How do you keep the secret?

[writermommy6]

My oldest (17) asked to go to Disney one more time before college. I thought we would have to wait until after her senior year but with a little hustle on my end I am going to be able to pull it off THIS SUMMER. Now I want it to be a surprise but not sure if I can keep quiet. I am a super planner so it means planning everything by myself.

Hubby just goes along with my crazy. He's not a huge Disney fan. As a matter of fact he said "We just went to WDW." Um, yeah We went seven YEARS ago.

 

[Blackadder337]

Next year will be my wife and daughter's (11) first time. My wife knows about the trip obviously, but we're hoping to keep it a secret until we land in Orlando and get to the ME stop. If that's not possible, we're hoping to at least keep it quiet until we get to the airport lounge. I think I could spin a good story as to why the screen says "orlando" instead of ... wherever else. But that may be as far as we get

 

[SweetMissy]

It's just easy for us to keep it a secret, lol. We just don't say anything. In 2012 we told the kids we were going to a hotel for a couple nights to use the pool....they bought it because we've done that before. We ended up pulling into the airport and they're like "huh?" LOL! We pretty much did the same thing last year when we went on a cruise, just told them we were driving to SC to go to the beach for a few days. They bought it until we pulled up to where the ship was docked. We leave in 2 weeks for Disney, and they think we're not going until their February break, lol. I think it's fun!

 

[writermommy6]

Amazing job you guys. Since I've already told kiddo it will be next year before we go, I think I've got a good chance of hiding it. The plan right now is to drive down so I'm thinking of telling them we're going to Clearwater (we have passes to the aquarium down there) for the week. Might even stay one night on the beach and then drive over to Disney for our week there. It would be awesome! Although we might end up flying if I can come up with the extra money. Most of them have never been on a plane so that would be a bonus. As much as I would like to share the planning, I think surprising them will be awesome.
Of course, hubby told me I have to come up with the money for us to go so I think he's going to be surprised with what all I can do.

 

[kohlby]

We did a surprise trip once. The plan was to go in 3 years but then we got a great PIN code and moved it up - by quite a bit. We could still do the planning with the kids. We would say "when we go to Disney . . . " They didn't catch on that it was sooner than they expected. The hardest part was when we didn't adjust the clocks for the end of daylight savings time and had them living on a different time zone for a week. Since that way, we could get them up early enough to leave! We told them the morning of the trip. It wouldn't have worked to tell them after the drive started as one really needed to know where we were going. And that same child would have not liked it if a sibling have figured it out first.

 

[Blackadder337]

Its funny that I joined this thread yesterday, because later on in the day when I got home, our surprise was almost spoiled. Our first trip mailing arrived yesterday. So who gets the mail? Yes, it was our daughter. So naturally she sees a HUGE picture of Mr Incredible on the front with "Walt Disney World" on the side. So when I got home she practically attacks me with "OMG OMG are we going are we going?" Now when I posted yesterday, I forgot to mention WHY we keep things a secret from our daughter. She's the type that counts down, but not in a cute "X" on the calendar sort of way. She'll go on and on and not in good ways either. Its the kind of ways that make parents scream "please go to your room".

So when she finally came up for air, all I said was "we're not going any time soon I can tell you that. Its probably just pamphlets or something." Which technically wasn't a lie because October may or may not be considered soon, depending on your point of view. Also, I hadn't realized they would be sending any trip information so soon since I only booked it in December, so I thought maybe it was more pamphlets. So I flipped through it with my daughter real quick and sure enough, with the exception of the magnet on the last page, it more or less looked like an informational pamphlet.

So since this is a "keep the secret" thread. For those experts and repeat visitors out there, any idea how many more packages I'll get in the mail? I know one will come much closer to the time with the ME tags etc. but is there anything else in between?

 

[kddlm]

I can't keep it secret. Have wanted to twice now, but am always too excited myself and just HAVE to tell my DD so she can share my excitedness!!! DH and son could always care less!

 

[Tricia's mom]

I always keep it a secret. I like a big revile or just RIGHT now surprise. I feel like its just to expensive for us to go and I SHOULD make it a big deal-with bells and whistles. My DD is 8 and this trip will be her 12th(I think) she doesn't know we are going and I plan on keeping it a secret until the last minute when we pull into the airport.
I plan on going to dinner (like a normal friday night ) thats across from the airport and after dinner drive over to the airport and pull out her luggage....

