How did you surprise your kids??

[TwinsRmyLife]

I'd love to hear some stories on how you surprised your kids with your trip to disneyland. I'm trying to get ideas!!!

 

[tortugaverde]

We kept it a secret until we arrived in Anaheim. Then we drove by Disneyland and asked them what they thought the signs said... they can't read yet, but they know the word Disneyland! My 5 year old said "I think it says Disneyland" we said "yep, and we are going there tomorrow!" They were super excited... although it did take them a while to actually "get" that we were going to Disneyland! As a cover... we told them we were taking a long drive to stay in a hotel with a pool. They were excited about that alone... so Disneyland was SUPER exciting Their grandparents also flew down and met us for a few days... so that was another surprise, having Grandma and Grandpa knock on the hotel room door

Have fun with your surprise!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

So in October, it wasn't a surprise, we talked about it everyday, watched you-tube ride throughs, made a countdown chain, etc... and finally the night before, we were taking about how early we had to get up to drive the aiport, and dd told me to say "Abby, you want to go to Disneyland today?!" when woke her up. Which is what I did...

Fast forward, now we are getting ready for a surprise trip... and dd (now 4) knows nothing, but still talks about DL almost every day. So, I plan on waking her up at 3:30 am with "Abby, you want to go to Disneyland today?!" again, but this time her grandma is also coming (flying in from a different state--meeting us at SNA) so it will be a double surprise. Can't wait!



--Lisa

 

[myleftfoot]

well it was long ago, my mom came to my school I was in 4th grade and said I came to take you kids to lunch (my brother sister and I) and she asked what we wanted and of course we started fighting over taco bell and Mc Donalds when she said how about that greesy hamburger stand over the freeway by Disneyland. SO, off we went.

To my kids we told them we had to take dad to a meeting very earily in the morning so we were just going to let them stay in their jammies and put them in the car at 5am. when they woke up around 9 am they asked where we were and my brother called (he was in the car in front of us) he was talking to the kids on the phone and then pulled next to us and their carfull yelld at our carfull YOU WANT TO GO TO DISNEYLAND!!!? and the kids started screaming! It was so funny to watch.

Another time we happened to be down there already visiting relitives so one morning they woke up with their pin lanyards next to them they know they only wear those to disneyland so they got up screaming and ready to go in a flash

 

[Huge5]

we went on a big family trip to legoland and it kinda sucked...im being nice...

anyways, on the way home-back to the sf bay area (the next morning, 10am) the wife and kids were asleep...i took a last minute detour and entered disneyland parking(wife and 3 kids were snoring/sleeping,haha)...woke em all up in the parking lot and asked em if they wanted to stretch?

"where are we" asks my wife...

"why is there a picture of goofy on that wall?" asks my daughter

"suprise! we're getting SEASON PASSES for disneyland and spending 2day here"

 

[Jenn1116]

Huge5, That's great!!!

 

[DLovinFam]

I'd love to hear some stories on how you surprised your kids with your trip to disneyland. I'm trying to get ideas!!!

We are surprising our kids in June. We are big Food Network fans, so we are going to have a cook-off (just for fun, the kids will think) It will have to be video recorded, just like on tv. My mom and dad will be the judges. Some how, the scores will come out even, and the kids will be presented with a huge check saying they are going to Disneyland as the prize. We will do this the weekend before we go.

My kids are ages 16, 12 and 6

 

[DLovinFam]

So in October, it wasn't a surprise, we talked about it everyday, watched you-tube ride throughs, made a countdown chain, etc... and finally the night before, we were taking about how early we had to get up to drive the aiport, and dd told me to say "Abby, you want to go to Disneyland today?!" when woke her up. Which is what I did...

Fast forward, now we are getting ready for a surprise trip... and dd (now 4) knows nothing, but still talks about DL almost every day. So, I plan on waking her up at 3:30 am with "Abby, you want to go to Disneyland today?!" again, but this time her grandma is also coming (flying in from a different state--meeting us at SNA) so it will be a double surprise. Can't wait!



--Lisa

Funny that you mention that your dd talks about DL every day. This is the first time we are surprising our kids. The last time we went was almost 3 years ago. They also talk about DL almost every day! I can't wait to surprise them!!

 

[somersaunt]

When my 3rd child was graduating from preschool, we surprized the kids with a trip. We packed the car up secretly and then went to her graduation ceremony. We had the teacher read her a note from us when she went up to get her preschool diploma. It said, "Ireland, we are so proud of you and we going to Disneyland RIGHT NOW!" And her teacher handed her a pair of Minnie Mouse ears. She didn't really believe us at first, but my older two were screaming and she finally believed it. It was so funny.

 

[Jenn1116]

I'm planning to surprise my parents. They aren't kids but I'm hoping they'll be excited. I'm going to give them the "surprise" for their anniversary in June even though the trip isn't until Dec. My mom needs advanced warning... and I can't wait to tell them! I think I'm going to go with giving them Disney-related gifts and put a note in the bottom of the box with the e-tickets attached.

Hmmm I may have to plan something for DD the morning we leave, because I don't want her to know in advance.

I love hearing all of your stories!!!

 

[Tink208]

Several years ago our best friends were taking their daughters on a surprise trip to DLR to celebrate the older daughter's 13 birthday. I decided to take my older son and join them. Because they were making it a surprise for their girls, I had to make it a surprise for my son...which is hard because I am not good at keeping secrets, especially about trips to Disneyland! Our friends drove down on a Friday because they were stopping to visit relatives on the way. They called our house Saturday morning and after I was done talking with them, I told my son they had invited us to their daughter's birthday party and asked him to guess where the party was going to be held and when he didn't guess correctly, I told him "Disneyland!" He did a double-take and then was so excited!

