About 9 months ago, after much convincing to both my dad and Scott, my mom and I booked a trip for the 6 of us to stay at the Old Key West Resort on Disney property for a week in June when school let out. We decided to rent DVC points through David's (an online company).
We tried for Boardwalk Villas. And we struck out.
So, we tried for Animal Kingdom. And again, we struck out.
Finally, we went for Old Key West and were in luck. Let the planning begin. Right around this time Sean celebrated his 4th birthday and was working on his handwriting skills. I told him he could write a letter to Mickey asking if we could go. If Mickey wrote him back, we could go to Disney. Secretly, the trip was already booked.
He checked the mail for days upon days. It finally came in November, but I stashed it away to reveal on Christmas morning.
Christmas morning finally came and we revealed the trip to the boys by buying them each a Trunki suitcase by Melissa and Doug and filling it with Disney related gear and toys - stuffed animals, t-shirts, activity pads for the plane rides, cups, etc. And of course, Sean got to open up the postcard that came from Mickey and Pals. It was really exciting!
And from that point on, it was plan, plan, plan! Anybody who warned me that telling the boys 6 months in advance would be torture for them and for us was dead wrong. The boys loved being a part of the planning and researching. They watched the Disney Planning DVD countless times with me, watched youtube videos of the rides so they knew what they wanted to go on, and of course, we counted down the days (great number and scissor skills involved with that!)
I had the round chalkboard signs from my baby shower years ago. I simply added the "ears" and bow and now we have a countdown board!
We started the countdown chain on our chalkboard wall in the playroom at 60 days. I knew Sean needed the work on his scissor cutting skills so this was perfect. Gave them both something to look forward to in the mornings! Even Evan was able to cut a few off toward the end.
As we got closer to packing, I started a pile of things that I found on clearance at the Disney Store and Target that I had been accruing. I also read the blogs about Dollar Store items to buy in advance and did one giant shopping trip. Since we're going in June, we needed cooling towels, misting fans, and stroller fans too. An Amazon wish list helped keep me organized too.
A Pre-K homework assignment involved him writing where he wants to travel to. And of course, he picked Disney. Proud of my little guy! That was two different nights worth of working on letters to be able to write that.
The day these arrived in the mail was so exciting and it really made things feel so real! I bought Scott a "Bit Belt" for his Magic Band since he's been known to lose his Fitbit. A friend at work passed on her Mickey shaped "bling" to put on my band and the boys have special "skins" to put on theirs that have their name and my phone number in case we get separated. No need to buy those temporary tattoos or other wrist bands when we can use the ones they have to wear.
After we made the reveal at Christmas, I knew I wanted to make the boys a picture book using photos I found online of all the big things to do at Disney so they could visualize it. We've had many conversations looking at the pictures and talking about what we'll do and see. I can't wait to replace the stock photos with ones that we took on our trip when we get back.
Smaller projects included the stroller sign that I made out of scrapbook paper, stickers, and ribbon and then laminated. We also needed some pressed pennies containers that we reused our Mini M&M containers and put scrapbook paper around.
Last but not least, I struggled with the autograph book ideas. I went back and forth with making them a book each or ordering custom ones from Etsy. Finally, I decided I wanted to buy the Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters book from Amazon (a hardcover book). I figured they would more than likely look at something like this after we got back and read about each character than just a book of signatures. I took it to Kinko's, had them take off the hardcover binding and re-bind it with a spiral binding, and they also laminated the inside front page and back cover. I'm really pleased with how it turned out! The boys can take turns being the one to bring the book to the character. And now we'll have a much more meaningful keepsake.
I'll also be bringing two picture mats to have some signatures done on so we can frame a picture of us with signatures around it. I'll only bring those to the character dining restaurants we're going to so we don't have to lug it around the parks all day.
And that's it! Months and months of planning and prepping are finally coming to fruition tomorrow morning when we board our early morning flight. I know we're going to have an amazing time no matter what! But, I'd like to think that the extra planning and projects will make it that much more special. Now, fingers crossed for sunny weather and minimal tantrums!
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