{"id":38345,"date":"2015-04-02T13:00:59","date_gmt":"2015-04-02T17:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/?p=38345"},"modified":"2022-05-05T00:30:56","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T04:30:56","slug":"surprise-going-disney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/surprise-going-disney\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise! We’re Going to Disney!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"surprise<\/a><\/p>\n

We went on a two week land (Disney World) and sea (Disney Cruise Line) adventure recently. One of the hardest parts was planning it all without telling my six year old daughter. We booked the trip 365 days before our departure. It was pure torture for me to wait that long, and I didn\u2019t want my daughter to suffer the same fate.<\/p>\n

On a similar trip when she was only two, we told her the morning we were leaving. \u00a0I would totally recommend that route if you have young children, as you only want to answer the \u201chow many days \u2018til Disney\u201d question so many times! \u00a0But now that she is older I knew she would want\u00a0to provide input, by deciding which princess dresses she packed and what she wanted\u00a0to entertain herself with on the airplane. It would also gave her some time to save up spending money for the trip.<\/p>\n

I was sure I wanted to tell her, but I wasn’t sure how. I considered many different ways to surprise her with the news, and finally decided on a few different ways, which continued to fuel her excitement up until the day of departure.<\/p>\n

A Disney trip is exciting enough, but even bigger news for us was that we would be traveling with her cousins to meet the mouse. \u00a0There were 5 children going on the adventure, so the first clue was a single word wrapped for each cousin. \u00a0They each unwrapped a word (\u201cWe\u201d \u201care\u201d \u201call\u201d \u201cgoing\u201d \u201cto\u201d) and figured out how to put them in order to make a sentence. \u00a0Then Grandma, who was joining us on the journey, unwrapped the final word: \u00a0\u201cDISNEY!\u201d \u00a0We couldn’t all be in the same place for the grand announcement, but FaceTime made us all feel like we were together!<\/p>\n

Next we had Mickey and Minnie call my princess to tell her how excited they were that she would be joining them on a Disney Cruise. Did you know that through Disney Cruise Line you can arrange a \u201csurprise\u201d phone call from Mickey, Goofy, or Mickey and Minnie? \u00a0It is free, and you can select the day\/time for the call. If you book the Play, Stay and Dine package through Disney World you can arrange a free character call from Ariel, Lumiere, or Sebastian (you will need the redemption code from your travel documents).
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4106<\/p>\n

I also made a countdown chain. There are some great ideas on Pinterest for making Mickey, Minnie or Princess countdown chains. I like this idea because it is both simple and inexpensive! \u00a0I decided to make a Mickey Mouse chain and wrap it up as one of her gifts to open after she found out we were going. \u00a0This was such a great idea, because it saved me from answering the \u201chow many days\u201d question. \u00a0We traveled to Florida the day before our cruise departed, and my daughter even packed the last circle of the chain in her carry on.<\/p>\n

I found some other ideas that I loved and will keep in mind for a future surprise:<\/p>\n

Puzzle \u2013 Take a photo from a past Disney trip or a picture of a favorite character and turn it into a jigsaw puzzle. \u00a0Here is a simple video<\/a> showing how to turn a photograph into a puzzle using Microsoft Word. \u00a0You could then print it out on cardstock or heavier material to create your puzzle.<\/p>\n

\"puzzleword\"<\/p>\n

New suitcase \u2013 Perhaps one with a favorite character on the outside to pack for the trip.<\/p>\n

A packed travel bag \u2013 Fill it with anything she might need for the journey or the destination. \u00a0This could include:<\/p>\n