How to suprise kids w/trip for Christmas?

[blewits]

We are taking our kids to WDW on December 10 for a week! WOO HOO

I want to suprise them with an "early Christmas present". Any ideas?

I have ordedred the promotional WDW DVD to wrap and let them open around the 8th or so. I thought about putting in a huge box and wrapping it and just letting it sit in the living room until time to open it.

I thought you all might have some more creative ideas. Whatchagot????

Thanks!

 

[liamandcaili]

Well, this has happened to me twice.

Once, my parents surprised us Christmas morning...they wrapped up the tickets and had us open them...and we discovered we were leaving the next morning.

The second time, my in-laws surprised me with a Disney honeymoon. They wrapped up a Disney book with all the tickets and reservations in it and gave it to me the night of my wedding. I was very surprised...I thought we were going to Newport.

DSis wanted to surprise my children for our upcoming trip. She suggested just waking them up in the morning and telling them we were going, but my two are young...4 and 6...so I thought they might get too excited and wouldn't be able to handle the plane flight.

Whatever way you decide to break the news, be prepared for some dancing around the living room Have fun!

 

[Suzyq9241]

Ok here we go....

Make a before Christmas gift giving (December 3 or 4) and you make it a theme...
Give like a few gifts each ( from the dollar store of something) that has to do with Disney and make a game out of it and then if they can't figure it out give them that tape...

Something like that..

Put signs on the wall or places they can read...telling them what to do...
go to kitchen
eat breakfast
brush your teeth
change your clothes
come back to the family room
go to tree
pick up the blue package and open it
put tape in Vcr
Watch tape
tell me what you think

OR...

Wrap tape in the smallest box and then the next size box and keep wrapping it until it gets to be the biggest box


Hope something like that works

19 days till bithday and trip

 

[Mom+4]

I'm planning on giving our kids a trip to WDW this Christmas. The two older ones know about it (they're 22 and 16). The two little ones (7 & 9) think I'm planning a trip for next summer. My current plan is to not tell them until we are actually on the road. DH and the kids will be picking me up after work and we will hit the road then. My problem is that they both still believe in Santa. I'm thinking of having a letter from Santa saying that their present this year is a little different and he has to give it early. Then I thought I'd have some small Disney things for them in the car, and the planning DVD to watch on the way there. I wonder how long it will take for them to figure out where we're going. We did this one other time when we were flying, and they didn't figure it out until we were at the airport. The looks on their faces were priceless. I can't wait for December 18!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[KTSMOM]

My friend and her husband surprised their daughter last year by having Santa coming early this year. They decorated their house and placed their stockings out. The day of the trip my friends daughter came down in the am to discover Santa had packed her bags and left her a backpack of fun things to do with a note attached saying they were going to DW for an early present. She loved it! I thought it was a great idea!
Have fun!

 

[blewits]

Mom+4: that reminded me of a trip my family took with some family friends about 5 years ago. her girls were about 8 and 6 and we drove down from georgia. their mother and father told them we were going to see the world's largest ball of yarn. and there was something like a stitchery museum and other boring stuff too there. the girls never realized where we were going unitl we drove under the big Walt Disney World sign when you enter the property. It was hysterical! There were Disney busses passing us left and right and they just didn't get it. Even when we went under the sign they thought we were lost. Finally, we pointed at the big Epcot FW sphere and said "there it is, the big ball of yarn". It was only then that they realized we were not lost and we were actually going!

 

[dianemb]

I think Dec 6 or 8 (I can never remember which) is St Nicholas day. We always put our shoes on the window sill the night before and get small gifts in them. Maybe you can start a new tradition this year by putting the dvd in a shoe or if you do an advent calendar put a note in that days slot.

We surprised our son 2 years ago with a trip that same week in December. At that time they had a great countdown ticker and we put him in front of it 10 seconds before the screen went "we're leaving for Disney tonight". I don't think the smile left his face till a week after we got home. Have a great trip!!!!

 

[fvb9]

We did this for the millenium, and at the time our kids were 5 and 7. We told them we were going to spend the night in Chicago, and Xmas eve morning a limo picked us up for the airport. On the way down we told them where we were really going, and my DD started crying, saying "you lied to us!". Not quite the response we were going for, but a lot of fun nonetheless! Good luck.

 

[rdsx28]

Hi, I recently gave my husband our surprise trip to Disney for his Birthday. I got a large box and bought a mylar Disney Balloon(MIckey mouse one) and I typed up a letter SURPRISE ! etc etc... attached it to the bottom of the balloon and put them both in the box. I sealed and wrapped the box. When he opened it the balloon popped out of the box and then he read the letter .He was so touched he had tears in his eyes! Maybe you could do this and address the box from the North pole or something and write express early delivery on it! I bet the kids would be really surprised. Good Luck and have a great trip!

 

[MayMom]

I love the Mickey balloon from the north pole idea.... That's got my vote!!!!!!

 

[Rella Bella]

I like the balloon in the box idea... or the scavenger hunt. Could be notes or small packages with Disney items... the last one with tickets.

For my DS's 8th birthday we decided to surprise him... didn't say a word, just picked him up from school and went straight to the airport. We thought "He loves Disney, he'll be thrilled".

He cried! He had all these plans in his mind of his birthday weekend and exactly what he wanted to do! It was so sad!

