Pre-Trip Two Vets set to drag 2 first timers through the world! Project Niece and Nephew Part 1

Alright,

I know i just finished my Trip report for my wife and I's little getaway for hitting 10 years of marriage, but really what am i going to do with myself for the next 278 days and counting.

Here i will go ahead and introduce you to the clan on this trip, and Chronicle what i hope to be a pretty unique surprise!


As ,mentioned in my trip report, the first night there, we called and used the bounce back offer to book a trip for my oldest Niece and Nephew for their First ever trip! This is part of a multi year plan to get everyone to the world to experience it at least once in their life, and hopefully extend the love of the parks to the next generation, as my wife and I have no children of our own, and my Daughter ( step Daughter) is already addicted.

We will be arriving on the 5th of July, and leaving on the 11th of July. This also encompasses my wife's birthday on the 9th. So lets call it a 2 for trip :)

Heres the Motley Crue!

DW- My wife, whos more addicted to the parks than me i think
DN- My Neice Hannah. This will be her very first trip, and shes now 17,
DNF- My Nephew Henry he will be 13 at time of travel.
and of course ME!!!


SO quick story, we are not originally from TN, like everyone here were transplants, Shocker right? for most of the kids lives, we were right on top of them, within 5 minutes, and they were at the house all the time. Then came 2014, when we moved here for work. There have been few and far between trips either for them to come here, or us to go there, but we really haven't had the quality time that we once had with them.

For the longest time, we have wanted to take them, as every time we go, we bring them back something, and they see the photos, and hear the stories, but really have no idea what were talking about. I know deep down, my sister in law would love love love to take them, but just cant financially do it. To me that is where we come in.

My wife and i work hard, and are blessed these days, that finally we can afford to do it!

With that said, there currently is a 3 year plan

2020 Hannah and Henry
2021 My youngest Nephew, and youngest niece
2022 My sister in law adult only trip.

This kills several birds with 1 stone. 2020 puts us there for things opening in 2020, 221 hopefully for some early celebrations for the 50th, and 2022 hopefully most of EPCOT is ready to be launched.

Now July is never a time i say " hey lets go to Disney" No usually you say its really freaking hot outside, wheres the AC??

However, with school being out, in the north, and how unpredictable Maine weather is, we figured July is a safe bet. Lets face it, if they are still going to school in July, there's bigger problems for sure!

Now i must now divulge this information.. No one knows... well my sister inlaw knows, but thats it. My wife went up for a visit a few weeks before we were to go on our small get away trip, and asked her sister if it was OK. She didnt want to offend her, or make her sad because she cant do it for them, so we wanted to make sure we had her blessing to do so, and she said yes so it was on!


On the Drive back we kept awake by brainstorming on how to tell the kids, could we get a custom character call? can we send them something, what can we do? Nothing was coming to us.. Fast forward a week or so, we had gone to dinner, and i mentioned " i wish there was some kind of box subscription thing we could send" so like many times, my DW is so smart! ( no she didn't pay me to say that, however she will agree) She found one, and we started looking at them... Then we decided, Hey!! We can do that, cheaper, and more personal. SO in that came the plan of a box for them all.

2 that will be CONGRATS your going to DISNEY WORLD!!!!

and 2 that say DONT think we forgot you your next!

Now this actually works out in a lot of ways!

My youngest Nephew has some health issues with his legs, and has had to have surgery, so this wait time allows him to fully heal, and make sure hes strong and ready to drag us around for a week ha!

my youngest niece actually just spent the summer with us, so in all reality to be fair to her brothers and sisters that didn't get to come with her.

This is the Plan for the Boxes for the two going this year ( im still brainstorming how to do the " dont think we have forgotten you" boxes)

Letter from their favorite character welcoming them and congratulating them.
Park Maps from each park so they can do some planning and let us know what is a must do for them
Custom videos explaining the ins and outs of each park ( they have no idea what is there, as they haven't been exposed very much to them or even know there are that many)
Disney themed games, and other travel games for the drive
Some sort of early trinket or gift(s), such as a water bottle, blanket, or something else we can get from Shop Disney.
and whatever else we can come up with and fit in the box.

We will be getting their flights as well, so My mother inlaw even gets a break! She will fly down with them, and stay at the house for a week, help my daughter with the dogs and fish and all of that, and keep tabs on the house, and we will take the kiddos on a trip of a lifetime.


So far ive got a first draft of the Letters, i really wish i could find a downloadable template that was just like Walt Disney world stationary, but thus far i haven't.
Now that Disney doesn't do the planning DVDS, i have had to get Creative, and having to do some fancy stuff with YouTube to make up some videos and such to get in the box so they can see what we have got them into!

Another member in another forum here gave me an idea for custom shutterfly books, so im going to look into that with some photos of our last couple trips so they can have some photos of important things in the parks, like dole whips! Ha!

Follow along for all the fun we will have trying to count down a long time, and the building of the boxes!

If you have any ideas along the way shout em out :)
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
22 days, 16 hours, and 23 minutes spent with the children. Captains log. The weekend approaches, and i think it will be a pool, and maybe vintage movie weekend. Got my niece to watch 20,000 leagues under the sea thus far, thinking Swiss Family Robinson next. I want them to fully experience it all, plus we wont hit the road until late on the 8th of august so we have time! Feel free to make suggestions on things they need to see before stepping foot on property :) Mind you they have Disney plus we bought them a year as a family gift. So they have seen most of the classics, so were after the obscure.
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Today I believe will be a poolside kind of day. Humidity is down, but heat is up. Working in an adventure land themed backyard. Plenty of tikis and palms etc. Always a work on progress! It's not a Disney pool, but it will do!
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Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Today is one of those days I wish I had a pool. It’s just ridiculously hot! I’ll just stay inside and listen to my neighbors splash around gleefully in their pool. Also The Rocketeer is a somewhat obscure Disney movie that is worth a watch. Has a pretty solid cast including Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, and Jennifer Connelly.
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Today is one of those days I wish I had a pool. It’s just ridiculously hot! I’ll just stay inside and listen to my neighbors splash around gleefully in their pool. Also The Rocketeer is a somewhat obscure Disney movie that is worth a watch. Has a pretty solid cast including Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, and Jennifer Connelly.
It's actually hot today,but the humidity dialed itself back, so it's really nice to be outside, instead of oppressive. I did all the yard work last night, rider, push and weed eat, and I was drenched like a day in the parks ha! Today is a nice suprise of lower humidity.

