Someday is sooner than you think...a March 2011 PTR

[Native NYer]

Joining in!
I love surprise trips

 

[natebenma]

Hi Sheree! What a nice find today when we are snowed in under a cover of a foot and a half of snow!

I'm in!

Dee

 

[jenseib]

found it! now to go back and read

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Found you Sheree! The girls will be SO excited! We're contemplating driving from MN on our next trip so I am going to be looking for tips and advice.

 

[Monny2AE]

Hi Sheree! I'm in for the ride!!! Can't wait to hear the surprise plans!

 

[Dugette]

So cool that you're going back so soon. Can't wait to hear about your cruise! I hope the surprise goes well!

 

[Dancegrl624]

I'm here Sheree! Surprise trips are SO much fun!!!

[COLOR="Red]
I can't wait to hear all about the Dream. We are planning to cruise in 2013 for our 15th anniversary and a certain big number birthday for me. I haven't decided which cruise to take - Caribbean or Bahamian. I'd like to do the Mediterranean one, but the airfare to get over there is a killer! I'm hoping we can cruise on the Dream. [/COLOR]

By 2013, the Disney Fantasy will be cruising too (the Dream's sister ship)!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm joining in! Your trip sounds amazing! I'm so excited to hear about the kid's reactions. How fun (and HARD!) it must be to keep it a secret from them.

Looking forward to hearing about the details and all!

 

[stace208]

How did you do the surprise? It's going to be interesting. I have a feeling they will figure out Florida (we might give that away), but definitely won't guess the cruise part.

Our spring break is near Easter. I hid Scrabble tiles in the plastic Easter eggs that I used for the egg hunt. I made a board that had the blanks drawn on it to say "We are going to Disney World today." Once they found their eggs and pooled the letters they had to fit them on the board and figure it out. It was great fun!

 

[Pluto_fan]

Our spring break is near Easter. I hid Scrabble tiles in the plastic Easter eggs that I used for the egg hunt. I made a board that had the blanks drawn on it to say "We are going to Disney World today." Once they found their eggs and pooled the letters they had to fit them on the board and figure it out. It was great fun!

What a cool idea! I love it!

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

Our spring break is near Easter. I hid Scrabble tiles in the plastic Easter eggs that I used for the egg hunt. I made a board that had the blanks drawn on it to say "We are going to Disney World today." Once they found their eggs and pooled the letters they had to fit them on the board and figure it out. It was great fun!

I LOVE that idea!!! FUN!

 

[Monny2AE]

I love the Scrabble Idea! My aunt did something similar with a puzzle she made online. Each family member got a piece and they had to work together to assemble it.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I'm here, Sheree!
The girls are going to be SO excited! I can't wait to hear all the details.
And...coming from someone currently in Europe...your cruise/WDW trip is going to be BETTER than Europe! (though I still hope you can make it over here NEXT spring! )

Well, we'll do this trip and hopefully STILL get to Europe in 2012! I am determined to do it all!

I'm here, Sheree! I can't wait to hear all about your cruise on the Dream! So exciting!

Hi Jackie!! I'm going a little crazy with all the hype the Dream is getting right now!

Hey girl!! I made it! for some reason, I didn't get any notifications yesterday!
I loooove surprise trips!!! I think the ones where we suprised the kids have been my favorite ones ever!!
We are still considering Europe this year...Kathy...spill!!!! What do I need to know! But how goofy is this..he also wants to do Colorado. I am like...what? England or Colorado? Give me a break...we gotta hop across the pond dude!!!!! I think Colorado is gonna win out And heres a news flash-I doubt he will enjoy it as much as he thinks he will...he doesn't like to be cold! Now..doesn't that make you wonder why he even wants to go in the winter? I tried to talk him into taking a summer trip there so we could see what's what and then go back...but he didn't like that idea AT ALL!! So....who knows.....
sorry to hijack Sheree....back to your program dear!!!

Hey Shawna!!! You come to Europe next year with us! Colorado? In the winter? Not liking cold? Crazy!! I'd definitely go in the summer, but those mountains get WAY too much snow -even for me!
You, my friend, may hijack any time you like!

