Help me think of a cute way to tell the kids we are going to DISNEYLAND!

[darph nader]

About 10-12yrs ago,we told our kids we were going fishing. Spent 2dys getting the gear ready.
My oldest sons friend.who had never been out of town,was going with us.
As we loaded up our vehicle,I handed all the kids the tickets we had picked up earlier. My sons friend was in total shock. My youngest son was ............upset,he wanted to go fishing.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I am loving all of these stories and ideas everyone.

We have to tell them beforehand as we are flying from Australia and I think it would be a bit tough to trick them.

I also want them to know soon so we can plan this trip together, I often enjoy the journey far more than the destination KWIM?

My 11 year old daughter will just love helping me plan everything, she's a real fan of Disneyland. I definitely am leaning towards the treasure hunt idea, just not quite sure how to do it.

 

[melbarkwith]

Our kids know that we are going to Disneyland, and that we will be there for Halloween but don't know the exact dates.

What I plan on doing is packing while they are at school (we leave on a Tuesday) and hiding the suitcases somewhere.
We are going to suggest we all watch a DVD together (the freebie Holiday Planning one) and have some popcorn while we watch (in our Pirates of the Caribbean popcorn bucket from our last trip). If they don't figure it out then, I might ask them to do some extra chores and maybe pay them $1 US. I'm pretty sure by then that DD8 and DD6 will work it out.

The hardest part will be keeping it a secret, I'll be too excited

Mel

 

[FourM's]

When my girls were 9 and 11 we planned a trip to disneyland but didn't tell them until the day we left. We sat them down and said we needed to have a talk with them and that we had some bad news. We told them that we weren't going to be able to take them to a local play that was going on that evening, they were very dissapointed but before they could say too much we said- but we can take you to Disneyland! They just stood there looking confused for a minute. Then they jumped up and down and ran to pack their suitcases. So fun to surprise them!

 

[Grim_Grinning_Girl]

Someone sent me a link to this which is the coolest thing:

http://www.sun7news.com/spread.php

If you've never seen it, it's very cleverly made and your kids will get a big kick out of it. Play around with it first so you can get it down just right before showing it to them, the area that reads: Friend 1 - 3, those are the names that will appear in the video.

 

[Brady's Mom]

We just recently surprised our kids with a trip to DL. DH and I packed all of their stuff on Sat. while they were with Grandma and my sister's family. We agonized through Sunday since we didn't want them to know we were going and made up some kind of plausible excuse for our 12 year old to go to bed early that night since school had just let out for vacation. We woke them up at 4:30 am with the question of Do you want to go to Disneyland today??? And our DS 12 jumped right up and started getting dressed and then came into his brother's room while we asked them. DS 7 was the funniest of all, though. He sat up and asked us if it was for real or if we were teasing him?? Then after we had them all up - we told them we were flying instead of driving. There was a lot of yelling and jumping around, even at 4:45 in the morning.

I will admit it was hard to keep it a secret and I had trouble sleeping the last week before our trip because I thought I might burst with keeping it a secret. Then I had to worry endlessly that I had everything I needed, etc., etc. I don't know that I will surprise my kids again, but it was totally fun to do it.

My sister went to DL a few days before we did and she piled all of her kids in the car and told them they were going for a drive and they just kept driving. She didn't tell her kids anything until they were in Anaheim and drove right past Disneyland. They kept the secret for 10 or so hours in the car. And when they told their kids where they were going, they wanted to go right then. (at 10 at night!) I still can't believe they drove all that way and didn't spill the beans.

 

[Desert Dwellers]

Grim_Grinning_Girl, thanks for the link. That is really cool. I'm going to try and do some screen grabs, and have a couple of fun pics to add to our vacation scrapbooks.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Someone sent me a link to this which is the coolest thing:

http://www.sun7news.com/spread.php

If you've never seen it, it's very cleverly made and your kids will get a big kick out of it. Play around with it first so you can get it down just right before showing it to them, the area that reads: Friend 1 - 3, those are the names that will appear in the video.

