keeping it a secret?

[justkeepswimming]

Hi, everyone....we (me. husband, son 9, daughter 5) are going to WDW on May 1! This trip has been planned a little last-minute because there's a chance of a strike at my company, which might put a little dent in the plans.

So I'm going to keep the trip a secret from the kids, probably until a week or so before we leave. Anyone have any fun ideas about how the break the good news?

Thanks!

 

[don8life]

He he, we did that in November. We didn't tell them til we hit Maryland(driving from NJ) and they realized we weren't going to a Saturday morning soccer game.
Some gracious person has posted disney related activiteis for long drives(cross word puzzles, word search etc) I gave them to them along the drive and when they asekd where we are going I asked them to guess. Oh it was classic. My 9 year old said "No wait, I don't have all my stuff" Ha ha!
Have fun.

 

[goodferry]

I am keeping the trip a secret from the kiddos too. The airport we are flying out of is near Ikea, which I love, but the kids hate. I am going to secretly pack the bags, pack the truck and then tell them we are going to Ikea, just cover the bags with a tarp. I plan on telling them as we pull up to the hotel where we are spending the night before the flight.
Last time I packed gift bags with autograph books, coloring books, disney t-shirts and other fun things for the flight and gave it to them to surprise them with the trip. I thought about ordering Mickey ears this time too.

 

[Yensid_MD]

I would wait till the morning of the trip and wake them up with some Disney stuff and tell them they are going to WDW. I did this with my wife for her 1st trip to WDW three years ago and she couldn't believe it. She used to work night shift (7PM to 7AM) at the hospital. She came home climbed in bed. I left went to the store to get a bouquet of balloons (it was her birthday) and came back and woke her up. I had her bags packed and ready to go in the car and told her she had 20 minutes to get showered as we needed to get to the airport. I don't think she really believed it until we checked into the resort.

I think the same would work for your kids.

 

[Nebsky]

We did that last week. I bought the package back in Jan. We didnt tell our son even after we loaded up in the car at 4am.

We drove and were about 6 hours into the ride when he said that he really wanted to go home because he was tired of sitting in the car.
We told him we couldnt that we were going somewhere. He asked where and then we told him.
The look on his face was AWESOME. It was really cool and he was really excited. We still had 8 hrs of drive left that day and then another 2.5 the next day. He didnt once say "are we there yet"

Its tough to keep a secret. We almost dropped the ball a couple of times.

Give them some hints to think they might be doing something.

If your driving. By disney gifts and have them reach into a "surprise" bag each state you cross.

If your flying and your kid(s) have Mickey or any character, write a note and have the character holding it. Have it read....Please come see me, I want to meet you in person...

Good luck and enjoy the magic!!

 

[Blueeyes101817]

my parents did this with my brother and i when we were younger...about a week or so before the trip, it was easter..and they had us go on a scavenger hunt..we assumed it was our easter baskets..it ended up taking us to the room my bro and i were sharing....there were fanny packs on each of our beds..when we opened them, there were d isney brocuhures and disney dollars..we were thrilled...and didnt have to wait too long!

 

[lasmickey]

Oh I LOVE all your stories! We are planning on surprising our DD's (7 & 4) for our trip at the end of September. I have almost broken down and told them a few times, but your stories are giving me the will to go on.... Keep the stories coming, I need all the help I can get!!

 

[Terry S]

We did this last year. I told the kids that we had to drive my brother to the airport when they got home from school, I packed the car while they were at school and my brother was there when they got home (in actualilty he was there to drive us, not the the other way around). When we got to the airport, I told the kids to get out of the car so we could help thier uncle get his bags out. He then drove away. They stood there for a minute looking dumbfounded and I told them, "I guess we will have to fly to WDW since we are here". It was a wonderful surprise, they kept talking about it the whole time on the plane, they just couldn't beleive, that I didn't tell them. They keep asking when I am going to do that again. I told them, that I could never get away with it again.

 

[M&C'sMom]

We are leaving on May 1st and it's a surprise, too!! My Ds 9 and DD 6 don't have a clue! I'm thinking of doing a scavenger hunt in the house the afternoon before as our flight is pretty early the next day. I thought about giving clues with a little surprise at each stop. (cameras, sun lotion, fanny pack, etc.) For the last, we're making a DVD that shows some pics from our last trip 3 years ago, and with the words "We're going back to Disney World" When they ask us when, we'll say in the morning!! Can't wait to see their faces.