Of course once he realized he would still get to do all that when we got back AND he got to spend his birthday with Mickey He Was Thrilled! But it broke our hearts to have him so sad to begin with. He said later that he was most sad about "missing the 'get all excited' part before you go" I gotta admit... the anticipation is a big part of it for me too! We learned the hard way that he doesn't like surprises!

 

[Manon]

Well, I'm reading all your ideas, and we are giving a trip to WDW to our 3 kids for X-Mas , but I notice that some of your kids didn't take it at all as you planned!!!

We are planning to tell our kids on X-Mas morning, that we are leaving 3 days after for Disney, we have to drive 28 hrs to get there, and we are kind of scared that they will be desappointed not to fly. We've been to WDW in june so they know how long it is to go there.....It would break my heart to see them unhappy about that gift that we put so much effort to make it possible (financialy and with the dates).


Blewit: I really love the way you told the surprise!

 

[Rella Bella]

Well, I'm reading all your ideas, and we are giving a trip to WDW to our 3 kids for X-Mas , but I notice that some of your kids didn't take it at all as you planned!!!
We are planning to tell our kids on X-Mas morning, that we are leaving 3 days after for Disney, we have to drive 28 hrs to get there, and we are kind of scared that they will be desappointed not to fly. We've been to WDW in june so they know how long it is to go there.....It would break my heart to see them unhappy about that gift that we put so much effort to make it possible (financialy and with the dates).
Blewit: I really love the way you told the surprise!

I think just knowing it is a possiblitly will help you think through how you'll do it more... clearly (? Not sure what the right word is there). But if I had known that reaction was even a posiblity I would have done some subtle things differently. Like saying more than "we'll see" when he was telling us his birthday plans. And maybe preparing him for the idea of not having his BD party "on" his birthday.
Also... if you surprise them on Christmas. You really don't have to get into the details of 'we're driving' until later! Just play up the idea!
They'll LOVE it!

 

[Manon]

I think I will begin preparing them to a possibility that this year we will do somthing different then going to gramma for X-Mas (she leaves at 12 hours from us!).

But like you said I think that I really need to prepare them! Thanks alot!

 

[3for Me]

We did this for the millenium, and at the time our kids were 5 and 7. We told them we were going to spend the night in Chicago, and Xmas eve morning a limo picked us up for the airport. On the way down we told them where we were really going, and my DD started crying, saying "you lied to us!". Not quite the response we were going for, but a lot of fun nonetheless! Good luck.

This same thing happened to me once with my daughter - I couldn't believe it! She still mentions this and it happened several years ago!

 

[Priorityonecb]

Yep, we had a surprise backfire a bit too. We told our girls the night before we were leaving...that instead of going skiing for the weekend...we were flying to San Diego to go to Sea World. One daughter was thrilled...the other had a harder time and did not like the change in plans at the last minute. She had a fabulous weekend, but the surprise was not what we expected it to be.

We are surprising the girls with a WDW and Disney Cruise for Christmas...but we don't leave until October 2006! So, it will be a suprise...and they can plan and prepare for months! We have always done DL and they think we are going to DL in October...they think we can't "afford" to do WDW and the cruise!

 

[Neish]

For a Christmas trip a few years ago, we surprised our 2 sons, then age 2 and 7, the night before we left for the airport... i had typed a letter from Mickey to each of them, saying that Mickey wanted them to celebrate the holiday season with him in Disney. I also ordered from the disney catalog 2 kid suitcases...filled with disney pj's and slippers that matched the characters in the letter and on the bags... had to be consistent with the theme.. .
The night we surprised them, we had family come over and watch them open their letters and wrapped suitcases... it was nice...They were surprised and liked it.
This year we're going for Christmas but we've told them.

And I really like the balloon idea, for an adult or older child. Hope you have fun planning it, however you decide to surprise them.

 

[daughertyk]

Ok, now you guys are making me nervous. We have planned for 4 months to surpise our DS10 and DD7 with a trip to WDW for Thanksgiving. The plan was to get them up for a normal school day and tell them at breakfast somehow. Now the problem is our DD7 is supposed to go on a field trip that day, and our DS10 is always bragging about his perfect attendance. Now I wonder if we should let them in on it a few days early. This will be our first trip to WDW and they have begged for years to go, so I know the trip is a good thing, it's the surprise that I worry about.

 

[Manon]

Ok, now you guys are making me nervous. We have planned for 4 months to surpise our DS10 and DD7 with a trip to WDW for Thanksgiving. The plan was to get them up for a normal school day and tell them at breakfast somehow. Now the problem is our DD7 is supposed to go on a field trip that day, and our DS10 is always bragging about his perfect attendance. Now I wonder if we should let them in on it a few days early. This will be our first trip to WDW and they have begged for years to go, so I know the trip is a good thing, it's the surprise that I worry about.

Well....maybe you should prepare them and tell them that its not going to be a normal school day Don't say to much but just enough so they will be intrigue and excited!! Good luck!

 

[kg66]

The first trip, we made a Disney box with a note that said you're going to Disney (our DD's were 6 & 3). Our 2nd trip was a 7 day Land & Sea. Our TA made the girls a Word Search with words my 7 yr old DD could read , like Disney, ship,cabin,Mommy, Daddy, Krystelle,Kenzie,January.... When she found all the words I told her to put them together, and she asked"Are we going on a Disney Cruise?" . They started to scream and dance. I started to cry because it worked. Then we brought out the Disney Cruise DVD for them to watch, and a Disney Box with stuff for them to bring to Disney and do for the drive down.
Either way have a great time, let us know what you decide.