How to surprise...

[amdgoogles]

Ok so the trip is coming up, we've kept it hidden from the kiddos so far now to decide when we tell them.. Ages are 5,3,and 10mo. 5 yo has been 3 times already, and has been dying to go. 3yo has never been and has never been on a plane so this is all new and exciting for him. Our flight leaves at 6am so I want to hope they might sleep, but my gut says the flight will be too exciting and the anticipation of going somewhere will lead to zero sleep for any of us.. so it leaves me wondering when to tell them when we're going. I've debated telling them the morning of, giving them time to process it and be excited but possibly have calmed down a little by the time we get to the airport.. then I have also debated telling them when we get to the gate and giving them their shirts, ears, and autograph books.. but then part of me thinks if they know before the flight it might make them a bit too hyper.. so I've debated telling them after we have our luggage...

What are your thoughts? I know I'm probably overthinking this, but I know a lot of you have done the surprise thing, and you can find a million videos of the reveal, but it makes me wonder how it goes after the reveal Thanks in advance!

 

[KeKy4]

I would wait until as late as you can without spoiling the surprise, like your 5yo knowing the neighborhood, seeing the Disney sign, etc. If he heard the pilot say California, will he know?
My 5yo immediately associates California with Disneyland.

We are surprising our kids in just over 3 weeks. My kids say they want to go to Disneyland weekly and my 3yo always says right now. So hoping we can get it out of them the day of and say "okay let's go!" I've been kind of working on it slowly but then I just say oh that would be fun, maybe someday!

Good luck!!

 

[wannagoback]

On our last trip out kids were 2, 6, and 8. We told them about three weeks in advance. This let us do some fun countdowns and talking about what we all wanted to see and do. We had to leave for the airport at 6am and I don't remember it being a challenge getting them all to sleep the night before. I imagine we put them down earlier and probably did more soothing/cuddling to help them fall asleep than we normally do.

I'd love to surprise my kids at the last minute some day, but I also think that the anticipation is a lot of fun and extends the excitement

 

[amdgoogles]

I would wait until as late as you can without spoiling the surprise, like your 5yo knowing the neighborhood, seeing the Disney sign, etc. If he heard the pilot say California, will he know?
My 5yo immediately associates California with Disneyland.

We are surprising our kids in just over 3 weeks. My kids say they want to go to Disneyland weekly and my 3yo always says right now. So hoping we can get it out of them the day of and say "okay let's go!" I've been kind of working on it slowly but then I just say oh that would be fun, maybe someday!

Good luck!!

Luckily I don't think she knows that California is where Disneyland is however she does think that's where airplanes take us... so I've been trying to make it clear that airplanes take us lots of places, but I imagine she MIGHT suspect somethings up when we go to the airport. I was hoping to do the same thing like "if you could do anything today what would it be" cause she's been begging to go to Disney for a while now too and I just use the we can't afford it right now but maybe someday...

and by the way just over 3 weeks that's around when we are going! When are your dates!

 

[amdgoogles]

On our last trip out kids were 2, 6, and 8. We told them about three weeks in advance. This let us do some fun countdowns and talking about what we all wanted to see and do. We had to leave for the airport at 6am and I don't remember it being a challenge getting them all to sleep the night before. I imagine we put them down earlier and probably did more soothing/cuddling to help them fall asleep than we normally do.

I'd love to surprise my kids at the last minute some day, but I also think that the anticipation is a lot of fun and extends the excitement

I agree the anticipation is really fun, but I've done that a couple times now so I'm looking forward to the day of surprise this time Thanks for the reply I'm hoping they'll sleep on the plane but I have quite a bit of things for them to do on the plane.. but let's be real all I probably need is an iPad and iPhone huh lol

 

[imatinkerfairy]

Ok so the trip is coming up, we've kept it hidden from the kiddos so far now to decide when we tell them.. Ages are 5,3,and 10mo. 5 yo has been 3 times already, and has been dying to go. 3yo has never been and has never been on a plane so this is all new and exciting for him. Our flight leaves at 6am so I want to hope they might sleep, but my gut says the flight will be too exciting and the anticipation of going somewhere will lead to zero sleep for any of us.. so it leaves me wondering when to tell them when we're going. I've debated telling them the morning of, giving them time to process it and be excited but possibly have calmed down a little by the time we get to the airport.. then I have also debated telling them when we get to the gate and giving them their shirts, ears, and autograph books.. but then part of me thinks if they know before the flight it might make them a bit too hyper.. so I've debated telling them after we have our luggage...

