December 7th, 2012 — A huge thank you to the entire Disney family who made this possible. Many thanks to the hundreds of Disney and Art of Animation staff who took time out of their day to learn this amazing dance just for our family. A thank you to the key players who made this possible – you know who you are. Thank you to the Photopass staff who captured it all on camera, and an unending thank you to my husband, for doing what he does day in and day out and asks for nothing in return. You are my Hero.
“On December 7th, 2012 my husband surprised me and the kiddos at the Art of Animation resort upon his return from his year long deployment to Afghanistan. I knew he was coming — the kids did not — but I had no idea Disney was going to come together like this and completely surprise us like they did. Over 300 cast members and staff got together to learn and do this dance, or were involved in some way or another – from picking my husband up from the airport, or making phone calls, taking pictures, and holding our luggage, etc. It was truly magical, and will be something we talk about and remember for the rest of our lives.
My kids thought we were flying to Ft. Benning, Georgia to go to Daddy’s redeployment ceremony. We flew out of Boston and took a direct flight to Orlando instead. Well, once we were through security, ‘Daddy called’ to say his flight had been cancelled, and he didn’t know if he was going to be able to make it to Georgia. We were sitting at our gate (which amazingly… the current flight was actually going to Georgia) when the kids got the news. They were so upset. So, I went over to the gate desk and told the lovely workers what was going on, to let them in on the surprise. They were on board for helping me out… and one lady asked the kids if they would like to go to Orlando instead, and she was able to “change our tickets” for us. Jackpot!
I told the kids I would find a hotel to stay at for a few days… maybe we could stay on Disney property while we waited for word on Daddy’s flight. Once we landed and took the magical express bus, we arrived at the Art of Animation resort. Carl, the amazing guy who put this entire thing together, was there waiting for us. He got us checked in right away and told the kids our room wasn’t ready yet, and asked them if we’d like to watch a dance they’d been practicing while we waited for the room to be readied.
Of course, the kids were super excited to see a Disney dance. When the hundreds of people started filling in the lobby, I was so shocked and overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had no idea they would be surprising us with my husband at the end of the dance.
The dance was so cute and entertaining and it sucked the kids right in. They had no idea their daddy was hiding behind a picture of Ariel. (I had seen his boots shuffling along the floor and almost lost it. He was that close. Then… TA DA! They pulled the picture away and every single one of the kids were stunned. We all just sat there… too shocked to even get up. I wanted to jump up and just hug him and never let him go, but our son (who hadn’t seen his dad since he was one) was a little unsure about the whole thing, so I stayed where I was. I let Daddy come to us.
The response and the hugs, and the tears… it was all worth it. It was truly magical, and such a blur, and overwhelmingly amazing.”