 

[Huge5]

this thread has really put me in a good mood! im feeling like doing something really nice for the kids today

 

[Kirabird]

I started surprising DD 7 and DS 6 (tommorow is his bday) with trips because I can't stand to hear "how many days" for more than a month or two. It usually starts a year in advance for anything remotely exciting. Last year we went to Tucson to see my sister. We drove to the airport w/ my mother and uncle and told them we were taking Uncle Al to the airport, he was going to AZ. When we got there, we all got out of the car, unloaded our luggage, and then Uncle Al said goodbye... We told them they were really going - we have it all on video tape - it was just really great to see how excited they were.

We are leaving (from NJ) on Friday morning for DL. I plan on waking them up at about 5:15 and telling them that I have to go on a trip for work (which is actually true but they have no idea). I'll ask them if they want to ride to the airport with me and Dad. Then when we get there, I'm sure they will be begging to come with me, and I'll surprise them with their airline tickets, a Disney gift card and Disney dollars. The hardest part about all of this is trying to pack everything in the attic!!!!!

 

[jemilah]

I gave these to my boys once for Christmas


Next surprise I printed out signs from http://www.addletters.com/disneyland-sign-generator.htm saying surprise we are going to Disneyland! I gave them to them after pulling them out of school mid day and telling them we had to go to LA for an emergency ........when asked why I said it was an emergency I said we needed a trip to DL or we would go crazy

 

[pose2pose]

Here's our attempt to surprise them in 2007...they had some trouble figuring out the surprise. This year we didn't bother trying to surprise them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXkIg1kCQxs

 

[auntiegem]

My friend and her father acted like they were going on some errands, but they just kept driving! The 12 yo son didn't figure out that something was going on until they were almost to the Oregon/California border (they started at the Washington/Oregon border!). Even then, he didn't believe them when they told him where they were going.

 

[greens_in_WA]

This is such a fun topic I had to stop lurking.

We're going to DLR May 17 and we're taking the first flight from Seattle so we have to get up and out the door early (4:30). We plan on waking up the kids (DD6 & DS2) by blasting the POTC theme and yelling "We're going to Disneyland". We're going to be wearing semi matching shirts (DW & DD Cinderella, DS & I Mickey) on the way down.

The hardest part is the planning without them knowing. DW and I have been speaking in code, like "40 days" for the countdown and using IM to chat eventhough we are in the same room. It's hard to say who would be more excited them (if they knew or us)

 

[bonita_babe232]

Last trip my son was 3 (almost 4) and didn't really know much about disneyland.... so i told him we were going and he was like ok but didn't really think much about it.... so when we got there we took him to goofys kitchen and he really relized and was soooo excited! I am gonna find a way to surprise them next time we go!!! Cause nico will be 5 and michael 3!

 

[Brady's Mom]

We surprised our three younger boys with our trip a month ago. It was hard to keep it a secret, but we have a 5 and 3 year old and didn't want the million "how many days" questions.

Our DS 11 thought we were going in Dec. 08, because we had talked about going then and sort of planned it. But our oldest son 19, was leaving for two years on April 2, so we wanted to do a last trip with him before he left. We talked it over, invited grandma and grandpa and very close friends with children our DS 19's age and made plans. All in secret.

We were going to surprise the 3 younger boys by taking grandparents to the airport. But, we knew that the 2 elementary schoolers would have homework, so we compromised. Besides how was I supposed to keep packing secret from an 11 year old???

Instead, I went to the party store and picked up mickey mouse party invitations and wrote an invitation to each of our 3 children that didn't know we were going. We sat them down on the Friday night before we went and gave them to them, all the while with camera clicking. My 2 DS's 5 and 3 don't read yet, but my 11 year old got it.

There was screaming and yelling and a little crying from happiness and excitement. Then I only had 3 days of "how many more days" and "this many days left" and "I can't wait to fly on an airplane" and "which rides am I tall enough for".

Thank goodness we had maps left from our last trip and they could look at them and make plans.

We told our kids early so they could get their schoolwork done before we left because we were gone a whole week and didn't want the added stress of having to make up school work when we got home along with regular homework. And we didn't want to have to take the time out of DLR to do homework in the hotel room.

I would soooo surprise my kids again if I could. As it is we are already talking about still taking that Dec. trip.

 

[Sunobo]

My husband had been working in the LA area for several months and the girls and I were flying out to spend Thanksgiving with him. It started as a one day trip to DL and expanded into three days before all the planning was done. We kept it a total secret from the girls especially since this was their first time to go to DL.

We spent the first two nights at a different hotel and did other things around the area. Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed toward DL to check into the DLH. We told the girls we had to change hotels because they were already booked for the weekend and needed our room.

We arrived at the DLH and the girls were impressed with the hotel and all things Disney but they still didn't get it that we were going to DL. We got checked into our room (which was already ready at 9:00 in the morning) and headed through DTD. They still didn't get what was going on. They understood that they were at this place with the Disneyland signs but the whole concept was lost. We started prompting them with questions about what Disneyland was and finally the lightbulb went on. About this time, we were almost at the bag check area and the excitement hit. It was an amazing trip.

Now that they have been there, they keep asking me when we get to go back.