Shhhhh...can you keep a secret?

From our children that is. We are planning to surprise the kids with a trip to Disney for part of their Christmas. We knew we wanted to take a trip with the kids later this year and the debate was Fall or Christmas season. Christmas won out just because on our last trip AG was particular about certain things and claiming they 'scared' him. (Which Andy found really annoying since these things were previously some of his favorite things...like riding Pirates of the Caribbean.) In the fall they have Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween and while the title claims to not be scary we decided to skip it this year. And AG really, really loves all things Christmas. The plan was to hope for a bounceback offer when we were there for our long weekend and book it then. If there wasn't one available we'd wait for the annual pass discounts to be released for that season and book then. For those that don't know what a bounceback offer is it is Disney's way off getting you to plan your next trip before you leave your current one. The perk of a bounceback offer is that you can get a great rate on your room, usually 35-40% off the rack rate, you just have to be willing to travel during certain weeks.

Well, sure enough there was a bounceback offer in our room and the week we were interested in was available to book. Then the question was what resort do we want and what are our goals for this trip. (When planning a Disney trip, especially with small children, it helps to have an idea of what you are trying to accomplish. This frees you up so that you don't feel pressure to try and do everything...reality is you could never see and do it all in one trip! Period.) So, our goal for this trip is to enjoy all the special things Disney does just for the Christmas season. Our plan is to go for a Sunday-Thursday so we need to be able to maximize our time in the parks. With that in mind we also wanted to splurge on where we stayed. We spend so much time in the parks that Value/Moderate resorts suit our needs just fine. I really wanted to stay somewhere that is known for being decked out in their Christmas decorations. After discussing it at length we decided to see if there was availability at the Wilderness Lodge. (Which my friend Evan has raved about!) Sure enough they had availability but it was limited. Thankfully, what we were interested in was available. We were able to book a bunk bed room as a surprise for the kids. We requested bedrails for the bottom bunk for Avi-Kate and the top bunk has rails already on it for AG. (We'll leave the pack'n'play at home this trip.)

There you have it...the beginnings of our next family Disney trip. I've already got lots of plans in the works and will be posting about them as they come together officially. Next milestone will be in ten days or so...at that point we'll be at our 180 day booking window and I can book our dining reservations. More to come and here are a few pictures from our last Christmas trip we took in 2010.