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SeansMom
03-19-2005, 09:51 AM
Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

Our oldest son just returned to Ft. Hood Texas from over a year serving in Iraq. We had already planned a trip to Disneyland months ago for our youngest son's birthday. Our oldest son wants to meet us there April 3rd (his leave starts April 2nd) and SURPRISE our youngest son.

Any suggestions on:

A good place for our oldest son to "ambush" our youngest?

Has anyone ever had Disney folk help engineer this? We thought it would be great to also have a character, but know that is asking A LOT!

Also...our oldest wants his own hotel and will be paying his own way. Does anybody know of a less expensive hotel he could stay in (We're paying $120/night at the Sheraton, which is a little out of his budget.) What about military discounts?

Any other suggestions???? I'm just so excited and happy to have my son back in one piece I can hardly think :D !!!

Thanks for all your help, in advance.

Michelle

Crazy4DL
03-19-2005, 09:56 AM
I don't have any good suggestions but I am sure these other MPers will . . . BUT just had to say OH WOW that is so exciting for your family. Have the very best trip - you all deserve it!!:)

sierranevada
03-19-2005, 10:05 AM
First of all - Congratulations on the great news that your son is coming home!!!

I would first ask the Sheraton if the offer a military discount. I thought most major chains did. I would also call WDT and ask them about Good Neighbor discounts. Hopefully some other posters have better info on military discounts!

bradk
03-19-2005, 10:06 AM
i'd suggest downloading travelaxe.com and using that to find hotel rates and vacancies. april 3 is really soon, so you're either going to have incredible luck, or it's going to be a challenge. a lot of hotels have military discounted rates as well.

if you booked through DTC, i would suggest giving vacation planning a call. i don't think it'd all be as hard as you might think it is to do something extraordinary so to speak, but the hard part would be to pre-arranging something. if you booked this all on your own, i'm sure if you're able to come up with a solid plan, you'd have very little problems finding a cast member on the spot to help execute it.

personally, it's hard for me to give recommendations for anything like that because i think for the best possible experience, you need to know the person in question and plan accordingly. in this case, i doubt anything you can come up with will come close to the reunion itself, but if i were to throw some ideas out there, i'd suggest maybe incorporating BLAB somehow (which seems appropriate to me), or the other idea i had was maybe somehow being able to arrange with the greeter cm at an attraction that takes photos like splash mountain to arrange it so after you're all seated, your oldest can be seated right behind you so when you go to view the photo at the kiosk, you can all be 'surprised' by the guy behind you who looks remarkably like your son.

edit: not to mention the photo would make a pretty good memento and story in my opinion.

MammaSilva
03-19-2005, 10:09 AM
Assuming you guys all have cell phones so you can coordinate a bit, I'd really suggest City Hall for the ambush, you really NEED to stop in and get the birthday boy a sticker don't you? I'd Definately contact Disney about this, I don't know if they can or will do anything specific, but when a couple of our very own padders were deployed they did extend their Annual pass expiration dates so it's worth the effort.

Please, give your son our deepest thanks!


Edited to add this... sorry for skimming and missing the want a character, but I can tell you that the CM's at Mickeys House are wonderful and I'm sure would assist in this if given the chance, but I have to say as a MOM I don't know if I'd be able to wait that long to see the boy, so that was why I suggested City Hall, get in the park and surprise the little brother and the way city hall is laid out with the two rooms it would be easier to 'hide' the surprise.

kohl
03-19-2005, 10:10 AM
My husband is in the military and we have gotten some really cheap rates by calling Disneyland reservations. Paradise Pier is the cheapest of the 3. He can also reserve up to 3 rooms with the military discount. It is worth it to call and check. You can also call for him and they will give the discount. He need to show military ID when you check in.

Drince88
03-19-2005, 10:49 AM
Not necessarily part of the surpise part, but does DL do a "Veteran of the Day" for the Flag Retreat? Even if he's not technically a Veteran (do you have to be dischared?) I'm sure (if they do this there) they'd be more than happy to have an active duty service member just returned to accept the flag at the ceremony. (It might just be a WDW, so regulars, please help with this!)

And thanks to him (and to you) for the service!

Lani
03-19-2005, 10:50 AM
Edited to add this... sorry for skimming and missing the want a character, but I can tell you that the CM's at Mickeys House are wonderful and I'm sure would assist in this if given the chance, but I have to say as a MOM I don't know if I'd be able to wait that long to see the boy, so that was why I suggested City Hall, get in the park and surprise the little brother and the way city hall is laid out with the two rooms it would be easier to 'hide' the surprise.Sean's mom -- please thank your son for his service to our country. :)

City Hall would be great -- the CMs there are the highest trained CMs for customer service skills in the whole park. Don't forget they have a special "birthday phone" on the counter at City Hall, so he can hear a special birthday message from Goofy, too!

City Hall is "separated" in two adjoining rooms with a bit of a partition by the back wall, so you can even have the special reunion set up there.

Also, Town Square is a great place for meeting characters.

TOTFan
03-19-2005, 12:13 PM
What days are you going? How many night? Would be easier to help you with that. Thanks!

MammaSilva
03-19-2005, 12:46 PM
Michelle,

Check your PM's :)

SeansMom
03-19-2005, 01:21 PM
We'll be arriving the afternoon of April 3rd. Our soldier should be there early afternoon. I'm crossing my fingers we can pull off something great!!! Thanks for all the help and suggestions. If I can get the little one out of the house I'll call the planning number :)
I can hardly sit still I'm so excited!!!

