The title really says it all. I’ll spare you all of the doom and gloom, but the last 12 or so months have been abnormally difficult in so many unbelievably uncommon ways. The stress is overwhelming at times and we go through stretches where so many crazy things happen that I'm scared to think "what next???" I wouldn’t normally do a pre-trip report this early, but I’ve found that all things Disney seem to give me a temporary relief from the chaos… so I’ve decided to start my PTR as a form of WDW therapy.
For those that are new to my reports- I’m Sandy. We live in the Houston area, but I grew up in NJ and was a Florida resident for 7 years as well. I've been to WDW MANY times, but took a long hiatus after moving to TX. Yeah- this picture is from last year, but I figure DH and I really haven’t changed that much.
Speaking of DH (and he chooses to remain DH- although I’m looking for fun *yet tasteful* potential nicknames for this trip--SUGGESTIONS????)...
We also have two little girls….Kendall- who just turned 6 and Sammie who will be turning 4 right before this trip.
(taken at Johnson Space Center a couple of weeks ago)
In fact, this trip is all about Sammie. Last trip was a surprise trip for Kendall’s 5th bday and now it’s Miss Sams’ turn! With Kendall, you may recall that we were able to maintain the surprise until we were driving through the Maingate. We had to come up with an equally fabulous surprise for Sammie that was also totally unique. Initially I was going to have the Disney Store do it. I popped into the Houston Galleria location back in June and was informed with just 10 min notice, they could shift the store over to celebration mode…which sounded pretty darn fantastic. Then it occurred to me that Sammie’s bday is a weekday and the Galleria is about 40 min from my house = not going to happen. And while the personalized Disney Junior character greetings are cool- they just can’t be customized enough to make this work.
Someone gave me the great idea of putting helium filled mouse ear balloons in a large wrapped box and screaming “Surprise!!! We’re going to Disney World!!!” as the balloons sprung up from the box. I liked the idea, but it was just not enough. And then it hit me…the balloons would be at the end of a trail of gifts/clues. I mean- I was going to buy these little gifts anyway so, why not let them enhance the surprise? The girls are still a little young for a traditional scavenger hunt, so I decided on a yarn trail…but not just ANY yarn trail.
We are surprising the girls with a pre-park opening visit to BBB on this trip. I had racked up enough rewards points on my Disney Visa to buy costumes. So, I fibbed to the girls and told them IN JUNE that I needed to use my points right then for the costumes or else I’d lose them- so they needed to pick their Halloween costumes now. I really just wanted to be prepared. What I neglected to do was turn on the gender filter when I approached them to pick their costumes. Sammie is a bit of a tomboy and naturally, the two costumes below were the first things she asked for.
http://www.disneystore.com/costume-collections-the-avengers-deluxe-hulk-costume-for-boys/mp/1306154/1007603/
http://www.disneystore.com/costume-collections-the-avengers-deluxe-captain-america-costume-for-boys/mp/1306152/1007603/
I felt bad having to clarify that it needed to be a girl costume. Of course DH pointed out that I might be able to get a princess dress over top of the Hulk and get a tiara comb and extensions into his Hulk hair.
UH-NOOOOO! So, the moral of this part of the story…always remember to turn on the gender filter if you need your kids’ Halloween costumes to double as surprise BBB attire. Eventually the girls settled on costumes and Kendall is going to be Merida in the light blue formal gown..and Sammie is going to be Rapunzel in her wedding gown. I was going to add pics of the dresses at this point to the PTR, but after “taking pictures” I got downstairs and realized I never put my memory card in my camera. Way to go Sandy! So, I’ll add those later.
The costumes are relevant b/c they correspond to the yarn on the surprise trail. Kendall will be following orange yarn to symbolize Merida’s hair and Sammie will be following yellow yarn to symbolize Rapunzel’s hair. They probably won’t pick up on this- so I’ll clue them in after we reveal the surprise.
So, the plan is to start the yarn trail at the bottom left hand side of our stairs. Gift 1 will be up on the landing on the far side so that downstairs is out of sight at this point. DH will follow the girls and video while I set up the rest of the surprise downstairs.
