How to surprise kids with upcoming trip?

[No1 Babe]

We are travelling from Ireland mid August , I still haven't told the kids . Any ideas how I can make the big reveal ?

 

[Valstew]

There are a lot of ideas on Pinterest and YouTube. My sister did a sac avenger hunt and the kids got puzzle pieces and when they put the puzzle together it said we are going to Disney world in 20 days. They were 10&11. For my 4yr old my sister in law is gong in a few weeks and I'm going to have her make a special magic band with my sons name on it and we will give it to him the night before. My little guy has been twice before and is obsessed with magic bands.

 

[No1 Babe]

fantastic thanks for the reply

 

[chris31997]

You could also do family t-shirts. We did this and made the kids cry with joy

You could also leave little hints around the house: things they might need on the trip like sunscreen, swim stuff, laynards

Maybe Mickey sends them a letter inviting them. You can download Walt Font and write it.

 

[Canooknic]

Our first trip we did a scavenger hunt, we had to use photos because they weren't reading at that point, and at the end of the hunt they found Buzz Lightyear suitcases, Disney t-shirts and stuffed Mickeys.

Our second trip was an early morning flight so we woke them up by blaring the Jungle Book Groove through the house.

Our next trip is great flight times so we will be able to leave after breakfast so I'm going to decorate the dining table with Mickey balloons etc for them to discover when I call them for breakfast.....I can't wait!!

My friend did the big box/Mickey helium balloon thing but it fell a bit flat because her kids just liked the balloons and were a bit sad that they would be deflated by the time they got home!! Lol

 

[No1 Babe]

I absolutely love the idea of the t shirts x

 

[EvilQueen2018]

We are doing a golden ticket with a letter announcing the trip and then they will open a box with my binder, the vacation dvd, and travel shirts. We are announcing right before we leave because my step daughters will just be getting here for their summer visit and I don't want to announce with them at their mom's or too early that the excitement wears off. The down side is that they can't help plan fast passes or ADR's which would be fun but then they know too far ahead. We are driving so we will leave as soon as they are packed but they still have to wait a few days before we can get in the parks.

 

[mickeyheart]

My girls are 2 and 3 (will be 2 & 4 in november when we come). I was thinking of doing a countdown for 100 days. Do you think it will be too soon to tell them? Should I wait till nearer the time?

 

[DisneyCAL]

My girls are 2 and 3 (will be 2 & 4 in november when we come). I was thinking of doing a countdown for 100 days. Do you think it will be too soon to tell them? Should I wait till nearer the time?

At that age, it might be too long. We did a white board calendar countdown. They took turns every other day pulling off little mickey heads with the numbers 30-1 on it. That last morning was so exciting for them. Our kids had just turned 5. Although the 100 days is cute, it might make the time feel daunting after awhile.

 

[mickeyheart]

At that age, it might be too long. We did a white board calendar countdown. They took turns every other day pulling off little mickey heads with the numbers 30-1 on it. That last morning was so exciting for them. Our kids had just turned 5. Although the 100 days is cute, it might make the time feel daunting after awhile.

Thank you for your reply, I think you're probably right. I might do 61 days instead so they can choose their magic band colour. Will give me more time to make the countdown

 

[katyjeka]

Fill a ton of balloons and leave one a different color. Have that balloon filled with disney confetti and have them pop it.

 

[Gari14]

What about placing hidden Mickey's (cardboard cut into the shape of Mickeys head) everywhere with different hints about going to a special place for holiday on the back of each one. The last one could tell them where they're going

 

[celina14]

We are leaving the day after Thanksgiving for our trip, my kids will be 2 and 4 (celebrating her 5th bday while in Disney) so I don't want to tell them until right before we leave so my daughter won't be asking me every day how much longer until we leave. What I think I'm going to do is on Thanksgiving I'll make my kids say what they are thankful for and then when it's my turn I'll say that I'm thankful that we get to leave for Disney World the next day. My other idea would have been to fill back packs with all kinds of Disney stuff and have them open them and then tell them that all the stuff is for their Disney trip.

 

[Shorttcake]

We did a scavenger hunt as well! They loved it and at the end were their new suitcases with Mickey & Minnie. They went nuts!

 

[TeamH5]

Thank you for your reply, I think you're probably right. I might do 61 days instead so they can choose their magic band colour. Will give me more time to make the countdown

Honestly, at that age, 10 days would be more than sufficient. Time escapes kids, especially that young. 10 days, or even 5
Or 6(6 just so each gets an even number of pulls) would be enough to get exciting, but not routine and Ho-hum. I think if you do more than that, the suspense part is seriously going to go over their heads and it won't have the effect you're hoping for.
When we did a Cruise when our girls had just turned 5, and our son was 3.5, we showed them what we were planning, when we were going, etc.. That was about 4-5 months out. Even the 5 yr olds didn't grasp the concept of time and that we were going for their bday. By the time they saw the ship in person, we might as well had been planning for 5 years.. Lol
We did have the bonus affect that one of the 5 yr olds almost hyperventilated from the excitement of seeing the ship in person.. Lol the 3 yr old? Didn't care..

 

[Pesky]

Yep, we are doing a scavenger hunt for our 2, final clue at the airport gate (they think we're going to PHX to visit relatives) and they'll get a Birnbaum WDW kids' guide and homemade coupon book, plus a Disney music playlist. Time before that we said nothing until we drove up to the hotel. We were in LA for a day and then said we were going to go to visit my ILs. Well, we drove up to the hotel and there were the ILs and they finally figured it out. DS wasn't as excited but got into it by the next day going to the park.

 

[momma2ethan]

I surprised my son last year for his 8th birthday. I individually wrapped the planning dvd, memory maker mailer, magic bands, framed letter from Mickey and a tee shirt I had made. Put them all in a box with a Happy Birthday mickey balloon to pop out when he opened it. His reaction was priceless! It took a good hour of me telling him about all the plans I had made for it to really sink in before he got excited. It really was perfect though. A year later I still can't watch the video without crying. Here's the video if you would like to watch it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=dGvWuL2Fsvw

 

[ChasingLeslie]

My kids don't know we are returning to WDW next year, yet. We're waiting til Christmas and I plan to fill a big box with Mickey balloons and underneath will be a "We're going back to Disney!" sign with autograph books and possibly pin lanyards.

 

[absolutmey]

For our first trip in 2014, for DS's 7th Birthday, we surprised him by laying everything out on our bed and showing it to him a couple days before we left. It really fell flat because he didn't know what all the stuff was or what he was in for. We took a video and the funniest line was when I asked him where Mickey Mouse lives. He said, "I don't know, in a house?".

For the upcoming trip, a surprise for his 9th b-day, I planned a scavenger hunt for him. Now that he knows what WDW is all about, we think he's going to be very excited and surprised. We're going with DH's parents so the 5 of us will have dinner the night before we leave, do the scavenger hunt afterward, and then we'll give him a wrapped box (seemingly as a prize for completing the hunt) with magic bands, hidden mickeys book and new pins I got him, and have a Disney-themed dessert.

So excited! It's been hard keeping it all a secret from him.