How I told my kids we are going to Disney

[Roveer]

We have been Disney fanatics for the past 8 years or so and the kids just love it. Kids are 11, 8, 5 & 3 now. All but 1 year we piled into the Suburban and headed from NJ to Orlando. This year we were fortunate enough to take the Disney Magic on their first visit to Tortola. It was absolutley wonderful. Our only problem was that with school schedules and having been to WDW back in November we couldn't make it to WDW this spring. I guess the kid in me couldn't get over that so I pouted all summer long until I finally got a pretty good deal for a week with the Disney dining plan. Only thing is, I did my planning in silence. Never mentioned it to the kids. Told my wife I would tell them "oh around North Carolina or so". We have them thinking we are going to the Jersey Shore for a night or two. We leave Saturday AM for 5 nights in the GF then over to the Nick Hotel for another night than back to NJ.

I created this little video that I'm going to have them watch tonight. They'll think there watching AFV and then the fun begins. This ought to get things off to a good start. Video is about 9 minutes long, fun starts around 3:30 in. Had to make it look real

How I Surprised The Kids

I'm going to videotape them tonight when they watch this so hopefully I'll have an update to go along with the video. Looking to capture them levitating in Disney delight.

 

[Emma's Dad]

HAHA! That's awesome! I was like, "why did he record that?" Brilliant! Can't wait to see their reactions

BTW... you would fit in with us dads over at the DIS Dad's Club

 

[gojoe]

Can't wait to see their faces. What a DAD!!!!

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

That is very cool, I'm sure your kids will really go nuts when they see it. I cant wait to see the reaction.

Great way to surprise them.

 

[trennr]

Great Job...They'll go

 

[adventure_woman]

That is awesome. I can't wait to see the video of them screaming in delight! We leave on Sunday night, so you just got me even more excited!!!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Make sure you have your ear plugs in - there's gonna be some screamin' goin' on when they see this!
Nice Job!

 

[tloveswdw]

that was great! what a fun Dad you are!!!

Have a great trip!

 

[Lost in Wonderland]

You did an awesome job! That is such a sweet idea They are going to flip!! Can't wait to see the Reaction video!
We are surprising our kids, too. They think we are going to SW and that's it. One day we will just happen to drive to MK. I can't wait!!

 

[Roveer]

You did an awesome job! That is such a sweet idea They are going to flip!! Can't wait to see the Reaction video!
We are surprising our kids, too. They think we are going to SW and that's it. One day we will just happen to drive to MK. I can't wait!!

Aren't surprises great. Like I said in my post, I normally don't do that, but it's just so much fun messing with the kids. My wife is worried that I'll throw them all off if I followed through with my plan to tell them half way to FL. The younger ones would never have known but the older two would wonder why we are going through DE, MD, VA for a 2 hour drive to the shore. The gig would pretty much be up by that point. This way I hopefully get some good footage and I got to play movie producer for an afternoon. Too bad I'm doing this on faily old computers that are Slow.

 

[dvczerfs]

wow!!! great job, they are gonna love it!!!

 

[Roveer]

going to wdw evey year since 1973. started staying on property in 1987 and joined dvc in 1999. 36 years and 47 trips and counting!!

Simply put, you are my Disney God... I remember back when I was planning my first WDW trip and found DIS I read a post that someone had been to WDW 14 times. I thought to myself, I wonder if that will ever be our family. I never went as a kid and while I don't feel like I'm compensating for that, it sometimes seems that way. I just really like the place. I think I'm more than half way into that 14 times already and with the prospect of us buying DVC this trip looks like the number will keep climbing. There will be other vacations. There's lots to see in this country, but right now WDW makes everyone happy and I mean everyone...

 

[emlutz23]

Suscribing so I can see their reaction!

I don't think I could keep a secret like that for so long! Now that we own DVC and can book our vacations 11 months in advance, that's a long time for me to keep my lips sealed!

 

[kimnvbva]

I have goosebumps! How cool is that! What a great dad! What an exciting way to start a vacation! Have a great time!

 

[ccigliano]

Wow - the video was great. Can't wait to here out it all turned out. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[Kion10]

Awesome!

 

[Roveer]

We watched our little program tonight. The kids absolutly loved it and were pretty excited. Actually during the program they were more stunned than anything and as the evening went on they just got happier and happier. It doesn't take much to start a Disney conversation in our house and tonight was no exception. We even brought out the Disney box which is full of all our disney maps, pictures, keepsakes etc. My littlest one told me that She was going to kiss micky and I had to take a picture of it. Most of the time they think Dad is nuts but they really enjoyed the program and made me play it a second time so they could watch the slideshow and see themselves.

They are in bed now, but I still hear some talking going on. Can't wait for Saturday when we hit the open road...

 

[Roveer]

Couponing To Disney - Paying For A Trip To Disney With Money Saved By Using Coupons!

I love this. We took a slightly different route. We A/C'd our way to Disney. For the past 2 years we decided to keep our A/C shut off (yes the entire summer). I'm saving 300-400 dollars per month on my electric bill by doing this. I can't say it's been easy, right now you could wring out the curtins everything is so wet but I figure I've paid for 3/4 or more of this trip with the savings so far this summer.

The funniest thing is, we'll have our first bit of airconditioning when we leave on our vacation. It's usually the other way around. We do things a little differently. Family members think were whacked but none of them have the Disney bug like we do. Well, Nanny does at least... She's trying to figure out a way to get from their lake house in Maine down to WDW. Gotta give her credit for trying.

 

[zalansky]

That was AWESOME! What a great idea. I just told my Dh about it - we miss out on those kind of things since we live an hour from Disney, we can never surprise them like that and we go so often. I am jealous of your cool surprise!

 

[2poohbears]

Great video...thanks for sharing it! I'm sure their reaction was worth every minute you spent putting that together. Have a GREAT trip!!!