I need help with our surprise trip!

[shortkathleen]

I have been planning our first trip to WDW for a year now, it is a total surprise for our 7 and 5 year old. We leave Dec. 16th. I thought I had the whole "Surpise" thing worked out but now I am at a total loss. We were going to have one of those enchanted disney phone calls for the kids that said "Good Morning, I heard you are going on a magical trip...." We were going to have them call when we were on our way to the airport at 4:15 am but when I went to set it up I found out it has to be done after 6am. So any ideas of how I can reveal it to them. I don't want to tell them until the morning of. Thanks for any ideas!!

 

[2tinks2pirates]

We are doing the suprise thing as well, but our "reveal" will be on Christmas morning for a January trip. I'm setting up a scavenger hunt with the final clue being a puzzle I'll make that says "we're going to Disney!" You could do something like that where the hunt ends at their packed bags or tells them to go buckle up or they'll be late for a date with Mickey! Hope that helps. I don't know about you, but the waiting is killing me!

 

[Whipperwhirl]

I have been planning our first trip to WDW for a year now, it is a total surprise for our 7 and 5 year old. We leave Dec. 16th. I thought I had the whole "Surpise" thing worked out but now I am at a total loss. We were going to have one of those enchanted disney phone calls for the kids that said "Good Morning, I heard you are going on a magical trip...." We were going to have them call when we were on our way to the airport at 4:15 am but when I went to set it up I found out it has to be done after 6am. So any ideas of how I can reveal it to them. I don't want to tell them until the morning of. Thanks for any ideas!!

You want to surprise them at 4:15 am - eeek - my kids would just not get it that early. We are planning a Christmas morning surprise this year for DD almost 9 and DS4. we officially leave December 26th - but I have rented a hotel room at the airport so we can leave on December 25th - this way they will have all day to adjust - tell their grandparents etc - and we still leave the same day as the surprise. We will go swimming - get room service - watch a movie - they are going to love it. I might try the same thing in your situation - tell them on the 15th - give them all day to collect their thoughts and tell people - then head for the airport under more awake conditions. I think this will also open up options for you on how to tell them - i.e. scavenger hunt, phone call or whatever.

My plan to announce the surprise is very elaborate . . .

All year long I have been planting the seed that wouldnt it be neat to get a pet skunk. DD9 laughs - considers it for a moment and then says but I dont think they would make a very good pet - what if they get scared. So Christmas morning my husband and I are going to announce that we are finally going to give them have wanted all year long - their pet skunk! My BIL is comming over with a pet carrier. He is going to make it look like its hard to control. Then when she goes to check out the carrier there wont be a live skunk but a webkinz skunk and a countdown calendar. The countdown calendar explains that we were only kidding and that instead of a skunk we would give her something she has really always wanted - A disney vacation! The only problem with the countdown calendar is it is all messed up - the numbers are wrong. She is basically going to rip off every page of the calendar trying to find out when we leave and the last page is Zero - we leave today!

With elaborate plans there is elaborate room for things to go wrong - like she may end up crying that she didnt get her pet skunk - but Im betting she will be happy with the webkinz and her disney vacation.

It has been very difficult for me to keep it a secretb- Im so close though now - I cant blow it - WHIP

 

[Shmily1]

Could you have a friend or relative call them and disguise their voice? Or how about drawing a Mickey head on the bathroom mirror in lipstick or something and telling them to go brush their teeth? ( I love that one!!)

One time we were going to WDW and I didn't want to tell the kids, DS7, DD6, and DGD4. We were going to dinner. We went to a town about 40 miles away and conveniently was on the way to WDW, and stopped at KFC. DS said "all this way for KFC? We have one of these in town..." We ate, then got in the car and hit the interstate. DS then says, "this isn't the way home is it?" I told him we were just riding for a few minutes. Then he saw the sign that said welcome to Florida. He said "Pop, you went the wrong way!!!" By this time it is really dark and they are getting tired so I tell them we are going to a car show. DD said "but you didn't even let us get some clothes" so I told them we had them in the trunk already packed. We got to WDW with them asleep and carried them to the room. When they woke up, we went to a McDonald's for breakfast and DH said, he wasn't going any further until I told them. After we ate and got back in the car, I said, "OK guys, I didn't tell you where the car show was.... the only cars you will see today are the ones in the WDW parking lot!! Your going to Disney World!!!" I know the people walking by were staring at us cause the car was bouncing and they were all three screaming at the top of their lungs!!!! It was perfect!!!

 

[aladams2]

We are also surprising our kids. We are going to tell them a week before their trip b/c we are going to miss out on some of their Christmas activities here. Here is what we have planned. I'm going to go and buy a Mickey head balloon and wrap it up in a large box with a sign attached to the string saying: "Merry Christmas! We're going to Disney World in 7 days!" I'll put it by the tree and DH and I will argue over if we should let the kids open it early or not. Of course we will let them and once the box is opened the balloon will float up and reveal their surprise. I have my reveal in 10 days!! I can't wait. Keeping this secret is so hard, but it is SO worth it. I couldn't imagine the "Are we going yet?"question for months!

 

[JerseyMouse]

We are also surprising our kids. We are going to tell them a week before their trip b/c we are going to miss out on some of their Christmas activities here. Here is what we have planned. I'm going to go and buy a Mickey head balloon and wrap it up in a large box with a sign attached to the string saying: "Merry Christmas! We're going to Disney World in 7 days!" I'll put it by the tree and DH and I will argue over if we should let the kids open it early or not. Of course we will let them and once the box is opened the balloon will float up and reveal their surprise. I have my reveal in 10 days!! I can't wait. Keeping this secret is so hard, but it is SO worth it. I couldn't imagine the "Are we going yet?"question for months!

