Any Ideas on how to SURPRISE our

[funshipm174]

8 year old DS about our trip iin NOVEMBER. Trying to get different opinions.

Some thoughts have been to tell him we are going to Florida to do one thing, and then let him be shocked when he does see WDW. The down side is my wife says maybe he should have time to get excited knowing he is going down.Now we are just trying to think of things.
If we don't tell him ahead of time, we are going to have to book our character meals with the current disney characters he like and hope they are still his favorites when we get down there!


Anything creative and different to surprise son?

 

[stacy6552]

When we suprised our 7 yr old, it was a total let-down. We took him all the way to the school bus and then called him out of line and asked if he'd rather go to WDW. He was like, "yah." not "YYYAAAAHHHHH!"

So for me, I say suprise him sooner rather than later, that way you get the bebfit of all the lead up time. We let our kids earn their spending money, which is always priceless incentive when i have to drag them to the mall or something.

 

[stacy6552]

....Or email Jane@giftsofalifetime.com. Im sure you could get her to send you child an inventation or something

 

[MrsPete]

I agree with your wife -- don't wait for the last minute. The anticipation of the trip is half the fun, and helping plan for the vacation is a learning experience.

 

[twoksmom]

We surprised our 2 dds about 2 months before the trip. We went to Walmart and had a cake made with a picture of them 2 yrs ago in front of the castle.They made a copy of the picture and put it on the cake, then we had them write we're going back Sept 2004.It took a couple of seconds but my 8 yr old started screaming to her 4 yr old sister " we're going to Disney, we're going to Disney" . Soon they were both screaming!!! It was pretty cool. April

 

[moopdog]

the final "clue" that shows him what is going to happen (trip). I love doing treasure hunts with the kids, and they love it too. I would start off by telling him that there's going to be a surprise in, say 1 or 2 months but he'll have to find each clue, and figure it out on his own. You can have the final clue be the actual tickets or something like that - make sure you get his hunt on video, it could be the very beginning part of a fresh tape for your vacation. Go from him on his treasure hunt and finally figuring it out, get the "hooray" reaction and then then next thing on the film is the start of your trip (airport, or whatever). I think it would be very cute.

 

[areno79]

We still haven't told my 2 cousins (9 and 11) we're bringing them. I was thinking of waiting until the day we leave (after they get out of school), but I think anticipation is half of the fun. We're doing Disney themed baskets for Easter.They'll open a card first with Disney dollars in it, saying "This is to spend we go to DisneyWorld in May"...I'm also hoping to get some Guest of Honor badges with their names on them. I hope they're as excited as I am!

 

[Dippy Dawg]

For our last trip - the kids second trip- I actually had a seminar to attend in Orlando (Mon-Wed) and made a long weekend out of it. The kids 4 and 2 at the time were told that since they had been good lately that they could take a plane ride with mommy and pick up daddy from his out of town work and bring him home. Well when they finally arrived in the airport we told them we had a surprise. The looks on their faces were priceless. Our best trip yet.

Maybe you can use the same idea, you have a business trip to make to wherever but something happens (I would not get too dramatic here) and your spouse and kids have to come pick you up.

 

[blanq]

Some kids are go-with-the-flow kids, and others will fall apart when you spring a surprise on them. Also, what an adult may consider excitement leading up to the trip, a kid (whose concept of time and waiting is not akin to an adults) may consider it agony. So, I think whatever you do, you should factor in what kind of a kid you have. Mine is a go-with-the-flow kind, with slim to no patience for waiting, and we did spring a trip surprise on him, for his first trip when he was 6. We live near the Mall of America, so booked an overnight in a hotel near there and the airport the night before we flew out to WDW. Spencer thought we were just staying in a hotel and visiting the Mall of America, so when we woke him up at 5:00 a.m., the morning we departed, (with the video camera on to capture the moment) and told him we really were going to WDW, and he needed to get out of bed lickety split because our shuttle to the airport was leaving in 20 minutes,....well, the moment, as they say, was priceless. It was wide-eyed wonderment from beginning to end, and we all have fond memories of it 5 years later. I had a special backpack packed with Disney items and activities, and spent the plane ride breaking him in on what to expect on our trip.

 

[The TRUE Princess :)]

We told dd we were going down to visit her great-grandpa (which we are) and then we are going to go to the park the next morning and see her surprise when we walk in to the park! I can't wait! It's so funny because she thinks WDW is in California! LOL!!! I think you should surprise him otherwise he'll be asking you every day when you are going! LOL!

Krys

 

[Vavasmon]

We took DD and her cousin last August. The trip was a suprise but we told them Easter. I hid 12 plastic eggs around the house with clues they had to figure out - Things like IAD stands for ... the girls were 8 and 9 so they could answer the questions.

My sister then read a letter we had written having them fill in the banks with the answers from the numbered eggs. It basically said the my sister and her daughter were meeting us at Dulles airport on Aug xx to go to the Most Magical Place on earth. My husband was videoing from the corner of the room and they never caught on - in fact they still didn't believe it when I gave them matching duffle bags, park maps, planning books, and GOH tags with their names. My DD finally figured out we were serious about 10 minutes later when she saw the airline itinary in the package of papers in bags. The video is priceless.

I only hope they don't expect me to top it this year. Planning with girls was half the fun. My DD had been 3 times before but it was her cousins first trip. They picked the parks, meals, etc.

 

[LauriBH]

We planned our trip as a family Christmas present. The last gift under the tree was a Disney calendar with the days of our trip marked with star stickers. Then there was a clue about where to find the next clue. As clues, we used a toy airplane, sunscreen, sunglasses and other things we would use on our trip to warm and sunny Florida. The last box had the DVD remote control and in the DVD player was the Disney World planning DVD.

I have to admit, I was much more excited on Christmas day about the trip than any one else (the kids just wanted to play with their toys - instant gratification), but now that we're only 6 days away from the vacation, they're much more excited. Over the past month and a half, we've talked about what we're going to do and where we'll go. As we get closer and talk about it more, the kids are getting more and more excited. I think a week or two to tell friends and talk about the vacation is a good amount of time, but not too long to wait.

 

[Mama2jasminANDcaitie]

For our last trip to disney we waited until about 2 days befoer the trip. And just sat down to watch a family video.. and it was the WDW planning video.. My DH and I mae comments throughoout the video of how much FUN it looked like... at the end I said. "HONEY? Lets go there!" By then it was bedlam withour daughters screaming and jumping when when when?

THIS trip. they know we are going.... we told them. They just dont know WHEN!!! I am LOVING thier anticipation. They ask every single day IS TODAY THE DAY? Noooooooooooooooooooooo not today! lol I am torturing them with it. AND LOVING IT!

especially as the time grows closer!!
yahoo I love being a parent!

 

[funshipm174]

That is not right! That is torture!......But a great idea!