Eventually she might want some input on what to do during the trip. This time I will spend less time planning and let her plan the day.

 

[DizzyDis]

I have had a terrible time keeping from my 4yo, so can't imagine how you all feel! We have code at home (mainly replace Disney with Ears) any time we are talking about it, and avoid specific words like hotel and airplane, but we are really bad and forget she hears everything, so if she was any older (and maybe even now), she would totally know! I just keep looking at the reveal threads and thinking about how I want to do a cool reveal for her (not day of, too crazy, but less than a month to avoid the "are we going yet?" issue. That gives me willpower any time I am ready to crack!

 

[chris31997]

We have kept the secret very carefully. Usually, I have come very close to spilling it DH and I usually come up with our own secret language and then get confused

It helps that I am almost always on the DIS boards checking it out, hehe. And I usually have a back up story. I'm planning something else or looking into something. In fact, we booked a Surprise grad cruise that turned into a surprise reunion. Revealed the cruise for Christmas that was fun and hid the reunion until the day before we boarded the Wonder. That was fun

 

[hisgal2]

We are keeping our trip a secret from out 7 and 8 year olds. It's our first time to WDW and I'm beyond excited. We are not strangers to surprising the kids. 2 summers ago we went to Alaska for our vacation. We actually flew from PA to AK, go into the rental car and were on our way to where we were staying the kids STILL had no clue where we were....even my daughter was like "hey, those mountains over there look like Alaska.....".

It has been harder for me with this trip, tho, because I'm soo darned excited. A year ago, we started collecting money in 2 wine bottles. One for cash, the other for coins. We told the kids when we had collected enough money we'd book the trip. So, lots of moolah had been shoved into the jars and the cash bottle was soo full we couldn't get anymore into it. At the same time, I ordered the informational DVD and the kids and I watched that. 2 weeks ago we broke the bottle and counted the money. There was just over $700 in there and my 7 year old boy was like "well, I guess we're going to Disney this weekend". We laughed and then I wrote down how much we needed for a Disney trip and then wrote down how much we had. I think reality hit him like a ton of bricks. They have no clue we've booked the trip. Whenever I want to know if they'd like to do something, I show them a video of it on youtube and then say "when we finally get to Disney, would this be something you want to do?". I've contacted the school and filled out the family excursion paper and also messaged both teachers to give them a heads up. They are both aware this is a surprise and I've arranged to pick up their school work the day we leave (going to stay near the airport the night before). The plan is to park at the school where the kids won't see me and then go into the school and get their assignments after they leave the school to walk home. The car will already be packed up and as soon as I get hone, we'll head out. We have family who live in a suburb of Philadelphia, so we are going to be staying at their house the night before we fly out. We are just telling the kids we are visiting them for a bit so there are no questions about why we are going to Philly. The kids already know there is a day we'll be visiting. The reveal plan is in the morning I'll send the kids down to the living room to get their clothes for the day (I'll "forget" their suitcase down there) and when they go down, they'll find 2 new Disney themed suitcases (American Tourister) with their "I'm going to Disney!!" outfits on them as well as the magicband box. I thoroughly expect squealing.

It just soo happens that Disney on Ice is going to be near us next week. So, I got tickets for us to go to that as a "consolation prize" for not having enough money to go to Disney yet. We are going to tell the kids about that the day before. Going to that should completely throw the kids off if they have any suspicions about Disney.

So since this is a "keep the secret" thread. For those experts and repeat visitors out there, any idea how many more packages I'll get in the mail? I know one will come much closer to the time with the ME tags etc. but is there anything else in between?

I believe you will only get generic informational envelopes until you make your final payment. We did our final payment 2 days before the 30 day mark. At the 30 day mark our magicbands were finalized and we got the box for those 4 days later. The box says nothing about Disney at all. ...and then a few days later a very hard to miss Disney envelope came with a booklet that was basically a rundown of our entire trip as well as the DME luggage tags.

We live in a town that does not have mail delivery. We physically have to go to the post office to get our mail from our PO box. My kids stop at the post office and get the mail every day after school, so, I stopped in one day and told our post master about the trip and asked her to NOT give the kids ANYTHING that said Disney on it. Then, once our magicbands were finalized, I gave her a heads up and asked her not to give the kids any smallish box that came from Florida. She has done a great job hiding Disney mail from the kids!

