Should I tell or not? *Update* on page 5

[KimmiP]

I don't think I could make it to June without telling. LOL

Omg, it's killing me lol

 

[dovbniak]

Easy answer: Surprise them somehow

On our first trip to WDW our whole family knew we were going but what I did as a surprise was book an extra 2 days.

It was killing me, especially as our vacation was ending. Sad faces all around until the night before we were to leave I sprung it on them.

Best surprise ever!

 

[trishadono]

My oldest DD16 has always wanted to stay at the AKL and DD14 also wants to stay there. They are content staying wherever we stay though, they are just happy to be at WDW. I don't know how many more trips we will make as they are getting older.

Exactly! How many family of 4 trips do you have left?

You know your kids best so trust your judgement. Sometimes I just wait until they the getting excited and want to talk about the next upcoming trip and when they are in the mood I tell the surprises.

I couldn't keep a secret for dd17 bday. For last night of mom n me trip I booked us for GF CL. When she texted me from school one day "mom only 20 days" I texted back "YOLO, you have been upgraded for one night to GF in sugar loaf!"

She was happy and we had a great time too.

 

[BamaDisneyBoy]

Thanks for the all of the replies. I think I'm going to wait until we pull up at AKL to tell them. I will have to come up with some kind of excuse as to why we are going to AKL though. Maybe they won't notice that I'm not going to CBR until we get to AKL.

 

[ponyboy]

I wouldn't tell them. I surprise my wife and kids all of the time with stuff. Last time we didn't tell the kids we were even going until the day before we left. The time before that they didn't know until we were getting on the plane for Florida, they thought we were flying to San Antonio again.

 

[ZehnJahren]

The surprise of a resort is not the same as the surprise of a trip.

If you surprise someone with a trip, they might miss out on all the planning and excitement of looking forward to the parks and the rides and the ADRs, etc. But surprising someone with a resort is completely different - it's not like you're going to be planning your day of going to look at the animals or walking to the gift shop or stopping at the front desk (like you would plan on going to SM, or PP, or HM).

I surprised my mom with a stay at CR. We did the first night at Pop and then I tricked her into leaving with all her stuff, got her in a taxi, and took her to CR. It was the best surprise ever, and she loved it.

I think your kids would be stoked, not to mention your wife, if you took a "wrong turn" and pulled in to AKL instead! Heck, I fantasize about arriving at WDW and them having switched me to a deluxe resort. They'll have an amazing surprise to talk about to everyone once they get home - I know my mom sure told EVERYONE about our move to the CR!

Edited to add: I DID mention CR to mom several times before the trip. I'd mention it when we talked about Disney. Maybe you could talk with your family about "maybe" going over to see the animals at AKL the first day, and then once you're there, take your stuff in too. When they ask why, say "oh, I just decided we'd stay here instead of just visiting!"

 

[Sydney2977]

We are doing almost the exact same thing- except the first week of Nov!
We stayed at the four values, then did CSR two trips, and now are surprising the boys with AKL. We surprised them with an overall trip one year- told them on Christmas and left the next week. They had awesome reactions. We surprised them the first time we stayed at CSR- they were like "No way- we're staying here?!?" We've eaten at Boma a few times, so I know they love the resort, and since they're older (13&17) they'll really appreciate the whole experience. That's why we decided to surprise them. They think we're staying at CSR and are really excited about that. We're thinking the same way you are- not many more family trips and we want it to be special.

 

[Babsy]

I would actually be angry if someone changed my resort without telling me. The anticipation of the trip and planning are at least half the value of a vacation for us. i would feel unhappy to lose all the time looking forward to staying in the AKL. Plus, I plan activities at the resort. I would have things booked that would need cancelling at the original resort and I would have wanted to book things to do at the new resort. Finally, the theme parks that I plan to visit and when I plan to go to them is closely linked to where I am staying. Therefore, ADR's would be affected.

Personally, I would tell them. Just my opinion, of course.