What are your thoughts? I know I'm probably overthinking this, but I know a lot of you have done the surprise thing, and you can find a million videos of the reveal, but it makes me wonder how it goes after the reveal Thanks in advance!

I love the art of the suprise more than anyone and have had many go over without a problem. This last trip we had a quick layover in San Francisco. I thought it would be fun to tell the kids "suprise, we are going to Frisco" as we loaded into the car. My plan was once we got to Frisco I would suprise them with, "no, wait, were are going to Disneyland".

Suprise was going right on schedule. Fellow passengers were telling us fun things to do in Frisco and the kids were getting excited. That was until the plane landed and my son got sick.

With a layover of only 45 minutes, we not only had to clean up my son but oh, suprise, we are going to Disneyland! Yeah! The look on his face was, "I have to get on another plane?" Oh yeah good times. Luckily he did not get sick on the next plane and woke up the next morning ok.

A lesson in living a practically perfect life right there. Sometimes even the most well though out plan goes south.

We are headed south again in June and I probably will tell them prior to the plane ride.

Good luck. Have fun planning!

 

[valiamo]

What are your thoughts? I know I'm probably overthinking this, but I know a lot of you have done the surprise thing, and you can find a million videos of the reveal, but it makes me wonder how it goes after the reveal Thanks in advance!

The reveal.... told our Sons we were going on a business trip to Vancouver and that we would spend the weekend there, take the limo to the Grande hotel and visit the aquarium (or that is what we told them), and at the Vancouver Airport we played a trick as they were acting up(like boys do), and told them we were leaving Vancouver on the next flight out anywhere.... of course that was to LAX. When we got to Customs, we finally told them where we were heading.

After the reveal.... While they were excited, the younger one was quite upset that he did not get to ride in the limo to the piano hotel that "Dad" stays at. It was interesting that they enjoyed the entire trip, but the one thing that stands out (even 15 years later) was the missing limo ride to a hotel in rainy Vancouver (as he said, Dad you lied to me...).

We now tell them in advance, of course. Do we make a BIG deal of it in advance, NO. Most of the excitement comes from the parents getting ready to go, and that excitement gets down to the kids.

Have a wonderful time no matter how you break the news to them, but remember to tell us how it went!

 

[At Least Many]

I think I would tell them the morning of, before heading to the airport. This is just me, but I'm not a big fan of surprises in a public place. Especially with kids that are out of routine and possibly cranky. You could get a bit more than you bargained for!

I am struggling with timing as well. We are just about a week away and I want to tell my kids. My dh and mom want to wait till the last minute. I want to now because I need their help packing! (I have 6) We are road tripping, so I have A LOT to pack. A week can feel like a month to a kid, though.

The one thing I would advise against is saying you're going one place and then switch it up for DL. My dh can clearly remember a time when his dad told him he was going with him to work and then surprised him by going to Great America. Little kid dh was so disappointed and in turn, my FIL was angry.

Rage against the minivan blog has a post about DL surprise fails that is pretty funny.

Good luck!

 

[amdgoogles]

The reveal.... told our Sons we were going on a business trip to Vancouver and that we would spend the weekend there, take the limo to the Grande hotel and visit the aquarium (or that is what we told them), and at the Vancouver Airport we played a trick as they were acting up(like boys do), and told them we were leaving Vancouver on the next flight out anywhere.... of course that was to LAX. When we got to Customs, we finally told them where we were heading.

After the reveal.... While they were excited, the younger one was quite upset that he did not get to ride in the limo to the piano hotel that "Dad" stays at. It was interesting that they enjoyed the entire trip, but the one thing that stands out (even 15 years later) was the missing limo ride to a hotel in rainy Vancouver (as he said, Dad you lied to me...).

We now tell them in advance, of course. Do we make a BIG deal of it in advance, NO. Most of the excitement comes from the parents getting ready to go, and that excitement gets down to the kids.

