How do i tell the kids? Should i wait?

[beef5stew]

I am booked for 5 day vacation in october staying in the cars suite at AoA. I have a 3 and 5 year old that are going to go nuts. I have 3 options:
1. Tell them now and watch them squirm for 3 months
2. Tell them when we are about 2 weeks out.
3. Tell them when we pull up at the resort.

I kinda like the immediate gratification of option 3, but not sure if its best.

 

[scdufek]

We are going in Oct as well for Fall break and are planning on telling our 3 the Friaday after they get out of school. We will be leaving on Thursday. So it will be a surprise, but, they will have about 5 days to get packed and even more excited about it!

 

[skriegerjr]

I am booked for 5 day vacation in october staying in the cars suite at AoA. I have a 3 and 5 year old that are going to go nuts. I have 3 options:
1. Tell them now and watch them squirm for 3 months
2. Tell them when we are about 2 weeks out.
3. Tell them when we pull up at the resort.

I kinda like the immediate gratification of option 3, but not sure if its best.

Going on our forth family trip soon, we just took a trip in November, so they have no idea we are going again so soon. Will be awesome to see the looks on their faces, DS8, DD4! Probably tell them enroute to the resort, we are driving, and staying at POR for the first time! 35 days to go!

Sent from my HTC HERO CM7.1 using the DISBoards App

 

[MMS1125]

I'd tell them on your way there Give them some fun travel games (age appropriate games like Match--Disney style of course-- or some color sheets) to play on the way. 3 months and 2 weeks is a LOONNGG time for a 3 and 5yr old and waiting til you get there might freak them out a little not to mention the where are we going groans.

 

[disnut8]

My son and daughter-in-law were in the same boat. We had planned the trip for well over a year but the kids had absolutely no idea. They didn't know a fig about it although EVERYONE else knew. I'm talking about their teachers, the father (my granddaughter was ready made at the age of four), the stepmother, all the grandparents (four of whom were coming with us), all the various in-laws (and out-laws), friends, Romans and countrymen. I mean - everyone knew.

The kids were told one week before. It was torture for the adults but that one moment, oh man, that one moment when the kids found out. My son Skyped us in from 800 miles away so we could watch. Life doesn't get any better than that. It just doesn't.

 

[TyTysMommy]

I think it depends on your kids as to how and when you tell them.

For my son, who is 8, he wants to be in on the planning and help decide which ADR's we make. So I am telling him about our next trip.

He gets to have fun planning and anticipating. I don't want to take that from him since he's turning into a littler planner/anticipater just like me. But what I will do, is change the date on him. He will think we're going a week later than what we have booked. This will eliminate "I'm to excited to sleep" the night before our trip. He gets sick easily if he doesn't get proper sleep. On our last trip he threw up on the way to the airport, at the airport, and as soon as we got off the plane in Orlando. Our arrival day was a disaster and we had to cancel our evening plans. Once he got proper rest we were able to have a great vacation...until he got run down again toward the end and threw up at dinner one night.

The morning of our trip I'll tell him we're leaving today, after he has had a nice, normal, good night's sleep. He'll have gone to bed at regular time on a school night and will be properly rested for the trip. He still gets to help plan the trip and anticipate what's coming up. I think its nice to have things you are looking forward to.

I didn't mean to take the thread off topic. The key is just to know how your children handle surprises and changes and plan around their needs.

Do they handle last minute surprises well? If they know they're leaving for vacation the next day will they be able to sleep? etc.

 

[TyTysMommy]

Before I had kids, I once took a trip with a lady and her daughter who was 6 at the time. Her daughter had no concept of Disney World. She was told we were flying to "Pennsylvania" to visit my hometown. She thought she was just having a fun outing with her mom and friend.

We just wanted to wait and see when it would hit her. She never caught on. The whole time we landed, walked through the airport, went to our town car, she thought she was in Pennsylvania. We checked into the Wilderness Lodge...surely she'd figure it out? Nope! We were standing in our room at the Wilderness Lodge and her mom had to spell it out to her. "We are AT Disney World right now!" Oh my goodness. The squeals, tears, and excitement were priceless.

 

[Ninja Mom]

If it were my kids (they are teens ) I would tell them on the way down and mention that if anyone misbehaves, whines or touches the other one, or engages in excessive farting or belching, that an in room babysitter will be hired who loves to watch Stacy 24-7 on the in room cable channels.

They know I mean it so this along with the thrill of a Disney trip should instill a modicum of good behavior.

The trip back, especially if driving, entails threats of leaving the offending party at a rest stop along the way. If flying I remind everyone that homeland security and TSA always has a mother's back and if you are detained we may not have the ability to visit you in Guantanamo Bay.

