Surprise Disney Trip-please help with ideas

[Minnie404]

Hi I posted this on another board but thought I'd post here too. Any ideas would be great! We are surprising our kids with a trip to Disney in Feb. We will actually be leaving the day before my sons 8th birthday. I've been researching all the different sites on how to surprise the kids. I can't figure out what I want to do so any ideas would be great. Both kids have birthdays in Feb my daughter turns 5 a couple of weeks before we go. We will be down there though on my sons birthday. They have both been to Disney before and love it. I've thought about getting shirts and putting something along the lines I get to spend my 8th birthday with Mickey & Minnie. We leave on a sat morning and our flight is around 1030am so I want to have them get up and tell them before we leave for the airport. We won't have a lot of time though since we will probably need to leave our house by 730/8am the latest. Does anyone have any great ideas for the big reveal as well as something cute for his shirt? Thanks so much for any help. I'm so excited to take them on this surprise trip.

 

[MomofIndigo]

Why not have the suitcases already packed and that is what they wake up to?
Maybe with Mickey Ear hats on the top or a birthday ear hat? If you are going during his birthday do you want him to wear his shirt on his birthday or on the day you leave? You can surprise him the day of his birthday with a birthday shirt.

 

[KathyP]

How about a t-shirt that says "I'm going to Disney World". Just wake them up to get dressed, and have the shirts laid out with their jeans.

 

[undertheradar]

Why not have the bags loaded in the car and they find out when you are at the gate?

 

[MomofIndigo]

Going back and looking at your post. You do not have a lot of time so you might want to think about treating it like a normal day. Have the shirts or whatever you want to get to surprise them in their seat in the car so you surprise them on your way to the airport.

My DD tends to delay and get too keyed up when she is excited and cant focus on what I need her to do. So if your kids are like mine you might want to think about revealing in the car or AFTER they are dressed. Maybe Mickey pancakes/waffles?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I just woke my kids up around 4 am and told them to get dressed. They were nervous wondering what was going on.

Then they came to the living room and I gave them gift bags with Mickey ears and new tshirts. They caught on really quick and were so excited. We then got into the car and drove to WDW from NJ.

 

[Canooknic]

We did a little scavenger hunt for our boys last year - straight after breakfast - it took about 5 minutes.
There were about 5 picture clues (they were 4 & not fast readers) and they ended in my closet finding their Buzz suitcases, plush Mickeys and "We're going to Disneyworld today" tshirts.

This time we need to leave home at 5am so we are going to wake them up to the Jungle Book Groove and when they come out of their bedrooms they'll see their Buzz cases & new Tshirts!! Can't wait!!!!!

 

[auralia]

My my neice was being surprised I went into the parks a few days before she was told and got some videos of the princesses inviting her down... rapunzel did the best by far! it was very cute... i posted them on her moms face book!

 

[Minnie404]

My my neice was being surprised I went into the parks a few days before she was told and got some videos of the princesses inviting her down... rapunzel did the best by far! it was very cute... i posted them on her moms face book!

this is so cute! What an awesome thing to do. I'm sure the kids loved it.

 

[mumto2]

We surprised our kids a couple of years ago. I left work early and got the car packed up. DH brought them home and we started talking about where to go that evening. WDW was brought up and the kids were like yeah, right. Until I got out the tickets, then they started to get hopeful. When they saw the car was packed up, they lost it. Our trip started in the evening, but I would think the scenario would work first thing in the morning.

Have a great trip!

 

[jcmaro]

We are leaving a few days after Easter so their Easter baskets are going to be filled with things for the ride, shirts to wear, autograph books, etc. We'll see who figures it out first! I had thought about just putting them all in the car and driving but one will end up waking super early, figure it out and wake up everyone else in the car. Then we will all be exhausted.

 

[sigmasal]

We went with another family about 5 years ago. Between us there were 5 kids, including 2 toddlers (2.5 and 3.5). We spent the night before our trip at our friend's house because they live about 30 minutes closer to the airport than we do and our flight was at 7:00am. We told the kids that we were having a weeknight sleepover (we left on Monday morning) because the moms were going on a trip for our business and the Dads were going to bring us to the airport, take them out to breakfast and then drop them off at school. After they went to bed, we packed a box for each family with 2 helium balloons and tee-shirts for everyone that said, "Surprise! We're going to Walt Disney World TODAY!" We had to wake the kids at 4:30am. We got them all out into the living room and told them these packages arrived for our families overnight. Each set of kids opened their box and were stunned. My friend's daughter, who was 8, started sobbing! The parents had already showered before we woke the kids...the moms started getting everyone dressed, hair done, grabbed a box of cinnamon buns to take to the airport and we were out the door (had loaded the cars the night before). Believe me, we got 9 people out of the house in about 1 hour at 5am - you can do it! And we didn't forget a thing! Have fun with it!

 

[Gracomom]

Last time we took our kids to Disney, they were much younger (oldest was 4), but he had been to Disneyland and knew what it was all about. We woke them up early in the morning and said we were going out for brunch, hopped in the car and headed for the airport. When he saw the planes taking off and realized where we were, he started asking questions. We told him we were flying to Calgary (a city 3 hours drive away we regularly drive to visit family). He thought it was pretty cool we were flying this time instead of driving there.

It wasn't until the plane took off that we told him we were actually going to Disneyland, and he was so excited.

I think the next time we do a Disney trip or cruise, we will surprise the kids with their bedrooms filled to the ceilings with balloons when they go to their rooms that night (for a night flight) the day of our flight, or if it is a morning flight, then fill the living room with balloons all over the floor and when they see it tell them we are having a party to celebrate leaving for the trip!