Have a wonderful time no matter how you break the news to them, but remember to tell us how it went!

Oh no! I've heard a few stories where the lie turned out to be exciting to the kids, and when the lie didn't turn out to be true it was a mixed emotions type reveal. My plan is to tell them we are going to see some of mom & dad's friends.. which isn't a lie I mean we are going to see Mickey of course and mommy was friends with chip n dale back in the day so it's more of a white lie than anything else But again I just don't know when the best time to reveal to them what's actually happening. I know it'll either be first thing in the morning, at seatac, before we get on the bus. We're riding Disneyland express so I imagine if I don't tell them before that at least the 5 year old will catch on when the bus is plastered with Disney characters

 

[crystal1313]

We've learned that we cannot tell our kids in advance because they get too excited and have a hard time sleeping, etc. We usually drive and have been able to keep the secret until we get on Harbor blvd before they realized it. Once it was night time and they were asleep and thought we were in Tahoe. LOL. It wasn't until the next morning that we surprised them and told them we were going to Cars Land (this was July 2012 when it just opened) and they didn't believe us. We had to show them the TOT across from our hotel. LOL.


We've gone enough now, they realize where we are driving. We still wait until the day of. Last trip in December, when we told them my youngest started crying. We asked why he was sad and he said because his ears hurt when we drive over the grapevine =( Poor guy. I promised him we would do all we can so his ears didn't hurt and he calmed down eventually. That certainly wasn't the reaction we were looking for. So be prepared if they don't react like you think.

 

[At Least Many]

We thought about telling just one kid and asking him to keep it a secret and then see how long until all the rest know. Shouldn't be more than a week.

 

[amdgoogles]

I love the art of the suprise more than anyone and have had many go over without a problem. This last trip we had a quick layover in San Francisco. I thought it would be fun to tell the kids "suprise, we are going to Frisco" as we loaded into the car. My plan was once we got to Frisco I would suprise them with, "no, wait, were are going to Disneyland".

Suprise was going right on schedule. Fellow passengers were telling us fun things to do in Frisco and the kids were getting excited. That was until the plane landed and my son got sick.

With a layover of only 45 minutes, we not only had to clean up my son but oh, suprise, we are going to Disneyland! Yeah! The look on his face was, "I have to get on another plane?" Oh yeah good times. Luckily he did not get sick on the next plane and woke up the next morning ok.

A lesson in living a practically perfect life right there. Sometimes even the most well though out plan goes south.

We are headed south again in June and I probably will tell them prior to the plane ride.

Good luck. Have fun planning!

Oh no! Poor kiddo that's the worst but I'm glad he was ok by the next day! Thanks for sharing!!

I think I would tell them the morning of, before heading to the airport. This is just me, but I'm not a big fan of surprises in a public place. Especially with kids that are out of routine and possibly cranky. You could get a bit more than you bargained for!

I am struggling with timing as well. We are just about a week away and I want to tell my kids. My dh and mom want to wait till the last minute. I want to now because I need their help packing! (I have 6) We are road tripping, so I have A LOT to pack. A week can feel like a month to a kid, though.

The one thing I would advise against is saying you're going one place and then switch it up for DL. My dh can clearly remember a time when his dad told him he was going with him to work and then surprised him by going to Great America. Little kid dh was so disappointed and in turn, my FIL was angry.

Rage against the minivan blog has a post about DL surprise fails that is pretty funny.

Good luck!

I'll have to look into that blog I'm all about my Disney research these days.. it's quite a distraction from daily tasks That's a great point about being in public and not getting the reaction you're looking for based on the crankiness factor and the fact that they'll be new surroundings.. might ruin what could be an amazing reaction. I'm trying not to get hung up on the reaction, cause while I know they'll be excited they might be too tired to get it in the moment Mean ol mom is waking them up at 3am!

We've learned that we cannot tell our kids in advance because they get too excited and have a hard time sleeping, etc. We usually drive and have been able to keep the secret until we get on Harbor blvd before they realized it. Once it was night time and they were asleep and thought we were in Tahoe. LOL. It wasn't until the next morning that we surprised them and told them we were going to Cars Land (this was July 2012 when it just opened) and they didn't believe us. We had to show them the TOT across from our hotel. LOL.


