Anyone else surprising the kids???

[princesskayla]

We are going to suprise the kids at Disneyland. We have told them we are going to Disneyland for our first family adventure there. We are staying at the Disneyland Hotel. We will have ressies at the Plaza for the Minnie and Friends breakfast. I am going to call down there and speak with a manager about suprising the kids with the cruise at the breakfast. I am hoping that the Fairy Godmother will be there and can grant their wish. I hope I can manage to get the magical touch of letting the Fairy Godmother give the girls a special dress to wear on the cruise. I sew and I have already made them a dress to wear for boarding. I am hoping I can wrap it and get it to the breakfast without the kids knowing. So fingers crossed. Then we are going to go to the room, grab the luggage and go downstairs to the waiting limo. My kids might be more suprised about the limo ride!

 

[chicmommy]

I took DH and DS to WDW last year on their bday (same day!) I think I recall trying to keep it a secret from 6YO DS, but ended up telling him, but did the in-room surprise from Mickey and Friends to super surprise him.

In Sept. I am taking them on the Dream! DS has no idea, and I am trying my best to keep it a secret. The crazy part is that he asks me at least 2 TIMES A WEEK! can we go on the Disney Cruise Boat, I just keep telling him it's too expensive HA! He has resorted to saving all of his change in his piggy bank, and says that when he has enough he will take Mommy and Daddy! (Aww I love him!)

DH traveled to FL a few weeks ago for work, DS missed him so much he was crying on the final night of the trip wanting DH to come home, so I have promised that the next time daddy goes away on a plane, that he can go on the plane with him! That's enough for him!

To throw him off even more were flying in and staying at a hotel the night before, he will probably think that that's the trip! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIS FACE WHEN WE GET TO PORT AND HE FIGURES IT OUT!!!

 

[cruizincathi]

We are planning to surprise our daughters with a late Oct cruise. They will miss no school so we couldn't resist! We fly into Orlando at 11:00 the night before so they are going to be thinking we are going to "the World." The really fun part is that good friends of our(with kids the same age) are doing the same.

My question is, how do I get passports without spoiling the surprise? Do most people just do BC for kids?

 

[Disneytwinsmom]

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

i

WOW! I am doing the same thing and it is killing me. I booked the cruise in May 2011 and I am giving it to my family as a Christmas present. NO ONE knows, it is a surprise for everyone. We are going on the Dream 5/13/12. It is so hard not to want to talk about it. They all think we are going to Daytona and staying in our condo that week! I even told them it is all booked

Here is my plan on how I am going to give it to them:
I am going to wrap a big box and how it in the back of the tree. Inside of that box will be several small boxes. The furst box will just have a poem in it.I wrote a cute poem about how I have been planning and saving and how I have been tricking them for months.
Then there will be an individual gift for each one with Disney stuff in it. I have bought outfits from the Disney store so far and plan on adding more.
Then I have one box for the family which has the newest Birnbaum DCL book in it, the free DVD I got from Disney Travel Co. and special luggage tags I had personalized for each of us.
I know what you mean about it being so hard to keep the secret. I have been hiding all the paperwork in my briefcase!

 

[ryry]

We leave in 5 days and I can't believe the kids haven't fiqured it out yet! not sure about how i will surprise them, I have a couple of ideas

 

[redheadtove]

I booked the 8 night Eastern Caribbean New Years Cruise on Magic.. When we were on Magic in February I booked it and never told my 2 DD's who are 12 and 8... This trip will be their Christmas Present this year and I think it works out perfect because I tell them Christmas day and then we leave for Florida on the 29th... I can't wait to see the looks on their faces... I gave them a Disney Cruise as a Christmas gift last year and for 6 weeks from Christmas Day my youngest DD asked if it was time to go on vacation yet.... This New Years trip is gonna be amazing...not only is it a Christmas gift, my youngest DD will get to celebrate her 8th Birthday at Castaway Cay... How much better can that get?!?!?! They have no clue...they think we are going on a winter vacation to in March... They are going to scream when they find out!!!

 

[VKtravel]

We had a scavenger hunt to surprise the DDs the day before we flew to FL. Keeping a secret for 7 months was the HARDEST thing in the world since I am a blabbermouth! We almost spilled the beans several times. The surprise and joy was worth the secret!

Here is the last part of the video we did of the girls!!

http://youtu.be/gUZZ5RRXIr4

Sorry for my big mouth coaching and the light! I am NOT a director OR a videographer! Enjoy!

 

[scrapbookmomma74]

My kids both have passports. I got them way before we were even considering taking them on a cruise, just because I felt it was a good idea to have that identification for them. I don't think the kids have to be at the post office when you get them, as long as you have the right sized photo for them, so you could have the photo taken and then go without them to get the passports. You can get the form at usps.com.
I wouldn't travel without the passports now, you just never know.
Good luck!

PS...We're going on the Dream in early October. My kids will miss 1 day of school for it, and we aren't telling them. I'm going to wake them up very early in the morning and we will go to the airport. I will pack for them, so they should be completely surprised. I can't wait!

We are planning to surprise our daughters with a late Oct cruise. They will miss no school so we couldn't resist! We fly into Orlando at 11:00 the night before so they are going to be thinking we are going to "the World." The really fun part is that good friends of our(with kids the same age) are doing the same.

My question is, how do I get passports without spoiling the surprise? Do most people just do BC for kids?

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I'm so excited that disneystore.com now sells Disney Cruise stuff online!

