Exciting ways to tell the kids??

[mrsschlep]

I'm new to the boards and am already addicted to this site. I have been searching around but haven't found a thread pertaining to this. So anyone out there have any fun, exciting, interesting ways to tell the kids...

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!! :Pinkbounc :cheer2: :cool1: :jumping1:

We are planning a trip with our 3 kids Jan 23-29! DD8, DS5, DD16months. We will be celebrating DD8 and DS5 birthdays during our stay as this is the week between both of them.

:bday: :bday:

We aren't sure if we are going to stay at ASsports or FW yet. Still deciding. Either one will be a great first time experience for the kids. This is the first family vacation we are going on, ever. It is a reward to myself and my husband for paying off the credit cards!! :thewave: NO MORE DEBT!!!

Anyway, any input would be appreciated. We are thinking of telling the kids around Thanksgiving that we're going.
Thanks!

[Xx Princess xX]

Hi,
Im a kid im 12. I think the best and exciting way to go is to say ok kids in what ever many days we are going to fla. and i wouldn't tell them until a month b4 only becuz they wont pay attension in school. Bcuz im on summer break and im going in late nov. for my birthday which is dec. 6. Im really excited and ill b so excited ill just b packing and unpacking untill a week b4 i go! And ill prob. get distracted in school but i hope not! School is important to me!

But i hope i could help!!

Love Always,
Jessica

[tiggercrazy]

We are going to "give" the kids our trip to WDW for Christmas. I haven't quite figured out how yet. I think we will just get them some gifts that they can use for the trip as well as some Disney Dollars. If they haven't figured it out by the time we are done opening gifts we will tell them, or give them the park passes last, maybe.

It is really hard to keep the secret! My kids are...DS 10, DS 7, DD, 6, and DD3. My DB, DSIL, and their DD 3 are joining us and it is their first time going as a family!

We debated abouted staying at FW, too. But we decided to fly so we can't. That is such a great time of year to camp down there! Have a great trip!

[disneyjenca]

My parents usually made it a suprise. They'd have spent weeks slowly gathering clothes into suitcases so we wouldn't notice, and woke us up early the morning we were going to the airport with the news.

The only time that I knew ahead of time we were going when I was young was when we were going with my grandparents.

I liked both ways, for different reasons. The suprise was great because I didn't get anxious and unable to concentrate in school. But when I was a bit older, knowing ahead of time was great because I could do research and help plan the days out a bit.

So I think it depends on your kids. Anyway you decide to do it, a trip to Disney is never bad news!

- jen

[The Sweetness]

An awesome surprise would be, even though I couldnt hold out on a surprise to save my life...


Send the kid(s) to a friends for the night the night (or 2 nights if you can) before. When you pick the kids up, day of the trip. tell them where you're going. That would give you a day or 2 to pack with no suspiscion.

It would be too clasic!:tongue:

[WishingOnAStar]

We're waiting until 15 minutes before the limo picks us up for the airport (they think we're going to a family reunion in NY- a 4 hour drive) to give them each a gift bag for "the trip" - not unusual for me to do for long car rides.
Inside each bag will be:
* a plush Mickey or Minnie
* Disney dollars
* a Mickey shirt
* Disney sunglasses w/ croakies
* one of those Disney light-up fans
* a personalized journal I printed up and had bound for each kid
* guest of honor badges
* Mickey Mouse lollipops

That's all I can think of right now - I'm sure there's more - I've been hiding stuff for 4 months now.
Anyway, after they go through the stuff, if they don't get it- we'll tell them as the limo pulls up!

Enjoy planning the surprise! I know I have!

[mrsschlep]

Thank you for all of your ideas. They sound great.
I also read in Family Fun (i think)that a mother bought a box of fortune cookies and very carefully took all of the fortunes out of them with a pair of tweezers. She replaced them with her own fortunes such as "There is a big mouse in your future" and "You will be traveling south". When they took their kids to their favorite chinese restaurant she quietly asked the waitress to deliver her fortune cookies at the end of the meal instead of their's. For the grand finale she slipped her last one on the plate and it read "The Smiths are going to Disney World!!"
I thought that was really good. The writer even noted that the son didn't realize it was his mother's doing and asked "How did they know?"

:earsboy: :earsgirl: princess: pirate: :cutie:

[cats7494]

I had a cake made and surprised my DD10 with it! Here it is:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/cats7494/Disneycake.jpg

[TroubledStitch]

A little background. I have been with my wife for 19 years this August and as such have known her youngest sister since she was seven years old. So she is a bit of a daughter figure to me, as well as a really sweet (if sarcastic) person.