Lani
03-19-2005, 01:30 PM
Hmmm... maybe you can coordinate something like this: Take your youngest son to Disneyland, and then to City Hall under the guise that he has to get a special birthday sticker to make sure everyone knows it's his birthday.

Get him to the counter, and make sure you have him make his birthday phone call to Goofy. Then ask him if he has any birthday wishes. If in case he doesn't mention his brother, you might ask him if there's anyone else from his family he wished he could spend his Disneyland trip with. Then as soon as he mentions your oldest son, you can tell him that with Disney magic, his wish might just come true. Then have your oldest son appear! :)

You might pass a camera onto the City Hall CM so they can take pictures of the reunion, too! :) Make sure they take photos of everyone in your party before you leave, too.

Mermaid
03-19-2005, 03:24 PM
I love Lani's idea!! I got teary-eyed just reading it!! Let us know how it goes whatever you decide!

CoasterChickie
03-19-2005, 03:33 PM
There are some great suggestions here. I also like it when reunuions are done non-chalantly. Like you get in line for a ride when suddenly you look over and see someone you never in a million years expected to see. That way is really fun for onlookers to witness too because people's faces are so funny when they are totally surprised!!! :D

chazcrew
03-19-2005, 04:16 PM
Wow, what exciting news! Kudos to your son for his service to his country. I have no ideas, but I think Lani's sounds great. I hope it's a huge surprise, and a huge success, and I hope you'll come back and tell everyone how it went. I got a huge smile on my face just thinking about it.

CrazyTrain
03-19-2005, 06:05 PM
I would also talk to someone at his base about discounts. :)

I can't wait to hear how this turns out!

uvsc_wolverine
03-19-2005, 09:34 PM
I was going to suggest something else, but I like Lani's idea best. Mine was to be walking down Main Street. You'd have to plan a time/specific place on Main Street. Your oldest would have to have a cell phone - he would call to talk to the younger brother to wish him a happy birthday. Hopefully the younger would say that he wishes the older could be there. At the point the older tells him to turn around and find his older brother standing behind him.

bradk
03-19-2005, 09:35 PM
i still like my splash mountain idea. darnit.

Lani
03-19-2005, 09:45 PM
i still like my splash mountain idea. darnit.Given the queue area that might be a little difficult to make sure the youngest son doesn't accidentally turn around, though, maybe?

bradk
03-19-2005, 09:49 PM
well that's why i suggested talking with the greeter. in my demented mind, the oldest son wouldn't be in the queue. when they load the boat, the family would be in front and then the oldest son would get in back after they're seated. give him a baseball cap, fake facial hair and sunglasses for when he passes by and noone will notice.

in fact, with a cheap disguise like that and a book in hand, he might even be able to get into the queue behind. maybe even a couple of places behind the family. i'm sure he could convince the 2 or 3 people ahead of him to get behind his family. as long as he isn't facing foward at all times in plain sight, it has a chance.

kohl
03-20-2005, 06:50 AM
I also forgot to say that he can get great prices on Disneyland tickets for everyone. My husband alsways buys them for whoever is coming with us.

tod
03-20-2005, 08:25 AM
Nobody thought of setting something up at the Wishing Well?

Hell, if you can get the Disney folks on board, all the better. "Here you go, throw the coin in and make a wish... Oh, look, here comes Snow White... And who's that with him...?"

Call the park at 714 781 4000, see if they have a military liaison or the Public Relations department, the way things are going nowadays they would love to do anything for our men and women in uniform (as would we all) so take the shot, it could be the story they tell their grandchildren at the 100th anniversary in 2055.

City Hall. Do me a favour.

--t

SeansMom
03-20-2005, 08:36 AM
Brad...I actually do like this idea, but coming from a Mom who hasn't seen her son in 16 months, the SUSPENSE would be too much...plus, as soon as I knew he was behind me I'd be one of those stupid people climbing all over the ride just asking for an accident 'cause I'd want to hug him too bad!!!

Lani's idea seems good...but TOD...the WISHING WELL...one of my favorite places in the whole park!!!

Now...if Disney would just help. I snuck out of the house yesterday and called their planning line. The guy was really no help (although he did want to sell us a nice basket for our younger son's birthday....lol). :( I'll try asking for a military liasion person when I can sneak another call. Maybe I'll have better luck that way :).

So...maybe city hall could help us coordinate something by the wishing well. That would be pretty magical!

By the way...you are all GREAT...I appreciate the help so much!!! No matter where it happens, it will be magical!

MammaSilva
03-20-2005, 09:01 AM
Michelle, I'm not even sure if this still exsists but there used to be a program called Happy Hearts that I had contacted once a LONG (we're talking 12 years ago) ago and they helped us with a meet and greet for the special olympics kids. Now we know that this isn't anything like that, BUT like others have said, Disney is very supportive of our Military so if they tell you they don't have a Military Liason, ask if they have the Happy Hearts program still and see if you can connect with them....just out of curiousity, how old is the younger son ?

bradk
03-20-2005, 12:12 PM
Brad...I actually do like this idea, but coming from a Mom who hasn't seen her son in 16 months, the SUSPENSE would be too much...plus, as soon as I knew he was behind me I'd be one of those stupid people climbing all over the ride just asking for an accident 'cause I'd want to hug him too bad!!!

well i'm sure you can run to the 'bathroom' real quick beforehand and have a quick reunion beforehand.

i will not let the dream die :)