Anyone else planning a surprise trip?

[PRINCESSDIVA]

We just surprised my kids 3 weeks ago. Oh my gosh, we got them up at 4:30 a.m. in the morning and told them. My kids, DS12, DS8, and DD3 were jumping for joy. It was an incentive to get them up and moving at 4:30 a.m. We were all packed and ready to go. All they had to do is change. They were chatterboxes, all excited. Then, 30 minutes later in the car, on the way to the airport, all sleeping like babies again. It was one so exciting surprising them!! I actually felt guilty not sharing with them in advance, but it was well worth seeing their faces when we told them. It was a "priceless" moment.

 

[laurabelle]

KayakDaddy & PRINCESSDIVA thanks for posting! I love reading the reveals and reactions! :thewave:

 

[Kristi1357]

I am planning a surprise trip this Oct. for my DH's 30th bday. I am dying to talk to him about all the plans! Anyone else out there in the same boat and having a hard time staying quiet? 43 days to go!

I did the same thing a few years back for DH's 30th birthday! I think I had more fun planning & surprising him, than he had being surprised.

He did not have a clue until I woke him up, jumping up & down on the bed at 4am telling him to get dressed because the car was coming to pick us up in 1/2 hour. All his clothes were packed and ready to go in our spare bedroom.

 

[TnTWalter]

easy since they're just 7 5 & 3. But they've heard me on the phone with various people discussing things. My littlest said the other day 'When we go to Disney World Mom....' and I was like ??? The other 2 keep saying are we going to Disney world this summer? I just keep saying some day. I'm going to have to be more discreet!
The plan is to have one of their christmas presents be a Pal Mickey holding a sign saying 'We're going to Disney World'. The oldest can read it out loud to the others....
So, I need to stop talking on the phone and looking at obvious Disney websites.

Trish

 

[judykay53]

We got back Saturday from a surprise trip for my grandsons ages 9 and 7. We were flying out of Jackson MS on Sunday (5 hours away). The boys step-mother said we could go down on Saturday night and spend the night with her aunt and they would take us to the airport. The boys thought we were just going down for the weekend. They never questioned why we had tons of luggage for just the weekend! My daughter and her friend fixed up a CD that appears to be a radio station (KIDZ). We started this within 10 minutes of leaving town. The announcer was talking to a girl whose parents had surprised her with a trip to WDW. She was taking a survey from kids as to whether they would like to be surprised or be in on the planning. We then called K Red to give her our opnion and she then informed the kids that they were being surprised with a trip to Disney World and was leaving the next day on a plane. We had a speaker on the cell phone so everyone could hear what was going on. Keeping in mind that these boys had NEVER flown We knew the 9 year old would be excited but we did not know how the 7 year old would react. We had previously questioned him whether he would want to fly and the answer was a flat NO.
When J Red told them we were flying, you could see the fear in his face and he just dropped his head and said "I don't wanna go" When we told him he would be missing school for the next week the smile came back. We have it all on tape. He had a rough time on the plane with his ears but we had a blast.Why they did not think something was going on when I carried around a gray notebook all the time for months with papers and tons of blue and white envelopes in it!

 

[firsttimemom]

We're surprising our kids on their bday (11/23- DS will be 6 and DD will be 8) but not leaving for another week. That way DD can pack her own stuff (she's very picky- I can't even imagine packing for her ) and we can finalize our touring plans together. For example, I have no idea if DS wants to start out the day with dumbo or if he's beyond that and we should just head to space mountain.

In '03 we surprised them one morning at breakfast with a WDW trip that we left for on that day. It sort of backfired because after that, they didn't understand why we couldn't just up and go to WDW on any given day.

I'm so excited! We saw some holiday decs at the resorts back in 11/01 but have never really seen the parks and characters all decked out.

Now I just need to come up with some rhymes/clues and a little scavenger hunt to spring the big surprise on them. If I make it that long. I feel like I'm about to burst sometimes!

Liz

 

[Jennygt]

Well everyone I am less than 24hrs away from my big reveal to DH! I hope it all goes off well! I am listening to Wishes right now and I just wish for a safe and healthy year for us and if the trip goes well that is just a bonus!! Thank you to all who have helped me keep quiet all this time and I hope all your surprises go well also! I will try to log on with his reaction tomorrow night but I will have 35 people here for his party so who knows? If I can't I will be sure to update when I get back!! Keep up the planning all!!! Happy bday Mike!!!!

 

[SSDonut]

This is all so crazy and wonderful--I don't know how you all DO it. Okay, the kids I can get (although I Love Planning with them, so I'm not even sure I could surprise them!).

That said, now I've got a bee in my bonnet about possible surprising DH for our 10th anniversary in 2007. . .geez, I guess this will be my next obsession After I buy more DVC points--trying to surprise DH with a WDW trip.

