How did you surprise your kids with a DC?

[jbugeye22]

I was just interested in hearing any stories about how people have surprised their families with a Disney Cruise? I tried to surprise my kids with a trip to WDW, but my DD (8) caught sight of my facebook status 1 week before our trip!

 

[alamere1496]

This is how we surprised our kids with a WDW trip. We made up t-shirts that said "Surprise, We are Going To Disney World". We put them in a gift bag with other little Disney trinkets. We put them out in the living room like it was Christmas morning. They were so surprised!! They couldn't believe that we were really waking them up to get on a plane to go to WDW. It was the best surprise ever!!

 

[KBT35]

After a year of secrets, I told my DS 10 that he was coming to work in Orlando with me for a week. This wasn't too far fetched as I tried to take him anytime I went to Florida for work. I told him it would be a long boring week but that I would TRY to squeeze in something fun for him!
During my planning process I stalked this board for different ideas. I found the thread where you can have a postcard sent from Castaway Cay. I had one sent from Mickey saying "Can't wait to meet you onboard!"
I told everyone from the hotel staff to our shuttle company that I was surprising him! They all played their parts! The shuttle driver even picked us up last so that she could tell the other passengers about the surprise!
We flew in the day prior and Sunday morning I told him we had to change hotels to be closer to my work. As we approached port the driver told him to look out the window. You could see the Fantasy! At the same time I took out the postcard and handed it to him! It took a bit for it to set in.....watch the video in my signature to see the rest! My child was stunned into silence! I loved it! The next morning when we arrived in Atlantis he squealed all over again since I told him nothing about that either!

 

[LoriABil]

We surprised DS for his 8th birthday. We rode with a friend and all picked him up from school. Of course, right away, he knew something was up! I gave him a treasure map with clues at each point (School - that we were going to the airport; Airport, that we were going to Houston; Houston that we were going to Orlando, and then that we were...staying at the Hyatt at the airport!) There were 8 maps in all.

It almost backfired as we went to the Disney Welcome Center and...he thought we were getting on the ME (we had 2 times before). He almost bolted when I gave him his final clue downstairs! "I don't want to get on a big ship."

So surprises aren't ALWAYS good, but he warmed up to it thanks to a great cast member (Carla or Charlotte?) and mom and dad explaining they had never been on a ship either, but it would be fun!

Now we have a kid addicted to cruising!

 

[jbugeye22]

These are all wonderful stories! I wish I could keep secrets I am terrible! I I didn't even try to keep our upcoming cruise a secret, but I love hearing the stories and seeing the videos!

 

[FergusBC]

We waited until it was only 2 weeks until the cruise. I printed up a pirate letter from Capt. Mickey welcoming them aboard. Dh sealed it with a red wax seal and everything! We tied it to a helium Snow White balloon (no reason for Snow White...was the only Disney balloon dh could find ) and sealed it all in a box. Then it was 'delivered' one day addressed to our kids while they were at school. Dh told the kids that some Goofy guy had dropped it off earlier.

You can see their reaction here.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

Last Sunday at this time, we were on the Dream. Last Sunday morning, my ds14 (then 13) had no idea that we would be. We told him on Christmas that we were going on a Royal Carribean cruise on Jan. 20th. Then last week on the 12th, we told him that we were leaving at that moment and I gave him fake RCI cruise documents that I made online. We then drove to WDW and spent the night on property. The next morning we drove to the port, oohed and Ahhed when we saw the Dream and spoke about how much we wish we were cruising with Disney. I then pulled up to the Dream's unloading area "to get a better look" and told him that we were in deed cruising on the Dream. He was genuinely surprised. He should have known something was up. We surprised him last year with a BDay trip to WDW. We woke him up and told him to get dressed, we're on our way to WDW. So, last year he spent his BDay in the Magic Kingdom and the Wilderness Lodge and this year, he spent it on the Dream.

 

[bitlerzx4]

Our kids (12 & 5) thought we (DH & myself) were going on a cruise. They were going to stay with their pop pop. We got all the way down to PC and had breakfast at Ihop then walked around Ron Jons until the phone call came in from Mickey.

They still didn't believe us until I showed them the tags.

