“They gave us an extra trash basket!” A Surprise Trip 6 day POR. Nov and Dec 2014. Updated 2/8

Nazran

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 6, 2007
Welcome to my first Disney trip report. I will first apologize for my writing style (or lack of). I am not a writer by any stretch of the imagination. I have read many trip reports and so many of you have a real gift for telling a story. This report will probably not be a great read but I hope some of you get some enjoyment out of it.

This trip was YEARS in the making…. But let us get the details out of the way. I hope you don’t mind reading a bit of pre-trip before getting to the main trip report.

WHO?
My name is Jay. I am a 41 year old husband and father of three. I work in the IT industry in Dallas Ft Worth area. My wife’s name is Jennifer and she is 41 as well.
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Our oldest son is Michael and he is 11. He is on the Spectrum (PDD-NOS), has the biggest heart, and is a great kid.
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Nathan is 7. He is an extrovert, always on the go, and a big goof.
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Mattie is 3 and she is our surprise princess! You see, we thought we were past the point of having more children but in 2011 we became a family of five much to our shock!
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Also joining us on this trip were our friends: Chad, Leslie, CJ 11, JD 11, and yes JUST like us… a surprise baby boy Zane who is 2.


WHEN?
November 29 through December 4


WHERE?
Port Orleans Riverside Alligator Bayou Rooms for my family
Art of Animation Cars family suite for our friends


HOW?
This will take a bit to explain but I feel I need to give a little bit of my back story to my relevant Disney life. My father was a United States Marine for 22 years. You can imagine the life of the military kids typically involves a lot of moving. We were no exception. In 1983 we found ourselves living in Redlands CA as my dad was stationed at what was then Norton Air Force base (San Bernardino Airport now). I was 9 and my brother was 14. My parents never really took us on many vacations as a family. I don’t have a lot of memories of us going to places as kids. I am not saying I had a bad childhood or had bad parents… we just didn’t do a lot of vacationing.

Except for that one time while living in southern CA my Aunt and her daughter came to visit. My parents decided to take us all to Disneyland for a day. I don’t have a ton of specific memories from that day but some of my favorite were:
  • The first theme park ride I ever rode was POTC. I nearly came out of my skin on the first ‘drop’ :) I was amazed at the ship fight scene.
  • I remember being fairly uneasy about the Haunted mansion, but coming away thinking it wasn’t so bad.
  • My mom and I really enjoyed It’s a Small World.
The one memory that sticks in my mind is that while leaving my parents got me one of those huge multicolored lollipops.
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I remember walking down Main Street USA with that sucker feeling like this was the best day ever as a family.

Fast forward to roughly 2006… Michael my oldest son was 3 ½ years old, and Jennifer was pregnant with Nathan. I think I could honestly say I had not thought about nor paid attention to ANYTHING Disney Park related until one night I was watching the Travel Channel and a show came up about Disney World. I think it was Ultimate Disney World or maybe something Samantha Brown was hosting. Michael was in the room and I noticed he looked up at it and was watching it. Well I left it on and the more and more I watched I was absolutely amazed. I had no ideas about Disney World. I mean I had seen pictures of Spaceship Earth but never equated it to being at Disney World. I always assumed Disney World was another Magic Kingdom.

The more I watched the more I was transported back to 1983 walking down Main Street USA holding that sucker in my hand…

I started thinking to myself: Jeez I have been married since 2001. We didn’t go on a proper honeymoon (No Money) Jennifer and I have NEVER taken a vacation outside of a trip to Colorado in 2002 to see her step sister get married . . Jennifer was pregnant with Michael for that trip to Colorado so Michael had NEVER been outside of Dallas and Longview areas of Texas with the exception of 3 or 4 trips to Jennifer’s mom and stepfather who live in Louisiana. I was turning in to my parents in that I was not developing any memories for my kids with vacations, car trips, plane rides, etc. I decided that we would take a summer family trip by that summer (2007).

Nathan was born in Jan 2007 and guess what?! Children are expensive! So... Summer 2007 came and guess what?… No money!! Then 2008 summer came and went and Michael’s issues became very evident while in preschool and kindergarten. We decided that it might be better for Jennifer to become a SAHM and homeschool Michael. Obviously we lost Jennifer’s income but to us it was worth it, but as a result… You guessed it! No money for a trip.

