Suprise WDW trip for Kids in 4 Days. Ideas Please?

[EDaD]

Hi I am new to the site but have been reading so much. I have been to WDW about 7 or 8 times but havent gone in the past 10 years.
My wife and I booked a trip and 4 of our 6 children are going this Friday 11/09/12. ( We have Twin boys 14 months old we are not bringing with us ) Kids are 9 Boy, 6 Boy, 5 Boy, and 3 Princess~!!
We leave for the airport which is 3 hours away and we are staying in a hotel and have an 8AM flight on Sat 11/10. The kids think they are dropping me off at the airport and I am going away for work. My wife and I are trying to decide if we should tell the kids when we wake up the morning before we leave for the airport or should we tell them at the airport? Any ideas or advice would be great. Thanks

PS: We are going for 7 Nights and staying at the Art Of Animation Resort In a finding Nemo suite. I can NOT wait we are soo excited and all packed already!!! 7 Day Disney pass with park Hopper and we are doing Universal Studios 1 Day 2 Park.

Thanks

E DaD

 

[fner11]

A few years ago we took our kids on a surprise trip. We didn't tell the kids until we were on our way into the airport. They knew we were going on a trip but didn't know where. Once we got the luggage out of the car we had our oldest read the tag for the magical express(since it was on his bag). Then we had them look into the carry-on bags which I had packed their Mickey Ears and their favorite stuffed Disney Character ! That is when it sunk in that they were going to Disney. They were smiles from ear to ear telling everyone they saw in the airport that they were on their way to Disney.

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

We've done two "surprise" trips and I loved every bit of the surprise part... my only words of advice would be to surprise them before you leave. Ours were 4, 4 and 7 the first time and we waited until the very very very last minute. (think under the arch), although it was wonderful, I realized they could have used a little "warm up".

I guess younger kiddos just need a little bit of time for it to sink in...

Check out some of the youtube videos and it will give you tons of ideas.

Have wonderful trip!!!!!

 

[ChitownFamily]

How exciting!
Personally, I'm not one for surprising kids the day of. First time kid visitors have no idea of the magic that awaits them- that's a big part of the reason, I don't go for day of surprises & i think its very emotionally overwhelming for them (but that could be the preschool teacher in me) . That said if that's what you are doing, how about telling them before the 3 hour drive to the airport & having some travel books etc. for them to look at. I checked out some travel books written for kids from the library- so it doesn't have to cost additional money.
.

 

[Keegansmommy]

We've been to Disney several times with our kids but are doing our first "surprise trip" in January. This is their Christmas present this year! I am SOOOO excited! We bought all Mickey wrapping paper, bought Mickey lights for our tree Christmas morning, purchased lots of little Mickey items, and also got a large helium Mickey balloon (will have filled Christmas Eve) that we're going to wrap in a box so when they open it, it will float up!

Have fun surprising your kids and have a magical trip!

 

[weHEARTmickey]

I have a big long post (somewhere on the DIS) about how we surprised our kiddos back in 2009. They didn't know until we drove through the WDW entrance!!! It was amazing AND VERY DIFFICULT.

I was just noticing that you are flying & wondering if the pilots could announce it to your kids? With all the new regulations, that may not even be possible. And the kids may scream their heads off, scaring all the other passengers. It will be wonderful, whatever you decide!

 

[mjkacmom]

We surprised our kids at 4:30 in the morning, with the hired van waiting outside our house to drive us to the airport. It was so worth surprising them! I think in your situation, I'd wait until you got to the airport - after WDW, we went on DCL, and the kids thought we were going to the airport (until they saw the ship). Priceless.

 

[EDaD]

All of these ideas sound great! We are really up in the air right now and just can't decide which way to go. Here are our ideas...

1: We have to be at the airport around 6AM. We are staying at a hotel 5 minuets from the airport and they have a shuttle can that will bring us to the airport. We are think we can wake up and get ourself's ready then wake all the kids up sit them all on one bed and tell them there.
OR
2: The kids already think they are coming to the airport with me to watch me get on the plane and then they will be leaving to go home. So are other idea is to bring them to the airport thinking they will watch me get on the plane and then tell them while we are at the terminal or even see if we can get the help of the attendants at the gate???

Any ideas on how we can make this the best ever would be great!
PS: I will be video taping the entire thing for minuets before to minuets after and will post it on you tube when we get back home. I will be sure to get the link on here for everyone to see!

