How/When to surprise the kids with trip

[desiree71081]

We are going on our first family vacation to Disney World in March 2014. Oldest step son (17) knows about the trip and where we are going. The younger kids, 12, 9, 7, 6 month don't know about the trip. We were planning on not telling them where we were going until we drove into Disney World but now I am thinking a 12 hour car ride with them constantly asking where we are going might not be too fun.

We are planning on leaving around 5 in the morning. I am not sure if we should tell them about the trip in advance but not tell them where. If we should tell them about the trip the night before....will they be able to sleep with all the excitement. Or should we tell them as we are getting in the car in the morning.

I kind of want to surprise them with the news. Any suggestions on what could be a fun/cute way to surprise them?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Just one thought, maybe you can be flexible with it. In other words, plan to wait until you're there, but have a backup plan if they begin to drive you nuts.

Maybe if "plan B" comes into play, a "clue" toward the destination after every 30 minutes of silence

 

[HITCH KING]

You may also want to record the reaction when you tell them. I have a good friend who told their kids they were going one place and when they told them they were going to Disney World while traveling in the car, the kids were bummed, they really wanted to go to the first place. Reaction is priceless. Everybody is going to have a great time. If I may make a few suggestions. Are you staying on property ? find out what is the earliest time that you may check in. If If you can get a room early,You may be better off leaving at 7:00 pm and letting the kids sleep in the car while traveling, the kids should be sleeping for 7-8 hours of the trip. You will make better time without so much traffic. It will be much enjoyable trip for the adults. Once you arrive at hotel let the driver sleep for a few hours while everybody else explores the area. Also you may want to stop at a supermarket or have food deleverd to the hotel. Buy several cases of water and freeze a few of them. The frozen ones will keep food cold and will be drinkable a few hours into the day. My one best suggestion. I know you will want to make every minute count but sloooow down and enjoy the park. Look at everything, signs on the 2nd floor of main st, the plants trees it is really a great show.

 

[MomofIndigo]

Just one thought, maybe you can be flexible with it. In other words, plan to wait until you're there, but have a backup plan if they begin to drive you nuts.

Maybe if "plan B" comes into play, a "clue" toward the destination after every 30 minutes of silence

I really like this idea. My first thought is a scavenger hunt (you can see many of these on youtube) the night before but they may not go to sleep LOL. But if you could play different games in the car and the winner of each game gets a piece of the answer. The "clues" could be just a letter and then at the end they have to figure out the scrambled letters. Or each "clue" could be a riddle they have to figure out. You can get your 17yr old to help.

Games could be car bingo, A-Z cities (find in order cities that you pass starting with A, then B, then C, etc..), word search races, Name that tune. We have played these in some form on our road trips. Google mom's mini van. I printed alot from that site.

 

[kitntrip]

I planned our first trip to WDW for Sept. 2012 and had booked it August 2011. We throw the 2 kids a birthday bbq for family and friends since their birthdays are in June and July, rather than having 2 separate gatherings. For a year, I kept the trip a secret and had a loose Mickey themed party. I wrapped up some disney photo books and pens, and had gotten certificates from my TA saying they were going to Disney World in Sept. Kids couldn't have cared less and were more interested in just opening those damn photo albums lol. Needless to say, my surprise for them flopped lol. They eventually got excited, and slept well the night before we left.

 

[ChitownFamily]

We are going on our first family vacation to Disney World in March 2014. Oldest step son (17) knows about the trip and where we are going. The younger kids, 12, 9, 7, 6 month don't know about the trip. We were planning on not telling them where we were going until we drove into Disney World but now I am thinking a 12 hour car ride with them constantly asking where we are going might not be too fun.

We are planning on leaving around 5 in the morning. I am not sure if we should tell them about the trip in advance but not tell them where. If we should tell them about the trip the night before....will they be able to sleep with all the excitement. Or should we tell them as we are getting in the car in the morning.

I kind of want to surprise them with the news. Any suggestions on what could be a fun/cute way to surprise them?

