When should I tell them were going to WDW

[themudd4]

OK, I have been planning a surprise trip for my family for this Oct. The plan was to tell them on my anniversary which would be only 4 days before we were to leave. Anyway, I have came so close to blowing the secret so many times...but I have been doing good so far.
My DH's b-day is next week and I was thinking of going ahead and telling them then so everyone could have in on some of the fun of planning but don't know if that would take away from the surprise of it all.
So what's your $.02 worth on the issue...would you tell them now or keep the surprise going until right before hand?

FYI: I have already booked our Room, got our MNSSHP tics, and made our ADR's. I plan to buy our park tic's later this month.

 

[IggyLans]

As hard as it would be for me to do, I would try to keep it a secret until right before we were leaving (taking into account that there would be no problem with my DH to take the time off from work at the last minute). I think it would be a cool surprise! But, knowing me, I think I would have a really hard time lasting that long. I would be way too excited! So, if you can, I'd say try to keep it a secret for as long as you can.

 

[dopey67]

I'm taking my son on a brithday trip in Oct also we are doing the cruise and 5 days at the Beach club we ill be celebrating out bdays his one day before min 18 and 40 I will one month before so he can take care of school issues. We have been there too many times to count so not to much planning needed.

 

[themudd4]

As hard as it would be for me to do, I would try to keep it a secret until right before we were leaving (taking into account that there would be no problem with my DH to take the time off from work at the last minute). I think it would be a cool surprise! But, knowing me, I think I would have a really hard time lasting that long. I would be way too excited! So, if you can, I'd say try to keep it a secret for as long as you can.

I have already e-mailed his boss, so there should not be any trouble. I told him it was a surprise too...

I'm taking my son on a brithday trip in Oct also we are doing the cruise and 5 days at the Beach club we ill be celebrating out bdays his one day before min 18 and 40 I will one month before so he can take care of school issues. We have been there too many times to count so not to much planning needed.

We seem to go alot too, but even though there is not as much to plan we all like looking at the books and checking out all the new things and upcoming events...but don't guess much will have changed since we were there in March...

 

[themudd4]

Well, I was leaning towards waiting to tell them right before our surprise trip...but then last night I almost blew it again .
So knowing that I have almost blown it a couple of times now, I am going to go ahead and get things ready to tell them on my DH's birthday Wednesday.
I'm weak...I admit it!
I did pretty good tho...I kept it a secret for 4 months!
Plus if I go ahead and let them in on it, I wont have to explain where all our money keeps going .
It will also give him a few months to come up with something equally good for my birthday (about 2 weeks before the trip)...lol...I wont hold my breath!

 

[Unregistered]

Looking at your sig...it should be no surprise to them at all..

 

[warpdarkmatter]

let me tell you a little story.One day i cam home from work there was a mickey mouse hand sticking out of my mail box. I walk in the front door there andis theme park music playing. I walk up the stairs and find all our luggage in the living room and a packet of papers on the chair.I look at the first page of the packet it's a photo of me and dw in front of the castle I turn the next page it says "48 MORE DAYS TO GO" and proceded to tell me where we were staying and how long.my wife says she already got me the time off from work and I just broke down in tears. the way i see it it does't matter when you tell him! somtimes the time building up to the trip is almost as fun as the trip its good to have a little time to dream about what you want to see and do

 

[N&B'smom]

If it were me, as hard as it is - I'd keep the secret.

I've had a trip booked since last October and we're keeping it a secret until the morning we leave. We will put our two kids to bed like normal the night before and then when we wake them up at 4am for the airport - we'll tell them! It's going to be such a wonderful surprise for them, I can't wait!! I actually get all teary just thinking about how excited they will be!!

Shelby

 

[Goofy_4_WDW]

My $0.2 is to tell them on your DH B/D
You will still "surprise" them in a way. We find so much enjoyment in planning and getting excited together about our upcoming trip.
As I have told my DH, as much as I would love for him to surprise me with a trip, He better not because I enjoy all the planning and getting excited about the trip.
Either way you decide, your family will have a magical trip.
Enjoy!

 

[4pixies]

This was our first real trip to Disney as a family so we wanted to really make it special. First we told our then Kindergartener because she was in afternoon Kindergarten and was home. Then we were picked up by a limo and went to my twins' preschool and got them. They were so excited about the limo, they didn't care where we were going! Then we went to the elementary school and picked up my then 2nd grader, who thought she was going to a dr's appt) She was completely shocked! Just thinking back gives me goosebumps! And if you ask my kids the best part about our trip, they say meeting Cinderella and the limo ride

I had talked with their teachers before hand to be sure it was ok with them that we do this and we got their approval and they were almost as excited as we were!

The hardest part about keeping it a surprise was booking things and wanting to tell them. For me packing was easy because I just did it in the laundry room or when they were sleeping.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[themudd4]

As much as I would like to wait and make it a surprise, I just am not sure I can continue to hide it from my DH. I don't think it would be as hard to keep it from the kids as him. I have already had to explain away several hundred $'s...and this month I am buying our park tickets and that would have been another $1000 right there. Not to mention my DH wants me to go sign up my business for the local festivial which is the weekend we are going to be gone. And don't forget I already admitted I am WEAK!
So I am trying to think of fun ways to tell them all tomorrow. Any suggestions there?

