Surprising a teenager with a trip to Disney (Updated 10/09)

[sunnyday123]

ok I just cried like a little girl over that video!! And I know how you feel about the nerves, I get all teary eyed just thinking about how I am going to suprise my little princess!!

 

[bizeemom4]

My mind wanders to bad places. What if we don’t leave tonight? I bought two sets of plane tickets to Orlando and neither one can get me out of Baltimore on time. What if we have to go back to the Holiday Inn and this time, not just use the bathroom. “Hi. We’re the people that pretended to be staying here earlier. We’ve evaluated your bathroom and decided to spend the night.”

I’m thinking back to the days and days of labor invested in planning what park/what day to make sure that we maximize our days and get everything done that we should. I am realizing that, at the 11th hour, life’s joking with me. “Hey, Laura! Remember all of those Saturdays when you sat at the computer and watched the day slip by while you read and planned and announced ‘This is the perfect plan!’?” Good luck with that.

Why am I being so dramatic? A 10:15 departure leads to a 12:15 a.m. arrival. Add to that walking time from the plane to magical express and that’s going to be potentially a 1 a.m. arrival at the resort! Is Magical Express open after midnight? I definitely do not like the thought of waiting for our bags and taking a mystery cab late at night.

I dig out the Magical Express booklet, which is next to the DVDs (neither of which is Steel Magnolias) and call. The rep assures me that the service runs 24-7 and that we will have a free ride to the hotel. Well, my greedy little mind thinks that this could work out in our favor because we should be the only people getting in that late. We might have the bus to ourselves and not have to make a series of stops! The rep at Magical Express recommends that I call the resort (which I do) to let them know that we will be there, albeit not until after midnight.

We have a jam packed first day planned tomorrow. Arriving at 1 a.m. (if we get the chance) should make the 8 a.m. extra magic hours at MGM “Hollywood Studios” that I have planned for tomorrow, well, just MAGICAL! Ugh. So, I pull out the laptop and tap into the well-developed Disney planning skills. Delete tomorrow’s MGM plan. Cut Cell C7. Paste it in B7. Now put MGM in C7. That should work.

The plane with our crew is within a safe distance and we are told that we will soon line up. OMG! Chloe put the phone away. We’re actually going to go to Dis-a-nee World!!!!!!!

I have not traveled Southwest since the implementation of the new cattle call by number. Everyone that has been lounging for hours lines up like metal shavings to a magnet. These people are quick! Chloe and I take our spot in what we think is the right spot. Actually, I have no clue where I’m supposed to be so I look at my boarding pass and announce A21….A21. I’m in the wrong spot but the people around me help MOOve me to where I need to be. We’re off to the plane and we are told to just sit anywhere. There’s plenty of room for everyone.

Here’s a quick shout out to Southwest. In order to get us on the road, so to speak, they had called in employees, not scheduled to work, to come in just to prepare the plane and get us ready to depart without further delay. I love Southwest. I really, really do. They have the nicest employees.

Chloe takes the window seat and I take the aisle. Shortly after takeoff, Chloe is sprawled out, across all three seats, with her head on my lap, sound asleep. I try to fall asleep, sitting up, without moving, so that I do not wake up Sleeping Beauty. Did not work but I don’t care because we are going to Disney and it WILL be a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

 

[bizeemom4]

Loving your report so far! I've been debating whether to surprise DD with a trip for her 13th bday next winter and I'm hoping your TR will help me to decide. I keep thinking that while the surprise would be fun, maybe it would be even more fun for her to help plan the trip? She could pick out the hotels, ADRs, etc. Plus, I'm afraid that if I totally surprised her, I would forget to pack something that she considered to be absolutely essential (since 13 yr. old girls are notoriously unpredictable)! What do you think?

Well, I had the best of both worlds. She's been to WDW enough that I felt comfortable allowing this trip to come without her participating in the excitement of the planning. If this had been her first trip, I would never have surprised her. I did have Chloe pack a bag with her "essentials" that way I knew that, despite the outfits that I planned for her, she would have all of her teenage creature comforts.

 

[TAEMom]

Well, I had the best of both worlds. She's been to WDW enough that I felt comfortable allowing this trip to come without her participating in the excitement of the planning. If this had been her first trip, I would never have surprised her. I did have Chloe pack a bag with her "essentials" that way I knew that, despite the outfits that I planned for her, she would have all of her teenage creature comforts.

