How do you tell your kids?

[Brown Family]

I like a lot of you find it hard to keep a secret. Me and DH are planning a trip next March and have decided to wait until Christmas and do a scavenger hunt for our DD who'll be 11 and DD who will have just turned 10 to find out they are going to DW. I can hardly wait to reveal this. It really comes down to what ever will best suit your child. Have fun with it.
A. Brown

 

[Andrea]

my best friend is going with her two older children 18, 16 and her younger one 10 and her step daughter 9

and what she did was get everyone togethere in a room and handed them all envelopes with pictures of the house she rented, one with sea world, one with mk and something else.
and she had them playing the guessing game where they were going lol

 

[U Guys Made Me Ink]

I guess it depends on how you think your kids will handle it. I remember telling my DD3 right after finalizing all ressies ( I couldn't wait any longer than that!) by asking, "How would you like to go to Disney World?!" Of course she answered wide-eyed with an ecstatic, "YES!" and ran out of the room only to return a moment late with her shoes in hand - ready to go!! I think I actually saw her bubble burst when I had to explain that it wouldn't be for a few weeks which is foorrrreeevvveeerrr to little ones. I'd bet if you plan little surprises to keep the excitement building it will hold them over - I wish I had some to share but unfortunately, I didn't have the great DIS resources then! OTOH if you think that they'll get so excited that that's all they'll be able to talk about until then and their many many questions and wide-awake-in-dreamland nights will drive you out of your wits, maybe wait until the trip is a little closer.

 

[LisaMaz]

I found the thread about telling kids by fortune cookies if anyone is interested. It's cute!



http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1049847

 

[judykay53]

In June of 04, we took all the boys, (then they were DS8, DS6, DS3), and we had them involved in all the planning. My daughter made letters from Disney characters and mailed them to the house...one every week. One week, Flik might tell them about A Bug's Life, then the next week Buzz Lightyear would tell them about his ride. The last letter before our trip was reserved, of course, for Mickey! The kids really looked forward to it. Then, while we were there, we snuck a postcard into a mailbox and there was a postcard waiting for them when we got home!

The next trip was just the two older boys in September 05. We surprised them on the way to the airport. My daughter and her friend taped a 'fake' radio show about going to WDW! They asked the 'listeners' to call in and voice their opinion on whether they would like to surprised with a trip or if they would want to know about it ahead of time. I 'called in' (to my friend) and both kids said they would want to be suprised! WHEW! The disc jockey then told the kids that we had a 'surprise' for them....we were going to WDW!!!! It took about 5 minutes to get a genuine reaction, because I don't think they believed us! After that, they were excited!

Which ever you do, your kids will have a great time. Hey, if anything, use this as an excuse to go mulitple times! "Hey honey, we surprised our kids last time we went, now we should go back to WDW and involve them in the planning!"

 

[MakinMagicforBunky]

We are now 4 days away from the surprise trip I've been keeping a secret for MONTHS now!

I chose to keep it a secret, because I have one of those 'can we go TODAY mommy!?' kind of kids, who would just go crazy waiting for the day to come.

So, I asked for ideas on how to spring the surprise, and someone suggested writing the sentence "I am going to Disneyworld", one letter at a time and letting him have (or in our case, earn through good behavior) one each day for the 21 days prior to leaving. So the wall in my house has brightly colored post-it notes that say 'I am going RSLTOYNEI. I decided to scramble the words 'to' and 'Disneyworld' so he wouldn't figure it out too soon.

So, every day, he's getting a letter, with the final letter coming on Monday in the form of a package that will be waiting for him when we come in from school/work. He LOVES to get mail, so the box will be addressed to him, and inside he'll find his last letter, a t-shirt I hope to make, some stuff for the trip (goggles for the pool, beach towel, water bottle, etc). This will all occur about 12 hours before we leave for the airport, which is enough time for me to finish packing (without having to hide) and let him help with his carry on, etc. 12 hours of uncontrolled joy is much easier for me to handle than 12 weeks, yk?

Oh, and he does think we're going "someday" so we do watch the planning DVD and even read some books, but it's all for 'someday'...he just doesn't realize that someday is Tuesday, lol!

 

[ConnieC]

Thank you everyone, for great ideas. I'm the original poster who is going to WDW 5/18-22 with 6 1/2, 4 and 2yr old.

I haven't told them yet!!! Really, my 6 1/2 yr old is such a mouth, that 's the main reason why I don't want to tell them.