OOOh, I love the balloon idea. I'm thinking I'm going to borrow that idea when we reveal on Christmas morning, as well. Enjoy your trip!!!

 

[mjkacmom]

We woke them up, and we were wearing Disney tshirts, and handed them theirs. Because they were missing school that day, we had told them that we had to get up very early to drive 3 hours to their great aunt's nursing home (whom they had never met) for her birthday luncheon. Needless to say, they were happy!

 

[littleteapot]

Our kids will be spending the day and night before we leave at Grandma's.

DH and I will pack, run to the store, pack the car, run to the store (cause I am a horrible planner) and get a good nights sleep.

We'll go over to my mom's (she live in the neighborhood) and get them up around 5:00. My plan is to hide the clocks so they think it is a normal time to get moving.

We're going to put them in the loaded car and see how long it takes them to figure it out. It is a 15 hour drive, I think they'll know where we're going in about 15 seconds

 

[joyfulscrapper]

I did the balloon idea for our surprise trip last month, only I didn't have a sign on it announcing the trip, just presents that served as clues to our trip (mickey tees, park maps, autograph books, and disney travel journals from themouseforless.com). The balloons went over well, I had a mickey head, 2 disney princess ones, and a few latex ones. I needed a LARGE box to fit the balloons, though. In fact, it was a washing machine box from a local appliance store!

Anyway, as mentioned above, sometimes the surprises don't go as well as expected, and mine was one of them. I would've been better off with a sign because my kids didn't get the clues, we basically had to tell them because they weren't figuring it out. And then DD (6) started crying because we weren't going to fly, but drive, to WDW. Turns out she was having a bad day, maybe over tired. But, looking back, they still talk about how cool it was when the balloons came out of the box. I just wish I had done the sign. I was really counting on them figuring it out and that just wasn't happening. So keep in mind, it may not go as planned. And maybe at 4am, they would be too tired to appreciate such a great surprise. But you know your kids best and will figure out something great with all the awesome advice on this board, I'm sure!

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

We have done 2 surprise trips - our DDs love them! The last one we did was in November. When the girls got off the bus my Dh was packing the car and they asked him if we were going somewhere. He said yes go pack a bag of stuff for the car. They came in and i was finishing the final gathering. They asked me if we were going to see Grandma - I said no - go pack your stuff for a long car ride. After we were in the car for about 45 min we told them that they could play 20 questions to figure it out. They had 20 questions a day because it is an 18 hour drive and we were breaking it up into 2 days. They figured it out in about 18 questions - they were stunned!

They first time we surprised them we got them up for school and had them get ready. When they were almost ready we told them to go brush their hair and we pulled out a carry on bag for them each. We had them look thru it and try to figure out where we were going. My DDs wouldn't believe that we were going until we landed in Orlando!

 

[wuv tigger]

EVERYONE & I mean EVERYONE was in on the surprise.

DH made the ressies 14 months before the cruise!

We got their passports in the spring of this year. We told them we "might" go to the UK if Daddy is sent there for work again.

I did lots of shopping online. I purchased capri pants, skorts, knit dresses and stockings ALL on sale from Lands End. I went shopping for new clothes for me at Liz Claiborne.

We were able to pack their clothes 1 week before the trip while they were at a special gymnastics night at the academy.

I made a journal book for each of them. I went to Discovery channel . com to get some search & find puzzles. I used words they would be using, seeing or something they would be doing on the cruise. The ?? for them to answer was: "Where are you going on vacation tomorrow?"

Once they found all the words the remaining letters would spell: You are cruising on the Disney Magic tomorrow.

We picked the kids up early from school. We had an airplane travel bag for each of them which they got once they got into the minivan. Their Godmother drove us. They did figure out that we were headed to the airport quickly.

We told them we would answer their ?? once we got to our gate. They got a journal book and they got to decorate it with new DISNEY bubble stickers. The puzzle was in the journal which they got at our gate. It took them about 15 minutes to get the puzzle done. They hooped it up a bit on the phone to their Godmother and to a fellow diser who was in on the surprise.

We flew to MCO where we got a rental car. It was late at night and they dozed in the car to Cocoa Beach. We had a late dinner at the Burger King. It was Halloween so they got some trick or treat candy. We used points to stay at the Marriott Residence Inn. Great rooms and a great breakfast in the am.

The next morning dh was trying to tell me how to do things once he dropped us off at the port. I wasn't TOO about that idea. So, we all drove to AVIS, dropped off the car & hopped on the shuttle. We found 2 other families who were also on the cruise. It was great to share our screams, oooh, and aaaahhhhh's with Plutospup & family. That's when it really sunk in for our kids.

 

[WisconsinDisneyGirl]

We are going to WDW in 4 days. Our kids don't know about this trip. My parents are taking us all for Christmas. My parents want to just "meet" us at the airport and ask them to go to WDW with them. I am still trying to figure out how all this is going to happen. Have to talk to my mom alittle more about it tonight!

 

[shortkathleen]

Thank you for all the great ideas! I think we have worked out a new plan.

We will wake them up and get them dressed and put them in the car where they will each have a present waiting in there booster seats. They will each open a t-shirt, Minnie for my dd and Mickey for my ds. Then we will start the disney planning dvd in our dvd player. Hopefully they will fiqure it out and be surprised . The funny thing is is that when we ask our ds what he wants for Christmas he says, "Something that makes my jaw drop." I think a trip to WDW will make his jaw drop for sure! 15 days away!!!!!!!!!!!!