So starting with 2009 we took a portion of our income tax refund and placed it down for a June trip to Corpus Christi Texas. Just a quick, cheap, 4 day trip to the coast from Dallas. We had a great time! So that was became our M.O. for vacations. I started to make a little more money, things became a bit easier. My wife took a part time evening job as a swim instructor for special needs children.


We did the following…
2011 Galveston TX 4 day trip on Beach Front hotel.
2012 Surfside Beach TX in a Beach House for 7 days (Mattie now with us)
2013 Surfside Beach TX in a Beach House for 7 days

All of the while since 2006…. I was becoming OBSESSED :hyper2: with Disney World. I cannot tell you how many fake trips I planned on the Disney World site. Trying to find the cheapest way to get there or day dreaming for the biggest most expensive trip at a deluxe I could find. Money was always an object. $4000 for 5 to 7 days just seemed sooo out of realm of possibility for us.

I watched everything I could on Travel Channel. I lived for Disney Week on Destination America network like others lived for Shark Week. Working in the IT industry I was pretty ahead of the curb and watched every early 240p definition grainy video I could find about the resorts and theme parks. I planned trips and created itineraries. I ordered planning DVD’s, I bought Frommers Disney travel books. I created Google maps with driving plans since gas prices appeared to preclude us from airline travel. I read a metric ton of DIS trip reports. I started getting on Jennifer’s nerves, my oldest was even getting tired of me showing him YouTube videos and pictures. I was...

Disney Obsessed ™

So now fast forward to January of 2014…

Our family friends (Chad and Leslie) knew of my interest in Disney World. I am sure I probably talked their ears off about it at a BBQ or our annual Halloween bash. Leslie called me out of the blue. She told me they planned on using Chad’s annual bonus check to book a trip to Disney World and wouldn’t be awesome if we could go.

My first and true instinct came out… “I’d ABSOLUTELY love to but we simply can’t afford it. Our annual vacation budget is about $1000.” So we hung up. I was down about it. When would it be our time to go?

Later that night after everyone was asleep I was reading info on your first visit dot net with the idea of getting some basic plans for our friends when an ad on the right hand page came up for the Chase Disney Visa. “Come check out all of our benefits for signing up” or something like that. I did check it out and decided to sign up. I was a bit shocked when they came back and gave me a few minutes later and said… here is your limit… (it was double what I had thought I might need) I then rationalized in my head OK how can we do this responsibly? I said.. Got to be after Thanksgiving in the low priced times up to Christmas. Then I will just pay back with the following year’s income tax return. I was ok with carrying a balance for 3 months or so.


WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY!




TABLE OF CONTENTS


Pre-Trip Planning
Introductions!
Jan 2014 and Planning
The Shawshank Kitchen
Kitchen done and trip back on?
Dining Reservations and 180+10 days to Disney!
Oops I almost forgot one important detail
Travel Day 1 - Wed Nov 26th - 10 Hours to go 300 Miles
Thanksgiving Day. Michael's Big Day. Dreaming Disney
Big Reveal? and 5 Hour Energy is the Devil!
A bad breakfast, some sleep, and some happiness!

Day 1 - Nov 29th
Check In, Resort Exploring, A Very Uncomfortable Scene, and Our Room is Ready

Epcot Evening Day 1 and Dinner Surprise!
Date Night: Dinner and a Test Track
Illuminations and Exhaustion Sets In

Day 2 - Nov 30th
Rope drop you say? Searching for Food and a visit with Woody and Buzz
Monsters! Lunch and that Vacation Altering Change Thing...
Honey I Lost the Kids, Aerial, Ho Hum Dinner, a Fantastic Fantasmic, and Christmas Lights!


Day 3 - Dec 1st
How to crush your child's tiny little heart
A Trip down Memory (Main Street) Lane!
Adventures in Adventureland Part 1
Adventures in Adventureland Part 2
Adventures in Adventureland Part 3
A Little bit of Frontierland
Jennifer and Mattie Explore Frontierland and Liberty Square and Lunch
Crisscrossing the Magic Kingdom!
Ohana and a Surprise Boat Ride!


2015 Galveston Mini Trip Report
Day 1 - Driving to and Arriving in Galveston + Day 2 Beach
Day 3 - Moody Gardens and Beach, Day 4 - Shopping, and 5 - Coming Home.


