***Official Surprise Trips Thread and Planning Tips!***

We had planned surprise trip for our son in november. We had it all planned out, he would come home from school that day get an enveloped that had certificates for
LAVA cakes at the Ireland booth for F&W. All was going great, he had no clue, but then the school decided to give him the legal excuse paper to bring home to us, even though it had a big note on it not to do it as the trip was a surprise.

Needless to say we were not too happy with the school and the procedures.

They called to apologize, but like I told them too late. I asked them if they would mind me going over to their house and tell each of their children all of their Christmas gifts were and allowed them to open them without them being there to see their face and experience their joy.

Only then did they realize how important this was to us.

Oh well, we still get to go and have fun. but, we all missed out on a great family moment. :mad:

Oh, that stinks.

I am planning a trip with my bff as a surprise for her daughter, for February 2012. It is so hard to keep it a secret, I ended up starting a PTR just to share everything. I have surprises for my bff too, so I can't share all with her. The plan is to do the big box of balloons on Christmas day. Noelle's b-day (my bff's daughter) is the day after Christmas, so it should be an exciting few days.
 
our surprise trip this year will be under the tree...flying to WDW on 12/25 and returning 1/1. The kiddos will be out of their minds.
 
Just an idea for those who are surprising the kiddos on Christmas Day with balloons, as I am, if you were worried about the balloons lasting until Christmad morning, as I am. Toys R Us has a helium tank for $20, which is cheaper than the party stores. I saw it there yesterday, so I'm going to pick it up this weekend. I figure I don't want to chance saggy balloons.
 


Just an idea for those who are surprising the kiddos on Christmas Day with balloons, as I am, if you were worried about the balloons lasting until Christmad morning, as I am. Toys R Us has a helium tank for $20, which is cheaper than the party stores. I saw it there yesterday, so I'm going to pick it up this weekend. I figure I don't want to chance saggy balloons.

Great idea! We're just planning to buy mylar balloons because they last longer. I'll probably get four balloons so it will be cheaper than buying a tank, but if you want a lot of balloons, the tank could be cheaper than buying mylar balloons.

Only one more week to go until our surprise! :cool1:
 
They have those tanks at Walmart as well. We just picked one up for MIL's surprise 50th birthday party tomorrow. It'll be a double whammy surprise... she thinks we hired Mickey & Minnie to be here for 3:00 so she's going to pull in the driveway (bringing our kids back from 2 days at her house) and when we open the garage door, it'll be all her friends & family... SURPRISE! lol...

Then at 3am when we wake up DS, he's going to find out what his big surprise is. I'll post back here once we return. Can't wait!!!
 
I'm in the process of putting together & working out the kinks in a surprise trip for Sept 2012 for my mom. In 97, as a single, part time working mother, she somehow managed to take me to DL, and after I planned my first WDW trip, I realized how much went into it, and decided it would be best to surprise her with something in return.

We live about 3 hours apart, so I've asked her if for her birthday next year (which is right before we leave) she will come down to my city, spend a couple days there, and some time out in the mountains too. This way she has the time off, and is completely free for the week.

This is where things get sticky, as I might just wake her up at 4am saying we have to leave, cause "We're going to WDW":cool1::banana: Or I might call her in advance so she has a couple of days to prep.

During the trip, there will be more surprises such as: AKL, Savannah view (she looooves all things Africa) and a dinner at CRT for her bday, hopefully with a firework view!
 


I'm such a sap! I'm getting all teary eyed reading these.

We're surprising my 2-almost-3 year old for his birthday in January. The main reason I'm not telling him is b/c he has no concept of time or distance and he'll think we're going right this minute. :love:

I don't plan on telling him until we're pulling in the parking lot! I might even wait to see if he figures it out. He's a smart little cookie.

We talk about Disney and who lives there. He'll say "that's Disney" when the commercials come on. Of course he watches the Disney Junior shows and some of the movies.

We're not doing any "big" presents for Christmas, but I'll have a few small things for him to open, like a Mickey shirt, and some other Disney odds n ends.

Reading everyone's plans already has me thinking ahead! I'd like to go back in 2 years for his 5th birthday and that will definitely be a surprise.
 
They have those tanks at Walmart as well. We just picked one up for MIL's surprise 50th birthday party tomorrow. It'll be a double whammy surprise... she thinks we hired Mickey & Minnie to be here for 3:00 so she's going to pull in the driveway (bringing our kids back from 2 days at her house) and when we open the garage door, it'll be all her friends & family... SURPRISE! lol...

