Yay!!...an unexpected December trip with my mom and my 4yo

Hi all! It's been awhile since I've posted, but when I got the opportunity to return to the World in December, I just had to share with everyone.

Who: Me(Amy), my mom, and my 4yo son, Owen.
Here we all are on our trip last October.

Unfortunately, we can't all go this year, but the three of us are going to have a blast!

When: Sunday, December 9-Friday, December 14, 2012

Where: CBR pirate room

Story: After our trip last October, Brian and I decided that we would save up and make our next trip to Disneyland, possibly in June 2013. Then, the Best Buy that he worked for closed and he was out of a job starting this June. He got a nice severance package, but still couldn't justify any extravagant vacations while he wasn't working. When the room only discounts came out for November-December, we thought about the two of us making a quick trip down for our 14th anniversary. Then he was offered a job. Good news in general, but bad in the fact that he won't have any vacation time for awhile. So long December trip. When I saw that the room only discounts had been extended, I was daydreaming out loud about how cool it would be if I took our youngest to WDW for our own little vacation. Surprisingly, Brian thought it would be a good idea for him to get a little extra time with me! As much as I wanted to jump right on it, I first had to clear it with my two oldest. I was surprised how well they responded. My 9yo was so mature about it! He explained to me (instead of the other way around) that he and Lily had been twice and Owen had only been once, so it was only fair that he got to go again. Imagine my shock!! Lily wasn't quite so easy, and I had to promise her a trip to an American Girl Doll store, but she's okay with it now. Of course, both are composing a shopping list for me while we are there!

Transportation: Originally, I was planning on driving from Dayton, OH to Florida , but when my mom decided to come along, she refused to drive, so we now have AirTran tickets! We are going to try only taking carry-ons and not checking any bags. We'll see how the packing goes as we get closer to time. I'm not sure how we will handle 3 carry-ons, our personal bags, and a stroller at MCO, but we are going to try!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Owen from our trip last year:

And here he is the day after our trip last year, enjoying his Mickey crocs and his pirate ears.

 

[TheMouseFan]

How exciting!!! Owen is going to have such an awesome time!!!!! And lucky you will get ride Tower and EE!! lol

The treasure hunt is such a great idea!! Can't wait to hear about his reaction when he finds out where ya'll are going!!

Thanks for reading. I am so excited that I will get to ride ToT and EE. I had accepted that I would be in the World and would have to pass those up, so I was thrilled when my mom wanted to come along!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Yesterday I got a 10:30 ADR for Tusker House on our AK day. Now I am seriously considering getting the PhotoPass+. I was leaning towards the regular preorder PhotoPass before, but now that we have ADRs at Chef Mickey's and Tusker House, I'm starting to think I might as well go for the +. Any thoughts? The ride photos aren't a big deal because Owen is too small or just doesn't want to ride on most of the rides that take pictures, so the only benefit to us would be the two photo packages for our ADRs. Also debating on whether to get tickets to MVMCP. I'm not sure Owen would be able to stay awake long enough to make it worthwhile. 27 more days!!!

 

[disneygirl1]

So exciting! Have you told Owen yet?!?! We arrive in Disney on Dec 12th! We can hardly wait either!!! Got our ME packet on Saturday. Getting that in the mail really makes the trip seem like a reality that it is almost time to go! Looks like we will both be in AK on the 13th! Hope you have a magical trip!

 

[TheMouseFan]

So exciting! Have you told Owen yet?!?! We arrive in Disney on Dec 12th! We can hardly wait either!!! Got our ME packet on Saturday. Getting that in the mail really makes the trip seem like a reality that it is almost time to go! Looks like we will both be in AK on the 13th! Hope you have a magical trip!

I think I am going to wait until Thanksgiving weekend to tell him. I figure the less time he has between finding out and leaving, the less he can annoy his siblings by talking about the trip they don't get to go on! I was very excited also to receive our ME packet. Have a great trip!

 

[disneygirl1]

I think I am going to wait until Thanksgiving weekend to tell him. I figure the less time he has between finding out and leaving, the less he can annoy his siblings by talking about the trip they don't get to go on! I was very excited also to receive our ME packet. Have a great trip!

When we went in Dec 2010 I told my son on Thanksgiving night too! Good luck with the surprise! And have a magical trip! It will be hear before you know it.

 

[TheMouseFan]

When we went in Dec 2010 I told my son on Thanksgiving night too! Good luck with the surprise! And have a magical trip! It will be hear before you know it.

