My Surprise Disney Trip: Wrap-Up TR COMPLETE 5/19/05 About This Page:

[DawnDenise]

<font color="red">It was the weekend after Thanksgiving and I had just gotten home from spending the holiday with my mom. Chuck and I had to go separate ways this holiday since both sides of the family were pulling at us. We finished putting the tree up and Chuck built a fire in the fireplace as I was putting laundry away upstairs. I come walking down the stairs and Chuck is sitting there with that cocky little grin on his face. I question like all wives do, “What did you do?”

Now at this point I am checking all around the living room looking for something that was destroyed by either him or my dog. Nope, everything looks in place. Then out of the corner of my eye, I see one medium sized package under the tree. And the next question I ask is “Is that for me?” He smiles and says yes. I do the kid thing and shake it but to no avail can I figure it out. I sat it back down and took my place on the couch and tried to ignore it sitting there. Chuck asks,”Well, do you wanna open it?” Well of course I do but trying to be the patient person in this situation, I say,”No, I can wait.” This went back and forth for about two hours. Chuck finally just brought it over and sat it on my lap stating “I’ve been keeping this a secret for two months now. I can’t wait any longer.”

So, I open the card, which was very heartfelt and mushy. In his own words, he wrote “I can’t ever repay you for all of your patience and time during the past couple of months, but I will try. I will sum it up in three short words. PACK YOUR BAGS.” At this point, I was all giddy. I have my hopes but didn’t want to get all excited. I open the box and the first thing is an envelope. It contained tanning sessions. Hmmmm…I’m going someplace warm where I will get sun. Next, I unwrap the next gift. It was the Birmbaums book for 2005 to WDW. Little tears started forming. In the final package, was the 2004 Spiral Passporter. I literally jump in his lap and give him kisses all over his face. I was literally crying because I was so happy.

Chuck explains that he had been working with my mom, who is a Disney travel agent for AAA, since September getting all the deposits made, picking the resort, etc. Of course, I couldn’t wait to start planning. I immediately called my mom and gave her a hard time for keeping the secret for so long. </font>

So here are the trip details:

<font color="blue">Dates:
April 16- April 22, 2005

Adventurers:
Me, Dawn (33)
DH, Chuck (28)

Celebration:
Nothing special: a Just Because He Loves Me Trip</font>

NEXT: PRE-TRIP PLANNING (many many changes)

[KrisLuvsDisney]

That is so sweet! I can't wait to hear more after you get back! This is so exciting!

[bsblady01]

have a good trip

[Jillybean]

You've got quite a guy there! Of course, you must be something special yourself to have him do this for you!

Have a great time and report back!

Jill

[Jammers]

Now THAT is a great suprise!
I hope we get to meet up at the Adv. Club on the 17th.

[Tara O'Hara]

What an awesome guy your have, Dawn!! Can't wait to hear about your trip!!

[loobyoxlip]

[ QUOTE ]
Celebration:
Nothing special: a Just Because He Loves Me Trip


[/ QUOTE ]

Awwwww.... I can't believe it's so close now

[Annabel]

Awww how wonderful, I've got tears in my eyes - what a sweetie your DH is Not long to your trip now, can't wait to hear all about it.

Annabel

[lablady]

You MUST keep that guy! What a wonderful man to do something like that!

Maybe we'll see you there! We'll be there 4-13 to 4-20! Have a great trip!

[BritDisFan]

What a lovely lovely surprise, your DH is a star .

Karen

[Happy _Disney_Family]

What a great surprise . Have a great trip. I can't wait to hear all the details!

Jennifer

[DawnDenise]

Pre-trip Planning

<font color="red">Planning. I love planning, especially trips to WDW. We have always stayed at the Value Resorts on our previous trips but Chuck wanted to bump it up a notch. He chose Caribbean Beach Resort, mostly on my mom’s recommendation. I’m looking forward to staying there, but I wouldn’t have cared if I was in a tent. I was going to be in WDW. Mom put in the requests for a king size bed with a preferred view. Don’t know what preferred view is but hey, like I said before, I’m going to be in WDW and will love anything.

Now my mom recommended we go on our own for the airfare as we could probably get it cheaper. We went with Delta on our first two trips but almost fainted when we saw the prices. Moving on to ATA since they have non-stop prices. We were getting excited because they had early times for the day we leave and late times for when we come home. Then, just as we were about to book our flights, they declare bankruptcy. OK….we went through every airline and came up with problems. Either the times sucked or were just outrageously expensive. Finally, we came across Northwest. The times were manageable and the prices great. We got two non-stop round trip tickets for $316. I was happy.


Our first decision to make, in my opinion, was if we were going to do a Dinner Show. Trying not to monopolize the planning, I went to Chuck to get his input. His first reaction was this was my trip so I had to make all the decisions. Ummmmm….no. He’s a closet Disney fanatic and will not readily admit how much he loves the World but I wasn’t about to plan something and not have his input. I finally got him talked into either Mickey’s Backyard BBQ or Hoop Dee Do Revue. We went back and forth for a couple of days and finally decided on HDDR. This was my choice to begin with so I was happy!!

