The Kids' Surprise Trip to Florida - Report Finished!

[mvazul]

A little bit of history...

Our traveling circus includes:
Me DH DS(12) and DD(5)

2006 was an extremely rough year for us. It started on New Year's Day and didn't end. Alot of family issues to deal with, put our house in NC on the market, packed up and moved to Chicago to live with my MIL and her husband. I won't go into detail, because the internet is waaaaay too public, but let me just say, it's been rough.

Since it had been such a rough year, DH and I started talking about not doing Christmas (tree, presents, etc.) this past year and taking the kids to Disney World, just before Christmas, instead. Unfortunately, our house in NC didn't sell until November. We didn't close until the day before Thanksgiving. We had bills to pay and catch up on, so there would be no Disney in our near future. Instead, we started talking about maybe going in March around my 35th birthday. DH quickly put a halt to that dream, too, saying there was no way we could afford it. So, I completely put it out of my mind.

I should have known better. DH is NOT a planner. He is a spur-of-the-moment-kind of guy. We have been living with my MIL and her DH for just over 6 months. Things have been getting tense - to say the least. On January 20th, DH woke me up around 2:30 in the morning. He said, "Hey, I think all of us really need a break. How would you like to go to FL and take the kids to Disney?" WHAT???? He really didn't even need to ask!! Apparently, he had been thinking about it for awhile and was searching on-line and found some good prices.

Of course, after that we couldn't sleep. We immediately started planning. We set our dates: January 26th through February 3rd. And we were not going to tell the kids - AT ALL!!

But, there was a hitch in the plan. The Bears won the NFC Championship and we would be driving back ON the day of Super Bowl. What would we do??? Stay tuned!

 

[keliblue]

Ohhhhh my fav....

 

[swillis]

Don't keep us hanging!! I can't wait!!

 

[mvazul]

The kids still have absolutely no idea what we are up to. DH and I have almost spilled the beans on several occassions (DS was a bit confused as to why we were buying his sister a new bathing suit at the beinning of January!! ), but have managed to keep our secret. Our plans have changed slightly since the Bears are now going to the Super Bowl.

We have our villa booked for Oak Plantation in Kissimmee. We decided on this particular place, because we had stayed there five years ago and fell in love with it (HUGE mistake this time around, but more on that later). We also kind of knew which parks/sites we wanted to see, but haven't made any firm plans on what days we will do everything. Also, since we are driving, I convinced DH to stay in FL until after the Super Bowl!!

So, our plans are tentatively:

We will start driving on Friday morning (January 26th) and make our way to Nashville. According to MapQuest, it's a 7 hour+ drive from Chicago. My father and his wife live in Nashville, so we will make a stop there to see them. DS hasn't seen my dad in almost five years!! They used to be completely inseperable when we were still living in the same town.

Saturday (January 27th), we will spend a few hours with my dad then head to FL and make it as far as we can. It's about a 10 hour drive.

Sunday (January 28th), we will drive the rest of the way to Kissimmee and find something to keep us occupied until 4:30 PM. That is when we can check into our villa.

Monday (January 29th), we will make a day of Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach.

Tuesday (January 30th) will be a full day at Magic Kingdom.

Wednesday (January 31st) will be a down day. We plan to spend the day at the villa so DS can get some homework done and just hang out in the pool.

Thursday (February 1st), we plan to hit Universal Studios.

Friday (February 2nd), we will make our way to another Disney park for the day. We don't know which one but will probably head to Epcot.

Saturday (February 3rd), we will check out of our villa and make our way to the Tampa area. Both of DH's brothers live near Tampa. Since the Bears are going to the Super Bowl, DH and his brothers will be heading to Tampa to be near the Super Bowl once we arrive. They don't have tickets, but they don't care. Since they won't be in Chicago, they want to at least be in the same city as the Bears. The kids and I will stay in Tampa. I am a SAHM and a self-employed photographer, so I don't need to be anywhere. DH works from home for a fairly large medical insurance company, so he doesn't need to be home as long as he has his laptop and internet connection.

Sunday (February 4th), we will watch the Super Bowl with SIL and hope and pray the Bears win.

Monday (February 5th), we will begin the loooooong drive home.

All is good, right??? As they say, "The best laid plans......."

Next installment: Time to Put the Plan in Action!!

 

[mvazul]

It has been a looong week!! I am really no good at keeping secrets - especially something this big! But, it has been successful to this point.

A quick side note.....

I forgot to add....this is our first trip as an entire famil to FL/Disney. DH, DD and I went 5 years ago, but DD was only 5 months old. DS was not able to go with us.

Anyway......