 

[BamaDisneyBoy]

I would actually be angry if someone changed my resort without telling me. The anticipation of the trip and planning are at least half the value of a vacation for us. i would feel unhappy to lose all the time looking forward to staying in the AKL. Plus, I plan activities at the resort. I would have things booked that would need cancelling at the original resort and I would have wanted to book things to do at the new resort. Finally, the theme parks that I plan to visit and when I plan to go to them is closely linked to where I am staying. Therefore, ADR's would be affected.

Personally, I would tell them. Just my opinion, of course.

Luckily I do all of the planning so I don't have to worry about that aspect of it. I let everyone decide what parks we are going to each day and I take it from there. We are usually on a pretty flexible schedule.

 

[BamaDisneyBoy]

I tricked her into leaving with all her stuff, got her in a taxi, and took her to CR. It was the best surprise ever, and she loved it.

How in the world did you do that?

 

[MousekaReady]

Considering your kids are older and have always wanted to stay there, I think a surprise would be welcomed. Unless there are things about the other resort that they might be looking forward to or things about the new resort that they would want to investigate prior to your arrival, I think a surprise would be a nice gesture.

As for me, I have written off vacation surprises until the end of all eternity. I decided to surprise DS4 with a trip this summer because he has been begging to go see Mickey since we left. It was a huge multi-generation family trip and NONE of the kids had any idea we were going. Anyway, when we told him we were leaving for the airport to go to WDW, he freaked out on us and didn't want to go AT ALL. The surprise set the mood for the entire trip and not in a good way. My brother did the same with his kids DS15, DS12, DD12, and DS6 and had an uneventful reaction. They thought they were going white water rafting at my Uncle's house. It was indeed not the response he was looking for. Some kids, regardless of age, don't handle surprises or schedule changes well. Good luck!

 

[MousekaReady]

Easy answer: Surprise them somehow

On our first trip to WDW our whole family knew we were going but what I did as a surprise was book an extra 2 days.

It was killing me, especially as our vacation was ending. Sad faces all around until the night before we were to leave I sprung it on them.

Best surprise ever!

What an awesome idea! Maybe I haven't sworn off vacation surprises yet. That is brilliant. Seriously, no one ever wants to leave!

 

[ericstac]

We surprised the three boys a couple Xmas vacations ago. It was awesome.. 10,8,3.

It was their last day of school before holiday break and we told them I was heading out of town to a job site and they were dropping me off before school.. The airport is an hour and a half from the house lol. 6am flight.

We are up early in the morning, hit the airport get my luggage and get us all through security without them knowing anything, they thought the were just going to watch me fly away, and never being on a plane before they were clueless.

When they announced boarding we told them and they were dumbfounded.. "What about school". Lol... It was great, plus we didn't have them bugging us the last six months prior about when we were going to leave like kids do.

My short story.

 

[ZehnJahren]

How in the world did you do that?

I did all the planning for us. My ENTIRE childhood we had talked about staying at CR and she swore we'd stay there some day every time we rode the monorail through, but we could never afford it (we were one of those families that drove down and camped - honestly, I loved it). After my parents divorced, staying at the CR became completely impossible - we were lucky to go the few times we did go after that, and it was always offsite.

When she arrived at Pop (the day after me), I told her I was unhappy with the room since it was so far away and that we were going to move "somewhere closer", so not to fully unpack as we were moving the next day.

The next day, I called a cab to take us to the CR, which had been the "plan" all along. I told her I wanted to make sure to make MK rope drop, so I didn't want to wait for a bus. I had her bring her suitcase down to the lobby, and then instead of handing it over I just walked out the doors to the cab and she followed me with only a few questions (one was "why are we taking our bags?"). The story is actually here and here.

I will never, ever forget the look on her face when she fully realized what was going on. By the time we got to CR, she and I both were completely in tears. She could barely speak to the CM at the desk, and the CM started to tear up too when she heard our story. I'm actually tearing up a bit right now thinking about it.

