How did you tell your kids you were going?

[desamnik]

Our first cruise is on April 19th. Our kids don't know yet. We don't want to tell them too far in advance, but do want to let them know about it.

I thought last night that it might be fun to tell them on April fools day!

Now I just need some ideas as to how to surprise them!

They are 10 and 7.

How did you tell your kids they were going on a cruise?

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[delta0413]

Although it's a bit late for this, I'll tell you how we first got out 2 DDs to be cruise junkies:

After many years of Christmas gift giving, DW and I decided that we would offer DDs a choice, either a bunch of 'stuff' that they might forget soon, or a Disney Cruise. They both said Disney Cruise before we even finished saying the words. We have had the opportunity to make that offer 4 times now. Even though the girls will be 20 and 15 by our June 27th sailing date, we still think it's great that we can do this as a family. I know it's corny, but it gives us some great family time and we have created great memories.

 

[3mmm]

April 4th is our 4th cruise and we were keeping it as a surprise for the kids who have been begging for a disney cruise since we got back from the Med cruise in Huly 07. A couple of weeks ago my 9 year old came home from religious ed and said one of the girls was going on a disney cruise and was going to pet stingrays over spring break and my husband said maybe we'll see her there! He realized right away he goofed, but it was too late.

On our second cruise, we spent 4 days at disney and packed up for home and arrived at the cruise terminal - that was great fun, but the kids lost out on the anticipation. Now, my ds10, ds9, dd7 and ds4 are very excited. Dd 2 has no idea, although he was on the cruise in the med.

Whatever you decide, they'll love it once they're there

Mary

 

[tampabrat22]

I am still debating on telling my kids or not. Every year when we go on a cruise I always tell them, but I felt like waiting the whole year kind of made them lose some of the excitement. So when I booked our first Disney cruise a few weeks ago I decided not to tell them because I would love to surprise them!

But, I haven't figured out exactly I would do that . My kids are 11 & 6 and are used to cruising so they know the routine, and as soon as they see me start buying all the cruise gear they will know something is up. And they would definitely know once they see me start packing....

So, if anyone has surprised there kids I would love to hear about it as well. How did you keep it secret and when did you finally tell them?

 

[brucechase]

I posted this in our meet thread. I kept it a secret for 2 months and it was killing me.

For those that are interested, I thought I would detail how my family found out about our cruise. I booked a while ago and intended on giving it to them for Christmas, but my wife went a little overboard on the gifts (IPod and Wii) and I decided to hold out. I originally was going to give it to her for our anniversary (May 11) but I then decided that it would be too close to the sail date. So the only other time was for her birthday (Jan 28). I decided to combine the gift with a surprise party to really throw her off. I needed some time to set everything up so I sent her and the kids on a treasure hunt, and that would give me enough time to set up the party. Now I really didn’t have any help on this and with work, it made it really difficult to do it all, but I think it turned out great.

I decided to give them clues to the “ultimate treasure” that they would be able to find on the way. There was a total of 6 stops and at each stop, there was something related to the cruise and a clue for the next stop. I even spelled out the word CRUISE in the clues with highlighted letters (but they never got that).

I had a treasure box delivered at noon on Saturday. In it was a letter telling them they were going on the treasure hunt and the clue to the first stop.

At the first stop, they received a bag of tortillas and salsa – to signify Mexico

At the second stop, they received a bag of M&Ms and a coconut – for Mickey Mouse and Konk Koolers.

At the third stop, they received an artist palate – for the restaurant Animator’s Palate

At the fourth stop, they received a key – the first part of Key West

At the fifth stop, they got a lime and a compass pointing to West – this was for Key West

At the sixth stop, they received a bag of cookies (with a pirate on them) and a bottle of barbeque sauce – this is for Cookies Bar-B-Q on Castaway Cay

The hunt took almost 3 hours so I had time to set up the party, cook taquitos and wings, and get a 6 foot sub sandwich. I also had little snacks everywhere and made some Margaritas to finish off the refreshments. I finally packed a box decorated like a treasure chest with a water bottle, the return postcard from Mickey, and the itinerary. The water bottle was just like our last cruise, it had a picture of the Magic and the new dates of our cruise.

