Clemson Campers
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2012
- Messages
- 16
Forward: To Kim and her family! I loved your pictures, your writing and your passion for sharing your Disney vacation with the rest of us on the DIS Board. You are my inspiration to do the same! T-Minus 4 days to the surprise of our kids' lives!! I honestly thought I'd never see this day!!
Treasure or Torture: You decide.
Imagine being young parents on a budget, sitting at Macaroni Grill in Orlando with three young children, just five minutes away from the entrance to the mother of all credit card temptations - Disney World!! Our kids were completely oblivious to where we were and why we were even there! DD, DS1 and DS2 are living the dream as far as they are concerned. It's a rare night out at a restaurant, complete with crayons, pizza and lemonade. In their world, life was as good as it gets! DH had a school board conference which coincided nicely with a family gathering in Jupiter. Now we were at the Gaylord Hotel and the sights and sounds were more than enough to keep these kiddos entertained. Seriously, what parents would selfishly torture their children, drive under that magical arch welcoming worldwide visitors and utter these agonizing words: "Kids, check it out!! We are in Orlando, FL - the home of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney World!! Hold on tight because we're going to give you a sneak peak of this incredible vacation destination, BUT.... for a myriad of reasons...just this once, (think Seinfeld) "NO PARK HOPPING FOR YOU! ... NEXT!"
Total torture!
Can't you just hear those hyper screams that only surface when kids are truly surprised? Car seat straps had an entirely new meaning other than safety that day. In no uncertain terms, these kids were FREAKING OUT! Now try to imagine the painful, albeit well-intentioned, inner turmoil for us parents. "OMG, what have we done? Why did we do this? We have definitely scared our kids forever - they'll never forgive us!!" And just when we thought we'd made the worst decision in our life, the ultimate grace was uttered from our oldest DD who was 9 at the time. Like an amped up angel on an epic sugar high she screams, "I DON'T CARE IF WE CAN'T GO INTO THE PARKS. I'M JUST HAPPY I CAN FINALLY TELL MY FRIENDS THAT I'VE BEEN HERE!"
Be still my mommy heart!! I will never forget that moment in my life or those precious words - EVER! For me, it was total treasure!
Commence Operation Free Disney
As we drove thru WDW apologizing for all the reasons we couldn't go into the parks on that visit, we pulled up to The Boardwalk with a modest plan to make some great memories. First we headed thru the hotel and ventured out to the buzz of boats, bikes and people all around us. Ice cream was first and then we headed out for a FREE Disney transportation tour to MGM. Life was good! We disembarked at a new location and the sites and sounds were different in front of the Beach Hotel. We headed to the bridge between the two properties knowing a bird's eye view of Epcot fireworks was about to begin. And they're off!! Illuminations had officially redefined fireworks forever for these happy campers! Life was great! And wouldn't you know, we managed to catch a free cast member magic show! You all know the odds of being picked in that crowded venue among 100 kids is really small, but guess what? Not only were our boys picked, but the magician gave them his deck of cards! Life was magic! "This was the best night ever..." as we all returned to our vintage Ford Explorer. But the adventure wasn't over quite yet!
The next day we ate a quick breakfast and jumped the hotel shuttle to Epcot. You guessed it. We hopped on the free Disney transportation every child dreams of riding - The Monorail. We did the entire loop chatting about Mom and Dad's childhood memories of Disney the entire way. We stopped at The Contemporary for a cafeteria lunch which our kids loved! They couldn't stop watching the birds that were inside -- eagerly eating all those crumbs! "How do they get inside?" Don't you just love their level of interest? So simple - so innocent! And after we left the monorail, we took free Disney transportation the Animal Kingdom Lodge. When you live in a city with no zoo, The Savannah at this property ROCKS! No shortage of African Savannah wonder or beaming smiles from my kids. I thought to myself, "We WILL get back here one day and we WILL go in these beautiful parks!!"
Last, but not least, when my husband had to attend his official meeting the next day, I took the kids to Downtown Disney and played at Lego Land... yep... for free! They were in hog heaven!! And so was I! I thought patiently to my stay-at-home mom self, "Have no fear - there will be a next time."
