Surprising kids with 1st trip to WDW

[tmrmom]

We are planning our 1st trip to WDW in June and are not planning on telling our kids (9,7, and 3 yr olds) until the day of the trip. We have never been on a trip like this before. 1st time in hotel, 1st time on airplane, 1st time to WDW. Any clever ideas on how to surprise them?

 

[gigi1313]

ooh, soooo many ways! when do you plan to tell them? are they familiar that a place called disneyworld exists and have they ever expressed an interest in going there?

i would opt for maybe handing out mickey ears w/their names on them or a postcard from their fave character inviting them to come visit or an autograph book and pen suggesting that they go find some disney chars to get them filled in... (most of these things can be ordered thru different vendors like www.giftsofalifetime.com... my fave is their "I'm Going to See Mickey" package which includes EPCOT passport, Autograph Book, Pen, Mickey Ears, Pressed Penny book and a delicious surprise!)

maybe just a scrapbook type thing w/pics of disneyworld and cut outs of other pics of your kids pasted in?

an invitation from the princesses on a scroll?

or just herd them to the airport and say nothing and evasively answer their questions and just let the mystery unfold?

[for our last trip, so the kids would sleep the night before we told them we were leaving tuesday... but monday morning at 4am we woke them up and in extreme home makeover style yelled "GOOD MORNING XYZ FAMILY! YOU'RE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!" it was great fun!]

 

[tmrmom]

Thank you so much for all of these ideas... I think we are going to wait and surprise them the morning of the trip. I am so excited I hope I can wait that long. They do know about WDW, but would not think we would be going there. I am going to check out the package idea you gave me and perhaps I can order them and give them out when we arrive.

 

[gigi1313]

as you can imagine, disney can be overwhelming... so much to do... so many shops... so much to buy (or want to buy)... what we did on our last trip to try and cut down the "i wants" or "can we buys" was before the trip i collected little disney related gifts so i had enough for each morning we would wake up and wrapped them and put a tag on from a different disney character (i.e. water yo-yos were from tigger 'cause they both bounce! little tins of candy w/lilo & stitch on them were from L&S! princess camera from target from cindy and the girls (pooh camera also from target for ds)! small mickey/minnie beanies from the disney store (on sale of course) from M&M, etc for each morning)... because they received a gift each morning, they were very excited and not as "greedy" PLUS whenever they were wanting for something i would just mention "what if that's what mickey or donald or whomever was planning to bring you tonight?" and that got them thinking and made them hesitate to ask again (once i actually bought the item and slipped it in an extra gift bag i brought)... also, for the last day, ds received a gameboy game and dd a disney music cd, both for the plane trip home!

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

[. but monday morning at 4am we woke them up and in extreme home makeover style yelled "GOOD MORNING XYZ FAMILY! YOU'RE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!" it was great fun!][/QUOTE]

What a great idea. My kids know we are going in July but I might just be able to pull this off by not exactly telling the the date. That will really require some restraint on my end but I think it can be done.

Thanks for the tip.

I need to get me that countdown ticker.

 

[Disney Ontario]

Hi. We have good friends that on christmas morning thier 3 children got up and opened presents. Then told them hey we are going to Disney World. They left at 2:00 that day. I good idea . My girls are 12 and 16, they would probably would want to plan packing a little longer though.Bye

 

[zakatak]

I'm just going to give you my opinion of surprising kids. I have done it once, but it wasn't their first time there. Ironically, that trip was the worst one for my dd. She seemed to have a lot of meltdowns and temper tantrums. Other times she had been fine. I attribute it to lack of acceptance (getting excited for, looking forward to, etc...).

I don't think I would surprise kids on my first trip. There is SO much planning, dreaming, thinking, etc.... that the kids do beforehand that makes the trip that much more fun. They can watch the planning video (free) so they know what things are when they see them. We do fun things like countdown chains, mickey pancakes on Sundays, Disney movie nights, Disney Trivia Pursuit all counting down til our trip. I just think it might be too much of a shock to the older ones especially that they would actually lose out on the experience.

JMHO... I would tell them 30 days out, get them a copy of Disney for Kids (so they can read about all the rides and such), the planning video to watch and a journal for them to write down what rides they want to go on. Also include a paper chain for 30 days and start the countdown then! It's still a surprise but they do have the anticipation before hand which builds the fun when they finally arrive!

Good Luck...

Karen

 

[seetheworld]

I'm just going to give you my opinion of surprising kids. I have done it once, but it wasn't their first time there. Ironically, that trip was the worst one for my dd. She seemed to have a lot of meltdowns and temper tantrums. Other times she had been fine. I attribute it to lack of acceptance (getting excited for, looking forward to, etc...).

I don't think I would surprise kids on my first trip. There is SO much planning, dreaming, thinking, etc.... that the kids do beforehand that makes the trip that much more fun. They can watch the planning video (free) so they know what things are when they see them. We do fun things like countdown chains, mickey pancakes on Sundays, Disney movie nights, Disney Trivia Pursuit all counting down til our trip. I just think it might be too much of a shock to the older ones especially that they would actually lose out on the experience.

JMHO... I would tell them 30 days out, get them a copy of Disney for Kids (so they can read about all the rides and such), the planning video to watch and a journal for them to write down what rides they want to go on. Also include a paper chain for 30 days and start the countdown then! It's still a surprise but they do have the anticipation before hand which builds the fun when they finally arrive!

Good Luck...

Karen

I agree! Maybe don't tell them the exact date you are going, but prepare them a little and let them feel the excitement of going since this is your first trip.

 

[alecam]

I'm just going to give you my opinion of surprising kids. I have done it once, but it wasn't their first time there. Ironically, that trip was the worst one for my dd. She seemed to have a lot of meltdowns and temper tantrums. Other times she had been fine. I attribute it to lack of acceptance (getting excited for, looking forward to, etc...).

I don't think I would surprise kids on my first trip. There is SO much planning, dreaming, thinking, etc.... that the kids do beforehand that makes the trip that much more fun. They can watch the planning video (free) so they know what things are when they see them. We do fun things like countdown chains, mickey pancakes on Sundays, Disney movie nights, Disney Trivia Pursuit all counting down til our trip. I just think it might be too much of a shock to the older ones especially that they would actually lose out on the experience.

JMHO... I would tell them 30 days out, get them a copy of Disney for Kids (so they can read about all the rides and such), the planning video to watch and a journal for them to write down what rides they want to go on. Also include a paper chain for 30 days and start the countdown then! It's still a surprise but they do have the anticipation before hand which builds the fun when they finally arrive!

Good Luck...

Karen

I agree with zakatak.
Just a couple weeks notice instead of a complete surprise may be a better approach. I think with my kids (DS3 and DS5), they, too, would be overwhelmed with the whole surprise thing!! Maybe even a couple days would be enough to get the shock out of their system in time for the trip!

Good luck with everything!!

 

[3Mousketeers]

I agree with giving them a little (but not too much) time to prepare. Watching Disney movies is a great way to get in the mood, especially those that have characters you're likely to see like Toy Story or Finding Nemo. I rented Disney's The Three Musketeers for my DS's (almost 7 and 5) and they loved it. As far as planning, a couple weeks ahead of time I took out a special backpack for each of them & told them they could start planning a few things to take - ie. favorite book, couple small toys, little stuffed animal. They really liked being in control of something and it worked great to keep them busy on the plane.
Have a great trip!