How did you tell your kids?

[meagmarie]

We are going June 1st. We havent told the kids yet. We are picking them up from their last day of school and heading down that day.

How did you tell your kids?

What do you wish you had done differently?

Any creative ideas on how we could tell our 2 girls?

Thanks in advance

 

[nighttowll]

Well, first trip with the kids, we told them way in advance. We had been discussing it for a few years but with the recession, we just kept having to postpone, so when we finally got it all worked out, Disney was already an old idea. We also wanted their input, and there was just so much prep and planning involved ahead of time both for the trip and for school that surprising them just wouldn't have worked very well.

The kids were actually a little disappointed we didn't surprise them. They said all the talk ahead of time kind of made it not as neat when we got there because they knew what to expect.

So, a few months later, it worked out at the last minute for us to take them to Universal, Busch, and Sea World for their spring break. This time we wanted to surprise them. Atlanta is our halfway stop to Orlando, so we told them we were planning at trip to Atlanta. I told them all about all the things we were going to do there. Made up a fake schedule and everything. I knew everything we would be doing there would basically be the same as Orlando just on a smaller scale, so it wouldn't disappoint them that we weren't actually going to Atlanta (Aquarium = Sea World, Six Flags = Busch, etc. ).

This is where we ran into the problem. I wanted to just put them in the car our first "Atlanta" day and start driving. I thought it would be funny to see how long it took them to realize we should have arrived at the aquarium by now. These kids are so oblivious and have been well trained not to ask are we there yet, so I knew it would take a couple hours before anyone questioned anything. It would take even longer for them to figure out we weren't in Atlanta anymore, and even longer to figure out where we were really going. I figured there was a good chance if they were distracted by movies that we could make it all the way to the Fl state line before they caught on.

However, their father wouldn't cooperate with this plan. He didn't go with us, and insisted he had to be a part of the surprise, and he had to be the one to tell them where they were really going. We ended up compromising, and it came out pretty well.

What we did was he skyped them early morning at the hotel in Atlanta to wake them up, and then he asked them to look at the schedule and tell him what they were going to being doing that day. I then replaced the fake schedule with the real Orlando schedule, and we had one of the girls read him the days schedule. It told them to get back in the car and go to Orlando. You should have seen their faces. The one reading the schedule out loud to him was still half asleep and had no idea what she had just said. Her twin got it immediately, and her face just lit up, and she screamed out Universal before we even got that far into the schedule. The two older girls looked briefly confused until they heard the younger one scream, then they started screaming. I've never seen kids move so fast in my life. They were out of that hotel and back in the car in under 5 minutes.

They liked the surprise, but still said that they wish we'd just put them in the car and driven there like I wanted to do. I'm going to have to find a closer destination where we can do that because they keep asking for me to surprise them that way sometime. Just get in the car and go and let them be surprised when we arrive. Kind of hard to do that with Disney since we live 13 hours away!

 

[meagmarie]

I honestly thought about just driving until they figured it out. We live 8 hours away, but then i realized it will be hard to see their faces if im driving. And isnt that the fun of it. Seeing their little faces light up? Just my thoughts.

Loved that you skyped dad in though, im sure that meant the world to him, espcially since he couldnt be there.

And my kids would be asking where we were going every 15 minutes!

 

[Ravenne]

I had my kids click on the "book/confirm" button when I booked our vacation. That's about as long as I could keep it a secret. I booked everything, called them to come over to me, and click the button. They were confused what they were clicking on, but caught on quickly and screamed with excitement.

I wish I could be one of those parents who is able to keep the whole thing a secret from their kids until they get to the airport or arrive at the resort but I can't. For one, I booked pretty far out this time, plus I get so caught up in the excitement to help me pass the time while we wait that I always end up talking to my kids about it. I also solicit their opinions and involvements in making plans like where to stay, ADRs, character experiences, FP+s etc. It's hard to keep it a secret.

