That's what my first visit to Disney World was. As child born in Los Angeles, I'd been to Disneyland many times. But when we moved to Indianapolis while I was in elementary school, I figured my days of visiting Disney theme parks were over.
Then my grandparents moved from Cincinnati to Florida. And the next Christmas, we found a Mickey Mouse pencil eraser on our Christmas tree on Christmas morning. A note was attached.
We were going to Disney World!
We ended up taking that first trip to Disney World - it was just the Magic Kingdom then - during Spring Break that year. Ice and snow still covered Central Indiana on the morning we left. As the sun rose and we reached Kentucky, the pavement dried. By the time we reached north Georgia, the snow was gone. And when we reached Florida, well, it felt like my bones were thawing after a long, cold winter.
Some people enjoy their Disney World present on Christmas itself. But Disney isn't the only holiday-present theme park destination. This year, I suspect that more than a few families will be getting visits to Universal Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter. My cousins in northern Kentucky (huge Harry Potter fans) are getting their first visit to Hogsmeade in January. Their parents set up an elaborate series of clues around the house, which ultimately lead to my cousins discovering their big prize - the trip to the Wizarding World.
Which leads me to ask: Did you ever get a theme park visit as a holiday or birthday present? How did you find out?
Or, have you given a theme park visit as a present? Did you do anything special to build the suspense?
I'd love to read some comments detailing fun stories about readers learning about their first trip to Disney Word, Universal or other major theme parks.
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As a kid we visited Disney World 3 times around the holidays but it was never given as a surprise on Christmas morning. I can't imagine how excited I would have been to find "we're going to Disney World" under the tree!
-kara
The following year, our parents' business did very poorly. We were told that we were going to have a very small Christmas. When we woke on Christmas morning, we had one small package each - a tiny tin with a bow. Inside each tin was a picture of a character that resembled each brother - Mickey for the oldest, Donald for the youngest, and Goofy for me. We didn't catch on until the fourth present was opened - The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. We absolutely flipped. Our grandparents had bought our family a trip to Orlando.
Since then, we've given up gifts and have had a small vacation every Christmas, instead. We still use the same tins that were used that morning, but we've gotten cleverer with our presentations. Last year, my parents had planned a trip to D.C. Each of the tins for my brothers and I had something relevant to the recipient (e.g., for me, the engineer, it was a snippet about Pierre L'Enfant).
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