Then at 3am when we wake up DS, he's going to find out what his big surprise is. I'll post back here once we return. Can't wait!!!

Have fun! Definitely post! Can't wait to hear how it turned out!:thumbsup2

I'm in the process of putting together & working out the kinks in a surprise trip for Sept 2012 for my mom. In 97, as a single, part time working mother, she somehow managed to take me to DL, and after I planned my first WDW trip, I realized how much went into it, and decided it would be best to surprise her with something in return.

We live about 3 hours apart, so I've asked her if for her birthday next year (which is right before we leave) she will come down to my city, spend a couple days there, and some time out in the mountains too. This way she has the time off, and is completely free for the week.

This is where things get sticky, as I might just wake her up at 4am saying we have to leave, cause "We're going to WDW":cool1::banana: Or I might call her in advance so she has a couple of days to prep.

During the trip, there will be more surprises such as: AKL, Savannah view (she looooves all things Africa) and a dinner at CRT for her bday, hopefully with a firework view!

No prep...Just wing it! It would drive me crazy to wait...Is that how your mom is?
 
Just an idea for those who are surprising the kiddos on Christmas Day with balloons, as I am, if you were worried about the balloons lasting until Christmad morning, as I am. Toys R Us has a helium tank for $20, which is cheaper than the party stores. I saw it there yesterday, so I'm going to pick it up this weekend. I figure I don't want to chance saggy balloons.



If you have a Dollar Tree they have a great selection of mylar balloons that last weeks. If you don't want to mess with a tank (or the noise that will be emitted when the balloons are blown up) this might be the way to go. They have Disney characters and also stars of different colors.

Have fun - 49 days until our surprise trip - can't wait:goodvibes
 
If you have a Dollar Tree they have a great selection of mylar balloons that last weeks. If you don't want to mess with a tank (or the noise that will be emitted when the balloons are blown up) this might be the way to go. They have Disney characters and also stars of different colors.

Have fun - 49 days until our surprise trip - can't wait:goodvibes

Great idea! I didn't even think of the dollar store!
 
Some last minute planning means we'll be taking the boys and my mum to Universal and Disney just after New Year.

It's going to be a surprise Christmas present for them.

I think, after reading some threads, that I will add the box of balloons to the presentation. I've bought them themed lanyards for the parks, and will have these attached to balloon bundles with (photocopies of) the tickets in the holders. The 6 year old will probably be able to figure it out, although the 3 year old is pretty sharp too. They've been to Universal once, this will be the first Dis trip.

Because they're small, and because they have to wait 8 days to actually go on the trip, I am amassing a bunch of park-related items for them to unwrap each day, rather like an advent calendar. So far I have a couple of POTC and Star Wars pins for the Disney lanyards, Gryffendor scarves, POTC Disney Dollars, prefect badges, Quidditch Goggles etc and some really cool Potter T-shirts from Red Bubble. I also bought a pin lot off e-Bay for them to trade with while in the parks.

Both are in ferocious save-up-money mode for "Christmas" without realizing that they're saving up to be able to buy stuff at the parks! Also, but buying some merchandize beforehand we avoid them wanting to buy the $40+ scarves.
:rotfl:

It's going to be fun.
:thumbsup2
 
My DH and I are working on a Christmas surprise for my mom, brother, sister, her fiance and son. Our trip won't be til next November though. But since we're 6 adults and 1 toddler, we have to give everyone a big heads up. That way everyone will be able to plan their vacations with their jobs.

Anyway, I was going to work on tie dye shirts to give as gifts. But would like some other ideas on how to surprise them. Thought about maybe doing a scavenger hunt or some other kind of fun. Any thoughts?!
 
We are planning a surprise trip for our boys. We leave in 11 days! We are planning on picking them up from school at lunchtime and surprising them outside of the school, then leaving straight from there. We will have to spend the night somewhere along the way. We are staying at CBR in a pirate themed room and we are doing the Pirates & Pals cruise and The Pirates League. We have reservations at Chef Mickey's, Tusker House, and Hollywood & Vine for breakfast, Tony's for lunch, and Les Chefs de France and Crystal Palace for dinner.
 
I am back from our trip and our surprise(s) went off without a hitch! The first surprise was for my MIL's 50th birthday. She had our 2 kids for 2 days while I was "packing". She lives 2 hours away so preparing for the party was super easy... we just needed a way to get her here EXACTLY at 3:00. We told her that we had hired a Mickey & Minnie to surprise my son with his trip. They were going to be all set up in the garage and she needed to pull into our driveway exactly at 3pm so we could open the door and surprise him. My DH & I had the cameras set on her when she arrived (she thought it was all for my DS) and then we opened the garage door. It was priceless! She had no idea and definitely didn't think I was crazy enough to pull off such a party 12 hours before leaving for Disney (but I am!) haha...

