Tell Me Your Story

[disneymom2000]

On a previous post buzz2001 shared his story of how his wife surprised him with their next trip to Disney. I LOVE these types of stories. Please tell me the story of how you were surprised with a trip to Disney.

Mine was: My mom had never had a vacation. So for her 60th birthday, my sister and I devised a plan on how I could take her to Disney. So every month I bought a gift and wrapped it to prepare for the trip (a pair of good walking shoes, a set of Disney clothes, etc). We then proceeded to make a huge birthday card out of one of those science project tri-fold boards with all kinds of Disney resort, park, ride pics on the inside with the itinerary. So on her birthday, my little sister and I made lunch plans and took her to eat. I had two towers of gifts at the restaurant waiting. After we ordered, we gave her the card. She was so excited. Well then unbeknowst to my sister (whose birthday was 2 days from my mom's), I also presented her with her own similar "birthday card" and then handed them each a tower of gifts. My little sister cried. Neither had ever been on a vacation and both had been wanting to go to Disney for as long as I could remember. So they opened matching shoes, clothes, purses, luggage etc at the restaurant. I of course went with them so I could tour them around. It was so cool.:cool:

[EyeLuvDisney]

Surprising my kids for a trip was one of the most exciting things we have ever done.

We booked our trip six months out. So, we had to sit on it for a LONG time. I was so surprised they never found out.

We had plans for them the day we were to leave. They stayed at a friends house for most of the day. While they were playing, I was packing our clothes, loading the van, and decorating it with everything Disney. We had their seats with new plush characters, new toys, and a BUNCH of Disney Dollars.

We went to pick them up at the friends house. I had both sliding doors open on the van and my wife led them to one side and I had the camera ready to go on the other side. When they came to the door we shouted, "We're going to Disney World". The looks of shock were priceless. We had to convince them that once they got in the van we were really heading down to WDW.

To this day those memories, even now as I am typing, bring tears of joy. Our trips to Disney World are the only times when it is just the four of us. No family, no friends, and no WORK! That's why it was so much fun to surprise them.

WELL, we are busy planning our next "surprise" trip to Disney World.

We are taking advantage of the FREE Dining Plan during December. We leave on November 29th and return to reality on December 9th.

Here's our new plan. We are visiting my wife's family for Thanksgiving. They live in Gulf Shores, Alabama. So, we are going to leave on Sunday morning and just get in the car and drive. BUT, the drive will take us to Disney World instead of home. We will have it all packed for Disney World.

The excitement for us is, how close to Disney World will we get before they realize something is up?

I would be so excited if we could make it to the gate! But, my sweet 9 year old son will probably figure it out much sooner. If we could make it to the turnpike before they figure it out, that would be fine too.

I'll be sure to let everyone know later!!

[jnfr2424]

This is a truly great topic!

My mother was turning 80 in July 2005. The previous year we decided to surprise my mother on vacation. We decided to take her on a mini weekend cruise to the Bahamas. Since my mother loves to gamble, Disney Cruise was out of the question, but we found a cruise that left out of Port Canveral meaning we have to fly into Orlando! The only thing she knew was that it was a weekend cruise with me. She kept asking if we could spend a day at Disney as well, but I came up with excuses about work and family obligations.
When we got on the plane, I had made a personalized card that I had the family sign and tell her that we were all going to be with her on vacation! She kept looking around the plane thinking everyone was on the same flight! But when we landed in Orlando, my brothers and sisters and family were popping out from everywhere telling my mother Happy Birthday!! We had a great time on the cruise and when it was over we got back to the airport, she said good bye to my family and one of my sisters, DH and I rented a car and started driving. She kept asking "where are we going?" until she saw the signs. Then she thought we were going to MK only until we pulled up at the Contemporary! We had booked a block of rooms in the MK Tower. CM's were amazing by talking to my mother and asking her all about her family and then she realized that everyone was there with her at Disney! We left for the park and when we got back to the room, there were balloons attached to little plush Minnie Mouse and a Birthday card signed by Mickey and Minnie for my Mom. We stayed there for 2 days and then checkout and went to Boardwalk for 2 days and then went to Animal Kingdom Lodge for 2 days as well. Our last night at dinner at Boma, our mother told all us how turning 80 was the best thing besides having all of us as her children. The Minnie and the card is still on the night stand and its the last thing she sees before going to bed every night!

This year's surprise is that my grand nieces (13,9 and 5)have been bugging my DH and I to come with us to Disney. I told them it is an expensive trip and that we would have to save enough to bring them along but that they have to do their part by doing well in school and making sure their chores are done. They think we are taking them out to dinner on Thanksgiving Eve since we won't be there for Thanksgiving Dinner with the family, but we are really taking them straight to the airport to Disney and that my neice and her husband are also going to be there - they are taking later flights that night! So we will all be there for the holiday!:mickey:

[Erin C.]

My story is the surprise trip for my daughter Riley's 13th birthday (2006). We had just gone in May so she would have never suspected we would be going again that year. She got her braces off in the am and went back to school and she walked in from the bus stop and we asked her if she wanted an early present. Of course you know the answer....YES. So as she was opening a box that had the tickets to MVMCP in it...I was opening the pantry door to wheel out brand new purple luggage packed and ready for the trip!!!! When she asked when we were going we told her we were leaving for the airport in ONE HOUR!!! The pictures are priceless!!!!!:party:

[TiggerD]

In 2007, my husband and I decided to go to Disney for our 30th Wedding anniversary, our youngest DS and his DW found out that Ds was going to be down there at the same time and decided to join us for the week. I was happy but sad because our oldest DS and his family were also taking a vacation but told us they were going to Virginia Beach at the same time we were going to be in Florida. The day arrived and as we were standing in line to board the plane, I felt this tug on my shorts and turned around and found my then 4yr old grandson looking up at me, I asked him what he was doing there, and he said he was going to Disney with me and Papa. Our son wanted to surprise us and he certainly did. We had a wonderful trip full of memories.