I've been giving it more thought, and decided that if I do the planning and just surprise her, it might be even better! Otherwise, I'm afraid her ideas and mine might not coincide (this may have something to do with both of us being control freaks! )! She is generally happy when I make plans for her or buy clothing for her and just present her with them (so she hasn't seen the options!), BUT as soon as she and I shop together or I consult her, THAT's when we have problems! So, in reality, a surprise is probably the very best way to go.

She already knows that I would like to do a 13th bday girls trip, so I could easily have her pack a bag of "essentials." Great idea!

I cannot wait to hear more about your trip!

BTW, I grew up in the Harrisburg area, so I could totally picture the drive to BWI!

 

[pooh'smate]

Just wanted to say that I am glad you started your report. I am so glad your dd was surprised.

 

[bizeemom4]

I think I'm going to try to get this put on the regular Trip Report board. The rest of the report will be the actual Trip Report.

Would anyone know how I do that?

 

[Donald is #1]

I think I'm going to try to get this put on the regular Trip Report board. The rest of the report will be the actual Trip Report.

Would anyone know how I do that?

I think that you PM one of the board moderators and ask them to move it. I had it done last October but it is a bit of a blur now.

 

[bizeemom4]

We arrive in Orlando….don’t ask me what time. I don’t remember. It was o’dark thirty and humid. We trotted just as fast as our legs could carry us to the Magical Express area. Why, oh why does this always seem like the longest part of the journey? From the time the plan lands until we get to the resort feels like days and days.

I was skeptical that the Magical Express desk would still be open but as we’re walking, I spot the blue jackets. We walk thru the line together, give our names and we’re sent to the Pop Century cue. No one else is in line and I’m thinking that my prediction about having a bus to us might be accurate. We get on the bus and, this time, I remember to get a seat near the front. I always charge the bus in pursuit of a seat away from everyone else and then I curse myself when we get close to the Walt Disney World sign and I want to take a picture as we go under the arch.

The bus is not empty. And apparently it has been sitting waiting for passengers. It turns out that at this hour (sometime after midnight Saturday morning), we are on a bus full of eager vacation-ears. So much for my theory of a late flight = empty bus, huh? The mom in the front row of the bus is holding her head in her hands and keeps complaining about how loooong this is taking. The bus driver’s name is Rafael and everyone is looking for Rafael. “Rafael? Rafael? Wherefore art thou Rafael?” When Chloe starts to get restless, I renounce her impatience and tell her not to complain about something that is FREE! I do it in a voice slightly louder than my inside voice just in case the mom in front of me is eavesdropping so maybe she’ll get in a Disney mood and stop with the sighing and complaining. I shouldn’t really judge. Maybe they had been there 20 minutes already but hey, lady. Lighten up.

Rafael comes aboard! Hooray!

We leave for the resort. Rafael does a quick poll. We have five resorts on board…Pop Century, Coronado Springs & the All Stars. And guess where the lady in front of us is staying? All Star Sports. I’m sorry to say that she was still on the bus when we got off at the Pop thirty minutes later and probably had another half an hour after the bus departed because Coronado was next. I hope that Rafael made it back to the airport alive. Here's a picture of him to help out just in case his family is looking for him.

I have been singing the praises of the Pop ever since I stayed there in January of this year. It’s just a great, fun, clean, happy little place… If they had room service, a hot tub and a pool slide, I wouldn’t need to ever stay anywhere else. My children, poor spoiled little souls, do not enjoy the All Stars. As Pop is a value, Chloe naturally puts it in the same category as the All Stars. Chloe, however, is a captive audience. She had no say in where we stay and has just been delivered to a value resort. I figured that this would be the only way to get her to try the Pop, by surprise attack.

Here is Chloe at a sprint into the lobby. As you can see, the ankle is just fine.

In the time that it takes me to sign our paperwork, collect the brochures and get the room keys, she has surveyed the sparkly lobby and whispered in my ear “Mom. You were right about this place.” Had I not been awake for almost 24 hours at this point, I would totally have jumped up and down with joy. She had only seen the lobby however, and has not seen the teeny, tiny room. It will be interesting to see what she thinks in the morning, after doing the food court and the bus.

