We've kept it a secret for 8 MONTHS...just 7 more days to go!!!

[Bree]

Yup! We have kept this vacation a secret from our 2 kids for EIGHT MONTHS!!! I am busting at the seams to tell them!!! My DS is almost 6yo & my DD is 3.5yo. We booked this trip back in August 2008 and they have no clue at all!!! We aren't telling them until we get to the airport. I've been secretly packing and started putting our stuff into the suitcases today. I'm just so excited and I think my friends and family are sick of listening to me, but I knew the DIS'ers would understand :rotfl:

[Crazy4Disney06]

We are doing the same thing for my son's 8th birthday in October. He has no idea. I don't plan on telling him until they day we leave. I plan on going into his room and telling him to wake up that we are going to Disney. I know he is going to think we are pulling his leg...:laughing:
Enjoy your trip and don't forget to let us know their reactions when they find out!

[Momof3princess]

omg that is so much fun that is what we did to our kids when we went in 06 our oldest was 10 and then 4 and 1yr and 1/2. They thought we were going to orlando for a family reunion my oldest caught on but not till the morning of... and my 4 yo knew nothing we told her on the plane going there we said we are going to disney and all she kept saying was naah nahah and asked my husband daddy are we and she was shocked people on the plane were laughing... So much fun

[MinnieTink]

So fun! We are doing the same thing for our Aug/Sept trip. It is soooo hard keeping it from the kids! We have neighbors who are going at the same time, so at least I can talk to them. They are not telling their kids we are going, so they will get a surprise when they see us too. Please keep your fingers crossed that I can keep my big, excited mouth shut!!!

[krise]

We only got 9 more days and I'm dying here!!!! I'm so ready to go. I wish Dh and I would have thought of suprising the kids.... there's always next year!

[maidenfairy]

It is hard but, well worth it. We surprised our kids on Christmas day and you should have seen their little faces.All smiles and confused at the same time. The oldest called his grandma and told her we had lost our minds.:lmao: You can make it 7 more days. Have fun.

[GoingtoSeeRella]

We're doing the same thing! Only 3 more sleeps! We've kept it a secret about as long as you. I'm still not packed. DH is taking all 3 kids out tomorrow so I can finally get everything done. Kids are DS12, DD8 and DD6. We have to wake them at 4 a.m. to make our 7 a.m. flight. They're going to be so confused. :rotfl: We plan on having the video camera rolling!!

Have fun everyone!

[jenharring]

I too wish we had waited to tell our kids and supirse them but there is always next year. I do have other suprises set in place. Like we are leaving the day before they think we are. We plan to pick them up from school and go from there.
My husband and mom say that all I think about is disney. Oh well I love disney and always have. So I know how you feel.

[mma800]

Maybe I will see you at Logan! We r on the 7am delta flight. I surprised them 6/07. It was great!!! This time, I told DD (8) yesterday for Easter. She does still think we r going to Miami!!!:rotfl2:
Had to let the 2 lil ones know they were going to Nana's. I love the surprise!!

[Colls1023]

I'm dying inside! My DD thinks that we canceled our trip in June. Her birthday is Monday and I want to tell her so bad. However, I need to keep my mouth shut.:rolleyes1 We have a 6am flight. So, we will be waking her up and telling her when we have to leave at 4am. She will be so confused.:rotfl: I can not wait for her reaction!!:scared1:

[wrconrad]

We have 32 more days and don't plan to tell the kids (DS11 DS10 DD4) at all!

We are taking the auto train and have panned an entire NON-DISNEY trip with them. We almost slipped up a few times, but so far so good.

I'm glad to see of other people are into surprising the kids. I don't think it is for everyone, but I sure do enjoy it :dance3:

[mjem216]

Your going to have a blast

[Daddee]

i thought about doing this to my DD. But it just didnt feel right. she has helped plan a good amount of the trip.