 

[wiigirl]

How about a t-shirt that says "I'm going to Disney World". Just wake them up to get dressed, and have the shirts laid out with their jeans.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We surprised our kids with a weekend trip a little over a year ago. I had them get up and get ready for school as usual, then my husband walked out of our bedroom dressed in shorts instead of dressed for work. Our kids wanted to know why Dad was not dressed for work and we told them he was taking the day off. He told them we were going to take them out to dinner to celebrate a good start to the school year -- where did they want to go? After a couple of suggestions from them, I said, "How about Pecos Bill's or Cosmic Ray's?" and they both immediately knew we would be at Magic Kingdom for dinner. They couldn't believe it!

 

[jennyst]

My uncle actually surprised her kids by putting on a full Mickey costume and waking them up. Then she asked "Where is Mickey from", they replied "Disney", she said "That's where we're leaving for today!". Haha it was so cute.

 

[Minnie404]

Thank you everyone for the great ideas. I can't wait to surprise them. I think I'm going to do the shirts wrapped up with some balloons somehow.

 

[tres besitos]

We surprised our three boys on our trip a few years ago. Our oldest doesn't love surprises and we knew he wouldn't do well with "surprise we are leaving now!". He would need a little time to process it. We were leaving on a Wednesday morning, so Tuesday after school we had a big box wrapped waiting for the boys in the living room. When they opened it a helium mickey balloon floated up with a note attached to it. It was Mickey bursting through a picture of a park map saying "Surprise we are going to Disney World!". In the box we had t-shirts for the boys, new pins to trade and a letter to each boy from their favorite character letting them know how excited they were to hear that they were coming to visit and that they would see them at the Halloween party in a few days (we went in October).

I had so much help and so many great ideas from the people on the Creative DISigns boards. They helped with both the personalized letters and t-shirts. The t-shirts were so cute. Phineas and Ferb standing in front of Cinderellas castle saying "Ferb, I know what we are going to do today! We are going to Walt Disney World!"

The only kink in the plan was when I picked up the boys from school they wanted to know why Dad was home from work, why their grandparents were at our house (they came with us on vacation) and why were they getting a big present on a random Tuesday. I had spent so much time secretly packing and planning both the trip and the big revel that I forgot to plan some sort of set up for the whole thing. I rambled on about what a good job they had been doing at school so far this year and how we were so proud of them that we wanted to give them this surprise. They totally thought it was a giant Lego set to share. These questions were quickly forgotten once that box was opened!

Have fun and enjoy the memories you will be creating!

 

[pjlla]

Okay.... I haven't read all of the responses, but I've got to chime in here.

We opted to surprise our kids with their first trip to WDW (they were DD at 6.5 and DS at nearly 4). We held the secret in for months and on the day of departure we told them we were going to Boston for the day (not a highly unusual thing for us). Had to find a reason to explain the long drive and the suitcases. When we got to the parking garage at Logan my DH pulled out the video camera and I did the "big reveal". Well.... DD pouted and cried and generally was NOT happy that we "lied" to her and she was royally put out that she wasn't going to spend the day at the aquarium. DS seemed okay at first, but then when we told him we were getting on a plane (his first plane ride) he got very nervous. This was just a few months post 9/11 and even though he was very young, he was aware (to some degree) that something bad had recently happened involving airplanes.

DD was also upset that she was unable to help pack her bag and she was VERY concerned that we may have forgotten something that she would deem VERY IMPORTANT to this trip (like her stuffies and such). In hindsight I can understand that feeling because I would be nervous if someone else packed my bag for an important trip! Plus we pulled them from school for the trip and even as a first grader, she was concerned about that.

In the long run, we did have a great time.... but it wasn't the experience I was hoping it would be and I know that a big part of that was a lack of preparation for the kiddos.

Since this was their first trip to WDW they didn't have ANY IDEA of the scope of things to do and would get very caught up (especially DS who wasn't quite 4 years old) in what we were doing and wouldn't want to leave (he wanted to do the Indy Speedway over and over). I realized it was because he really didn't know how much other wonderful stuff was available!

Had we talked to the kids about the rides and where we were going every day and such, they might have been better prepared and had a better time. And perhaps we could have eliminated some "scary" rides. I made the mistake of taking my son on a ride the VERY FIRST DAY that scared the heck out of him (bad Mom award for that one ) ..... and for the remainder of the trip he was VERY LEARY of riding ANYTHING that he couldn't see. That was one reason why he loved the Speedway and Teacups.... he could SEE what he was getting himself into! We couldn't even get him on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.... and this was at a time when Buzz was his HERO! It was sad and disappointing. And I (of course) blame myself.

Truth be told, many folks tried to talk me out of surprising my kids and I kept poo-pooing them. I wanted that amazing "reveal" video to cherish for a lifetime. Instead, I got a video that my DD was embarrassed to even watch for 10 years and she would get FURIOUS if we showed anyone.

If I could go back in time, I would probably tell my kids about one week in advance, at least, to give them time to process it, time to ask questions, time to maybe see some pictures and some time for that fun ANTICIPATION!

That being said.... our second trip in 2004 we told them at the 100 day mark. That gave them plenty of time.... maybe too much!

Anyhow..... please give some thought to maybe giving your kids at least a FEW days to "look forward" to this big event and maybe ask some questions. You can still do a big reveal.... maybe over dinner one night.

Whatever you decide, I hope the trip is wonderful...............P

 

[brie182]

One year I made my daughter a build-a-bear with disney clothes. I added a sound thing inside of it that said Surprise, We're Going to Disney! She loved it and the bear was a nice keepsake. Another time my daughter knew we were going but I ended up taking her a day earlier then she thought. We had a special shirt made up that I had her put on and that's when she knew we were gong to Disney, although she didn't want to believe it http://youtu.be/EtZgiRf4G6c