Anybody ever suprise kids w/trip?

[4forDis]

I was wondering if anyone has successfully surprised their kids with a trip to Disney. I am planning a trip for October 2005 and I was going to try to surprise them. They will be 11 & 6. I was going to pack while they were in school and not say a word about the planning and then just wake them up one Saturday morning, tell them that we are going a trip and drive to the airport. Of course, once we get there and they see that we're flying to Orlando they will figure it out but I thought it would be so much fun to surprise them.

If you've done this, how have your kids reacted? Thanks.

 

[don8life]

We surprised the kids last year and we drove. LOL, it was funny. We live in NJ. We left at 6 am. The night before we told the kids our middle soccer champ had a tournemnet in the morning and since it would be an all day affair we were going to stay overnight. It wasn't until we hit Maryland, they recognized where they were and asked where we were going. I had printed out Disney activity pages that we found on this board and had them guess. My middle one got it right off. My oldest son, 10, was pissed for a minute. He said "Wait, we have to go back I have to get my stuff" LOL. It was very fun and they just couldn't get over it.

You could print out pages and have them do it on the way to the airport and when you get to the airport have them guess.

Good Luck keeping it a secret. It was very, very hard!

 

[d96j97]

If you can possibly do it........it is soooooooooo worth it. The boys (6 & 7) had no idea. We even arranged with their teachers in advance for homework to be done early. We actually drove and I remember at about 8pm that night...they got their PJ's on and then we told them we wanted to take a drive. The car was packed ( I did it that day while they were at school). We left and they slept for the next 9 hours in the car. When they woke up...my oldest saw the Florida border sign and said...."Welcome to Florida!" They still had no idea but whispered among themselves trying to figure it out. When we finally arrived at the WDW entrance...they went CRAZY!!! I have it all on tape too!
We stayed at WL and had the best week ever!!! My only problem is that I want to go back so bad!!!

Best of luck planning!

 

[Sherlee]

We surprised DD(then 6) with a trip to WDW and DCL. She knew nothing in advance. We woke her up at 5:00 am and announced we were going to Disney World! It was priceless and it didn't really sink in until we were half way to the airport. The only problem now is that whenever we have to wake her up for any reason, she asks "where are we going?"

 

[Noelle]

We surprised our DDs (11 & 4) last Xmas. We packed everything while they were either at school or "visiting Grandma". The night before our flight, we packed the bags in the trunk of the car. In the morning, I told the kids that they'd be late for school cause I had to drop Daddy at the airport for a business trip. When we parked the car, we told them, "Surprise...We're going on a vacation!" Since our flight connected in Denver, we said it was a ski trip. Both girls seemed kind of "disappointed" in a ski trip. But when we got off the plane in Denver, my husband handed them their AP vouchers and said, "Merry Christmas". They were both jumping up and down! It really was something I'll never forget. I don't think we can ever pull anything like that off again!

 

[Gales4Goofy]

We're going in less than 3 weeks and the kids aren't on to us yet! We have arranged with the teachers (who are in on the secret), and have some of the packing done. We're going to leave Philly area at 5am and start driving. Now we're just stumped about how and when to tell them......

 

[F5CHASER]

All of these ideas sound really swell!

 

[ppony]

Oh these sound so fun! We're planning on not telling my son about the Dec 2005 trip. He'll be 5 and a half at that point so it should be pretty easy to "snow" him! We're planning on getting up and getting to the airport the morning without telling him anything about where we're going...but I like the clever stories people told better. I'm going to have to think one up! I've got over a year to do it, I think I can handle that!
THANKS for the fun post!

 

[ppony]

The only problem now is that whenever we have to wake her up for any reason, she asks "where are we going?" [/B]

Oh yeah, forgot about that aspect. It is settin us up in the future! Oh well!!!!!

 

[tjmw2727]

We leave on the 7th and my girls don't know yet. Teachers are going to put a few things together now and have asked for a journal. The rest they will put aside as the class does the work.

I am going to use the laundry room to pack - they never go in there LOL. It will be easy as we are starting to have fall here so they won't miss some shorts and t's.

I am going to go as long as I can before telling them - hopefully on the morning of the 7th.

TJ

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm in the process of getting things going for a trip in June. My dd, 11, knows nothing about it. We are going in Nov for Thanksgiving, so I don't think she will be expecting to be back so soon!! Hopefully I can keep my big mouth shut until then.

 

[Jon16195701]

Great Idea!

I couldn't imagine how a kid would react to this!

 

[flyball]

We did this last August with our 10 and 12 year old daughters. We drove down and told them that we were going to visit friends in Florida (which we did on the first night). We also told them that we were staying for a week and would drive to the beach after our first night. We told them that we'd book a hotel when we arrived at a spot that we all liked. It was hysterical, because I told the girls that we'd have kind of a long drive to the beach (actually 20 minutes to AKL), so they immediately became engrossed with their video games. The entire ride to Disney, I'm videotaping all of the Disney signs (and trying not to laugh hysterically)!!! They were oblivious all the way until we arrived at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. When we stopped at the valet, they were still asking questions. "What are we doing here? Are we staying here?" When we told them, my younger daughter started squealing uncontrollably and the older daughter could not seem to comprehend that we were able to pull it off! I'll never forget it, and it's awesome to watch the video!

 

[my3kids]

We did, and we were sorry we hadn't told them ahead. We were out west and planned a surprise trip to DisneyLand. We were driving through all the traffic and congestion and one needed to go to the bathrooom. We pulled into the DisneyLand Hotel "for her to go." We go in and up to desk to check in. They were all so confused and not really understanding what was happening. We never got that "Wow" factor we've gotten every other time.