I'm still planning on surprising our kids right before Christmas. (although our cruise isn't until June 2012--they'll have 5 months to get excited about it).

I bought a treasure box from Garden Ridge, and I just ordered 3 kids DCL sailor hats and some MM/Minnie DCL plush to put inside the box. I might do some sort of scavenger hunt through out the house to get to the box, I haven't quite nailed that down yet.

 

[MrandMissVacation]

Count me in the club!
We are booked on the Dec 29 Dream NYE 5 night cruise (have been for over a year).

We booked adjoining room as we are also taking my mom, which is another surprise for the kids!

I am HOPING to hold out until Christmas morning. I'd like to have a few gifts for them to open (some may be beach/cruise related).

I saved up some coke reward points to get the digital downloads of a Disney cruise ship 3D paper model along with Mickey and Goofy in cruise clothing. I plan on putting them on the Christmas tree (or under it) as a clue.

Since my DS still *believes* in Santa he will think it's from him.

Whenever my mom (and my DH) have to discuss this cruise in ear shot of the children we refer to specifics as a fictious BOOK we are reading or a certain passage we like. For example, my mom wants to try parasailing, and she said that she read in that 'new book, one of the main characters went parasailing". I think you get the idea.

Wish us luck. I'm about to burst!

 

[VKtravel]

Hang in there! Don't let the secret out! As hard as it was to keep the secret, it was the best thing in the world to see the look on their faces when they found out we were really leaving the next day! I think I finally qualified for "Mom of the Year"...or at least a got a few more cool points!

Don't forget the video. You HAVE to relive that moment!

 

[DreamBound23]

We, too, are going to surprise our kids DD (9) and DS (12). We are sailing on the Dream November 27th so we are going to go to Cocoa Beach the day before and tell them we are hanging out at the beach for a few days....cannot wait to see their faces when we arrive at the port

We are on the same cruise and are surprising our DDs. We are waking them up and taking them to the airport without telling them. Then we will be in Port Canaveral for 2 days (they will think that's our vacation.) Then we will get on the shuttle and see how long we can keep it going!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Please be sure to let us know how it goes!

We leave in 5 days and I can't believe the kids haven't fiqured it out yet! not sure about how i will surprise them, I have a couple of ideas

 

[5forDis]

I am undecided about when to tell our kids about the cruise (April 2012 on the Dream). They know we are going to Orlando to go to Universal, SeaWorld, and "maybe a day at Disney but they don't know about the cruise. My husband wants to act like we are driving to the airport to fly back home but we'll actually drive the rental car to the port. I want to incorporate the cruise in with an egg hunt at Easter (about 3 weeks before our cruise). My older 2 love surprises...the youngest does not.

Any fun ideas? I loved watching the video of the 2 little girls above doing the scavenger hunt---- adorable!

 

[Disneytwinsmom]

I am really enjoying reading all these great stories of how everyone is going to surprise their families! NO ONE knows in my family except me! So I had to get a seperate credit card and everything. It has been so tough not telling a sole!
p.s. I just ordered our DD and DS Disney suitcases... where will I hide those???

 

[VKtravel]

I am really enjoying reading all these great stories of how everyone is going to surprise their families! NO ONE knows in my family except me! So I had to get a seperate credit card and everything. It has been so tough not telling a sole!
p.s. I just ordered our DD and DS Disney suitcases... where will I hide those???

Depending on the size of the suitcases you can hide them under the bed. We have an empty armoire in the guest bedroom and that's where I hid them. They never open the armoire and they never open the closet door to in the guest bedroom! That was the easy part! You can also try the attic and the garage. Just prop something in fronto of the suitcase if its in the garage so they won't know it.

 

[mizcolon]

Me, DH, DD (8), DD (6) all set to go on Dream 9/4...They have no idea we are even going anywhere!!! We are scheduled to depart for our hotel near he port on 9/3 and the only thing I will be telling them is we are going on a long road trip for the night.... It will only be when we pull up to the Disney port that they will be told we are going on the cruise... I absolutely can not wait to see, and hear their reaction!!! Trust me it will be videotaped!!

 

[txsoccermom]

Finally figured out what I am going to do!!!!!! I made a Shutterfly photobook (finally!) of our spring break 2011 Dream cruise. We got off on Mar 17, so I was going to start the day with "remember where we were 1 year ago" thing. They will be all sad, and then I will give them the book. At the end, there is a pic of DS, asleep on the way home on the airplane. The next page says, "A dream is a wish, your heart makes.....", and then in the lower right-hand corner, "this is not the end!". When they turn the page, there is a note from Captain Mickey, on DCL letterhead, inviting them on our Fantasy cruise on June 2, 2012!

I am hoping to videitape it from my cellphone, post it to YouTube and then post the link here....I can do that, right?

Soooooo excited I had to share

 

[triciari]

Our 10th anniversary falls on a Friday, so my husband and I are going to wrap up a bunch of cruise goodies and open them over breakfast Friday morning, and tell the kids that we are leaving the next morning for an overnight a WDW (no parks, though) and a 4-day cruise (our first ever,) on Sunday! My 8 year old daughter has been asking to be surprised forever!

 

[Nikkim]

We are doing the Wonder MR cruise on sunday and are leaving for DL on Friday and my kids DS6 and DS9 have no idea. We have all the cases packed in the basement and when we get them from school on Friday we are telling them we are going to DL. Still not decided on when to tell them about the actual cruise. I am absolutely bursting to tell them - only 2 days to go!!!!