Pulling off Cade's Surprise... an August 2011 pre trip report!

[cadesfirsttrip]

Hi everyone! Thanks for reading my pre trip report. I haven't done this much (and you can tell by my post count that I don't even post much), but I wanted to tell everyone about how I'm planning on surprising Cade with his first trip to Walt Disney World! But, I'm getting ahead of myself, so first things first -

I'm Alison and I live in North Carolina. I've been to WDW a bunch of times, along with Disneyland. I have an older son, Chaz, who is 20 and whom I've been lucky enough to take many times, also. But circumstances had changed and I've never been able to take my other son, Cade, who is 8.

As I said, my youngest son, Cade is the one we are going to surprise. Immensely different from his brother - who is an athletic, even tempered leader and relatively unemotional go with the flow guy, Cade is my imaginative, emotional, sensitive, funny son. He will hold back from a group until he is comfortable and then he will convince everyone that they need to be doing whatever it is he wants to do. He loves the arts, theater, movies, dancing and pretend. He has begged and begged to go to WDW, but I had convinced him that it would be next year at the earliest before we could go. Mainly because that's what I believed myself. Cade wants to be "someone who builds shelters for the homeless, and a director" when he grows up. BTW - Chaz will not be going with us, and doesn't know about the surprise yet. He'd never keep it a secret. I figure Chaz has had his trips and I'd never be able to afford to feed him!

The final person on this trip is my wonderful boyfriend, Jeff. Since we are old (heehee), I really hate calling him my boyfriend. He is so much more to all of us. We've been together for 4 years, have lived together for a year and plan on getting married. He is not only my best friend, he's been a father to both of my boys. Cade calls him "Daddy". He is a lot like Chaz, and hasn't given much input into this trip, other than money of course. He's only been to WDW once, about 30 - 35 years ago. He was about 20 and doesn't remember much about his one day in MK, but he does remember how much he loved Space Mountain. His only input has been that he wants to ride it first thing on our MK day. Jeff has 3 children who are 25, 23 and 21. They don't live with us, but I love them just as if they were raised by me.

So, our story starts with me planning a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. We've never taken a vacation together. I was raised taking a yearly vacation; Jeff has never had a vacation (really), and Cade has only been on one week long vacation. I decided that it was important for us to go, so I was off and running planning our beach trip.

...Next time, I'll tell you how we got from planning how to get the perfect beach spot to planning on the best way to get the ADR's I wanted!

 

[cadesfirsttrip]

Here are some pictures of us:

Cade and me at Disney on Ice:

Chaz and me on his 19th birthday:

My favorite picture of Cade... Halloween. He was a Circus Ringmaster:

Jeff, Cade and my Mom:

 

[cadesfirsttrip]

I don't think that anyone is reading this, but since I'm really wanting to have something for Cade to see after our trip, I'll continue on for him.

I spent months planning for the perfect place at the beach for us to go to. I contacted owners, mapped out the closeness to the places we'd visit. I read websites and looked at children's activities at the resort. I analyzed the amenities in different rooms. I finally figured out where we were going to stay. A 2 bedroom, oceanfront condo at a family friendly resort. It wasn't the most expensive place, but it was more than I'd expected to pay. I figured we'd only eat out one dinner, and our other splurge would be to take Cade to the Pirate themed restaurant that had just opened up (kind of like Medieval Times). But, for some reason, I kept putting off booking it.

One day in May, I was out sick from work. I got onto the internet, and started going through my e-mails to find the owner that I wanted to send a reservation to. As I was going through them, my Yahoo had an ad that kept rolling over, showing an "affordable trip" to WDW. As I was watching it roll through the ad, I was thinking about my trips there with Chaz and how much Cade wanted to go. And it hit me. I had tickets to WDW! Really! I'd completely forgotten them - they were from 1998 and I knew that they never expired. I've moved about 5 times in that 13 years, (and had even gone back to WDW several times), but even though I'd actually lost a lot of items during those moves, I still had those tickets. I pulled them out, and realized that I had totally unused 2 adults and 1 child tickets!

So, I called WDW to verify that these tickets really could be used and was told that they could. While the All Star resorts are not where I would (or have) stayed when I'm just with adults, it was always Chaz' favorite resort (probably because the theming screams Disney). So I checked on a AAA rate at the All-Star Movies for August 15-20. And it was 1/2 the price of the condo at the beach. Yes, 1/2! I quickly booked it, and then I sat down and figured out a quick budget. Even with food and gas, I'd still come out less than our trip to the beach.

My next step was to convince Jeff that this was a good plan. I called him at work (by the way, by this time I'm feeling great!), and he was his normal "whatever you want" self. So, we are now going to Disney! In 90 days!! And, in that moment, I decide that this was going to be a surprise for Cade. Now we just have to figure out how to surprise him. That takes a lot more thought than I would have imagined.

Next up: Calendars, Guides and ADR's...

 

[cadesfirsttrip]

When I left off, I was trying my best to figure out how to surprise Cade with this trip. I knew that there was no way that I would be able to not mention a vacation to him at all, so we decided to continue telling him that we were going to the beach! I put everyone who was on the "need to know" basis on double secret pinkie swear that they wouldn't tell... we still use the code "on our beachtrip" when talking about Disney.

My mom gave Cade a calendar with stickers that he could use to count out the days until his vacation. I numbered it backwards, so on the first day he used it, it had a big "90" on that day, "89" on the next, and so on. Today there is a "19" on the day, although we are actually leaving the day before so we can be at the resort in the morning. He loves this, and uses it all the time.

My first purchase was the "Unofficial Guide to WDW", which was a must have for me back in day. I covered it in a pink paper bag so that it wasn't easily identified, and because I knew that my son wouldn't care about anything that I was reading that had a pink cover! I've already finished it, and now I'm just going over my highlighted areas. Love this book!! And it so gets me in the mood to leave!