[anotherdisneygal]

Man, we tried not to tell our sons (well, the 4 1/2 year old, the baby wouldn't care), but we lasted about 1 minute!

Good luck with the secret & have a great trip!

[eandesmom]

we will see but it would be really fun!

[TiggerD]

We are going in September with our Ds and his family. Our Dgrandson, who is 6 has no clue. His Dm is going to make a card and stamp Mickey on it and send it to him in the mail so he gets it the day before, it will be an invitation from Mickey to come for a visit. We have gone to WDW with him before since he was 2 he has gone 3 times and loves it.

Enjoy your trip, it will be magical.:cool1:

[momtoA&H]

We leave May 23-30 and are surprising DD 5 & 9 for their birthdays! Since they are 1 wk apart date wise we are having a "family" birthday party and surprising them with :yay:Mickey cake :yay:and balloons, everyone is giving them Disney Dollars to spend and I packed their new hot pink suitcases with Disney bathingsuits, flip flops, towels, etc. I can not wait since we booked the trip back in December!!! :cool1:

[HollyP]

I'm kind of surprising my DD who will be 7 when we go in Sept. She knows we are going to WDW but thinks it is in 2010 when she is 8. So she is helping me with all the planning she just won't know that we are going this year. I told her that this Sept we are going to Florida to visit my Dad (true.. we will spend 5 days of our 14 day trip with him). So I even have the plane ride explained. I have a feeling she'll figure it out when we get on ME. :rotfl:

[Texasmomof3]

:cool1:We surprised our kids with a trip in March during spring break. They had no clue- we told them we were going to visit family so my 7 year old could share her birthday with her 8 year old cousin who's is the same day. It wasn't till the TSA guy that looks at your tickets asked them if they were going to see Mickey that they clued in and even then it took them a few minutes. (My son actually said no we are going to El Paso) :lmao: They would have known in a few minutes any way when we showed up at the gate. It was priceless...they have been many, many times but we have never surprised them with a trip. :banana::banana:Yeah for us!!

[of the seas]

Are you back yet? Did you all have a good time?

[2kids1dog]

We're surprising our kids for our trip in September. So excited!

[onejellyshelly]

I am surprising my DD4 in September. She has no idea at all. We live about 6 hours away and leave at 4:00 am. My plan is to go pick her up out of bed at 3:30 in the morning and we she is half asleep asking me what am I doing. I get to yell "Going to Disney!!!"

[taymacsmom]

Wish I could surprise the kids but at my DDs ages, i don't think I could even begin to pack for them! Surely, I would pick out all the wrong clothes!!

[Belle5]

About ten years ago we pulled off a major surprise for our (at the time) five sons (we have six now). We had airline tickets with a layover in North Carolina. We told them we were going to North Carolina. They were baffled. They kept asking, "Why are we going to North Carolina?" We would answer that we had heard nice things about North Carolina and thought maybe it would have cool Christmas lights or something there. So we land in NC and look around outside through the windows of the airport. Then we went and had some food in the foodcourt. My DH says to the kids, "You know, it really doesn't look like there is too much to do here in NC. Let me go over to this ticket counter and see if we can catch a plane to somewhere else." Oddly enough:rolleyes1, the airline had seven seats available on the next plane to Orlando! :laughing: Then we broke it to the boys that we were going to WDW and had planned it this way all along. They were so excited and we were happy to have pulled off such a surprise. The nice thing was, we were able to pack right in front of them because they knew we were going out of town--they just didn't know it was going to be to their favorite destination.

[kimberleeJohnston]

Yup! We have kept this vacation a secret from our 2 kids for EIGHT MONTHS!!! I am busting at the seams to tell them!!! My DS is almost 6yo & my DD is 3.5yo. We booked this trip back in August 2008 and they have no clue at all!!! We aren't telling them until we get to the airport. I've been secretly packing and started putting our stuff into the suitcases today. I'm just so excited and I think my friends and family are sick of listening to me, but I knew the DIS'ers would understand :rotfl:

This is soooo fantastic! Im a horrible secret keeper, Im not sure I would be able to keep it from anyone.....maybe our next cruise we will keep a secret, I love the idea of telling them at the airport! Have a wonderful time!