So funny because they got travel bags packed with Disney coloring books, disney movies, anything I could find disney related.

 

[natandscott]

Our kids are still pretty young (they will be 2 and 4 at the time of our cruise), so I think I'm just going to try and get a hold of a postcard with a picture of the ship on it and maybe one of Mickey to mail them about a month before we go.

 

[Four Swampers]

For our first, we went to visit my daughters' aunt, uncle, and cousins in Florida. I decided we should "go see Kennedy Space Center." After touring KSC, I said we should head south for a lunch place I wanted to try. As we drove, we noticed the Wonder, and I suggested we go get a closer look since we had seen it on t.v. The girls said they didn't want to bother, but I insisted. Pulled up next to the ship. The porter welcomed us, and the girls said we weren't cruising, just looking. I said I'll grab the bags from the car, where can I park?

For our trip on the Fantasy, we gave them hot chocolate. In black mugs that change color to show the Fantasy when the mug becomes warm.

 

[JimGA]

We jsut surprised our kids Christmas morning, we had a box filled with Disney Cruise Tickets that I made that will be door magnets and plush dolls and DCL T-shirts, here is the video link;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeqJAiuc1Qs

Two years ago we surprised the kids when we picked them up at school when it was time to go home. They had no idea until they saw the car packed and we tossed them their Mickey plush dolls and surprise we are going to Disney!

Love keeping trips a surprise, so much fun.

 

[JackieO]

I wanted to surprise the kids but they so enjoy the excitement of planning and being excited for the trip too. This trip is for my DS birthday so we planned the trip for a while after his birthday (it's really close to Thanksgiving, not when we wanted to sail). I made this "mickey" countdown: http://www.getawaytoday.com/blogs/2012/08/23/Disneyland-Vacation-Let-the-Countdown-Begin with a Disney Cruise post card as the top, and wrapped it up for this birthday. He was surprised and we've been able to enjoy the planning (I let the kids help choose our excursions) and counting down together!

 

[Musicalmommy]

We considered a secret, but feared backfire of kids not being prepaired to get on planes etc. They are 3, 5 and 7.

We wrapped up three presents.

1. Pirate outfits.
2. Mickey Mouse Wall Calendar with date of trip marked and count down numbers to current date.
3. The DC planning DVD that when you open it, it has the words> Welcome Aboard Weber Family!

Let's just say there was 45 minutes of

And the only thing that saved us from the pandamonium was bedtime.

Way more excited than I expected and much better than the stress of keeping all the other Disney packing, and making magnets, and making outfits, and buying things we need all a secret. Now they get the joy of anticipation. Countdown for us was 38 days, and we now have 19 to go. They ask about what they get to do on the ship, so now they are prepaired for what things will be like and will be a bit less overwhelmed with how things work.

 

[mrsaunders]

We tried to surprise my kids (then 10 and 12) with a last minute trip to WDW that we booked two weeks in advance. They are so used to us planning things well in advance that they got upset and kept saying "but you CANT just go to Disney....you have to plan it" and "two weeks isnt enough time. Do we even have tickets?"

Eventually they got excited and it was a great trip, but my husband and I never imagined that would be the reaction. After that we went back to including them in all the planning

 

[sweetlovin']

I took my 8yo to Disney World and then told her we had to head to the airport. She was shocked as I drove right up to the cruise. I had surprised my 10 year old with a Disneyland trip as well as a surprise puppy at the end of that trip. My 12yo I surprised with a trip to London. He packed for Disney World and thought we were flying there. So I had him grab out a folder with a list of everything at the airport while video taping. He was so excited and thankful that I had secret packed him. LOL

 

[sparklechicks]

I love a good surprise...

We just surprised our little ones this past Christmas Eve. I sent them on a scavenger hunt with clues and the final clue led them to the TV and to press play. I had put together a video to the music that Disney used last year for their vacations "Good Life." The video was pictures of all of us from our past trips to WDW and then from our past cruises. I ended it with a slide of the Disney Dream saying.... "now go pack your bags we have a flight to catch in 24 hours".. for our magical NYE Dream Cruise. They freaked out! The video of them isn’t really very good b/c all you can see and hear is them screaming and jumping up and down.