It's now time to get the ball rolling. DH, MIL and I got our "scripts" ready so we would all be on the same page. DS can be pretty suspicious and we didn't want to give him any cause to think something was up.

Earlier in the week, I had sent a note to DS's teachers letting them know we were going on a trip. I didn't say where, because the more people who know, the easier something will slip. I asked for them to have all of his homework ready to go on Thursday, January 25th. I informed his basketball coach, too. I also let DD's pre-school teacher know we were heading to FL.

I made an appointment to pick up his homework once school was out. I got all of his assignments/books and hid them until we were ready to load the van. DS had basketball practice the night before we left. DH, MIL and I decided this was the right moment to put our plan in action.

DS arrived home from practice. I waited a few minutes, hid (so DS couldn't hear me) then called MIL's phone from our phone. The phone rang, MIL answered and I said, "Okay, let's get the ball rolling!!" She played it off sooo well. She said, "Well, hello Miss M. (the school's secretary) You're calling pretty late. What's up?" A little bit of silence. Then, "Oh no. That's terrible. Yes, the furnace broke once when my son was in school, too. Yes, it is too cold for them to go to school tomorrow. Okay, so school will be closed tomorrow? Sounds good. I'll let them know. Thank you!" MIL then proceeded to call up the steps to me and DH to let us know "school is closed in the morning due to the furnace breaking down."

Of course, DS heard everything and came out of his room. That was the plan!! We told him school was closed, so he didn't need to work on homework anymore that night. It was already 10:00 and we knew something he didn't - we had a long drive ahead of us in the morning!!

Next installment: And We're Off!!

 

[NMAmy]

Wow, you went all out to keep the secret. I LOVE it!

 

[mt mommy]

What a fun surprise!! We were there Jan. 30 - Feb. 4. Wasn't the weather weird???

 

[keliblue]

WAHOOOOOOOO!! On the road..

 

[Tinkerbell's Mom]

That is great I'm loving it, I'd never be able to keep a secret like that, I'm always so excited to tell my dd when we are going somewhere, I'm worse then a kid, can't wait to hear how everything goes.

 

[Coach81]

more, more!!

 

[mvazul]

What a fun surprise!! We were there Jan. 30 - Feb. 4. Wasn't the weather weird???

Yes, the weather was very strange!! But, it was still much better than the sub-zero temps we were having here in Chicago!!

 

[mvazul]

That is great I'm loving it, I'd never be able to keep a secret like that, I'm always so excited to tell my dd when we are going somewhere, I'm worse then a kid, can't wait to hear how everything goes.

I'm the exact same way! My entire family was shocked I was able to pull it off. As my sister said to me, "You'd better get your story straight and practice it. Your son can read you like a book!!"

 

[mvazul]

Well, almost.....

We plan to leave at 8:30 this morning. However, DH's co-workers have other plans. DH is a senior reporting analyst for a medical insurance company. He works from home which is great. Unfortunately, he is the only person in his group that does this work, so he had to train someone before we left. He started doing this as soon as we booked the trip - a week before we left. The person he was training had a hard time remembering what to do. 8:30 came and went.

In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how to get the van packed without the kids finding out. I waited for DH to wrap up business so I could get him to help. We gave my MIL some money to take DS to get his hair cut. He needed it badly. We started bringing our suitcases downstairs and DD was asking what was going on. Since we live with my MIL we have very little room and have most of our stuff in storage. So, we told her we were taking another run to the storage area to free up some room in the closets. She bought it. Whew! However, she did want to know what she was going to sleep on since we were taking her pillow. DH told her the pillow wasn't going to storage, but it was a long ride, so we brought it in case she got tired!! Thankfully she doesn't have any concept of time!

We get the van completely packed and just wait for MIL and DS to come back. MIL gets back with DS and we tell him we are going for a ride to the storage area. It is now 1:00 in the afternoon. We head out the door and tell MIL we will be back in a little while - same thing we say each time we leave. We get the kids in the van and we hear from DS, "Hey! What's going on here??? Why is my bookbag in the van?" I told him we didn't know how long we would be at the storage area and we brought his homework in case we ran late. He bought it. Thank God I have such gullible children!!

So, now we're off!!

We start heading to downtown Chicago and towards the highway. It turned out to be a beautiful day. I said to DH, "Hey, since it's such a nice day,why don't we got to my best friend's house to see her and the new baby? We can go to the storage area tomorrow." The kids got soooo excited!! So, they think we're haeding to my friend's - an hour drive from us.

