I don't know if I can keep the secret much longer!

[MomofCKJ]

We booked this trip in February.We go Dec 15-22 and it is the first trip for our 3 kids (dd9, dd7 and ds4). They don't have a clue! It has been so hard but we are down to 23 days so I should be able to last a few more weeks right?

We have the whole "reveal" planned for the night of 12/14 with my MIL and my parents here too since they are helping pay for this trip too as a gift. But I don't know if I can make it.

Yesterday the kids and I watched the new planning DVD. We watch the old one all the time. Well I noticed yesterday that they weren't so excited watching it. I think it is kind of like if you are always going to look at a model of car you love and want but you know you can't have it, well after a while it gets depressing. I think they watch these DVDs so much, we talk about Disney so much and they want to go so bad but we are always telling them "Not this year" that they are losing steam.

I kind of want to just tell them so they have a few weeks to be excited about it but on the other hand we have waited this long and it really would be an incredible surpise to say "We are going to Disney in the morning!".

AAUUUGGGGHHHH!

Allyson

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

I might suggest a "Keeper of the Secret" support group. I feel your pain. Because your kids are feeling a little down about always looking at Disney through the glass, I might suggest you sweeten the pot without revealing all. Whisper to each of them that you are finally gonna plan a trip, that in just three short weeks, you'll pick a date. That will start the Disney hype without blowing the surprise.

 

[CharmedLife]

I might suggest a "Keeper of the Secret" support group.

Sign me up! We have a trip planned for Dec. 9 - 16 and my kids AND my mom don't know about it! I don't know how I'm going to get through all of Thanksgiving weekend without blowing it to my mom. Since I planned this back in January I really can't believe I haven't yet, I've caught myself a million times about to make a comment!!

My kids are acting the same way - they talk Disney all the time, constantly asking to go there, I keep saying "maybe next year"... I think they're actually getting a little sad about it. But I'm going to hold out 'til the very end, I can't wait to see the look on their faces!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Dupe message sorry!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Charmed Life, that is it! Exactly what I am talking about! They did not seem happy watching the video yesterday, it was more like "Yeah, so what, I'll never get there"

I am all for a Keeper of the Secret support group! I think all the folks planning suprise trips should band together to help each other stay strong in times of weakness!

Allyson

 

[marcyinPA]

KEEP THE SECRET!! It is so worth it!!

When we went last September, it was a surprise for our kids. We went with friends of ours, and they didn't tell their kids either. We planned the entire trip, and told the boys (we have two, they have three), the night before we left. My friend and I actually made a video telling the boys "Surprise! We're going to Disney World! TOMORROW!!".....They were shocked and speechless for a few minutes. Then, when it sunk in, they were screaming and running around like lunatics! Getting them to bed at night was a chore, but they LOVED being surprised. They asked if we could surprise them again sometime!! (our kids' ages when we went were 13, 10, 10, 7 and 6)

Well, we are going again in May 07, and this time our kids DO know that we are going, but they don't know when! They think we're going in June. I don't know when we will tell them we are going in May, but I think maybe the day before we leave!

Have a great time and keep the secret...just a little longer!

 

[kittysmom]

I am taking my DD (8) Dec 9-15th and I have not told her. When I even talk about Disney she thinks its so far in the future that she just doesn't care. If she knew it was 18 days away she would go crazy! I am planning to tell her on the plane and see her reaction! Good luck and Keep the secret!

 

[pyrxtc]

well, I'm totaly with you cuz I have only 9 days to go and haven't told my boys yet. They talk about going again all the time. I tell them when they are a little bigger they will go again. Well, they will be a little bit bigger next friday right?!

We are not going to tell them but I will have my camera on video mode when we are about to see the ME people.

It is killing me too cuz I cannot keep a secert. I ave been planning this sicne january too and ugh! 9 days is not soon enough.

