If you plan a trip to WDW behind his back, surely he will take us!

[Pixieflip]

Welcome to our pre-trip report! I will get to the story behind the title in my next post. First, a little history!

We are one Disney crazy family. So why would we need to write a Pre-Trip report? Well, for those of you who are eternally misunderstood by others in the real world, those whose family and friends constantly asking why you’re going back there AGAIN and who constantly have to defend your allocation of your vacation funds (we can do Disney on a dime, let me tell you)…cheers to you! They’ll never understand us, will they? That’s okay, DISers unite!

My husband has been going to WDW since 1973 and his family has returned more than once a year ever since. My first trip was when we were in college and we went to Florida for spring break. We stayed with his grandparents and had a week of day trips to WDW as part of the plans. I was hooked! That was also the trip where we got engaged. How cute were we?

That was 1991 and we’ve been back over a dozen times.

Today we’re a little older, hopefully wiser and have a few more characters in our house. Trips to WDW are kind of our family thing. We laugh together, plan together, cheer each other on as we explore brave new rides…it’s our thing. And when the kids grow up, they will have lots of memories of our together time in the Happiest Place on Earth.

Here’s the cast:

DH Donald Duck, age 40, works as a concrete plant manager, coaches baseball, teaches Sunday School for 4th and 5th grade, plays golf like a baseball player and watches a LOT of ESPN. (You know what ESPN stands for right?...Every Sport Possible Network.) We’ve been married for 17 great years. Favorite ride is Big Thunder Mountain.

Me, Daisy Duck, age 39, wife, mom and a Creative Memories Consultant. I’m the Sunday School Secretary for 4th and 5th grades, a MOPS mentor, family taxi driver, plays golf like a girl, plans all aspects of Disney trips and scours Disboards for all things new and interesting. My favorite ride is Rock N’ Rollercoaster. …3, 2, 1….AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Buzz Lightyear, age 15, baseball player, weight lifter and future Disney Imagineer. Loves WDW, collects Imagineering books and maps and currently has a career in lawn mowing and general yard maintenance for Grandpa. Favorite ride is Expedition Everest.

Princess Aurora, age 12, gymnast, show choir, loves all things at the beach, and of course, texting her friends. Aurora has lots of dreams, lots of career ideas – right now her plan is to be a personal trainer. But stay tuned, that will change! Favorite ride is Rock N’ Rollercoaster…most definitely.

Tinkerbell, age 11, plays tennis, sings in choir, loves to read, do crafty things and really loves to cook. Loves to plan things out. When Tink grows up, she wants to rescue all the abandoned animals. Favorite ride is Splash Mountain.

Mike Wazowski (Nickname is such a story. I promise to tell later.), age 8, plays baseball, loves riding his bike, planning movie nights and snuggling up in his jammies with a big bowl of popcorn. Mike also wants to be a teacher when he grows up, but I think he has a career in comedy. Favorite ride is Splash Mountain.

Lilo, age 4, is a Bichon Frise, and cute as can be. Do not be deceived!! My mom says that Bichon Frise is French for crazy. Even now she is plotting her next naughty plan on how to get into the trash when I am not looking!! The kids are always begging for a Stitch to go with our Lilo and the answer is no thanks, I am a one doggie mommy.

More characters will come into the act later, but for now, that’s all. Now how or why did I plan this behind his back???

 

[Pixieflip]

We used to go to Disney about every year. We joined DVC in January of 2001 and have enjoyed several trips with our points. Our last trip was a fantastic stay in a 2 bedroom Villa at The Beach Club. We had a magical view of Illuminations every night. That was January of 2007 and we used up a lot of points. We planned to go back in January of 2009, but the reality of the economy, namely the price of gas in the fall of 2008 caused us to skip Disney last winter.  We were very sad, but what can you do? So, as last Christmas approached, I started wishing we’d planned better and an idea was born.

My DH was about to have his big 40th Birthday in February ’09, and instead of a big party, I could use that money toward a big trip NEXT Christmas!! I will be having my 40th in December of ’09, too, so same thing…just a big birthday celebration in the form of a trip! So, I spoke to my in-laws about joining us and asked if we could stay at their house down there, AKA – Papa’s Florida House – which is just 15 minutes west of WDW.