We've gone enough now, they realize where we are driving. We still wait until the day of. Last trip in December, when we told them my youngest started crying. We asked why he was sad and he said because his ears hurt when we drive over the grapevine =( Poor guy. I promised him we would do all we can so his ears didn't hurt and he calmed down eventually. That certainly wasn't the reaction we were looking for. So be prepared if they don't react like you think.

That's the exact reason I don't want to tell them too early cause I KNOW They won't sleep, and I know I will hardly sleep the night before. I'm like the classic Disney commercial "I'm too excited to sleep" so I need them to atleast get some sleep We're flying but I'm bringing some chewy snacks to help with the ears thing incase it's an issue. It's never been so far for the 5yo but the other two I'm not sure on. My guess is the reaction will stem from the 5yo and at first she wont' believe me either. So regardless it'll be fun. It's been the hardest secret for me to keep I'm so excited that it's getting so close!

 

[crystal1313]

It's REALLY hard to keep a secret! Can't wait to hear how and when you tell them! Have a wonderful time

 

[TigersLions]

First time we just gave them the autograph books, 2nd time was more involved. See my 2nd trip in signature (it is at the beginning of the book). The final thing was a big present and when they opened it up some helium ballons came out with the message attached. This year I think we are going to have them pose for a picture and tell them they are going to disney... I think I will make the photoshoot grueling by dragging it out to and then doing this last..

 

[valiamo]

We thought about telling just one kid and asking him to keep it a secret and then see how long until all the rest know. Shouldn't be more than a week.

Love this one!

 

[brittainy]

The first time we went to disneyland as kids my parents surprised my younger brother and I pretty well!

For several weeks we were told Dad was going on a business trip to Alaska (not unusual) and that this would be a long one so we would go to the airport to see him off. This was when you could go all the way to the gate without a ticket.

The morning of, we get to the airport and walk to the gate and mom and dad say "hey the pilot said we could get on the plane so Jayson (younger brother) can see what it's like!" My 12 year old self was not pleased with that at all but my 7 year old brother was beyond excited to see the inside of a plane for the first time! So we walk on and my mom says to sit down and put our seatbelts on because we are going somewhere. I immediately retorted "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO ALASKA!!" And mom says BE QUIET we are going to Disneyland! So that shut me up

Jayson is told we are going with Dad on a business trip to California and we can swim in the hotel pool, etc. and he was very excited about that. It wasn't until we were right down on Harbor Blvd that Jayson says "Hey, Disneyland!! Can we go there?"

It was a fun surprise that we won't ever forget!

 

[kailuagirl]

Surprising them is so fun!! The first time we went my dd knew, but was only 2 so didn't really know. When she 3, ask asked every single day to go to Disneyland today, we surprised her and told her at the airport, then when she was 4, 5, and 6 we didn't tell her at all. We put her in the car (we have relatives that live in so. cal that we visit), at the crack of dawn while she was still sleeping and she woke up at Disneyland! Loved it!

Have fun!! Whatever you do, just make it fun and understand you might not get the reaction you want. My dd is very timid when it comes to showing reaction so the first time I was totally bummed we didn't get the screaming excitement, but that's just how she rolls, so it's all good.

 

[amdgoogles]

We thought about telling just one kid and asking him to keep it a secret and then see how long until all the rest know. Shouldn't be more than a week.

haha in my house I think it'd last all of 2 seconds!!

 

[amdgoogles]

First time we just gave them the autograph books, 2nd time was more involved. See my 2nd trip in signature (it is at the beginning of the book). The final thing was a big present and when they opened it up some helium ballons came out with the message attached. This year I think we are going to have them pose for a picture and tell them they are going to disney... I think I will make the photoshoot grueling by dragging it out to and then doing this last..

ok first off I love the book idea!! I need to get more on the ball about books like that! It's such a great way to preserve the memory! Second I love the advent calendar idea! May have to save that for a future Dec trip!! It's it fun to be mom haha dragging out the pic just because we can great idea!

The first time we went to disneyland as kids my parents surprised my younger brother and I pretty well!

For several weeks we were told Dad was going on a business trip to Alaska (not unusual) and that this would be a long one so we would go to the airport to see him off. This was when you could go all the way to the gate without a ticket.