We depart for bell services, find the bellman on duty, who is in the middle of a conversation with someone (could have been an off duty CM or a guest. They didn’t have a uniform on) and ask him to hold our luggage until the morning. We have stayed at the POR and had our luggage delivered at 2 a.m. Not interested, thanks. Anyway, he asks me what room we are in and I show him the envelope that holds the room keys. Chloe and I are moderately attractive young women and we are traveling alone. I KNOW not to say my room number out loud in public. This knucklehead bellman, says “ROOM 2424? No problem.” Gee, knucklehead, thanks for announcing that to the world and another person. Against my better judgment, we continue to trudge to the room. Chloe has traveled enough to know the egregious error that this CM just committed. She comments on it while we steer ourselves towards the nifty fifties buildings.

We come to the TRAMP building and start looking for 2424. Nope. These rooms are 3000ish. 180-degree turn and we see the LADY building. Chloe says “Oh, mom. She must have put us in the lady building because she knows us.” Funny girl. We walk across the courtyard to the lady building and those rooms are 1000 rooms. Where are the 2000 rooms? Oh, way down there, passed the pool and the four-story jukebox. We get to the fourth floor in Building #2 and pass the soda machine. We decide that we’re hot and thirsty and decide to go ahead and buy waters to save having to come back out after we trek to the room. Cool beverages in hand, we walk about 10 steps and find our room. We giggle about how silly we were to buy our drinks and juggle all of our stuff when we could have ditched the stuff and run back over. We push in and I hold my breath waiting for Chloe’s reaction to the size & décor of the room. She says nothing. Could be that she’s asleep on her feet.

We commit the ultimate germaphobe sin and collapse with our heads on the pillows and our bodies on the icky comforter. We snap on Stacy and start watching the top seven must see attractions at Walt Disney World. It is now 2:11 a.m. We peel off our travel clothes and squeeze into bed. We decide to put in for a wake up call, just in case we feel like going to a park later. Today slowly fades away and before we know it, the phone is ringing, beckoning us to start our first full day of fun!!!

 

[Sleeping*Beauty]

Can't wait to here more!!

 

[manntra]

Subscribing Loved your video that was so great!

 

[mari360]

Great start.......can't wait for more.....

 

[disneydusted]

Wow!! I just found you and have loved reading all about the big surprise and am now looking forward to hearing about all of your adventures! You are a great mom to have made this special trip for just the two of you.... hummmm, maybe I should start thinking about doing this????

 

[bizeemom4]

The ringing phone wakes me at 6:30. I am wide-awake when I realize that I am not in my bed and reaching for a strange phone. Chloe does not move. I unpack the camcorder and flip it to night vision. I aim it at Chloe and say "Chloe" and get no response. "We're in Disney World." Chloe sighs and says "....oh yeah!" I tell her "It's time for your great big beautiful tomorrow!" She smiles the cutest smile and rolls over and starts stretching to get ready to get up.

It was a mushy, cuddly, tender moment. Followed by a rush of showers, hair dryers, a visit from bell services, a flurry of makeup, and a dash to the food court for breakfast and a Tinkerbell landyard. I had cut and pasted our itinerary during our flight delay. There is no way that we would have been able to do my original plan to go to the 8 a.m. extra magic hour today. No makeup, no time for showers or breakfast? We would have been the walking, talking "Beauty and the Beast" show at MGM.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 8:30 and went to a ticket window to buy Chloe's annual pass. Ticket in hand, we find a really short line on the right near where we have previously checked in for "Breakfastasaurus" reservations. After crossing the threshhold in the first park of this trip, I offer to rent a wheelchair for Chloe. Although she feels fine now, I'm concerned about damaging her healing fracture. She insists that she is fine, no twinges at all, and we move on.

We pass the photopass photogs and all of the "tourists" who are stopping for pix in front of the Tree. We end up at a rope drop in front of the "times" board. We are so happy to be here, sharing this moment together. I am astounded that we got up, dressed, ate and made it to rope drop after getting to bed after 2 a.m. Gotta love that Disney adrenaline!

We see Mickey and friends in their camp attire and then we're off. We stay up ahead with the first 25 guests, slowing only to take a picture of the first animal that we spot at Animal Kingdom, a SoxwithCrocs.

I am including this photo for you because I want to show you
1. a Disney fashion don't and
2. to show you how close to the rope drop we were as we walked thru Asia.