Since Cade has never been on a "big boy" rollercoaster, I was a bit worried about how he'll handle the rides (especially since he is tall enough to ride everything!) What to do about this? Well, I created a huge amusement park in Myrtle Beach that has mega rollercoasters and drop zones and we've gone over all the rides in Carowinds. He is so excited to ride the rides at this amusement park that I almost feel badly that it doesn't really exist!

I was a little worried about picking out our ADR's since I was only 90 days out. And it's August. But, I was able to get everything that I wanted, probably because we aren't doing anything special! Living Sea's, San Angel Inn, Mama Melrose, Tony's Town Square, things like that. We'll do some counter service, too. We did decide that we aren't going to go to the Animal Kingdom. We only have 4 days in the Parks, and for us 2 days in MK was more important. AK was always my son Chaz' and mine least favorite.

What am I looking forward to the most??? EPCOT!!! I love Epcot! And I'm pretty sure that Jeff will, too. Epcot will be the first Park we go to. I'm afraid that if I start out at MK nothing else will live up to it. So it's Epcot, HS, MK and MK for us.

Next time, my thoughts and idea's on how to actually surprise Cade. Not that I really have any idea. Help!!!!!! How do I do it????

 

[heathsf]

I can't wait until I have kids to surprise with a trip! There are LOTS of stories on here about ways parents have surprised their children. There are also tons of youtube videos of the same. I was actually watching some the other day. Maybe you'll find some ideas there.

Will you write a TR when you come back from your trip?

 

[FosterA]

Hey, I'm in!
I can't wait to hear what everybody thinks of their trip!!
don't quit writing

 

[cadesfirsttrip]

I can't wait until I have kids to surprise with a trip! There are LOTS of stories on here about ways parents have surprised their children. There are also tons of youtube videos of the same. I was actually watching some the other day. Maybe you'll find some ideas there.

Will you write a TR when you come back from your trip?

Thanks for the idea's! I actually read one over the weekend that I think I'll incorporate into my idea. I'll write about it in a minute. I watched the Youtube video's - so cute! But I think my favorite was when the little boy just wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese!!

I will write a trip report. Two weeks from today I'll be in Epcot!

 

[cadesfirsttrip]

Hey, I'm in!
I can't wait to hear what everybody thinks of their trip!!
don't quit writing

Thanks for being in! I will write some more today.

 

[DWGal210]

What an awesome surprise - he's going to love it!! Your plans sound great, what a fun trip!!

 

[cadesfirsttrip]

So, when I left off, I was trying to figure out the perfect plan to surprise Cade. At first I thought about just not telling him, and then just driving there. Since it's a 9 hour drive as opposed to a 4 hour drive, I just thought I'd tell him that the highway that we normally take was "broken", so it was going to take a lot longer to get there (good thing he's still a bit gullible). While the look of surprise on his face would be perfect, I'd have to blindfold him once we hit Florida so he didn't see any of the billboards. I didn't think he'd appreciate that, so I had to come up with something else. After watching a ton of Youtube video's, and reading other idea's here on the Dis boards, I decided to do a scavenger hunt.

OK, so there is something you need to know about me. I'm a mean mommy. Really . So, I think it will be fun to give Cade a list of instructions: "Do this first: 1 - go to where the shoes sit (our shoe area by the door). 2 - go to where the girl with four legs eats (the dog bowl). 3 - go to where Spiderman, the Jonas Brothers and Cars all live (his bedroom)." When he goes to #1, there will be a note that says "We know that you are really excited about going to the beach...". Then #2 will say "But we are very sorry because we can't go there." Then at #3, there will be a wrapped box. When he opens it, there will be a balloon that floats out and says "Because we are going to Walt Disney World instead!!!" There will be a couple of plushes and shirts and things that I'm buying next week in there. I think that he'll be upset after reading #2, but it'll make the surprise so much better! I told you he was gullible.

Now about my concerns. While I know that my tickets are unused and never expired, I'm terrified that there will be some "glitch" with this. I couldn't afford 4 day tickets for the 3 of us and still eat! And, I've always flown there, so the 9 hour drive is a bit daunting. The crowds scare me. I've always gone during off season, so while the week I'm going is considered "value season", I'm a bit worried. I've been studying and studying touring plans, and really trying to understand FP's, so I'm hoping I figure this out. I'm not worried about the heat. We live in North Carolina, and it hasn't been under 90 and our humidity hasn't been less than 70% all summer. The average, I think, has been about 95 with 85% humidity. So, that's the one thing I'm not worried about.

Next time: "Don't call me Mickey ear guy"!

 

[heathsf]

I love your scavenger hunt idea. He may be disappointed at #2 but he will be SO excited about #3!!!! When are you planning to do it?

As for your concerns, have you checked out easywdw.com? It's an amazing website with tons of free and reliable info. Here is the page about Fastpass:
Easy WDW - Fastpass

 

[cadesfirsttrip]

I love your scavenger hunt idea. He may be disappointed at #2 but he will be SO excited about #3!!!! When are you planning to do it?

As for your concerns, have you checked out easywdw.com? It's an amazing website with tons of free and reliable info. Here is the page about Fastpass:
Easy WDW - Fastpass

Thanks for the tip on easywdw.com... I'm going to go check it out right now!

I think we are going to actually do the hunt on Saturday the 13th... we are leaving late Sunday the 14th to arrive morning of the 15th!

 

[momabbate]

Oh cool I have plenty of time to hear the surprise. You must be so exicited 13 more days to go. What a way to do a first vacation. He is going to remember this forever.

 

[mindy5648]

cant wait to hear all about it!!!