Have we spoiled our kids?

[Lisa3]

Well, after months of keeping our Sept. trip a secret we decided to tell the kids at the beginning of August so that they could have some time to look forward to the trip. They love the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" so I bought Wonka bars and made our own "Golden Tickets" to announce the upcoming trip. I expected alot of excitement and was really quite disappointed when they seemed more interested in the chocolate than the ticket! I don't know if they were in shock or just spoiled since they have been to Disney 3 times already. I'm not saying they were indifferent - they hugged us and thanked us for the great surprise but I guess I just expected more.

Has anyone else ever been surprised by their kid's reaction to a trip to Disney?

 

[Laurabearz]

As you can see from my siggy we have been to WDW a lot, the past couple of years.

The girls are not as excited as they were for the first trip, but every once in a while they talk about things they want to do again...

How old are your kids?


Personally I spend hours setting up Christmas morning.... the desplay is quite wonderful if I do say so myself.... I want that picture postcard look... with all the gifts laid out just right.... Do they care? Nope. I could stack everything in one pile and they would have the same reaction.

Kids.... what can you do!

 

[Doodlebug939]

I dont think they are spoiled just lucky!


I understand what you are feeling. It is like when you spend $100 for a big toy at Christmas for your kids just for them to push it aside and play in the box.

We have all been there!!!!!

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Kids live in the here and now. They had chocolate so thats what they were excited about!
Bet when they get to WDW they will be just as excited as always!


Jordans' mom

 

[mamamia]

I know how you feel.

Last September for my DH's 40th birthday, I had a little party with just the family a week before his birthday. My gift to him was a surprise trip to Disney for the following week. My 3 kids (12, 10 & 8 at the time) didn't have any idea.

I had wrapped a series of boxes for him, all leading up to the confirmation letter from Disney. One gift was a disney t-shirt, another was a disney planning video, another was a pair of sandles he had gotten at Disney and one of them was a blurred picture of Donald Duck.

Well, when he opened the final box, there was no reaction from him or the kids. Everyone else there was so excited. But I was a little sad that they (my kids and DH) weren't going crazy over it. I kept saying "guys we are going to Disney World in 5 days!!" My DH later said he was glad that I had done it. I was proud of myself because I had booked it in June and didn't say a word to anyone.

In the end the trip was great and everyone was excited when the time came.

So, yes, I do believe my children are spoiled.

 

[bytheblood]

I would not call that spoiling. You are a parent that truly cares about making your children happy. There is nothing wrong with that. My daughter gets a letter from a Disney character once a month telling her how excited "they" are that she is coming to Disney. She also gets $10 Disney Dollars a payday as well as some Disney stickers. I call it, "keeping the magic alive."


When I told my daughter we booked Disney, she was flipping out. She cannot wait, and as you can see by my counter, we have a little way to go. She talks about several times a week and at 6, when she mentions it, it is almost like she just found out.

 

[trracers]

Hmmm...when my DD was almost 4 and i told her we were going back to wdw she said, "ok mom, but this is the last time i am going with you to that same place"

when my dh revived me i just kind of tried to shrug it off as "just kid talk"...thank goodness now she realizes what she almost did to me and she either has "converted" or puts on a really good act !!

 

[Peter_noPan]

We are leaving in 8 days and have not told them.

We are just going to load up the car and see how long until they realize something is up.

The airport is an hour away but I am sure they will figure it out way before that.

The best part of this trip is going to be the surpised look on their face when we tell them.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I don't know about spoiled, but I understand your disppointment!

I haven't told my 3-yo that we're going to Disney, but I asked him if he'd like to sometime, and he said, "No mommy, I just want to go to the fair".

I'm thinking he'll be excited when we get there, that's when we plan to tell him.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I went through the big surprise. We went to Universal and on the 4th day we woke them up (way too early) and told them we had a big surprise. They had a bag with clues(autograph book and pen, t-shirt that said SUrprise family vacation and cast member pins). DS (4) was the only excited one. 2 dds (7 and 5) didn't have any expression on their faces at all. I was so disappointed we had been keeping the secret for months and I dreamed of the excited expressions and jumping up and down that didn't come. Two hours later when we got to the MK it all happened. I think I set myself up for a disappointment because kids have their own time schedules and need to process things. Thank goodness it all worked out and that morning they were thrilled to wake up TInkerbell for the first time ever and we had a great vacation.

 

[Lisa3]

Thanks everyone for letting me know I am not alone. Now that several days have passed I have heard them talking among themselves about all the things they would like to do. Oldest DS is very excited to be going to Sea World (he wants to ride the Kraken). I guess deep down I knew it would take time to sink in. After all, we did tell them in no uncertain terms last year that it would be a while before we went back. I know how hard it is for me to deal with the unexpected. I think they enjoy the planning stage as much as I do and felt a little disappointed that it was already done (although I did say we could change anything they wanted). They are truly excited to be staying at the Hawaii building at the Polynesian again. Even I didn't think this would ever be possible again. I did keep one more surprise for them. No one knows I booked a lagoon view room (I hope DH isn't too mad)!

 

[rafikimom]

I've got to say I just love reading everyone's surprise stories. You know once you get on vacation, their reactions will be priceless! And the memories, GREAT! But just wait 20 years from now when they are married and everyone is home for Thanksgiving dinner and everyone is recounting childhood memories and you hear"Remember when Mom surprised us with that WDW vacation..." That'll be you true satisfaction!