 

[DarthHannah]

We are trying to keep this next trip from our DD who is a intelligent 5 yo! I'm crazy excited and can't show it! haha! So far she doesn't have a clue but I've afraid as soon as she hears where our plane is headed, she'll know! Any advice as to when I should make sure I'm videoing so I don't miss the moment!?!?

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

Next year will be my wife and daughter's (11) first time. My wife knows about the trip obviously, but we're hoping to keep it a secret until we land in Orlando and get to the ME stop. If that's not possible, we're hoping to at least keep it quiet until we get to the airport lounge. I think I could spin a good story as to why the screen says "orlando" instead of ... wherever else. But that may be as far as we get

We did this for DD's 10th birthday. We got all the way to Atlanta to change planes before the cat was out of the bag. The plane was a little late, and they had attendants stopping everyone to give gate information. I was forced to say Orlando, and DD heard! It was really fun seeing how far we could get though. I have a picture of her holding our luggage with the ME tag with a little Mickey on it.

 

[Pesky]

By talking here instead of at home! I'm lucky my oldest is not terribly observant and DS too young to focus on much beyond playing because they would certainly get an earful of conversations between DH and me planning it. It's brutal. I've done it once and DD loved the surprise so much she's wanted all vacations to be a surprise since. Imagining their surprise again is a ton of fun. If Christmas is any gauge, DD gets particularly animated while DS just grins.

We are trying to keep this next trip from our DD who is a intelligent 5 yo! I'm crazy excited and can't show it! haha! So far she doesn't have a clue but I've afraid as soon as she hears where our plane is headed, she'll know! Any advice as to when I should make sure I'm videoing so I don't miss the moment!?!?

Maybe wait until you get to the gate (you'd have to make sure the security guy and check-in person don't say anything) and ask her to read the gate sign which says the destination. Or have her go up to the desk at the gate and ask where the plane is going. You can be prepared that way!

Good to know about all the mail. I'll have to start getting my own mail once we have some firm bookings!

 

[jtopp]

We are trying to keep this next trip from our DD who is a intelligent 5 yo! I'm crazy excited and can't show it! haha! So far she doesn't have a clue but I've afraid as soon as she hears where our plane is headed, she'll know! Any advice as to when I should make sure I'm videoing so I don't miss the moment!?!?

If you don't want to miss THE moment, tell her in the car on the way to the airport. You will have succeeded in surprising her, and controlled the when so as you can document it (and enjoy it over and over again!!) At that point, she will still be surprised, as i'm sure she wasn't expecting to be on a flight to Orlando when she got up that morning. Good luck and have a safe trip.

 

[harrowgirl]

We have done it twice. First time (DD 5, DS 3) we woke the kids up in the morning early and told them we were going in an hour - they were SOOOO excited.

Us (while videotaping) - DD.....DD, time to get up
DD (completely groggy and still mostly asleep) - wwwhhhyyyy
Us - because we are going to Disney!!!


She bolted straight up in bed and yelled WHAT! (we had put her little brother in bed with her the night before) - she starting shaking him saying DS DS we are going to Disney!!!!! Then she jumped out of bed and started asking us questions.

It was completely worth keeping it a secret to see my daughter's reaction. The second time we told them the night before - she was excited, but nearly as excited as that first surprise. This next trip she knows about - which is nice as I can ask her what things she wants to do as opposed to planning i tmyself.

 

[Jewel3k]

We haven't surprised the kids with disney world but we did surprise them by staying at a deluxe. They didn't believe we were really staying there until we checked in. We rode the magic express and I had them convinced I made special arrangements for us to go and visit a different hotel for lunch.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

We surprised our kids in Nov 2013 - we planned it since April of 2013, so about 6 months. The kids were 13, 9, and 7 at the time. 8th, 4th, and 2nd grade.

We only told who we needed to tell, first of all. As the date got closer, we talked to their teachers (they were missing 3 days of school) to let them know and made sure they knew it was a secret. Same with the daycare lady. We planned the trip so that it was after their main sports season (all played int he same league at the time, as both DH and I coached, so we were good with the schedule).

We were OK with the mail - I just called it all junk mail/advertisements, so the kids saw it but didn't care or think about it. The Magic Bands came in a brown shipping box - my 13 year old picked it up and brought it into the house, but didn't investigate.