Now 2009 is upon us and we are going again in 10 days and the surprise is now on our now 6yr old grandson and his 2 yr old brother. Neither one of them even knows we are going to Disney and we are surprising them this year, because they are joining us 2 days after we arrive, my Ddil is not telling them until the day before, she is sending a card from Mickey asking them to come for a visit, we are going to surprise them by greeting them when they arrive at the resort. I cannot wait to make more memories with my two grandsons.:mickey:

[darthmacho]

We had gone to WDW for our honeymoon in 1998, and I was more than a little obsessed, and I didn't have Intercot as an outlet for that obsession, so I talked to my wife incessantly about WDW for an entire year. While celebrationg our 1st anniversary in Mystic, Ct., my wife presented me with a gift of five hundred dollars to put as a downpayment on a WDW vacation package. When we got back, we went straight to AAA and booked a trip for the fall! (And all I got her was some expensive jewelery!) What a gal! :bride:

[amd780]

These are all such sweet stories! :mickey:

Anyway - when I was a kid, we had the old EPCOT Official Album from the 80s. I loved that record and listened to it every chance I got. One night at dinner when I was 9, my parents put the record on for background music. I looked down at my plate and said, "I wish we could go to Disney World." My Mom said, "We are going. In February!" I was so excited, and surprised! I hadn't realized that they put the music on to set the stage for surprising me with the trip. :cloud9:

[green ranger]

This has been a very difficult year for us, which ended up with my husband and I surprising our DS5 and DD4 with a vacation to Disney this summer. In April, I was 22 weeks pregnant, developed an incompetent cervix, and delivered a beautiful son. He passed away in my arms about an hour after birth. If he was full term, his due date was August 23. I didn't know how I was going to get through August, so my husband and I decided let's celebrate the family we have and surprise them with a trip to Disney. It is the happiest place on earth, right? So, on August 19, we woke our kids up and told them we were going someplace special. All the suitcases were already in the car. They were guessing Grandma and Grandpa's house and Toys R Us! Well, when we pulled up to the airport, their eyes bulged out of their heads! I said, "Can anyone say Disney?" They were so excited! On August 23, we sent a Mickey balloon up to heaven for our baby boy. The entire vacation is one that we will never forget.

[Ed]

A few years ago, before we moved to Florida, we took three of our grandkids on a trip to my BIL's home in Tampa. All three of them had been to WDW previously, but they didn't make the connection between Tampa and WDW being near each other. After spending a week at BIL's, we loaded up and headed East on I-4. Once we were on the road, I told the kids that we were going to make one more stop before heading home. The oldest asked where we were going, and I told him "Oh, it's a big pretty place with a lot of hotels and rides, and there's a big mouse...." and he lit up and screamed "FLORIDA!!!!!" :D

It took a while to get across to him and the others that we had been in Florida for a week already, and that the name of the place we were going was actually Walt Disney World. :mickey:

[hubbyofadisneyholic]

My widowed m-i-l almost always joins us on our trips to WDW. Before we bought into DVC we tried to stay at resorts that wouldn't put too much of a strain on her finances.

When we would go to MK she would look across the water at the POLY and say how she wished she would be able to spend just one night there someday.

As luck would have it we had reservations at POFQ the year it was closed for refurbishing and were made an offer we couldn't refuse when we had to rebook elsewhere.

We told her that we had to make a change but what we didn't tell her was that we had managed to upgrade to 4 nites at the POLY and 3 nites at AKL for only a few $$ more than what our original cost would have been at POFQ.

Even our daughter managed to keep the secret from grandma and when we pulled into the POLY and told her this was where we were staying for the next 4 nights she almost started to cry.

Whne we checked out, she saw the direction we were driving and assumed we were going to the All-Stars for the last view days and started talking about how it was time to get back to reality and how she would never forget how beautiful the POLY was, etc. When we made the turn towards the AKL she just sat there looking as shocked as she had when we had arrived at the POLY.
The smile on my wife's face as she saw her mom's reaction made it all worthwhile to me.

Even though we've gone many times since then, she still talks about that trip...:cloud9:

[Buttercup]

This has been a very difficult year for us, which ended up with my husband and I surprising our DS5 and DD4 with a vacation to Disney this summer. In April, I was 22 weeks pregnant, developed an incompetent cervix, and delivered a beautiful son. He passed away in my arms about an hour after birth. If he was full term, his due date was August 23. I didn't know how I was going to get through August, so my husband and I decided let's celebrate the family we have and surprise them with a trip to Disney. It is the happiest place on earth, right? So, on August 19, we woke our kids up and told them we were going someplace special. All the suitcases were already in the car. They were guessing Grandma and Grandpa's house and Toys R Us! Well, when we pulled up to the airport, their eyes bulged out of their heads! I said, "Can anyone say Disney?" They were so excited! On August 23, we sent a Mickey balloon up to heaven for our baby boy. The entire vacation is one that we will never forget.

What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it.