 

[NewEnglandCamper]

That's Awesome! I would keep the surprise otherwise it would eat at them -- counting the days down.

We are going too... we thought about keeping the surprise but we wanted to make sure the kids really wanted to go (this would be in lieu of Christmas presents (toys) that they didn't really need to begin with).

We are using the Nativity Calendars for a countdown instead of Christmas countdown the days that we are going to Disney to celebrate Christmas!

 

[camdensmom]

shhhhh! keep the secret! It'll be worth it.

I surprised my DH (then boyfriend) with a Disney trip for his birthday one year. I left fake clues for his snooping purposes to make him think we were going skiing. He didn't find out until we arrived at the airport. So much fun!

 

[Doc CW]

You Have to hold out my parentsdid the same thing to me for X-mas and it was so awesome when they first told me I was so pumped and I still appriciate them for not telling me b/c it made the trip sooooo much more fun. So you need to hold on and retain the excitment.

 

[swillis]

I'm in the same boat, and I'm not going until June!!! Sign me up for the Suppot Group!

I'm going to wait until the last possible second to tell my kids. Hopefully I can get them packed (without them knowing) and in the car. I want to tell them we are picking up Edie (my best friend) and going somewhere (mall, beach, movies?)

Edie will come out her door with a suitcase and Mickey ears, and when she gets to the car say.."Is this the car to Disney World?!!??

That's my dream/plan...but I don't know if it will work out that way.

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

I'm in the same boat, and I'm not going until June!!! Sign me up for the Suppot Group!

I'm going to wait until the last possible second to tell my kids. Hopefully I can get them packed (without them knowing) and in the car. I want to tell them we are picking up Edie (my best friend) and going somewhere (mall, beach, movies?)

Edie will come out her door with a suitcase and Mickey ears, and when she gets to the car say.."Is this the car to Disney World?!!??

That's my dream/plan...but I don't know if it will work out that way.

What a great "reveal"! I hope all goes well!

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

I'm starting our support group!

Hi I'm Natalie.

I've been the "Keeper of the Secret" since the end of Feb. 06. I am keeping it from DS7, DS4.5 and DD4.5.

This will be our first time ever. I have been mentioning things for almost a year. "did you know that in WDW, you can ......." "Lightning McQueen and Mater now live in WDW, did you know that?" "you're tall enough to ride ...... at WDW, isn't that cool?"

We are traveling to Fort Wilderness in our motorhome for an 8 day stay. I plan to wait until the evening before the morning that we leave. I'll save the planning DVD (if it ever comes ) until that evening, let them watch, then tell them we are ready to plan our trip. Haven't decided just yet, how to tell them.

any other "KOTS" out there?

 

[MomofCKJ]

I'm Allyson, another KOTS!
My kids are dd9,dd7 and ds4. DH and I have been to WDW (DH only once but I have gone a bunch of times but not since 1997). Our kids have never been and have wanted to go forever.

We booked this in February. We decided instead of buying a bunch of toys at Christmas again that are forgotton by February we would do a trip this year instead. Since it is their Christmas gift we decided to keep it a secret till the night before we leave. Boy has this been hard! More so in the last week or so as it draws closer.

Our plan is on Dec 14th we sit them down and tell them they can open one small gift. I'll tell them it is something they can use more before Christmas. I know they will think it is an ornament. However it will be their engraved Guest of Honor badges that I ordered from Gifts of a Lifetime. I think the oldest will be the one to put it all together when she opens it.

We leave the next morning and have other suprises that week too for them that we will keep secret (limo to airport up here, Illuminations Cruise, Holiday Sleigh Ride).

I know it will be worth it to continue to keep the secret and the video of the "reveal" will be priceless! I just need to stay strong the next 3 weeks!

Allyson

 

[disneychrista]

Maybe it is just my kids but everytime I keep something like this a secret my get get LESS excitied than when they get to have the build up of going.