We dropped little clues all the time, but the kids never really picked up on them. We had a ton of fun on the way to the airport remembering all of the times I had said something that totally made sense once they knew, but they had no clue at the time!

I packed their clothes in bags and suitcases and just put them right back into the closet. It was easy for us because it was November and they didn't miss their summer clothes or wonder where they were, so I was able to pack a week or two early.

The morning of, we got the kids up and ready like any other school day, and at the last minute, we told them to sit on the couch instead of getting into the car. We made goody bags for each kid with a copy of their plane ticket, snacks, new toothbrushes (so I didn't have to pack their regular ones!), a Disney Giftcard each, and things for the plane like Invisible Ink books and stuff. We wrote parts of a quote on the front of each bag for the kids to read in order:

"Who's Got It"
"Better than US?"
"NOBODY!!!!"

Then, on the back:

"We Are"
"Going To"
"DISNEYWORLD!!!!"

They were all like "awesome! This sounds fun!" but it took about another minute for them to really realize what was going in. DH told them to open their bags, and DS13 finally read the plane ticket and saw the date and time and said "Wait...we are going TODAY?" and we said - yes, tell your brother and sister what you just figured out, so he did. DD said "Today??!!!??", and little DS says "Where? Where are we going?" LOL He's apparently a little slow to pick up on things sometimes!


Then chaos broke out and we had kids jumping up and down and going crazy We showed them their Magic Bands and said they had 10 minutes to pick out ONE thing they would like to take with us, but the rest of their bags were packed and ready to go. 10 minutes later, the second surprise came - we told the kids to look out the window so they could see the car we were taking to the airport - and there was a white stretch limo in front of the house! (almost literally pennies more than a regular 6-passenger taxi cost, but we totally looked like the awesome parents! haha!).

We have this all on video and I still love watching it over and over. But warning - I completely ruined them for a while. Every time I said anything, they automatically started looking for double-meanings and surprises LOL. I told them once that their grandma was on her way over to give them some ice cream she had bought, and you would have thought I just announced we were going to Disneyworld! Oops!

They loved it so much they still to this day ask us to plan another surprise trip. But they are older now- oldest is in 10th grade and almost driving, so it's getting hard to plan around everyone's schedules!

 

[powellrj]

Not sure if you have already taken the trip yet, but there is no way I would ever try to plan a surprise trip with a 17 year old. Its hard to pull off a birthday dinner for the family at that age someone always has plans. Between jobs and plans with friends and school plans ( the summer before college is really busy with orientation and different things) I would tell them ahead of time what you have planned so they can make sure they can go.

 

[valerie160]

We pulled off a surprise DW and US trip in May 2014. It was super hard because let me tell ya(!)...these kids are so curious and intelligent they had me nervous they'd figure it out before I could properly surprise them!! We had driven to Auburn for my sisters graduation from Vet School and then decided to make a real vacation out of it. We made plans to see some friends in Destin for the rest of the week (or so the kids thought). We did do Destin for a day, but then DH and I told the kids we were "really tired" and just wanted to go home. Instead, we were headed to Orlando! This was the hard part because my kiddos were looking at our GPS and counting hours etc and wondering why we were traveling that particular way because home was another way. We just had to keep making things up. Talk about anxiety! Once we got to Orlando DH and I told them we were tired and just going to stop here for the night. We had movies on the dvd player in the car and I kept asking them tons of questions to just kept them as occupied as possible so they wouldn't look around and notice all the signs to DW. When we pulled into the hotel, the van next to us literally said "Walt Disney World" and I was praying they wouldn't notice. Once we got situated into our hotel room, that's when we told them and broke out the goody bags, etc for them. It was so much fun and they just were so excited! I loved every moment of it! I love those memories, so much fun!

We are surprising them again this year when we go in May! This has been super hard because I've been holding it in for like 4 months now and I'm ready to burst. I just want to share in the excitement with someone . My DH just goes along with all of it, but he would rather me plan it all and just be told what to do and where to go. I want opinions and ideas and someone to really get excited with, so I've come thisclose to telling my 12 year old DD on a few occasions but always reign it in because I really do want it to be a surprise for all of the kiddos. That being said, the kids don't suspect anything yet (and hopefully they won't until it's time to go to the airport). We are picking them up on the last day of school and driving straight to the airport. Soooo, we'll be telling them on the way!!. I can't wait!!!