Moving here my wife had one demand... It was a pool, so I made it so..

I've been after that movie for a while actually. Maybe that will be later? Good idea!
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
It's actually hot today,but the humidity dialed itself back, so it's really nice to be outside, instead of oppressive. I did all the yard work last night, rider, push and weed eat, and I was drenched like a day in the parks ha! Today is a nice suprise of lower humidity.

Moving here my wife had one demand... It was a pool, so I made it so..

I've been after that movie for a while actually. Maybe that will be later? Good idea!
We are “lucky” to have both the heat AND humidity. What they call a “death ridge” has settled over us. Temps will hover around 100, with heat indices north of 110. Our phones just went off with a heat warning, basically telling people to stay inside or risk heat stroke. Gotta love July! I was out doing the yard at 0600 this morning with the rest of the neighbors. I was finished by 0800, but i was still drenched! Perhaps ill take my own advice and rewatch the rocketeer!
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We are “lucky” to have both the heat AND humidity. What they call a “death ridge” has settled over us. Temps will hover around 100, with heat indices north of 110. Our phones just went off with a heat warning, basically telling people to stay inside or risk heat stroke. Gotta love July! I was out doing the yard at 0600 this morning with the rest of the neighbors. I was finished by 0800, but i was still drenched! Perhaps ill take my own advice and rewatch the rocketeer!
Ha! We get that here in Tennessee too. It was super hot and sticky yesterday for sure. Haven't had the heat warnings quite yet, but they are coming...
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Made a slight adjustment to our food plans for the trip today.

Dropped Sunday Sanaa reservation and Thursday Yak and Yeti reservation.

We decided we can get the local food cafe walk up at AK and get the same thing within reason so we did that.

I also talked to Disney and the Sanaa lounge will be open so I'll just do walk up for bread Service since I'm likely the only one that will want in on it, no need to drag the ones that may not like it, or like anything else on the menu.

I. It's place we grabbed the Boathouse for Sunday welcome dinner at the springs. We will get to Kidani as early as we can so we can use the pool for a few hours before our room is ready, then settle in, and hit the springs for the night. Boathouse,maybe an amphibicar ride, and a good night of sleep before Magic Kingdom on the 10th.
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
24 days till disney. captains log. Took the truck to the shop for a once over and a oil change before the drive. Came home from and my wife has me rush our oldest dog miley to the vet as she had vomited twice this morning....


Off to the vet, and we vomited twice in the car on the way there with my neice. She had this growth on her leg that came on all of a sudden that seems to be getting much worse so we needed that looked at....

Doctor came in and said we have 2 things, it's either puss, and we can fix it, or it's serum, and that means cancer.... I will tell you this is the first time I hoped for puss. She's going on 13, and actually my wife has had her longer than me, so she's a pretty special old lady to all of us.

doctor came back and said it's serum and she's got 48 hours maybe. So I packed her up, hit an Arby's and got the old girl some sliders.

We are home now and making the final plans on when she will cross the rainbow bridge. She's been a good old girl, moved here with us, never had a bad look, and still is happy to see you. Here's some of my favorite photos of her.
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Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So sorry to hear about your sweet girl. My thoughts are with you and your family.
Thank you. Waiting for the last people to stop by to say thier goodbyes and off to the vet we will go. My wife doesn't see the point at waiting, nor do I. In the end it's the best for her. I'll swing by the liquor store on the way home, as I need to ha!
 

PacNWTigger

Well-Known Member
It will be nice to have a toast to her when you get home. As a furry one parent I agree with your decision to take her to the vet...it's one of the most difficult things we have to do, but it is often the most humane. I will have a glass of wine for your sweet girl, and in memory of our Weiss who passed away a few years ago from cancer too.
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May our furry ones have peace and know that they are loved to pieces by their families.
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It will be nice to have a toast to her when you get home. As a furry one parent I agree with your decision to take her to the vet...it's one of the most difficult things we have to do, but it is often the most humane. I will have a glass of wine for your sweet girl, and in memory of our Weiss who passed away a few years ago from cancer too.
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May our furry ones have peace and know that they are loved to pieces by their families.
We have 2 GSDs as well. Such amazing dogs!
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So sorry about your dog (she looks so sweet). And although you are doing what is best for her, it doesn’t make it any easier on you.
Surely doesn't. The younger 2 have no idea the amount of cuddles that will be required to get us through.. the silver lining is we don't have to worry something would happen while we were gone. Her leg really got worse the last few days, and today's vomiting is what brought the vet on. Had the swelling gotten better, her attitude was perfect, and showed no pain. I would of hated her to go downhill while we're in Florida, and my daughter is alone with her.
 

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So sorry about your pup. That’s always so hard. ❤
Thank you. She is gone now. Everyone said thier goodbyes today, and I brought her to the vet to help her cross the bridge. It's funny how it changes you, when you feel that last breath slip away from them. She kept looking at me thanking me for her freedom. she will be looking down on us always.
 

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