 

[lilmama]

We have our first trip coming up in September. We are planning on telling the kids in July with a surprise package from Mickey that will be left at our door by Tinkerbell. I have an invite and a countdown chain among a few other things that will be in it. I'm hoping to have their reaction on video.

 

[nighttowll]

I almost forgot. I had one other surprise trip that I attempted, but it didn't go so well.

I took my sister down for Christmas and tried to surprise her with where we were staying. She thought we were staying off property due to the cost, but I managed to score a great last minute deal at the Swan. Everything would have gone great if I hadn't of gotten hopelessly lost on Disney property trying to find the hotel. My GPS broke! By the time we had circled around the place 3 times in and out of both Epcot and MK parking lots. She had figured out that we were staying on property and not just taking a short cut through Disney as I had originally told her.

She did try to be a good sport about it and acted surprised for me when we finally arrived, but I knew she wasn't. It was actually pretty funny, and we ended up having a good laugh about my horribly botched surprise attempt. She was the one who finally figured out how to get to the hotel and directed me there. Then she still pretended to be surprised. She's a great little sister.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Mine have been pretty simple and low key. I have done 2 surprise Disney trips and 1 surprise Sea World trip.

First Disney trip was in 2010 for Thanksgiving. My dd was 7 and ds was 10 months. The day before the trip I laid out a display of all of the goodies I’d gotten dd for the trip and in the middle was a note “from” princess Tiana telling her I was bringing her and her brother to visit her and all of her friends the next day. It took her a minute to get it. I asked her where she could visit all of those people. She asked if it started with a D. I said yes and she went nuts and then broke out into a song that made her baby brother start clapping.

2nd surprise was to Sea World for Fall break the following year. She had a 4-day weekend in October. That Wednesday, I picked them up an hour early and we went straight to the airport to fly to Orlando. The daycare and school are on the same property. I got ds and then got dd. I put a sign on her window that said, “You are going to Sea World” with a picture of the Sea World logo and some fish. We have a minivan so her door slides open and shut. When we were walking to the van, I told her we were going away for fall break and when she closed the door there would be a sign telling her where she was going. I can still hear the squealing. It was a really long one. She told me later the squeal was that long because at first she thought she was going out of town to an aquarium and was excited, but then a few seconds later realized what the sign actually said.

Last summer we went to Disney World again. She was 10 and ds was 3. I was excited because he was finally old enough to enjoy the surprise. We left home driving the Thursday after Memorial Day, which for her was a week after the end of school. On Memorial Day I called a family meeting telling them I wanted to go over a list of chores I had updated for the summer. I told dd and ds to wait for it to come out of the printer. When the printer stopped and she grabbed the paper she started smiling. I asked her what it said. In big red letters at the top it said, “Disney 2013 Packing List”. My son’s eyes got big when he heard the word Disney.

DD: Are we really going?
Me: Are you sure that is what it says? Are you sure that isn’t the 2012 packing list (we had gone that year too)
DD: (eyes wide turning the paper to me) Yes, I’m sure look at it!
Me: Hmmm…okay yes we are going.
DD: Thank you, thank you, thank you. (son’s name) we’re going to Disney!
DS: Yay, I’m going to Disney World
DD: Wait…when?
Me: Oh, Thursday.

Then she counted on her hand saying, “Okay, today is Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday… OH MY GOSH! (Son’s name) we are going in 3 days!

Cue the theme music. I gave birth to some funny people. I was laughing so hard at their celebration I couldn’t even get it on film.

Then I told them I really did need help packing so we took the list upstairs and packed our bags.

We are now at 30 days. We leave to go back on May 25th. I have kept the secret since September. When we went in 2012 I let her in on it from the beginning and that was fun, but after experiencing it both ways, my daughter has let me know she prefers being surprised. Specifically she enjoyed how I did our 2013 trip where the trip was a surprise, but I also held our ADRs and her BBB appointment and revealed them along the way. So I’m doing that again. I think that will help my son as well who at 4 doesn’t really understand time that well.