Thanks everyone

 

[ChitownFamily]

Any ideas on how we can make this the best ever would be great!


Thanks everyone

I think all your ideas sound great. I think to make it the best- don't judge the success of your plan on their emotional response...bc they are kids & may not react the way you want them to...search disney fails on YouTube to see tons of emotionally overwhelmed crying kids. I'm not trying discourage you, just don't judge the success by their reaction. You don't want to start your vacation feeling let down.

 

[serene56]

yuck-- to be waken from a sound sleep to get a surprise like that-- how long will it take to set it?

we surprised the GD when we get to magical express bus. the dance she did when getting on the bus-- purely magical.

 

[EDaD]

I did read on here somewhere that we need to be ready for the reaction as it may not be what we are expecting. My daughter actually said to me this morning as I was walking out the door from work " Daddy I want you to take me to Disney world, I want to see Cinderella" I get evenly e excited when they say things like that! I really can't wait I may be more excited then the kids will be.

 

[kohlby]

We surprised our kids, but they had been recently enough to remember. (Well, except for the youngest, but the surprise was mainly for the two oldest). We did it the morning of. We didn't wake them up early though, they woke up on their own. I didn't want to lie to them so it was important that we tell them then. (And if I had said "it's a surprise,' my middle child wouldn't have done well on the car ride and my oldest would have been very annoyed). They were 2.5, 5.5, and 8.5 that trip. We sat them down and told them that we had a surprise for them. We gave them each an envelope. The youngest opened up "how," and in it was a picture of our minivan. The midde opened up "when," and it was a page from a calendar with the date circled on it. The opldest then opened up "what" and it was a map of the area with the four Disney parks circled. I think they were in shock. It took the drive down for it to set in.

I asked my kids if they liked being surprised. They said yes but the oldest said that next time he wants to be surprised with something different. That being surprised with Disney once was good but enough. However, we're at a year later and planning for our next trip in a couple weeks, that they know about, and now the older two are saying they want to be surprised next time.

It helped that my kids had been before. It also helped that they actually did the planning with us! They knew we were going back in 3 years, our original plan. So we would say "when we go to Disney" and get their input. We ended up going back just under 2 years due to changing our minds with a PIN code.

In your case, I'd actually surprise the kids now. That will give them a few days to get used to the idea and watch videos about Disney World ahead of time. Also, if you have kids who do sports/activities, they'll have time to adjust to knowing they'll miss those. There's also school going on this time of year. So, unless you homeschool, you need to consider how they would feel about missing work, especially the oldest. (We homeschool so that wasn't an issue for us. But the two oldest both missed one scout meeting).

 

[ChitownFamily]

Today's your big day!!! What did you decide to do???
have a great trip!

 

[EDaD]

Today's your big day!!! What did you decide to do???
have a great trip!

Thanks so much!!! We are an hour from the Philadelphia airport. We are staying over night and going to the airport at 6AM. We think what we are going to do is this:
We are stopping at very large mall and we are going into the disney store and buying each child an autograph book.
Then at the hotel tonight we will give each of them there book at that point The older kids are going to be asking why we would get these and then we will question them back untill they figure it out!!!
I can't wait

 

[EDaD]

Well went to The Disney Store and they did not have the autograph books liked we had planned. Best idea we were able to put together real fast was buying each child a gift cards with there favorite character on them and loaded each one with $50. That will be there "own" money to use when they would like I buy little things at the park. We will give them to the kids tonight!!

 

[weHEARTmickey]

Well went to The Disney Store and they did not have the autograph books liked we had planned. Best idea we were able to put together real fast was buying each child a gift cards with there favorite character on them and loaded each one with $50. That will be there "own" money to use when they would like I buy little things at the park. We will give them to the kids tonight!!

That's a wonderful idea! They can buy their own autograph books+ some. Good thinking! I hope y'all have an awesome time

 

[EDaD]

Well we did it!!!! We started questioning the kids about what they were in Philly for and what they would do tomorrow after tey brought me o the airport and then my wife said well we have a little surprise for you and have them each there Disney gift card they looked at them and then my oldest said WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!! Then the rest of the kiddos understood what was really happening and started jumping up and down! My daughter face was priceless and it was by far one of the best moments in my life to see the pure amazing smiles on their faces its brought years to my eyes. I can't wait for them to finaly experience the Happiest Place on Earth!

 

[osu2k1]

Glad it went well. We are surprising the boys in 4 weeks! I think we are dropping the bomb when we get to Denver, our connection. Have a blast!!