Minnie Mouse, here we come …

So. Disneyworld. My apologies for not updating this sooner. In fact, Crystal emailed me several weeks ago telling me she just had to know Mia’s response, and I was so grateful for the reminder!

I wrote recently about how my niece, Mia, is getting a trip to Disneyworld for her 5th birthday (technically, all the nieces and nephews will be offered this trip the year they turn 5, but Mia is the oldest so she gets it first.)

And I wrote about how I was going to tell her at her birthday party.

But what I didn’t do was share her reaction! I’m so lame. So, here it is …

First, the scene. It was Mia’s “friend” birthday party, so all of her classmates were there and it was a crazy awesome madhouse in general. She loved it.

And I’d decided on a Disney-themed card that sings about dreams coming true with a set of Minnie Mouse ears attached to it (I got a pair for myself, too; we will be matching at Disney!) I wrote inside the card that we were taking her to Disney.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been a kid, but I do remember the land of instant gratification. I knew that with all the “actual” presents she was getting, my “promise of a trip” present would probably not be as exciting. So I chose to leave the mouse ears in the car until after her friends had gone home; wanted to give her the gift in a quieter moment.

It probably didn’t help that the first thing she said to me, before the party, was “Can I have my gift now?” So she had been wanting it the whole time …

So, as I got her off the swings to come open her gift, finally, she held my hand as we walked down the path toward the picnic tables. “What is it?” she asked me. I told her to guess. “A makeup set?” she asked hopefully. Nope … (as I was thinking “This kicks the ass of a makeup set …”

So, I grabbed the card out of the car and held it behind my back. And as she sat impatiently at the picnic table waiting for me, I walked toward her and pulled it out and handed it to her.

And I saw a slight shift – she was still pretending to be excited, but her face was starting to register confusion. If I could read her mind, it would be saying, “Uhm, I see the card, but where’s my actual present? Where’s the makeup set?”

But, Mia attempted to be graceful. She was genuinely excited to put on the mouse ears, but she wanted to know where her real present was. I told her she had to open the envelope to find out.

She ripped it open with excitement, pulled it out, and her eyes lit up at the Disney princesses on the card. “A card!” she exclaimed.

Then again, confusion. “All you got me was a card!”

At this point, all of the adults who knew what was coming started laughing. And Jenn gently reminded Mia that even if that had been all I got her, that it would be wonderful and she should say thank you.

So, she said thank you. But she was clearly a little bit bummed.

I quickly had her open the card (which played music, which she and Sadie memorized and sang back to me a few weeks later), and I read her what I had written inside. That we were going to Disneyworld.

And her face lit up. But then registered more confusion. And finally she said, “Are we going … today?”

I then had to break the news that this present would not be instant gratification, that we actually had to plan it. And she said thank you, as her mom had told her too.

I felt a little bad, knowing that she wasn’t quite getting it yet. But knowing that once she saw it, any dissapointment she’d actually felt at the party would totally be outweighed by what is to come. She’s going to freakin Disneyworld.

And then, the magic started happening even there. It must’ve started to sink in. She started telling her grandparents what we were doing (P.S. my mom and dad may actually  be coming along, so they not only knew but are already super excited about it. And it just so happens they have a time share right at Disney’s gates …). And she showed Sadie her card. And she even jumped on the picnic table and started skipping, saying, “I’m going to DisneyWORLD!” over and over until Jenn’s parents told her to get down.

She put her Minnie Mouse ears on and proclaimed she would be taking them to Disney with her.

And then, the next weekend, she came over and we looked up Disney videos on YouTube. And she was absolutely mesmorized.

And since then, she’s become quite the little trip planner. She wants to know how many days and nights we will be going for. How many hours it will take to get there. Whether she will be riding in Jeff’s Jeep and if she’s allowed to bring her booster seat. If she’s going to see fireworks at the park and if she doesn’t like them can we leave (haha, as if she wouldn’t like them.)

I have been doing a little planning, too. My little sister in my sorority, Melissa, works for Disney and has been super awesome – in fact, it was she that advised me when a good age would be and Melissa simply exudes Disney – so I can’t wait for her to be our official tour guide. She can’t get the time off to hang out in December, so we’re planning for April, Mia’s spring break. It’s a long time to wait but it gives us the chance to plan the trip – and I am taking your advice about  Bippity Boppity Boutique – so excited about that. I’ve ordered DVDs from Disney.com which explains the trip (they are free; I haven’t watched it yet, waiting for Mia to come over so we can do it together.)

So, lots to still plan but the excitement is totally there, even if it was slow-building. And I cannot wait to capture her reactions to the actual trip!