[tarabelle13]

We are going in August and so far we have kept it a secret from our 6 yr old DD and our 16 yr old DS. We havent figured out how we are going to tell them yet. I love reading all of your ideas!!

[webbmom]

We are leaving in 17 days our boys know we are going but they have know Idea that we are going for Star Wars Weekend. or that we have several different special Dinning Reservations.

[DisneyWorldbuff]

We are leaving in 14 days and the kids don't know! I'm so excited but I've been trying to do everything secretively. Luckily we've planned a sleepover for my daughter 2 nights before we leave.. so I'll have the ability to pack(without having to do it in the middle of the night;)). Now I need a cool way to finaly tell the secret, good ideas here... thanks!

[nan214]

We did tell our kids DD 4 and DS 2 a couple of months ago, and then we wished we didnt. So we have now completely stopped talking about it and they have forgotten about it. So now its going to be kind of surprise when we go in august. We are not telling them until we get to airport. I am going to somehow sneek around and pack all of our stuff! wish me luck!:)

[dpndka]

We've also planned a trip for December and haven't told the boys yet. I'm trying to keep it a secret for as long as I can.

Reason 1 - just in a case if something happens and we have to cancel they will not be disappointed.
Reason 2 - It will be surprise early christmas present for them.

[Erica09M]

Our trip isn't until 5/2010, but it will be a complete surprise to our daughter. We're either going to leave the day before, or on her 5th birthday. She's going to be so excited! It's going to be hard to keep it a secret, but it will be so much fun! Our other daughter will be just shy of 2 years old, so she won't really understand the whole thing anyway!

[marcyinPA]

We booked in Nov. 08 and have not told our boys yet. They are 14 and 10. We were waiting until school let out, so they would not obsess! I think we'll wait a little while longer (we leave in 2 weeks). There of course, is only one glitch, and that is my mom's fiance' slipped the other night to my 14 year old and now I think he knows. I've really tried throwing him off, but he's too smart. He's let it go though, because I think he knows that I really wanted this to be a surprise. My 10 year old has not a clue!

My kids know we are going on vacation, but they don't know where. Packing won't be an issue (they are boys, so I can pack for them :lmao:). My 10 year old wants to go to the beach, so I figured when we tell them, we'll say we're going to the beach, but we couldn't decide which one, so how about Blizzard Beach?? Hopefully we'll get the reaction we were looking for! I'll have the camera rolling!

[madisonwi]

We leave in 2 days and haven't told the kids yet! (2 boys 5 and 3) I'm just going to let them figure it out once we get to the airport!

[mickeystoontown]

Wow! I don't think I could have kept the secret for i months. We had a hard time keeping our trip a secret from our son for a month. Check out the "big reveal" in my trip report. The link is in my signature below.

[dnorman]

We leave this Saturday the 13th for 8 days at YC. My girls still have no idea other than they are going to Florida.
We are going to have the SWA flight crew tell them just before landing. They are going to freak out!
Can't wait!

Donna
Haley 10 yrs old TODAY
Addison 8 yrs old at Disney next Friday
Kayce 6 yrs old last month

[Ashlander]

We are trying to keep it a secret from our kids as well. 4 1/2 months to go! We are going to stay at a cabin in Ft. Wilderness so I asked the kids what they thought if we went camping the next time we went to Disney. My 7 yr old DS said "that's weird"!

[mickeystoontown]

It was super hard keeping our 2008 vacation a secret from our son. We only had to keep it for a month. I don't know how you guys keep secrets for soooo long.

