Question about pulling off a surprise trip

[luvmy2babies]

Hello, I'm planning a trip for either October or November of this year. It depends on when my daughter's school schedule's fall break. Her kindergarten year it was in October, this year (1st grade) it was in November. She's been asking to go to WDW for quite some time. I was going to wait until fall 2011 so her brother would be walking, but recent events have made me decide to go ahead and take her this year. He'll be 9mo at least when we go and from what I've read that's an easy age-can sit on my lap for rides and such. Thinking next year I might try to get us on the Disney Dream for a cruise.

Anyway, I want to make the trip a surprise for several reasons. One I want to be able to plan in peace without the constant "is it time to go yet?" Another is I just enjoy surprising her. If I can I'd like to keep it a secret all the way to the day we leave, just wake her to get dressed to go to the airport and say "guess where we're going today". If I get the flight I'm looking at we'll get to Orlando in less than 2 hours. If I could I'd keep it a secret until the plane landed, but that might be a bit too much.

So, who has done this? What was your child(ren)'s reaction? How long were you able to keep it a secret? Any creative ways of spilling the beans? I was thinking that when she asked where we were going that day, I'd have her close her eyes and put a brocure in her hand. Or I was thinking of popping my planning DVD into the DVD player, getting it to a good point and saying "guess where we're going" and pushing play.

Also, since she'll be well past 7 I thought it would be nice to have her keep a journal of the trip. Any ideas? Did any children that young enjoy taking their own pictures?


Thanks in advance.

 

[marlynnp]

Our daughter turned 5 on our first family trip. It was a complete surprise up until the morning we left. We got up and ready just like we would for work & pre-school and just as we were finishing the phone rang.

I had set-up one of the Disney automated calls.

Cinderella told my daughter to have fun on her big trip or something to that effect. My daughter hung up the phone and looked a little confused, lol. We asked her who called and she told us who and what she said. So we asked, "Do you know where Cinderella lives?"

"Walt Disney World!"

"That's right. Let's go!"

 

[meg_twittles]

we are also planning a surprise trip for our DD4(at the time) . We are going in December so it is her Christmas present from "Santa", even if I tell her the present is from us she says it is from Santa . I posted this same question on another board and received some great ideas. Some make it into a scavenger hunt with lots of clues, others lay out the kids clothes with special "we are going to Disney" shirts, someone sent invitations to there children inviting them to Disney, others had a limo pick them up and when the kids asked what was going on they said "We are going to Disney".

I am thinking on wrapping up a big box and in the box have a Mickey and Minnie balloon fly out when she opens it and have a letter from Santa attached telling her she is going to Disney. I would really like to wait until we get the WDW but we are flying and everyone says that it is hard to keep it a secret on the plane Good luck with everything and hope you have a wonderful trip

 

[pamickey]

My friend wanted to give a Disney trip to her 3 kids (9 and under) for Christmas. I was at WDW in early December that year with some other friends and we bought 3 of the pressed penny folders - 2 for boys and Tink for the girl. Their mother wrapped those and presented them Christmas morning. The kids were confused about how they were going to fill them until she told them that they could fill them on their next vacation in just 3 months. We also picked up a list for her that listed all of the pressed penny locations. She said that their reaction was great.

Terri

 

[KY*Figment]

This year....

I'm going to pack the needed items on Friday and then hide the suit cases. The next day my husband is going to pack the van while I have the girls at their dress rehearsal and keep it parked in the garage. Tinted windows so you can't see in. On Sunday, they have recital so we will go to it then when we get home I will have them eat, shower, and put on their p.j.'s. We will then announce to them where they are going. They have been before but this is a short trip just to kick summer off.

This past October we were at the resort for 2 days and one night so when we arrived at MNSSHP my youngest said I didn't know we were at Disney World. Tricking them isn't too hard.

My husbands cousin live in MI and they told the kids they were going to visit relatives. This was true so they stopped in Ohio to visit some and then in KY to visit some. So, the night the kids thought they were going home they go in the van at bed time to sleep and woke up at DW. They got out at rest stops and gas stations. Their last pit stop was in GA so they didn't stop anywhere in FL until they got to DW.

