How to tell the kids?

[tracy021083]

Our first trip to Disney next month which we booked before Christmas and have managed to keep it a secret from the kids!
They keep seeing the tv adverts for it and I overheard them say to each other earlier that if they save their money and give it to us maybe we can go : )

My original idea was to tell them when we wake them for the airport but don't know if I should tell them now and let the excitement build up!
Has anyone any experience of both?

If telling them the day we go I was thinking of packing them some little gifts/clues as to where we're going but I don't know what to include x

 

[Christieand]

My sister and I were 11 when our parents surprised us by making a treasure hunt around the house- each time we would find one letter which we had to use to spell out 'Disney land' at the end. Perhaps you could do something similar with little gifts like stickers, pens, sweets etc? We found out we were going on Christmas day and went some time in January so had the build up. However, when our cousins went, their parents woke them up and told them on the day they were going. Personally, I think it depends on how well your children are likely to take such a big surprise! Hope that helps a little bit!

 

[MPwifey]

You know your kids best, would they be sad that they didn't get to be excited and share the excitement, or would they be the ones that would freak out and how many days? are we going to see Mickey? What will we eat? Where will we stay? DO they have a pool?

My DD and I made a Disney countdown today, and for every day that she does not get overbearing with questions, she gets a Euro to spend at Disney. It helps.

 

[addverbaan]

You know your kids best, would they be sad that they didn't get to be excited and share the excitement, or would they be the ones that would freak out and how many days? are we going to see Mickey? What will we eat? Where will we stay? DO they have a pool?

My DD and I made a Disney countdown today, and for every day that she does not get overbearing with questions, she gets a Euro to spend at Disney. It helps.

Lol, if my DH did that with me, I would be about minus a large amount of euro's!

 

[markpsych]

My original idea was to tell them when we wake them for the airport but don't know if I should tell them now and let the excitement build up!
Has anyone any experience of both?

We've done both, but the one time we didn't tell them until the day we were leaving it was brilliant

At least it was when I was able to convince them that we weren't joking

It was one of our earlier trips when they were younger, and was a double bonus for them as they'd normally have been going to school that day!

 

[Mum to Belle]

It totally depends on your children. My DD loves the planning as much as me and we spend hours talking about what rides we want to go on and which restaurants to eat in, which characters she would like to meet etc.

I don't tell her straight away though, they have very litle concept of 6 months time do they?! One year I told her with 10 days to go, she had a letter from Rapunzel in a Disney bag with a balloon & a Rapunzel doll. There was also a DLP brochure and a count down chart. First of all she thought it was a reward chart, bless her, then she read the letter and was totally We had Mickey sandwiches, Mickey pizzas and Mockey cupcakes for tea.

This year I am planning a treasure hunt that will take her to my Mum's house (she's coming too!) and then have a box of treats waiting for her there. I may tell her with 100 days to go as Mum & I will never keep it a secret for the whole school holidays!

 

[HappySlinky]

I love the build up (to holidays, Christmas etc) almost more than what I'm waiting for so I can't imagine leaving it as a surprise until the day. Maybe there is an inbetween solution if you do want to have that big surprise on the day - you could go along with their idea of saving up so that there is an excuse to start looking at what is at Disneyland and planning what you would do to build up the excitement. Or tell them that you are going on holiday somewhere really amazing but refuse to tell them where it is until the day, if they guess it is Disney even better, just leave them wondering if it really could be until the day.

 

[DeiseDoll]

We're going in July for our 2nd visit with the kids. We told them beforehand last time & they loved the build up but the 'when are we going?' questions got very wearing. We told them a month in advance and they had no real concept of time (aged 6 months, 3, 8 & 10)
Our trip this time comes at the start of a 2 week holiday to the South of France so we plan on leaving it as late as possible to tell them. They assume we're just making the long drive south with the usual stop-off halfway. The older kids (12 & 15) will probably figure it out as we drive there from Calais. They'll just be thrilled we're going & the younger 2 (7 & 4) are more difficult to predict reaction-wise.
I don't think there's a right or wrong way to tell the kids. Regardless of their initial reaction, they'll all just adore the magic.

 

[Isila]

not so long ago I had the same question and a thread asking the same question

I had the same things going on my mind and finally made a decision. So I wrote a letter from Mickey telling the kids the had 14 sleeps to go ( I thought this would give them enough time to build the excitement and I won't get bored with "how many sleeps left" counting). I put the letter in their money saving box (where they've been putting money for DLP). Also I made a gift from Mickey - books, candies, T-shirts. I gave kids some money to put in their saving box to make sure they find the letter.

and this was a very good decision

 

[Kayleigh1986]

Not sure if I'm allowed to put links on but this is how me and my friend told our boys, it was amazing, they believed they had been picked up early from school for an ear test lol

Admin please feel free to delete if I'm not allowed to put links

http://youtu.be/TaNCSUx6JlA

 

[Lisa_C]

So cute!! So come on, spill the beans, who was more excited ;-)

16 sleeps for us and the kids still dont know!!

 

[tracy021083]

Not sure if I'm allowed to put links on but this is how me and my friend told our boys, it was amazing, they believed they had been picked up early from school for an ear test lol

Admin please feel free to delete if I'm not allowed to put links

http://youtu.be/TaNCSUx6JlA

Aww how cute thanks for sharing!
I've decided to leave the surprise until the morning we go as originally planned - they're only 3 and 6 so I would have the constant when are we going etc.
I'm going to put a little bag together for each of them like you did but struggling for ideas for my sons (he's 6) can only think of disney stationary as he loves writing.
How old are the boys in your video clip?

 

[Cariadbach]

Aww how cute thanks for sharing!
I've decided to leave the surprise until the morning we go as originally planned - they're only 3 and 6 so I would have the constant when are we going etc.
I'm going to put a little bag together for each of them like you did but struggling for ideas for my sons (he's 6) can only think of disney stationary as he loves writing.
How old are the boys in your video clip?

My daughter is 5 and in her bag i have colouring books,reading books,stickers,pens,magazine,card game,disney flannel,autograph book and a few other bits i cant remember!!