I’m going to tell them the day before. In the morning, I’m going to present them with presents, which will be new backpacks. Having just finished the school year, I’m sure a new backpack will be confusing to dd at first, but I’m going to tell them they will need those because we are starting our countdown to Disney and those are their vacation backpacks. Then I’ll get out a box that will supposedly have materials to make a calendar. Then I’m going to I’m going to give ds an envelope and tell them there are cards in there to make the calendar. But I’m just going to put a card in there with the number 1 on it. Once they realize that is the only card, I’m going to pretend to look for another envelope and find it and give it to dd. The card inside her envelope will say something like, “No more number cards? Hmmm…Oh wait, that’s because we are leaving tomorrow!” Hopefully that will go over well. The backpacks will have all of their carry-on essentials and autograph books and the park maps inside. Then we are going to spend the day doing the usual before vacation last minute errands like getting ds a haircut and shopping.

I considered a same day surprise, but our flight is at 9:40am, which for us means we need to be out of the house by 7. If we were leaving on a weekday when we are usually out of the house by 7, I might do it, but we are traveling on a Sunday and if I’m going to be waking my daughter up at 6am on a Sunday it’s best she know that the day before.

 

[ChitownFamily]

I honestly thought about just driving until they figured it out. We live 8 hours away, but then i realized it will be hard to see their faces if im driving. And isnt that the fun of it. Seeing their little faces light up? Just my thoughts.

Loved that you skyped dad in though, im sure that meant the world to him, espcially since he couldnt be there.

And my kids would be asking where we were going every 15 minutes!

i do like surprising kids, however, i think it's better for the KIDS in general, to have some time to process their thoughts. We surprised our kids, 30 days out. This allowed them to get excited, help plan the trip, watch youtube videos of rides. For the first trip to disney world, they have NO IDEA what is in store for them. They are your kids, you know them best, but i also consider this question: Is the surprise for you or for them? if it's for them, surprise them a day or two (at least before the trip) allow them time to get excited.
ETA: i think this is especially true for first time visitors. I think seasoned visitors have more leeway in the surprise department. Their kids already know what to expect, they know what the rides are etc.

 

[davale4]

i do like surprising kids, however, i think it's better for the KIDS in general, to have some time to process their thoughts. We surprised our kids, 30 days out. This allowed them to get excited, help plan the trip, watch youtube videos of rides. For the first trip to disney world, they have NO IDEA what is in store for them. They are your kids, you know them best, but i also consider this question: Is the surprise for you or for them? if it's for them, surprise them a day or two (at least before the trip) allow them time to get excited.
ETA: i think this is especially true for first time visitors. I think seasoned visitors have more leeway in the surprise department. Their kids already know what to expect, they know what the rides are etc.

We didn't surprise the kids the first year. We go every year and we have surprised them every single year after that. I always wondered if they would like to know so they could get involved in the planning. I asked them a couple of days ago and they said NO. They love to be surprised down to the day we leave. I guess it all depends on your child. If it was me, I'd like to know ahead of time. I never took well to surprises as a kid and it's funny that my kids love it. They know we go every year, but they don't know when. So it gets a little tricky. We are going in August and we are already planning how we are going to surprise them. We've been talking on doing a "staycation" this year. So they think we are visiting nearby states. We are driving 2hrs from where we live the night before and staying at a hotel near the airport we are using. We are doing this because airfare was cheaper there. They'll be surprised the morning we go. Still working on the details.

 

[epsmith921]

We didn't surprise the kids the first year. We go every year and we have surprised them every single year after that. I always wondered if they would like to know so they could get involved in the planning. I asked them a couple of days ago and they said NO. They love to be surprised down to the day we leave. I guess it all depends on your child. If it was me, I'd like to know ahead of time. I never took well to surprises as a kid and it's funny that my kids love it. They know we go every year, but they don't know when. So it gets a little tricky. We are going in August and we are already planning how we are going to surprise them. We've been talking on doing a "staycation" this year. So they think we are visiting nearby states. We are driving 2hrs from where we live the night before and staying at a hotel near the airport we are using. We are doing this because airfare was cheaper there. They'll be surprised the morning we go. Still working on the details.