SoxwithCrocs-odile

Chloe continues her momentum while I dive under the rope to the left side of the morning Everest parade to get two fastpasses to use later. I jump back into the flow and shortly catch up to Chloe. How many miles is it anyway from the Tree to the front of the line at Everest? 100?

We could have gotten right on the ride. I request the front car and go to the "front car" waiting spot. I am a bit of a prima donna when it comes to Everest. If you check Wikipedia for Prima Donna, you will learn that the original Prima Donnas (prime donne in Italian) were often regarded as egotistical, unreasonable and irritable, with a rather high opinion of themselves not shared by others.

Well, regardless, I want the front seat and I will wait for it. So there. I have to be able to look around and gaze down upon the "World" when we are stuck at the top. And this morning, waiting for the front car gives my heart rate the chance to return to a normal rhythm. This ride could be marketed as "a great way to start your day if your flight was delayed and you barely slept" because it is like INSTANT AWAKE! We walked away from the ride and into the throngs of "Late" arrivals. It's 9:20 you sleepyheads. Where have you been?

I really only wanted to come to Animal Kingdom to ride Everest so the rest of the morning is on a MUCH slower pace.We took some time getting photopass pictures (not here yet - come back in 14-21 days) and then went to Dinosaur.

Don't we look happy?

Don't we look scared?

We saw the Nemo show. Those benches at the Nemo show are killer. Wearing less than modest shorts that ride-up, we had to sit with our feet propped up on the bench in front of us to avoid the Chicken on the grill look on the back of our thighs.

Chloe took a million random pictures of birds and water and trees. Tourist. We were tired at this point and decided to go back to the Pop. We really did not want to do too much on our first park morning. Also, we had gone from a daily temperature of 45-50 thanks to our colder than average spring to 95+ degrees and we were ready for some R&R.

We waited for about 15 minutes for the bus. There were five college-aged girls with blue bandanas tied around various body parts. Not sure if this is a new fashion statement somewhere in the country or if part of a gang of hoodlums were waiting for the Pop bus but I kept a close eye on them.

Chloe spent the wait time....big surprise....on the phone AND swatting love bugs. When I told her why they call them 'love bugs,' she declared that "They had better not do THAT on ME!!!!"

Back at the resort, we spent two counter service credits on lunch.

I had the Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast, which came with a delicious side salad and a breadstick.

Chloe had a double cheeseburger and fries.

Both of us had the tie-dye cheesecake. I love it but Chloe thought the consistency was "weird." We sat outside under the umbrella and ate our lunch and were just so happy. Chloe wants to swim instead of sleep so we pull on our swimsuits and Chloe dons her Wal-Mart apparel (happily I might add) and she swims and I read.

Next Up: Detoxing on Pixie Dust!

 

[Sleeping*Beauty]

Wow! i can't believe yall were up that early. BTW I love Chloe's nail polish color.

 

[cinderella73]

I am really enjoying your TR. I am a mom of a 13 year old girl with 2 sons and I have often dreamed of having a girls mini vacation with her. I totally understand that mommy guilt thing but in the end its a great chance to bond with our daughters. We will all be going down this Sept and I would love to think of something special I could do with just my daughter.

Your daughter is adorable btw and you to look so much alike! Cant wait to read more!

 

[bizeemom4]

I am really enjoying your TR. I am a mom of a 13 year old girl with 2 sons and I have often dreamed of having a girls mini vacation with her. I totally understand that mommy guilt thing but in the end its a great chance to bond with our daughters. We will all be going down this Sept and I would love to think of something special I could do with just my daughter.

Your daughter is adorable btw and you to look so much alike! Cant wait to read more!

Thank you for reading. The tea at the Grand Floridian is fun, in a fancy way, if you wanted to just spend a few hours bonding with her.

Do you think we look alike? Chloe and I can't see it but everybody says it!

 

[bizeemom4]

Wow! i can't believe yall were up that early. BTW I love Chloe's nail polish color.

The nails were really, really green. A friend loaned her the color and she gave herself a mani-pedi in that color the night before we left. I was a little shocked with the color but she definitely pulled it off.

Thanks for reading my report!

 

[tink1957]

Just found you today & am loving your report so far. Seeing Chloe's reaction almost made me with I had waited to surprise my son for our upcoming trip. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Rora]

I just found your TR! It's so much fun! The video was really cute and I can't wait to read more!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Enjoying your mother/daughter trip! It was so cool how you pulled off such a great surprise!! Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!!