How to reveal the surprise gift?

[KrisTX]

We are taking our soon to be dd6 and ds4 to WDW and staying at GF SLC. Their birthday's are 11/11 and 11/15. We are going to WDW 12/9-14. So this is their present. What is the most creative way you can think of to tell them about the big present? DD 6 is into princesses and has most all of them. Has costumes of all princesses. DS is into the more boy type disney characters, but none that make his heart skip a beat like a dinosaur would. So, what should I do to make the big announcement. I will do this after their birthday party on 11/13.

My ideas so far...I did see a cute disney cookie bouquet at a shop the other day. My soon to be 6 year old can read. So I thought I could do a bouquet of disney character cookies and have them write 'here we come disney' or something on the cookies. But that is not that great. I thought about a my pal mickey, but I really don't want to haul that thing around the park and ds already has a mickey from DL that he never plays with.

The other idea was to group together the disney park essentials like an autograph book, big marker, stickers, ponchos, disney dollars, etc. and stuff them into a neat bag (or a fanny pack, better on them than me ). Then when they open them we could tell them that we were going. I considered getting actual tickets, but I would rather have them on the room keys.

What are your suggestions? I really want to make this a great surprise.

And do I really let my 6 year old wear her costumes to the MK? I go for comfort all the way.

Where can I get the disney themed autograph books?

Thank you!

edited to add:
I did not mean to post this in the resort forum. Sorry.

 

[TammiMcMan]

I'll admit to not being the most creative, but what about a good old fashioned Pirate treasure hunt? I did this with my kids a few years ago when we surprised them with a Disney cruise. I left clues around the house and each clue led them to a gift and a puzzle. They had to solve the puzzle before moving onto the next clue. The gifts were things like sunglasses, a new bathing suit, beach toys and finally the last clue directed them to turn on the DVD player which had the Disney cruise planning video. If you want your gifts to be Disney related, you have a few choices. You can simply call the park merchandise office and order directly through them, or go with an online company. Park merchandise might be your least expensive option, as they will charge you the park prices, no markup. You have to know exactly what you want though and describe it as best you can to them. I've also had very good luck with the www.laughingplacestore.com . Here is the number for Disney merchandise 407-363-6200. Another good gift is the Disney World planning guide for kids. My youngest one loves this book. Maybe that could be the "grand prize" and you can make your own park tickets on the computer.

As far as letting your DD wear princess costumes into the park, your advantage is that it's December and the weather should be cooler. Are you going to the castle for a meal? You could designate that day as Princess day and let her wear her favorite. I've done that with DD and then just thrown a change of clothes into the backpack that I always end up carrying around. It's so convenient to get back to the GF from the MK, that if she does want to wear one and gets uncomfortable, you can hop right over to the resort and she can change. I just wouldn't be flexible with the shoes though and I'd stick with sneakers.

 

[KrisTX]

I have 7 more days to figure this out

I think Tammi's idea about park merchandise is good. But they already have so much of it already. I hate to add to it before we even go to WDW. I also like her treasure hunt idea. I need to really be creative for that one though. I need to get moving on this. I could hide the disney dollars, autograph books, etc with a note at the end and let my new 5 year old reader sound it out. I might just be able to swing this!

Thank you so much for the ideas! I think I just decided. Now I know why people journal.

And yes, we are eating in the castle for lunch one of the days. I will let her wear it then. Great idea! She was the deluxe Belle for Halloween and it is a beautiful costume! It will make it harder to ride the morning rides, but if she wants to do it...I wont stop her. And I agree...tennis shoes are a must!

 

[TammiMcMan]

Good luck with whatever you decide to do and don't forget to videotape it. We've looked back at ours a few times and had some good laughs. My kids had absolutely no idea what was going on and it was pretty funny to watch their expressions change from "we think mom is crazy" to flat out joy. Let us know how your surprise goes.

 

[KrisTX]

Thanks! I will let you know. I need to get working on this.