Surprise!!! A funny thing happened on the way to Anaheim.........

[DisneyNic]

we ended up in Orlando instead!!!!! This is my first ever trip report, pre- or otherwise. I guess I should start with introducing the people going on this trip. It will be me Nichole, DH Chad, DD5 (will be 6) McKenna, DS3 (will be 4) Brodie, my mom and my dad. My parents and I have been to DL many times, Chad and McKenna have been once. None of us have been to WDW before. Me, DH, mom and dad have been to Orlando but it was just a one night stay at the end of our cruise at which time all we saw was the hotel and the Long John Silver's down the road.

Now, for the explanation of my title. Our last trip to DL was in 2004. In 2007 I decided that I wanted to go back in fall 2008. Long story short, my grandparents sold some property and decided to take all of us on a carribbean cruise in 2008. We couldn't very well pass that up, so we went which meant that DL had to be pushed back a year. So since we got home from our cruise, I have been planning our return to DL. After checking everything out, our DL trip was pretty much set. We had rental car and hotel reservations, and were just waiting (I don't know why) to purchase park hoppers and airline tickets. A couple weeks ago, I decided to check rates of tickets and hotels at WDW. I found something really surprising. Even with the airfare being more than double, it was pretty close to being the same price to go to WDW and stay on site as it was going to be to go to DL and stay off site. When I learned about free dining, that clinched it for me. We were able to add on 2 more days and actually save money!!! I still can't believe it. So, now our trip to DL is a trip to WDW instead. We are booked at ASsp for Sept 18-27 with free dining. Now, for the surprise part. I am not telling DH that we have switched our destination. I am hoping that I can keep it from him until we get to the airport. I have this perfect little moment in my head of us getting to the airport and going to check in. The check in clerk asks for our info and says "So, you're flying to Orlando today?" and then I imagine DH with this completely confused look on his face and then I say "That's right, we are going to WDW." I don't know if this is going to go at all how I want it, but I can hope. Since we are not telling DH, we can't really tell anyone else either, so the only ones that know are myself, my mom and my dad and I actually wish that my dad didn't know either, but oh well. Our plan is to send postcards to everyone when we get to WDW saying something like "A funny thing happened on our way to Anaheim, the plane took a wrong turn and ended up in Orlando!" I can't wait.

While my mom and dad know that we are going to WDW, I am also going to keep as much from them as possible. I am not going to tell them where we are eating, or my dad where he is golfing (mom will know this) or that we are going to MNSSHP. When I get closer and can make ADRs, I plan on asking some of the amazing people on the creative boards to make some invites that will be waiting in our rooms every night and that is how they will find out what the next day's plans are.

I'm sorry for anyone that actually made it all the way through that. This pre-trip report is really just a place for me to share my excitement since I can't really say much about the trip to anyone in my real life. So please don't feel as though you have to comment, or even read it. It is really just a place for me to say "YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM GOING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[DisneyNic]

Oh man, today was a really hard day. I spent the entire day with my DH, my parents, and my little sister. There were so many things that I kept thinking of that I wanted to talk to my mom about, but of course, I couldn't say anything because no one knows about the trip. It is getting so hard for me to keep this secret. I completely loose my filter when I am excited and nothing excites me more than Disney so it has been really hard for me to actually think before I speak!!!! There have been a couple of things I can say that are generic Disney things. My mom and I have just started saying that we are going to Mickey Mouse's House so we can talk a little bit around other people since everyone thinks we are going to DL. I just have to keep picturing that perfect little moment that I have in my head of DH finding out at the airport that we are going to WDW. I am actually hoping that we will be able to check our luggage curbside and check in at the little kiosks and maybe that way, DH won't even know until we get to the gate. But I don't know that much about curbside or the kiosks so I don't really know how that will work.