For your little ones I would tell them on the way down. I've seen reports of parents who tell kids before they leave for the trip and the little ones have a hard time falling asleep the night before you leave.

Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[mousefan73]

I think the anticipating and waiting ( patience and having to learn to wait, IMO kids need to experience) is half the fun. Seeing they are so young and have no concept of time, I'd tell them a week before. Plus my kids would be
mad they couldnt pack.

One idea, wrap a new cars bag or carryon and give them a week before as a surprise.

 

[rentayenta]

We tell them ahead of time. We did one surprise trip in 2005 and while it was awesome, I missed anticipating and counting down with them. They were much younger then obviously so now the anticipation part is so much fun.

 

[no capes darling]

Having been through it, I'm glad that the first time, we didn't tell until the morning of (around age 4). Then the next couple of times, it was maybe 2 weeks before. It wasn't until later that the plan was announced months in advance & I got input with picking out a resort and choosing ADRs.

 

[CanadianPaco]

I think waiting til you drive up .... how exciting! It would be amazing! I just wanted, for our next trip, to tell the family that we're booked at POP but then, on arrival, drive into the resort I really booked, AKL. That little surprise lasted 7d...DD saw a post with my AKL signature. Ooops! Good luck!

 

[MinnieSummer]

I have mixed emotions. My DD would have loved the surprise of seeing the gates when she thought she was going someplace else, but we went so often that it wasn't possible. I wish I had been able to do that but what I did do was surprise her with Character Meals or having the characters send a card to the room. Minnie even sent her flowers one CHristmas when I let her know we were coming Those surprises are priceless. I can see the other side though. Being prepared and able to pack themselves is important too.

 

[Lumiere Lover]

The first time we took our kids (1st grade and 4th grade) we told them about one month out. The trip had been planned for over a year, but we hid it from them. Then one night I decided I couldn't wait any longer, and had to tell the kids. The school knew, family, everyone but the two kids. At dinner one evening, I told the kids we had a surprise for them. DH told them I was pregnant! I told the kids no, I'm not pregnant, that we were going to Walt Disney World. They were super excited. It gave them time to get used to the idea of flying for the first time. I threw park maps on the table, and let them choose rides, attractions, etc. I was glad we told them, but not too early. In your case, since the kids are so young, I would wait to either the night before, or the morning of leaving to tell the kids.

Have a FANTASTIC trip!!

 

[beef5stew]

Heheheh, i think i am going to wait as long as i can. We are flying down and using the disney resort transp. From the airport. I wonder how long i can go before they know where we are.

 

[jtwibih]

These stories are so great! I was not able to experience WDW as a child, my parents couldn't afford it. Now my wife and I go every year and we still love it as much as the first time. 10 weeks ago, we welcomed a new member to the family and I am looking forward to figuring out a way to surprise him so reading these posts are so fun.

 

[TACK]

My best experience with surprising my daughter was she did not know until we were at airport parking lot. I originally told her we were visiting relatives south of our city to get her up so early.

She cried for a good hour -- happy tears.

 

[MDKLHunter]

I just surprised my Dd9 &Dd6 with a 7nt trip at the end of June. It was a last minute planned thing, only about 3 weeks out, so I didn't have long to wait. My Dh was taking a long planned fishing trip with my father, so I got the idea for the girls & I to take a trip too while he was away. Since he was already gone on his trip on our departure day, I called him on our way to the airport and let him tell the girls on speaker phone so he could be included too. They were shocked as we're BIG Disney fans! Normally I enjoy the planning phases with them, but this time we would look through our Disney books and find things we have never done before, you know, for our "next" trip! They just didn't know they would get the opportunity to do those things so soon! I don't know if I could keep the secret on a long planned trip, or one where I was making a lot of ADR's, I like the family's input on those. But this was a new resort (of my choice!) and QS trip....and we had a ball!!!

 

[*Fantasia*]

If it were me, I would tell my kids the day before. This way the kids can bring whatever they need or want to bring and I can watch them get all excited for the whole day. They may not be able to sleep over the excitement.

I surprised the kids one time by telling them while waking them up early in the morning that we were going to Disney. They were thrilled, but at the same time, they weren't too happy being woken up at 5am.

This time, they know when we're going. They are bringing their school work to Disney. The teachers and the principal will be notified.

 

[ourpartyofsix]

We told our kids right away (over six months before the trip) for several reasons. We didn't want any well-meaning friends or family members to ruin the surprise for us, we wanted to share Disney videos of rides to get them bolstered up to ride them, and we wanted them to understand why we weren't going to spend a lot of money on other fun things between now and our trip.