The Last of the OCD Type A Planners To Get Her Dec 2011 TR started...

[shocky5]

Yes, that is correct... I began this journey on January 5, 2011 when I booked our first Disney Family Surprise Christmas Trip for December 16th - 24th, 2011... and in the process met a wonderful group of DIS friends who planned right along with me.

So let's get this TR started! First, I will introduce (or reintroduce to those of you who shared in my PTR) my family for who I poured out my blood, sweat, and tears for to plan the perfect magical Christmas vacation to Disney World! Er... will it be?? Let's find out!

This is me.... the mom, the wife, the planner... who used 'turning 40' as the leverage for this trip...

This is my best friend of 20 years and my DH of 17 of those 20... the one who keeps me in check yet knows enough to sometimes just sit back and smile...

And these are our offspring... aka "the best we could do"... The absolute joys of our lives for who we secretly would do anything for...

Eddie and I agreed in January 2011 that we would attempt to take our kids on a surprise Disney Christmas Vacation and oh what twists and turns we would have... even down to just within 12 hours of departure... just goes to prove that we can plan and plan and sometimes it's not always going to work out as we hoped but we can adapt and still slap a smile on our face because after all... it is DISNEY!

 

[shocky5]

When you plan a trip a year in advance, there will be what we fondly refer to here amongst friends on the DIS... "tweaking, tinkering, and lots of Disney Math." I am not good at Disney Math but I love to tweak and tinker.

We received a PIN discount in the mail for 40% off... and knowing the Disney World and I share something in common... we were both born in 1971, it didn't take much to convince DH we should do a Christmas trip and surprise the kids. We wanted to surprise them just hours before boarding an airplane to take off for what would be our third trip to the World.

We booked the Polynesian, Club Level, Theme Park View. We got great airfare in February so all that was left was to wait for June to make our ADR's... right?? WRONG.

First twist - Typically, our school district releases for winter break on a Friday, which would have been the 16th of Dec, so we had airfare for Friday evening after school released. My DH is a teacher so we felt we needed to wait until school released before leaving. We were going to return on the 23rd just in time for Christmas at home. Imagine our surprise when the school calendar came out and school was not going to be released until Dec. 20th!!!

What did we do? We adapted... DH spoke to his administrator and we decided the best thing to do and least expensive would be for the children and I to go ahead and go on the 16th and he would join us the evening of the 20th and we would add an extra day to our trip and return on the 24th so DH could have some time at Disney, too. Would I do this again? NOPE. You will see in this TR that we had a great time... the kids and I had some priceless moments without Eddie there but given the opportunity to have him there or not... we WANT HIM THERE. It really_really felt like 'someone' was missing, because he was and I often found my thoughts wandering to him and feeling because he was at home. (on a side note... he was fine with being at home... ) We were only out the change of his 'going to' plane ticket from the 16th to the 20th, about $150. As luck would have it... eventually the airlines would change our flight for the kids and I to a different time... so taking advantage of that, I called and got our departure flight moved to the morning of the 16th... what's one more day of missing school, right? And was able to move our return flights from the 23rd to the 24th with no extra costs. MOTTO for trip: What's one more day??

Next twist - We sold our house in 6 days in the spring! Which meant we needed to find a new house QUICKLY. This is important only because we were blessed enough to purchase a new home after testing the market and selling ours so quickly... new home = new furniture... I downgraded our Theme park view for new dining room furniture... And believe me when I say this was discussed heavily on the DIS in my PTR. Love all the advice I got about anything from my friends!

So we still stayed club level at the Polynesian but garden view which was still AMAZING.

Aside from tweaking some ADR's here and there, we were very happy with the plans we had for our trip... all that was left to do was wait for it to arrive and surprise the kids....

FINAL TWO TWISTS... First one... My sweet, sweet, well intentioned daughter snooped a little too much and discovered enough information to guess we were headed to Disney World. She and I discussed it and she was scared enough about getting in trouble because she snooped that she promised she would not say a word to her brothers so we could still surprise them. This went great and she never said a word to them about it! HOWEVER... and here's the second twist... two days before our trip... Erin jumps in the car after school and hands me a sheet of paper of t-shirt sizes for 4 of her friends... and I'm looking at this and asking her "Why are you giving me this? Why does this say Disney World? ERIN! Did you tell your friends we were going? Because this one right here... is <ahem> let's just say you need to call her right now and make sure she understands the importance of telling NO ONE about this trip." So Erin called her as well as the other three and felt confident the secret was safe.

And here's where the trip report begins....

 

[veggiemama]

Am I really the first one to subscribe?!

 

[shocky5]

Am I really the first one to subscribe?!

You are, Laura!! Yay!!! And

 

[annmarieda]

now to go back to read

 

[shocky5]

The morning of Thursday, Dec. 15th - Stanley, our elf on the shelf, left a note for the kids telling them that he was proud of 'how good they had been' all year long and that if they could go to school and take all of their "friday tests" they would not have to go to school on Friday and could have a special day. The boys were so excited and bought it hook, line and sinker.