It was the best surprise I ever did.

 

[thr33boys]

I did all the planning for us. My ENTIRE childhood we had talked about staying at CR and she swore we'd stay there some day every time we rode the monorail through, but we could never afford it. After my parents divorced, it became completely impossible - we were lucky to go the few times we did go after that, and it was always offsite.

When she arrived at Pop (the day after me), I told her I was unhappy with the room since it was so far away and that we were going to move "somewhere closer", so not to fully unpack as we were moving the next day.

The next day, I called a cab to take us to the CR, which had been the "plan" all along. I told her I wanted to make sure to make MK rope drop, so I didn't want to wait for a bus. I had her bring her suitcase down to the lobby, and then instead of handing it over I just walked out the doors to the cab and she followed me with only a few questions (one was "why are we taking our bags?"). The story is actually here and here.

I will never, ever forget the look on her face when she fully realized what was going on. By the time we got to CR, she and I both were completely in tears. She could barely speak to the CM at the desk, and the CM started to tear up too when she heard our story. I'm actually tearing up a bit right now thinking about it.

It was the best surprise I ever did.

Great story! It sounds like you and your Mom have a special relationship.

 

[ZehnJahren]

Great story! It sounds like you and your Mom have a special relationship.

My mom and I are very close; I think she's the best person I've ever met and I hope I can live up to her someday.

Surprising her with the CR was so exciting! It was impossible to stop talking about it in the time leading up to the trip; I live in a different city than her, so I was free to talk to anyone I wanted about it.

Her reaction, and our trip, is the reason I suggested to the OP - SURPRISE THEM! It's so fun and exciting and wonderful. She had no idea we were going to CR, and when she found out, her excitement was not lessened in any way by not knowing ahead of time! She STILL talks about it.

Her boss at work loves Disney and goes every year, and many of coworkers love Disney too. Everyone she works with thinks I am the best daughter ever.

edited to add: I think if you surprise them ahead of time, you talk about it until you go. If you surprise them while you're there, you talk about it after. Both are very exciting!

 

[Sydney2977]

Luckily I do all of the planning so I don't have to worry about that aspect of it. I let everyone decide what parks we are going to each day and I take it from there. We are usually on a pretty flexible schedule.

Me too. I have them and DH help me pick and plan park days, adr's, down time, etc. Luckily, AKL is close to CSR, so transportation aspects aren't affected in showimg the boys my final plans. You know your kids best. I think a surprise can be good both ways.

 

[BamaDisneyBoy]

Great story. I couldn't have pulled that off.

My mom and I are very close; I think she's the best person I've ever met and I hope I can live up to her someday.

Surprising her with the CR was so exciting! It was impossible to stop talking about it in the time leading up to the trip; I live in a different city than her, so I was free to talk to anyone I wanted about it.

Her reaction, and our trip, is the reason I suggested to the OP - SURPRISE THEM! It's so fun and exciting and wonderful. She had no idea we were going to CR, and when she found out, her excitement was not lessened in any way by not knowing ahead of time! She STILL talks about it.

Her boss at work loves Disney and goes every year, and many of coworkers love Disney too. Everyone she works with thinks I am the best daughter ever.

edited to add: I think if you surprise them ahead of time, you talk about it until you go. If you surprise them while you're there, you talk about it after. Both are very exciting!

 

[BamaDisneyBoy]

Me too. I have them and DH help me pick and plan park days, adr's, down time, etc. Luckily, AKL is close to CSR, so transportation aspects aren't affected in showimg the boys my final plans. You know your kids best. I think a surprise can be good both ways.

We are no longer park commandos so we don't do much planning anymore. The last couple of trips I didn't even made dining reservations until we got there. Luckily, none of us starved to death while we were there.

 

[Badamon]

I would never be able to contain a secret like that! I get too excited about going and love talking about our upcoming trip. Always wanted to surprise the kids on the day of the trip, but never made it!
What ever you decide to do you are guaranteed a great family memory!