When she finished university and my wife and I were living in Stamford CT, USA she came over to visit us for two weeks. To celebrate her degree we had organised that the middle weekend we would fly from New York down to WDW. We tried to break the news to her in what we thought was a fun way.

We had t-shirts printed with our family nicknames on the front, and on the back locations like a band tour t-shirt. It had Birmingham UK, New York, Stamford, Orlando. She was just too excited to have a t-shirt with her nickname on to even notice the locations so we had to explain it to her. I mean we had arranged for a trip to the World for her and she was excited about the t-shirt. I told you she is sweet.

[storybookmum]

Too late now!

Kris

[a Really Bad Egg]

Great ideas everyone. We've been to WDW enough times, it's hard to suprise my DD (14) and DS (8).

My wife and I wanted so much to go back for a 2nd time this summer but we were afraid the kids wouldn't.

So, we all went to the bookstore one evening and after browsing around, we made a last stop at the travel section and started looking at the WDW books.

I picked up the "Hidden Mickeys" book and started reading some of the places that the classic Mickey's were hidden on our favorite rides and locations. My son looked up at me with the most sincere expression and said "Dad, we have to go back!"

Our plan worked perfectly because the trip to the bookstore was a setup; the airline tickets, parkhoppers and room reservation were already booked.

As we drove home, we talked about going back and how fun it would be. When we got in the house, we broke the news to the kids that we were indeed going back. My son just stood there, a smile on his face and fighting back tears. It was so special.

::MickeyMo

[llp479]

Our girls usually know when we're going. We surprised them one year at Christmas with a trip that left NYD. I bought the sweatshirts from Disney catalog that you personalize and put our name and the date of the trip. We had a treasure hunt through the house to find them. All the clues were Disney related. DDS read the shirts. Took them all of 30 seconds to figure out what was up! It was great fun.

We surprising them next month with a trip. This time, we're picking them up from school and heading to the airport. I'll be curious to see how long it takes them to figure out we're not going to the DR.

[Stitch's mom]

I grew up in St. Pete but the first time I went to MK my Dad said we were going to dinner in Tampa. He kept "missing" his turn and we wound up all the way at the World. It was fun and as a tribute to him I try to sursie my kids as much as possible. We do the creative lies as we drive to the World from SC. Now though DD (12) has figured it out that anytime we get in the car she always blurts out, "are we going to Disney World?" I like the surprise element because it keeps even the excited 7 year old from talking about it at school. I don't like when kids brag about plans and I know most of them may not get to World even an eighth as much as we do. The not knowing keeps them from making others sad...even if it is unintentional. :guilty:

[Amy&Dan]

We are taking my daughter to Disneyland as a special birthday present to her this September. Orginally, DH and I planned to not tell her until we left for the airport. Then reality set in. We have to board the dogs so that would make her suspicious. Then since she is missing 2 days of school we have to have her work made up in advance. So our original plan was altered. We went to the Disney Store and bought her a stuffed Dumbo (her current favorite Disney movie). We wrapped him up and enclosed a note Dumbo had written to her asking her to come ride "him" at Disneyland and some other lines. Finally at the end it said "Surprise Maria, You're Going to Disneyland For Your 8th Birthday" . We videotaped her opening the box and it was priceless. A few people told us it would have been more special to wait and surprise her the day of. Maybe, who knows? I liken it to finding out the sex of your baby. You can either be surprised in the ultrasound room or the delivery room. Both ways are special!

[GaRain]

We took my neice on a long weekend trip last year.
We told her that we were going to Savannah, GA. We didn't get in until really late, so she was already sleeping. The next morning we got up early and drove to the park. She looked up to see the Giant Mickey Mouse welcoming us. She started screaming "You tricked me!" But yeah, it was a good trick....
This year, I am giving her a planning book "Walt Disney World for Kids, by Kids", a book of Hidden Mickey's and some Disney Dollars - we will see how this works out!!
:earboy2:

[AlisaAnn]

This is how we are doing it:

We have 3 kids: 13 y/o daughter, 10 y/o son, 9 y/o daughter.

We have season passes to Six Flags because we live in New Orleans, and have one here, and we also visit Six Flags Astroworld in Houston about once a year.

This summer, my husband was in Germany for work, so we didn't get to go to Houston. They were really upset about this. So, we have told the kids that we are taking them out of school (the week of Sept. 12th) and we are going to go to Houston that week for our annual Six Flags vacation, only we are going to be driving the OPPOSITE direction to Disney World!! We can't wait to see which one figures it out.... One of them has got to say..."Why are we going East instead of West..." before we get there....

