Planning and announcing a Disney surprise

Having had such a good time at Disneyland Paris at the end of April 2022, we couldn’t stop talking about it, how good it was and how we wanted to go back.

We had been talking to my mum about it, and how amazing the 30th anniversary celebration was, and just about how magical Disney was. Mum asked if we would consider taking her and my nephew, who was 8, obviously me and Beans agreed. We had only ever done Disney as the two of us, so for us taking people that had never been before was really exciting.

We started researching, and planning, we had decided on May 2023 during half term, Mikey would be 9 by then. When we first decided the dates weren’t released to book, but that didn’t stop the ummming and arrring about which hotel to book, how many days to go for, how to get there. We also debated about booking a hotel with a swimming pool, which we decided we wanted.

Mikey is a big Spider-Man fan, so originally we talked about booking Hotel New York: The Art of Marvel, but with Avengers Campus opening in the summer they were stopping the Spider-Man meet and greet at the hotel and moving Spider-Man to Avengers Campus.

Having taken this into consideration, we decided to book Disney’s Sequoia Lodge. Beans and I had stayed there before and really liked it. We also liked it location to the Parks. The theming is lovely, we really liked the woodland feel.

On 31st August 2022 our dates were released to book, we had decided on 4 days, 3 nights arriving on the Monday. We weren’t yet able to book our ferry as they hadn’t opened booking yet. We had decided to get the overnight ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe on the Sunday night, and the Thursday overnight ferry for our return so we could maximise our time in Disney.

I was desperate to tell Mikey about mum was saying we shouldn’t tell him till after Christmas, which was months away.

I started planning for telling Mikey the news, and wanted to make the reveal super memorable, so took to the internet, and starting building up a surprise stash.

Having lost his grandad earlier in the year Mikey decided he wanted to do a sponsored walk to raise money for Devon Air Ambulance, who had attended his grandad, to show how appreciated they are.

He decided he was going to walk 5km along the seafront at Exmouth in his pajamas, and his fundraising began.
On 1st October 2022 at 6am with his mum for company he completed his walk. He raised an amazing £1782.50.

Being proud of him Beans and I suggested to mum that we told him about the trip the following weekend when we were visiting Exmouth, so we could tell him all together. So the plan was set.

Beans found a customisable Disney ticket and took pleasure it customising it for Mikey.

Now to announce the surprise, which none of us thought to film!!
Mum called Mikey into their dining room, saying they needed to have words. She then gave him an envelope with the ticket in.

He opened it, read it, reread it, and said “really, you’re kidding me”. We said no we weren’t kidding, him, mum, Beans and I would all be going. And yes that meant his little sister wasn’t going.

It was then that I handed over the bag we had prepared. The list of where everything was from, with pictures, will be listed at the end
We had gone for an Avengers drawstring bag, inside the bag there was a Spider-Man tee, Thor tank top, Captain America pin, Spider-Man ears, Disney Pride ears (for mum), Avengers first visit badge, Princess first visit badge (for mum), maps of the parks, map of the hotel, personalised Avengers autograph book and a Spider-Man lanyard.

Mikey was super excited, and his ears went straight on. We started talking about what he would see when we got there, and what the rides were like.

At the end of October I was able to book the ferry, telling Mikey he would get to sleep on a ship in a bunk bed produced a very large grin.

For Christmas he got some more ears ready for the trip, the excitement was building.

Working out the final logistics for the trip came in March 2023, when we booked train tickets for mum and Mikey from Exeter St David’s to Salisbury, where Beans and I would meet them, drive to Newhaven, ferry across to Dieppe, then drive to the hotel. Mikey was super excited about all the different travel options,

Now it was just time to wait for the trip to arrive.

TTFN, Titch

Avengers drawstring bag from Amazon