Alright, so I'm a long-time Disneyland park guest and we usually take budget trips to the Land and eat and stay off property for the usual three days.
This year I am graduating, and my gift to myself is a trip in July to Disneyland, along with six of my friends and no parents. So all in all, I was already super excited for Disney this year.
A few weeks ago, I randomly sent my dad a text while I was at work asking if we could go to DisneyWorld late next year. He told me he would talk to my mom about it, which eventually lead up to a "yes, if you help us plan it". Good thing my parents love Disney too.
So I started spending a lot of time on the Dis, planning hotels/parks etc and passing on the info to my parents. I also had to look up all the height requirements for my DSis6 because she is getting into bigger rides since we were at Tokyo DL last September. I put a lot of effort into it, but unfortunately I wasn't putting a lot of effort into saving money. I make $300 per paycheck every two weeks working two days, but I love to attend shows and see movies, and on top of that I collect Pokemon things, most of which is imported from Japan (for a high price). My parents used to always talk to me about it because of school and such, but I recently found out all of University is paid for for me, so I was going to splurge on really good tickets to Wicked, which I've already seen.
Eventually I decided myself that tickets were too expensive, so I turned to my next alternative, Video Games Live, a concert I usually go to every year (for the last 4 years). Tickets were still $60. When I told my dad, he wasn't that happy. See, we had planned a trip to Minneapolis and to the Mall of America because my mom wanted to go, but I wasn't that thrilled with it so I wasn't going to bring much more than $200. So I saw no point in saving much... So my dad told me that day that I had to start saving because we were going to Minneapolis for 10 days because it was cheap. Sounds about right to me since that's how we operate.
Cue a few hours later, around 11pm, my parents call me up to their room.
My dad tells me he is not happy with me, and he looks grumpy. I was ready for trouble. ):
"You're ruining your Grad present" he says. What?
"What?" says I.
"Well we weren't ever really going to Minneapolis. We're going to DisneyWorld. This year."
I froze and made tiny little squeals of excitement because my sister was asleep in the next room over. I was ready to yell and shout but I just couldn't.
They explained that they wanted to wait until we were at the airport gate to tell me, but they had to do it now so I would actually start saving money. I felt bad, but my parents were still happy with the reaction. The funny thing was, when I ran hotel rates for "next year's" trip, I happened to choose the exact dates that we had booked for this year. My dad said he nearly fell out of his chair.
"Should we tell her the rest?" my mom says. The rest? What?
"Oh yeah," my dad replies. "We're going to DisneyWorld for four days. Then we're boarding the brand new Disney Dream for a three day cruise".
WHAT?! DisneyWorld and a cruise?! By then my parents were smiling so wide and I started tearing up. Then they told me we would be going to the World one more day after the cruise, and then two days at Universal. We're staying onsite and everything, and we've got a dining plan. I couldn't belive it, I was shaking so hard. Pretty much my ultimate dream vacation, and we're doing it this August! I am so excited, and now that I know about it, it's all me and my parents have been talking about. We ordered the WDW and Cruise DVDs and we've already made reservations at the Rainforest Cafe in the AK. The Rainforest is a very special restaurant for me, and it would take a while to explain...
And I also get to finally see an Okapi, my all time favorite animal! We've been looking for zoos that have them for a while now since animals are a big part of my life.
I just can't even believe this! I've already asked for extra work days in the summer and I'm going to sell parts of my Pokemon collection to make more money if I have to. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime trip for me. I never would have imagined we'd ever be able to do this.
I'm literally counting down the days right now, I can't even think about my trip in July...
But I still have to keep it a secret from DSis6, who won't find out until we're at the hotel.
This year I am graduating, and my gift to myself is a trip in July to Disneyland, along with six of my friends and no parents. So all in all, I was already super excited for Disney this year.
A few weeks ago, I randomly sent my dad a text while I was at work asking if we could go to DisneyWorld late next year. He told me he would talk to my mom about it, which eventually lead up to a "yes, if you help us plan it". Good thing my parents love Disney too.
So I started spending a lot of time on the Dis, planning hotels/parks etc and passing on the info to my parents. I also had to look up all the height requirements for my DSis6 because she is getting into bigger rides since we were at Tokyo DL last September. I put a lot of effort into it, but unfortunately I wasn't putting a lot of effort into saving money. I make $300 per paycheck every two weeks working two days, but I love to attend shows and see movies, and on top of that I collect Pokemon things, most of which is imported from Japan (for a high price). My parents used to always talk to me about it because of school and such, but I recently found out all of University is paid for for me, so I was going to splurge on really good tickets to Wicked, which I've already seen.
Eventually I decided myself that tickets were too expensive, so I turned to my next alternative, Video Games Live, a concert I usually go to every year (for the last 4 years). Tickets were still $60. When I told my dad, he wasn't that happy. See, we had planned a trip to Minneapolis and to the Mall of America because my mom wanted to go, but I wasn't that thrilled with it so I wasn't going to bring much more than $200. So I saw no point in saving much... So my dad told me that day that I had to start saving because we were going to Minneapolis for 10 days because it was cheap. Sounds about right to me since that's how we operate.
Cue a few hours later, around 11pm, my parents call me up to their room.
My dad tells me he is not happy with me, and he looks grumpy. I was ready for trouble. ):
"You're ruining your Grad present" he says. What?
"What?" says I.
"Well we weren't ever really going to Minneapolis. We're going to DisneyWorld. This year."
I froze and made tiny little squeals of excitement because my sister was asleep in the next room over. I was ready to yell and shout but I just couldn't.
They explained that they wanted to wait until we were at the airport gate to tell me, but they had to do it now so I would actually start saving money. I felt bad, but my parents were still happy with the reaction. The funny thing was, when I ran hotel rates for "next year's" trip, I happened to choose the exact dates that we had booked for this year. My dad said he nearly fell out of his chair.
"Should we tell her the rest?" my mom says. The rest? What?
"Oh yeah," my dad replies. "We're going to DisneyWorld for four days. Then we're boarding the brand new Disney Dream for a three day cruise".
WHAT?! DisneyWorld and a cruise?! By then my parents were smiling so wide and I started tearing up. Then they told me we would be going to the World one more day after the cruise, and then two days at Universal. We're staying onsite and everything, and we've got a dining plan. I couldn't belive it, I was shaking so hard. Pretty much my ultimate dream vacation, and we're doing it this August! I am so excited, and now that I know about it, it's all me and my parents have been talking about. We ordered the WDW and Cruise DVDs and we've already made reservations at the Rainforest Cafe in the AK. The Rainforest is a very special restaurant for me, and it would take a while to explain...
And I also get to finally see an Okapi, my all time favorite animal! We've been looking for zoos that have them for a while now since animals are a big part of my life.
I just can't even believe this! I've already asked for extra work days in the summer and I'm going to sell parts of my Pokemon collection to make more money if I have to. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime trip for me. I never would have imagined we'd ever be able to do this.
I'm literally counting down the days right now, I can't even think about my trip in July...
But I still have to keep it a secret from DSis6, who won't find out until we're at the hotel.
