Anyone else surprising the kids???

[txsoccermom]

Yes, I am 8 mos away from sailing and trying to keep this a surprise from the rest of the family (DH, DD and DS)! I'm going bonkers though, trying to do it My 1st goal is to make it to Christmas...might tell them then. If I feel that I can hold out longer, then I'll shoot for Valentine's Day! Don't know if I could go longer than that b/c I'm so excited about it I'm ready to pop I figure that way, I won't have to hear the whining too long about "Are we leaving yet?" and then they can also help me with some of the planning, read up on Hidden Mickey's on the cruise ships, do a countdown calendar, etc.

Wish me luck! Would love to hear stories of how some of you are planning on surprising the kids (or already did).

Thanks in advance

 

[SoSiWe]

I really hope to surprise my kids when we book our cruise. I think it would be an awesome way to start a magical cruise. I'm interested in hearing how others revealed the trip....but I'm horrible at keeping surprises, so it might not happen here! LOL

 

[Summer2022]

We are also planning on surprising the kids. We booked the MR during their spring break in March. I have no problem keeping a secret, it's my husband and my parents that I have to worry about. They've already slipped about going on a cruise. Luckily my kids weren't paying attention. I don't plan on telling them even at Christmas time. As of right now, maybe early February I'll let them know that we will be going on another cruise during their spring break but they won't find out we're going on a Disney cruise until we get to the terminal. They've been begging to go on a Disney cruise so I'm sure they'll be thrilled.

 

[armyferret]

We've kept it a suprise from DD - we cruise in 3 weeks, and she has no idea! Today is her bday - so i have left some REALLY obvious clues lying around, but don't know if she's going to piece it together or not....

 

[Melcatfish]

We are cruising 30th July - 18th Aug on the Magic and my DD1 has no idea. She is 5 and talks every week about going on "Mickeys Special Boat" last year and saving up all our pennies to go back! DD2 is only 2 and doesn't get the concept of going on holiday so really the secret is for DD1.

2 weeks to go and i am AMAZED that I held out this long.

I am hoping to film my DDs reaction when she sees the ship and words it our - if it works I will post the clip in my trip report which I have already started (link in my signature)

Good luck keeping your surprise

Mel
x

 

[mindelmouse]

We booked our cruise for 8/18 in the Med back in 11/08. My DD and DS have no idea, even though we and many around us have slipped so many times it's not funny. All they know is that they're going to Barcelona and my son has complained many times because the hotel we're staying at pre cruise doesn't have a pool. When we get to the airport to leave it may get tricky because we have some DIS'ers on the same flight.

We can't decide whether to tell them at the hotel, the morning of the cruise or as we're pulling up to the ship. I have cover stories for either. We want to record their reaction, so I may do the first since it will be easier than trying to tape it in a taxi.

 

[fiegel037]

I attempted a surprise with DW... Didn't work so well

I booked our cruise in April and originally I was going to wait until we actually left the airport (as the day we leave is our anniversary). I was hoping to surprise her with an Anniversary dinner at Cinderella's castle. Well, that lasted all the way until Mother's Day. I gave her a gift certificate for a manicure/pedicure and told her to use it for our vacation. I was too excited about the trip to keep my mouth shut.

I haven't told my DS yet as I don't want the obligatory "How many sleeps before we see Mickey?" So that part of the surprise is still holding up.

Good luck with your surprise! Hopefully it'll last longer than my 3 weeks.

 

[PoppyAnna]

Hello from the UK
I have booked our first cruise on the Dream for April '11. DH, DD8 and DD5 do not know. My plan is to give it to DH as his christmas present. Only on the DIS can I let my secret out

Good luck keeping your secrets everybody

 

[stichy]

DH attempted to suprise me with a cruise for my bday but DCL screwed up and sent to confirmation to the house instead of his office. DS has 2 days off from school so he isn't missing any school. I was lobbying for a trip to disney over those days but DH was against it, He was going to tell me a couple days before thay he changed his mind and booked a trip to disney as a suprise. Instead of waking up after the drive in Disney I was going to wake up at the port. We haven't told DS yet. He may have a clue since he saw the brocure and asked me what type of cabin we were going to be in. I told him that we were just looking and not going to be going anytime soon. We scheduled a character call the night before we leave to tell him about the cruise.

 

[emilyann415]

We are suprising our DD for her 4th bday. We are picking her up at daycare a few hours early and driving to the airport....were her two cousins will be waiting with their family. None of the kids know we are going. We are eating a quick bite at a restaurant near the airport and then telling the kids someone is flying in to surprise them....we won't tell them until we get out of the van. We leave in exactly one month and the surprise is killing me.