This just sounds like so much fun to me. I would love to surprise my kiddo but I'm not sure she'd like that much and I myself am not a huge fan of surprises. I don't know. I think I might like to try it one year. Granted, it's pretty easy since she doesn't turn 3 for a couple more weeks but she's so inquisitive!

 

[davale4]

This just sounds like so much fun to me. I would love to surprise my kiddo but I'm not sure she'd like that much and I myself am not a huge fan of surprises. I don't know. I think I might like to try it one year. Granted, it's pretty easy since she doesn't turn 3 for a couple more weeks but she's so inquisitive!

Yes, it is super fun when they enjoy it. But not so much fun if they were like me. Not a huge fan either. My kids love it I'd like to hear how other people have surprised their kids .

 

[bjscheel]

i do like surprising kids, however, i think it's better for the KIDS in general, to have some time to process their thoughts. We surprised our kids, 30 days out. This allowed them to get excited, help plan the trip, watch youtube videos of rides. For the first trip to disney world, they have NO IDEA what is in store for them. They are your kids, you know them best, but i also consider this question: Is the surprise for you or for them? if it's for them, surprise them a day or two (at least before the trip) allow them time to get excited.
ETA: i think this is especially true for first time visitors. I think seasoned visitors have more leeway in the surprise department. Their kids already know what to expect, they know what the rides are etc.

Totally agree with all of this. We surprised our kids once. It was our 4th trip, so they knew exactly was a trip to WDW was. We did it at 10 days out so they could plan a little, pack for themselves, and know ahead of time that they would miss 2.5 days of school. They said that was perfect. We did a little treasure hunt with a code word message to solve.

Otherwise we just discuss as a family what we might like to do for vacation so they normally know what the decision is months in advance.

DH likes to do the thing (for smaller outings) where you just drive until they notice where we are. So, for example, for the zoo, I had to drag them out to "check out a business opportunity for Daddy" which was true- we did it on the way. To me it would have been lots easier to say "Get up, we're going to the zoo so make sure you wear comfortable shoes, take your cameras, put on sunscreen" etc. I think it's more fun for them to know what's coming (and easier to get them out of bed).

And as I say in any surprise thread, I don't recommend getting kids up at 4 am and surprising them; telling them they are going someplace else fun and then switching it; or planning the trip for a time when they are going to miss something important to them.

 

[bjscheel]

I gave birth to some funny people.

Good tag fairy material right there

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We've done various trip surprises several times, some WDW and some to other destinations.

For one WDW surprise trip, my oldest was just finishing 1st grade and would be missing the last day and a half of school. Since we thought it was important to him to say goodbye to his friends, we told him before school that morning. I wrote a scavenger hunt and the clues led him to all the things that he had to do before school - get dressed, have breakfast, brush teeth, etc. The last clue was taped to his booster seat in the car and was a poem telling him where we were going. What he didn't know was that when we arrived, my sister's family met us at DTD, then my best friend's family was waiting at the hotel.

For another WDW surprise we did a couple of years ago, we didn't tell them anything at all. I had packed in advance, car was loaded and ready. They got up for school as usual and got ready to go. My husband came out of our room at the normal time he'd be leaving for work, but was wearing shorts and sneakers and they wanted to know why Dad was dressed like that. He told them he had the day off and wanted to know where they wanted to go for dinner. They each gave a couple of suggestions and then I piped up with "We were thinking Cosmic Ray's or Pecos Bill's!" and they immediately knew we'd be at WDW for dinner. For that trip, I'd really wanted to wake them up early playing the Mickey Mouse March or Grim Grinning Ghosts at full volume, but my husband didn't like that idea (mostly because he didn't want to get up earlier than usual!).