Joining in!
I love surprise trips

I'm already having a hard time keeping it secret! I keep wanting to ask them things! We do a lot of hypothetical talking around here!
But I think we are working out some of the details of the surprise. Stay tuned.

Hi Sheree! What a nice find today when we are snowed in under a cover of a foot and a half of snow!

I'm in!

Dee

Hi Dee! Glad to give you a little something to do to pass the time! That's like Minnesota snow!! You are around Boston, no?

found it! now to go back and read

You don't have too far to catch up!

Found you Sheree! The girls will be SO excited! We're contemplating driving from MN on our next trip so I am going to be looking for tips and advice.

Hey Kelli!
Here's the best couple tips - have a comfy car that you can sleep in and find someone crazy enough to like driving all night. Then don't drink a lot so you don't have to stop much. #1 tip? DVD PLAYER! Electronics are your friend!!

Hi Sheree! I'm in for the ride!!! Can't wait to hear the surprise plans!

Hi Kim! The plans are coming along. Changing a lot but I think we're finally on to something good!

So cool that you're going back so soon. Can't wait to hear about your cruise! I hope the surprise goes well!

Hi! I really wasn't planning on going back so soon, that's for sure, but you know what they say about plans...
I will have a full report on the cruise for sure. I'm hoping lots of the people on the first few cruises will do TRs too so I can get more info before I go!

I'm here Sheree! Surprise trips are SO much fun!!!

By 2013, the Disney Fantasy will be cruising too (the Dream's sister ship)!

Hey Meghan! I am finding this surprise to be fun, but a bit stressful! I hate not being able to talk plans whenever I want! But I can't wait to see their faces!!
I'm curious what they will use for itineraries with the Fantasy. All this new stuff!!

I'm joining in! Your trip sounds amazing! I'm so excited to hear about the kid's reactions. How fun (and HARD!) it must be to keep it a secret from them.

Looking forward to hearing about the details and all!

Hi Brook! Oh, man, you're not kidding - it is fun but hard!! I almost slipped today and said something about when we go...I'm having a lot of fun teasing and fibbing about how it's just too expensive to go now (well that's not really a fib!) and "who knows" when we'll go again. But I'm trying to get some information and ideas about what we want to do from them without them realizing it. That's hard. I also don't want them to see my signature with the countdowns, so whenever I am DISing, I'm quick with the switching windows when they're around!

I've got more plans and some changes to share soon.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Our spring break is near Easter. I hid Scrabble tiles in the plastic Easter eggs that I used for the egg hunt. I made a board that had the blanks drawn on it to say "We are going to Disney World today." Once they found their eggs and pooled the letters they had to fit them on the board and figure it out. It was great fun!

I love the Scrabble Idea! My aunt did something similar with a puzzle she made online. Each family member got a piece and they had to work together to assemble it.

What cute ideas!! I had thought about doing something with a joint birthday present, but wasn't sure how to pull it off. Our technique is shaping up to be a bunch of little white lies!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

So, DH and I have been talking. We've been thinking. And plotting and planning. We've made a few modifications to our plans.

Because the cruise departs on Thursday March 10, we need to leave the evening of Tuesday March 8. Sarah's birthday is March 9th. The kids have no school on the 10th and 11th for conferences (guess we will need to reschedule those - Sorry teachers!) and then the next week is Spring Break.

So - Sarah will not be going to school for her birthday. She won't have her name read in the morning announcements. She won't have birthday treats. I mentioned to her that we were going to have to do something special for her birthday. She says, "do I get to miss school?". I say, "sure why not?". This shocked her. I never let them just miss school for no good reason!! She thought about that, and figured this must be something good if I was willing to let her miss school. Normally she hates to miss school. I thought "hey, this is easy!" Later she came back and said, she'd rather go to school so she could have her name on the announcements and have treats! Grrr...
Still later, she asks me - do I think I could write a note to the principal and ask that her name be read a day early on announcements!!! Uh, sure I could do that! I'd even let her take treats a day early!