But, I can't for the life of me figure out how you guys work in a vacation, with time off from work and all, without someone knowing it. . .right now, I'm thinking: "okay, I call his boss and figure out a way to do it. . .but won't he have a fit that he didn't get to do all that "stuff" he always does before he leaves the office for a week?" I don't get it. . .but I'm willing to try!!

Enjoy, all of you. I LOVE your spirit and your love for your families!

 

[disneyjunkie]

Our next trip isn't a surprise, but the resort is.

My son has been asking to try a new resort since 2004. We both love Pop Century but he's ready for a change. I keep telling him that the values work great for us because we're never in our room.


After checking out the resorts on Deb's site, I've decided to give POR a try. (He's hoping for the Poly but that's not going to happen anytime soon.)

I'm also planning to surprise him with Cirque. I'm thinking of adding DC as well.

Today is his 14th birthday. I don't have much time left before he’ll be off to college. I have to make our last few trips as special as I can.

 

[AUDramaQueen]

My big mouth couldn't keep a secret about going to MNSSHP on oct 2, but since my kids are so young (5,3 and 11mos) they had no concept of time. So we decided to suprise them this trip (we had just gone in May) We had several near misses on them finding out, but we pulled it off. I had a box in my room I kept adding stuff to, then I packed their clothes while they were at pre-school Friday. We drive down there and it takes bout 7 hours. When my DH got home from work Friday, we asked them if they wanted to go for a drive. My DS noticed his backpack (I had put some colorig books, etc in it for the ride) and asked why it wasn't where he left it (not sure how he missed the suitcases). I told him we might go hiking and you have to have a backpack to hike. Big mistake. The whole first part of the trip, he'd say, "there's a forest let's stop and hike" every time we saw a tree. I thought we were going to have to tell him to get him to stop talking about hiking!! Then my daughter (3) says out of the blue "when we go to Disney World I want to see Mickey's Philharmagic." My husband and I just looked at each other, but kept our mouths shut. Then my Mom called (we always go with my parents who live near by) to give me the room number at OKW. My son asked "who was that?" and I had to lie. I knew he would hav eit figured out if he knew it was my mom. Anyway, they finally went to sleep, but just about the time we got to the toll booth on the FL turnpike, my DD woke up and saw a billboard with Pluto on it and said "There's Disney World! There's Disney World!" We woke my son up just as we got to the entry gate with Minnie and Mickey. He had the biggest smile on his face. Priceless moment!

 

[Jennygt]

DH will be home in 15 minutes and then my BIG Reveal! I am going to burst!! I have been busy all day getting a party together for him so I have not had time to thinks about this much. I am so nervous right now, longest 15 min I can remember in a long time!! LOL I think I will go pace by the front door! 15 hrs untill we leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kmwilson98]

It is getting so so so so HARD to keep this a secret!!! We leave a week from tomorrow, and I'm just BESIDE MYSELF with the thrill of surprising DD!!! Poor thing thinks she can't have a birthday party because no one's available that day, and no presents "because Daddy needs new socks", LOL!!!



I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

My surprise trip went off well. I had to tell them at the airport though because my oldest two can read and would have immediately known where we were going when they saw we were heading to Orlando. When we were going through security I asked them where they'd like to go if they could go anywhere. They seemed a little confused at first -then my son was first to pipe up DISNEY WORLD! And when I said well that's good- cause that's where we're going... it took them a moment to believe me. They just couldn't believe it! LOL I'd never surprised them like that before so they thought I was just kidding them or something. As if I'd kid about a trip to WDW???

 

[marcyinPA]

We just returned from our "surprise" trip! It was so hard to keep it a secret from my boys (ages 6 and 10), but we did it! Our friends also traveled with us and kept it secret from their kids (13, 10, and 7). We had been planning since June, and told them the night before we left. My friend and I recorded ourselves telling them that we were going to Disney World....Tomorrow! We then devised a plan that they would come for dinner, we would say we were going to watch an old Disney video that I found in the "vault" and show the "new" video instead.

They watched that video with a "deer in the headlights" look, and it took a good 5 minutes for it to sink in. They kept saying "No way!" "No way!"....and finally when it clicked, they were running around the house like madmen!

They could not believe we were able to keep it a secret, and even all their teachers knew!

My 6 year old is still thanking me for the best surprise ever!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I have given up on the surprise thing, it always ends up disappointing ME!! Tried it a couple of years ago, got "the log hotel" (WL) for a super deal-$105/night. (they had bumped us out of POFQ because of renovations) and we had visited the WL on our last trip-DH really loved it (did I mention that he is a Grumpy spouse?) but knew it was expensive, DS's loved it too-they're the ones that call it the "log hotel". I told no one what resort we were going to, by the time we pulled up at 10:00, everyone was asleep and really could care less.

More recently, I booked a surprise trip to the NickHotel. Told everyone we were going to Orlando, but not WDW. Not a question was asked until we approached Orlando, then DS7 says," Mommy, WHEN are we going to get to the NickHotel?!" When I asked him how he knew he implied that was the only thing in Orlando other than WDW...

