So the kids definitely knew something was up – probably from the minute we landed in Orlando. Here’s how it went down. When we left for Florida, Connor was just not into it. He thought we were going to a gym meet which is not really his cup of tea. I thought he would be thrilled just to be getting out of school, going to Florida, on a plane, to the beach, etc but he was pretty ho hum about it all. And he never made the connection to Disneyworld. Even Cailee who knew many of the girls on her team were going to Disney World after the meet curiously never really pushed that with us.

However, when we arrived at the airport Connor started seeing all the Disney signs and Mickey Mouse souvenirs and he put two and two together realizing we must be close. Then the pestering commenced and boy is that kid persistent when he wants something. Can we go? Are we gonna go?

I was stuck – if I said no, then I would have two devastated kids on my hands, if I said yes, then I spoiled the surprise – so I pushed it off – “we needed to wait until after the meet to talk about it.” That bought me some time at least and kept the focus on the meet. I wouldn’t even talk about when we were going home. Cailee assumed we were staying through the weekend like we do most gym trips but then how do I leave the hotel without a hassle?

No sooner did we get through the meet and it all started again – can we go? what are we doing this weekend? how long are we staying? I used my best poker face but I don’t think it’s very good. The kids would say it’s not good at all. But I held fast to what left of our secret. The night after the meet, I packed everything up (luckily the kids aren’t that aware yet) and while the kids slept the next morning I loaded up the car. Then I just made them get up and get in the car, PJs and all. I told them we were going for donuts. After a while they realized we were going farther than any ol’ donuts but then we arrived at the airport and that really through them off. To make matters worse, JJ and I didn’t do so well coordinating our meeting place, so the kids knew something was up when I kept calling him asking him where he was. Long story short (or longer), we finally found him and revealed the secret. They were thrilled! Cailee admits she believed we were going to Disney but both were completely surprised about the cruise – so maybe I’m not terrible at secrets after all.

We checked into the Art of Animation resort. We chose it, well because it was all that was available since I did all the booking last minute, but then again we decided we actually preferred it. The room was huge, it was Car themed (since so much of the trip so far had been Cailee focused we decided to make this Connor focused, much to Cailee’s despair). The resort was pretty cool too with a large pool, nice running path, and true to life decor (in the spirit of Radiator Springs). Connor was eating it up! Soon after we checked in, we headed back out to Magic Kingdom and spent the day there. We covered a lot of ground thanks to fast passes. The kids were on a mission for Minnie and Mickie ears and fell in love with frozen lemonades as a cool treat. We ended the day with a character dinner at Crystal Palace, while the food all seems the same to me, the place was a first for us. Little did I know that it was the characters from Winnie the Pooh which included Piglet – this literally made one pig loving kiddo’s day.

https://photos.amidewar.com/2018/April-27-2018/