Not-so-Magical Christmas surprise.

[4redheads]

Since having 4 kids means that I can get one of each type of reaction, I know to just work with what I got. A week of Disney, no dishes, cooked meals, room service. Who cares want they think. Actually, I let my non surprise child in on the planning earlier than my others. But I never do anything last minute as that means I am missing out on 8 extra hands - and we don't leave until the house and bedrooms are clean. Little ones of course are clueless and can only be prepared for what is going to happen next. Lol yes, we do monitor what they watch so no airplane or titanic movies!

 

[lady9]

Our children were 4 and 9 when we surprised them with a trip to Disney. We told them we were going to visit a friend in Houston to get them on the plane. When we got the rental car and the kids started passing signs to Disney, DS 9 said, "I think dad is going the wrong way." We told them the surprise. DD 4 started to scream, "I wanted to go to Houston!" over and over and had a huge meltdown. The poor bellman opened her door to welcome "The Princess" and she screamed, "Shut the door, shut the door!" She screamed through the lobby, in the elevator, and into the room. Thankfully we splurged and stayed at the Contemporary and Wishes had just started. That caught her attention and put her in a much better mood. It ended up being one of our most favorite trips.

To the OP-once your kids have the experience of the cruise, they will love it. You will have a fantastic trip and that is what counts the most.

 

[scootch]

Similar thing happened to me with something on a bit of a smaller scale, I got the kids a limo to port from WDW. My girls are 10 and 13 and thought it would be a HUGE fun surprise. They were both like, "i thought we were taking the bus".

 

[1153rsmith]

For our first Disney cruise, we had friends of ours surprise them the night before we sailed in front of the Magic Kingdom. I expected histeria. What I got was stunned silence. They had a great time, on the cruise and we have been on one since and have another one booked for 2014, it was just too much for them to take in at one time. (They were 13 and 10).

Like a PP said, youtube would make you think everyone jumps off the couch. Some process much differently.

That being said, I love the photo of the goodies you put together. I am free to be adopted to go. I promise I will act excited.

 

[Paigeanne]

For our first Disney cruise, we had friends of ours surprise them the night before we sailed in front of the Magic Kingdom. I expected histeria. What I got was stunned silence. They had a great time, on the cruise and we have been on one since and have another one booked for 2014, it was just too much for them to take in at one time. (They were 13 and 10).

Like a PP said, youtube would make you think everyone jumps off the couch. Some process much differently.

That being said, I love the photo of the goodies you put together. I am free to be adopted to go. I promise I will act excited.

I would appreciate that!!! LOL

My 8 y/o is officially pumped. He love science experiments, and one look thru some navigators and he was ON BOARD!! Plus the free ice cream whenever you want it thing didn't hurt. My 5 y/o still has no clue, but the fact that his brother is excited is enough for him to play along

 

[lindylou2_2002]

We took our girls on the Magic out of New york in August, now we had been telling them we were going to spain. All the Family know but they didnt.

We took them to the Airport and walked in to the Virgin atlantic Terminal (doesnt really fly to spain) they didnt notice. We got out various things that we had collected and sat them down and told them we werent going to spain. Gave them the Itinnary and my 9 year old was bouncing my 7 year old looked completly spaced by the whole thing and then decided that it was a bad thing because we had lied.

Everyone reacts differently I think. We have expectations as adults and children rarely live up to them
This year we are keeping the girls completly in the loop. As planning is half the fun i think.

 

[shburks]

We took our girls on the Magic out of New york in August, now we had been telling them we were going to spain. All the Family know but they didnt.

We took them to the Airport and walked in to the Virgin atlantic Terminal (doesnt really fly to spain) they didnt notice. We got out various things that we had collected and sat them down and told them we werent going to spain. Gave them the Itinnary and my 9 year old was bouncing my 7 year old looked completly spaced by the whole thing and then decided that it was a bad thing because we had lied.

