How to surprise kids with trip?

[amsafko]

We have 3 little ones age 7, 5, and 2 (will be turning 3 while in Disney). They have been there before and are obsessed with all things Disney but we told them that we wouldn't be going again for 2 years. So we want to surprise them with our trip this summer - we know they will freak but we want to come up with a good way to surprise them. Any good ideas???

 

[bonybroad]

We are surprising our kids - ages 6 and 8.
Now, my kids have been to WDW lots of times, so they recognize certain things.
We are going to McDonald's to "celebrate the last day of school." I am putting the Magical Express tags in their happy meals. They will understand as soon as they see them. Then we get to the plane. They have no idea. And they are definitely going to freak out!
That probably won't help with your youngest, but something like that might work. Tshirts that say "DS, DD, DD, your wishes came true" and give the dates of your trip or something..

 

[cmaee]

We are surprising our kids with a spring break trip to WDW. They are 6, 5, and 2. We have only been there once before as a family and that was last spring. Our kids have been begging to go back...little do they know that in 5 weeks, we will be there! My DH is picking them up from school a little early and we are going to have the van packed and ready to go when they arrive home from school. I plan on giving them a box or bag with some "Guess who's going to WDW" stuff that I got off of the Creative DISigns board. They have a ton of great ideas down there on that board. I will also have lanyards and pins in the bag for them to put on their lanyards while we are driving. I can't wait to see their faces when the oldest reads the cards. They are going to flip out with excitement.

 

[olivekeeper]

We just told our boys today.

I made some tickets that someone here shared on a file share. Downloaded a Waltograph font for free so I was able to type out a letter from Mickey in Walts hand writing. I also included in our letter to the kids a Disney Dollar for the three of them(ages 9,5,2) and some Mickey stickers.

My oldest read the letter(I videoed their response) and the other 2 checked out the tickets(which I laminated). They each loved finding out they were going for a full week this year.

And since we have 30 days before we go I made a count down chain of Mickey heads(courtesy of Disney Paint samples at home depot) so they can count down our time until we get to leave.

 

[Micka Mouse]

We have 3 little ones age 7, 5, and 2 (will be turning 3 while in Disney). They have been there before and are obsessed with all things Disney but we told them that we wouldn't be going again for 2 years. So we want to surprise them with our trip this summer - we know they will freak but we want to come up with a good way to surprise them. Any good ideas???

We're surprising our dds as well. I can't wait to see their faces (we told them that we can't go anywhere this summer, which we couldn't, until disney extended their 4 nights/3 free deal.......Thanks, Disney !)

I love these ideas......I'm so excited!!!

 

[mousescrapper]

We've suprised our children twice.

Once was their first trip which coincided w/ my twins then 6th b-day. I packed and planned in total secrecy and we didn't tell them till we were in the airport where we were going....After 4 days there all 4 of their Grandparents arrived in the room next door which was another huge surprise.

For our current trip, it was an unexpectated surprise decision for me (from my parents to go) so we waited a few weeks and then sprung the surprise on them.

We did a Disney themed scavenger hunt thru our house which lead them finally into a room w/ a suitcase in in that said "open me" on it. Inside was balloons that floated out and a Mickey stuffed animal holding our Disney Mail paper that was welcoming us back to Disney.

It was very cool and they were so happily surprised!

In my PTR (see siggie below) I have pictures.

Enjoy your surprise!

 

[jodipaige2004]

I have been thinking about this too - our trip is a little over a month away now and it will be my DD's first time at Disney.

I am going to make an invitation to her from Cinderella and all of the characters, inviting her to the castle. We are going to see Disney on Ice later this month and we have on-ice seats so I am going to ask an usher to "deliver" it to her at the end of the show.

Jodi

 

[claryche]

I had thought about wrapping a big box with a couple of Mickey balloons in it for my son's birthday party which is a day before we leave. However, I changed my mind when a friend of mine said why don't you just put him in the car and not say anything until you get there. And the more I thought about it, I was like that might work. Of course my DS is just about to be 3 and he will hopefully sleep for most of the 10-12 hours down there. Plus we have been to Disney twice before with him, but flew each time. So he thinks you have to fly to go to Disney...so this also works to our advantage. I just can't wait.

 

[Micka Mouse]

bump...

 

[Mommytink]

I am surprising my kids in June and I made a puzzle online for $8. It has a picture of the castle and We're Going to Disney World! I am going to have them put the puzzle together to discover their surprise trip.

I can't wait!!!

 

[neverland mom]

We are going to surprise my ds who is 7 this July. He has been leaving us little notes all around the house asking when we can go back ( we went 2 years ago). I have booked us at the CBR for a week. I am not sure how we are going to surprise him so keep the suggestions coming.

 

[trayletha]

We surprised our older DD for her 9th Birthday. We did all the planning and packing in secret. The night before she was looking for her school clothes to lay out; she wears a uniform to school; but I told her I needed to wash them and I'd have one ready the next morning. In the morning I unplugged her clock - because we were getting her up and hour early and woke her up, she came out and said she needed her clothes. I pointed to a teeshirt and jeans on the couch and she asked if it was a dress down day. I told her to look at the shirt, which had a picture of Cindy's castle and the worlds "My parents are taking me to Disney World" - and I said you better get dressed we are leaving in thirty minutes. It was so great!!

 

[worm761]

I just suggested this on the other thread but I love the idea of scavenger hunts. If you are going after Easter you could make a Disney basket for Easter and have the clues in the eggs. Leave just one egg out in plain site so that is the first one they find. Then the clues would lead to the next one and so on until you find the Easter basket with a note telling them what is going on. Or you could put it in the golden egg if you do that. In the basket I would include a guide book like Disney for Kids by Kids and maybe a Hidden Mickey Guide. This way you get to surprise them but they get to do some planning and anticipation. I love the planning and anticipation part. We have 74 days to go. We are leaving right after DS gets out of school for summer break. He will be released at 10am. We will be on the road by noon. I also know that no one will sleep the night before!

