Surprise Disney World Trip!

As some of you may have seen in my previous post, I surprised my husband on Christmas Eve with a trip to Disney World! We are leaving on March 28 and will return April 2. I am especially excited for this trip because A) Thomas has never been to Disney World before and B) my dad is coming with us!

(Image courtesy of Google)

I asked my dad to come along on our trip because I have great memories in Disney World with him and the rest of my family! We used to vacation there before my parents split, and it was a blast. After I told my dad about my plans to take Thomas, we would tease Thomas constantly with all of our stories about our visits there, and Thomas finally said, "Bill, when we go to Disney World, I want you to come with us!" He just didn't know it would be so soon! :)

So, how does one plan an entire surprise vacation for someone who is living with them? It ain't easy; I'll tell you that! Here are some of the things I did to organize and plan our secret trip!

Saving money: This was the hardest part! Obviously, a trip to Disney World isn't cheap. I started saving in late July (when I decided on Thomas' Christmas present). I had a little coffee tin that I hid in my bedside drawer, where I would put dollar bills and spare change. That worked until early September, when Thomas found the coffee tin! By that time, it had several hundred dollars, so I told him that it was for his Christmas gift and that he was more than welcome to add to it. He did! :)

Another thing I did was a little more sneaky... since I write our budget and pay the bills each month, I was able to subtract money without him really noticing. Sometimes, I'd take out $100 and he was blissfully unaware. 

I also began selling things on eBay and put all of that money directly into the Disney World fund. I plan to continue selling until the day that we leave for our trip! Hey, every little bit counts!

Making reservations: This part was much easier for me, since my dad is also coming with us. I sent him all of the money I had saved, and he made the reservations for us! Since my dad is retired from the US Air Force, we are staying in a special military resort on Disney property, and he was actually the only one who was able to make the reservation.

We chose the dates easily, because those are the days of my spring break from preschool. My dad requested for vacation, and I emailed Thomas' boss to request the days off for him. His boss was very understanding and helpful about the whole thing, which was very helpful! Thanks, Patrick!

The big surprise: I had been building up Thomas' Christmas gift for months and months! He knew that it was big and expensive, but I had convinced him that it was an iPad. (Note: I only did this because I knew [FOR SURE] that he would be much happier with a Disney trip! I would have never tried to tell him that if the gift was less exciting than an iPad. That would be mean!)

I decided to tell Thomas about the trip by way of his Christmas stocking stuffers. I purchased things like a water bottle, a Mickey Mouse calendar, travel candy, etc. (My sister helped out and bought him an Oregon Ducks drawstring bag, too!) I put all of those things into his stocking, and, at the bottom, put an envelope containing our hotel reservation. We opened gifts on Christmas Eve with my dad, and I wish I could have recorded his reaction! Thomas is so genuinely excited for this trip, and was even more excited when I told him that my dad was coming along with us!

To end this post, here is a picture of my sister, my cousin, and me in 2001 during our Disney World trip. I'm the awkward-looking one in the orange belly shirt! 

Happy weekend!