[ChernabogGA]

My kids know that we are going next week. However they have no clue about the trip we have planned the week of Thanksgiving. I think my kids will be like :scared1:

[amsafko]

We have 3 little ones obsessed with Disney (ages 7, 4, and 2). We never told them we booked a bounceback last year and have discussed the fact that we can not return until they are 9, 7 and 4 (they talk about disney all the time so we just remind them of how old they'll be the next time we go). So here's how we are surprising them...they'll be at our sitter for the day (they love going there so they'll be excited for that alone). Then I'll spend the time packing/getting everything done for the trip. We will be driving through the night - with the kids out Dad can sleep all day too.

Here's the fun part....I'll leave clues that are part of a scavenger hunt around the house - I'll make them out of the Mickey ear paint samples from Home depot. Each sample will have a letter covered on the back. There will also be an envelope that will lead them to the next Mickey. Once they have them, the final clue will have the instructions to peal the back off of each of the other clues (each has a letter; either D I S N E Y). They will unscramble it to reveal where we are going.

Hope everyone has fun with their surprises!

[preciousmama45]

We decided to go during the upcoming Christmas holidays:worship:. We just booked it! My DH and I are going to surprise our 5 children:grouphug:. We are going to wake them up at like 4 in the morning and say, "Does anyone want to go to Disney World!" Then we'll give them disney gear to wear. I can't wait to see their faces!:scared1::confused::eek::laughing::rolleyes:

:woohoo:I'm so excited. I've been buying disney gear for the whole family, sneaking it into the house and hiding it in suitcases. They won't believe it! I've been jumping up and down everytime I think about how much fun we'll have. My DH thinks I'm crazy:lmao:, but he too can't help but admit that this is good stuff!

[mickey2minnie1]

All of these surprises sound like so much fun!!

My kids know we have package deal the end of October. What they do not know and will not know is that I booked a rack rate:scared1: the day before. I may tell my 12 year old the week of because he does not do well with surprises. He can then help me when we need to get the others up to go that morning.:thumbsup2

[Princess Amy]

The past two Disney trips we surprised our DS the day of, literally right before leaving for the airport. Both times we have him on video when we woke him up, it was really hilarious. After our last trip, he told me that he wanted an advance notice, like a day, he said :rotfl:so that he may bask in the glory of going to Disney. Well unbeknowest to him we are leaving this Wednesday morning. I am going to tell him on Tuesday morning (his 1 day advance notice) with a nice treasure hunt. He has no clue of anything because we told him we could not go back to Disney until he was 10. Once again, this will be caught on video. Ahhh, I cannot wait!

[CoachBagFanatic]

The past two Disney trips we surprised our DS the day of, literally right before leaving for the airport. Both times we have him on video when we woke him up, it was really hilarious. After our last trip, he told me that he wanted an advance notice, like a day, he said :rotfl:so that he may bask in the glory of going to Disney. Well unbeknowest to him we are leaving this Wednesday morning. I am going to tell him on Tuesday morning (his 1 day advance notice) with a nice treasure hunt. He has no clue of anything because we told him we could not go back to Disney until he was 10. Once again, this will be caught on video. Ahhh, I cannot wait!

OMG, this reminds me of when our DS13 was little. We used to do the same thing with the video and everything. When he was 8 he told me ok enough with the surprises.:lmao: Too funny. For us as parents a big part of the planning and the trip is the surprise for our kids. Gotta love it.:cloud9: What I like now is our DS is involved with the planning. So it's nice.:flower3:

[Clare D]

For the first time ever I am going to surprise our DS who will be 6. On previous trips I have always told him but now I figure he is old enough to appreciate the surprise. Thankfully we have a family wedding in Chicago otherwise the trans Atlantic flight would kind of give it away. Our son thinks that we have to have to get a smaller plane to take us to somewhere else in the US to get the jumbo back home. What he doesn't know is that it is a Southwest flight down to Orlando but we're getting off :rotfl:
I can't wait to see his face. His brother is 1 so no surprises there :rotfl:

Great trips everybody

[CoachBagFanatic]