I filled out the form but it wouldn't create anything for me, bummer. I'm sure it was so cool. Thanks for sharing the link anyway.

 

[erinbev]

Make sure you don't tell them your going to Uncle Dick's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MIBxhh_R_w

as soon as I saw this thread I was going to respond with your exact post! hahaha! I'm sorry, that video is hilarious.

 

[Grim_Grinning_Girl]

I filled out the form but it wouldn't create anything for me, bummer. I'm sure it was so cool. Thanks for sharing the link anyway.

That's too bad, did you try several times? There's a lot of things to fill out here and there like the year you were born and there's a special detection code to enter before submitting, maybe something was missed?

It's really neat the way they did this, it's a fake Disney news report about how the park is honoring one special guest (or family), and the name you enter appears all over the park and it looks real. Each name will generate its own video - same footage. Try again, it's really neat.

Here's what the video looks like with the name: Elvis Presley - tried to come up with a good generic well known name .

http://www.sun7news.com/index.php?code=7o245sda22lK534VbO1R&CMP=OTC-WWYCOVS1001

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

That's too bad, did you try several times? There's a lot of things to fill out here and there like the year you were born and there's a special detection code to enter before submitting, maybe something was missed?

It's really neat the way they did this, it's a fake Disney news report about how the park is honoring one special guest (or family), and the name you enter appears all over the park and it looks real. Each name will generate its own video - same footage. Try again, it's really neat.

Here's what the video looks like with the name: Elvis Presley - tried to come up with a good generic well known name .

http://www.sun7news.com/index.php?code=7o245sda22lK534VbO1R&CMP=OTC-WWYCOVS1001

I just tried doing this again, tried 5 times and it just says it can't process the request at this time, hmmm I will keep trying because it is so cool

 

[pixiewings71]

We just recently surprised our kids with a trip to DL. DH and I packed all of their stuff on Sat. while they were with Grandma and my sister's family. We agonized through Sunday since we didn't want them to know we were going and made up some kind of plausible excuse for our 12 year old to go to bed early that night since school had just let out for vacation. We woke them up at 4:30 am with the question of Do you want to go to Disneyland today??? And our DS 12 jumped right up and started getting dressed and then came into his brother's room while we asked them. DS 7 was the funniest of all, though. He sat up and asked us if it was for real or if we were teasing him?? Then after we had them all up - we told them we were flying instead of driving. There was a lot of yelling and jumping around, even at 4:45 in the morning.

I will admit it was hard to keep it a secret and I had trouble sleeping the last week before our trip because I thought I might burst with keeping it a secret. Then I had to worry endlessly that I had everything I needed, etc., etc. I don't know that I will surprise my kids again, but it was totally fun to do it.

My sister went to DL a few days before we did and she piled all of her kids in the car and told them they were going for a drive and they just kept driving. She didn't tell her kids anything until they were in Anaheim and drove right past Disneyland. They kept the secret for 10 or so hours in the car. And when they told their kids where they were going, they wanted to go right then. (at 10 at night!) I still can't believe they drove all that way and didn't spill the beans.

That's exactly what we did. Only for us it's a 6 hr drive not 10. LOL My Mom is 10 tho and man, those extra 4 hours are killer! LOL I packed them myself, as I was doing laundry I was putting stuff in their suitcases, and I'd bought them a bunch of stuff new so I was all set.

I just tried doing this again, tried 5 times and it just says it can't process the request at this time, hmmm I will keep trying because it is so cool

Keep trying, it's super cute!! I did it with my name and my kids freaked, they totally believed it! LOL At the end Goofy even said my name!

 

[sfarmbo]

My DGD and DGS will be 4 and 6 this Sat. For their b-day party we are giving them a big box with disney ballons inside and their tickets to disney. Hopefully they will be surprised.

