What a wonderful trip! Full of surprises! Pre-trip 12/3-12/11

llij

<font color=blue>I love my house<br><font color=re
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Jun 7, 2004
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Well, these lyrics best sum up how I felt during our most recent WDW vacation.........

What a Wonderful World
by Louis Armstrong

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Oh yeah.......

This was one of our most magical trips and I really never thought it could have been better than those in the past, but this was one for the record books.

But before I get into the nitty gritty details of our trip, I need to go back a little and give a bit of background of the trip so here it is.....

Cast of characters:
Me (36) - the trip planning, Disney fanatic and commando tourist. Multiple trips to Disneyworld since 1974.

DH (36) - the trip payer :laughing: and fellow commando tourist. Never was a Disney fanatic, but loves his family and always enjoys our trips! :love: Sixth trip to the World.

DD (8) alias "Lizzy lover" - Disney fanatic in the making. Loves to try new things, but not quite the thrill rider that we initially thought. Sixth trip to the World.

DD (6) alias "Tink lover" - Disney fanatic in the making as well. Huge fan of Mickey Mouse and major Tinkerbelle fan! Fifth trip to the World.

DDad (65) - Turned 65 the day before we left and the recipient of many surprises along the way! Secretly loves Disney. Multiple trips to the World since 1974.

DMom (62) - Loves to go to Disney with the grandkids. Found a new hobby on the trip...checking out the Resorts! Multiple trips to the World since 1974.

Ok, on to the meaty stuff!!

Breaking the Big News!

This trip was in the planning stages for a little over ten months. Even though my family and I have been fortunate enough to visit WDW many times over the years, we have never been during the holiday season. It was a wish of mine to see Disney during Christmas. Last February, when I was in the mid-winter doldrums, my DH was wonderful enough to grant me my wish by saying we could go to WDW in December. :love: Yipee! We decided to make this a surprise for our daughters so we kept it quiet for ten long months. :earseek: Let me tell you this was not an easy task to do!

We ended up springing the surprise on the girls the night before Thanksgiving. I set up a scavenger hunt in the house and at the end of the hunt; they were to put together a puzzle telling them that they were going to Disney. I think at one point I was more excited about springing the surprise on them than actually going. Crazy, I know.... :earboy2:

The actual scavener hunt was so much fun, but I didn't really plan the puzzle part too well as we had over 300 pieces to put together. :faint: Oops. :blush: Mental note to self: If you ever order anothe puzzle, make sure that it only has 50 pieces or less! :earboy2: It took six of us over an hour to put together this puzzle and by the time the girls got the news they had lost some of their steam and were more interested in going to bed. :bored: They were surprised and happy, but I think it took a little while for it to sink in. The next morning at 5:45 a.m., we had two girls bouncing off the walls with glee!

The week before the trip went by so very fast and before we knew it we were getting up bright and early to catch our flight to Orlando. Since most of our Disney trips have been in "commando mode", I made a solemn promise to everyone that this was going to be a "stop and smell the roses tour!" My DH and I came up with the code word, "Crazy Santa" to let each other know if one of us was getting out of hand. Let me tell you how hard it is not to go "commando" when you walk through those gates at the MK! :earboy2: Hopefully the words, "Crazy Santa" won't have to be uttered on this trip.

As mentioned above, my parents were joining us on this trip as they have in all of our past trips. We get along great together and really have a blast when we travel. Since they have always been so generous with us, we wanted to provide a few surprises for them along the way. So when Friday, December 3rd rolled around, we were all eager to get to WDW. Little did everyone know all the little surprises that I had up my sleeve and what was in store for the week.

Let the Adventure begin!!!

Next up: Day one - Happy Birthday Dad and the Tink lover sets a speed record for eating Cinderella's slipper!
 
My last post wouldn't let me include a picture of the puzzle so I thought that I would add it on. Here it is!

f68c44c7.jpg


The Puzzle!!!
 
llij said:
My last post wouldn't let me include a picture of the puzzle so I thought that I would add it on. Here it is!

f68c44c7.jpg


The Puzzle!!!

Oh...that has got to be the CUTEST thing I have ever seen...what a GREAT idea!!!!!!!

:D
 
Too funny about the 300 piece puzzle! LOL!! But, that is the coolest thing!!! I love it, the poem and the pictures...so cute! Ok, off to read your next post. :D
 

What a great idea! I love scavenger hunts! That must of been so fun and exciting to plan out! I did one 2 Christmases ago for my husband, at the end all of the found items ended up being hints as to us going to a trip to the UK! I love the idea of the puzzle and what a wonderful poem! I might have to borrow that from ya for a scavenger hunt of my own!!

Sounds like a great start to a wonderful trip! Please keep adding in the photos! We love when people share!!!

Looking forward to the rest of your report!! :earboy2:
 
Here's another photo of the girls once we got to SOG. We had sweatshirts made up as well with "Surprise" written on them.

f5e5c549.jpg


FIRST DAY!!
 
I saw you were writing this from our Veterans boards. We were there the exact same days the 3rd through the 11th. I finished my trip report notes short hand, I'll let you know when I start posting them. - Mike
 
banks37 said:
I saw you were writing this from our Veterans boards. We were there the exact same days the 3rd through the 11th. I finished my trip report notes short hand, I'll let you know when I start posting them. - Mike

Yes, Mike, let me know! I would love to read about your trip!

:D
 
I, too, was there on the exact same days. Still trying to get the trip report together..it's easier and more fun just to read yours. Going to read the next one!!!
 
bump to go with final report! :wizard:
 
I LOVE the puzzle. Did you order it somewhere?
 
tmfranlk said:
I LOVE the puzzle. Did you order it somewhere?

Hi tmfranlk! :wave:

Yes, I did order the puzzle. I got it from jigsaw2order.com. They were great! My only suggestion is to have them put it together in not so many pieces! :earboy2:
 















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