THREE HOURS later, I said to DH, "What road are we on? Are we on I-65?" He said we were. I said, "Oh my gosh!! I gave you the wrong directions to my friend's house!! We are supposed to be on 55 not 65!!!" He then proceeded to act all ticked off at me. He said, "That's it!!! I am never taking directions from you, again. This is ridiculous. We are so far out of way now. What are we going to do." I kept apologizing and looking out the window while biting my lip trying to not laugh.

So, DH said, "Well, we are only about 4 hours from Nashville. Why don't we just make a weekend out of it and head there?" Knowing that DS knows my dad lives there and not wanting him to know that was who we were going to see, I said, "Okay, but it's really too bad Dad is in Pennsylvania this weekend. It would have been nice to see him." Yes, we had to keep scheming!! I wasn't going to come this far and have it blown now.

The kids were very disappointed that we were not going to my friend's house. But they got over it. So, we headed to Nashville - our first stop.

We got into Nashville around 11:30. It took much longer than the 7+ hours MapQuest said it would take. We were exhausted. We got everyone settled and went to sleep.

The next morning, DH and I decided to break the news to the kids that we were officially on vacation. I said, "Okay, I want to let both of you know that we are now on our very first, real vacation!! However, we are not going to tell you where we are going or what we will be doing. We want all of it to be a surprise, so don't even ask." After a ton of squeals, jumping up and down and hooting, we made our way to breakfast.

Then, it was off to Dad's house. They had no idea. We drove into the driveway and DD recognized the house. She had been with us once before as we were moving from NC to Chicago (DS was already in Chicago). She said, "Are we at Grampie's house?" Then DS saw his truck. It still has PA plates on it, so he knew who we were going to see. I don't think the van stopped before he jumped out!! They both went running up to Dad and huge hugs were all around. We spent a couple of hours and then we had to be on our way. The visit was way too short. Wwe have decided we need to make a trip to Nashville to spend some more time one of these days. The kids were disappointed to be leaving, but were excited about the next adventure.

DD with Dad:

Next: We Make it to Florida!!

 

[keliblue]

your killing me here

 

[mvazul]

your killing me here

I'm sorry!! As I said, DH works from home, so I need to write in between listening to him complain about work, making meals, doing laundry and dealing with a sick 5YO!! I will write the next installment tonight...I hope!

 

[mvazul]

So, we leave Dad's house and get back on the road.

The trip was long. I drove as far as I could and DH and I decided we needed to stop. It was late. We couldn't check into our villa until 4:30 the next day, anyway, so why push it? We ended up stopping in Gainesville, FL, around 11:30 that night. If you ever decide to stop in Gainesville for an overnighter, let me recommend the Country Inn and Suites.

The people there went above and beyond. It was pouring when we arrived. We were parked right in front of the entrance so DH could find out if they had a room. They did!! Yeah!! So, DS ran to get a luggage cart. We loaded our bags onto it and DH and the kids headed up to our room while I parked the van. As I was parking, I noticed a hotel employee walking toward the van. I thought maybe he was getting off work and was heading to his vehicle. I motioned to him to go by, but he then motioned for me to get out of the van. As I opened the door, he came over with an umbrella and held it over the door so I wouldn't get wet. He then handed me the umbrella and took off running. I can't begin to say how much I appreciated that touch. He didn't need to do that for me. I made sure I let someone know the next morning what wonderful people they have working for them.

We got the kids settled in bed and DH and I pulled our laptops out. DH just had to check on how things were with work. I was very surprised the kids went to sleep so easy and fast. When we stay at a hotel, they are usually still awake until we go to bed. This time they were both out within 10 minutes!! I, of course, had to check out The Dis to see if I could find any last minute tips. Then, I looked up maps on Mapquest. I wanted to see how much farther we had to go. As I looked up to see how DH was doing, I noticed he had the same map up on his screen!! Great minds and all.... We just had to laugh at that.

We started chatting and DH asked what I had planned for us while we were waiting to check into our villa. I told him I had nothing set in stone, but maybe we could go to I-Drive to all of the shops we loved the last time we were there (more on I-Drive later). He suggested we could go to Kennedy Space Center to spend the day then head back to the villa late afternoon/early evening. I thought that was a great idea. Especially since we were planning to do that on Monday. This way, if we went on Sunday, it opened up another day for us to do something else.

We woke up, got packed, went to breakfast and checked out. We were heading to Kennedy!! This is DH's favorite place in FL and is always a must do whenever he is close enough to get there. I had DS start working on his homework during the drive hoping he would be too busy and not notice the signs as we were getting closer.