I'll let you know how it works out!!!

ONLY 12 MORE DAYS TILL WE LEAVE!

Alisa---:wave: :wave: :wave:

[SCohen]

The first time we went as a family we had the trip all bought and paid for one day while the kids were at school. Well of coarse DH and I couldn't keep it a secret for long, we were as excited as any kid! We put in the Walt Disney World planning tape and as they watched it trying to figure out WHY we were having them watch it, we put on our Mickey Mouse ears from when we were kids. When the kids finally turned around with puzzled expressions on their faces, we asked if they wanted their own pair of ears. Then we got out brochures of our hotel and of the parks. They were grinning from ear to ear and I was crying with pure glee!
I think it is part of the fun to have to wait for the special day to arrive. The anticipation is such a huge part! I think that it's important, even if they do daydream a little at school. Besides imagination is good for the soul! It's what started Disney after all!
I am glad that we never plan a trip for longer than a few months away, I don't know that I could last a year waiting in anticipation!

[East Coaster]

A neat idea when waiting to tell the children at Christmas is to buy the chocolate letters to spell out Disney or Florida. Put a letter or two in each Christmas Stocking. The children become confused because they know their name doesn't start with whatever letter they got. You can have great fun with this by suggesting to put the letters together to see what they spell Sidney? Yesdin? Floraid? and a lot more words that don't make any sense! It can take up quite a bit of time depending which word hint you choose.

[mum of two pirates]

O.K. very early morning my DH left at 3am this morning to go to work and i couldn't go back to sleep. I started thinking how i would surprise my ds's about our trip I booked the other day. The problum I have is I have to wait a year to go on our cruise. My sons have been asking when they get to go for a plain ride. So I was thinking about having everything packed and asking them if they want to go stay in a hotel, (where we will fly out off) we stay there often so no big deal. Then the next morning ask them if they would like to go on a picnic. hence the small soft-sidrd cooler with snacks and juice in it. Drive by the airport ask them if they want to go see the inside of a plain. Then when we take off tell them something. when the ride gets to long (8 hours) I'll talk to the st. and tell them that we have to get gas becouse the plain took a wrong turn. When we stop I'll say It takes all night to fill up the gas tank so we have to stay the night and go home the next day. Rent a hummer (I would feel safer in one with my DH driving down there.) or a convertable to take us to wdw for a night or two then on our way back to the airport take a wrong turn and end up at the disney cruise. My sons will be 6 and 7 and are used to thier dad not asking for Directions so wrong turns will be easy for them to beleave. still in the planning. I don't want to tell them as i will have a hard time waiting.

[miche61]

We've surprised our kids before. We've gotten them up at 3:30 AM for the air port. But, we have also told them that we will be going to WDW- but we never told them the date!!!!!! They could help us plan, but they couldn't know how long it was. They really didn't ask how many days, or any other questions, they just knew when the time was right we'd tell them.

I love the ideas. Now I'm trying to figure a small surprise for them for our upcoming trip that won't cost much.

[peanut67]

my dd is 11 and ds is 15 we booked for xmas back in March and had not planned on telling them about it until the weekend before we go, but my dad died in April and the kids were quite down so we told them, well sort of...we told them we had booked to go in april 2005 so the surprise will still be there but they get to help to plan thinking they are going in April.
I think I will be doing some kind of treasure hunt and I like the cake idea so may put that in their as well...99 days and counting.

[mrsbornkuntry]

On our first trip in 2001 it was a spur of the weekend trip and we just told the kids that we were going on a long car trip to Florida. As we got closer my daughter said "oh, look, that sign says we're close to WDW, can we go there sometime?" and dh and I just said "we'll see". When we got to the hotel it was late so we went to bed (we were off-site) and got up and ready to go to MK and my dd saw the pool and said "I don't want to go to some little Mickey park, can we stay here and go swimming?" Obviously we said no and we have never let her live that down!!

This trip we have told our kids about it (it's ds wish trip) and have gotten more of an idea of what they want to do down there, what they're looking forward to so we have alot more planned.

I have loved reading the ideas of how to surprise them with the trip, that cake was great, it makes me wish I could have kept it a secret!

[Arielle22]

We went in Oct 2001. DD's were 8 and 6. My MIL also went. We told the girls we were driving Nana to the airport as she was going with a friend.

