For those that are interested, I thought I would detail how my family found out about our cruise. I booked a while ago and intended on giving it to them for Christmas, but my wife went a little overboard on the gifts (IPod and Wii) and I decided to hold out. I originally was going to give it to her for our anniversary (May 11) but I then decided that it would be too close to the sail date. So the only other time was for her birthday (Jan 28). I decided to combine the gift with a surprise party to really throw her off. I needed some time to set everything up so I sent her and the kids on a treasure hunt, and that would give me enough time to set up the party. Now I really didnt have any help on this and with work, it made it really difficult to do it all, but I think it turned out great.
I decided to give them clues to the ultimate treasure that they would be able to find on the way. There was a total of 6 stops and at each stop, there was something related to the cruise and a clue for the next stop. I even spelled out the word CRUISE in the clues with highlighted letters (but they never got that).
I had a treasure box delivered at noon on Saturday. In it was a letter telling them they were going on the treasure hunt and the clue to the first stop.
At the first stop, they received a bag of tortillas and salsa to signify Mexico
At the second stop, they received a bag of M&Ms and a coconut for Mickey Mouse and Konk Koolers.
At the third stop, they received an artist palate for the restaurant Animators Palate
At the fourth stop, they received a key the first part of Key West
At the fifth stop, they got a lime and a compass pointing to West this was for Key West
At the sixth stop, they received a bag of cookies (with a pirate on them) and a bottle of barbeque sauce this is for Cookies Bar-B-Q on
Castaway Cay
The hunt took almost 3 hours so I had time to set up the party, cook taquitos and wings, and get a 6 foot sub sandwich. I also had little snacks everywhere and made some Margaritas to finish off the refreshments. I finally packed a box decorated like a treasure chest with a water bottle, the return postcard from Mickey, and the itinerary. The water bottle was just like our last cruise, it had a picture of the Magic and the new dates of our cruise.
About 15 people showed up (I had invited about 40) so there was plenty of food and drinks. After the family arrived back at our house, I had them lay the clues out on the floor and try to solve the puzzle. After about 10 minutes of frustration (and I could see some tears) I gave her the treasure box. Thats when the tears started flowing but this time it was happiness. I did go through and explain each clue to everyone.
It was a good time. I did get in a little trouble from some of the other men there saying that I made them look bad by going so far overboard. Thats OK, I doubt I will be able to pull something like this off again.
So that is how my family found out about the cruise. Now I can actually do things at home to get ready. Time to make some door decorations and go shopping for the FE gifts. Look for the the FE email soon. I should have it out be the end of the week. We can keep accepting people wanting to do the FE until the beginning of May if everyone is in agreement (if not, suggest a cutoff date).
