HouCuseChickie
Well-Known Member
I've been thinking, rethinking, and thinking some more about how to pull off our girls' surprise this time. While I loved the idea of the Disney Store doing all of the hard stuff...it would be a nightmare getting there on the day of the big reveal. So, I'm going to orchestrate all of this from home.
The girls are still a tad young for a true scavenger hunt, so I'm going to start this off sort of Rapunzel style. Actually, Rapunzel & Merida. They don't know that their Halloween costumes are going to be put to use on vacay (booked them in BBB on their first MK day). So, DD5 is going to have orange yarn to follow and DD3 is going to have yellow yarn. The yarn will lead them upstairs through a series of clues - which are essentially bday/un-bday gifts for the girls (i.e. pins, lanyards, glow stuff, shirts, etc.). DH is going to follow them upstairs while I get the final portion in place downstairs. The yarn will eventually lead them back downstairs to the next clue...their princess dresses hanging from the mantle...then to a big wrapped box with a huge red bow positioned in front of the tv . Inside the box will be a couple of large helium filled mouse ear balloons. As soon as the balloon pop out of the box...I am going to have the video slideshow revealing the surprise start playing on said tv. We'll probably also yell "surprise!!! We're going to Disney World" since I really like the feeling more of DH and I doing this vs. having it embedded as audio in the vid. I'm just up in the air about a number of things with the vid.
So, here's where I need your help.
1. Lead MUSIC - The lead song is the most important. 'When you Wish Upon a Star' is really appealing to me right now. Totally choke up every time I hear it and think about the surprise. It's pretty much the same feeling I was getting last year when I was working with the Welcome Medley for that surprise. Of course, if I were to go with the Welcome Medley- I know they already associate that with "I'm going to Disney World" and it might register more quickly for them and get a better reaction. The Mickey Mouse Club March is the only other song I could imagine using as the lead...and it's distant third. Is there anything that I'm missing that would fit better for the lead?
2. Secondary MUSIC - I don't envision this being a horribly long video, but it might me nice to have one or two other songs to segue through things. There are just soooooo many options here though. And the reality, this is more filler music...i.e. things that will sound good in the background as the surprise is winding down (I plan on video for YouTube so I'd still like it to be nice). Everything from the Tiki Room music and Baroque Hoedown to any number of princess songs could work here (and tons of other things as well). So much of this part comes down to personal preference...but is there anything you could think of that would flow nicely from the lead song options?
3. Pictures & Video - The lead shot is easy...something with the castle at night involving fireworks. I'd prefer a short video clip of this leading into a slide show of other things, but my a/v skills aren't the greatest...so it may wind up being all slide show. I was just wondering what you'd put for all of the other pictures if it were you? Would you go much beyond the respective park icons? Would you put photos of the hotel for this trip? Would you throw in pics of them from previous trips? or would too many kid pics make it feel a bit off b/c this is hype for the upcoming trip?
4. Anything Else? - Is there anything I'm missing? Anything you would or wouldn't do? I know not everyone does surprises b/c they don't want to risk the bad reaction, but my kids did well with the previous surprise, they know they are going to FL to see grandma and grandpa (which will happen after we're done @ WDW), and they've been begging to return to WDW- even asked if WDW was in the same FL as grandma and grandpa (wanted them to just meet us at WDW w/the Thanksgiving Turkey
) ...so, I don't think we'll get a bad reaction. I just want to make it a good surprise. 
The girls are still a tad young for a true scavenger hunt, so I'm going to start this off sort of Rapunzel style. Actually, Rapunzel & Merida. They don't know that their Halloween costumes are going to be put to use on vacay (booked them in BBB on their first MK day). So, DD5 is going to have orange yarn to follow and DD3 is going to have yellow yarn. The yarn will lead them upstairs through a series of clues - which are essentially bday/un-bday gifts for the girls (i.e. pins, lanyards, glow stuff, shirts, etc.). DH is going to follow them upstairs while I get the final portion in place downstairs. The yarn will eventually lead them back downstairs to the next clue...their princess dresses hanging from the mantle...then to a big wrapped box with a huge red bow positioned in front of the tv . Inside the box will be a couple of large helium filled mouse ear balloons. As soon as the balloon pop out of the box...I am going to have the video slideshow revealing the surprise start playing on said tv. We'll probably also yell "surprise!!! We're going to Disney World" since I really like the feeling more of DH and I doing this vs. having it embedded as audio in the vid. I'm just up in the air about a number of things with the vid.
So, here's where I need your help.
1. Lead MUSIC - The lead song is the most important. 'When you Wish Upon a Star' is really appealing to me right now. Totally choke up every time I hear it and think about the surprise. It's pretty much the same feeling I was getting last year when I was working with the Welcome Medley for that surprise. Of course, if I were to go with the Welcome Medley- I know they already associate that with "I'm going to Disney World" and it might register more quickly for them and get a better reaction. The Mickey Mouse Club March is the only other song I could imagine using as the lead...and it's distant third. Is there anything that I'm missing that would fit better for the lead?
2. Secondary MUSIC - I don't envision this being a horribly long video, but it might me nice to have one or two other songs to segue through things. There are just soooooo many options here though. And the reality, this is more filler music...i.e. things that will sound good in the background as the surprise is winding down (I plan on video for YouTube so I'd still like it to be nice). Everything from the Tiki Room music and Baroque Hoedown to any number of princess songs could work here (and tons of other things as well). So much of this part comes down to personal preference...but is there anything you could think of that would flow nicely from the lead song options?
3. Pictures & Video - The lead shot is easy...something with the castle at night involving fireworks. I'd prefer a short video clip of this leading into a slide show of other things, but my a/v skills aren't the greatest...so it may wind up being all slide show. I was just wondering what you'd put for all of the other pictures if it were you? Would you go much beyond the respective park icons? Would you put photos of the hotel for this trip? Would you throw in pics of them from previous trips? or would too many kid pics make it feel a bit off b/c this is hype for the upcoming trip?
4. Anything Else? - Is there anything I'm missing? Anything you would or wouldn't do? I know not everyone does surprises b/c they don't want to risk the bad reaction, but my kids did well with the previous surprise, they know they are going to FL to see grandma and grandpa (which will happen after we're done @ WDW), and they've been begging to return to WDW- even asked if WDW was in the same FL as grandma and grandpa (wanted them to just meet us at WDW w/the Thanksgiving Turkey
) ...so, I don't think we'll get a bad reaction. I just want to make it a good surprise. 
)...and as of right now, it will be Cinderella themed. She's a tough one when it comes to the theme. Pooh is her overall fave, but Disney doesn't have the rights to do anything edible Pooh & friends for cakes. 
Her #1 princess is Ariel, but Disney has yet to approve a white chocolate topper for her. I came up with an elaborate Ariel cake involving edible images, fondant coral/seaweed and the sand castle wedding cake topper, but the cost would be 2-3x the cost of DD5's Belle cake from last year. 
Donald and Mickey are the other 2 fave characters and I have two back up cake plans for those as well if she seems to be in a Mickey or Donald phase. Regardless, really looking forward to cake!!!