Back to DH and my discussions. I tend to get nervous whenever he starts a conversation with "I've been thinking" or "I have an idea". Of course, it usually means we're spending more $$$, but it also usually involves Disney, so I listen first, argue and complain later.

He says, "I was thinking..." Uh-oh, now what are we doing with this trip?
Since we (he) are willing to drive straight through and have done so in the past, why should we stop at some random Holiday Inn in Northern Florida when we could just drive a couple more hours and spend the night before the cruise at a WDW resort? Yeah, okay, I thought about it and we started checking on the Swan Dolphin. We're looking at another $200!! I thought, since it's actually going to be ON Sarah's birthday, shouldn't we pick somewhere a) more fun and b) Cheaper?
So we priced out the rooms at Pop Century. With the current discount code, we can get a room for $100!!! I'm so psyched! I have a gift card for,

guess how much?

Yup!! $100!!!! Actually I have a couple more cards, but they will go toward the park tickets.
So I'm going to book it (hopefully this weekend while the kids are not around me!)!!!
I think the kids will enjoy Pop and even though the Swan had AWESOME comfy beds, after a night sleeping in the car, I'll just be happy with a bed!

So we will drive and drive like crazy. Our plan is to tell the girls that we are going to visit SIL in Fort Myers and that we got tickets to a Twins Spring Training game, but it's on Thursday or Friday, so we have to leave earlier. We'll tell Sarah that we will have a special stop for her birthday, but she'll have to wait until toward the end of the day. Pop will be her birthday surprise. I'm hoping we might head over to the Poly to see fireworks. Or somewhere! Or maybe we'll get to swim if it's warm.

Then the next day, when they think they're going to a park, we'll mess with them again, and say, Nope, we're heading to Ft. Myers! I'm sure they'll be bummed! That's sort of mean isn't it?

They have no idea how far/close Ft. Myers is to WDW, so we will just drive and head toward the Port. Once they see the signs, they might figure it out. I will make sure to have the video camera in the car with me!

I'm not sure when we will tell them that we're going back to the parks after the cruise. Maybe we'll spill all the beans at once.

So that's how we will get to the ship. DH and I have also been thinking about special things to do during the cruise. I'll post our cruise plans in the next update! I've been doing so much reading about the Dream - I think I will not be sleeping at all - too much to do and see on this ship!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Too funny that Sarah wanted to go to school instead of the birthday surprise! If she only knew...

I have to confess that I feel the same way every time Charles says, "I've been thinking..." It never bodes well for the checkbook.

Hurray for a night at Pop Century! That will be a fun stay even if it is just for one night.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Too funny that Sarah wanted to go to school instead of the birthday surprise! If she only knew...

I have to confess that I feel the same way every time Charles says, "I've been thinking..." It never bodes well for the checkbook.

Hurray for a night at Pop Century! That will be a fun stay even if it is just for one night.

Yeah, I think she'll be happy with the option of missing school!

I hate to be the frugal one in the family - it's just not in my nature. Two big spenders should not marry without an accompanying big income. Sadly, we are government employees!

I just saw an update that the Hippy Dippy Pool at Pop will be closed from 2/14 - 3/11 for refurb!! I'm going to try not to be totally bummed about that! We might not have a chance to swim anyway. But that looked like the fun pool. I hope the other pools, the computer and bowling pool are just as good for our one night. They are open.

 

[Native NYer]

Yay for one night at Pop!!!
What a great way to start the trip

 

[SoonerGirl]

Oh my gosh, how funny that your DD wants to go to school on her birthday instead of skipping it! I can't see either of my kids turning down a day of missing school. Of course, they would be very suspicious because I'm like you - I never let them miss school without good reason!

I'm so impressed that you've been able to keep the secret, I know my big mouth would have opened already and the beans would be spilled

 

[jenseib]

We have stayed at Pop 3 times and really like it. I hadn't heard that about the pool. I guess I am glad we are not going now at that time. We are thinking of taking the Dream on March 31st at this point and time. But things always change when it comes to my DH. He just likes to wait till last minute.