How do you tell the kids?

[TammyBell]

I just booked our trip to WDW for 12/1 - 12/5. It will be 4 adults and 1 child. All of the adults know about the trip (obviously), but we are trying to figure out when and how to tell teh 5 yo. We are planning on waiting until at least September, that way we only have three months of "Are we going tomorrow?" Any suggestions on how to tell him?

BTW - this is my greatnephew and his first trip to WDW. We took him on a Disney cruise last November and he had a blast. Along for the ride will be myself (the tour guide), his mother (my niece that is 6 months younger than me), and his grandparents (my DS and DBIL).

 

[*Emily*]

Do yourself a favor and wait until the end of November to tell him!!!

 

[TammyBell]

He watched part of the planning video last night (at his grandparent's house) and said that we needed to go there yesterday. We all love anticipation so much that we want him to be able to feel that as well.............however he is only 4 now.

 

[marlynnp]

shhhhhhhhhhh, don't tell.

 

[dman11]

We gave our kids (12, 11 & 4) a note from "Mickey" that said "See you real soon!" and some Disney $'s. The funny thing is the 11 & 4 year olds got it and DS12 had to be told by DD4.

We gave them the notes on xmas morning and we're not even going until November! We were worried about the "When are we leaving?" "Are we going tommorrow?", etc. from DD4. But we've been pretty lucky and she's not really been bad about it all. And we've had the "If you don't (stop fighting, act right in the restaurant, etc.) we're not going to Disney." threat!

What's really nice is we can see their excitement about it and they helped in the planning the itinerary and ADR's. We plan on making some sort of countdown calendar too so that will help keep the questions down as we get closer. I say let the kid in on the scoop and get him involved. Being able to share the anticipation is almost as much fun as being there.

 

[smsnorthup]

My DD5 loves to count down the days to our trip..however we wanted to surprise her this last March and we picked her up from school and said guess where we're going...she looked a little confused so I said that I had a hint and I whipped out her Minnie and Mickey stuffed animals and she got a huge smile and said DISNEY....for real?! It was a great moment but very, very hard for me to keep the secret. Luckily it was a trip planned about a month earlier so I didn't have to keep it in for too long.

 

[Harlemgirl720]

My DD5 loves to count down the days to our trip..however we wanted to surprise her this last March and we picked her up from school and said guess where we're going...she looked a little confused so I said that I had a hint and I whipped out her Minnie and Mickey stuffed animals and she got a huge smile and said DISNEY....for real?! It was a great moment but very, very hard for me to keep the secret. Luckily it was a trip planned about a month earlier so I didn't have to keep it in for too long.

We are going in August and I haven't told our 7 yr old son yet. We watched the DVD Planning Video and he says I want to go back to Disney. Hubby and I just looked at each other and smiled. I probably will not tell him until we leave for the airport. If I tell him now, I will never hear the end of it. It's hard keeping the secret though.

 

[lordhavemercy]

When my DD turned 5...for her birthday I made a video...and in it she was directed on a scavenger hunt...which led her to a box....which held a picture of the DISNEY Castle....and it told her to go back and watch the end of the video....which THEN told her...that she was going to DisneyWorld...for her 5th Birthday....along with Disney-dollars...etc.... We were leaving the next week.....

 

[vermontgirl]

HI,

I have twin daughters who are eight, however, when we went to Disney 2 yrs ago, DH really wanted to wait...I just couldn't, and so we didn't......It was an amazing moment to see their expressions when we told them! It was worth answering them each time they asked....we ended up making a count down calendar so they could look at that! Just my two cents!

We're going Dec 18-28th~ can't wait!

Good luck!
Vermont girl

 

[Tink-aholic]

Two years ago, my then-10 yo DS was told that he had to get up early on a Friday morning to go get his braces on (oooooooh! I am SO bad! ). Bleary-eyed and half-asleep, my DH drove us to the airport and dropped us off! DS looked surprised and confused. He didn't know the orthodontist had an office at the airport! I looked him straight in the eye, then handed the tickets over to the person at the counter. She caught on right away and shuffled the documents back and told us to have a nice trip. He didn't know where we were going until the attendant made the overhead call for the flight to Orlando!

I spent most of the 3 hour flight answering questions about what was packed ("oh! I forgot my pins!" "Got them." "Oh! I don't have my bathing suit!" "Got it." etc). We were only there for three days, but it was a terrific surprise and a lot of fun.

The hardest part was waiting two whole months without mentioning it. It was killing me!

The best part was that now he knows I am capable of such a surprise...and he has to be good if he ever wants to get anything like it again!

 

[PrincessK]

We leave in 7 days and my DS (6) doesn't know! His last day of school is Tuesday and we're leaving Thursday for the airport at 4:30 in the morning!! I"m dying to tell him but my husband wants to keep it a secret. I've got a gift bag with all things Disney in it to give to my son at the airport (if I can wait that long!) We keep saying we have a surprise for him when school gets out but he'll never guess what it is! With the end of school craziness I just realized today that we only have 7 days to go!!! Usually by now I"ve started to pack but it hasn't even crossed my mind yet! THis could be good or I could be having a panic attack next week!

 

[Schucraig]

We tell them on the plane!

 

[ashleypmo]

I could so never hold out to tell the kids last minute. Not a good secret keeper! Last trip, I made an advent-style calendar. It was really quite involved. I cut out Dis pics from ads & etc., glued them onto a grid I made on cardstock, then took another piece of cardstock the same size w/ the same grid and carefully w/ exacto knife cut window flaps. Each day for a month they took turns opening the day's flap to reveal a character or other dis pic. It was great fun, and now it's part of our memorabilia.

This time I've let them in on it from the beginning. They're having fun helping me plan, and DS7 had a blast viewing all the resort slideshows on allearsnet.

 

[myramsy]

The morning of...at 3am (we had an early flight) with video camera in hand of course we went into DS6 bedroom and told him it was time to get up because we were going to Disney...it was sooooo cute! He was stunned at first and then he was freaking! He was in shock....it was the best surprise ever!!!
We are going this year in September and we told him so he can "help" with the planning which is awesome too!
Have a great trip!