Boys ages 6 & 9, how do I surprise them with the news?

[Hnymoon@Dixie]

I am surprising my two cousins, who are brothers, ages 6 & 9 with a trip to WDW in December. It will be there FIRST TRIP!!! Can anyone offer suggestions as to how to tell them? I want it to be special. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! I'll even go as far as to get things purchased from the parks. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I'm sooo excited I could bust!

 

[iheartdisney]

My sister suprised hers (8 & 6) by telling them they were going on vacation, it was somewhere they had to drive to, and that was all the clues they got!! The next week was filled with guessing! I think they figured it out once they got close enough for signs to start popping up! Meanwhile my cousin suprised hers (5 & 3) by ordering the planning video, and saying "Hey, lets watch a movie!" and she then got to point out where they were going to stay, the rides they were big enough for, etc!
Good luck!

 

[DawnCt1]

Years ago DH had a meeting in Anaheim and we decided we would surprise our 3 DS's at that time with a trip to Disneyland. My mother also came with us. I packed their clothes when they weren't around and loaded them in the car. As far as they knew, the luggage belonged to their Dad. I had my neighbor drive us to the airport on the pretense that we would all go out to breakfast after "dropping Daddy off at the airport". When we pulled up beside the curb at the drop off area, I handed them each their Mickey Mouse Ears that we had bought on previous trips to WDW and said, "Looks like you guys are going to need these, we are going to Disneyland"!!

 

[lasmickey]

We surprised our DD's (Ages 7 and 4 at the time) exactly 100 days before we left (we wanted to surprise them, but also wanted to be able to include them in some of the planning process). We gave them clues for a "treasure hunt". One clue led to the next clue, etc., until they ended up with their treasure. Their "treasure" included a scroll, which they were told to open first, a gift bag for each girl, and a paper chain. Upon opening the scroll, they found it to be a letter from Mickey Mouse telling them that they would be joining him and his friends at WDW in October. Then they opened their gift bags which included small backpacks filled with stuff for their trip, (i.e. - autograph books, fat pens, pressed penny books, tickets to MNSSHP, princess disposable cameras, disney dollars, princess sunglasses, GOH badges, etc.) Finally they were told that the paper chain represented the # of days left unitl our trip (my husband had made it, and put a disney character on each link). They got a kick out of getting up every morning and tearing another link off the chain. And it certainly quieted some of those "how much longer till we go?" questions!

There are lots of fun ways to surprise your kids. Whatever you decide to do, good luck! And be sure and let us know how it goes. I love to read about other peoples surprises!!

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

I planned a trip for our extended family and sent the kids something in the mail every few days until they guessed why. Things like Disney $$, passports, autograph books (along with web clippings of descriptions of rides and the resort. Once I sent a tape of music from the parks!). Finallly one of them called me up and said "Aunt Ann, are we going to Disney World". I think he thought it was a wild guess and went nuts when I said "yes"!

 

[Fannie_Marie]

I'm going to surprise my DD's (7 & 9) for our first trip to WDW too! We arrive on 4/25! Since our flight leaves early, I've told my girls that I have to stay in a hotel by the airport for my job (I work for a hotel chain) and I want them to come with me. I've already bought them new suitcases and started packing some of their clothes. The night before we go, I'll have them pack their backpacks for an overnight trip, that way they have something to take as a carryon w/toys, etc. The morning of our flight I'll have their suitcases in the room and tell them that we're going to WDW! I'm so excited! The hardest part is being "caught" looking at this website!

 

[pixiedust23]

"The hardest part is being "caught" looking at this website!"

There is a way to set your screen to DIScreet. It doesn't have any of the disney pictures. This is what I use at work, since people walk past my desk all the time. Gotta love it when the Dis helps us be sneaky!

 

[Hnymoon@Dixie]

"The hardest part is being "caught" looking at this website!"

There is a way to set your screen to DIScreet. It doesn't have any of the disney pictures. This is what I use at work, since people walk past my desk all the time. Gotta love it when the Dis helps us be sneaky!

HOW DO I DO THAT??????????

 

[Loops]

We told our then almost 5 year old the morning we were leaving. We had the video camera rolling and we told her we were going to Disney...she couldn't believe it, she thought we were joking.

 

[minmate]

I really wanted to wait until the morning of too, and we almost did. However, two of my kids are more like Grumpy Dwarf in the a.m. than Happy! And I feared they'd just roll over and say, "I hate Disney, I don't wanna go!" Ds, who LOVES school and his friends does this in the a.m. -- so we decided to tell them early... I actually posted this earlier today, but to make it short... We have 4 kids and so I bought a pkg of white 16 piece puzzles from the craft store. They came in a set of 4... yay me!