One year I handed the kids Valentine’s Day cards that had money in them and they opened it and went to put the money in our "Disney Fund" and "surprise" there were their Magic Express tickets for later that day.

Another time we were celebrating my husband’s birthday and I wrapped 3 extra presents for him. When he sat down to open them and the kids were sitting watching he asked them if they would like to help. Of course they jumped at it and ripped open the boxes for him only to find their luggage tags for the trip leaving 4 hours later.

My personal favorite was when my husband told the kids we were going out for my birthday dinner so they just sat in the back and we pulled into the airport parking and they kind of looked around and said "wait what are we doing aren’t we going to dinner?" My husband replied "yes but we have some time since our reservations at Chef Mickey isn’t until 7:30pm"

We never tell the kids when we are going on any vacations. I love the element of surprise and I know they do too. 3 successful surprise cruises and 5 successful WDW trips. The hardest part is not cracking but I love the big "reveal" which makes it worth the wait.

now I need a creative idea for our Aulani trip in July. I haven’t been able to come up with a good one.. If anyone has any suggestions I would be greatly appreciative.

 

[UmmGooD]

We drove to California from Texas last March. We told my daughter we were going to enjoy So Cal and meet up with her grandma. We didn't tell her much and kept it a secret for 1 year. We had a friend who had a daughter that was doing a Flat Stanley project and we took him with us cross country and told the girls we were going to take him to get pictures of him with some boats and the ocean. Well we showed up the morning of our cruise without telling the girls about the cruise. In the port of LA you can basically pull up right next to the boat. Here is the video. They aren't screamers but it is fun to watch it dawn on my 8 year old that she was actually going to go on the cruise.

Oh and for a little info we told her we might take her on a Disney cruise when she was older because she would ask to go when she saw the commercials. She picked 11 for some reason that is why she says that in the video. This was our first cruise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7uUPlsyZrs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrTwLJTeuHM

 

[Luv_Tink]

We told our 3 DDs about our Disney Wonder cruise to Alaska at about a month out. We'd been planning it for well over a year, but then DH lost his job and we weren't sure if we could pull it off. By some miracle, and many sacrifices, we were able to pay in full and save some money for excursions.

Since we live near Seattle, where the Wonder was sailing out of for the summer of 2012, we took the girls down to a park overlooking the pier and the ship to watch is sail off a few weeks before our departure date. I had some gifts for the girls, binoculars, cosmetic bags and finally a countdown calendar. They had no idea until they opened the countdown calendar and my 10 year old read it and started crying. They were all so excited and happy. It was a fun month leading up to the cruise once they knew.

 

[LasseKjus]

We went on a 3 day Disney Cruise a couple of years ago. We used to have a two-day fall-break like time frame in October in the schools so we scheduled it then, which happened to also be over Halloween. We packed for the kids who were 5, 3 and 1 at the time, so they didn't know.

We picked them up at school on Wednesday and the first thing they noticed was that I was picking them up along with my wife. The kids asked why and I said I just wanted to get them ice cream. Well, two hours later when we arrived at the airport, the oldest said, "I thought we were getting ice cream?" The middle kid says, "I want to go on an airplane." So I said we could do both. At that point, my oldest kid starts crying, balling in fact. We didn't tell them where we were going yet, but she had made all these "plans" with her friends for Halloween.

So we flew into Florida and still didn't tell them anything. Upon our arrival near port, my oldest starts yelling things we're going to do, "are we going fishing? are we going to the beach?" She's still kind of upset as APPARENTLY, she hates surprises. As we get closer to the terminal, my younger child yells, "I SEE THE DISNEY CRUISE SHIP!" "Let's see if we can get on it," I say. "REALLY!!!!!!" they shout. We had a very fun three days.

And I guess my oldest doesn't really hate surprises anymore. We surprised her with a birthday present that was pretty nice this year for her ninth birthday. We took her to the Olympics in London. We had a birthday party for her and her last present was event tickets to diving (we didn't have the gymnastics tickets in hand yet, which would have really made her flip out) and copies of the boarding passes. She went crazy excited and started balling in a good way. She still thanks us for the trip half a year later. We actually left the next day after her party and everyone at her party knew but her (including her now six year old sister who kept the secret for the two weeks we had been planning the trip).