How would you tell the kids?

[NateNLogansDad]

Here's my situation, in 1 week we are FINALLY going to WDW!!!!! My wife and I have been counting down for months now but the kids have no idea we are going in 7 days This Sat, my brother gets married and both boys are in it and we get on an airplane the next morning. Right now they are just really excited to "get our new suits" (rent our tuxes) and go to the wedding.
The boys are 3 & 5 yrs old. We went to WDW last year and have talked about it every day since. The night of the wedding we have a Mickey doll in a tux for each of them to wake up with on the pillow but still don't know exactly how to tell them. I thought, just wait till we get to the airport, but I'm open for suggestions and stories! Right now my wife and I are bouncing off the walls but somehow we've kept it a secret

 

[turtlebean]

My neighbor suprised her boys this year w/a trip to Disney World. She did a scavenger hunt. Each place they went to there was a suprise to take on their trip w/the final suprise being shirts to wear as a family to Disney. It was really cute. You could do the same and have the mickey in the tux be at the place of their final clue w/a sign saying they are going to Disney. Kudos to you though, we couldn't keep our trip a secret. We booked our trip in January and are finally leaving in 6 days. It's been like Christmas around our house, you know it's coming, but it feels like it's never going to get here.

 

[cruisindisney]

Your kids might be too young for this, but I wrote a letter from Mickey Mouse telling my kids that they were going to DW and on the Disney Cruise. I actually got the idea from somewhere on the boards. They even had a cute rhyme on the letter, so I just adapted it to work for our trip.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Keep em coming! We need all the help we can get!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

~bump~

 

[debbido71]

Please let us know what u end up doing. We are doing the same thing at the end of September and are not sure exactly how we are doing it either. We went to Disney the past 2 summers and told the kids there was absolutely no way we are going this year. They believe us too! We are leaving here on a Tuesday evening. So we were thinking we would tell the kids when they get home from school that we were going to try a new special restaurant in the city. (Philadelphia). I bought disney carry-on bags for the kids that I plan on packing ahead of time. They have their names on them. When we get to the parking lot I figured that is when we would take them out and let them know! We are playing around with a few other ideas that we have heard about. One is that we tell the kids we need to take Dad to the airport for a business trip. Then say surprise! You are all coming too!! Not sure how we'll do it. But I do know it is a hard secret to keep! Congratulations to you for keeping it so long. I'm sure you can't wait!!

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

Just ask them, "if you could go anywhere in the whole world right now, where would you want to go"....I bet one of them says, "Disney World"!\

Several years ago, I did this to my kids after they got home from school. MY son said , "Oz fest" but my daughter came through with an enthusiastic "DISNEY WORLD"! I said, ok, you have 1 hour to go pack and then grandpa will be here to drive us to the airport. They didn't believe me until I produced a list of what they needed to pack...I can still hear them whispering, "it must be real if she's got a list...."

 

[Mickey_Dust]

We are going in Sept. and our kids don't know anything about it... they are 6, 3 and 1. We are flying down on a Tuesday night so when we pick up my 6 year old from school and drive to the airport we will anticipate thier questions, (Where are we going? How long til we get there? etc...) Well we will tell them that we are going on drive to someplace special... when we get close to the airport and the questions continue we will have mickey ears ready for them in wrapped boxes with airplanes and balloons on them.. and when they open it we will tell them that wherever we go these will be needed... They will be so excited! I just have to make it the 2 1/2 hour drive to the airport with all the questions. LOL

Best of luck on your surprise I hope it goes just as you envision it. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[Ddennis37]

I would have LOVED to surprise our son on our very first trip, but (1) I was too excited and (2) since he's our only child, we like to include him in the planning. My best friend and her husband planned a week's vacation to Disneyland and didn't tell him until they woke him up that morning and said, 'come on, we have to go so we can catch the plane to Disneyland.' He flipped out and couldn't believe it.

My son is a HUGE Lakers fan (boo) and when the Sonics were still in Seattle, I bought us 3 tickets to a game. I brought out the video camera and went to his room and while handing him the tickets I said, 'the only thing you have to decide is which jersey you will wear.' He totally FREAKED out as that was also his first sporting event. He was so excited leading up to the game and even after the game. If you can, definitely have the recorder going. We replay it all the time and he still smiles till this day.

 

[TagsMissy]

I have to say we (hubby, bro, sil and I) were mean -- we'd talk in code purposely in front of the kids knowing it would drive them crazy LOL they are a bit older the youngest being 7 though -- it was their own littler verbal scavenger hunt. In due time the middle one figured it out

But you could see it was driving her crazy as she kept on guessing and begging for us to tell her until she worked it out on her own.

 

[Shenanigoat]

For my first WDW trip my Stepdad picked up my brother and I from school, around lunch time. We didn't know what was going on and walked with him to the car. My Mom was already in the car and we got into our seats. At our feet was a backpack for each of us- Minnie for me and Mickey for my brother. We were like, "what's going on?" and my Mom said "We're going to Disney World!!" I think she probably wishes she told us when we were outside of the car because we shrieked like rabid hyenas for a good solid hour.

Our backpacks were filled with games, books, snacks, coloring books, and a Chip for me and a Dale for my brother. We drove down from NJ to Florida and the next day had breakfast at the Poly! I can't wait to do something like that when my DH and I are finally parents.