How do I surprise 3 DD's

[MELSMICE]

Okay - we leave in 10 days. My 3 DD's think we are going to Toronto for a long weekend.

We're getting them out of school early on Friday. I have been packing the suitcases in the basement.

How do I make it a fun surprise for them when we bring them home from school. I don't just want to say, "Guess what, we're not going to Toronto, we're going to Disney".

Any ingeneous ideas?

 

[Local_Girl]

MELSMICE,

Well...I can tell you what our plan is for our upcoming trip, which will be a surprise for our DS 9 and DD 6. We are splitting our drive into 3 days, and the kids know that the first day we are driving to Dayton, OH--they think we're going to the Air Force Museum there! We'll stay there overnight, and when we get them up the next morning, DH will be wearing Mickey ears...and I'll be video taping their reaction when DH says..."Where do you REALLY want to go today?" We're really excited to surprise them, but still aren't sure whether or not to do it on the 2nd or 3rd morning. Anyway, we know they'll be beyond excited and we can't wait either!!

I know many people on the boards have surprised their kids--hopefully some will post their experiences. Good luck and have a wonderful trip!!

 

[travelitis]

How about sending them on a treasure hunt. Tell them you got them each a little surprise for your weekend in Toronto. Start by handing them a card. In it put a little riddle that when they solve it will lead them to the spot where you've planted the next clue. At the end they find 2 wrapped packages with something for Disney, perhaps autograph books. If you get creative you can make little rhymes.

Here's a sample: One leg stands surrounded by 24 legs. (our dining table)

Round and round and round and round I go. (ceiling fan)

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says..................................... I'd imagine you would drive to Toronto, but any chance of telling them you are flying to Toronto? Are they young enough not to pay attention at the airport as you get on the "wrong" plane. You might be able to get them all the way to Orlando before they find out!!

 

[MELSMICE]

Disnee Dad - they are old enough that they would know when we got the airport.

My oldest did say she thought it would be "cool" to take a Limo to Toronto (like that would happen) so I did think about saying we thought it would be "cool" also & that we had to catch it at the airport.

I guess I'll come up with something - I just don't know what or how yet!!!

 

[monalsw]

great thread!
we are flying out on 2/6 and have not told our kids, dd 13 and ds 3, yet. i want to surprise them and my plan so far is to take them out to dinner and give them a box/basket full of small wrapped gifts; telling them it's either just because we love them or for an early birthday gift for both of them. i'm thinking of putting things like suntan lotion, GOH badges, autograph books, a beach ball, etc, in the box/basket, ending with either AP's or plane tix in the bottom.
DH wants me to tell them 2-3 days before, for fear that no one will sleep if we tell them the night before )no one will sleep anyway, lol!). I'd love to not tell them until we land in florida, or at least until the captain announces that we're heading for orlando!
any other suggestions? i'm listening....
Thanks in advance!

 

[opsomyo]

I see you have been before. What about having old vacation videos playing, Leaving pictures around of them with the characters, giving them a Disney pin or ears etc. They will be begging to go I would imagine, then you could just "give in" to their requests by handing them their tickets. Just brainstorming!

 

[travelitis]

If the treasure hunt is too elaborate, you could take a simpler approach. Wrap each ticket in a box and tell them you picked up a surprise for each of them for vacation.

If you're more into deception then how about this?

You could get in the car and you and dh could start talking about not wanting to go to Toronto and if you could cancel those reservations without penalty. Make it sound serious. Brainstorm other ideas while driving to the airport. Ask DH where he's driving, and he can say he doesn't know, he's just driving while you 2 decide. Even discuss staying home to get some things done and save the money so the girls will be afraid of no trip. As you near the airport announce that you'll just have to go to Plan B. When they ask what that is, pull out the tickets.

 

[MELSMICE]

Travelitis - I like the idea of wrapping up the tickets. We always take a cab to the airport, but I think I may wrap their airline tickets & tell them I got them each something to do for the ride up to Toronto before the cab gets to our house.

DH better make sure the video camera is working!!! I can't wait. The only bummer about the whole surprise is I have to be excited all by myself right now knowing we're going to WDW.

My 3 DD's & I usually sing all kinds of Disney songs & songs we have made up ourselves about Disney before we go, plus do a daily countdown together. I do miss that this time around but I think it will be worth it.

 

[travelitis]

The agony of secrecy will be worth it! At least your vow of silence is almost over. Your girls are going to be thrilled!

 

[Local_Girl]

Boy, do I understand the agony of secrecy!! Our kids belief is that we are "thinking about going to Disney...sometime, maybe next year...". Little do they know we'll be there at the end of November! I have been able to get a little bit of input from them about the things they'd like to do by saying "If we go to Disney, what would you want to do?" The secret/surprise actually began because we weren't sure we could financially swing this trip and were afraid we'd disappoint the kids terribly if we told them about it and then had to cancel. Fortunately the trip is ON !!!!!!!!! And the surprise will be very worth it!!

 

[cbvacation]

We just pulled off the big surprise in October! My daughter (4) and son (8) thought we were going to the Smoky Mountains. For weeks my daughter worried about getting eaten by a bear or falling off of a mountain. I just knew she would be so thrilled to learn we were going to visit princesses instead. I didn't know what I should expect as a reaction from my son -- I knew he would love going to Disney, but might not like the switch in plans.

Well, we left central Ohio around 4pm, and drove all night. Around 7 am, when the kids were waking up, we were about four miles from the Florida state line. We knew we needed to do something before my son was awake enough to read signs and notice the palm trees.

We got by the "welcome to Florida" signs and stopped at the welcome center. We sat the kids on a picnic table and told them we had good news and bad news. The bad news was that we couldn't go to the Smoky Mtns until next week, because the good news is that we are going to Disney World today!

Now for the funny part -- my daughter, the princess lover who was afraid of bears, remember? -- cried for about an hour because she "really wanted to go to the Smoky Mountains!" She changed her tune by the end of the day, but that was one reaction I was not prepared for! My son just kept saying "really? today? we're in Florida? really? right now?" It was great!

I am also so glad that we kept the secret. It kept me calmer during the planning, and definitely made the car ride easier. We purposely did not tell them until the morning because we knew it would be hard enough to sleep in the van.

Have fun with your surprise!!

 

[MELSMICE]

My 13 yr. old DD is VERY suspicious. She asked today why all of her shorts & summer shirts were not in her drawers any more. DH & I told her that we packed them away for the winter to make room for sweaters, etc.

A few weeks ago she was convinced we were going to WDW by little things that were said & done. I finally talked her into the fact we were going to Toronto. I hope she believed the "packing away of shorts" story.

Regardless, they will all be excited when we tell them in ONLY 7 DAYS!!!