This was kinda funny: A few weeks ago my DS had a fortune cookie with a fortune that said "You will be going on a surprise trip in the near future" I couldn't believe it! He looked at me and said, "Where are the Disney tickets??" I told him,"Do you really think I'd plan a trip to WDW and not tell you?" He said, "You're right, you wouldn't do that!" Ha Ha!! I saved the fortune to show him later!!

 

[fargas]

We did this to our three boys two years ago. We drove down to Florida from Ohio. We stayed with my parents in Siesta Key on the gulf coast for a week and when it was over the kids thought we were just heading home. We had planned a second week of vacation at Disney for months and they didnt know anything about it.

As we "headed home", we told them we were going to visit Kennedy Space Center in Cocoa Beach so we were going to cut across I-4. Well, when we got to Orlando, we took the exit for Disney and passed thru the Walt Disney World entrance and told them, "Surprise !! We're staying here for a week !" The van sounded like New Years Eve with all the celebrating. It was alot of fun surprising them like that.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

We surprised my nieces with a trip. They were both attending a special summer school program. We picked them up on the last day (with all their stuff already in the trunk) and handed them each a book to read while we "ran some errands." Inside the book were the parkhoppers.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

We are also doing this on short notice.

We decided last Monday to take the kids down over Easter break. So, we decided to make it a surprise (which we haven't attempted since the oldest was 3!).

We are going to drive to the airport hotel next Saturday night, and tell the kids we are just going to St. Louis for the weekend (which we do a lot). Then on Sunday morning when we get in the shuttle van for the airport I thought we would tell them we are going to Birmingham (our layover) to visit one of dad's friends (which we will be doing, but not until October).

At the Birmingham airport I thought we would say, "what the heck, let's just go to WDW!" I am not sure if the 9 year old will fall for it or not, but the 5 year old probably will.

We are flying a different airline than normal, so that shouldn't tip them off.

Hope it works for you!

 

[wld]

We did this a few years ago on our first trip. How naive we were thinking it would be our only trip.

We kept it a secret with my sister and mom helping us watch kids while I packed, picking up homework from school.....
We woke them up Saturday morning with a card that said have fun on your trip and gave them a wrapped copy of Birbaums for kids. It was great. They didn't believe us until my sister dropped us off at the airport and our luggage was placed on the conveyer belt. That is also when they realized Grandma and Auntie may have misled them a couple of times..................

Now I know about the DIS and I know there are great and more elaborate ideas out there, but the DD's still talk about it 10 years and many trips later.

 

[amyb9]

I have to throw my story in too- we are leaving THIS FRIDAY morning and my DS age 9 has NO idea. We have been keeping it a secret for several months and I have planned on DIS for so long after putting him to bed. It has been so hard keeping this! We are also going to US/IOA and have rented so many US movies that he had never seen. He just thought it was cool I was letting him rent so many the last few weeks. He is going to school as usual on Fri morning and we are going to pick him up from there- and give him a card that says- Today is your someday- because.... ever since he could talk he has asked when he was going to DW and I always said someday- he thought I said Sunday at first and told his preschool class he was going- too cute. Anyway, he STILL asks this and now it is just a joke between us.

He is a huge baseball fan and we are staying at the ASSP and going to a Braves game at WWOS. Cannot wait!!! One more day!!!

 

[HANDYMOM]

We are surprising DS's (almost 5 and almost 3) with their first trip(to POR) in early May!!!! Due to the fact that both have been gifted (??) with my talkativeness, we've decided to not tell them until we pull into Disney World. Since it's only an 8 1/2 to 9 hour ride we're telling them we're going to a far away beach. We're leaving on a friday night right as I walk in the door from work. I figure they'll be asleep before long and we'll motel it somewhere around midnight. This will give us only and hour and a half in the morning.

As we pull into the property, I'm gonna hand them mouse ears and Guest of Honor badges that I've already bought. We're going to capture their reaction on video. I think my little guy is going to explode. He watches the promotional video at least 2 times a day. He's obsessed (again, just like his mama)

As a mom, the most fun of this trip will be the joy it brings my boys. It's nice to realize how much you love to see them happy.