For the first time ever I am going to surprise our DS who will be 6. On previous trips I have always told him but now I figure he is old enough to appreciate the surprise. Thankfully we have a family wedding in Chicago otherwise the trans Atlantic flight would kind of give it away. Our son thinks that we have to have to get a smaller plane to take us to somewhere else in the US to get the jumbo back home. What he doesn't know is that it is a Southwest flight down to Orlando but we're getting off :rotfl:
I can't wait to see his face. His brother is 1 so no surprises there :rotfl:

Great trips everybody

This just gave me chills.:cloud9: It brings me back and the look on our DS13 face was priceless. 6 is a great age and you all will have a fabulous time.:flower3:

[mouseketeer_mom]

In March of 07 we surprised our kids then DS7, DD5 and DS5. We told them we were taking the motorhome to Atlanta so that Daddy could drive a race car. We packed up and drove to Atlanta and the next day we all went and watched Daddy drive a race car. When leaving the speedway we told them that they had been so good, we would find someplace really fun to camp the next day on our way home to Maryland. While the kids slept DH drove to about one hour from Disney. The kids thought we were headed north, but at night don't pay any attention to the road signs. The next morning, after breakfast, I settled them in with a movie while DH drove the last hour. I kept the side curtains closed and them occupied until DH pulled over about 25yards before the Big Disney Arch and announced we were lost, could everyone look around for sign as to where we were! PRICELESS!

[DISNEYNUTS]

Our kids know we are going but think we are staying at POP, won't they be surprised when we get there and we tell them to get off the ME at the CR. Staying there one night and then moving to POLY for 7 nights. They are going to freak we have never stayed in either resort. We have never pulled off a surprise because our excitement always gets the best of us, hopefully this time will be different!!!!!

[Mamalisa58]

in 2001, I talked DH into changing plans from a North Carolina log cabin to WDW. DS 9 kept the secret with us. DD 11 thought we were driving to NC instead of Florida, even though we had made the drive to Florida many times before. We kept her distracted the whole drive until we got off of I-75. She was still saying "did grandma know" etc while we were checking in at the All Stars. It is a great memory for all of us. :grouphug:

[tarak]

I'd love to keep our trip a secret, but they know we're planning to go next year. I might be able to surprise them the morning we actually leave, though. I keep telling the girls (who will be 6 and 7 then) that they have to stop fighting for a week if they ever want to go back to WDW. Of course, if we stuck to that requirement, we'd never make it there.

[cassie58]

Last yr. for our 1st trip, I really wanted to do the surprise/off to the airport, but since we were going in Nov., and they had bdays. in May and July, we decided to tell in April so we could let friends/ family give DD/GC for their gifts, which worked out great for spending money. We let them unwrap the Birnbaum Kid's Guide to Disney, and my DS7 got it right away - it took my DD4 a few minutes, and then she yelled,"We're going to Disney!" We saved a few surprises, like we didn't tell them we were staying at ASMo for 1st 2 nts.(they knew we had TS w/in-laws for the week), which was fun, as they got to ride ME w/welcome video, and then see the giant Buzz and Woody etc. And we didn't tell about char. meals, so 1st nt we rode on monorail & did CM (magical way to begin, and they even got to drive express train!), and then for CRT we told my daughter when she woke up that morn. that Cinderella had called to invite her for brft.

Now we are going back for FD in Aug., and they have no idea - we keep saying we have to save up for a while when they ask to go back -they think we are going to Myrtle Beach(which we are on the way back), and we will get in the car and drive like we are going to SC, but to VA for the Autotrain, and we'll see how long it takes for them to realize where we're going! if I can keep it in that long, and don't slip up!

cassie58
11/09-ASMo & Timeshare
8/09-CSR

[lojikal1]