 

[lucy_love_]

hi

to answer your q i dont think you have spoiled your children. they deal with things in a different manner than adults. my children arent as excited as me about going to wdw but i realise thats because when you are young everything in your life seems so big. before we go away they are going back to school (in new classes), they have swimming lessons booked, they have piano and singing exams and we are having lots of days out. all of these things take priority to something much further(in comparison) in the future. dont worry about their reaction its not like they said 'hey mam i really dont want to go do wdw it sucks'

they will love it

love

lucy

 

[pakdayton]

my DD(7) has been to wdw five times in five years ... and shes funny about it ...my DH keeps saying"we love it more than her" and i think he might be right, but ~i think~ we're teaching her to love it, ya know?

it comes down to this ... we want to go and she's stuck with us ... i actually offered to leave her home last time (she declined) ...

The thing to remember is that we dont take her to wdw frequntly because SHE wants to go ... we go because WE want to go ... and thats the difference between a spoiled kid and a not-spoiled kid

we surprised her at age 5 ... we were pleased with her big goofy grin as we pulled through the main gate and told her we were at wdw ... she thought we were going to grandma's ... best memory of that surprise was listening to her tell grandparents she was in disney ... we videoed that call ... its adorable

but we dont plan on surprising her again anytime soon for a few reasons (1)she was a little stunned and i think disappointed we werent at grandma's (2) she really likes the planning of a trip we ask her input about what to see, where to eat, etc ... and i think that helps her get excited

we have our ~magic~ moments that put it all in prespective such as tonight when we were watching the download of Wishes ...she made us play it three times to see tinkerbell fly and kept asking her daddy to be quiet so she could watch ... i think we all got welled up

when people tell her she's lucky to keep going ... i always tell them she's lucky to have parents who love wdw

 

[HenDuck]

No, I would a say a spoiled child is one who "expects" to go to Disney (wait, that sounds like me).

Your children, like most of ours here on DisBoards, are very fortunate.

Kids react however their going to react. It depends on their age and the "phase" their in.

When my DS was going through his "no" stage, that's all I'd here, even if I asked him if he wanted me to buy him DL. Now, his response is always "sure" - not "yes", but "sure".

Kids...whatever...

 

[disneychrista]

Originally posted by Lisa3
Has anyone else ever been surprised by their kid's reaction to a trip to Disney?

Yes. I don't think I will ever "surprise" my kids again. I tried to make surprise fun trip for them and it never works. Once to Marine World (six flags park in Northern California) I "passed" the exit to take them to summer camp and then kept missing the exits to turn around. They didn't seem excited or anything when they learned that they were going.

Then a few years ago we were going to the Hershery Factory in Central California and then heading ot Disneyland. They knew about the Hershey Factory but thought it was just a day trip. Of course my sneaky oldest daughter figured snuck a peak in the truck and saw the suitcases and ruined it.

Never again. I let them be in the middle of all the plans that I make. So there are no surprises.

 

[a Really Bad Egg]

'Spoil' (or whatever you wanna call it) your kids with stuff like family trips to Disney. What's the down side?

They'll soon grow up and you'll never get that chance again.

 

[Goobergal99]

I dont think that any of the children in any of the posts are spoiled, they too are just lucky to have parents that love them so much. DF and I are taking my mom and our daughter to disney in a couple of weeks and I have saved $150 in spending money for my lil 5 yearold alone LOL. When I began reading the ammounts that other ppl were giving their children, I really thought she was spoiled (suprisingly because I didn't think I saved enogh!!!) Bottom line is that any chuld fortuante enough to beable to go is just that fortunate and their look of suprise or lack thereof is no justification of their thankfulness nor their underappreciation for the wonderful experience their parents have saved for!!!

 

[snowy76]

I married a great man with two kids (DS age 10 and DD age 8)
about a year ago -- we immediately started talking about taking the kids to WDW. So I was really bummed out when we told them of our plans and got a lukewarm response. (You should know that I've known the kids for about 6 years now, so it wasn't the thought of going away with a wicked stepmother that got such a response!) We couldn't figure out what it was though.

Hubby and I always wanted to do Disney "right" with them the way we had experienced it as kids. They had been to WDW once -- for a DAY, mind you, not with us -- and we realized they just didn't "get" what it was all about yet. They thought Disney was just like a Six Flags or something -- until they were watching zebra outside our room at AKL, and doing all the other uniquely Disney stuff we could cram into 5 days.

For a lot of kids I just don't think the idea of Disney is easily grasped until they are actually there and immersed in it. Then they're overwhelmed and you can enjoy watching their eyes pop out of their heads every hour or so!

 

[cnids00]

As a child my highest wish was to go to Disney World, I would think as any child! My parents could not afford it, we were 4 kids and the main problem, we lived in Sweden, Europe. Way to expensive, but a dream for me to "one day" be able to go.

Now I've lived in the U.S. since 1999, been to Disney World for my very 1st time last year and going back again this year. My 9,5 year old daughter has no idea how lucky she is, she has BEEN there already once and going back twice in 2 years. She will never have the same longing feeling of wanting to go for years..

It doesn't make a difference how old you are, if you still have the child within you but it does make me happy to be able to give her what I always wanted and she does appreciate it, when we told her she started jumping around and the expressions on her face..were "priceless"!!

"Dreams do come true"