[Pooh Fan]

Well, we made it back yesterday afternoon, and the camera made it home with us!!!! I still have to unpack and finish laundry and get back to reality, but I enjoyed sleeping in a little this morning and hope to begin the trip report in the next few days.

Here are some highlights of the trip: The Dining Plan was wonderful. I can't imagine a trip again without it. We had 9 snack credits left over at the end so we stocked up on stuff for the 2nd half of our trip at Universal. MVMCP is still a must do for us. Christmas has to be the best time of year to go--even if it is more crowded.

We even picked up a few recipes while we were there. Ohana is fast becoming one of our favorite places to eat on property. I could go on and on, but I must go do some laundry.

I promise to post more soon.

[E&B's Mom]

Please include some details of the US/IOA portion for those of us who like that other park!

[Dana]

Welcome home Jeannie! I can't wait to hear all about this trip.

[llama]

Welcome home!

I'd love some news on Universal too!

[alilmagical32]

Welcome Home!

[catfish1999]

So glad your trip was great! Can't wait to hear the details and see some photos!!!

[Pooh Fan]

Day 1: Dec. 14th

I deliberately scheduled a late flight out of town so that the kids would not miss another day of school. This was a surprise trip for them, so I wanted it to seem like a normal day. When Jill got home from school, I was out running around trying to get all of the last minute things done. A normal day as far as she knew--I am still teaching when seh gets home from school. I picked Jacob up from school early. He was a little surprised, but I tol dhim that I had to see the doctor that morning and needed to get some medicine before we flew to Aunt Sharon's house in Dallas. He bought it. All was going well. On cue, Mike arrived at home acting very grouchy. He informed Jill that Mom had messed up and made our flight reservations to Dallas for the wrong day. He really seemed to be upset with me that he had to leave work unexpectedly. He snuck and called me, so I called Jill to explain that I thought I booked the flight for the 15th, but somehow I booked it for the 14th. I told her that I had packed for her already and we would be heading for the airport soon. I rushed through the door and told everyone we had to go now.

We arrived at the airport and the flight seemed like it was on time. Everything looked great. I was very lucky because there was a flight leaving for Dallas right next to the flight leaving for Orlando. We sat down at the Dallas gate. It wasn't long until all the flights were being delayed. Luckily, both the Dallas flight and the Orlando flight were delayed and supposed to leave at about the same time. The kids have not suspected anything yet. Thankfully.

Our 7 PM flight was delayed until 11:42 PM. That was a long wait. I ended up buying DH another newspaper to read, DS a Sports Illustrated magazine to read, DD a Stephen King book (she is now into anything scary), and I settled down to read my John Grisham book.

It was finally time to board. They called the Orlando flight to board and the kids started saying how they wished they were boarding that plane. Then, they announced that they would be boarding the Dallas flight shortly. DH suggested that we get up and get ready to board our flight to Dallas. DS said, "Do you think we could use our passes and get on the flight to Disney?" I said, "Let's try. Maybe we can sneak on to the flight." DD figured it out at that point and got the biggest smile ever on her face. DH and I both gave her the be quiet signal because we wanted DS to figure it out on his own. We started walking to the gate and DS was loudly saying, "I hope they don't figure out that our tickets are for Dallas. I really hope that they let us on the flight to Diseny." The lady in line in front of us said, "I hope you know they are not going to let you on this flight. It is very full." I just smiled at her and said " You never know."

Of course the gate agent let us through and we were walking down the ramp towards the plane. DS said, "Man was that easy. Do yuo think they will figure it out?" DH then told him that we had really bought tickets to go to Disney again this year for Christmas. DS started to cry--not quite the reaction I had hoped for. We asked him what was wrong and he said he really wanted to spend Christmas with Aunt Sharon. We explained to him that we had plans to go to Dallas after we got back from Disney. That seemed to make it better. We all fell asleep on the plane.

We arrived in Orlando a little after 2:00 AM. I went to pick up the rental car while DH got the luggage. I had already done everything I needed to for the car, but DH still had not showed up. I caled him on his cell phone to see what the hold up was, and he said that one of our bags did not make it. He went to file a claim about the missing bag. Of course it had to be the bag with DC in it and all of our Christmas presents, stockings, and decorations. The airline said it would probably turn up on the next flight and they would get it to us.

We got the car and headed straight for Pop Century. We all just wanted a good nights's sleep. We arrived at Pop a little after 3:00 AM and got our room. It was pretty far from everything, but we were only staying 2 nights so we did not care.

As soon as we got to the room, we all fell into bed. Obviously our plans of getting up and hitting EMH at Epcot were a no go. We all needed sleep. We decided to sleep until we woke up and have a rest day the next day.

Day 1 Highlights: Arriving at Disney after a long day.
Day 1 Lowlights: Losing our bag with all of our Christmas stuff in it and DS crying because he woudl not get to spend Christmas with his cousins and aunt.

[Pooh Fan]

Day 2: Dec. 15th

Today we woke up around 10:30 AM and got ready for our first day at Disney. DH called Continental and so far no bag. Hopefully it was going to turn up. We walked around Pop Century and took some pictures as we headed to the Food Court area. I wanted to buy a souvenir mug to add to my collection. We looked around the gift shop area and everyone was hungry, so we decided it was time for breakfast.

We did not have our meal plan yet, so we decided to hit the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I had my eyes on an Advent calendar for quite some time that they had, but they wanted $100. I told DH that if it was marked down to 50% off, I would like to buy it. Of course they had everything for Christmas marked down to 50% off. The Cracker Barrel that we ate at did not have it, so I figured that I was just out of luck. Little did I know at the time, but DH had the helpful lady at the store call around and find one in the Orlando area. He paid for it over the phone and told them he would pick it up later in the week when he could slip away without his wife suspecting anything. He can be sneaky when he wants to.

Next, we decided to hit all the outlets in the area to see if we could find some good deals on souvenirs. We were disappointed to find out that the Character Warehouse was no longer there. They always had the best deals. We found a few things to buy, but nothing was a great deal. After shopping offsite, we decided to hit DTD and shop there before we headed over to Disney Quest. We walked around DTD and did some window-shopping. We knew we would come back later in the week, so we did not want to buy anything else until we saw what was in the parks.

We spent the rest of the day at Disney Quest. DD and I enjoyed a slice of Chocolate Mouse Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. It was delicious. I know we ate dinner somewhere, but I did not write it down, so I could not tell you where. I think it might have been the McDonald’s in DTD, but I could be wrong.


Here are a few pictures from Pop Century:
Well, it did not work. I will try to figure out how to resize the pictures so that it will fit.

[daisyd]

Welcome back! I am so happy to read about your first couple of days!!! You pulled off the surprise! That rocks!

[Pooh Fan]

I will try to post a picture again:

[Pooh Fan]

Originally Posted by daisyd

Welcome back! I am so happy to read about your first couple of days!!! You pulled off the surprise! That rocks!

Thanks! I don't think I will do another surprise trip. DD and I have so much fun planning a trip, and I really missed planning with her. I was really proud of myself for keeping the secret for a year though.

[Pooh Fan]

Here's some more pictures from Day 2

[Cavey]

Welcome home! Love the pictures!

[Jen]

Welcome home!! Great pictures! I can't believe you surprise DS at the airport! How cool is that!

[tiggerlover1971]

welcome home cant wait to hear more