 

[jksgrammy]

I'm Sylvia, another KOTS! Grandmother to two darling grandkids who will be VERY surprised to learn they are going to Disney in Feb. Also taking DD and wonderful SIL. DD is having VERY hard time not telling GK's. Loved the idea in a previous post about making a video to announce the surprise. Will share that idea with DD to help take her mind off telling GK's!

Any other ideas to share for how to surprise GK's on Christmas with the news?

 

[LaraK]

another KOTS here...dd gets hyper about everything. I don't want her to stress over the trip for six months, so I haven't said anything....the funny thing is that she informed me that we are going to Disney World in April because "that's when you go to Disney World"...her first trip was on April 1st...we kept telling her we were going when it got to be April...well I guess it stuck. Anyway, I don't know when I'll tell her...I may just say we're going for a plane ride and then let her see Orlando when we get there.

 

[marcyinPA]

another KOTS here...dd gets hyper about everything. I don't want her to stress over the trip for six months, so I haven't said anything....the funny thing is that she informed me that we are going to Disney World in April because "that's when you go to Disney World"...her first trip was on April 1st...we kept telling her we were going when it got to be April...well I guess it stuck. Anyway, I don't know when I'll tell her...I may just say we're going for a plane ride and then let her see Orlando when we get there.

My oldest DS is like that....he gets all stressed out and hyper over stuff (even the fun stuff). We took our kids to Disney in May 04, and he was in third grade. They knew about the trip, and he totally obsessed over going for weeks. It affected his school work and his teacher made a point to tell me that she thought it was due to the "upcoming vacation". After that trip, we decided that if we ever pulled our kids out of school for vacation again, we would NOT tell them. We've been once since then, and it was a surprise and worked GREAT! We are going again in May 07, but our kids think we're going in June. It's a little more stressful for ME, because my oldest is now in middle school, and organizing a trip around his school schedule is a little hairy....but so far so good!

 

[glass slipper girl]

I can understand! We've done the surprise thing twice now. Once was their first trip. They knew we were planning to go in May of 2004 and were having so much fun watching the planning DVD and sing-along DVDs. My parents bought an RV in October of 2003. Just before Thanksgiving my Dad decided he wanted an upgrade made to it. It could be done in Kissimmee and his work was going to be closed down from Christmas to New Years for some sort of system upgrade so they called and asked if he could take us to WDW Christmas week as a Christmas gift. So it was last minute planning and we decided not to tell the kids. They knew we were going to Florida for a trip and that we were staying somewhere called Sherwood Forrest (the name of the RV park we were to stay at since Ft. Wilderness was full). I had made reservations for the character breakfast at the Beach Club and we planned on not telling them at all and just going to that breakfast and let DS figure it out when he saw the characters (he was almost 4). My mother wanted to tell sooner so we decided to tell them the night before we were to go. We sat them on the couch of the RV and gave them each Disney sweatshirts and Disney Dollars and asked if they knew where they could use that. DS said "Disney World?" we said "YES! and we're going there IN THE MORNING!" We expected something along the lines of and and we got "Disney World? OK. [[[pause]]] Can we go swimming now?" The next day was better as they were both in the mode from the time they woke up.

The 2nd surprise was better. That was this past May. My mother and I were taking the boys (now 4 and 6) down for Star Wars Weekend to celebrate DSs 6th birthday and kindergarten graduation. I had everything all packed before we went to graduation. Afterwards we all went out to lunch. After we finished eating DH gave each of the boys $20 and said casually "you can spend that at Disney World." DS6 said "Daddy, you're silly! We aren't going to Disney World!" DH said "are you sure?" and I said "yes we are! Right now! BEtter get in the car!" My mother said "We have to hurry, our plan leaves in 3 hours!" They didn't believe it till we showed them the luggage. They were SO surprised and excited! I just felt bad for the people around us on the plane who had ot hear "we're really going to Disney World? Really that's where this plane is going? Why didn't I know we were going?"