Day 3 - Dec 1st Continued
Wrapping up the day at Magic Kingdom - Wishes and Celebrate the Magic

Day 4 - Dec 2nd
Back to Epcot and Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
Wandering Around the Showcase. Canada, UK, and International Gateway Bridge
Wandering Around the Showcase. France, Morocco, and Japan

Flying Around the Showcase. MURICA, Italy, Germany, China, Norway + Akershus Dinner!
Good Night Epcot! One More Day to Go!

Day 5 - Dec 3rd
Our last full day at Disney World :( Magic Kingdom All Day!
Day 5 Part 2 - Be Our Guest lunch
Day 5 Part 3 - Tomorrowland Rides
Day 5 Part 4 - I NEEEDDD BUZZZ and bad things!
Day 5 Part 5 - Dinner and Our Last Hours at the Park

Day 6 - Dec 4th
Downtown Disney, Leaving Disney World, Destin Visit, Final Ride Home.
 
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So... now that we are all caught up on my past Disney life, our vacation financial woes, and my massive Disney World obsession. It is January 2014 and I have decided to take my family to Disney World finally!

I brought my wife up to speed after I received my new Lightning McQueen emblazoned Chase Disney Visa . I braced myself for some disapproval. You see, my wife didn't GET Disney World. She typically would roll her eyes when I mentioned it. She would much rather take that money and go to Mexico or something similar. To my surprise she seemed somewhat interested and almost excited. However she was very dubious about charging our way there. I rationalized it and told her my plan to pay it off within months. She gave her approval and next order of business was to contact Chad and Leslie. It is funny because Leslie is like I am (a huge Disney lover) and Chad is like Jennifer (/meh to Disney World). Chad however wanted to make memories for his kids and it is sort of a rite of passage almost to take your family there. Pretty soon Leslie referred to me as her Disney Husband and I called her my Disney Wife :)

So call was made, both were super excited we would be going. Over the next week we worked out the details. Our kids are home schooled and their kids are in a charter school that encouraged the trip. (I know taking kids out of school for these trips can be divisive so I cast no judgement)

ARRIVAL DATE
We decided to arrive the Saturday after Thanksgiving. (Nov 29). We picked this because it worked out for both families. We also wanted the Christmas experience and the lower crowds (hrmmm) and prices.

We both live in Ft Worth area. Chad and Leslie have family in Orlando they had not seen in a while. They opted to drive to Orlando (from Ft Worth :crazy2:) stopping for the night in Mississippi I believe. They would do Thanksgiving at their relatives house and then surprise their kids after about the trip.

We would be heading to Bunkie Louisiana to stay with Jennifer's mom and step father for Thanksgiving (as we do every year). We would then leave Friday evening from Louisiana and I would drive us THROUGH THE NIGHT! :crazy2: to the Orlando area.

SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE!
I always knew I wanted the trip to be a surprise for my kids. They would have no idea until after Thanksgiving. Chad and Leslie wanted theirs to be a surprise too. (More on that later!)

Ok so that gets us up to about Feb 2014. We are all set! I have booked our trip and paid the deposit. Then 3 weeks later the whole thing nearly unraveled and my trip was nearly dead before it started....
 
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Well, not sure if you were just trying to set the bar low but I think you are off to a great start - I can picture you walking down Main St. with a sucker in your hand :goodvibes

love the idea of a Disney wife/husband. I tend to have that with a few people - so I guess makes for a bit of Disney Big Love

I love hearing about the Disney which led to the trip. Seems like a good plan - though your foreshadowing at the end has me worried.:eek:
 
You are off to a great start! Looking forward to hearing more! Love that you are surprising the kids.
 


Thank you for the replies. I will get another post up tonight hopefully.
 
Let me quote one of my favorite movies at this point... The Shawshank Redemption

Red: "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it'Rs the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."

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now let me translate this in Disney speak....

Jay: "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a man going to Disney World can feel, a Disney Obsessed man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across to Orlando. I hope to see Mickey, and shake his hand. I hope Seven Seas Lagoon is as brown-green as it has been in my dreams. I hope."



So Feb 2014 rolls around and we are going to Disney World basically at the beginning of December. As a family we plodded along in our daily lives. I worked, my wife taught our kids and worked in the evening and all was good. Good until I decided to surprise my wife.... Half of the income tax return I received in Feb 2014 had no allocation at this point. I could have been responsible and saved it for the trip, put it in savings, etc. Lol... why do that?!

