*Trip to Find the Sun* - surprising the folks in Feb '13

[Angebee]

BOOKED, BOOKED! We actually got BOOKED!!!

Edit: In honor of passing our 100-day countdown mark (double digits baby ) I am rebooting this very first PTR since, well, it never really took off in the first place. I forgot about it for a long time and was honestly a little embarrassed at what an overly excited five year old I was being. In my defense, Disney brings out the overly excited kid in me.

So lets try this afresh. Hi. My name is Ange(bee) and my sister and I are taking our parents to Disney World this upcoming February. Our last family trip to the World was almost fifteen years ago. Back then Kit (my sister) and I were still juts kids, Cinderella's Castle had reverted back from being a giant pink birthday cake, Animal Kingdom was a month away from it's Grand Opening and Test Track's opening had been pushed back yet again - much to my Dad's disappointment. This is going to be like going to A Whole New Disney for us!

Why take our parents back after all these years? We'll be heading down during both of their birthdays, for one, and for another this is the year of their 30th wedding anniversary. Plans to surprise them are high and I'm hoping we can deliver with faith, trust and (any luck) a bit of pixie dust Come along with us if you please. Planning for Disney is so much more fun when other people are just as excited along with you.

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Table of posts
Introduction
Cast of Characters
Revealing the Surprise

 

[Angebee]

placeholder for Cast of Characters (and pictures?)

 

[Angebee]

The middle of October was the official date of my parents' anniversary. I knew exactly what I wanted us to give them for their initial present: a booked vacation!

Now, let me explain something. Spontaneity and surprises in this family have a love-hate relationship. Everyone LOVES surprising everyone else but being on the receiving end often results in initial grumpiness over 'being forced into' something unplanned, so we had to tread with caution. As soon as my first ever trip to Disneyland last summer was completed (LOVED IT!!) I announced how we were all going back to somewhere Disney by the end of 2013 and everyone should start putting spare change into their piggy banks. That got the ball rolling without anyone feeling overly pressured because no one had a good argument for why the four of us couldn't feasibly save up for one last grand vacation before (as my oh so hopeful dad put it) "a trip with grandchildren??" He's so subtle

Announcing the plan well in advanced made everything else easier. I was free to talk Disney at any time to gather information on what everyone would want or like without having to give away exactly what we were going to do. Kit wanted to stay on site; Dad wanted to incorporate local relatives and to stay at that new 'Carsland place' if we went to Florida; Mom wanted an afternoon to relax at our motel. The requests piled up but somehow Kit and I managed to figure out a plan. We were going to go during the year of our parents' 30th anniversary and we were going to make it during their birthdays if possible. If our parents were insisting this would be the one and only time they would stay on Disney property then we were going to make sure it was the best possible 'one time only' trip we could give them! We could make our own special trips later.

Fast forward over a summer of hair pulling, deal watching and discovering these amazing DISboards and you get to the middle of October. I made the phone call the night before their anniversary to book exactly what we wanted: 6 days/7 nights at WDW in an AoA Cars Suite for four with hopper passes to the parks!! The added QS dining plan for a bit more was just a perk. The next morning we left this on the kitchen table to inform dear mom and dad:

(Sorry about the poor quality as this was taken from my phone at the time.)​

On the inside was the printed details from our 'congrats on booking' email. We added a few Cars themed stickers with the words "Mater can't wait to see ya!" and "He's happier than a tornado in a trailer park" with 'Cars Fam. Suite' circled just to make it more flashy. Kit and I had managed to save up enough to wipe out about a quarter of their cost of the trip although that amount was not disclosed at the time of admitting the final price (my parents are very money conscious). By a week later we had booked our flight and the whole thing was finally feeling real! Now all that was left were fine-tuning the minor details.

Upcoming: Birthday meals and surprise treats? Plus filling in the previous 'characters' post.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Subbing! Fantastic start! How cool that you are taking your parents!