How do I keep her from finding out?

[DeepSouth]

Hi everyone, I'm new.

I want to plan a surprise anniversary trip to WDW for my wife (and I) in September. But I don't know how to:

- pay without her finding out...do they really require full payment before the trip?

- make dinign reservations

- receive correspondence like magical express stuff in the mail


How do you do this? Any ideas?

 

[Ar1el]

Full payment I believe is required 45 days before your trip. You could always take cash and buy a Disney gift card for x amount of money and the apply that to your reservation. Does that make sense) Also she would not know what dinning reservations you make. You can do it online or over the phone. The only way I would see her finding out about dinning is if you both had the same email address. I say that bc when I made a dinning reservation on the internet they sent me a confirmation in my email. The mail ,well I am afraid you would just have to get the mail first. I hope you are able to pull off the surprise. Good Luck and I hope you both enjoy your trip!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

With a package reservation, you have to make a $200 deposit at booking and pay off the entire trip 45 days before your arrival date. A room-only reservation requires a deposit of one night with the balanced paid on arrival. If you want to get the dining plan, you have to book a package. If not, then could you purchase Disney gift cards at a grocery store for the one night deposit? That would mask the deposit.

To make dining reservations, they do send confirmation emails. Do you have an email account your wife doesn't have access to? Like a work email? If not, you could set up a special account just for this trip. Be aware, there are a few dinner shows, and CRT, that require pre-payment when booking unless you are on the dining plan.

For the mail correspondance, could you give them a work address?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Can you set up a seperate Disney email just to be used for this trip?

 

[KristenF]

could a friend or good neighbor friend be sent the mail?

 

[DeepSouth]

I can probably figure out the mail... Just don understand how to pay thousands of bucks without her suspicions!! I could figure ou the down payment but need hints on the rest!

 

[gracie1]

When you go grocery shopping, do you normally take cash? If so, pull a few bucks out each time you go shopping. Or you can buy a gift card everytime you go shopping, but if she looks at the receipts she will see that.

Maybe tell her you are planning a surprise trip for your anniversary, and you will be using money but don't tell her where she is going or anything about it. This way, you could actually take the cash and go buy a disney giftcard and pay over the phone or online with the giftcard and she will never know. You can put up to $500 on a giftcard and then refill it, or just buy multiple $500 giftcards.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

Yes, they do require full payment in by 45 days before your trip. Perhaps you could pay a little at a time so it isn't as noticable. Otherwise, maybe you could borrow from someone else to pay it and reimburse them after the trip (if you know someone willing to do it).

As far as the mail, you could call and ask to have your stuff mailed to a different address (neighbor, family member, etc).

Have fun!

 

[OhioMom2Four]

Any chance that you could take out a credit card that she does not know about and have the bill sent elsewhere? I love the element of surprise and it would be great if you could do it even without telling her you a planning a "surprise" for your anniversary.

If I was her, I would love to not know AT ALL.

Good Luck!

 

[newserenity]

First of all, make sure you delete your browsing history online so she doesn't get a hunch, just in case she uses it to go to previous sites or something.

Maybe use a new yahoo account of something just for planning/reservations. Of course this only matters if you think she may snoop at your email and knows the address.

Have your paperwork sent to work or a family members house.

As far as paying, pay a little at a time. Maybe $100 a week or something. Whatever you can pay. You can buy Disney gift cards at grocery stores and Walgreens/CVS etc. and then pay off a little at a time. Do whatever increment you can without her suspecting the money is missing. Just make sure to pay it off 45 days before the trip.

Good luck! You can pull it off just think sneaky! LOL You are a great DH to do this for her!

 

[Aliceacc]

Could you just tell her you have something big planned, and ask her to let you do the books for that last month?

Many years ago I had my husband convinced I was getting him a TV for Christmas. I told him I needed him home on Christmas Eve morning to help me carry it from the car. Imagine his surprise when it turned out to be a puppy!