We bought our 'starter home' in 2005. It was a fairly well maintained 1700 sq ft 3bd 2ba home. It had a galley kitchen with faux butcher block laminate counter tops. We always wanted quartz or granite counter tops. I did a ton of research on Angies List to find a contractor and special. I found a well rated contractor that was running a deal on a builder grade granite. So I had him come out to measure and put counter tops in for about $2500. My wife was super excited. We opted for a black granite to go with our all white Kitchen. I would then add a subway tile back splash. We also purchased a new stainless steel double oven and stainless steel over the range microwave.

This took us in to March. The contractor came out and pulled the old counter top off. A couple of days later his granite guy came out to install the new countertops. Life was GOOD!

or at least I thought it was...

When they brought the granite in they noticed something and started running a level across all of the bottom cabinets they were about to lay the granite on. It turns out there was 3/4 of an inch rise on the counters. If they would have laid the slab down it would have snapped in half... The bottom cabinets were the builder installed but the faux butcher block laminate was NOT original. The previous owner had someone come out and shim a bad install to get it to work for the laminate. Oh boy... The contractor comes back out and says that he can not lay the granite on the current uneven cabinets. The old counters were ripped out and long gone so he could not put them back on. We would have to get new bottom custom cabinets.

The estimate I received on 20 linear feet was $4000 for new custom bottoms. I started hyper ventilating because very quickly that meant 'We just lost Disney World'. I was devastated... :sad: We called Leslie and Chad and explained to them we did not think we would be coming along. This was very rough on me. I authorized the construction of the new cabinets and then fell in to a serious funk. On one hand we would be getting new custom cabinets with soft close drawers, granite counters, new back splash and a new appliances... but on the other hand I had lost my 8 year dream trip.
 
The estimate I received on 20 linear feet was $4000 for new custom bottoms. I started hyper ventilating because very quickly that meant 'We just lost Disney World'. I was devastated... :sad: We called Leslie and Chad and explained to them we did not think we would be coming along. This was very rough on me. I authorized the construction of the new cabinets and then fell in to a serious funk. On one hand we would be getting new custom cabinets with soft close drawers, granite counters, new back splash and a new appliances... but on the other hand I had lost my 8 year dream trip.

Oh no....say it isn't so! I so hope that you did get to go on your dream trip!
 
The kitchen remodel turned out to be a debacle from start to finish and ended up costing another $2500. Not just getting in to trip money, but eating in to savings and emergency funds. I will save you all the gory details but in the end it turned out ok. I would never hire this contractor in a million years again though. These are a couple of pics of the after. Imagine brown cabinents, butcher block formica counter tops for the before. You'll get the idea.

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So I ended up using a bunch of savings and using my new Disney Card to get us to this point. It is now March 2014. All the time this went on though I never actually cancelled the trip. I had planned too on several occasions but each time either something came up or I just didn't want to bother with it.

While at work one day the office manager came around and gave me my 401K statement. I glanced at it and noticed a information part that said something like. "Buying a house? Need a down payment? Borrow against your 401k" A little light bulb went off in my head... :idea: A day later I took a loan out against my 401k to pay off the kitchen part of my Disney Visa. I know the pros and cons on taking 401k loans but some how they didn't seem to be all that bad at that particular moment.

Disney Back On! We re-informed Chad and Leslie we were back on. They were very happy and excited! We both would be doing 6 days 5 nights. Disney Dining Plan (hoping for free dining). No park hopper. Our basic schedule shaped up to be...

Sat Nov 29: Check in. Epcot at Night.
Sun Nov 30: Hollywood Studios with break at mid day
Mon Dec 1: Magic Kingdom with break mid at mid day
Tue Dec 2: Epcot with break at mid day
Wed Dec 3: Magic Kingdom with break mid at mid day
Thu Dec 4: Check out. Downtown Disney on way out.

Next Up? Newbies making ADR's and when families don't agree...
 
Kitchen looks great! And it's an investment over the long run, right? I have borrowed from my 401k on one occasion to finish paying for one of our Disney dream vacations and oddly the market fell that same time right after I pulled out the $$ so it actually worked towards my benefit lol Your itinerary looks great! Keeping my fingers crossed for this vacation to happen!
 
I've only read your first post so far, but thank you so much for sharing! I can't wait to read about your trip.
 

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