I am so excited, but I cannot tell anyone. I knew you fellow DISers would understand

[smile4baby]

How cool to see others who are keeping trips to Disney a secret! I love reading how others are surprising or have surprised their kids.

We are going on our first family trip in December. Hubby and I used to live in Cocoa Beach so we we went all the time before we had kids but now we live 3 states away and our kids have never been. Our dd will be turning 8 while we're there, so it's a combo Christmas/b-day present for her and she's been dying to go for years but the timing's always been off. We were hesitant about this year, since we now have a toddler but after reading the boards I think he'll have fun as long as we take it easy and just be happy that we're at WDW for Christmas! Plus we wanted to go while he's still free!

I've almost spilled the beans about 300 times since I booked the trip, though! I think part of the fun is helping plan the trip, so we decided to tell our dd when we put our tree up Thanksgiving weekend...maybe wrap a big box with all the trip info and t-shirts for them, plus the WDW guide. Then she'll have a few weeks to get excited and pester me every day about the trip! LOL

 

[TLHB70]

As for your older daughter: I just bought my 16 year old a car. It's been so nice not to have to drive her around. She can stay after school and I don't have to reroute my life around it. She does have to text me EVERYWHERE she goes. I've told her a car gives her more opportunities to get in trouble, and she might not be aware that she might be in a bad situation. The texting will go on until she turns 18. I also bought her an adapter for her MP3 player. The only music she can play is from that. It eliminates the need to change stations because of commercials or a bad song. Lastly, she has to keep her purse (with her phone in it) in the back seat. It still hard to let them go it alone, but it's part of growing up and you gotta let them do that. It will get easier after about a month.

Yes, I know that everything you are saying is correct. I am just having such a hard time with the idea of it all. I am not ready, but I know that it is all part of life. I would love to keep her my little girl forever, but it doesn't work that way.

 

[TLHB70]

For your surprise.....

Which is EXCELLENT by the way!

You need two small itty bitty boxes. One box holds the key to the car. The other box holds either an old WDW resort room key, we keep all of ours, OR tickets to WDW.

Obviously the kids get the boxes.

EVENTUALLY.

We, errr, Santa, did a scavenger hunt last year for the kids BIG XMAS gifts. Funny thing, just today our oldest asked if Santa could do the scavenger hunt again.

So as was already suggested a scavenger hunt would be a good idea. We left little notes for both kids to find which led to another note which led to a new note until the found the Big Gift. Really built up the excitement. Next time more notes to keep them going.

Another idea is to do this LAST. Let them get through all of their gifts which will be ho hum. Save these big ones for last. Which is what we did with the scavenger hunt. If you have seen A Christmas Story when Ralphe gets his Red Ryder BB Gun you know the effect on the kids....

My parents did this to me one year. They got the biggest box they could find. They filled it with balled up newspapers and FIREWOOD. The present really looked nice a big. It was heavy. It was huge. It was firewood.

With an envelope with money inside.

So you could wait until the XMAS gift opening orgy is finished.

Hand them a note that starts them on the scavenger hunt.....

Which leads to two Big Huge Heavy boxes. Filled with firewood, coal, rocks, or something that the girls will just hate.

But inside The Big Huge box is a little box containing a key to a car and a key to a room.....

OR you could have the scavenger hunt lead to the garage. Inside they will find a wrapped car for one DD and a big poster of Cinderella's castle for the other. But I like the small box idea myself.

Later,
Dan

add me to the secret keepers club....We are leaving a week from today and DD has no idea. She will go to school like any other day except that it is a very well planned early release day (thank you school system) I have purchased personalized M&Ms with the message Happy birthday you are going to Disney World today printed on them (it took 4 M&Ms for the message) Once she reads her candygram she has a letter to open and read that has all the info and plans for the trip thus far....I do not have everyday planned out so she could throw her 2 cents in since it is her birthday. I've been keeping this secret since last Nov and it's killing me but at this point I'm not telling because I can not wait to see her face when she figures it out. Not sure if I'm more excited for the reveal or the actual trip. Have a great time and stay strong!

