Multi-family surprise trip

[toy]

I am counting down the days to our trip to the world and our cruise on the dream. I have to keep my excitement on the inside. This trip is a surprise for my kids. They have been dying to go on the Dream. I suppose I should start with the cast of characters:
I am Toya, 37- also known as the Disney Nut

DH, Jeff, 40- the one who married the Disney Nut and has paid the price for it almost annually

DD, Princess Taylor, 12- My autistic princess who sleeps, eats, and breathes Disney (I don't know where she gets it)

DD, Princess Jasmine, 10- Yep, I named her after Princess Jasmine, I fully admit it.

DS, Prince Jaden, 8- Not ashamed to wear his ears, hold my hand, and skip down Main Street with his daddy

Ganny- Happy to tag along with the crazy Mouse loving family. She is as fun as she looks

DN, Prince RJ- Will go anywhere with his auntie if there is a possibility he will end up in Disney World.

That is the short list. This trip was planned way back in 2007 when we were on the Disney Wonder. We surprised our girls with that cruise. My bff and her husband and 6 month old joined us on that trip. We decided when her baby was potty trained we would do another cruise. Well along came baby #2 and #3. Yep neither one of us was expecting that to happen. Number 3 potty trained very quickly so we booked our trip as soon as the window opened for booking. If we could have camped out on the Disney Cruise website until the dates became available we would have. Our husbands thought we were crazy until the price skyrocketed shortly after we booked. Now we are "the awesome wives that were only looking out for our best financial interest". Yeah... sure! Since our children would bug us to death we decided to keep it a secret. My kids are Disney veterans. Her kids have never been to the parks. We put out an invite to friends and family who want to join us. Lots of people signed up but only a few are actually going. My mother was only too happy to go. She has never been on a cruise. My nephew thinks he is one of our kids so it is only natural that we bring him along too. Another family is joining us with 3 more kids. All together we will have 8 adults and 10 kids.

Next: The secret plan

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

I am looking forward to hearing more. I hope you have a fantastic cruise.

 

[toy]

As I explained before, the trip is a surprise for the kids. My daughter is autistic and would obsess over going to the point of driving me nuts. It is difficult to not just tell her and enjoy the happiness. She spends almost all of her television/electronic time watching you tube videos of the ship. She will ask about twice a week to go on a cruise. Her father just reminds her that it cost a lot of money. She pouts and mumbles a few words under her breath. She might be autistic but she is still a pre-teen.

My plan is to make a signs on big posters that say "We're Going to Disney World NOW". DH and I will hold them up when they get off the buses. We will give them time to potty and buckle up. We will drive 2 hours and pick up my mother. Next stop Disney World. We should arrive on a Saturday morning. Since we did Disney in January we will only do Magic Kingdom. Our measurements show my son is finally tall enough to do all of the rides at Universal Studios. So, we will spend two days there. Our kids will think we are heading home on Thursday morning. We will meet up with my bff and her family for good-bye hugs and pictures. When they get all together for a picture instead of saying "cheese" we will tell them to say "we're going on a Disney cruise"!

 

[anc876]

How fun and what a magical trip to surprise the kids with! Looking forward to seeing more photos as well!

 

[toy]

Nothing makes it official like getting the official paperwork. The documents look very different from the last cruise we took in 2007. It now comes in a nice spiral bound book. I am impressed. Well it doesn't usually take that much.

I immediately did my happy dance and hid it in my car until I could have time to slowly go over it page by page. I'm pretty satisfied with beating my 12 year old to the mailbox. She gets off the bus and says "I wanna go on the cruise mommy". I stare at her in horror and start to stutter. I quickly recover by asking her what she is talking about and quickly changed the subject. She is easily distracted. Her name should have been Dory for the fish in Nemo.

I am determined to work on FE and cruise stuff all weekend.

 

[anamanxs]

Hi, I am also from VA and getting a kick out of reading everyones posts on PTR's. I have never been on a Disney cruise before officially booked about a month ago. We are not going until April 2013; just a 3 day on the Dream. I have been on about 15 cruises but none Disney - so excited can't wait to see my grandchildren's reactions. Can't wait to hear more.