 

[cmpfan]

Our girls - 4 and 6- have both been there before and we told them the last time (Aug. 07') we'd try to make it back in two years. Well, they haven't let us forget it. They don't know it, but we're going over Easter this year. WOO HOO! We're not going to tell them until the morning we leave.

We always drive and the kids have never flown, but this time we're goin' by air. The night before we're staying at Grandma's house which is closer to the airport. We're just going to tell them it's a special night at Grandma's. When we wake them (at the UnGodly hour of 4am and hear the rumbles and grumbles...we're just going to say..."But we're going to Disney!") That should get them out of bed quickly.

Hopefully it all goes off without a hitch and the plane ride goes smoothly. Fingers crossed.

 

[Micka Mouse]

We are going to surprise my ds who is 7 this July. He has been leaving us little notes all around the house asking when we can go back ( we went 2 years ago). I have booked us at the CBR for a week. I am not sure how we are going to surprise him so keep the suggestions coming.

That's great!!! To surprise him, I would leave a few notes around the house for him to find.......

We surprised our older DD for her 9th Birthday. We did all the planning and packing in secret. The night before she was looking for her school clothes to lay out; she wears a uniform to school; but I told her I needed to wash them and I'd have one ready the next morning. In the morning I unplugged her clock - because we were getting her up and hour early and woke her up, she came out and said she needed her clothes. I pointed to a teeshirt and jeans on the couch and she asked if it was a dress down day. I told her to look at the shirt, which had a picture of Cindy's castle and the worlds "My parents are taking me to Disney World" - and I said you better get dressed we are leaving in thirty minutes. It was so great!!

This is a fantastic idea...she must have been so excited!

I just suggested this on the other thread but I love the idea of scavenger hunts. If you are going after Easter you could make a Disney basket for Easter and have the clues in the eggs. Leave just one egg out in plain site so that is the first one they find. Then the clues would lead to the next one and so on until you find the Easter basket with a note telling them what is going on. Or you could put it in the golden egg if you do that. In the basket I would include a guide book like Disney for Kids by Kids and maybe a Hidden Mickey Guide. This way you get to surprise them but they get to do some planning and anticipation. I love the planning and anticipation part. We have 74 days to go. We are leaving right after DS gets out of school for summer break. He will be released at 10am. We will be on the road by noon. I also know that no one will sleep the night before!

A friend of mine did this. She picked her kids up at dismissal and headed for the highway. The kids were shocked!

Our girls - 4 and 6- have both been there before and we told them the last time (Aug. 07') we'd try to make it back in two years. Well, they haven't let us forget it. They don't know it, but we're going over Easter this year. WOO HOO! We're not going to tell them until the morning we leave.

We always drive and the kids have never flown, but this time we're goin' by air. The night before we're staying at Grandma's house which is closer to the airport. We're just going to tell them it's a special night at Grandma's. When we wake them (at the UnGodly hour of 4am and hear the rumbles and grumbles...we're just going to say..."But we're going to Disney!") That should get them out of bed quickly.

Hopefully it all goes off without a hitch and the plane ride goes smoothly. Fingers crossed.

Another good idea! I love the idea of waking them and saying "but we're going to Disney" as they grumble and moan!

 

[brie182]

I am surprising my daughter this year for her birthday. We won a trip to Club Med so we will fly to Florida for that. After that week is up we will drive to the Orlando airport like we are going to take the plane home. Instead of getting on the plane though i am going to give her a present, I went to build a bear and used one of the sound buttons and said "suprise, we are going to disney world, happy birthday" so she will open the bear, press the button and find out we are going to Disney not home! Then we will get on Magical express. YEAH. I can't wait...although its been really hard and I have let little things slip and have to cover myself up

 

[jtopp]

As much as I love the planning with the children for our next WDW vacation, the best trips have been the surprise trips. Last Christmas, the last gift opened was a gift bag full of park passes, with an audio tag that said" Merry Christmas, you're going to Disney World" I've never seen them pack so quickly.

 

[sueh]

We just told our boys today.

I made some tickets that someone here shared on a file share. Downloaded a Waltograph font for free so I was able to type out a letter from Mickey in Walts hand writing. I also included in our letter to the kids a Disney Dollar for the three of them(ages 9,5,2) and some Mickey stickers.

My oldest read the letter(I videoed their response) and the other 2 checked out the tickets(which I laminated). They each loved finding out they were going for a full week this year.

And since we have 30 days before we go I made a count down chain of Mickey heads(courtesy of Disney Paint samples at home depot) so they can count down our time until we get to leave.

I will be surprising my girls at Christmas with a trip in early January. I am excited.
Can you point me in the direction of the ticket that you made? I would love that and also a great idea about the mickey head countdown chain. I think that I will do that and put it in the box!

 

[olivekeeper]

http://www.4shared.com/account/dir/6658211/c9588e82/sharing.html

here is the link to the shared files. You just go and download the ticket you like to a folder (from the ticket folder), and when you are ready upload it into your paint on your desktop, then you can add words in any font you want. I downloaded a free Waltograph font so the writing would look like it was done by Walt. You just have to Google Walt Disney font.

I'm trying to find the thread that has the guys name of who makes them, and shares his files and when I do I'll post the link to that thread for you.

 

[ltl engine]

Disney Enchanted Call--(try a google search otherwise its impossible to find, they have lots of characters....

Although my son knew we were going--he was a little grumbly on our ride to the airport at 6am but a call from Mickey about his special trip sure made him feel the Magic. Also every Mickey we saw all week was quizzed about their call