I drew different "clues" on each puzzle such as an airplane with a Mickey Balloon, the sorceror's hat, the words POP CENTURY (for my readers + we've been there before so they know what this means!) with Mickey heads, and an "attempt" at a Castle! We put the puzzle pieces inside color coded eggs and put the eggs all in one basket. Each child would find their specific colored eggs (i.e. all the pink ones, all the blue ones) and put their puzzle together. As they pieced them together, they figured out their clues.

They had a blast doing and re-doing the puzzles and seeing their siblings' clues. Plus, now they have a "souvenir" and can play with them on the plane (they are small puzzles).

I still like the idea of just waking them up but this is what we came up with and I'd say they enjoyed the surprise. Now, we are counting down the days and it's starting to sink in. I'm taking each one aside and asking them what they really want to do there so I can make sure I can fulfill their expectations!

An ASIDE: It's funny to learn what their expectations may be... for example, all ds3 REALLY wants to do is get another pirate sword and hat and ride POTC. One of the first things dd5 said she is looking forward to is swimming in the pool! DD2 said she wants to see "Minnie -- the boy one!" I said, "You mean Mickey?" DD: "Yes, the boy one!" lol.... too funny!

I hope they like whatever you do!

 

[pixiedust23]

Honeymoon@Dixie- look around on your screen. There will be a pull down bar with options such as Orlando Blue, Serenity Green, Holiday, Swan & Dolphin, etc and that has DIScreet listed. It's at the bottom of the screen when you have it set on DIScreet mode. I think normally it's at the top of the screen.

 

[Hnymoon@Dixie]

I'm not technical at all LOL!!!!

 

[aquidneck]

Say wouldn't it be great to watch them together. I wouldn't be able to hold out long. I'd tell them. They'll be so excited and have something great to look forward to. I can't imagine telling a child the day of. It would be overwhelming. My children would want to bring certain things. Last time we had to bring three princess gowns to meet the princesses. Have fun!

 

[Spartan]

My son, who'll be 5 by his next trip, will be receiving a letter or two in the mail from M. Mouse. I haven't quite figured out yet how I want to word it, but he really made a connection last time with the characters, in the sense of some long drawn out conversations with them at Chef Mickey's (even though they were one-way). I know the letters will have pics of the characters in them, and then we'll have to read to him what they say, but I think it'll be fun. It probably won't be so much of a surprise, since he pretty much knows he's going as he's gone every year, but I want the surprise to be that Mickey remembers him and wants him to come back and see him.

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

It was sooo hard keeping it a secret for 8 mos, but that is what we did. We surprised our girls last June. I woke them up early because we had to get to the airport. When I woke them up, I told them that Daddy had the day off and wanted to go to breakfast. After they were ready, we sat them on the sofa, had the camcorder rolling and asked them where they wanted to go to breakfast. They said they didn't know and I said 'how about the airport?' The girls then said okay. Like we ever did that before??? We then sprung our surprise on the them. The look of shock on their faces was great. My youngest would not believe me till I took her to our minivan and showed her the suitcases. It was great! I absolutely love watching that tape and seeing their shocked faces.

 

[boo72]

We are going with my niece (8 yr old) in October. We got her Birbaum's Walt Disney World for Kids book. This would be great for the 9 year old, and I think the 6 year old would enjoy it too although maybe not as much. We wrapped it up and gave it to her. We asked her if she knew what it meant. We had also brought a WDW planning dvd to watch with her. (I'd like to say we ordered it to plan for this specfic trip, but my DH orders WDW, DL, Disney Cruise,, and DVC dvd's and videos all the time!!) Now we all talk about what we are going to go on, where to eat etc. it's a lot of fun!

Disney dollars would be good too. You could give them some with clues to help them figure it out, or explain where you can use disney $$ and then say, "well I guess we'll have to WDW to spend them", etc.

Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[Msslaydbug]

This is a great thread. We are suprising our DS 7yo for this upcoming trip. We will tell him when we get to the airport !

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I planned a trip for our extended family and sent the kids something in the mail every few days until they guessed why. Things like Disney $$, passports, autograph books (along with web clippings of descriptions of rides and the resort. Once I sent a tape of music from the parks!). Finallly one of them called me up and said "Aunt Ann, are we going to Disney World". I think he thought it was a wild guess and went nuts when I said "yes"!

Ok, this is the probably the cutest posting name I've seen! Love it!!!