 

[4pixies]

He got them all Disney t-shirts from the disney store and wrapped them up. He had them all open them at the same time. When they took the shirts out of the box, underneath there was a note saying, "We're going to Disney World!!!" then had them go on a scavenger hunt to find all the details-when, where they were staying etc. Maybe you could hide some little Halloween type things?

Have fun!!

 

[jhryb]

It is a lot easier keeping a secret if you have one person to share it with. In your situation I might consider telling my DH about the surprise on his birthday. You can continue to keep the surprise from your kids until your Anniversary. This way you have someone to share in the excitement until you are ready to tell everyone.

 

[Magical JenK]

I surprised DH at 80 days out. No real siginifcance as to the 80 days, it was just when the trip was paid in full. He works nights, so when he got home there was a package waiting for him on the bed. There was a card that said inside were hints & he had to figure it out before he got to the end. He opened 7 different hints (including a letter from "Cindy" for lunch in the castle & a t-shirt I made for him w/the Princesses on it) and he still couldn't figure it out. :0)

He realized we were going somewhere, but just wasn't sure where. Eventually he did figure it out & was very, very happy! I'm glad I told him when I did because it wasn't too far away & that made him really, really excited!!

I say tell them! It will be so much fun to talk about w/everyone!!

Keep us posted!!

 

[Jill in Chicago]

I am so in the minority. I have read about lots of surprises and it does not appeal to me, not for the kids, not for a spouse. I know I am sounding like a real downer, but I would not be happy being surprised.

Of course I realize everyone knows their own spouse. My mom has said, as long as I can remember, "I would love to have Dad pack and say let's go and I would just buy whatever I needed once we got there."

I would hate that! There is no way DH knows which shoes to pack, which shorts are comfy, underwear (you know how you like certain underwear with certain shorts) let alone make-up... It would not be fun running around trying to find all that stuff.

As for kids, I would have much, much rather knew ahead of time. For me a huge part of the vacation fun is looking forward to it, dreaming about it, choosing clothes and packing. If it was a surprise all of that would be lost. I also think some parents set the kids up thinking they are going on another vacation. Though the kids are thrilled with Disney, they have spent months dreaming about a different vacation, so often there is a moment of disappointment that the parents did not prepare for.

This also sets you up for hearing years from now, "Are we really going to the beach, or are you going to surprise us?"

I talked to both my DH and 13 year old the other night and they both agreed, no surprise!

All that said, IF I had a spouse like my mom who has asked for a surprise vacation, I would do it. Otherwise, nope!

 

[pixiemel]

Half the fun is in the planning for our family! We love getting out all of the planning DVD's and enjoying them together. We also begin buying supplies just for the Disney trip. We also do countdowns. So many fun family sharing opportunities!! Have fun!

 

[themudd4]

It was a good thing I had planned on telling them today. I was on the DIS earlier today (DUH...always am)...anyway someone came to the door. I left it on the screen. My DD13 proceeds to the PC and reads what I am writing to someone. BUSTED!!!! So she got a lil bit of a head start on the surprise!
OK, this is what I ended up doing...
I went online and booked a Enchanted phone call for my DH for his B-day. here is the link if anyone is interested...
https://secure.uvoxnetworks.com/disney/affhome.html?affno=66
He got the call during his lunch break at work. During the call from Mickey he was told happy birthday and to have fun on his up coming trip. Well that didn't trigger anything. So, I wrapped up our tics for MNSSHP, and our SSR confirmation. I had some lime green crate paper and the HD AGMH's left from our trip this past March so I did the dinning room up in LIME GREEN...Then I took several MH's and peeled them apart and glued them together. On one side I put Happy Birthday and the other I wrote one of our ADR's or wrote the date were going to MNSSHP. I made sure all the Happy Birthday's were face up.
Well...the lime green and the MH's did NOTHING...HE IS SUCH A MAN! .
He picked up the MH's off the table and moved them to the bar...I said did you even read them, so he looks at one and it says Crystal Palace...lays them back down. I said did you read it? He thought it was a left over from our last trip...then I said re-read it. Then he noticed the date...and looked at me real funny, and started reading the rest of them. He still was unsure of what was going on. So my DD (already knowing what is going on) starts to try and explain things to him. He was completely surprised and shocked!
We gave him the gift and he was even more shocked to see I had some of it already bought and paid for.

I did mention to him that I was thinking about waiting to tell him (them) 4 days prior and he just said "I'd of had to killed ya" (Yeah, were rednecks). Guess it was a good thing I didn't wait.
Now he is planning on taking his MH's to work to show the guys what he got for his B-day...there are a few Disney freaks were he works too.

Anyway...thanks for all your all's help!

 

[IggyLans]

Cool, it sounds like he had an awesome birthday surprise. Have fun on your trip!!!

 

[Magical JenK]

That's awesome! What a great gift! He must be so excited!!

 

[Adam1217]

ive been having to keep a engagment a secret from my gfs family and her for like 7 months now and now i only have about 2 months left!!!!