 

[Jessica14]

First of all, my deepest sympathies on the loss of your husband. Your outlook is inspiring!

There is a website called www.themouseforless.com that has printable pages of a Disney journal. We want to do this with out kids as well. My DD will be almost 8, and my DS will be just 6.

I would also like our trip to be from Santa, but we are going before Christmas in Dec. I had thought of surprising them with an early visit and then a very light amount of things on Christmas day. I don't want the kids to think they are getting the usual amount of stuff because they don't know that we are "Santa" and Santa is now broke because of the trip! It's just a thought now. I thought that they would just wake up and there would be a note (I like the t-shirt idea though!) on the luggage and off we would go. More planning obviously to figure out.

Have a great trip! I'm sure however you work it out your children will live it!
Jessica

 

[set1208]

marlynnp... I love this idea! I am trying to surprise my DD9. Thanks!

 

[set1208]

Jessica14...
Maybe you can print up a letter from Santa then slip it to the Santa at the mall to hand to your kids.

 

[LWatson]

We are headed down in 2wks (actually we should be arriving right around THIS TIME). This is a surprise trip for our 2 boys. We have kept it a secret since we decided we were going to look into it back in like Feb/march. Our plan is to wake them up, bring them downstairs (where I will hopefully have the Camcorder on), then we are going to turn on the Magic Kingdom opening ceremony that we recorded last trip (the kids love it), and we are going to have Disney Themed outfits ear hats and autograph books/pens set out for them. If they still dont get the hint then we will tell them. We were debating on Having Mickey Mouse call again (we did that last trip), but decided that we would already be 1-2hrs away by the time Mickey calls, so it would be pointless (We have a 12hr drive)

 

[noahdove]

Have a tee shirt made up for her and leave it out for her to put on the morning you leave On the design board down from here have great and talented designers and there are many designs for the surprise. I made my stepgranddaughter a sweatshirt for Christmas that said, Surprise..you are going to Disney World with the date we would leave home...she was speechless....I too am so sorry that your husband passed on..you truly have an angel on your side to help you plan this. Our God is good, even in the bad and sad times..I will lift you in prayer as well as your children..Enjoy the magic and take lots of pictures...

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Bless your heart!!! Wow!! You have been through sooo much!!! I totally know you can pull this off! I have done it 3 times!!! My oldest son still (14) doesn't want to know when we are going! I have waited till the last minute to tell him on trips that the younger two knew about! We have to keep it from him...he can't stand the suspense of 'we only have____amount of days.'....anyway, the first time, our boys were little and we left on a sunday morning...they thought we were going to church (had put most of the luggage in the car the night before)...then surprised them in the car.
2nd trip we did a scavenger hunt the day before and the final clue was the REVEAL.....
3rd suprise we had the camcorder and acted like we were just goofing around asking crazy questions and asked them where would they like to go that weekend!
The main thing is not to tell more people than you need to until very close to your time to leave....more than once I have had adults slip, or tell their kids and then the kids have nearly spilled the beans!!!! So...I just don't tell a lot of people until the day or so before hand. I think she would like the idea of either a scavenger hunt (mydd is her age) or just get her up and head to the airport...but if you do a scavenger hunt it would be easier to film her or take pictures! Keep us posted!!!

 

[Mommy2JulietJocelyn]

We are doing this in 9 days! I amwrapping a box with the helium filled MIckey head balloons and leaving it on the porch, getting the girls ready for school like a normal day so that when they open the door they find the box. I am having a hard time not saying anything! I am so excited!
Good Luck you can do it!

 

[ErikaS57]

Definitely agree - keep the # of people in on the secret as low as possible. I hope everything is as magical as possible for you & your children.

 

[LWatson]

Definitely agree - keep the # of people in on the secret as low as possible. I hope everything is as magical as possible for you & your children.