At this point, their teachers were in on the surprise and knew to give them their tests and we really thought we were home free. Erin was set to take all of her semester tests on Thursday as well so all that was left was one school day and one sleep.

Imagine my surprise when I got to Eddie's office to pick them up from school and Nolan blurts out "I know we are going to Florida tomorrow!!" I truly felt myself leave my body and levitate above this chaotic scene... okay... that may be a little bit dramatic but I was floored. I'm looking at Nolan while Nate is yanking on my arm screaming "We are? We are? We are??" All I knew to say was "You better hurry up and go to your dad before I flip out here... I need a moment... he can bring you home... Erin! Get in the car."

Erin is now sobbing because it took 1/2 a pea brain to figure out where the leak came from. Basically, her one friend that I made her call had said something to her mom and then that mom innocently said something to the son who is in Nolan's class at school and he is the one who told Nolan about it. I was crying... Erin and I got home, I went in my bathroom and cried it out... all the while feeling like a total nut job for crying over the silly fact that my boys found out about the trip and I couldn't surprise them like I'd hoped... I mean after all... we were going to Disney! And that is the thought that helped me pull my big girl panties up... call the mom who was also crying and reassure her that it was all OKAY... and finish preparing for our trip.

One positive... I was able to quit hiding suitcases and the boys could actually bring me their underwear and socks instead of me sneaking them after they were asleep. They still hadn't seen the t-shirts I'd got them so that was a surprise for them everyday to see what they 'got' or 'had' to wear...

SO... the reveal didn't go as planned but we did it anyway... the next morning the kids woke up to this...

Inside were t-shirts for them to wear that day and a Disney Christmas ornament... it was 4 a.m. in the morning so the kids are pretty 'sleepy' looking in the pictures below... they'd wanted to sleep in the living room so excuse the mess...

Erin's...

Nolan's...

Nate's...

And we were off to the airport... with what we thought was plenty of time to spare...

 

[shocky5]

now to go back to read

Ann! Glad you are here!!! I've missed everyone! Still want to see pictures of your haircut! Did you post any on facebook yet or on here??

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

How did I miss this!?!?! Going back to read now!

 

[annmarieda]

I have to color my hair first and then I will take pics. I am hoping to get that done tomorrow.

I am so sorry about the surprise being let out of the bag. I do love that the kids were sleepy, yet look so excited with with their ornaments.

BTW, you do not look anywhere near 40!!!!

And...the best you could do? Your kids are stunning!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Love the ornaments. Nate's the only one who looks awake! He was the um very talkative child at CP that morning too! Morning person?

 

[shocky5]

How did I miss this!?!?! Going back to read now!

You didn't miss anything! It's just an hour or two 'old.' But it's started finally!!

 

[momabaarjo]

Wahhhh...i wanted to be first!

 

[shocky5]

I have to color my hair first and then I will take pics. I am hoping to get that done tomorrow.

I am so sorry about the surprise being let out of the bag. I do love that the kids were sleepy, yet look so excited with with their ornaments.

BTW, you do not look anywhere near 40!!!!

And...the best you could do? Your kids are stunning!

Okay! Can't wait to see pics! Thank you for saying I don't look 40... that just means I did a good job on the photo edits!!

Thank you for the compliment on the kids. They are so funny and each their own personalities for sure... hence Ashley's comment below!!

Love the ornaments. Nate's the only one who looks awake! He was the um very talkative child at CP that morning too! Morning person?

Nate is an "all day, every second, never still or quiet until he's asleep" person. But I love that about him (99.9% of the time)! You just wait until I tell some of the stories on him from this trip... definitely had at least one moment with him that I wanted to crawl in a hole until the turnstiles had officially opened and we didn't have to see the people standing in line behind us ever again....

Glad you are here, Ashley!!!

 

[shocky5]

Wahhhh...i wanted to be first!

I tried to tell you, friend! Glad you are here!!!

 

[aadaneboy]

Cant wait to read more!!!

I'm new to DISboards, but certainly not to WDW!!!

Santa surprised our 2 children this Christmas (actually he surprised all of us with a trip to WDW in March! Reading all these trip reports has gotten me soo excited for our trip......

 

[Johndough]

Count me in. I can't wait to read more.

 

[momabaarjo]

Story of my life...always late it seems! Just for the record your title refers to Ann and Ashley right?

I am still crying for you over the unexpected reveal...but you are right pull up the big girl panties after all you can shout "I'm going to Disney World." So love Nate's ornament...bet he loved it too! Nolan's face is priceless...and Erin...I know why you have the back of the head shot with her....

 

[nvsnot]

I'm in .

 

[veggiemama]

It's too bad the reveal did not go exactly according to plan. It is such a tough thing to keep secret and you almost made it! I think I would have cried and been really frustrated by that.

I love the am pictures. My kids definitely do NOT look that cute or happy at that time in the morning. No morning people here.... we are bears in the morning, which in the end has its funny moment too.

 

[Monknmom]

I'm in....

I'm sorry that the reveal didn't go as planned. I can't remember who told me that though through a text... maybe you? But hey, they were still surprised with the gifts! And did they know it was Disney or just Florida?