Surprise! Birthday and a Bum Leg...

[disneyorvegas]

My first ever trip report!

So we decided to surprise our DD7 with a trip to WDW for her birthday. We told her for months and months, "We can't afford to go to Disney this year." Well, after a couple of weeks trying to pack (and try on the new season's clothes!), the day finally came to surprise her! I picked her up from school a few minutes early 2 days before her birthday, and I told her that a really awesome present was delivered today and that we couldn't wait to give it to her. When we pulled in the driveway, DH's and my mom's car were there. She was a little confused, but took my explaination that we all wanted to see her open this gift.

Well, we went inside, and she still looked a little bewildered. We passed her a gift bag that had a pair of Disney crocs and a wrapped gift box. Inside the box was a shirt that had a shirt with "I'm going to Disney for my Birthday!" ...http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2089983&page=15
post #214 THANKS 5CLARK5 for your awesome design!

When Holly opened her box and read her shirt, she lloked at us with total disbelief saying "but we're not going this year?" It took a little list of our upcoming trip and what she would be doing on her actual birthday to get her to believe, and then she was jumping around like a loony!

The whole way to the airport she wanted to borrow my phone and call people to tell them! She was unbelievably excited. IT WAS GREAT!

Everyone was so excited that we easily made it through the long delay at the airport. By the time we got through baggage claim, Magical Express and check in, it was after 1 am. Believe it or not, both DDs were still awake when we got to the hotel. Our first night at the Yacht Club was overtired and excited, and worth every minute!

Stay tuned for the next installment...

 

[Carol17]

What an amazing surprise! I can't wait to read your report! I too stayed at the Yacht Club(April 26-May2 2009) and I just started our trip report as well!Looking forward to following along!

 

[tlcdoula]

What a great mom you are for suprising her.... and pulling it off... I cant wait to read the next installment...

tlc

 

[mickeystoontown]

I love surprises! We had to cancel our June, 2008 WDW vacation when I started a new job. When the End of the Summer promo came out, my boss told me to book a week in August. We didn't tell our 11 year old son until the day AFTER we started the drive to Disney. He thought we were going on a long road trip.

Looking forward to reading more and hope that you'll be posting pictures too!

 

[disneyorvegas]

I'll try to post pics at a later date - my media reader drive isn't working

So after going to bed so late the night before, as always, the girls wake up nice and early (but not killer, thank goodness!) on Friday morning. And of course, for us, we must start the trip at the Magic Kingdom riding Small World! Let me tell you, that first walk into the MK is the absolute highlight every year. It's that "Aaaaahhhh, I'm home/back/ hakuna matata!" feeling and the real world just slips away. And off we go to soak in all of the Disney magic!

Well, as you can tell from the title of this thread, this year's trip comes with a new twist. DH was diagnosed with a torn miniscus (in his knee) and a baker's cyst behind the knee about a month and a half before our trip. Well, the dr. he went to told him that most of the miniscus would have to be removed and would cause him arthritis in later years. This would eventually lead him to knee replacement. So, the dr. told my DH that he should just wait it out and see if the pain dies down and put off surgery. This of course is what DH wants to hear, so any discussion, etc. of this problem stops there.

Well, three days before the trip his calf and ankle swell up to monstrous proportions. Since he "didn't want to disappoint everyone,'" he tries to ignore it and won't go to the dr. He does, however, do some online research... more on that later in the trip.

So back to the good news... We're in MK, and we're riding the rides in Fantasyland. The lines are not nearly as bad as touring Plans said they would be - average waits were about 20min with 40 for Pooh and Peter Pan. Ahhhh.... it's so good to be back. DH is keeping up, it's hotter than blue blazes, and we look at the clock and realize we need to head over to the Wilderness Lodge for lunch at Whispering Canyon.

DH is glad to have his leg up on the boat, girls are excited to go rub Humphry's nose for good luck on our trip, I'm looking forward to a good length of time in air conditioning. I had no idea it was supposed to be in the mid 90s when I booked my trip

Lunch was very good - the only disappointment was that they don't do the ketchup "thing" at lunch, so DH was very disappointed. He is a practical joker by nature, so at least he had fun amusing himself with almost getting sent to the woodshed by the waitress

After lunch, we went to DHS to try to get on Toy Story Mania. Well, after the bus ride and some pictures in front of the Sorcerer's Hat, DD5 went into complete melt down mode. The heat was really getting to her, in addition to the late night/early morning, and probably being a little bent out of shape since everyone was saying "Happy Birthday" to DD8 (she was wearing her pin). So I took her back to the room, and DH and DD8 stayed in the park. Te irony of this, of course, is that the adults should have swapped, but I won't go on RNRC or TOT, and these are DD8s favorite rides. So they did the rides, and we hung out in the room. Of course, we were not in the room 2 minutes before DD had her clothes ripped off and her bathing suit on saying, "Let's go swimming!" So we relaxed in the room for a while, and then went down to the pool for a great swim. DH and DD8 caught up with us there. (BTW- they said they practically walked on TOT and had only a short wait for RNRC!)

Since we had no plans for dinner, we tried to do a walk up to the Cape May Cafe, and we were able to get in. The food was very enjoyable, and DH usually does not care for dinner buffets, so we were pleasantly surprised!

Well, after all of that, we had a relatively early night and went to bed. Whew! Even with 5yo drama, I was still so happy to be in WDW

 

[disneyorvegas]

Here are some of the surprise pics... hopefully!

And sharing the excitement on the way to the airport...