We start heading across the bridge and can now see the Vehicle Assembly Building. DH is absolutely thrilled. He is like a little kid. He says to DS, "Do you see that building over there?" DS said no, so we had to point it out....waaaay over there??? That great big, huge building??? Ds said, "Oh, the one wiht the American flag and NASA symbol on it?" Yes, that would be the one!! DS said, "What is it? Does it have anything to do with NASA?" "WHAT??? It has NASA on the side of it!! You even pointed that out. No. It has nothing to do with NASA." At this point, DH and I are trying to figure out how he made high honors and straight A's!!

DH then proceeded to tell DS what the building was. Once he started explaining, DS knew exactly what it was. The look of disbelief on his face was priceless!! He siad, "Is that Kennedy Space Center? We actually get to drive by Kennedy Space Center???" He had no idea we were going to KSC!! When we pulled into the entrance, he saw the sign. OMGsh!! I thought he was going to have a heart attack!! I wish we would have had a video camera. He was jumping up and down in his seat and was soooo excited.

We get to the ticket booth to buy our tickets with Orlando's Magicard and AAA in hand. We decide which ticket we want (just the base ticket with the second day free). They tell us the price and we tell them we have AAA and the Magicard. The lady tells us she doesn't do that and sent us to another window. We go through the same thing - which ticket we want then given the price. I again, informed this lady we had the Magicard. She then proceeded to tell us they don't accept it anymore - haven't for almost three years. I told her that's odd, because I had just received the book and card in the mail about three weeks before arriving in FL and KSC was on the list of those who accepted it and offered discounts. She wouldn't take it. I told her someone needed to be notified to make sure they were taken out of the book. Wwe then handed her our AAA card. She handed it back to us. They don't take that, either.

So, we bought our tickets and made our way in. It was a beautiful day. We missed the first bus heading out to the tour, so we headed to Mad Mission to Mars. This was not here the last time we were in KSC, so we thought we would check it out. We happened to get there with only 10 minutes until show time. Not too bad! We find a good seat and the show begins. It's two girls who act like they have had waaay too much sugar or caffeine. It was pretty cute, though.

They talked about the planets and chose DS to hold one of the planet models. They used several "volunteers" throughout the show. Then, they needed "a dad who knew how to sleep" and a child. They started looking around and I could see DH getting nervous. DH is about 6'4" and tends to stand out in a crowd. He tries his hardest to blend in but isn't always successful. He gets picked to "volunteer" alot. Yep, they picked DH and DS. They had DH stand on the side of the stage and asked if he ever gets "space headaches". He said "every day!!" They responded with, "Oh, you must be married!!" The audience thought that was pretty funny. So, they want him to sleep. They outfit him with a space blanket, a red sleeeping mask, white, fuzzy earmuffs with red bows and a stuffed space monkey. Here, you can see for yourself:

Once they have him situated, they turn to DS. They want him to run on a treadmill. But, according to DS, it didn't work. They would want him to go really slow, then really fast, then slow....and so on. Once they got him off, they did a little tug of war with his arms. Pretty funny!! He was thrilled to be a part of the show.

We had a great time at the show and got out just in time to catch a bus to the tour. The kids loved the ride on the bus. Especially DD. She didn't have to be strapped into her carseat!!

The VAB:

At the first stop, we got a quick snack then went to the platform to see the launching pads from a better view.

We hopped back on the bus and headed over to the second part of the tour. This is DH's favorite. We get off the bus and right in line to see what a launch would be like. It was pretty awesome. I was not prepared for the noise and all of the windows shaking. It gave me goosebumps!!

Then we got to see the Saturn V. DS was in complete awe. When the realization sunk in that it was real, he was speechless.

We were walking around and taking pictures along the way. At one point, I had our family stop to take yet another snapshot. A very nice lady overheard me and DH talking that I would take a picture of him and the kids, then he would take one of me with the kids. This lady offered to take one of all four of us. What a nice thing to do!!

Well, it is getting close to closing time and we need to head to our villa in Kissimmee to get checked in and get some groceries. But, what a great start to our vacation!! We vowed we would be back before we left FL to use our free second day.

We headed to Kissimmee and to our resort - Oak Plantation. I tried to talk DH into staying on Disney property, because it was our first family trip. He really liked Oak Plantation the last time we stayed (almost 5 years ago). The villas each have a full kitchen with all dishes/cookware and a washer/dryer unit. So, we chose to stay there, again. Also, with our AAA, we couldn't beat the price. Since this was a "low budget" trip, I had to agree with this plan. Plus, he was taking us to Disney. How could I argue with where he wanted to stay??? Looking back I should have.