 

[elphie]

What my parents did the time before last when I went, right before Christmas, is my brother and I had put one of those countdown thingys on the tree to countdown how many days till Christmas. My parents were planning to surprise us with going to WDW, so my mom put one on , but didn't tell us what it was about. THe day of the trip, they woke us up at 5:30. We didn't find out until at the airport, the security guy is like "Orlando eh? I wonder where?" *wink wink nudge nudge* My brother and I pretended like we knew, and as soon as he was out of sight, we started like screaming. It was tons of fun

 

[Corryn]

I know you've gotten so many posts, but I wanna tell you our experience:

My girls were 9 & 10 three years ago and me, a bigmouth, kept my mouth shut for once! I arranged the whole trip and even got costumes for all four of us, packed the luggage, did everything I needed to do and the kids had no clue

My sister was having a baby, so I told the kids that morning that I might have to pick you up from school today because we need to go see Aunt Natalie's new baby. I told them I wasn't sure, but don't be surprised if you see me at school today. We picked them up and they were excited just to see their new cousin. I told them we had to drive by the airport and pick up my other sister. We're in the airport and I've got the video camera rolling and I start asking them questions about the new baby, etc. When we pulled into the airport and got close to the gate to drop off the luggage for curbside check-in, I told them....
My 9 year old was in total disbelief - it was hysterical! Don't Lie Mom!!! That's not nice to lie, especially about going to Disney! My 10 year old was just laughing and laughing and she couldn't believe it either. And I got it all on tape - it was PRICELESS!!!!!!! I don't think I'll EVER be able to surprise them like that again!!!

If I were you I would WAIT - Tape their expressions!!!

I don't think I could do that now that they're teen-agers. You know how girls are with their hair stuff and what if I didn't bring the right shorts?

This past Sunday, for Easter, we gave our girls each a nice rolling suitcase. We told them to look in the top pocket. I had printed up "invitations" for them to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party - and they were again excited. But nothing like pulling up to the airport and telling them, "We're Goin' to Disney!!!

Good Luck and ENJOY

 

[Tosie]

Our May trip is a gift for ds' birthday. We're just showing up at school and picking him up (around 1 pm). When he gets in the car, we will present him with a book (I am making) that outlines the whole trip. Dd won't know anything until then either.

 

[disneymaniac24]

I think you haven't got that much longer to wait if you want to keep it a surprise. I've gone on a surprise trip before and it was great. I thought I was watching my cousin and when I was woken up EARLY that morning I was surprised to find out I was actually going with my aunt. I had a great time and loved the excitment of the surprise. Who wouldn't want to be surprised with a trip to Disney?
But like it was said before there are pros and cons. I think whatever way you choose to do it your kids will be sooo excited! I do think a surprise would be fun for the little ones though! Maybe you could give hints about it like "What's your favorite restaurant in Disney?" or "What would you do right now if you could be in Disney World?". I don't know, just have fun with it whatever you end up doing!

 

[phins_jazy]

We're going on our very first trip in June. I've decided not to tell the kids. Just to tell them that we're flying to see grandma and grandpa. They live 5 states away. It's not an actual lie. grandma and grandpa will be joining us in Disney!!! It's gonna be so much fun!!!! I can't wait!!!

 

[Indianadisneyfan]

When I took my girlfriend and her DD7,DS9 2 yrs ago we didn't tell the kids till we were there in the lot. We drove down and stayed off site so we took the bus and they didn't know that they were at Disney till we were walking in the gates. They were really suprised .

 

[disney4ever26]

When i was young and i went for the first time my parents did this.....
It wasn't any time near easter but we had an easter egg hunt. my parents hid 12 eggs, each egg having a number 1-12 on the outside and a letter on the inside. when we found an egg my sister and i put them in number order on the table. then we opened them. when they were opened it spelled out "DISNEYWORLD!" we were so excited.
i thought that it was a good idea and i am going to do it for my own kids one day.
p.s. i was around 6 and my sister was 4 when i got the surprise

 

[Tanya90210]

We are going in August during free dining and I hate keeping secrets from my DS 10 so I talked my husband into a plan that will keep DS from going crazy asking questions but I could tell him before it came time to go. What we did is we got him his typical easter basket but I went and got 5 Disney Dollars and put it in instead of a stuffed animal. I then made a trip journal for him and put paper in it that had 121 lines (3 pages) with question on one side and answer on other so he could ask 1 question per day till we go (to avoid the constant questions he barrages us with, and had before on previous trips). I filled out the journal with all of my pre-planned info ADR's, Planned parks (which will surely change) etc, as he read the cover he realized what was going on, I had my digital camera ready to catch the look and I just love that pleasantly surprised look he had, as he read he realized we were not only going but would be eating with all these characters too. Boy oh boy was it great.

 

[monkeyguy31]

when there asleep sneak them in the car and drive to the airport (or drug them JOKING) get on the plane the kids will wake up and wonder where they are then tell them there going to disneyland or you could drive them all the way there if you didn't have plane tickets already but that will be too far where do u live ?

 

[kpk89]

You've made it this far ... I vote for surprise!!! You can still prepare them for hypothetical large characters, and hypothetical airplane rides.

(see link below for how we did this!)