Surprise Trip to Disney World for Your Family

If you would like to take a trip to Disney World and surprise your children and have a fantastic Christmas or other holiday in the process please continue to check out how we made our children's Christmas fantastic and planned a huge vacation for the entire family. We decided we wanted to wait until our youngest would be old enough to remember so we planned and saved so we could make the most out of the trip as we knew it would be awhile before we ever made it back to Florida. My husband and I sat down and looked at a bunch of brochures to see what other sites and attractions we wanted to see while we were there. We had a huge itinerary planned and decided we would let them play a game a Christmas to unravel the vacation with gifts pertaining to our trip, even though we were not going until June.

We planned every day out to a detailed account of what attraction we would visit and how much it would cost and went from there to complete our planning. I ended up doing most of that, but my husband had a huge say in all we were going to do and what we thought the kids would enjoy the most. We were gone for almost two weeks and had a blast. Here is everything we did, and then I will tell you how we went about scheduling and planning everything to get the most out of our trip. We spent 4 days at Disney World, one each at Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios. ; In which we really needed 2 days for Epcot and Magic Kingdom. We got done earlier then we had planned at Animal Kingdom, so that day we decided to go to the Gulf of Mexico and stayed until the sun set, it was a wonderful day. And the last thing we did while there was visit Ripley's Believe it or Not in Orlando.

We spent one day at Gatorland in Orlando which was not only beautiful but very interesting, we were glad we went there and afterwards we went to Cocoa Beach, we spent one day at Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, one day at Sea World in Orlando and a day at Universal Studios of Orlando as well. Yes, we wanted to do it all! While at Cocoa Beach we visited Ron Jon's Surf Shop and that was very interesting. The kids had a blast in there just looking for stuff to take to the ocean with them. We also decided that we wanted to do some road tripping while out and about, so on our way home we decided to have and "Elvis" weekend. We went through Tupelo, MS. to see Elvis Presley's birthplace, then headed to Memphis to See Graceland and the Elvis Museum. Of course this was more for us adults who loved and remembered Elvis, but the kids enjoyed the museum with all of the cars and were in amazement over his home. While in Memphis we went to Beale Street and had a blast, we ate at Elvis Presley's Restaurant and had live entertainment in which the kids enjoyed watching as well, sat in BB King's club for a nice cool tea and enjoyed all of the shops; if you go back in the evening, you must visit Wet Willie's. We also went to the Memphis Zoo, visited Sun Studio where Elvis recorded and the Hard Rock Cafe, which is always neat to see. This was a nice pace from the straight through drive we took on the way to Florida.

While in Florida we chose to stay at a cheap motel so we could afford to do more fun things rather then spend a lot of money to sleep. We found a nice little motel only about 15 minutes from Disney World that had a pool incase we had time to do some swimming and we were set to go. We did splurge in Tennessee and stayed at the Heartbreak Hotel, which was very nice and with a short distance of every where we wanted to see while there. We wanted to save time and money so we tried to plan everything as thoroughly as possible. Here is how the fun began though for the kids at Christmas time.

I bought little presents, most under $5, and each present had a card in it with a letter of places we were going to visit. The more little presents they opened the more excited they got because they wanted to figure out what was happening. They each got a pair of sunglasses, a small back pack (water resistant), a water bottle, swimsuit, a stuffed animal, a small acrylic gator from our local zoo, the movie Twister with 3 letters in that package ( I knew that was a ride at Universal), and Aerosmith CD, autograph books for them to design themselves, Snack containers with Pooh characters on them and so much more. It was huge! My oldest daughter thought she had it figured out a couple of times, then a gift would throw her off, it was a joy to watch them work together to figure out what we were doing. The cards were different colors for each place so they knew what cards went with each place. It was a gigantic fun puzzle for them. Then after they figured out everything we showed them our tickets to Disney World and you would have thought their faces could have lit up Magic Kingdom.

After we finished with our normal gifts we sat down over dinner and talked about all we would do. We told them how much spending money they would each have and if they wanted more they would have to earn it or ask for money for their birthdays. They ended up having almost more money to spend then we did on frivolous stuff by the time grandparents gave them money and such. They were ecstatic!

I had called Disney and planned dinners for us at the theme parks, which is recommended to do at least 4-6 months in advance, otherwise you may not get in. We ate breakfast at the Palace with the Prince's and Princess' and the Fairy Godmother was at the entrance to greet everyone. We had lunch at Tony's Restaurant in Magic Kingdom as well as dinner with Pooh and friends that evening. The one night we went to the Grand Floridian to eat with the famous villains of Disney movies, it was awesome. That is one thing we did not want to cut out of our trip, as we knew the kids would really enjoy meeting the characters up close and personal. They have so many dining experiences, no matter which your favorite character is, I am sure you could find time to dine with them some where. It is an experience of a lifetime and so much joy.

For our trip down we took a couple of coolers with soda and water and had food as well. We rented a van because we decided it was better to use someone else's mileage and put the wear and tear on that vehicle instead of our own, plus it was not really that expensive if you return it to the same location you picked it up. With seven of us going it was also a lot cheaper to drive then to fly and we all ready had a vehicle so we did not have to pay for air fair then rent a car on top of that. We brought stuff to make sandwiches, had snack foods and fruits and veggies for the trip and most of our stay at the motel. We wanted to save money on eating out and we knew what dinners and lunches were planned, but any time we were not at a theme park, we were able to eat very reasonably and save on expenses that way. We took our own pillows to have in the van as well as at the motel and towels as well. We were also sure to pack one set of clothes for cooler climate as it is not always predictable and it ended up raining a couple of the days we were there, so it was a good thing we did.

There are so many things to do in the Orlando vicinity that if you do not like the sites we chose look for others accommodating to your desires and hobbies. My husband wanted to play golf no matter what, the kids I knew wanted to ride tons of rides, see characters and pet dolphins and I wanted to ride rides and see Graceland and swim, so we all got to do what we wanted plus more, so it was a lot of fun and one heck of a trip.

So if you are looking for somewhere to have a grand vacation and fun for the whole family was well as an added surprise bonus for them, this is the way to go. The kids had something to look forward to the rest of the school year as well as for summer and they worked hard to save money to have to spend, as well as talked about the cool way they found out they were going to all of these neat places. I wish I would have had my digital camera before we went, because I took almost 22 roles of film, as well as went through six video tapes. These memories are ours to treasure for a lifetime and I hope this will help you in planning your memorable trip.