Emily

 

[jetskigrl]

We are sailing on the 2-night mini cruise on the Wonder (out of Los Angeles) in January and then again on the Dream (B2B) in April. I'm not planning to tell the kids until Christmas.
One of the people on the design board created two graphics for me that say something like "X and Y, pack your bags because you will be sailing on the Disney Wonder/Dream" with the dates (LOL - something close to that).

We are going to print them out and frame them and give one to each child to open on Christmas morning. Then we will hang the printed graphics in their rooms

 

[SILLYANDI]

We usually go every other year but for a year and a half now I've been telling the kids we just don't have the money so we're not going this year.

I'm still planning exactly "how" to tell them because they are obviously going to catch on when we board a plane to Orlando. I think I'm going to tell them we are going to visit Grandma & Grandpa in Florida and not tell them til we leave the hotel for the port the morning of the cruise.

THere is a really cute video on another thread here...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1683858

 

[moomy-san]

We are planning on doing the torturous (and never ending!) box-inside a box-inside a box present for our daughters this Christmas. I thought that in some of the boxes I would also add a clue... nautical rubber duckies and notepads, iceberg putty, 'we're cruisin' luggage tags... and the last box will have the custom graphic that was made for us (from here) that says 'Pack your bags, we're cruisin' to Alaska on the Wonder! I really hope they are surprised!

 

[collectoraholic]

We almost always make it a surprise for our girls. They either get the cruise as a present (Christmas) or don't know until we pull up @ the port. LOL! If I told them beforehand, they'd drive me absolutely bonkers! We're going on the 5-Nighter on July 25th and they have no idea. They know we're going to WDW, but won't know about the cruise until either the 24th or 25th.

GL! Keeping it a secret is super hard, but so worth it to see the surprise on their faces!

 

[Polarone]

I'm dead set on surprising the kids, but DW wants to let them in on it (possibly for their b-days - 3 days apart in Oct - or for Christmas). We're sailing in February and I want to let them figure it out if they can (if they haven't guessed by the time we're on the transfer shuttle from the airport I may relent then!).

DW just about bursts every time it comes up - whenever DS sees a cruise ship on TV he talks about wanting to go on one and I had a 5-minute conversation about what he would want to do, how much fun it would be, how the dining works and finished it off with "well, maybe some day we'll go on one - maybe when you graduate from grade school (which will be in 5 years). DW was in the next room where I could see her and she was giving me the evil eye and just about bursting the entire time!

 

[collectoraholic]

We always surprise the kids! Usually they either find out in a present (Christmas) or not until we arrive @ the port. LOL! They would drive me bonkers otherwise. LOL! We're actually going on the 5-Nighter on July 25th and they haven't a clue. They know we're going to WDW, but not about the cruise. They'll either find out on the 24th or the 25th. I just love to see the surprise on their faces when they realize we're going on a cruise. Makes all the trouble of keeping a secret worth while.

We're going on the Maiden Voyage of the Dream and they will get that cruise as a gift from & for Christmas. & Then we're doing a Mexican Riveria cruise over their Spring Break, so for the first time ever, they'll get that cruise as a Valentine's Day gift.

Can.Not.Wait.

 

[alexandra uk]

We've booked the Disney Dream for next October. DS will be turning 10 on that day and we've decided to keep it as a surprise. He'll have the best birthday ever

 

[AKMOUSE]

We *were* going to surprisae our kids, with the FSF for the MR over spring break, but I missed my deposit, long story.....

Anyway, we planned several ways to tell them.
we were going to give them swimsuits and cruise stuff for Christmas and their 'big gift' would be the cruise. One year I surpirised my hubs with a trip to Vegas and I got a box, the kind that hte lid lifts off and decorated the inside of it in vegas themed stickers and poker chips and then glued various itinerary stuff, like the hotel reservation confirmation and flight info. He still has that box and that was 5 years ago.
I was going to do the same for them get them a similar box and decorate the inside with Disney stuff and on the inside bottom would be the dates and the ship name. Even typing it, I could just hear their squeals as they figured it out.


Have fun - maybe next year we can surprise them.

 

[knawest8]

We surprised our two daughters with a Spring Break trip on the Wonder last year. I will have to find the video to post it. We didn't tell them until they saw the ship from the car. I did find one video that I thought was hilarious and sad at the same time. The mom sounds so excited and the kids....not so much.


Here is our video, please let me know if it doesn't work.

 

[moomy-san]

We surprised our two daughters with a Spring Break trip on the Wonder last year. I will have to find the video to post it. We didn't tell them until they saw the ship from the car. I did find one video that I thought was hilarious and sad at the same time. The mom sounds so excited and the kids....not so much.

Man, I hope my kids are happier than that!


Here is our video, please let me know if it doesn't work.

Says the site is password protected, so i couldn't view it!