Fast forward three years!! The magic has finally arrived! Stay tuned!
To be continued...
Treasure or Torture: You decide.
Imagine being young parents on a budget, sitting at Macaroni Grill in Orlando with three young children, just five minutes away from the entrance to the mother of all credit card temptations - Disney World!! Our kids were completely oblivious to where we were and why we were even there! DD, DS1 and DS2 are living the dream as far as they are concerned. It's a rare night out at a restaurant, complete with crayons, pizza and lemonade. In their world, life was as good as it gets! DH had a school board conference which coincided nicely with a family gathering in Jupiter. Now we were at the Gaylord Hotel and the sights and sounds were more than enough to keep these kiddos entertained. Seriously, what parents would selfishly torture their children, drive under that magical arch welcoming worldwide visitors and utter these agonizing words: "Kids, check it out!! We are in Orlando, FL - the home of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney World!! Hold on tight because we're going to give you a sneak peak of this incredible vacation destination, BUT.... for a myriad of reasons...just this once, (think Seinfeld) "NO PARK HOPPING FOR YOU! ... NEXT!"
Total torture!
Can't you just hear those hyper screams that only surface when kids are truly surprised? Car seat straps had an entirely new meaning other than safety that day. In no uncertain terms, these kids were FREAKING OUT! Now try to imagine the painful, albeit well-intentioned, inner turmoil for us parents. "OMG, what have we done? Why did we do this? We have definitely scared our kids forever - they'll never forgive us!!" And just when we thought we'd made the worst decision in our life, the ultimate grace was uttered from our oldest DD who was 9 at the time. Like an amped up angel on an epic sugar high she screams, "I DON'T CARE IF WE CAN'T GO INTO THE PARKS. I'M JUST HAPPY I CAN FINALLY TELL MY FRIENDS THAT I'VE BEEN HERE!"
Be still my mommy heart!! I will never forget that moment in my life or those precious words - EVER! For me, it was total treasure!
Commence Operation Free Disney
As we drove thru WDW apologizing for all the reasons we couldn't go into the parks on that visit, we pulled up to The Boardwalk with a modest plan to make some great memories. First we headed thru the hotel and ventured out to the buzz of boats, bikes and people all around us. Ice cream was first and then we headed out for a FREE Disney transportation tour to MGM. Life was good! We disembarked at a new location and the sites and sounds were different in front of the Beach Hotel. We headed to the bridge between the two properties knowing a bird's eye view of Epcot fireworks was about to begin. And they're off!! Illuminations had officially redefined fireworks forever for these happy campers! Life was great! And wouldn't you know, we managed to catch a free cast member magic show! You all know the odds of being picked in that crowded venue among 100 kids is really small, but guess what? Not only were our boys picked, but the magician gave them his deck of cards! Life was magic! "This was the best night ever..." as we all returned to our vintage Ford Explorer. But the adventure wasn't over quite yet!
The next day we ate a quick breakfast and jumped the hotel shuttle to Epcot. You guessed it. We hopped on the free Disney transportation every child dreams of riding - The Monorail. We did the entire loop chatting about Mom and Dad's childhood memories of Disney the entire way. We stopped at The Contemporary for a cafeteria lunch which our kids loved! They couldn't stop watching the birds that were inside -- eagerly eating all those crumbs! "How do they get inside?" Don't you just love their level of interest? So simple - so innocent! And after we left the monorail, we took free Disney transportation the Animal Kingdom Lodge. When you live in a city with no zoo, The Savannah at this property ROCKS! No shortage of African Savannah wonder or beaming smiles from my kids. I thought to myself, "We WILL get back here one day and we WILL go in these beautiful parks!!"
Last, but not least, when my husband had to attend his official meeting the next day, I took the kids to Downtown Disney and played at Lego Land... yep... for free! They were in hog heaven!! And so was I! I thought patiently to my stay-at-home mom self, "Have no fear - there will be a next time."
Fast forward three years!! The magic has finally arrived! Stay tuned!
To be continued...
That said, I'm sure your kids are still in the dark! They are going to flip!
I hope the pixie dust helps.