We have not told until a day or so ahead, told really far in advance, and kept the surprise. The few days before was perfect. That was when kids were 6 to 10. Thay had a day at school to get really excited with friends, but not overwhelmed with wondering when we'd go. Far ahead was fine, and they enjoyed the planning. By far the worst and most diappointing was the surprise. My kids like surprises, but this one was maybe so big they just never really experienced the excitement they would have if we'd told them earlier.

 

[Castlebound]

We are surprising our kids for our trip this January. They will find out that we are going to Disney at Christmas when they get their park passes. We are planning on telling them that we are leaving for the trip a few days later than we really are. The morning that we really are leaving we plan to wake them up and drive to the airport (if Southwest drops their rates!). It would be their first plane ride! If the rates don't drop then we will start driving and let them figure out where we are going.

Christal

 

[4forDis]

Wow! Thank You, these are such great stories. It has really inspired me to try and keep it all a surprise (which is very, very hard for me!). Now I really can't wait until our trip.

I never thought of video taping their reaction when they finally figure it all out. Great tip.

 

[Twinkies]

We tried surprising our DD several years ago. We were visiting family in Las Vegas and got them up early and put them in the car to drive to Disney Land. Didnt' tell them what we were up to until we were in the parking lot - they (ages 6 and 4 at the time) were really confused - didn't get that WOW factor either.

I think it is great fun WHEN it works out, but then I realized that at least for myself and my DD's, planning and anticipating the trip is part of the fun!

Now that they are older - 11 and 9, they're having alot of fun reading the guides, measuring themselves for height requirements, planning what to pack.... and so on...

Plus, I've had alot of fun putting notes in their lunch boxes - countdowns, etc.

 

[Terry S]

I have done this twice now, once about 1 1/2 years ago for my Son's 7th birthday and last month for my daughters 7th birtday.

The first time the kids were in school so I packed while they were in school and had told them that morning that we were driving my brother to the airport after school. So we picked them up from school and my brother was driving (he was actually driving us to the airport). We then got to the airport and told the kids to get out of the car to say good bye to their Uncle. We unloaded the luggage and my brother drove away. The kids stood on the curb of the airport looking at me asking why thier uncle drove away in our car. I told them we were going to WDW and their jaws dropped. Boy was that hard to plan though, I had taken the dog in for stitches and while we were in the office the vet told me to bring her back in 10 days, while of course we were going to be gone at that time but I couldn't say that in front of the kids. A bunch of things like that popped up and it was hard to cover.

The second time we surprised them was last month, they were not in school yet so packing was a bit harder. I had to do it after they went to bed that night. And I don't think I could have fooled them with we are driving your Uncle to the airport trick so I just woke them up on the morning of the trip and asked them what they wanted to do that day. My daughter said finish the laundry (I had been doing laundry non-stop for 2 days trying to get everything clean for the trip). I told her how about we go to WDW instead of doing laundry. They didn't beleive me at first especially since we have this trip planned just 5 weeks later.

Both times were awesome and it was fun for me too!

 

[ziggystardust]

I have never surprised someone or been surprised by a trip to WDW, but I got the chance to witness one last Feb.

We were flying down and it wasn't until the flight attendant announced welcome to orlando, home of mickey, that the kids behind us started screaming. Apparently their parents woke them up at like 4 am drove them to the airport and the kids were none the wiser. They were so excited. It was great. I will definatly be pulling something like that for my kids (that is when I have them)

 

[EvMc]

I have surprised my daughter, now 10, 3 times and am working on a 4th. I also surprised some of her friends with a trip! I started doing the surprise trips so she didn't go on and on at school about going to WDW for the ump-teenth time!

1st time (she was 8) I packed without here knowing and picked her up at school and took off on the 14+ hour drive. Only about an hour from home she started to panick about where we were going so I played the video of WDW-Building the Dream. When she figured it out she got so excited and started crying....it was great! Fun 1st trip during Halloween!

2nd time- Told her I had a meeting in Gainsville....which she believed. Told her she could go but it was to be a quick trip with lots of driving. She wanted to go, thankfully! As we got closer, I called a friend and he said the meeting was canceled....Oh no. Now what do we do? She was crushed since we had been driving for 12 hours! Well, since we were close to the Disney welcome center we decided to go there. Hey, while we are there lets call my parents who are...surprise...in Orlando in their camper! We met them at ASM and then told her we were going to be at POR for a week! Worked out great!

3rd time- Invited a friend of hers to Fla. Told my daughter we were going to Wild Adventures in Valdosta Ga. Got there and decided to go to Ocala to eat- long drive just to eat! But at the Disney welcome center I surprised BOTH of them with a Disney adventure instead! They started screaming and jumping up and down. It was her friends 1st WDW trip! 1st trip to PC, which we loved!

With friends: She knew about the trip but they didn't. The story was, they were going to Canada. They came to say goodbye to us and invited my daughter. She 'wanted' to go...even started 'packing' another suitcase (the van was already packed) so then the other kids invited me too. We played a game to see if I could go! So we are all off to 'Canada'. After driving all night my daughter woke up just as we got to the Welcome to Disney World sign (guess she could smell it!!!) at 5 a.m. We woke the other girls and they all screamed and screamed! The oldest asked if it was planned after we checked into the CR for the week.

I am working on another but its hard not to tell her. She told me all she wants for Christmas is a Halloween trip to WDW!!!

Like someone else said...surprises are great if they work out. The WOW factor really makes it wonderful. My daughter loves surprises!