Then exactly 12 hours later we woke up DS at 3am and had a giant present for him set up in the living room. We had the laptop on top of the present and first he had to watch the slideshow that I made. It went through pictures & played "This is Halloween" (his favorite song). It said: "Get Ready! This is your big surprise! We are going to... Get in the Van... and get on an airplane... to fly to... DISNEY WORLD!!!" Then it went on to explain about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party & how long we would be there.

He couldn't believe it. When it said "Disney World!" he looked at us with a huge smile on his face and said "What!?" lol... then I gave him the box full of goodies... balloons, a Nightmare before Christmas stuffed toy, his "This is My 1st Plane Ride" tshirt, pirate costume, activity book for the plane ride & tickets. We lasted until 1am that night at MK and he leaned over during Hallowishes to tell me I was the best mom ever and thanked me for this awesome surprise.
 
I am back from our trip and our surprise(s) went off without a hitch! The first surprise was for my MIL's 50th birthday. She had our 2 kids for 2 days while I was "packing". She lives 2 hours away so preparing for the party was super easy... we just needed a way to get her here EXACTLY at 3:00. We told her that we had hired a Mickey & Minnie to surprise my son with his trip. They were going to be all set up in the garage and she needed to pull into our driveway exactly at 3pm so we could open the door and surprise him. My DH & I had the cameras set on her when she arrived (she thought it was all for my DS) and then we opened the garage door. It was priceless! She had no idea and definitely didn't think I was crazy enough to pull off such a party 12 hours before leaving for Disney (but I am!) haha...

Then exactly 12 hours later we woke up DS at 3am and had a giant present for him set up in the living room. We had the laptop on top of the present and first he had to watch the slideshow that I made. It went through pictures & played "This is Halloween" (his favorite song). It said: "Get Ready! This is your big surprise! We are going to... Get in the Van... and get on an airplane... to fly to... DISNEY WORLD!!!" Then it went on to explain about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party & how long we would be there.

He couldn't believe it. When it said "Disney World!" he looked at us with a huge smile on his face and said "What!?" lol... then I gave him the box full of goodies... balloons, a Nightmare before Christmas stuffed toy, his "This is My 1st Plane Ride" tshirt, pirate costume, activity book for the plane ride & tickets. We lasted until 1am that night at MK and he leaned over during Hallowishes to tell me I was the best mom ever and thanked me for this awesome surprise.

That is so awesome!! Sounds like everything was perfect.
 
WE suprised DS and DD when they were 4 and 6. It was sooooo fun. We used to go every year, but had been telling them for months we couldn't afford to go that year. Hubbie got an unexpected bonus at work and we decided to suprise them. The original plan was to tell them we were taking them to school and daddy had the day off, we were just going to drive straight to the airport. Turned out that they had a snow day that day. So we loaded up the car, woke up the kids and piled up in bed. We told them they had a snow day off school and mommy and daddy had an unexpected day off work. We asked them what fun family activity we could do that day. They were suggesting playing games, going to the movies, etc. My DH said "how about if we go to Disney today". My daughter started screaming and jumping up and down on the bed. My son kept saying "we just can't afford to go this year". He didn't believe us that the car was packed and we needed to leave in a few minutes. My daughter was dressed sitting in the car and he still didn't believe us. My parents live close to Disney, so finally we had him call grandma and ask her what she was doing today. She said "I'm supposed to be at the airport in a few hours to pick you up--you better hurry or you'll miss your plane". He was in the car in 2 minutes. LOL It was a long drive to the airport--about 150 miles in the snow/ice. But thankfully we made it just in time and had a great week.

We are going Mar. 2012, this makes me wish we hadn't told the kids and suprised them again. Our cousin and her daughter are going with us for their first trip. It would have been fun to suprise her too. The kids loved the suprise but they also like to help plan the trip.
 
Reading all these great ideas is getting me so excited to surprise my kids with a trip in January. We got back last month and dd4 and ds6 have been asking daily if we can go back. We had some extra DVC points and the kids are off school the first week in January because of where Christmas falls this year, so we decided to go for it. I'm thinking of doing the balloon in the box idea as well. Can't wait to hear more stories :goodvibes
 

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