In room celebrations? worth it? Yay or nah?

[jesster]

I have been looking at these for years but I've never bought one for my family. I bought Mickey's Kool Treat for a friend's family's first trip to WDW and it was a huge hit - it was a cooler bag with lots of snacks and drinks, which they really appreciated. But! while the price seemed "reasonable" for the cooler on the website ($40ish) I think with tax and delivery it was closer to $70 - so figure that in when you're looking at those prices!

We were just there at the end of August for my DH's bday and I actually found a Mickey "Surprise!" over the door banner on eBay for, like, $10. It's a really nice banner from one of the In Room Celebrations, it hangs about 3/4 of the way down the door on both sides and has cute dangly Mickey heads at the bottom. I packed it and put it over our door at the Poly. I didn't make it a surprise or anything, just put it up while unpacking and my kids thought it was great! Plus, it helped them remember which room was ours

 

[Ginya]

That's good to know. I put a basket together for my DH that I was hoping would be in our room prior to our arrival but I didn't think of the fact that we might get a room change. I'll look into my order a bit further. Thanks for the info!

I did a custom build your own bag for our last trip. I spent about $150.00. I HAD planned to surprise my two DD's ans act like Mickey left it for them. That all went out the window when we were checking in and the CM at the desk said just a minute, with no warning of why he was walking off. Well, he returned with the bag and just handed it over to my DH right there at the check in desk in front of the kids. So, I would not count on a bag or basket to be in your room at check in.
That all being said, I have gone and ordered one again for our upcoming Christmas at Disney trip.

 

[dizzyr]

For me , the cost just doesn't justify it at all.

But, when my kids were younger (before Disney even offered stuff like that) I once had a gift waiting for them at the end of each day that I put out for them when they weren't looking. It was fun. These were simple things - like Disney coloring book/crayons, Disney Pajamas, ...I can't remember the other stuff. They really liked it. Didn't cost much...stretched out the "surprise" factor since it was a gift each day of the trip (some days housekeeping even put the gift with a towel animal...or placed it nicely on the bed, etc...)

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about surprises and stuff like this, but what you get just doesn't justify the price tag.

I love this idea!!

 

[Tinkerbellerella84]

Question, if I did it all myself would they possibly blow up balloons for me? Like we are getting there early checking in and going to the parks so our room wouldn't be ready yet. If I gave them the balloons would they possibly blow them up for me? So I then could sneak off while everyone is at the park and decorate the room? I'd love to do something for my husband as well since his and my daughters bday fall while we are there.

 

[TexasTSL]

I just got back from a trip with DS4. I did something similar to what a PP said on our trip. I bought lots of small things for him before we left, mostly from the Dollar Store, crayons and coloring books, those little sticky animals that walk down the wall, glow sticks, a bubble gun, a couple of those little self-inflatable balloons, small Lego sets of less than 100 pieces that were Disney-themed (Star Wars), little action figures.

Every morning before he woke up I would put a couple of things on the nightstand beside him. He absolutely loved it! And we saved on buying the glow sticks and bubble guns at the parks!

I didn't plan on this part, but when he saw them there, he said, Who put this here? Was it Mickey? So I just let him go on guessing. We got wake-up calls for the morning just so he could answer the phone and hear a character wake him up. In our case it was Bay Max. So he guessed that maybe Bay Max was leaving them. This was one of the highlights of our trip for him. Luckily it's pretty easy to keep a 4 YO happy and excited by doing little things like this!

As a matter of fact, while we were there, apparently someone else was having an in-room celebration because we saw a CM taking a treat with a balloon attached to someone else's room. My son commented, Hey, who is that for? And who sent it? He said, I think that's the same guy who brings me things, Mama!

 

[ldymcbth]

I've always thought it would be SO COOL to do one, but in the end my cheapness wins out! Ha! I do typically make up a bag or basket ahead of time for each kiddo, with a "Love, Mickey Mouse" tag.

 

[jcjen519]

I do them every so often and think they're great. They will do them on the day of arrival if you are a club level guest. The stuff in them isn't amazing but the experience is really fun.

 

[Jennygt]

I have only done baskets from memories by betsy and i have alway been happy, She is great to work with,

 

[ICanDis]

For our last trip, I did a combination of both, I ordered some baskets from Disney Florist, I made sure that the baskets were delivered to the front desk with very exact instructions that they were not to be delivered to our room, as I wanted to pick them up so I could set everything up for the surprise. Then I brought stuff from home. My husband took the kids and I spent about 20 minutes setting everything up.
This trip, I think I'm going to do the same,I've looked at the Christmas room surpirse at Disney and it seems kind of expensive for what you get. So I'll be bringing my own Christmas decor. Also, I've decided that all of the characters will be giving presents to the kids. I've been all over Pinterest finding DIY projects to make.

I should also say that I did enjoy using Disney Florist,very helpful. It would be nice though if you could order online and connect everything to your MDE.

 

[Lisaloo]

I did a small one for our July stay. Mickeys Kool snack and added a balloon ($58/room) for our two rooms. I had to call downstairs and ask about it after it didn't come all day (first day) while we were at the parks. Then someone delivered them. When my teen son answered the door she said "here" and handed him the cooler. Then she asked him to give us ours in the adjoining room. Not magical at all, but we used the cooler and the kids liked the snacks. We wouldn't do it again.

 

[Becky322]

How much is it? I was thinking of doing something as well. My daughter turns 3 on our trip.