You are going to have so much fun! I'm in the camp that believes surprises are best when the kids have a couple of days (preferably weeks) to digest the information, get excited & be part of the planning. We surprised our kids 30 days before the trip. It was so much fun to show them YouTube clips of rides, attractions etc. It also helped my 7 & 5 year old begin to understand what they were going to experience.
a surprise is a surprise- even if it is a couple days ahead of the trip.

 

[dprincessmom]

We surprised our daughter in the car for her birthday trip one year. I don't think that I would do it at that time again. My plan was to drive to the resort and/or gates and then give her a gift bag. That was how I envisioned.

Reality - hubs picked her up at half day of school. They came to pick me up at office to leave an hour later. DH said she hadn't stopped asking questions about the luggage, where, what since she got in the car. Still going strong with the questions an hour after I got in the car. At this point we ran into a traffic jam on the interstate. I told her if she would lay down and go to sleep we would give her a clue when she woke up. She did sleep for a while and finally when we stopped in Ocala, we gave her said gift bag. It took a few minutes for the light to click on as to where we were headed. Then another hour of are we there, are we there. It worked well that we were going to Epcot EMH.

Typically, we leave early morning and arrive before park opening. She sleeps in the car and it is pleasant trip for everyone. With her as antsy as she was, it was a little stressful and so if I surprised her again, I would do it a little ways out so she could still help pick and plan things.

 

[AnnaL]

We surprised DD with our December 2012 trip. I picked her up from school on a Friday (we were leaving at 6am on Saturday) and gave her clue #1. She was so excited to take part in a scavenger hunt. I hid about 4 or 5 clues around the house that lead to small suitcase on her bed (this was her carryon and it was zip tied so she couldn't open it).

The next clue was to my sister and BIL's house (they were going with us). When we got to my sister's they next clue lead to their overnight bags and then a clue to take us to the airport Marriott.

We have stayed at this hotel before in winter to go swimming, so DD thought her big surprise was a weekend at the hotel to go swimming. We let her believe that and went swimming. While she was swimming the last clue appeared on her chair. It read to "order dessert after dinner for a super sweet surprise"

After dinner, our server brought out an ice cream cake. It was decorated with Disney Princess Rings and said "Going to Disney". She was shocked / confused for a minute, then danced around the restaurant singing and telling everyone where she was going. Luckily the hotel staff were all in on our secret and had our actual luggage at bell services and provided the last clue on her chair while we were swimming.

We were up early the next morning for our flight, but DD slept well since she was swimming all evening (we planned an activity that we knew would tire her out, even with all the excitement over Disney).

Below are the first and last pictures I took during the scavenger hunt:

https://scontent-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/207788_4319434147535_1954429032_n.jpg
https://scontent-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/46155_4319453868028_1503371041_n.jpg

 

[WantToGoNow]

We planned a surprise trip 3 years ago. We got them up one morning and says we were going to a children's museum about 2 hours away. Drove to the airport which is 10 mins from home. As we were approaching the terminal ds who was 9 noticed where we were. We gave them bags with Disney tags and some assorted stuff. He was so excited. Dd7 not too much. She thought we were pulling a bad joke and started crying. And cried the entire way to Florida, and even while we checked in. Will never do that again - obviously she can't handle surprises.

 

[desiree71081]

All of these ideas are great. I am starting to think I may just tell/surprise them the week before the trip.

Here is my issue with telling them early. My 10 year old step son will not be coming on this trip with us. Long story short, there is alot of parental alienation on his mothers part and he doesn't come to our house anymore. If my husband forces him to come he kicks and screams and gets really violent. Regardless of this, we told the child that we would be taking a really fun family vacation this year and that we would like him to come. We also mentioned the trip to his mother so that she could talk to him about it. We did not tell either one where we were going, just that he would be really sad if he missed this trip. Stepson said straight out "I don't want to go on vacation" So, we are not taking him because, again, that would mean kicking and screaming and punching all the way to Florida, in a packed car. I don't think either one of them realizes that the vacation is to Disney World. I am a little worried that if we tell the kids the week before, my stepson who is 12 will tell his brother and mother where we are going and she will get mad that the 10 year old isn't coming to something so big and do something to keep the 12 year old from coming. This woman is a piece of work.