Oh yes DEFF. We are going to run into this problem on the 8th. We had to tell family that was here because they were all wanting to make plans on the 9th for Mothers day. Well, we decided to have a grill out on May 8th to please all mothers. That means we will have My parents, My sister, His Mom & Step Dad, His sister and nephew, and possibly his Dad and Step Mom. Everyone knows that we will be leaving less than 12hrs from when the BBQ starts. DH & I are sending out reminder emails asking them NOT TO MENTION the trip as we are surprising the kids. We had debated on announcing it at the BBQ but DH said to wait so that my Nephew wouldnt get jealous. But, yeah keep the amount of people who know LOW.

 

[set1208]

I am having a hard time not blabbing either! I am SO not good at waiting!!

 

[dis75ney]

We're surprising DS with our upcoming trip. Since I work from home, and it's been unseasonably cool this spring, I'm able to pack shorts and tees for DS and myself during the day when DS is at school (DH has his own packing routine that I don't interfere with unless there is a true emergency ). The suitcases will be packed and hidden the day before we leave.

The next morning, we'll wake up DS as normal, but instead of going to school, we'll tell DS that he has a doctor's appointment, so he'll miss school in the morning. We'll grab breakfast en route to the "office." As we're approaching the airport exit, DH will sneak his cell phone out of its holster and dial my cell. I'll answer and pretend to be talking to the doctor's office. I'll hang up the phone and tell DS, "Well, the doctor just postponed your appointment, and we've already taken the morning off of school...what do you say we take the next few days off and go to Disney?"

We're still playing around with this idea, but so far, this is the plan...I'm actually more excited for the surprise than for the trip itself!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Oh definitely agree on not telling anyone I don't absolutely have to tell and not telling a soul that has a small child. I took her to Mickey's Rockin' Road show a couple of weeks ago and didn't tell her until we were at the gate handing the lady the tickets. I like the T-shirt idea. I'll have to check out the design board.

It's only difficult keeping her nosey eyes off the computer when I'm looking at things. Everytime she asks I keep telling her we have to wait for her brother to get bigger. He's 3.5 months old now. I told her we had to wait at least until he was walking. That was my original plan. But we've been to hell and back and I don't want to wait another year.

Thank you for the condolences. My husband endured a long difficult illness and my daughter's had to grow up a bit fast. I thought she'd be my only child, but we took what would turn out to be our last vacation with dh last April and brought back a souvenir. He's a darling little boy…georgous just like my daughter. He was exactly two months old when this happened. I see him as a parting gift.

But I know my husband would want us to thrive even now. It's how he was. He was a fighter. He outlived his prognosis by 2 years. I believe he just got tired. I came home from work and found him in his favorite chair…appeared to have sat down for a nap and just stayed alseep. My mother says if that didn't break me nothing will. Every now and then I tell my daughter…"We'll never be the same, but we'll be okay." And every day I try to do something to make it happen. But she's been great all her life, especially with all we've dealt with. She's made life easier when she could have made it harder just behaving like a normal child. She doesn't know how many times she kept me sane. I am so excited to be doing this for us. I haven't been since I was little so I'll be reading here a lot.

 

[tzolkin]

We surprised our 3 kids last May.

We told them that we couldn't afford to do Disney again so soon, but we were going to FL to visit grandma. Since grandma lives south of Orlando, the kids really did not figure it out until we actually pulled into the resort. (When they started seeing the signs we told them we were just passing by on our way south.)

This worked out well for us because they knew we were going on vacation, so there was no suspicion about packing and getting work from school. Also we told them we would be going to Disney the following year, so we could get the kids' input for planning our "next trip"... they just had no idea how soon it was going to be.


We also had two other surprises planned for them during the trip. Grandma met us at the bus stop on our way to MK a few days after we were there and joined us for 3 nights. Then we checked out of Pop Century after 7 nights, packed up the car, and headed... to CSR for 4 more nights.

 

[set1208]

Aww...you made me cry LUV!
I was 5 months pregnant with my DD when her dad died. It was rough for her when she hit about 4-5 not having her dad. I am now married to a fabulous man who she calls dad and she is just as much a daughter to him as our other 3 children. Not once has he referrred to her as his step daughter.

When her father first died, I had hoped that our life would turn out like this but I never imagined how great it would actually be. You sound so strong and optimistic! I hope your life continues just as you are dreaming it will be, if not better!

 

[LWatson]

LUV you are such a strong woman. HUGS!!!!