Next, call my mom, our TA, and told her we wanted the HDDR for Monday, April 18th. She emailed me back within 15 minutes giving my confirmation number. Now I had about 20 days before I could even begin with the rest of our PS. I went to the plethora of websites and since the hours for April were not posted, I went with history and approximated. I did this on our last trip and it worked well.

The package that Chuck had picked was the old “Gold Plan” before everything changed over to the Magic Your Way. We had all meals paid for which was great. The bad thing, I rarely eat three meals a day but hey, it’s vacation. Might as well enjoy it. Mom had sent us a Disney Dining book that gave even more of a breakdown of all the restaurants.

We had our favorites that we definitely were planning to go to again. Armed with my Passporter, list of the park hours, and the dining book, Chuck sat at the kitchen table to pound out a couple of possible itineraries. Whatever we decided we had to get the list to my mom by January 16th.

Before I go any further, I have to give my mom a HUGE thank you. She did all the calling for all of my priority seatings, tours, etc. I didn’t have to make one phone call. Of course, I don’t think she wants to be my TA anymore with all the changes that took place. I love ya MOM!!!

Ok, We decided to make PS for Crystal Palace, Le Cellier, Coral Reef, San Angel Inn, 50’s Prime Time Café, and Brown Derby for the FDP.

Mom calls me at work….all they have for the FDP is 3:50pm….she made just a normal PS for 6:00 instead. OK…..guess we’ll have to stand in line for the show. I really love Fantasmic so if we have to wait, we wait. (This changes after hearing they opened up later times.) We were still deciding on other meals and that was an experience in itself. </font>

NEXT: What only one character meal???????

[DawnDenise]

Pre-Planning: Part 2

<font color="red">One morning Chuck wakes up and states that he can’t believe we were only thinking of one character meal. OK….that floored me. I figure, well, I love the character meals but was trying to keep it toned down for him. I immediately pull at the book and tell him to pick another one to go to. He then exclaims “ONLY ONE???” I had to stop what I was doing and look at him. I started laughing so hard. He looked like a little disappointed kid. I tell him to pick the ones he thinks he would like. I put my vote in for Chef Mickey’s and let him pick any others. He chooses the Breakfastosaurus at AK and Ohana’s for Breakfast.

After tossing around some other ideas, here was our tentative schedule.

Saturday (4/16) D: San Angel Inn Sunday (4/17) L: 50’s Prime Time Café D: Brown Derby Monday (4/18) B: Spoodles D: Hoop Dee Do Revue
Tuesday (4/19) B: Breakfastosaurus D: Yachtsman Steakhouse Wednesday (4/20) B: Crystal Palace D: Chef Mickey’s Thursday (4/21)
L: Le Cellier D: Coral Reef Friday (4/22) B: Ohana’s L: Tony’s Town Square.

Not bad if I do say so myself….then the April Hours were posted with the EMH . OH NO!!! Well, apparently going with the past and looking at the previous month was not the way to go. After sorting out the days that needed to change, got back on the phone with mom. Not a big deal she says and begins to make all the calls for me. Next phone call I get is mom stating “You owe me a drink!! And you also owe Carl in Dining Services a drink as well.” Note to self: Next trip home…take mom out to dinner. Send a note of gratitude to Carl.

We basically switched Sunday and Thursday around. I really wanted to take advantage of EMH @ MGM. When I told mom, I heard from my lovely Passporter friends that some later seatings for FDP were opening up the closer we get to going, she was able to get us a 5:50pm seating at Brown Derby.

Meals seem to be set now minus any major changes. Yes….I know things are always subject to change but I believe at least this gives us the ground work.

In the wonderful Gold Package deal, we can take advantage of some of the tours. All righty then!! Time to look at all that information. Chuck was having a hard time picking a tour because he couldn’t see taking the time out to do one. I really wanted to do Keys to the Kingdom and I tried and tried to talk him into it. Nope…he just didn’t want to waste the time. ARGGGGHHHH!! After many days of badgering, he said the only one he would consider doing is the Family Magic Tour since it was only for 2 hours. Ok, at least it is something and it sounds kind of fun. I love scavenger hunts, hopefully we won’t be the only the adults w/o kids!!

So…another call (thank goodness she has a toll free # at work) to mom and she was finding out what days were available while we were there. She calls me back and there are two spots open on 4/17 that she went ahead and booked. But…we then had a problem with our Le Cellier reservation. They had no openings for a party of two for lunch. Well, mom (gotta her) tells them we are a party of 3 since there were plenty of openings for that. I just have to remember to tell them when we check in that our 3rd person couldn’t make it. The CM told her to do this. Too funny!!!!!

Well, the majority of this planned. Now I am just patiently waiting for the day to come. I’ve talked to Jammers and BritDisFan and we have possible meets with them. I have a box full of stuff that has been bought for the trip. I’m trying hard not to pull the suitcases out and just start packing. </font>

Stay Tuned for the rest of the story upon our return!!!

[Annabel]

Thanks for sharing your pre-planning with us And how cool your Mom was your TA - she certainly got everything sorted for you, yay Mom I can't wait to hear all about your trip! Not long now

Annabel

[jakenjess]

Sounds like it's going to be a wonderful trip! Can't wait to hear all about it!