Anyway, we will be arriving Saturday March 1st. Check in is at 3 so if we leave the house around 5 AM we will be getting there around 5 or 6. I figure we will have to make quite a few stops on the way because our 6 month old will need to be changed and we may all need to get out and stretch our legs and get lunch along the way.

We have 3 adults going so we will all take turns driving. Our first day at the park isn't until Sunday so Saturday we may just swim (depending on the weather) or maybe visit Downtown Disney or do something else that doesn't require a park ticket.

So I guess my big delimma at the moment is do I tell them a week early and risk mom sabotoging 12 year olds chance at our trip because she and 10 year old aren't getting their way or just wait until the Friday when they get off of school and tell them then. When the kids ask about going on vacation, which they do often, they always ask if we can go to Disney World. So I think they would be more excited with the surprise than taking it bad. My daughter who is 7 actually thinks Disney World is in the sky because people fly to get there. I love their innocence.

 

[ChitownFamily]

All of these ideas are great. I am starting to think I may just tell/surprise them the week before the trip.

Here is my issue with telling them early. My 10 year old step son will not be coming on this trip with us. Long story short, there is alot of parental alienation on his mothers part and he doesn't come to our house anymore. If my husband forces him to come he kicks and screams and gets really violent. Regardless of this, we told the child that we would be taking a really fun family vacation this year and that we would like him to come. We also mentioned the trip to his mother so that she could talk to him about it. We did not tell either one where we were going, just that he would be really sad if he missed this trip. Stepson said straight out "I don't want to go on vacation" So, we are not taking him because, again, that would mean kicking and screaming and punching all the way to Florida, in a packed car. I don't think either one of them realizes that the vacation is to Disney World. I am a little worried that if we tell the kids the week before, my stepson who is 12 will tell his brother and mother where we are going and she will get mad that the 10 year old isn't coming to something so big and do something to keep the 12 year old from coming. This woman is a piece of work.

Anyway, we will be arriving Saturday March 1st. Check in is at 3 so if we leave the house around 5 AM we will be getting there around 5 or 6. I figure we will have to make quite a few stops on the way because our 6 month old will need to be changed and we may all need to get out and stretch our legs and get lunch along the way.

We have 3 adults going so we will all take turns driving. Our first day at the park isn't until Sunday so Saturday we may just swim (depending on the weather) or maybe visit Downtown Disney or do something else that doesn't require a park ticket.

So I guess my big delimma at the moment is do I tell them a week early and risk mom sabotoging 12 year olds chance at our trip because she and 10 year old aren't getting their way or just wait until the Friday when they get off of school and tell them then. When the kids ask about going on vacation, which they do often, they always ask if we can go to Disney World. So I think they would be more excited with the surprise than taking it bad. My daughter who is 7 actually thinks Disney World is in the sky because people fly to get there. I love their innocence.

Here's my 2 cents, I know you are not asking for advice but as someone who has an awesome relationship with my stepmom & 4 younger half siblings, I wanted to chime in. There are 6 of us total, similar to your family. 2 of us from my mom/dad & 4 from dad/step mom. honesty is the best policy.dishonesty is sabotaging the trip, not mom. I can't believe the 12 year olds mom won't want specific info as the trip gets closer. . Will she really not want to know where her child is going, until the night before? Or that the 17 year old hasn't spilled the beans

It's one thing, if mom & child are fully aware of the vacation details & choose not to go with dad's family. It's another story, for dad's family to with hold details.
Here's what I would do: fully disclose to mom, talk to her about the trip. Then this wonderful trip & family vacation can be discussed openly with the people going.
It may not be pretty, but you will either have to deal with this before the trip or after, when you return.

 

[desiree71081]

Here's my 2 cents, I know you are not asking for advice but as someone who has an awesome relationship with my stepmom & 4 younger half siblings. honesty is the best policy. I can't believe the 12 year olds mom won't want specific info as the trip gets closer. Will she really not want to know where her child is going, until the night before?
Do you think this will destroy the relationship you have with the 10 year old?
It's one thing, if mom & child are fully aware of the vacation details & choose not to go with dad's family. It's another story, for dad's family to with hold details.
Here's what I would do: fully disclose to mom, talk to her about the trip.
It may not be pretty, but you will either have to deal with this before the trip or after, when you return.

