To Surprise or Not?

[Wshop]

We leave for our cruise 3 weeks from today and have not yet told my son. I am thinking of just keeping it a secret until he sees the ship! Just pick him up from school, take him to the airport and then just tell him we are taking a trip but keep quiet about the Disney Cruise part. Is it better to let him look forward to the trip or spring it on him??

 

[Jareds_mommy]

we did that with our kids once when our son was in grade 3, now in hind sight I wish we gave him even a few hours to process it, and get excited like we were

 

[Tara619]

I think it depends on the kid. We're surprising our son too. But he loves surprises. Some kids (and adults, like me) hate surprises. If you think he'll react well and not freak out, do it!

 

[Bear3412]

Both are wonderful.
Only you know your child.
We keep no secrets from or children.
Good Luck

 

[JimGA]

Surprise him when you pick him up at school, we did that with our kids for a Disney World trip. The surprise was great!

 

[n5749w]

I would pick him up from school and when he asks why tell him you are going on a trip. When he asks where, turn it into a guessing game. You can only answer with yes or no. Have fun!!

 

[neg58]

It might depend on what other activities and plans he has. He might know that there is a birthday party or soccer practice, and some kids get upset about missing things if it is sprung on them, but if they know in advance they are going to miss something, they can process it better.

I think part of the fun is anticipating the cruise. My daughter knew she was going but I saved the excursion of swimming with the dolphins as a suprise, and even the pillow case with the signatures (she liked that the best).

Nancy

 

[Wshop]

All good suggestions and will take the suggestion to tell him on the way to the airport or the morning of. This will give him a day to digest and not keep him up at night with anticipation.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

We had planned on doing this for our upcoming cruise. It will be our two DD's first cruise. Every time a commercial for DCL would come on we would say how much we would love to do this some day. Well, each time both of them would adamantly say NO WAY!!! Don't EVER put me on a ship!!!

There went our idea for the surprise. There was no way we could do that to them. Instead we took some family cuddle time and popped in the DCL planning DVD and watched it together. By the end of it they were both "on board". We told them we were going in Oct and now they are both excited.

I guess, what I am trying to say is, we have surprised them with WDW trips and they loved it...this however was too new and scary to them to be a good surprise. Would that be something your DS would think? Or has he been on a cruise already and loved it?

 

[jm106]

I would pick him up from school and when he asks why tell him you are going on a trip. When he asks where, turn it into a guessing game. You can only answer with yes or no. Have fun!!

I think that's what I'm doing. I'm going to give clues for each right answer as to where we will end up but keep it going until we get to ship if I can

 

[zoemurr]

love to help with the planning. Our first trip they were 5/8 and DD poured over planning materials for hours. DS really likes to know what to expect to be comfortable in a new situation.

We are doing our first cruise in Aug and I know they would be disappointed if they didn't get to help pick out and plan anything.

Also, I would have a very hard time not planning anything when they were home and able to look over my shoulder.

I hate surprises.. so maybe I am jaded.

 

[Jareds_mommy]

for the cruise we gave it to them for Christmas, we had Mickey call and tell them.

 

[wallawallakids]

You can schedule a phone call from Mickey or Goofy online. That might be a fun surprise and you can do it a day or two ahead of time so he can be prepared. We surprised our kids with a trip to DL but that was different, they really wanted to go. They are not too excited about the cruise. I think they will have fun, but they have no real idea of what to base it on. They have never been on a cruise before. I have tried to over prepare them. We watched the DVD and tried to focus on the fun stuff on board. They were a little more excited about it after the DVD but again, they don't have and real reference. Actually DS 9 wasn't excited until he saw that there were tours of the ruins on Cozumel (Which he thought was like Indiana Jones?!) I never would have picked that as an excursion if he hadn't been so excited about it. I guess my point is, if you KNOW he will like the cruise and he has been before, or you have talked about it before, then go ahead and surprise him. However, be aware that you may not get the response you were hoping for and be ready to roll with that as well. Good luck and have a great trip!!!