The morning of, we get to the airport and walk to the gate and mom and dad say "hey the pilot said we could get on the plane so Jayson (younger brother) can see what it's like!" My 12 year old self was not pleased with that at all but my 7 year old brother was beyond excited to see the inside of a plane for the first time! So we walk on and my mom says to sit down and put our seatbelts on because we are going somewhere. I immediately retorted "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO ALASKA!!" And mom says BE QUIET we are going to Disneyland! So that shut me up

Jayson is told we are going with Dad on a business trip to California and we can swim in the hotel pool, etc. and he was very excited about that. It wasn't until we were right down on Harbor Blvd that Jayson says "Hey, Disneyland!! Can we go there?"

It was a fun surprise that we won't ever forget!

I love it "can we go there?" talk about perfect set up! I can imagine my 12 year old self being less than pleased with going on dads business trip too It's instances like that where I wish my husband traveled more, cause I'd love to use the "we're going on a business trip with daddy" thing! Makes it a little exciting, but at the same time dull enough that they won't be disappointing when I say just kidding lol

Surprising them is so fun!! The first time we went my dd knew, but was only 2 so didn't really know. When she 3, ask asked every single day to go to Disneyland today, we surprised her and told her at the airport, then when she was 4, 5, and 6 we didn't tell her at all. We put her in the car (we have relatives that live in so. cal that we visit), at the crack of dawn while she was still sleeping and she woke up at Disneyland! Loved it!

Have fun!! Whatever you do, just make it fun and understand you might not get the reaction you want. My dd is very timid when it comes to showing reaction so the first time I was totally bummed we didn't get the screaming excitement, but that's just how she rolls, so it's all good.

This is actually similar to what spurred the idea of wanting to surprise them in the first place. My sister in law told me a story of being put in the car and waking up in Anaheim. I wish we lived closer so I could do that! That would be so much fun!!

 

[Mugglemama]

The only time we ever surprised our kids with a trip to Disneyland, it didn't work out very well.

My kids have been going to DL their whole lives, and have been there many, many times (we lived half an hour away from the parks until 9 years ago...).

In 2012, the kids knew we had a DL trip planned for May of that year (and they love to participate in the planning). They were 13, 9, and 7 at the time. DH and I decided to buy our AP's in January, and make a trip down for my birthday (without telling the kids). As far as my kids knew, we were going to Ventura to visit friends/family, and to L.A. for the Chinese New Year Parade.

So, we do the Ventura and L.A. stuff, and then we went to our usual hotel in Anaheim. We told the kids we were going to run into Downtown Disney in the morning so that I could ask a question about the tickets we'd be buying for our May visit. They totally bought it.

I bought the AP's without them seeing, and then pulled them off to the side, crouched down, and handed an AP to each of them. It was so thrilling to get to do that, that I swear I had to actually fight back tears I was so excited. The 13 and 9 year old's knew what they were, but I had to explain it to my 7 year old.

Anyway, they were VERY happy....but 3 minutes later when we were inside the gate...it was like the surprise just overwhelmed them. My 7 year old looked all dazed and out of it, and literally had to sit down. The other two were suddenly grumpy, whiney, and bickering (and while they certainly have their crabby moments at home....I had literally NEVER seen ANY of my kids act this way at DL - my kids don't get to do many indulgent things, and one of the reasons I think I continue to return there is because my kids are always on cloud 9 while we're there - and *certainly* nobody complains, whines, or fights about ANYTHING during our DLR trips - they're just so excited and grateful to BE there).

My kids are not hyper-sensitive people who freak out when plans change on a moment's notice. They are great travelers, great vacationers - so I was really, really surprised by what happened. It got so bad that I literally had to tell them to knock it off or we were going to leave.

Things straightened out after that, but still, their reaction to being surprised with something so huge took a lot of the magic OUT of the experience for all of us that first day (the next 2 days were fine) - as opposed to adding magic TO it. I still don't understand why it went down that way, but needless to say - I'll NEVER try the surprise thing again, lol.

I share all of this to encourage you in case your littles don't react quite the way you'd hoped. It happens. Just keep calm, and Disneyland on.