Disney Vacation Reveal

Back in June, my dad called and invited us to join them on a trip to Disney World!  We were so excited.  We decided to go the week of October 12, because the girls had the 14th off of school for Columbus Day.  That way they would only miss 4 days of school instead of 5.  We made the reservations, got the plane tickets, made dining and other fun reservations, and decided to wait to tell the girls.  About a week after we finished making all the plans, we found out the school district had changed the calendar: school would be in session on Columbus Day.  Well, I guess the girls are just going to miss 5 days of school instead of 4.

We wanted to do some kind of fun reveal to let our girls know about the trip.  After a little research for ideas on the internet, we decided a gradual reveal would be best for our family.  Our girls love surprises, and this helped to build up the suspense.  It also allowed us to pack throughout the week without suspicions.

 We printed cards with picture clues to let them open for the 6 days prior to the trip.  The back of the pictures was a kind of puzzle, when put together was a Mickey head.  We purposely decided to not give any clues as to whether their guesses were right or wrong, nor would we give any direction to the puzzle on the back.  I wish I had taken pictures of each day as they opened the clues, but I didn't.  So, here's basically how it went.

 Day 1, Sunday: Ella opened the first envelope to reveal a picture of a suitcase.  They were quick to figure out we were going somewhere, but the guesses as to where were pretty varied.  Most of them centered around grandparents houses and places we had been before.

Day 2, Monday: Emma opened the picture of the hotel.  The picture has some water by the hotel, so they thought we were going back to the beach.  Emma then noticed the black ink on the back.  She put them together like this:

 and announced, "It's gonna be a Mickey."  Bryan and I couldn't believe it.  We laughed so hard.  However, luckily, they didn't put the Mickey together with the other clues and to figure it out just yet.  This is where those pieces actually go:

 Day 3, Tuesday:  Ella opens the picture of the airplane.  More vacation guesses, but nothing exactly right.  I think Disney may have been one of the guesses, but that guess bore the same amount of weight as all the others.

Day 4, Wednesday: Emma opens the picture of Florida.  They had no idea what that picture was, but Emma quickly turned them over and put the puzzle as together as possible.

Day 5, Thursday: Ella opens the picture of the roller coaster.  They quickly begin guessing our local amusement park or Six Flags.  However, when they reviewed all the clues they weren't so sure because we don't have to fly to get to our local amusement park (or pack a suitcase or stay in a hotel for that matter), and we've always driven to Six Flags also.  They really began thinking hard about Disney World as a possibility.  By bed time, they had pretty much made up their minds that we were going to Disney World.  So, I asked them if they would be disappointed if we weren't going to Disney World, and their answers really matched their personalities.  Ella, "No.  Because I know that wherever we go it will be fun."  Emma, "Yes, because I really think that's where we are going and I really want to go there."

Day 6, Friday, Reveal Day:  They opened the final clue, a picture of Mickey and the gang in front of Cinderella's castle together.

 "YES!!! We were right!"

 And we are leaving in the morning:

 Emma ran and gathered all the clues and began working on the puzzle:

 She was right, it's a Mickey:

We then gave them a gift with a new coloring book, notebook, headphones, multi-colored pen, etc. for the travel time.

We are so excited to be leaving in the morning!!