 

[Bear3412]

..... they would be disappointed if they didn't get to help pick out and plan anything....

 

[bfc2406]

I'd personally go surprise all the way! We are surprising our little girl for our forthcoming trip to Orlando, followed by a Disney Dream cruise. Our DD (6) loves Disney and has been fortunate to travel there a couple of times from the Uk but we have decided to leave this one as a surprise. As we have to prepare for travel, ie suitcase etc, we have told her we are having a trip to Spain, so that we don't get caught out discussing our holiday. Our plan is to tell her about the Orlando part at the airport on departure, but when she thinks she is heading back to MCO to end our holiday she will in fact be on route to Port Canaveral. She will be ecstatic and I can't wait for the reponse! Camera will be at the ready.

 

[kcashner]

It depends on the kid....there is a certain joy in planning and anticipation. A surprise is fun, but it eliminates that pleasure as well as any preparation/processing time.

Only you know your child and what will work well for them.

 

[scrapbookmomma74]

We have done it both ways...
On Christmas 2009, we surprised them with a cruise on January 15. They had about 3 weeks to process and get excited.
In October 2011, I woke them up at 4:30 am and told them if they got up and ready, we'd go on the Disney Dream. While they were excited, this was NOT our best cruise. My DD, 11, had trouble on that one with the clubs and making friends, and was basically glued to me and kind of miserable.
So, last summer, we included the kids in all of the planning, including the FE, and our June 2012 Fantasy cruise was the best one we've done. My older DD was able to meet a couple of friends online from the DIS before we left, so she had people she knew, making her more comfortable.

Only you know your child, and how he might react. I recently read something about how women don't like their husbands to surprise them with trips, that they need 7 days to process and prepare...I'm NOT one of those women, but it seemed valid. And, I've seen videos of children not reacting exactly how the parents want them to...

Either way, I'm sure you will have a fantastic cruise! Have fun telling him, even if it isn't a HUGE surprise!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

When I was a kid my parents surprised me with a trip ( not to disney ) which was a lovely thought but like most children I had picked up the vibe that something was going on. By the time I found out I was so stressed as I was convinced they were going somewhere without me lol. Even to this day I hate surprises! So I think it depends like op have said on the child. I was obviously a bit over sensitive lol...

Have a great trip! Dcl is just the best

 

[CrawfordMomof2]

You guys are gonna have so much fun!

We were going over this same scenario when we booked our cruise. My husband really wanted to surprise the kids 8 and 4, at the dock, and I wanted to tell them ahead of time. We decided to compromise.

If we do all of the planning, and only tell them the week before or so, they still get the surprise factor ( just a little early ) We're thinking of maybe doing a scavenger hunt or something like that. That way if the kids have any questions, they have a few days to ask, and a few days to watch the planning DVD.

My concern is that my oldest doesn't do the best when his schedule gets changed unexpectedly. If school gets closed due to bad weather, he wakes up upset because he didn't know the night before. Now if we know, and tell him the night before he's fine. I think he just hates surprises. Our 4 year old on the other hand just goes with the flow.

We were also thinking about booking a surprise excursion, and not telling them about that until the day of. But we're still in the planning stages ourselves so I'm not sure which one.

I hope that whatever you decide, you have a great time!

 

[jm106]

I already answered but thinking about it more last night. My kids are really flexible and have never lived by routine. We surprised them with a day in NYC in december and they adored it(the pic of Ods standing on kitchen chair cheering is priceless.)
Ods is always talking about one day having a surprise party and other surprise events he pretends. He is the kind of child who likes me to get surprises at the store and I cannot even offer hints, had wrapped bday gifts in the house for 3 weeks and just said cant wait for birthday. He genuinly gets excited for surprises. They both also keep surprises really well, even 4 yo. So yes, as pp said, think about how you think your kids feel about things like that. My kids get super excited to plan as well but we have looked at DCL things already, watched video and travel channel shows so they have an idea of some of it. Many things they can decide when we arrive.