***Up Next - Details I have now of the gift trail***
For those that are new to my reports- I’m Sandy. We live in the Houston area, but I grew up in NJ and was a Florida resident for 7 years as well. I've been to WDW MANY times, but took a long hiatus after moving to TX. Yeah- this picture is from last year, but I figure DH and I really haven’t changed that much.
Speaking of DH (and he chooses to remain DH- although I’m looking for fun *yet tasteful* potential nicknames for this trip--SUGGESTIONS????)...
We also have two little girls….Kendall- who just turned 6 and Sammie who will be turning 4 right before this trip.
(taken at Johnson Space Center a couple of weeks ago)
In fact, this trip is all about Sammie. Last trip was a surprise trip for Kendall’s 5th bday and now it’s Miss Sams’ turn! With Kendall, you may recall that we were able to maintain the surprise until we were driving through the Maingate. We had to come up with an equally fabulous surprise for Sammie that was also totally unique. Initially I was going to have the Disney Store do it. I popped into the Houston Galleria location back in June and was informed with just 10 min notice, they could shift the store over to celebration mode…which sounded pretty darn fantastic. Then it occurred to me that Sammie’s bday is a weekday and the Galleria is about 40 min from my house = not going to happen. And while the personalized Disney Junior character greetings are cool- they just can’t be customized enough to make this work.
Someone gave me the great idea of putting helium filled mouse ear balloons in a large wrapped box and screaming “Surprise!!! We’re going to Disney World!!!” as the balloons sprung up from the box. I liked the idea, but it was just not enough. And then it hit me…the balloons would be at the end of a trail of gifts/clues. I mean- I was going to buy these little gifts anyway so, why not let them enhance the surprise? The girls are still a little young for a traditional scavenger hunt, so I decided on a yarn trail…but not just ANY yarn trail.
We are surprising the girls with a pre-park opening visit to BBB on this trip. I had racked up enough rewards points on my Disney Visa to buy costumes. So, I fibbed to the girls and told them IN JUNE that I needed to use my points right then for the costumes or else I’d lose them- so they needed to pick their Halloween costumes now. I really just wanted to be prepared. What I neglected to do was turn on the gender filter when I approached them to pick their costumes. Sammie is a bit of a tomboy and naturally, the two costumes below were the first things she asked for.
http://www.disneystore.com/costume-collections-the-avengers-deluxe-hulk-costume-for-boys/mp/1306154/1007603/
http://www.disneystore.com/costume-collections-the-avengers-deluxe-captain-america-costume-for-boys/mp/1306152/1007603/
I felt bad having to clarify that it needed to be a girl costume. Of course DH pointed out that I might be able to get a princess dress over top of the Hulk and get a tiara comb and extensions into his Hulk hair.
UH-NOOOOO! So, the moral of this part of the story…always remember to turn on the gender filter if you need your kids’ Halloween costumes to double as surprise BBB attire. Eventually the girls settled on costumes and Kendall is going to be Merida in the light blue formal gown..and Sammie is going to be Rapunzel in her wedding gown. I was going to add pics of the dresses at this point to the PTR, but after “taking pictures” I got downstairs and realized I never put my memory card in my camera. Way to go Sandy! So, I’ll add those later.The costumes are relevant b/c they correspond to the yarn on the surprise trail. Kendall will be following orange yarn to symbolize Merida’s hair and Sammie will be following yellow yarn to symbolize Rapunzel’s hair. They probably won’t pick up on this- so I’ll clue them in after we reveal the surprise.
So, the plan is to start the yarn trail at the bottom left hand side of our stairs. Gift 1 will be up on the landing on the far side so that downstairs is out of sight at this point. DH will follow the girls and video while I set up the rest of the surprise downstairs.
***Up Next - Details I have now of the gift trail***
The really nice cross body style bag my mom had gotten me has a snap closure. It was fine at first, but I started having issues with things slipping out. The big issue- my new phone came flying out the other day and hit the driveway. Thankfully the phone is fine, but I can't take anymore chances. I still have regrets about not buying the shirt below on our last trip...
I was going to save $27 and go for the in stock mermaid pattern, but even my ultra frugal friends said to spend the extra $ to get the one I liked more and was more likely to use long term. 