We arrived at the resort around 6:00 PM on Sunday, January 28, 2007. We checked in and went to our room. I was disappointed from my first step through the door. They had the exact same couches, carpets, decorations, etc. as they did five years ago. Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but this was. It looked as if they had done nothing in the five years. The carpet looked - and smelled - like someone had kept a dog in there. The couch was torn and the throw pillows looked horrible - all worn out, faded and almost no stuffing. We had requested a roll away bed to be in our room upon arrival. It wasn't there. I don't remember all the reasons why, but I ended up calling the front desk five times within the first 15 minutes.

We went to get groceries (and a frying pan - there was none in the room) and came back to have some dinner. The kids were exhausted, so it was time for bed. We had to wait until almost 10:30 for the roll away. Then, when we moved the couch over to make room for the roll away, there was garbage and used tissues under it. I was absolutely disgusted. Also, when I booked the stay we were told we would have high speed internet access. What we weren't told is it wouldn't be in our room. They have a little Internet Cafe for their internet access. When I called the front desk, again, we were told we could use the Internet Cafe (but only between 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM), but we could also use dial up in our room as long as we could get an 800 number. DH was ticked to say the least. He promised his boss he would still check in once in awhile during his time away. We decided we would talk to someone in the morning. Now, it's time to sleep!

Day Two: Our Go Around With the Resort and Epcot Here We Come!!

 

[NMAmy]

I'm sorry you were disappointed with your room and I hope it got better. Thanks so much for posting the pictures of KSC--I've never been there and it looks really cool.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[mvazul]

Keliblue, swillis, NMAmy, mt mommy, Tinkerbell's Mom and Coach81...

Thank you for following along on our journey!! I feel honored to have readers - especially for my very first trip report!! I'm hoping to have my next section up soon.

Stay tuned!

 

[mvazul]

Monday, January 29, 2007...

We have no plans for today - we were supposed to go to KSC but had done that the day before. We actually all slept in until 8:00. Well, since we are on Eastern time, now, it's actually 7:00 AM Central. I guess we didn't sleep in too long. Anyway, DH and DS get their showers out of the way while I start making breakfast. First order of business is to make coffee.

I start filling the coffee pot and notice water pouring out of the bottom. It had a huge hole in it!! I called the front desk and told them the problem. They promised to send a new one right away. So, I throw in a load of laundry and start cooking the bacon. About 15 minutes later, there is a knock on the door. There is a lady standing there and has brought us coffee!! I had the pot in my hand and told her, "No. We don't need coffee. We need a coffee pot!" She apologizes and goes to find us a pot.

In the meantime, the washer has started to spin and the front part of the door keeps falling off and scaring me each time it hits the floor. I finally just left it off. Also, I had instructed DD to put her clothes away in the dresser. Unfortunately, the dresser drawer was broken and she hurt her finger. At that point, DH was done with his shower and reported that there was a bunch of black mold in the shower. It feels like this room is self-destructing around us.

After breakfast, DH and I decide we need to speak to a manager. We head over to the lobby around 11:00. We told the lady at the front desk what was going on with our room. She apologized and told us there was nothing she could do. So, we informed her we would be checking out and finding a hotel that was clean. She went to find a manager. A manager came out and took notes of what was wrong. He even had the nerve to try to sell us a time share!! DH told him even if they gave it to us for free we wouldn't take a time share from them. We were told, again, there was nothing they could do. They had put us in a unit that hadn't been updated yet. Again, we told them fine, we would just check out.

Yet another manager came out. This manager had me write down all of the complaints we had. This lady actually read the complaints and listened to us. She said she would "make it right." She told us they would move us to a room that was completely refurbished with new everything. Our new room would be ready after 4:30 and they would have someone help us move our bags. It took until 2:00 to get this sorted out. What a waste of a day.

They then asked us if we had tickets bought yet for any of the parks. We told them no and they told us they had a ticket office on property where we could get discounted tickets. We headed there and decided on 2-day basic Disney tickets and a 1-day Universal ticket. We paid for them and were told with our Disney ticket, it also included Downtown Disney with Disney Quest. We were also told Our Universal ticket came with a second day free and we could use it at Islands of Adventure if we would like. We were happy with that.

A quick picture of DD testing the pool water:

So, we needed to decide what we wanted to do with the rest of our day. We decided to head to the shops on I-Drive.

Next section: I-Drive? Nope....EPCOT!!!

 

[Foladar]

Since the Bears are going to the Super Bowl, DH and his brothers will be heading to Tampa to be near the Super Bowl once we arrive. They don't have tickets, but they don't care. Since they won't be in Chicago, they want to at least be in the same city as the Bears.

Did you guys head to Tampa, or Miami?
Good trip report, can't wait to hear more!