GUEST POST BY: VERRONICA MITCHELL
A note from Avagail: When Verronica and I spoke about her travels, she had so many to choose from. As a veteran and military spouse, she’s had her fair share of adventures and global experiences.
For example, she told me about her time in Germany in which she spent time with her husband’s family while barely knowing any German. Initally, when they moved there, she’d be able to communicate with them easily as her husband speaks fluent German. When he deployed, that didn’t stop her from continuing to get to know them; another family member spoke English so she could communicate through them! Out of all her travels though, she chose to write about surprising her children with a Disney vacation.
Being from California, my parents brought me to Disneyland as a child and I’ve been many times as an adult, but Verronica’s story reaffirms the fact that I still need to visit Disney World. Reading through had me smiling from ear to ear; I hope it does for you too!
Being Surprised at a Magical Place in the World
Picture this for a young child. Arriving in Florida thinking that his/her family is making a rest stop for the night to continue on the next day for a family vacation, but instead being told that today is the first day out of a three day Disney vacay! It sounds like something on one of those surprise shows right? But this was something that my husband and I sneakily planned for our son and daughter, who were 8 and 6 at the same time respectively. It was one of the most fulfilling things we have ever done and still talk about it today. Our kids still remember and we even have the video to prove it.
Disney is one of those places that if not everyone, close to everyone would love to go to experience — young and old. I say experience because it’s definitely an experience you will never forget. From the mDisney World is one of those places that if not everyone, close to everyone would love to go to experience — young and old. I say “experience” because it’s definitely an experience you will never forget.
From the moment you drive up to pay for parking to the moment you hop off the tram and wave it goodbye, it’s all quite magical. It’s the joy, the magic and the wonders of it all that makes it so special. When we were figuring out where we could go on our Fall getaway, the thought of going to Disney World was perfect, and even better to not inform the kids. Haha…the perfect master plan!
As a military family, we were able to take advantage of certain perks like finding affordable lodging through the Armed Forces Vacation Club. We found nice accommodations with wonderful amenities including miniature golf, pools and even karaoke. So perfect! And for our passes, we were able to purchase them on our Post Exchange at a discounted amount…another win!
However, we could not purchase two of our passes there since they ran out so we had to wait until we arrived at Disney. This was not a big issue since Disney also has services for the military there. But we had a much bigger win once we arrived there. Stay to the end. I promise it will be good.
Many people wonder how the kids did not pick up on that we were going to Disney World. Ha, such a good question. I’m not quite sure. I think probably because we would visit Florida to visit their Oma and they just didn’t think much of it. When we woke up that morning, we told them that we had a surprise of where we were going and they had to guess.
Needless to say, they didn’t guess initially. My husband even mentioned that we were going to visit a dog by the name of Pluto. We asked, “Where does Pluto live?” and they said “Mickey’s ClubHouse!” Ha, too funny! As they were watching Mickey’s ClubHouse. With us probing and them thinking about where we were going, big Bro finally gave a huge chuckle and jumped up with so much excitement and then followed little Sis.
OMG! I mean the pure moment of that was well worth it. Joy and happiness in the most purest form. Such a fantastic feeling and we were so happy to experience that with them. Needless to say, our time spent there for 3 days was sooo amazing.
We still talk about how my daughter panicked on the Yeti, but then was ready to get back on later or how my son loved the Tower of Terror where the bottom drops from underneath you. I did not experience that. That was all him and my husband — ha, no thank you! Or when we got on the Tea Cups and my husband spun us so fast we couldn’t see and had butterflies in our stomachs. Just amazing!! An experience we will never forget.
As we drove home, we were so happy and tired at the same time. Not once did they ask to go stop at the many carnivals we had passed along the way back home. Disney had filled us up in more ways than one.
Oh, yes that big win I had talked about earlier. Did you think I forgot? Haha, no way! So when we arrived at Disney World to pay for two 3-day passes and the cashier was checking us out, the total came out to be $0. Yes, $0! We thought she had made a mistake and she said, “No, that is correct. This week we are having a military special where you’ll receive two 3 day passes for FREE.”
What!!! OMG! So the money that we were going to use to purchase the tickets, we used on spending cash in the park. What a true blessing and an amazing experience we had. It will go down in the books as one the best memorable vacations and surprises for our family!
We’ve gone back to Disney World once since this experience and recently went on a Disney cruise last summer – we have officially been bitten by the Disney cruise bug for sure. Looking forward to sailing again once COVID is long gone. We’ve loved our Disney experiences and look forward to making more memories.
Cheers to your Disney experience,
VerronicaM
About Verronica
Verronica is a lover of life and always looks at the glass half full. She is a mom of two, 14 year old son and 11 year old daughter, who has been married to her high school sweetheart for 17 years. She’s a veteran and military spouse who has a passion for fashion, teaching Zumba, modeling, and acting. She loves to cook, bake, garden, travel, and blog. She loves anything with lemons.