I really like these two ideas.
Maybe I can buy the bags of personalized M & Ms to wrap under the tree in the other boxes. I could number them and have them spell out the message/clues leading to the final car/WDW reveal. (How much are the M & Ms, though???? I might need several bags, huh?) They could open the boxes in order. Then, as Dan said, the messages could lead them to the car and final announcement about WDW. OOOHHHH......I have to come up with wording for M & Ms and where to end. I think older DD should be to the garage with the car, but younger DD should be in another location. I think the reveals should be in separate places so they do not take away from the other's surprise. You know....does that make sense?

 

[iluvdisneywrld]

I know exactly how you feel. DH and I planned a trip about 2 weeks ago and decided we needed to wait to tell the kids on Christmas, since this is their BIG christmas present. I can barely stand it. I keep mentioning our last trips and talking about things at DW because that is ALL I can think about. DH and I have been trying to plan things and all without the kids. We are a very close family and getting even a few minutes without kids hanging around is difficult, I think they know something though we usually do not even ask for time without them.
I like the scavenger hunt ideas. I might have to do that for my kiddos also. At the end maybe I could have three gifts for them to open and they could all get in on the fun. I really like the idea of them having to call grandparents to give clues, they would LOVE that!

 

[brian7221@att.net]

We suprised our children last September by showing up at their school just before lunch time. We jumped into car and they were like where are we going?
We gave them each a wrapped gift that was full of Disney stuff (Autagraph Books, Pens, and Misc Items). They new then where we were headed. Best trip ever. We were celebrating my daughters 10th b'day. Also suprised my wife that trip by pulling into Port Orleans Riverside. I had secretly changed our reservations from Pop Century to POR.
We suprised kids back in 2006 by have Mickey Mouse call on Christmas morning. Dont know if they still have that recorded service or not?

 

[luvmy2babies]

Working on a surprise here too and it is hard. My daughters knows I want to take her someday, but thinks we are waiting until her little brother is 2 years-old, which is 2012.

I decided to do it this year during her fall break. The teachers at her school go to a conference every year and the school closes for 3 days. Found out late August that her fall break this year is the days leading to Thanksgiving so the school will be closed all week.

We are leaving the Sunday before Thanksgiving and coming home the Saturday after. Not telling her a thing until the day we leave lessen she drive us all nuts. Our flight is at 1:40pm so we'll be able to get up like we normally do when we get ready for church.

Haven't decided how I'll spring the news yet. Considering a call from Ariel to my cell and some other things. I haven't told a soul that might see her, no family, no Godparents, no one. 3 co-workers know. When I requested the time off I told them. Told my sister when she emailed me wanting to know if we could get together for the Holiday, but they don't see each other.

I haven't even told my mom, which probably won't sit well with her, but I can't take any chances. I know too she will wish she could go, but when I booked she wasn't working and even though she has a job now, it takes a while to catch up after being unemployed and I can't afford to treat her and I'm not putting it off. DD has been asking for 3 years and I think a Thanksgiving trip to Disney would be good after the year we've had.

DS will be old enough I think to go along, ride rides and have fun, but young enough that he will not have trouble dealing with the princess mania. Heck, he smiles at every woman that talks to him so he might like it. And you can't beat the price of taking an infant somewhere like that.

We're staying at All-Star Movies which fits my cast of characters and this single mom's budget.

I can't wait to hear how it goes for you. I had a close call one day. Dd usually gets out mail out of the box but when she opened it she said it was too much for her to grab. We hadn't checked it the previous day. I went to get it and there was a pretty envelope with a picture of Mickey and Minnie getting in the Monorail. Guess I better check the mail for a while.