My sister drove my dds and mil to my work (dh also works there). When they got to my office I told them. At first the 8 yr old didnt believe us.

They still talk about how fun the surprise was.

[emo6565]

We surprised our kids at Christmas time and it worked out great. Our boys had no idea it was coming. We wrapped up boxes and filled them with candy and one word in each box( WE ARE GOING TO) and in the last box we had the reservations, tickets and some Disney cash for both of them. Our youngest caught on before the oldest. After quite a bit of cheering and jumping up and down they were more then willing to help pack. What an amazing Christmas morning. They didn't even miss not getting any new toys for a second.

[denverdi]

Okay this is the way we are telling our two kids. First off we are going to DW for our first trip Dec 3 - 11. So far the kids know we have planned on going to DL in CA during the Christmas holiday. This would be true, but DH finally caved in and said lets go and have fun.

So this is what I have planned. I amnot going to work on Dec 3 of course not. Any way I am going to get the kids up and tell them they have to get dressed up we are going to have our family pictures done for Christmas. (Our more relaxed pictures. this time. Formal pictures will be done way before) DH works nights so when he gets home and gets cleaned up we will go. Nothing new that we would have to stop at the airport to pick up one of DH friends from work. Only thing is we are going this time!!!!!!!! When we get out of the car, then we spill the beans.!!!!!!!:earseek:

Well this is the plan. DS and DD teachers all know and are going to work with us on getting all of their work turned in. :hyper:

This is my dream trip. I am just so thankful that DH has decided that this year will be better than next fall!!!


Hope you have fun!!

Denver DI:wave:

[llij]

There are some neat ideas here! :wave: We are going this December and I'm trying to think of some ways to surprise the girls with the news. I thought of waking them up and telling them that we are leaving that day, but I know it would be too much for one of my daughters. (She would be worried about making sure everything is in order, that her teacher knew, etc...) So the latest plan is to tell them the weekend before we go so the news can settle in a bit and the girls can still be surprised. I love the idea of a scavenger hunt!

:sunny:

[miche61]

llij- you could do what we did. One of our surprise times, we told them we would be going to WDW, but we wouldn't give them an exact date. As time got closer, we would tell them to make sure and have everything caught up- we would take care of the teacher end, packing, etc. We also told them they could wear their new tennies the day we went to WDW. You could do something like that, and lay out their new tennies (or Mickey Mouse shirt, Princess t-shirt, etc.) the night before you go. You could let them figure it out the night before, I know- no sleep.

Good Luck!

This year's trip isn't a surprise for once, but I am surprising them with a Chef Mickey breakfast. I won't tell them til we get there why we're at the Contemporary. I can hardly wait!!! I always want one little surprise for them on each trip.

[llij]

Great idea, Miche61!

Thanks!

[eternaldisneyfan]

When I was 9, my parents secretly planned a trip to Disney World. The last day of school we were asking if we could go somewhere the next day, since it was the first day of summer. My parents were all like,"We'll discuss it in the morning..." At 5:30 the next morning, my mom woke me up and said, "Wake up honey, we're going to Disney World!" I was like, "What??? No, your lying! ...Really?! I can't believe it! Yes! I am so happy! Thanks!" It was so thrilling and the feeling I got was soooo special. My Mom and Dad said the had a blast planning and surprising us.

[MsLefty]

Last Jan was our kids' first trip to the World. We "gave" them the trip as a Christmas gift. I orderd the video and purchased one of the Dusney guides that's geared towards kids. I also purchased Disney name badges so the CMs would know their names. I wrapped everything in a shirt box with tissue paper hiding it inside the box. On a very sparkly, colorfully decorated piece of construction paper I wrote "In just 23 days...." and put it on top of the tissue, before putting on the lid. Then I wrapped the whole thing up and stuck it under the tree, with no name on it.

On Christmas we couldn't "figure out" who the gift was for so we saved it for last. When the kids opened it up they were stunned and silent. You could almost see the little connections working in their brains. Suddenly my then 9-yr-old jumped up and this sound came out of her that I'd never heard before, this little squeaky "Really? Really? Really?" What followed was a celebration of the biggest hugs like we've ever gotten.

We will never forget it.

We're giving them the same gift ths year, but now I have to come up with a new way to surprise them! Sometimes it IS good the get the same gift two years in a row!

