Help me surprise my teen daughter...

[StacyMarie]

I decided less than a week ago that instead of taking a solo trip to Mexico starting the week of 2/25/15, that I would surprise my 18 year old daughter with a trip to Disney that week instead as an early graduation gift. I was even able to score a dinner reservation at BOG for our arrival night. I need to find a way to surprise her with this trip. I don't want to tell her until the night before we leave.

Some background on my daughter...she is a Disney fanatic just like me. Her favorite Disney movie is Little Mermaid. She is ALWAYS spotting hidden Mickeys in everything. She'll probably sob when she figures out where we are going so I'll make sure I'm recording, lol!

Does anybody have anything good and creative enough that I can "torture" her with over the next few weeks before springing our trip on her!

 

[dprincessmom]

You could do hidden mickeys through your house up until the time you are ready for the big announcement.

For the finale...I saw a very cute Ariel valentine heart shaped plastic box at Walgreens last night (I think it had lemon heads in it). empty the candies, find a picture of Ariel online and type over with the words - let's go see if we can be part of her world - throw in some more hidden mickeys and see if she can figure it out. Simple but she will flip and it won't be too "young."

 

[Magpie]

I don't want to tell her until the night before we leave.

I think it sounds like a lovely surprise, especially for a Disney fanatic, however I'm curious... can your 18 year old just drop out of her life for a week without any advance notice? Won't there be any repercussions for her? I'm sure her friends will understand, and she can easily text them the good news, but what if she's got projects and/or assignments due at school? In fact, how is she going to arrange for her missed work, re-schedule tests, etc, if she doesn't have a chance to tell her teachers she's going to be gone for a week? She's 18, so I'm guessing she doesn't have to get permission from the school to take a leave of absence, and I'm supposing you live in a district with unlimited unexcused absences. I'm also assuming your daughter doesn't have a job, so fortunately that won't be an issue. And you'd know if she'd agreed to do anything like babysit...

You see, my 18 year old loves Disney, but she wouldn't be sobbing with joy if I sprang a next day trip on her. She'd be in a complete panic.

 

[StacyMarie]

I think it sounds like a lovely surprise, especially for a Disney fanatic, however I'm curious... can your 18 year old just drop out of her life for a week without any advance notice? Won't there be any repercussions for her? I'm sure her friends will understand, and she can easily text them the good news, but what if she's got projects and/or assignments due at school? In fact, how is she going to arrange for her missed work, re-schedule tests, etc, if she doesn't have a chance to tell her teachers she's going to be gone for a week? She's 18, so I'm guessing she doesn't have to get permission from the school to take a leave of absence, and I'm supposing you live in a district with unlimited unexcused absences. I'm also assuming your daughter doesn't have a job, so fortunately that won't be an issue. And you'd know if she'd agreed to do anything like babysit...

You see, my 18 year old loves Disney, but she wouldn't be sobbing with joy if I sprang a next day trip on her. She'd be in a complete panic.

My daughter has a job, however she was taking that week off to stay home while I was supposed to be in Mexico as I didn't want her driving back and forth to work if the weather turns nasty.

I've already told her teachers and because of winter break, she will only be missing 2 full days of school (Wed & Thurs) off for break Friday and Monday.

Thanks for your concern, but that wasn't the reason for this thread. Did you think I wouldn't have taken care of everything you mentioned, lol! That's all part of it being a SURPRISE trip!

SURPRISE, we're going to Disney and I was able to keep you in the dark even when your boss and your teachers knew!

 

[Puffy2]

I'm sure she will be thrilled, but I had the same thought as the other poster. At 18 she may have had some thoughts of her own about how she was going to spend that time at home with mom away. Even simple plans can throw a teen into panic when the plan is changed last minute. Keep it the way it is if you like, but letting her in on the secret a little sooner might let her enjoy some of the planning and prevent a meltdown over something you had no idea about.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

You could do hidden mickeys through your house up until the time you are ready for the big announcement.

For the finale...I saw a very cute Ariel valentine heart shaped plastic box at Walgreens last night (I think it had lemon heads in it). empty the candies, find a picture of Ariel online and type over with the words - let's go see if we can be part of her world - throw in some more hidden mickeys and see if she can figure it out. Simple but she will flip and it won't be too "young."

I love this idea! So cute!

Being the same exact age as your daughter, and sounding almost alike (LM is one of my faves too!!) I think the simpler the better. She will be excited no matter what you do. Whatever you decide to do, I think piping in some LM tunes (maybe part of your world) in the background as she is finding out would be a nice idea. I know for sure I would love that! Best of Luck and would love to hear how this all turns out once you have told your daughter the special surprise!

And also, being 18, if my parents told me I was going to Disney the next day, I would drop everything in my life, and sob on the floor, all ready to go! Your her mom, so you will know if she has anything "big" going on that week.

Have an awesome trip.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

I agree with the above poster, I'm sure you know your daughter well enough to know she would enjoy a Disney surprise. I would have loved a surprise like this when I was 18, jumped in the plane no problem. Maybe giving her a Disney themed card to tell her about the trip, or before that you can leave Disney themed valentines around the house for her. Disney themed movie night.

 

[jbcheerchick93]

My mom *surprised* me with a trip when I was 18, but she told me well in advance. I would not have minded finding out the day right before, but there's neither here nor there. What she did to surprise me was wrap up our favorite tour guide book in a present and give that to me as one of my "big" gifts (it was just the two of us). I'm sure she will be ecstatic! Good luck

 

[disnut8]

You could print out the My Disney Experience information with the FastPass arraignments and your hotel information. Then, fold it up and put into an envelope and write something like "info while Mom is in Mexico". Then give that to her the night before and tell her it contains things she needs to know while you are gone and you wanted to talk to her about a few things before you left. Then she can open the envelope while you film.

My son and daughter-in-law surprised my grandkids in a similar way when they did a surprise. They said the kids were going to be running a marathon in the next week (they were, kind of) and then handed them the envelope with the information. The marathon was at Disney World!

Oh - and one more thing my son did for the grandkids. They also had to miss a few days of school so the very last thing he gave them was an envelope with all the homework they would be missing and needed to complete on the trip! We watched via Skype and it was hilarious!

 

[Magpie]

Thanks for your concern, but that wasn't the reason for this thread. Did you think I wouldn't have taken care of everything you mentioned, lol! That's all part of it being a SURPRISE trip!

SURPRISE, we're going to Disney and I was able to keep you in the dark even when your boss and your teachers knew!

You're welcome!

Not knowing you, I have no idea what you would have taken care of, or not. And I know this wasn't the reason for the thread, I was just curious. When I was 18, I actually declined a trip invite to a Mexican resort from my mum. I had a lot of different things on the go, none of which she knew anything about.

I'm glad you've got everything sorted and as I said in my original post - It sounds like a lovely surprise!