Gifts of a Lifetime- anyone?

[Colleen P]

Hi all,

First of all- prayers and pixie dust to all facing Frances, may all be safe!

I was wondering if anyone had used Gifts of a Lifetime. I know you can't tell me what happened, just wondering if you enjoyed it and it was worth it. Having a bit of trouble quantifying pixie dust to a very money minded dh.

Thanks,
Colleen

 

[I_Know_You2!]

We did, and even though it was fun, I am not certain I would again, due to the cost. If cost isn't an issue for you go for it! Very nice people willing to work with you!

 

[Colleen P]

Thanks for the reply. Would you say it was a great memory you will always have. Good to do once, but don't need to do again? My dd will be just 12, and I think past this it won't make the same impression with a teenager as it would now.

 

[I_Know_You2!]

What a nice age to do something! I do not regret it, but have a bad habit of second guessing myself when it comes to expenses. I suspect you could cook up something great for a young lady of that age!

 

[ScotLady]

My DD will be turning 12 on Oct. 9th! We are staying at POR, and that day she just wants to go SHOPPING & have dinner. I have been debating whether to do something special for her, though, while we are there...

 

[poohlover]

We have used gifts of a lifetime several times now for birthdays. And a wedding vow renewal!

Jane & the pixies are wonderful to work with! My DD had a surprise in MGM for her 16 th b-day! And my DS had a surprise in MK for his 5th b-day!

Sometimes they use the same "surprises" for many guests...I won't post particulars but my kids & all the family has great memories!!

Especially of my then 5yrold DS crawling thru the ?saloon?? in MK. Made for some great photos!

To me & our family it was worth every penny!! But disney is a "big" aka expensive vacation for us...the one splurge we have!

 

[Colleen P]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the honest input. We also look at this trip as a big thing, and are prepared to splurge on things we really want. I think the look on her face, and the idea that she will always remember this would be worth it. The people there seem absolutely wonderful.

 

[hunter1722]

My husband setup a scavenger hunt for our anniversary a few years ago. It was a lot of fun. They sent us on rides and had to pick up clues after each one. I love the Haunted Mansion, so my final clue was attached to a hitch hiking ghost beanie that someone set on my shoulder right as the lights went off in the stretching room. The lights came back on for me to find the beanie sitting them "mysteriously" It ended with a small cake, chocolates and a personal letter puzzle my husband had written.

 

[princssdisnygina]

Ok, this is the first I am hearing of "Gifts of a Lifetime" Can someone please explain? Or even send me an email and tell me somethings?


Gina

 

[tjkluse]

We did a GLT scavanger hunt for my daughter's 16th birthday last year. It was fun but really not worth the money. Some of the activities , such as list a Disney character for every letter of te alphabet, we just too long and really bogged down the event.
Other activities like 'chugging' a bottle of sour candy were just plain silly. Also, the pixies, on 2 occassions tried to get the crowd to sing Happy Birthday but it fell flat which left us all feeling a bit ackward.

However, the event was nicely arranged. Jane was good about contating us and arranging the meeting time, place, etc. Everyone was on time and in the right place when they needed to be. The pixies certainly allowed things to progress at their own pace and we never felt rushed even though our event went way over the 2.5 hours it was supposed to take. They were very sweet people and we had fun meeting them.

All in all, it was a nice one time thing. It was fun to be involved in but I wouldn't spend the money if I had known what we would get for our dollar.

 

[Colleen P]

Hi Gina,

Gifts of a Lifetime is a company that will plan a special event for someone. You complete a questionarre about that person, and they set up something for them, ususally ending in a gift or gifts. I am looking to have something done for my dd for her birthday at MK.


My dd is a disney freak, I think I will do this as my dh says we are not going back to WDW until we have grandkids.

 

[DisneyWife]

*no longer in FL or associated with GOAL, Disney or any Central FL activities

 

[faery grandmother]

I used GOAL in November of 2003, as a surprise for my husband, granddaughter, and many family members who attended the event. It was awesome! Although I agree that these are not inexpensive things, the GOAL folks were well-organized, competent, and we had a blast. In my book, the memory was certainly worth the money.

 

[Colleen P]

Thanks everyone.

Brooke- I think you have one of the best jobs in the world. You must enjoy your day!

I have booked the event, and I have to say I think Jane was almost as excited as I was. She was great, very creative, and I can't wait for October! I think it will be worth every penny.

 

[leighe]

Jane at GOAL customized some gift baskets for me and was absoulutely fabulous! She was awesome to work with. I'm definitely going to try to do a scavenger hunt type event for our family's magical gathering next July.

 

[tjkluse]

To DisneyWife (and everyone),

I'm sorry my post disappointed you.

Overall, our experience was very positive. The people at GOAL are lovely to work with. They were very attentive and pleasant - genuinely lovely people. If your looking to plan an event with the assistance of helpful, friendly people, you're at the right place.

I just found that for our family, mom, dad, and 6 sibling ranging from 18 to 2, the event dragged. BUT, at no time did anyone from GOAL attempt to rush us or leave us feeling that they were impatient with things.

Now that the event is over, I fee that while it was fun, I probably could have made a different choice for that child, that was less expensive, that she would have enjoyed just as much.

I don't regret spending what we did for the GOAL event, I just meant that 'I' probably wouldn't do it again. YMMV

Cheers,
tjkluse

 

[TonyS20]

I just want to add my $0.02 to this. I have not done an event with GOAL. I contacted Jane before our trip in Dec. 02, but it was too short of notice to put anything together. I told her I would contact her before our next trip.

As I began planning our trip for October, I contacted Jane. Granted it was months in advance, but I didn't want to end up not being able to do something. I got an email back stating that I was contacting them too early and someone would contact me about month before my trip.

I haven't been contacted and I think a few weeks is cutting it close to plan something (must be the anal retentive part!). Just be aware that they may not be able to give you any information until right before your trip.

I did mention in my email that I did not want a scavenger hunt. Are there other events? You can PM me if you don't want to discuss it on the boards.

 

[Bella2000]

We had a surprise birthday extravaganza for my nephew in February for his 7th birthday and used GOAL. This was one of the most wonderful memories that the kids still discuss. My sister and I were as excited as the kids running around the park and frankly I still want to know how the heck they were able to get a couple of the clues to him without us seeing them. There was one point when something was dropped into his hand and he said confused "look what dropped on me" and my sister said "are you sure you didn't find it, pick it up etc...that's not yours - let's go find the person or ask someone and return it.." and then she looked down to see writing and a clue. That was cool. Jane was fantastic gathering information regarding my nephew and when one of the items that he would have wanted wasn't available she met with me to select an alternative. So was GOAL worth it for our family - you bet! I considered this a special event - yes it was expensive but in a relative sense - most special events do typically have a greater cost associated with them.

p.s. another interesting experience with GOAL - you see many locations that you may never have know existed. This amazed me.

 

[barb45]

Is there a website for this?

 

[princssdisnygina]

A website or a phone number or something? I want to check on this. Thanks!

Also, can anyone give me a price range of what they paid?

Gina