About 15 people showed up (I had invited about 40) so there was plenty of food and drinks. After the family arrived back at our house, I had them lay the clues out on the floor and try to solve the puzzle. After about 10 minutes of frustration (and I could see some tears) I gave her the treasure box. That’s when the tears started flowing – but this time it was happiness. I did go through and explain each clue to everyone.

It was a good time. I did get in a little trouble from some of the other men there saying that I made them look bad by going so far overboard. That’s OK, I doubt I will be able to pull something like this off again.

 

[mackeyapp]

Our two boys ages 11 and 12 found out on Christmas morning and this is the way we told them. After all the rush was over on Xmas morning (at BWV) we said we had one other gift for them. I had made up a scroll and inside were 8 clues to eight different locations within our 1bedroom. They had to find the eight bags (bought tiny gift bags at the dollar store and had them numbered) in places like the dishwasher, clothes dryer, deck etc. After finding each bag they had to open them in order and spell out each word. I had taken letters from the scrabble game at home. When they finished spelling out "You are going on a Disney Cruise in June" the look was priceless. Surprise!! The funny part was it took them the longest time to spell out Disney..........and they couldn't go to the next word until they got that one. It was fun to watch.

 

[PPFQP]

Our first cruise is on April 19th. Our kids don't know yet. We don't want to tell them too far in advance, but do want to let them know about it.

I thought last night that it might be fun to tell them on April fools day!

Now I just need some ideas as to how to surprise them!

They are 10 and 7.

How did you tell your kids they were going on a cruise?

Thanks for any ideas!

I made up a little card with pictures of the ship and Disney font. It said, "Because you have done so well in school this year, Mickey Mouse would like you to join him on a Disney Cruise..." it gave more details about the cruise, the dates, the itinerary, etc. It was a cute little card.

Then, after report cards, we went out for a celebration dinner at Outback. While the girls were in the restromm, I slipped the cards into their menus. Then when they sat back down at the table they found them.

They were 9 at the time and it was a fun surprise. I think that must have been the end of January or early February, and our cruise was Spring Break (April), so they did have a few months of anticipation.

 

[mousetravel]

I thought last night that it might be fun to tell them on April fools day!

If you're wanting to tell them on April Fool's Day, think of the WORST place that they would want to go. Make them think you're going there and pretend you're all excited even though they aren't. Keep it going for the day. Then do something creative for revealing the real surprise. I can't think of any details because I don't know where your kids would think the worst place is.

 

[stlkeeler]

Here is a thread from some months ago about surprises. Have fun and good luck!!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2034142

 

[CanadianDisneyDad]

We surprised our gals at Christmas. We received 2 post cards from Disney with Mickey & Minnie in front of the Magic and on the back a note syaing we hear you coming on a cruise. We put these in envelopes and that was the last gift our gals got. It was quite a strain considering we book in July and had to wait 6 months to tell them.

They were pleasently surprised

 

[Kborn]

Our first cruise is on April 19th. Our kids don't know yet. We don't want to tell them too far in advance, but do want to let them know about it.

I thought last night that it might be fun to tell them on April fools day!

Now I just need some ideas as to how to surprise them!

They are 10 and 7.

How did you tell your kids they were going on a cruise?

Thanks for any ideas!

On our first cruise, we ordered the promo DVD....which we watched with our girls and my wife and I keep saying "Would that not be the coolest thing to do" Well it took them a little while to catch on, but once they did it was a "KODAK" moment....

 

[Dee718]

I would like to know myself! I booked our cruise last August for Sept 2009. My kids have never been on a cruise and I know they would drive me nuts if I told them too soon. Problem is they need passports so I need to make up a story to get them passports without being suspicious. I want to get them early since I have 3 kids and a DH that need passports. I do like the treasure hunt plan, not sure if I am that creative.

 

[aiken4mickey]

I posted this in our meet thread. I kept it a secret for 2 months and it was killing me.

I LOVE IT!!!

 

[desamnik]

I really like so many of them, I still have a few weeks to plan it out. But I really like some of these ideas.

 

[Melissa R]

Here's how we told our boys last year....they were 11 and 5 1/2 at the time.