Fortunately dd is easily re-directed. We were in Target looking at the princess dolls and I asked her if she had the chance to have dinner with the princesses would she want to dress up like a princess. She said, "Yeah…why?" I pointed at something and said "Oh look at that." I have dinners at both Akershus and 1900 Park Fare reserved. I found 2 amazing communion dresses on sears.com marked down from $90 to $11 and tiaras on another site for $8.

I can't wait to see her face. For me the trick will be getting everything I need to get done without her knowing, especially making our memory books (free printables online) and making our t-shirts. I got some great designs done from a DISigners on here. Planning on making us 5 t-shirts each so I have a lot of work ahead of me. Found great websites to order the t-shirts from today so I can get the sizes I need in the colors I want. Fortunately there is a huge walk-in closet in my room she never goes in where I can keep them and everything else while I pack.

I know it will be worth it. Here, I pretty much expect a good bit of screaming. There is nothing like that look of pure joy in the eyes of your child/grandchild/niece/nephew, etc.

 

[elizflynn]

Goodluck keeping your surprise! Atleast you don't have a long time, I have to wait til June to surprise mom for her birthday and then our trip isn't even til November 2011 and she won't know any details until we arrive except when we are going! LOL

 

[Turkey Lurkey]

Several years ago, I surprised my wife with a belated honeymoon to WDW. I had everything planned out and reserved in early October and wanted to spill the beans on Christmas...it was the most difficult 3 months I've ever experienced. Both of our families were in on it, as was her boss (I had to make sure she would get the time off). Somehow, we all managed to keep her from finding out about it.

On Christmas, she was opening trip related gifts, a new camera, a new portable CD player, various Sleeping Beauty trinkets (she's a huge SB fan, so that was not unusual), and I saved one gift until last, a copy of the Birnbaum guide from that year. She opened it up and looked at me confused. I told her to check out the "Really cool bookmark". It was an envelope with the plane tickets and reservation info. Her reaction made the whole thing worthwhile. She was a total sobbing, laughing mess.


TL

 

[JanuaryF]

We surprised our girls (then 5 and 3) the morning we left. It definitely saved our sanity with the 'how much longer' questions. Their reactions were worth the secrecy. We actually had the vacation with 3 sets of grandparents, who also kept the secret. Talk about tough, when all you want to do when you are with the grandparents is talk about the upcoming trip!

We are surprising them again with an end-of-January birthday trip as a Christmas present for them. We have some time between Christmas and our trip, so they can help us plan what we are going to do etc. The scavenger hunt idea sounds great - i need to plan it out a bit. Hmmm. I'm going to make the 'present' part a count down poster.

If you find you are bursting to tell the kids, go on to You Tube, and search for "surprise disney trip" or something like that. Watching the kids reactions will help you keep the secret. There are some awesome videos of trip surprised that give me shivers and bring a little tear to my eye...

Keep it secret! Keep it safe!

Jan

 

[Mamu]

Another surprise story.

DH and I are celebrating Our 45 Wedding Anniversary in September. In March I booked 2 rooms at Sugarloaf Lodge. I also purchased the Bridal Vail. Took it home and re-decorated as Anniversary Ears. My children and grandchildren all knew the dates. There are now 10 of us going.

We kept the secret until DH birthday in August. Friends and family attended everyone knew we were going but DH. DIL made up a special birthday card from his GC inviting him to join them on this special vacation. While I stood behind him sprinkling pixie dust, with my Anniversary Ears on. Everyone was

He asked two questions: Are we renewing our vows at Disney? Not this time. Who's paying? You. Reply: what kind of birthday present is that.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I watched some of those youtube videos last night after my children were asleep. Plugged in the headphones and laid in bed for a while going between laughing and crying. Those videos were awesome, all except one where the children were actually disappointed.

There were 3 of them, one male teen, one male who looked to be about 7 and a little girl who looked to be about 2. Apparently they thought they were going to someone's house to visit and they never said who this guy was to them, and granted they had been driving all night, but he must be amazing because when the mom told them they were really going to Disney World, the teen looked at the mom like she was nuts and said he wanted to go where they had planned to go instead. The little boy said "OH NO! and burst into tears and the little girl started wailing probably because her brother was crying. I felt so bad for that mom. There were almost 400 comments on the video telling her what ungrateful children she had.