I give up......Not on the trips, but on the surprises!!-

I hope all of you surprisers get the thrill of that magical look on the faces of your loved ones when they see what you have done for them! Have a great trip, y'all!

 

[Jennygt]

Well I pulled it off! DH was very surprised when he read the card that I made that revealed the trip. He just kept saying "No way, you are lyling!" "What about work?" He thought we were going in a few weeks, he could not belive that we were leaving in the AM. 24 hrs later were we waiting to ride Space MT. and DH was looking at me saying,"I still can't belive that I am here!" I was yelling HAPPY BIRTHDAY all the way down the first drop!
The whole trip was awesome! Crowds were heavy Sun/Mon over Columbus Day weekend, but we had fun anyway! He was laughing when I told him all the times he almost caught me and all my planning mishaps. This was one of the best things that I did and it was worth all the stress. Good luck to all you other planners!

 

[pixie Mom]

We have a huge suprise planed for our kids.

Grandma and Grandpa have planned a WDW & DCL vacation.

We arrive in WDW on Dec 30th, and plan on spending NYE in MK. Then on the 2nd we head to the DCL port for a 3 day cruise.

My Children DS 12, DD 11, and DS 8 have no Idea. The best part of course is getting to spend extra time with Grandma and Grandpa during the Holiday.

Keeping this a secret from the kids will be difficult because we live 6 hours from the Grandparents and I will have to pack summer clothing to take with us in the Middle of WINTER. But the look on my kids face when they open their gift from the Grandparents will be worth all the extra work.

This will be a New Year we never forget.

 

[JobeeC]

i just found this thread & it made me start thinking back...(enter a flashback sequence here, with smoke...)

back on '03, i decided we needed a good family vacation. my son was entering kindergarten in sept., so ladies you know what that means...NO MORE DAYCARE EXPENSE!!! i thought i was being clever by taking the $$ that we we saving now that day care was over & booked a vacation to disney for that january. i figured i wouldn't say anything & make it a HUGE surprise for DH & DS for xmas. i had to tell someone, so all of my customers knew about the surprise. (oh, i do nails by the way) they all thought this was very special of me to plan it & not tell them. (who wants to let a 5 year old know anything about disney that far before the trip anyway! ) i even called his work to arrange the time off with his boss because they aren't suposed to take time off then!

FLASH FORWARD:

it's now thanksgiving & DH starts talking about $$. "i'm think i'd like to buy a new welder this xmas with some of the extra $$ we've been saving...etc..."
WELL, as you can imagine i would very quickly change the subject! he'd been asking about extra $$ for 2 more weeks when he finally asked the question, "are you ok? is something going on i should know about?" MY HEART SANK!!!!!! so now it was coming out of the bag! i told him not to worry, i wasn't on drugs or anything. that made it WORSE! he then thought i was leaving him & getting an appt. somewhere! i told him, "murder maybe...divorce, no way!" so at that point i had to tell him the surprise.

after all the moaning & groaning about how he should have left it alone so he too could be surprised, we had a great time! it was still fun keeping it from DS until xmas morning!

Just be CAREFUL how you hide the surprise...or people will think there are other motives behind a little $$ shifting !!

 

[Poohgirl]

I'm about to burst!!! I was lucky enough to coordinate a spur of the moment trip for my boys to MNSSHP. I just did it at the beginning of October and we leave for a 5 day trip on the 27th. I figured since it was only a few weeks away I would make it a surprise. I could hold a surprise for that long. So I convinced my Mom that she wanted to go. We will get the boys out of school early on the 27th and tell them that we have to bring Grandma to the Airport to go to a conference. The airport is only 10-15 minutes away so that suggestion isn't too strange. We will then walk Grandma to 'her' gate and wait. When the plane arrives we are just going to tell them to get on ...we are going to WDW for Halloween! I really want to pull it off just to see the overwhelming shock and happiness on their faces, but I'm about to explode holding it in! How did you manage keeping the secret, and hiding it ie: packing etc. Would you do it again? I need to be talked down! 9 days to go...breathe...

 

[jajuan]

We are going on a surprise trip for Christmas. I am about to burst as well. I have a feeling that DS12 will figure it out. I have been buying things online (pins for trading and such) and have little notes everywhere that I keep forgetting to hide and leave IM's up and he walks in. So far he doesn't suspect, but I have a long time to keep it a secret and need to be more careful.

The reason this happened is because we are going to visit my mother in Tampa (just moved there a couple of months ago). DS5 adores his grandmother beyond belief. One day he told her he couldn't believe that she had never been to WDW and he would show her everything..she didn't need to know anything. I told him that was great but not this trip...we won't be there long enough to drive to WDW. He got mad and said he wasn't going on the trip. Of course after he talked to her he was excited about "just a trip to Tampa"