I made a treasure map with a few landmarks in our backyard on it, with the dotted line leading them from one location to the next, ending at a big X marks the spot. I set the edges of the paper on fire for a minute to make them look older. (But if I were doing it again, I'd buy scrapbooking paper - some of it looks like old parchment paper.) Then I cut the map into pieces.

I told them I wanted them to come outside with me. On the bottom step of the stairs off the deck, I left them each a pirate eye-patch and the first piece of the map. At the next stop, they got a little pirate chest filled with gold (plastic) coins (bought these at Party City) and the next piece of the map. The next stop had pirate stickers and pirate pencils and the last piece of the map leading them to the X. At the final destination, I buried a poster under the leaves (we have woods). I wrote "We're going on a...." and then got the Mickey head paint chips at Home Depot and put one letter on each, spelling "DISNEY CRUISE" on them. I printed out some pictures of the ship and glued them on it.

We went on the treasure hunt with them and video taped it. They were jumping up and down and screaming at the end. They were totally shocked.

Have a great time, however you decide to tell the kids!

 

[Wachsdds]

We told the kids that we flew in to Florida to see their Great Grandma. They then fell asleep in the car only to wake up crossing the bridge to Port Canaveral. Their first site when they woke up was the Magic. The funniest thing was that as we got on the ship my 4 year old turn to me and ask "When are we going to see Grandma Nina?" You have to love innocence.

 

[SeeDisney]

Chiming in.....We're leaving for WDW and cruise in less than 2 weeks and still haven't told the kids yet.

I'm thinking about posting a couple of big signs on their bedroom walls that we're going a few days beforehand.

I think half the excitement is a week before going to WDW. The anticipation of upcoming trip.

 

[Butterx3]

There is no better surprise for a kid. My 3 children were 13,9 & 6 at the time, and I had mine go on a scavenger hunt. Each spot had an envelope with a clue and a word they had to descramble. I had made a poster using clippings from a Disney cruise promo book, and once the kids had the words figured out they stuck them on the poster. I booked the cruise in May and sent the kids on the hunt on their first day of school in September. Our cruise date was 10/16/08, so they had about 6 weeks of anticipation. We had the poster hanging by our door, so you saw it everytime you were coming or leaving, and nobody wanted to take the poster down once we came back from our trip. I think I took it down around Thanksgiving, and it is now hanging in my sons room. My parents helped me with the hunt, so I have it photo graphed and filmed. All three children had different responses. My 13DS was awestruck and didn't say much at first, my 9DD was jumping for joy and making a huge spectacle and my 6DS was smiling from ear to ear and said "Is this for real". He wasn't quit sure if we were really going, or just doing something fun.

He just told me, "For the next scavenger hunt mom...." which I thought was cute, they would know right away. So the next trip I will have to come up with a new way to surprise them.

Enjoy telling your children, and let us know what you end up doing.
Enjoy your cruise!

 

[itutorfortravel]

Just like the PP, we are doing a scavenger hunt with DD...she is turning 7 in a few weeks and after her party, she will be given instructions for a scavenger hunt. At each location, she will get a bag of letters (Scrabble tiles). Once she finds all the "clues" she will unscramble each word in the phrase "you are going on a Disney cruise"...I made DH buy a video camera just to capture the fun!

It's funny, a couple days ago, DH was helping DD try on her snorkel and mask with the pretense of taking them to Goodwill if they didn't fit (but really trying to see if we needed a new one!). Afterwards she said she really wanted to go to the beach and I said that we'd go sometime over the summer (we're only a few hours away). And then she said you know where I'd really like to go if I could go anywhere? I said where? and she said on a cruise boat!!! I said oh honey that is so expensive and mommy and daddy would have to save a really long time to do something like that, but maybe we can all start saving some of our birthday money and change so that we can work towards doing that someday...then i said what would you think if we could go on a cruise someday, and she said I'd do this...she then jumped out of her chair and went ballistic, screaming and flailing her arms...I said wow, i guess we will really have to try to do that someday then...LOL! We are leaving in a little over a month!!! Is she going to freak or what?!

 

[msmith07101]

These stories are great...I did something similar when we went to Disneyland & Legoland in California. I made up a riddle and then did the Scrabble tiles too! It was a lot of fun watching my boys figure out where we were going. They do not know we are taking a cruise...they know that I am "looking" and thinking about it. Not sure how I will spill the beans this time!