I'm still deciding whether to tell him on Thanksgiving day or wait till later in the weekend. My birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving this year and it would be an awesome present if he responds the way I want him to, but I'm afraid there will be too much other stuff going on for him to fully appreciate the surprise. I still have a little while to decide!

 

[disneygirl1]

I'm still deciding whether to tell him on Thanksgiving day or wait till later in the weekend. My birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving this year and it would be an awesome present if he responds the way I want him to, but I'm afraid there will be too much other stuff going on for him to fully appreciate the surprise. I still have a little while to decide!

Ah Happy Birthday!!! I know! I was super worried I was not going to get the response to the surprise that I wanted from my son too! It actually worked out well b/c my birthday was a few days after thanksgiving, so since my entire family was together they sung to me thankgiving, so after we sang and I got to open up some presents I said to my son, hey Devon how about I give you a gift now? He kind of looked at me like I was crazy then said ok! So I handed him I card with a Disney gift card in it saying hopefully this will come in handy for you. He was kind of like ok really what am I going to do with this? So I said maybe you can use your gift card for this and I handed him a folder with all our trip info in it. Took him about a minute to comprehend what was going on, but after that he was was like OMG OMG we really leave next week?? When I said yes he started crying! I really could not have asked for a better reaction.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Ah Happy Birthday!!! I know! I was super worried I was not going to get the response to the surprise that I wanted from my son too! It actually worked out well b/c my birthday was a few days after thanksgiving, so since my entire family was together they sung to me thankgiving, so after we sang and I got to open up some presents I said to my son, hey Devon how about I give you a gift now? He kind of looked at me like I was crazy then said ok! So I handed him I card with a Disney gift card in it saying hopefully this will come in handy for you. He was kind of like ok really what am I going to do with this? So I said maybe you can use your gift card for this and I handed him a folder with all our trip info in it. Took him about a minute to comprehend what was going on, but after that he was was like OMG OMG we really leave next week?? When I said yes he started crying! I really could not have asked for a better reaction.

I may set up his treasure hunt the morning of Thanksgiving and do it before all the other festivities start. We will be driving about an hour away to have late lunch/early dinner with my husband's family and I certainly don't want to do it there, and all 3 kids are usually asleep by the time we get home! I certainly hope I get a similar response!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Owen knows he is going!!!
I was working on my packing list today and starting to gather items up and I asked Brian to please work on the treasure map so it would be ready on Thursday. Well, he took his job seriously. He made 3 different maps and made rhyming clues to help the kids find the next "treasure" and clue. When he was done, he then couldn't stand to wait until Thursday, and insisted we tell him today!
We started them off with a message in a bottle.

This is the clue to send them to the garage:

This is what they found in the garage: (the bags had the "gold" coins in them)

With this clue sending them to the kitchen:

They found necklaces and rings this time.

Here is Owen showing off his bling:

This clue sent them to the basement where Brian had heavy animal breathing sounds on the computer and he was hiding to scare them when they came down. He had them using flashlights for this one and in the garage.

They found the "jewels" at this stop (after screaming when Brian jumped out at them).

The final clue sent them up to Owen and Logan's room.

This is what awaited Owen there:

Logan read his letter to him.

He really was more excited than it appears here:

 

[Tiggerish]

Oh, how exciting!! There's nothing better than a surprise last minute trip to WDW. I hope to arrange one for myself some day.

Owen's a cutie. Have fun!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Oh, how exciting!! There's nothing better than a surprise last minute trip to WDW. I hope to arrange one for myself some day.

Owen's a cutie. Have fun!

Thank you so much. We are both really excited! I'm sure we will have a blast!!

 

[disneygirl1]

Oh how exciting that he finally knows! Hope you got the reaction from him you were hoping for!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Oh how exciting that he finally knows! Hope you got the reaction from him you were hoping for!

I did!! He was/is so excited and can't wait to go!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! And happy 39th birthday me!
17 more days! I just ordered PhotoPass+ yesterday morning and I had an email in the afternoon that it had been shipped and was on the way to me. So excited!

 

[TheMouseFan]

We just returned from seeing Wreck It Ralph with the kids. We all really enjoyed it. Now we just have to try to see Ralph and Venellope when we are at DHS. Owen will be so excited if we are able to!

 

[TheMouseFan]

12 more days!! I'm starting to firm up our plans for each day.
Arrival day: We are scheduled to land at MCO at 1:27, then off to ME to go to CBR. I'm hoping it will be warm enough to swim for a few minutes once we get there. I don't really want to swim, but Owen really does, so I'll suck it up and take him! Then we are off to DTD for shopping and a 6:30 ADR at T-Rex.