To put it nicely, she isn't the greatest mother. She doesn't usually know where the kids are at when my husband calls to talk to them. She lets them run the streets. She also is always either sleeping or at the boyfriend of the weeks house so the boys are usually with her parents.

She and my husband are co-domicilary parents so he has equal rights to take them out of state. My husband told her we were going on vacation and she asked where and he said "vacation" and she didn't ask again. This is a woman that will try to sabotoge anything and everything we do because of jealousy. We were tryin to get the 10 year old psychiatric help and the mother refused to bring him.

There is not really a relationship with the 10 year old. His dad tries to get him to come over and he refuses. This goes beyond just a child that is a brat. He has ODD and we were getting him the help he needed. It took us 8 months to get him in a somewhat better state of mind and then ended up in the hospital with our newborn who had to have open heart surgery. We stayed for a month in the hospital and when we got out and tried to get the 10 year old to come back to the house (we were doing 7 and 7 before the hospital stay) he refused. So in one month's time, his mother had managed to sabotoge all the help we had gotten him. He became violent again and the psychiatrist said to NEVER leave him alone with the baby. It's simply not as easy as taking a "normal" child to Disney World. There are deeper issues here.

Also, when the 10 year old told us he didn't want to go we asked his older brother who is 17 and had previously shown little interest in coming if he definitely didn't want to come and he decided to come. This means we have no extra spots in our vehicle so bringing the 10 year old isn't even an option at this time.

 

[ChitownFamily]

I understand now,it's your private business & appreciate you sharing
Hugs

 

[desiree71081]

Thanks. Just want to make this trip as special as possible for the children that are coming. What better place to take our first family vacation than Disney World!!!!

Think I will tell them the night before. This will allow them to "help" me pack so that I don't forget something that they feel they absolutely have to bring. Even if they can't sleep that night because they were too excited about the trip, there is a long trip the next day where they can catch up on their sleep.

Thanks for all the ideas. Just have to put the plan in place now.

 

[wiigirl]

We planned a surprise trip 3 years ago. We got them up one morning and says we were going to a children's museum about 2 hours away. Drove to the airport which is 10 mins from home. As we were approaching the terminal ds who was 9 noticed where we were. We gave them bags with Disney tags and some assorted stuff. He was so excited. Dd7 not too much. She thought we were pulling a bad joke and started crying. And cried the entire way to Florida, and even while we checked in. Will never do that again - obviously she can't handle surprises.

 

[dsnymomof4]

I agree with telling them the night before. I did this for Spring Break 2012. Kids came home from school to suitcases sitting in the living room with a note inside that said "Pack your bags - we're going to Disney." They were stunned. Especially when I told them we were leaving 4am the next morning. It allowed them enough time to pack their own bags and get excited. Worked out great! Good luck!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We planned a surprise trip 3 years ago. We got them up one morning and says we were going to a children's museum about 2 hours away. Drove to the airport which is 10 mins from home. As we were approaching the terminal ds who was 9 noticed where we were. We gave them bags with Disney tags and some assorted stuff. He was so excited. Dd7 not too much. She thought we were pulling a bad joke and started crying. And cried the entire way to Florida, and even while we checked in. Will never do that again - obviously she can't handle surprises.

I've seen countless stories on here about folks telling the kids they were going to ________ so they could surprise them with Disney instead. And in many cases it backfired because the kids got excited about ______.

So, while I still like the idea of a surprise, I will never tell my kids we're going to X when we're really going to Y. Don't want them getting so excited about X that Y ends up a disappointment.


OP, good luck with 10-year-old stepson. Tough spot

 

[desiree71081]

I've seen countless stories on here about folks telling the kids they were going to ________ so they could surprise them with Disney instead. And in many cases it backfired because the kids got excited about ______.

So, while I still like the idea of a surprise, I will never tell my kids we're going to X when we're really going to Y. Don't want them getting so excited about X that Y ends up a disappointment.


