How to surprise kids the day we leave!!

[dianemb]

We went two years ago at Christmas and I surprised my son with the counter you can post. I knew He would never be able to concetrate at school if He knew we were going so I made everyone keep it a secret ( this was the hardest part of all). I planned the whole trip from start to end. While He was at school the day we left I packed everything. When He came home, I was at the computer and said" look at this cool website" just as the message went from 0 to "we're leaving tonight". He didn't understand at first, then when He realized it, He couldn't stop smiling. We stayed at a hotel near the airport that night and He didn't sleep at all. I had a gift package waiting for him when we got there. My husband said it was the best trip ever!!!

 

[disneyfreakjackie]

We decided that we were depriving them of the anticipation of going.


I agree. Half the fun of the trip is the planning and anticipating. Plus there are life lessons associated with budgeting and preparing for the trip. I don't "get" the idea of not telling them until "the day".

My girls and I don't agree!!!

Here's what we did: I have a sister-in-law who lives in Georgia, we told them we were going to visit them. (We drove from NJ.) I even had to tell my family that we were going to Georgia, I know they would have spoiled my surprise!! Anyway, we started out Friday night at about 10:00 PM, the next morning at about 7:00 I told the girls to get out of their PJ's and put on these clothes so we could get some breakfast I handed them each a t-shirt I had made that said SURPRISE, WE ARE GOING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD!!! They thought it was the greatest thing. They want us to do that again. I don't think that it's possible, especially since I refuse to drive again, twice was enough!!

 

[EvMc]

My daughter - age 10, has been 14 times and tells everyone! I started surprising her a couple of years ago. I felt some of the other kids from school who couldn't go might resent her. So with the 1st surprise (age 6) I picked her up at school and took off. Its a 14 hour road trip for us! About a 100 miles from home I showed her a video tape Making the Dream of WDW and she finally guessed! It was great! She beamed the whole trip!

Surprise #2- Told her I had a meeting in Gainesville and she wanted to 'tag' along! Close to Gainesville I called a friend and he said the 'meeting has been canceled'! She was mad! But we stopped in Ocala for our 'Disney fix' and said hey why not go for a day since we have nothing to do! She was so excited! That night my parents, who were in Fla camping, met up with us. We 'decided' to stay another day to take Mom & Dad to MK. While at Cosmic Ray's I told her it was really a 10 day trip! Talk about being excited!

Surprise #3- Wasn't her surprise but a friend and 2 kids. He told them they were going to Canada. They came to our house to say good bye they asked if my kid could go. My kid started 'packing' when she said she wouldn't go without me! I was working that day, so there was 'no' way I could go. We left it up to a Magic 8 ball. Thankfully, it said yes! The kids slept and when we got to the gate at 5 am they woke up! Surprise! The oldest, about 10 at the time, said 'was this set up?'

Surprise #4- Decided to take a friend of her's for spring break who had never been. Told them we were going to Wild Adventures in Valdosta Ga. Got to WA and it was late so we drove to Ocala for our Disney fix again! While there, of course, they were saying they wanted to go... so I said ok! They were jumping and screaming!

Surprise #5- Coming up! Have a spring break trip planned with our friend & kids again. My friend is very adamant about celebrating a birthday on the actual day and if you can't there isn't any reason to celebrate it, its old news!! Go figure! Since we will leave Fri night we are going to get together for a b-day party Fri afternoon. My friend will give her a card that says "It isn't your birthday yet so I can't give you a present yet. I will give you your present at breakfast at 1900 Park Fare on Monday" (her actual b-day)

I like surprising her. I also like the idea of letting her help with planning so next trip I might do the 'plan it and go a week or two early' idea. That's sneaky!

 

[Princess Wannabe]

Count me in the group that says there's nothing wrong with surprises!!! My DH is the King of surprising me with trips, and I have never resented it, nor wished I had been in on the planning!

We are taking our DD, who's 5 years old, and never been, in April. I am keeping it a BIG surprise, although it's been hard.

Someone asked me if she wouldn't notice that I was packing her clothes, and I replied, "Nope...all taken care of...bought her special t-shirts with the characters on them, which she'll receive each day at WDW".

I LOVE going to WDW, but this trip is even more special, and part of that fun has been in the planning and the secrecy. Imagine throwing a surprise party for someone you love??!! And the look on their face when they 'get it'...I cannot wait!

We plan on telling her that morning, when we wake her up to go to the airport. I have a special t-shirt with all of the Disney princesses on it for her to wear, and I'm going to tell her, "Get up, sleepyhead...We're going to Disney World!!"

Woo Hoo!

 

[rosiejo]

Oh I love surprises! Pity I'm the one with my head stuck in the net reading up on all the info - I may have to plan surprises for the rest of my family - although the youngest is 23!!

 

[newyork0068]

I have an idea. set up a little trail for them with signs that spell out where they are going. start with their bedroom door, put a sign that says w, the next in tha hall way that say e, then another that spelles out are, etc. it should get to the d at the door. we are going to disney world is what the girls need to figure out. i'm not sure if it'll work but try it if you want.

 

[tigger1963]

My boys are now teenagers, and are up on exactly when the next trip to WDW is (29 days and counting), but we used to enjoy surprising them when they were younger (although we usually gave them a day's heads up).

One of the first times, my oldest son was playing in a youth football league, and we had secretly made plans to go to WDW over Thankgiving. As luck would have it, his team made the finals the weekend before Thanksgiving, and won. When we asked him what the pro players say after they win the Superbowl he said "I'm goin' to Disney World!". We said "great, we'd better get home and pack". About halfway from the field to the house he said "what are we doing this afternoon?". I said "I thought we'd already agreed that we're getting ready to go to Disney World". You couldn't pry the smile off his face when he realized it was true.

About two years later, we'd schedule to go to WDW the day after Christmas. After we opened the presents, the kids asked what the plan was for the rest of the day. At that point we handed them their stocking with the tickets inside and said "after you look at those, we're going to clean up this mess and start packing." Again it took a while to sink in, but they proceeded to bounce around the house for a couple of hours once it did.

When we went on the Disney Cruise a couple of years ago, the boys knew in advance, but didn't know we made plans to meet up in Cozumel with a family whose kids and ours are the same age and have been friends forever. We got off the boat in Cozumel and took a taxi, telling the boys we'd heard about a nice place where they could swim and snorkel. When we got to the resort, we walked to the pool and their friends (who also were clueless) were swimming around. I said "as long as we're here, maybe you could hang out with your buddies". Needless to say, they had a whole lotta fun that day and still talk about it as one great surprise they never saw coming.