[simba928]

You could tell you kids they have a doctor's appointment or something else they hate (dentist maybe?). When you pick them up, you make sure someone (your husband or another adult your going with) is at the airport or at home with the bags ready to go. That's what my parents did. My mom picked me up from school for a doctor's appointment and instead, we went to the airport. She told me she had to stop by her office first (she works in the airport).
Another time, my dad told me that my mom had to stay at work late (it was a friday). Every friday, we have pizza at my gram's house so we ate there as usual. When we got home, my mom said that we had an early x-mas present in the dining room (it was december). When we went in to look, we saw our suitcases packed with disney lugage tags attached. My brother didnt quite get the concept of going to Disney, so he was a little confused to I explained to him what they meant.
Wow! just thinking about this makes me want to be surprised with a trip to the World again!

[Luvmyfam3]

About 5 years ago, Christmas morning, I wrapped a present address to all three of my girls with a clue inside (they LOVED scavenger hunts at the time!) leading them to different parts of the house with more clues. The end led them to the garage where there was a trunk (which was my mom's Christmas gift). When they opened it, balloons came out and inside there was Mickey confetti and a big poster that said, "You're Going to Disney World!! Merry Christmas!! Love, Santa" Then, there were gifts for each girl with Disney dollars, Disney video, Disney shirt, etc. Our trip was for January. We've been to WDW many times since then, but they still talk about the great way they got a Disney trip from Santa for Christmas!

Kim

[chrisck2]

My brother and wife came round pretending to rub our noses in it by telling us that they were going to Florida. Myself DW,DD,DS & DB all sat down with their Uncle & Aunt to watch the Disney planner dvd. The kids looked gloomier and gloomier as the Dvd went on - 'ITS NOT FAIR, WHY CANT WE GO....? ' etc.
When this had finished we put on the '2nd Dvd' (but there is no 2nd dvd I hear you cry) Well I had created on the pc, 'A Disney Fun Quiz' Dvd complete with authentic label, appropriate background wallpaper, 'when you wish upon a star' backing music and questions that i had put onto the wallpaper using microsoft 'paint'....
For example: 1/would you be excited if you could go to florida and have the time of your life? (fading into next page...) 2/ Would going to Florida be one of your life ambitions? etc Until Finally saying 'If you answered yes to both questions , we would love to have you!' - with a big picture of all 3 kids+their names above!
'Yes' it said, 'We are ALL going to Florida!
But it didnt end there...as they started to smile in disbelief and realisation, the Video we had created of Myself,Wife,Baby Daughter, Brother & Wife (running aroung the front room celebrating like Crazy people) kicked in! The kids smiles turned to laughter as they 'joined in' with us to celebrate (with ourseleves on the tv) again! All this to Manfred Manns fast moving hit '54321' playing in the background! Hugs allround - it was a fantastic moment that we will all never forget and they said it was the greatest surprise ever! (We told em we might struggle to beat this one....) We kept that secret for 18 months after booking May '03 and told them Oct 1st '04 that we are going Oct 26th! I hope this gives someone an idea or two - its not easy but worth it in the end to see their faces.....6 days to go until 16 nights of the best that Orlando has to offer-can't wait!

[suz72]

chrisck2-

Wow, great idea!

Susan

[crzy4mickey]

here's what we did... I found these great gift bags at Wal-Mart. They were blue with the castle on both sides with all the Disney characters on them. I then bought a single use camera, some Disney activiey books and i found these great compatc, magnetic board games, ie. chinese checkers, chess, hangman etc. and put it all in the bag. Then I took the ticket for the MVMCP and put it in an evelope. We told them we had a little something for them. When they sat down and looked at them they said "thanks, but why are you giving us these things? It's not our birthdays." So i told them there was something at the bottom in an envelope. When they opened the envelope the shock and surprise on their faces were wonderful. They were so excited! I'll have to post the picture! It was priceless. It took about 2 days before the shock wore off and now are counting down! My ds kept walking around the house saying "i can't believe we're going to Disney", "thanks for taking us to Disney"! It was just AWESOME!

[TinkerBess_SnowTori]

Chrisck2 -

all I can say is Wow - what a great way to tell them --

my jaw was literally slack and agape in awe and amazement!!

I never would have thought to do that -- but I will remember and if/when we take the girls again -- we will use your idea to tell them.

My hat is off to you!!

[llij]

I got this idea from this thread about breaking the news to the kids with a puzzle. So I went online to a puzzlemaker and they made up this puzzle to break the news to the girls. I can't wait to tell them!!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid143/p2bba0e6983763396465f7c20099f5218/f68c44c7.jpg

I hope that you can see the poem in the puzzle! :wave2:

[suz72]

Jill,

Can you give us the web site address of the puzzlemaker you used? Did you create the layout, or did they?