I had to watch 10 more after that. I loved the ones where they said we're going right now. The looks on those children's faces…priceless. One set of children refused to believe it and had to be taken outside to see the luggage in the van. Another it was obvious they had a very early flight because they just stared at the tickets and were like "Wha?"

I'm thinking I’m going to write a little poem for my daughter to read. I'm going to tell her that since school is out the whole week, I want to do something special for Thanksgiving just the three of us...then give her an invitation. It will have 2 sides.

On the front:
Happy Thanksgiving
You and your brother give me so much joy
What more could a mom want in a girl and a boy
I love you so much,
And I am glad to say...

On the back:
SURPRISE!
We are going to Disney World
TODAY!

 

[jennyleettu]

How much fun!! We surprised my niece with a trip last year for her birthday. We wrapped a huge box with helium balloons inside of it (I taped them to the bottom of the box so I didn't have to try and get them down from the high ceiling) and wrapped the box top and bottom seperate (so she could just lift the lid off) when she opened it the balloons came out and there was a sign tied to the balloons that said "You're going to Disneyworld!"

It was a lot of fun...I think I had as much planning how to tell her as I did planning the whole trip!!

 

[TLHB70]

Wow....more great stories and ideas. You are correct, watching those surprise videos on You Tube will help. I have watched several of them before (even the one where the kids were disappointed). I will try to watch them while I wait to help motivate me.

 

[TLHB70]

Goodluck keeping your surprise! Atleast you don't have a long time, I have to wait til June to surprise mom for her birthday and then our trip isn't even til November 2011 and she won't know any details until we arrive except when we are going! LOL

OMG! That is a long time. My wait doesn't seem nearly as bad as waiting a full year.
Good for you! Keep up the great work! Remember, you can come here for support! It will be worth it when you see her face!

 

[Lifeangel1]

We just surprised my grandsons (9&8) with our trip to WDW on Sept 2nd. we held the secret for 9 months. they had no idea until we picked them up early from school to go "camping". That is how we were able to keep the secret. Instead of disneyworld we would just say camping. Packing for camping. buying stuff for camping, etc. It worked out great. The way we broke the news to them was with a video I made. It had pics from past trips and at the end it told the to "Run" and "get in the car" "because we are leaving for Disney Right Now!" they were in shock. We had to keep telling them it was for real and not a joke. It was so much fun.

It wasn't easy but worth it! Have a great trip! We just got back on Wednesday and had a wonderful time.

 

[twokids0204]

I am about to pop because I am so excited about a future trip, but I cannot tell anyone because we are surprising DD with this trip. I know many of you DISers have posted that you have surprised family members. I now realize how hard that must have been! We just booked the trip a two days ago, and this silence is about to kill me!
Almost a year ago my younger daughter (age 11) asked when we were going to go to WDW again. Since I am a such huge Disney fanatic, we have gone almost every year for the last 9 years. The last time we went was last September. DH told me that he wanted to wait at least two years before going again. However, my younger DD is ready to go back, and, of course, I am too!
Well, my older daughter does not care to go back anytime soon. She has hit that age where she feels like she is too old for WDW. She will soon be 16. She now has her learners permit but will soon get her driver's license. DH has wanted to get her a car once she starts driving. He decided to get her one for Christmas instead (very close to her actual birthday).
So guess what DH decided.............For Christmas, we are surprising older DD with the car and younger DD with the surprise news of a mom/daughter trip! She and I will fly out on January 2. Older DD will stay home with DH and they will be able to go out to dinner, movies, etc. in her car.
I am so excited that I could scream, but I cannot tell anyone! We are even afraid to tell grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc. because we do not want anyone to let it slip.
It is so hard to keep the secret!!!!!!!!!!!! I am trying to research park hours, crowd calendar, make dining reservations, etc. all without DDs noticing any of it. That is hard. I will not even add a ticker to my signature because I do not want to risk it being noticed if she passes by while I am reading posts online.