OP, good luck with 10-year-old stepson. Tough spot

We couldn't pull off the "going to grandma's house" thing instead of Disney because we don't know anyone out of state so that wouldn't work. I would definitely be sad if we told them we were going to one place and we were really going to another place and they were upset that we weren't really going to the "fake" place.

I think we are going to do the whole reveal the night before. Thinking about making a cute sign about "pack your bags, we are going to Disney World" and having it in their rooms for when they get back from school.

Thanks for the encouragement with the step-son. Just doing the best we can with the situation.

 

[SEA333]

We surprised our kids twice, in two different ways:

1. They were 11, 7, and 5. We were driving from Chicago to Orlando for more than just Disney. I printed out pictures of all of the attractions we had planned (Cocoa Beach, Gatorland, Disney, Disney Quest, IFLY Indoor Skydiving, Detroit Tigers spring training game, as well as stops along the way such as Mammoth Caves, Atlanta Falcons stadium tour, etc). I also found 3-4 clues for each major city we were going to pass through on the way. About three weeks before the trip, I pinned up a wall map of the USA and gave the kids the clues for the 1st major city/state. From the clues, they had to guess the city and mark it on the map. Pretty soon, we had a good line going, and the kids started getting more of an idea of where our end destination was. Once it was obvious that we were going to Florida, (the last week), we gave them a picture a day of the attraction we were going to be doing when we got there.

It was so much fun that way, and the kids actually remember some of the clues when one of the cities/states comes up! Bonus geography lesson!!! LOL

2. The 2nd time, we decided we were going to surprise them all the way. They were 13, 9, and 7. I packed everything ahead of time, and made up goody bags for each kid with gum, snacks for the plane, their boarding pass, their magic band, an invisible ink book, sunglasses, a new toothbrush (that's how I got away with packing early and making sure I didn't forget anything! LOL), etc. On one side of the bags, I wrote (in Sharpie, of course, since that is my company!!):

"Who's got it"
"Better than us??!!"
"NOBODYYY!!"

and on the back:
"We are"
"going to"
"Disneyworld!!!"

The morning of, we woke the kids up at their regular school time like it was a normal day. They got ready in the clothes we chose (and they never even asked! LOL) and started to go to the car. We stopped them as told them to sit down because we had to tell them something. DH brought the goodie bags down and each kid had to read theirs, and DH told them to turn them over. They read the we are going to DW part, and all said "Cool". It wasn't until they opened their goodie bags and DS13 read his boarding pass that he finally got it that we were actually leaving RIGHT THEN, and once he told the younger kids, they started screaming and freaking out. I have it all on video.

I told them that we were leaving for the airport in 15 minutes and that they could go get ONE thing that they wanted to bring that would fit in their carry on.

The best part of all was when it was time to leave. DH and I hired a limo to take us to the airport. We told the kids that car was out front, and they opened up the door to a gigantic white stretch limo waiting for us. DS7 started to yell "A LIMO??!!" "You got us a LIMO??!!" "How did you guys afford that???!!!"

It was priceless. All kids should be surprised at least once in their lives!! And we never once lied to them at all (we made sure to word things so that we were not lying!), I made sure school/activities were squared away, and we actually TOLD them that they were going so many times via hints that they didn't catch on to, that we all laughed about it in the limo on the way to the airport. I think the reaction we got being that we leaving right then and there was much better than had we told them earlier. They were so calm when they read "We are going to DW" like ehh...nice. Can't wait for it to get here, I guess. Once they realized we were leaving that day, we got the reaction we were looking for!

Have fun!

 

[desiree71081]

All kids should be surprised at least once in their lives!! And we never once lied to them at all (we made sure to word things so that we were not lying!), I made sure school/activities were squared away, and we actually TOLD them that they were going so many times via hints that they didn't catch on to, that we all laughed about it in the limo on the way to the airport. I think the reaction we got being that we leaving right then and there was much better than had we told them earlier. They were so calm when they read "We are going to DW" like ehh...nice. Can't wait for it to get here, I guess. Once they realized we were leaving that day, we got the reaction we were looking for!

Have fun!

I love this part of your story!!! Finding out they were going but not realizing it was THAT DAY!!!!....wow. This is the feeling I want when they finally realize where we are going.