 

[dizneechic]

I agree with the pp on opening a new ccard (I would do a Disney credit card) and putting the trip on that. With the Disney card you also get a certain length of time with no interest/finance charges so paying for the bulk of the trip could be differed until she knows about it (ie once your home).

We are AP holders so usually only book room only and pay for dining out of pocket (works better with our eating habits). By doing this we don't pay for the majority of our trip until arrival. We can also "package" our trip up to a week before arrival, so if we did decide to add dining we can do it 7 days before getting there and pay the trip off then (wont show on the credit card this way until after your home vs 45 days in advance).

 

[DeepSouth]

Thanks everyone! I guess I'm worried about being overextended on credit, but this seems like the best idea.

Also I guess if I get a Disney card I would get info on free dining before the general public?

This is stressful

 

[ThreeBeans]

If you do the Disney visa, I'd have the bill sent to a PO Box rather than your home address....it wouldn't do you any good if she gets the bill in the mail!

 

[newserenity]

Thanks everyone! I guess I'm worried about being overextended on credit, but this seems like the best idea.

Also I guess if I get a Disney card I would get info on free dining before the general public?

This is stressful

If there is any way to avoid putting it on the credit card I would! If my DH opened a CC for a trip without telling me I may not like it. Especially if you are worried about overextending yourself.

Although it may be a pain I would do either a prepaid debit card that you can load or the gift cards to pay for it. That way you can tell her that you budgeted and the trip has been paid for in full and you don't have to incur any extra debt.

Don't let it stress you out! This will be such a wonderful trip for you and your wife.

 

[tigger51276]

Depending on how soon you plan to go on the trip, you could either go the gift card route or credit card route. I'd only do the credit card IF you know you'll just pay it right off after the surprise is known. If you have some time until the trip, then what I'd do is everytime you go food shopping throw in a $25 or $50 Disney Gift Card. That is what I've been doing since January and I've amassed $700 in gift cards for my May and Aug trips and my husband has no clue. That is enough money for me and my DD's to eat for both trips. I also think my hubby will be getting me a $200 gc as a combo Mom's day/b-day present so I'll put that towards the room cost for May and then only owe $200 when I check in! Gift Cards are super handy!

 

[ancestry]

I have to say there is NO way my husband could pay off a Disney trip without me knowing about it. I handle most of our finances and track every dollar. If he opened a credit card without us discussing it and agreeing on it first I would be beyond livid.

I also would be upset if my husband planned a Disney vacation without my knowledge even if his heart was in the right place. DH and I have a rule that at no time do either of us ever spend more than $100 without discussing it with each other first and actually we usually discuss almost every purchase (even those less than $100) -- Groceries being the only exception. Yes, it makes surprises basically non-existent but it keeps us in touch with our finances and makes for a much happier home.

Personally, I'd suggest discussing it with your wife and foregoing the surprise.

 

[DeepSouth]

Sorry ancestry, that's just not going to happen. We thrive on surprises and fun and telling her would be like telling her "hey I mit propose to you, but let's tlk about the cost of the ring first". Nooooo way. This will be awesome if I can pull it off.

The memories and excitement will last a lifetime; why ruin it?

 

[ancestry]

Sorry ancestry, that's just not going to happen. We thrive on surprises and fun and telling her would be like telling her "hey I mit propose to you, but let's tlk about the cost of the ring first". Nooooo way. This will be awesome if I can pull it off.

The memories and excitement will last a lifetime; why ruin it?

To each their own. Doing things like this would cause my marriage to end up in divorce court -- from either side. Funny you mention the proposing thing, DH and I were already living together when he proposed (i.e. our finances were joint already) and yes we did discuss the cost of the ring BEFORE he bought it. In fact he picked out four different rings and I got to make the final decision on which one I wanted but that is how we prefer to operate in our marriage. Everything we do is joint and we discuss it first -- which is how *we* prefer it.

I hope you have a tremendous vacation!