So, I admire all of you that have kept the secret and surprised the family. I would love to know how you all presented the surprise to your family members if you did it as a Christmas gift. I am trying to figure out a way to wrap a box with something in it announcing the trip. Like a stuffed Mickey, etc.

Not very good at keeping secrets here.

So what we did, was told them we were going, but when they asked questions about specifics, we kept that as a surprise.

i.e. How many days, where are we staying, where are we going to eat, etc...
and that way we got to celebrate the trip with them, get them interested, and still have suprises.

 

[dmccarty]

...I have to come up with wording for M & Ms and where to end. I think older DD should be to the garage with the car, but younger DD should be in another location. I think the reveals should be in separate places so they do not take away from the other's surprise. You know....does that make sense?

The M&M's are a very interesting idea. I am trying to figure out how I could use them to my advantage.

For XMAS we had two notes side by side for each child. That way one would not feel left out. The end of the scavenger hunt was in the same place so we could see both kids at the same time. But having them by them selves has its advantages too. Especially with the car. The trick is going to be setting it up so one kid does not feel left out while you follow Kid 1 around to get their surprise and then follow Kid 2.

Later,
Dan

 

[Missytara]

A couple of years ago, I invited two girlfriends along from work.

We had a co-worker that is also a friend of ours, who was really cash strapped after buying a house. She had lost her dad and was having a terrible time dealing with it and her family. We figured the three of us had already paid for the room, the parking at the airport, etc. So it wasn't really that expensive to buy her tickets and plane tickets, and gave her a bit of spending money. We gave up our tickets to Cirque de Soleil and pitched it in to invite her to go. We decided we had to surprise her or she wouldn't let us do it for her.

Imagine her surprise when we invited her to lunch, with all the info; her confirmation for the plane, her DME tag, her name included on all the reservations, etc. I swear she almost fainted, and then started to cry like a baby right in the middle of that restaurant. We came back to work and every noticed she had been crying and thought it was a sad cry - but it was a happy cry. Everyone thought it was so cool that we did it for her, and it feel so good to be able to do it.

To this day, we still talk about it - it was a precious moment when you can surprise someone with a gift to the happiest place on earth.

 

[dmccarty]

Mamu,

Excellent. I really like your saying, "A tradition passed down is an invisible thread that connects generations"

This is what we are doing with our kids. The don't know it yet. But they will remember the times at WDW with their grandparents and parents. That tradition seed has been planted and well watered.

There are some wonderful trips in the making on this thread as well as some excellent trips completed. VERY nice.

Some great ideas that have to be used.

Later,
Dan

 

[princess lovers mom]

I really like these two ideas.
Maybe I can buy the bags of personalized M & Ms to wrap under the tree in the other boxes. I could number them and have them spell out the message/clues leading to the final car/WDW reveal. (How much are the M & Ms, though???? I might need several bags, huh?) They could open the boxes in order. Then, as Dan said, the messages could lead them to the car and final announcement about WDW. OOOHHHH......I have to come up with wording for M & Ms and where to end. I think older DD should be to the garage with the car, but younger DD should be in another location. I think the reveals should be in separate places so they do not take away from the other's surprise. You know....does that make sense?

that would take a lot of M&M's - usually you have to buy a minimum of 3 bags - you can have 2 colors of M&M's with something different written on each on - so if you are planning on a sentence it would be hundreds of dollars

we used the M&M's to say "you are going to" on one and "hanna montana" on another for a concert surprise - wrapped one of each in a small jewelry box - put that in a bigger box and that in a bigger box - you get it...

girls could not understand why we wrapped 2 M&M's - then they read them (in the wrong order mind you!)
very excited!