Day 1: DHS The main objective today is to be in line early so we can get Owen signed up for the Jedi Training Academy. Then we will hurry over to Pixar Place to hopefully ride TSMM stand-by and get FP for later. Then I would like to go get a cupcake from Starring Rolls to finish off my breakfast. We have a lunch ADR at Sci-Fi at 12:45. I am trying to change that to dinner so we can eat lunch at Starring Rolls (and I don't have to feel so guilty about eating, and feeding Owen, a cupcake for breakfast!). Otherwise, we will just do whatever Owen wants to do during the day. I, of course, will sneak in a ride or two (or three or four!!) on TOT. We plan to end the evening by watching Fantasmic and seeing the Osborne Lights.

Day 2: Epcot with am EMH Our plan today is to hit Test Track first, then head over to get FP for Soarin' and grab breakfast at Sunshine Seasons. We will then explore FW until WS opens and we can head over for our Via Napoli ADR at 11:30. I'm thinking that we may head back to CBR for a little swimming and relaxing time before going back to Epcot to finish WS. We'll probably grab a boat over to the Beach Club for dinner at Beaches and Cream, then return to watch Illuminations.

Day 3: MK We plan to start the day out in Fantasyland and have lunch at BOG, then the rest of the day we will just go with the flow and do whatever we want. I'm trying to get us a dinner ADR at Tony's. If I can't, we may still try to eat there as I have had success with walk ups at Tony's before. We will end the evening with MSEP and Wishes.

Day 4: AK We will probably head to KS first, then do whatever until our 10:30 ADR at Tusker House. I want to try to see Nemo because we missed it on our trip last October. We will most likely have lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. We plan to stay to watch the Jingle Jungle Parade, then head to AKL to see their Christmas decorations. I would like to head to DTD from there to have dinner at either Earl of Sandwich or Wolfgang Puck Express.

Departure Day: We start today with a Chef Mickey ADR at 7:40. We will then take in the Christmas decorations at Contemporary, GF, Poly, and hopefully Wilderness Lodge before heading back to CBR to catch ME. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 3:05.

 

[TheMouseFan]

I received my PhotoPass+ CD and vouchers today. What a great surprise to find in my mailbox!

 

[TheMouseFan]

10 days!!! I did online check-in this morning. We are getting super excited. Owen asks every morning about how many days until we leave!

 

[TheMouseFan]

6 days!! I got the suitcases out yesterday and started laying things out. My goal this trip is to only have carry-on luggage, which would be quite an accomplishment as I am known for overpacking. Part of the problem is the weather forecast keeps changing, so I can't decide if I need shorts or just jeans and my fleece or just a sweatshirt, etc. I guess I will have to make last minute decisions on Saturday. Anyhow, the plan was to take 1 actual carry-on suitcase and my Vera Bradley weekender bag so that I could stack them to make it easier to get through MCO with the stroller. Well, all of our clothes and things fit, but then I started to get worried that there wouldn't be enough room for all of the items we purchase while there! So my new plan is to take 2 carry-on suitcases and then use my Vera bag as my personal item as it just fits the dimensions as such. I'm really hoping that they ask for people to check their carry-on luggage at the gate, and then I can slap my DME tags on and have them taken to the room automatically for me. That way I only have to worry about Owen's backpack and my Vera bag while pushing the stroller through MCO. Of course, my mom will be there to help as well, but she'll have her own carry-on and personal item to deal with. Can anyone see a flaw in my reasoning or see any reason this plan should not work? I understand that they may not ask anyone to check their carry-ons, in which case we will just figure it out as we go. And I will certainly have to work it out for the return trip through MCO, but I'm not worried about that yet!!

On another note, my mom and Owen and I were discussing our itinerary and places we would be eating during the trip when Owen casually asked what day we would be eating breakfast in Cinderella's castle. I didn't think he would be interested again and hadn't even thought to try to get an ADR even though the chances would be slim. So now I am frantically checking as often as I can in the hopes that a time may magically appear. So if anyone has some extra pixie dust, please sprinkle some for me!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Wow- so your trip is almost here! Glad the surprise went well. I'm sure he is so excited! Also sounds like you've been snagging some good last minute ADRs. Hopefully the castle will open up. Good luck with everything with the bags...if it doesn't work out, would it be too late to ship stuff? Oh well, I'm sure it will all work out. Have an awesome trip!