(This was taken Christmas Eve, 2005, the last time we did WDW over Christmas.)

They were thrilled at the idea and totally on board for the surprise. Dates set for December 23 to January 2, 2010.

So, while Christmas was going on as usual at home, I was planning big things in my head. I recorded the Christmas Day Parade on the DVR like usual and made everyone promise to save it for good. I will use that on the big reveal day.

 

[Pixieflip]

My thinking is, if I plan it behind his back, with 10 more months to save up for it, announce it in front of the kids…how could we NOT go? I know, terrible, isn’t it?!

To announce it, I needed something creative. What I wanted were those Mickey head balloons in the WDW commercials. So while I was at the party store, in the balloon department, it was like the heavens opened up and sparkly golden sunshine came beaming down upon a package of mouse balloons. The choir was still singing when I picked up the package for closer inspection…they had stupid fake mousy faces on them, but when I looked in the back of the bag, it was actually a mistake package of blank Mickey head balloons!!!!! Jackpot! Okay, so I ordered them to be filled with helium and picked up on the big birthday. Also picked up some great 40th birthday decorations and plates and napkins. I think we’ll go to Donald’s office and take him some donuts before the kids leave for school and that way he can celebrate at work, too. Need boxes for the balloons to float out of, need to research the Creative DISigns board for “tickets” to WDW… I love planning things!

(And now a message from the author…many thanks to many DISigners! Hopefully this list will cover all the DISigners, both past and present, who have made this trip special. If you know of someone who appears to be left out, my apologies, and please let me know so I can properly give credit. You have helped us create t shirts, binders, autograph books, passports, luggage tags…and the list goes on. A very special thank you to:

Tebi73
Donatalie
Rumblytumbly
Rustmanfan
I’m too excited to sleep
Jtanddolly
Tinkerbell766
Taekwondomom
Ohana90)

And now to the big reveal...

 

[Pixieflip]

Happy Birthday Donald!! It started with a birthday card a letter explaining that his gift was at the end of a scavenger hunt. My family loves scavenger hunts:

Birthdays are special, really neat,
A time to celebrate, what a treat!
A scavenger hunt for today
What will each message say?

Clue number one, now don’t whine…
Is under the table where we dine.

Clue number two has some power
Check the place where you shower

Clue number three, it has been said
Might be under Tara’s bed

Clue number four is a sneezer
Yep, you guessed it, in the freezer!

Clue number five is where you test your will
Working out on the treadmill

Clue number six is under the basement stairs.

Clue number seven, are you dying to hear?
Where we will spend Christmas at the end of this year?
Well, well, wouldn’t you like to know?
Go back to the couch, it’s on with the show!


The suspense was killing everyone! And no one had noticed the 3 boxes I had pulled out, each wrapped in Christmas paper. (In case you’re wondering why 3 and not 4 for the kids…Buzz was my cohort in crime and helped me plan this. So, he didn’t need a box, and frankly, had more fun at his age on the planning side.) Still unaware, the last clue told the kids to return to the family room. I passed out the boxes, they finally noticed the Christmas wrapping paper and on the count of three they opened them. The balloons floated up perfectly, it was magical:

Attached to the bottom of the ribbon, was an envelope that said, “You’re Invited,” and inside was this custom ticket:

Pandemonium ensued! Then Donald opened this letter:

What are dweebie days? That’s when someone in your group has the bright idea to have everyone wear matching shirts and you look like dweebs. But somehow it’s WDW and you don’t mind! The first ones, wrapped and in the bottom of the boxes, would be this:

For the kids:

For Donald and Daisy and other Big Birthdayed Adults in our group:

The next gift was the newest Disney Vacation Planning DVD, which was quickly unwrapped and shoved into the DVD player. I like this one much better than the last one we watched a couple of years ago. We also watched the Christmas Parade on the DVR.

Happiness settles over the family. I love planning. Yes, he would take us!

 

[Shankapotomus]

The answer to the question is...yes, he will take you to WDW.

 

[jenbear123]

Oh wow. That was a fantastic surprise. I LOVE SURPRISES!!! I probably would've died if my mother ever surprised me like that. Instead, it's mainly myself who hands out the surprise. Maybe one day I'll get a surprise of my own but I ain't holding my breath.

Love everything so far. Can't wait to follow along as things development