You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. (Hey that would make great lyrics for a song
wouldn’t it?)
I think people who sweep tend to be dreamers. We dream of winning cruises, cash, computers,
and so much more. In my previous posts I
told you how I was able to win not one but two happily ever after trips to the
magic kingdom. Never could I have
imagined that I could win another trip to Disney but I did.
When I learn about a contest or sweepstakes one thing I love
to do is to read the prizes offered.
Sometimes the prizes are trips to faraway places or maybe a band new
car. I honestly can’t help but imagine
myself winning even though I realize that the odds are certainly not in my
favor.
I’ll be honest; the first thing I noticed about the ESPN Guys
Guys Weekend Sweepstakes was that all the major prizes gave you flowers from 1-800-Flowers.com. I simply love flowers and the possibility of
winning the grand prize and receiving flowers every month for a year was so
exciting.
The fact that the grand prize also consisted of a trip to
Disney World seemed too good to be true.
I’d already won two trips to Disney how could I possibly win another
trip? It was all too mind-boggling.
To enter you had to vote each day on the Wow Moment of the
Day in Sports poll question by agreeing with one of the moments or submitting
your own. I entered faithfully every day
and dreamed of winning flowers. When the
sweepstakes was over I pushed my dream aside as one that was nice to imagine
but it was finally time to wake up and smell the flowers because I didn’t even
win the 1-800-Flowers.com Arrangement of the Month 3 Month Bouquet Club.
It turns out I spoke too soon. When I had won my second trip to Disney the
judging agency had tried to reach me by phone, email, and finally by Fed-Ex
before they finally let me know I had won.
In this particular case, the sponsor had messaged me through Facebook
several times and then as a last ditch effort wrote me an email through my
Thrifty Maven blog.
When I contacted them I learned I had WON the Grand
Prize. I was so excited about the
flowers I almost forgot all the other great things included in the prize. So let me share with you what I won.
Grand Prize: A Guy's Guy Weekend including a trip for two to meet ESPN
Radio personalities at ESPN Audio's Guy's Guys Weekend at Walt Disney World in
Orlando, FL from March 1 - 4, 2012. The trip includes airfare, 4 days at
Disney's Yacht Club Resort, a Welcome Reception including dinner, drinks, and
fireworks, a "Drive Time" night NASCAR racing experience at Richard
Petty Racing, optional 18-holes of Golf at Disney's Magnolia Golf Course, a
Saturday afternoon Atlanta Braves baseball game at the Champion Stadium at the
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, and !iViva Los Guys! "Casino"
Night. The winner will also receive a 1-800-Flowers Arrangement of the Month 12
Month Bouquet Club, Stock Yards The Twelve-Month Club, and a Sony PS3 Sports
Champions Move HW Bundle. (ARV: $10,498.71)
I was in thrilled and shocked all at the same time. I was hoping that my husband would be just as
excited about the prize and he was, about parts of it at least. You see my husband is not a Disney Dad. I will not repeat the things he says about
Disney in mixed company but suffice it to say that he would be happy to never
visit Disney again as long as he lives.
I guess you could say we’re a mixed marriage.
People often ask me what was my favorite win and that can be
a difficult question to answer. I really
loved when I won Redskin football tickets from a local radio station when my
son was about 13 years old. The tickets
alone were a godsend considering at the time we were really struggling with me
going to school and working two jobs.
The prize was even better than that because it included a limo ride to
the game and we actually got to sit on the field on the press bench. How amazing is that?