Everyone reacts differently I think. We have expectations as adults and children rarely live up to them
This year we are keeping the girls completly in the loop. As planning is half the fun i think.

Even as a kid I would've been mad if you told me I was going to Spain and then didn't!

 

[lindylou2_2002]

Even as a kid I would've been mad if you told me I was going to Spain and then didn't!

We live in the UK, Spain is only 2 hours away a really really cheap Holiday compared to DCL and Travelling to the States.

They have been to spain loads of times as nanny has an appartmant there

 

[shburks]

We live in the UK, Spain is only 2 hours away a really really cheap Holiday compared to DCL and Travelling to the States.

They have been to spain loads of times as nanny has an appartmant there

Ok...that makes more sense then! I grew up in southern US and never travelled overseas until I was married! I would've been devastated to have been promised a trip to Europe to have that snatched away for a cruise. I can understand now the promise of Spain to your kids!

 

[SweetMissy]

Don't feel bad! We surprised our kids for our trip back in Feb., had the video camera going and everything as we pulled into the airport. I thought our son would know exactly where we were going. He had no idea. So I told them and they basically just sat there, lol. They didn't have the excitement we expected. It was very early in the morning though, so they were tired and whatnot. But you announced it on Christmas....kids are very overwhelmed with the visitors, parties, and toys. I'm sure they'll get more excited after the excitement of Christmas is over. Have fun!!

 

[DarthTod]

We have been waiting for MONTHS to tell our sons 5 & 8 about our 1st cruise!! We're going on the Magic out of Galveston on Jan 26th. Well, we had the most adorable box of stuff full pics and things to tell the kids we where going, including a cute little note from out Elf on the Shelf telling them we had been keeping a secret etc... We set up the automated call from Mickey, the whole 9 yards.
And they where tremendously under impressed.....
I get it. They're young and don't really know what to expect..... but CRAP!!! Our video is terrible, I mean, they asked if hey could play Skylanders now. And I told my hubby to turn the #%@$ thing off!! I almost cried. We've watched some YouTube vids and talked about it all day, and its a LITTLE better. Definitely NOT the picture I painted in my head!!!

Ah, kids. We told ours as soon as we booked, and it was all excitement until the when came up. Once he and his cousins realized it was more than a year away, we almost got tears.

I also have a video somewhere of the most nonplussed kid ever getting that call from Mickey announcing a trip to Disneyland. He listened to the call, handed back the phone, and went back to his Legos. Pretty much no reaction whatsoever. Once we got on the plane, total excitement. Kids are much more motivated by the now, not the soon to be.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thanks for the kind words!! I know they will have a blast, but this morning I was crushed. I expected the scenes from the youtube videos. They really are warming up to it the more they see about it. My 5 y/o thought it was like his pawpaw's fishing boat!!

How old are the kids in the videos you watch? Perhaps they are experienced cruisers and know exactly what's in store for them. It's hard to get excited for something you don't know what it is and at age 5, can't even picture in his mind.
Don't make him feel bad, or you feel bad either. He'll have a great time on the ship and if you surprised him a 2nd time, maybe you'll get a different response.

 

[Bnb0627]

I know just how you feel!!!! Our kids did the same thing. I had planned out a way to tell them just a month before the trip ( May 2013) but we just couldn't keep the secret. So one night while in a Taco Bell we started to play a game. We would name states we wanted to visit and where and what we would do in that state. Well it took forever for one of them to say Florida and then forever for them to say Disney World. Then they quickly moved on to another state so we had to keep bringing back up Florida and Disney with big cheesy smiles on our faces.

Finally my dd9 says to dd7 "Madelyn don't you get it they are trying to tell us we are going to Disney"

DD7 goes "really cool, so can we get back to the game how about Texas what's in Texas"

I couldn't believe it! This would be their first time in a plane, in Florida and at Disney. I guess I shouldn't have watched all those videos and hyped myself up for it. Now I'm worried they might actually be disappointed with Disney since they really like thrill rides. Hope they find it as magical as I did!!!!