 

[ksaturday]

I remember when I was little and my parents took us to Disneyland. They just told us to get in the car we were going somewhere special. We had a van and my brother and I were otherwise engaged on the 1 hour + drive from Santa Clarita. All of a sudden, my parents were like look and then we looked over and saw the Materhorn on the side of the freeway. We were so excited!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Well I've finally decided that I will do a treasure hunt. I have used some cute Disney auotgraph card images that I got from some talented people in the DISign section on here, added some cryptic clues that will have them racing all over the house. The last clue will lead them to a Hangman puzzle on the dining table that tells them there is a present under their pillows. I have wrapped up a t-shirt (Princesses for daughter, Mickey for son) and their passports. There is a riddle on the outside of the present that reads:-

OPEN UP THIS PRESENT
AND SEE IF YOU CAN BELIEVE
THE WONDERFUL AMAZING SURPRISE
THAT YOUR PARENTS HAVE UP THEIR SLEEVE.

After they open the present they should have a fair idea, and then I will give them an itinerary of the whole holiday (on disney letterhead of course) and then we will have hotdogs and Mickey shaped pancakes for dinner, then watch a Disney movie. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[pixiewings71]

Oh that sounds like so much fun!!!! I was also thinking you could have done the balloon idea, you know balloons in the box and they open it up. I think I'm going to do that for DD12's bday, we get there before they do (their Dad lives in Long Beach and he's bringing them to Anaheim for us) so I was thinking we can put a box on the table in the room full of balloons and have her open it when they get to the room. I mean, she knows we are going but I thought that might be fun.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

OMGoodness, we did the treasure hunt tonight, the kids were so excited, giggling as they raced to the next clue and the next clue until finally that got the last one which said there was a present under their pillow which contained the Disney t-shirt and passport. They were still looking kinda bewildered although it was starting to dawn on them so I handed them a rolled up scroll with an itinerary on it and I swear my 11 year old daughter jumped around the house for an hour. DS 7, he was excited about DL, but in a quieter way, but still thrilled. DD had to make a few calls to friends and grandparents and it was just so perfectly perfect, I swear I barely need to go now, that was just pure heaven, their joy just makes me smile.

Thanks everyone for the stories and ideas.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We surprised our girls with a trip to DL for Xmas 2007. We threw them in the car at 2:30 in the morning and drove the 6 hours to DL. They woke up around the Grapevine and thought we were going to the mountains! LOL Once we passed them, they kept asking for a picnic in the mountains and didn't want to go to whereever we had planned. By this time is was around 8 am so I told ODD (6 at the time) to start reading signs and find a place for us to eat breakfast, and then we would go back. We are driving down Disneyland Dr. in front of the hotel and she's commenting on how many Disney signs there are....still no clue! So I ask her to read the "Disneyland Dr." sign and she sounded it out a couple of times before she got it! Then she started screaming. My younger girls were almost 3 and 6 months so they obviously had no clue what it meant until we told the preschooler that we were going to Mickey's house. It was a lot of fun.

Now we are going again in September and looking for a fun way to surprise again. I'm thinking of sending them an invitation to a birthday party for their dad (we are going for his bday) from Mickey Mouse. I've also been collecting fun goodies from the $ section at Target, t shirts from Disney store, etc. for the trip.

 

[pixiewings71]

OMGoodness, we did the treasure hunt tonight, the kids were so excited, giggling as they raced to the next clue and the next clue until finally that got the last one which said there was a present under their pillow which contained the Disney t-shirt and passport. They were still looking kinda bewildered although it was starting to dawn on them so I handed them a rolled up scroll with an itinerary on it and I swear my 11 year old daughter jumped around the house for an hour. DS 7, he was excited about DL, but in a quieter way, but still thrilled. DD had to make a few calls to friends and grandparents and it was just so perfectly perfect, I swear I barely need to go now, that was just pure heaven, their joy just makes me smile.

Thanks everyone for the stories and ideas.

What a great story!! I'm so glad you had fun with this!!

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

I wasn't planning on surprising my kids..but um..I think I need to now. I got engrossed in all those youtube vids and I"m totally a blubbering mess ROFL

My son's way too bright and I think he'd totally figure it out but it'd be so much fun to try.

Thanks for the thread OP!