A moment in my life… telling kids they are going on a Disney Cruise.
Disney Cruise Lines emailed me last month and invited me on a press trip on the cruise from
New York City to Canada. Thankfully they emailed me again – because can you believe the first invitation had gotten lost in my inbox due the fact we were traveling and in the middle of the move and internetless life making my work very difficult! I was thrilled to be invited, I had been so bummed not being able to attend the Disney Fantasia ship inaugural cruise this March, we were in Italy at the same time. So obviously – I said yes to the invitation.
Since I had been on several
Disney Cruises before, I knew how much there is to do for the kids without adults – and for the adults without kids. My dream had always been to take a big family trip with several families together, kids, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. It’s such a great cruise experience for multi-generational travel. So I immediately called my mother-in-law and almost “forced” her to buy tickets to come with us. I think she immediately called my sister-in-law and “forced” her to come with us too!
But here is the thing: we didn’t tell the kids. In fact, as I am writing this they still don’t know that we will see their grandma and aunt Lauren in our hotel in New York today, and they are coming with us on the cruise. In fact, we just told kids about the entire trip last Sunday!
The surprise dinner
I made a table centerpiece with some of our Disney memorabilia and with a framed picture of the Disney Cruise ship and a New York City snow globe.
The conversation went something like this.
“Hey, kids, we have a surprise for you. We set a special dinner table for you to tell about it, can you guess what the surprise is?”
“Is it a pet panda?”
“No..?”
“Is it a pet monkey?”
“Um, no!”
“Blah… Is it a pet bunny?”
“NO! It’s not a pet, we are not getting another pet! Can’t you guess just from looking around what it is?”
“Well, will we have a movie night and eat chocolate?”
“Um… great idea and yes, but no, we have ANOTHER surprise.”
“I do see the New York snow globe on the table – are we going to New York? Are we moving back?”
“No, not moving to New York, but YES, we are going to NEW YORK, next Friday, for two days!”
And the questions started pouring in and I had to explain we will only be in the city for 48 hours and we’d head somewhere else, and then finally my son guessed the Disney Cruise, and they just couldn’t believe it! They said they saw the ship picture… but it was just too good to be true that they didn’t even say it aloud. Um, but they thought getting a REAL PANDA as a pet was an option…?
My son is intrigued by Titanic and when he heard we were going to stop in Halifax and tour the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, the final resting place of 121 passengers of the Titanic, he got so excited. And this is why I love Disney travel – it is so much more than characters, entertainment and great food – Disney always manages to offer something educational if you just take the opportunity to learn.
So tomorrow – we are embarking on the Disney Cruise! Looking forward sharing how this trip goes as I again travel alone with the three kids across the Atlantic – and what all we will learn with the kids. And of course, I can’t wait the ladies only time at the spa while the kids are enjoying their own programs.
PS. We set the surprise dinner on our new dining table that we just got… what do you think?
Disclosure: We will be on the cruise as Disney Cruise Lines’ guests, but we purchased additional flights to New York City (from Sweden, mind you!) and an additional state room to bring additional family with us – because we truly think Disney Cruises are amazing family vacations.