Really cool!


Susan

[llij]

Hi Susan,

I got it from www.jigsaw2order.com. I e-mailed them the pictures and the poem and they did the rest....layout and all! I can't wait for the girls to do the puzzle and find out that they are going to Disney!


:sunny:

[drumflower]

My kids always know something is up because I am on this site non stop! lol They always figure it out! I guess it is a good thing because I don't think I could keep a secret like that! :crazy:

[suz72]

Thanks Jill,

I think I'll use a puzzle to tell the kids when we finally go to WDW. Otherwise I could use it to tell them about the cruise.


Susan

[mommytomy3]

What great ideas! This is what we did- we went to wdw last April 24---May-1--- on Easter we had a Easter egg hunt with different things in the plastic eggs, in one of the eggs was a little note- "We are going to Disney World!"
If you can hold it in until Christmas, I bet you can do something really cute!

[Bakerone]

Help I need an idea for surprising the kids before Christmas, as WDW IS their Christmas gift. Oldest kid knows (17). the gift bag idea sounds good. I have 2 teen girls who I think will be dissapointed as they are clothes horses and are looking forward to material (literally) gifts!!
I was thinking of telling them at Thanksgiving, but maybe its better to wait until right before holiday break??
Any ideas?:(

[WDWJWEB1]

Last May 04 DW and I picked up our DS(8) and DD(7) on a Friday @ 11:30am from school, we never told them where we were going untill we pulled into Park n Fly. We had all the bags packed and even though the children have been to WDW about 12 times, this time was really special because it was a total surprise.
When we picked them up from school we told them that they deserved a 1/2 day off school because they had been doing really well and we were taking them swimming(which we did) they just didn't realize that the swimming would be at WDW

[SCohen]

Originally posted by Bakerone
Help I need an idea for surprising the kids before Christmas, as WDW IS their Christmas gift.
I was thinking of telling them at Thanksgiving, but maybe its better to wait until right before holiday break??
Any ideas?:(

What day are you leaving? Depending on how much time you have, here are my thoughts.....
What if you bought them clothes from the Disney Store and boxed them up for presents and then gave it to them before you leave? You might make it the last gift you give them. We always raid the Disney Store before we go, so it could actually be a double present. Maybe you could also get them practical gifts like their own cameras and such and end it with the shirts or something that makes it a little more obvious that something is going on. Or better yet, wrap up their tickets and passes inside a pretty music box or small decorative chest and give that to them last.
I was also thinking about an advent calendar. The kind that counts down the days to Christmas- at the end you could put Mickey inside the space. There are chocolate calendars that on the last day you could take out the chocolate beforehand and put in mickey confetti or something. We also own a cloth one with pockets to put small gifts inside. I have seen these at stores throughout the years, you could put something inside the last day in it as well.

[***tink386]

We did this last October. Our DS (12) and DD (8) had no clue we were going. We had scheduled a red eye flight from Sacramento, California. We had everything packed already and we went out to dinner. I had bought the book Walt Disney World for Kids by Kids and had pre- arranged with the waiter to give our kids the books after dessert. So after dessert, we told the kids we were in the mood to do something fun after dinner and asked for their suggestions. They came up with miniture golf, go to the movies, go see some friends. Well, we told them that those all sounded like fun, but we had something else in mind. The waiter then got our cue and came to our table and gave the kids the books. He said how does going to WDW sound? They said that sounded great, but there was no way we would ever go there. Well, to their great surprise, we told them it was true!! All that we had to do was go straight to the airport and catch our Plain to Florida! They were completely shocked and surprised. I was so exciited! We had been planning the trip for quite some time and everything out just like we had hoped. It was absolutley the BEST!!!:bounce: :Pinkbounc :bounce:

[kpk89]

These ideas are all so great! I look forward to trying a bunch of them in future years!

For our trip in May, our kids will be 6, 4 and 2 -- and I know that if they have ANY advance notice it will be driving all of us nuts. So we're planning to have the car packed and head to the airport first thing in the morning. I imagine we'll tell them when we arrive at the airport and they discover that we're all going on the plane this time! (usually it's only dad, going on a business trip.)

Oh, yes -- we've told the 2 older ones, who are already asking when we can go to WDW, that we'll talk about it when the baby is 5. LOL my dd4 will tell people "We're going to Disney World! Yeah -- when Sydney is FIVE!!" and is just as excited as if we were leaving tomorrow.