Our lil dudes have no clue that we are going next month. We have a HUGE jug ( I think apple cider came in it) that they have been filling with spare change, singles, and fives that we have been giving them. When company comes over they ask for money for their "Disney Fund" and put that in the jar too. I told them that WDW is very expensive and they will need to fill the jar 10 times over before they will have enough to go back. :rolleyes1 It has not deterred them even though the jar is only half full... :tiptoe: What they don't know is that the day before we leave I will be cashing out the jar for a gift card that will be exclusively for their souvenirs and extra snacks! When the limo pulls up the next morning and Mom and I break out the Disney T shirts, the look on their face will be priceless!!!:rotfl:

[KawaiiJewel]

My mom and I are taking my niece (9 yo) for the first time to WDW in EIGHT days! She lives with her grandparents so it was *somewhat* easy to hide it from her.

We finally told her a couple of days ago. We bought her a new pink suitcase and took her to a restaurant. We set the suitcase next to her. She was very confused. When she opened it, we had stuff in there like a day pack, hair ties, visors with stickers to make all cute, and a Disney World for kids book. She was in shock. It was so cute. She kept saying, "I can't believe I'm going to Florida..." She asked if anyone else knew--which of course we all did. Eventually, it was starting to sink in and she starting crying and hugging us.

Definitely a memorable moment.. and she still doesn't know we'll be at AKL with a savanna view!

[KELLY]

We are doing the same thing. We decied not to tell the girls. DD will be 4 and she will know where we are going once we hit the airport. My baby just tags along. We only booked a month ago and it eats me up not telling them. Everytime dd mentions Disney I just tell her next year. We just went in April for 2 weeks. Now free dining and MNSSHP.

[Lost in Wonderland]

I wish we would have kept the whole vacation secret but we finally told them last week. Besides people kept asking about the trip in front of them like "Oh when do you leave for FL?" .. so yea.. LOL We are keeping DW a surprise though. They know we are going to FL and Sea World. DH really wants to keep it a secret until they see us driving up to the MK. I'm so excited! It will be everyone's first time in DW :yay: I just bought some clearance sunglasses at the Disney store and found a Wizards of WaverlyPlace watch for $1 ! at Payless of all places. Can't wait to look for some more bargains before we leave. :cheer2:

[tarabelle13]

We have one week to go until we suprise them. My 16 yr old DS doesnt have a clue, but my 6yr old DD insists that is where we are going. Even though we tell her we are going to the ocean. I asked her why she thinks that, she said its cause it is the only place that she WANTs to go too.

So hopefully she is suprised and doesnt say..see I told you so :rotfl:

[bigsis1970]

i've surprised my kids twice -- in the summer of 2003 (ages 9 & 6) we had a wedding in KY and I said we got cheaper flights to Orlando vs. KY then we rented a car drove to KY for the wedding and then when we were bringing back the rental car to the Orlando airport I said "geez why don't we see if we can get on the bus to WDW" and they freaked.. then in 2006 on Easter day i hid scavenger hunt clues in eggs that lead to one egg that said "5 suitcases, 4 worlds, 3 people, 2 plane rides and 1 more sleep till your big surprise trip to Disney" LOL it was funny (they were 12 & 9) I was glad i could keep the surprises.. it was very hard though

[RobinHoodGirl]

So someone who had this done to them it's going to be something your kids will talk about for years! I still talk about it 21 years later

Way back in 1988 (well it's way back for me) my parents sat me down one night and said the next day we'd be going to Disney. My first question was "Who's going to tell my teacher?" (I had been in Kindergarten for about 2 months at that point), but after that it was one of the best family vacations ever! I have so many stories from that week long trip, perhaps now only second to the last trip I took with my mom last year (nearly 20 years since that first trip)

[Clare D]

Well we got back this morning and we had a fab trip even though it was so hot. Our DS didn't have a clue even on the Southwest flight to Orlando. We asked him on arrival if we should hire a car for a few hours to kill some time before the flight home. We then asked him if we should stay in Disney and when he clicked he was clapping his hands and was so excited telling his baby brother that they were going to Disney - magical. Wishing you all lots of happy trips and may great surprises.