last summer. DH and I don't have kids but we have enjoyed watching other people's kids for years. Last year, we had the pleasure of travelling with friends and their six year old DS for his first visit. He is a huge Star Wars fan, so we sent Jedi Mickey (plush), a balloon and ears with his name. They were delivered while we were on our afternoon break and he was delighted. We so enjoyed seeing all our favorite sights with a child that we know and love It was great great fun!!!!

Have a great trip and enjoy surprising your DS.

 

[schriverl]

http://www.disneyflorist.com/


I saw this recommended on mousesavers and I'm sure I'ne seen them recommended on the dis also.
I think I've seen a couple other places to order from on here also. Just need to search somehow.

 

[starry_solo]

See if there is a 99-cent store near WDW. If there is, get their # and call to find out if they have balloons and helium.

If so, buy the ones at the store you found and take them with you on the drive to WDW. If it's close by (within acceptable driving distance that you would be willing to drive there yourself after dropping the kids and spouse off at WDW), then take the balloons to the store and get helium (our local 99-cent store charges for helium separately from the balloon so see if that's what the WDW-close-by one does).

Or call WDW and see if they will sell you their helium to fill up these balloons....not sure why I didn't think of that before!

Hope this helps!

 

[Moira222]

The Disney Florist has quite a few different balloon bouquets listed if you are interested -- I would not spend $47 on balloons for my DD's bday anywhere but esp not at WDW. so call me cheap if you want, but there ya have it! I do recall springing for a humongous princess balloon for DD in 2007 -- I think we spent about $10 on it. You will find no shortage of cool balloons at the World.

Here is what learned from my daughter on that trip:

the "thing" about having a balloon is not the "having" it, but the "showing it off".....We convinced her to wait till late in the day to get the balloon so we didn't have to worry all day about losing it. Then she informed us (tearfully) on the way back to the resort that "Now no one will see it, we're just going back to our hotel". so before Daddy could say no I told her that she could take it with her the whole next day in the park. just don't lose it.

She was thrilled. We tied it to her stroller (she was 3 1/2) and it helped us keep track of our stroller after shows and rides, and she got to show it off all day And, not only didn't we lose it, we deflated it to go home and it is in our collection of souvenir's from our first ever WDW trip.

You may not be aware that if you have your son's birthday listed as a celebration on your reservation, he will find that he gets a few treats from Mickey on his special day. As an adult I got a card with a glossy signed photo of mickey, and a really cool frame-able art piece rather art deco ish.

 

[Hopalong]

I'm not trying to be rude so please don't take it that way but I would be concerned about the safety issues of traveling with a compressed helium tank. A small car wreck could be made much worse if the top of the tank were damaged. Some have a threaded metal cover for the nozzle which would greatly reduce the chances of a mishap but I still wouldn't take the chance. I would go with the Disney florist that was linked earlier.

I will say though that it is very cool that you would consider lugging a helium tank all the way to WDW just to make your son's b'day a little more special.

 

[ChattaAlley]

It never fails on the Disboards that someone has to make a rude comment no matter what the subject.

The reason I was thinking of taking the tank is because I already saw the balloons that I want at the store here. If I wait and get the balloons down there, I am not sure if they will still have the ones I want. I wasn't planning on buying them at the park because I didn't want DS to see them ahead of time but that may be unavoidable. I asked where to get balloons at Disney but no one commented on WHERE other than Walmart. Could I get a birthday balloon at one of the parks? The only time I recall seeing balloons last time I was there was during a parade and I didn't see birthday ones. Also on the day of his party I am not sure we are even going to the parks. Maybe we will just skip the balloons all together.

pepperderr

I agree there are alot of rude people on this board

I would say buy the balloons there. I am not sure I would want to lug around a tank.

 

[pepperderr]

I'm not trying to be rude so please don't take it that way but I would be concerned about the safety issues of traveling with a compressed helium tank. A small car wreck could be made much worse if the top of the tank were damaged. Some have a threaded metal cover for the nozzle which would greatly reduce the chances of a mishap but I still wouldn't take the chance. I would go with the Disney florist that was linked earlier.

I will say though that it is very cool that you would consider lugging a helium tank all the way to WDW just to make your son's b'day a little more special.

I am not assuming you are being rude. I know everyone has different points of views. I don't take offense to people disagreeing with me. If I didn't want someone else's opinion I wouldn't have posted. I just posted my message because of the rude comments that I just can't be serious or that I am joking. There just seems to be rude comments in a large majority of the posts on the DISboards no matter what the subject and I wanted my opinion on the fact know too .

You bring up a good point and I am going to skip taking the tank. We can always just blow up some regular ballons to decorate the room too. Balloons are just something I have always done on special occasions. He could probably care less since he will be at DINSEY!

Thanks.

pepperderr