For the kids' spring break this year, we didn't tell them we were going anywhere and after dinner one night, I told them to go get in the car, we were going out. When they got in, they realized there was a suitcase and pillows and immediately wanted to know where we were going. We had to say "NOT DISNEY WORLD" because we knew that would be the first idea. We went about 3 hours to a regional amusement park for a couple of days.

I like surprising them - I think it's fun!

 

[awalker1015]

We surprised kids (DS6 and DD8) in 10/13 and convinced them we were going to Raleigh, Nc for spring break (where our flight to MCO connected). They totally bought it and for weeks I was researching Raleigh to feed them ideas of what we would do there

At the Raleigh airport I had them sit down to regroup before we "went to baggage claim" and pulled out two gift bags- one with a plush Mickey and one with a plush Minnie. Both bags also had WDW autograph books and pens. There was a note pinned to each stuffed animal that said "surprise! We are going to Disney world!!" Their reaction was cute but I was expecting them to fall on the floor with excitement and in reality it took until we arrived on Orlando for the info to really sink in.

 

[Zooshoveller]

We are going June 1st. We havent told the kids yet. We are picking them up from their last day of school and heading down that day. How did you tell your kids? What do you wish you had done differently? Any creative ideas on how we could tell our 2 girls? Thanks in advance

This is what we did. First time we checked them out after lunch, second time was after the last day of school.

The short version - "Surprise! The van is packed and we're headed to WDW!"

The funny part is we surprised them twice the same way 6 months apart.

 

[mrsmomo]

Were going to try the surprise thing if we can keep it a secret! Were leaving my moms on the 27 of May and headed straight to wdw! Plan is to pack up the car and say were heading home...

Should work out nicely as long as me and dh dont let the cat out of the bag!

 

[kugelette]

I told my little as soon as plans were firm. I love looking forward to WDW, and so does he. I wouldn't want him to miss out on the weeks of excitement and anticipation (just this morning, all he could talk about was doing a pirate cruise during our upcoming trip in July).

 

[MandiC]

We surprised our girls at Christmas. We had a puzzle made from a picture of Cinderella's castle that said 'We're going to Disney World!" and wrapped half the pieces in one girls box and half in the other and they got to open them and put it together with each other.
They of course weren't all that happy they had to put a puzzle together on Christmas morning before they opened any other presents (other presents mainly being suitcases full of Disney goodies, like autograph books, character t-shirts, kids guide to disney, ect). but I am happy with how we did it. I'm glad we surprised them about a month in advance. They got to get excited about it and look in their guide books and decide what rides they really wanted to go on. We had a Disney countdown chain in their room and it was just the perfect amount of time before the trip to tell them. The only thing we otherwise might have done was a wrapped box with balloons in it and one of them had a note on the end saying We're going to Disney World. Would have been quicker, it's what I wanted to do but dh wanted them to work for it a little

 

[dls116]

We surprised our girls at Christmas. We had a puzzle made from a picture of Cinderella's castle that said 'We're going to Disney World!" and wrapped half the pieces in one girls box and half in the other and they got to open them and put it together with each other.
They of course weren't all that happy they had to put a puzzle together on Christmas morning before they opened any other presents (other presents mainly being suitcases full of Disney goodies, like autograph books, character t-shirts, kids guide to disney, ect). but I am happy with how we did it. I'm glad we surprised them about a month in advance. They got to get excited about it and look in their guide books and decide what rides they really wanted to go on. We had a Disney countdown chain in their room and it was just the perfect amount of time before the trip to tell them. The only thing we otherwise might have done was a wrapped box with balloons in it and one of them had a note on the end saying We're going to Disney World. Would have been quicker, it's what I wanted to do but dh wanted them to work for it a little

I love the surprising on Christmas idea. We are going early February and I've been torn over whether to do it in December to give them a little over a month to be excited, or if I want to just have DD#2's birthday party the week before we leave (we will be celebrating her birthday at WDW but could throw a small party before we leave if we decide to hold off on telling them). Either way, I think a big box with balloons that will float out is the way to go.