I want to do it but I dont want to be like everybody else.

[Kathryn777]

Oh my lord...do NOT tell your wife the morning of!!!!

This. Unless you do allll the packing normally, that's a huge amount of work! I would hate if if my husband tried to do the packing

 

[Allison]

No way would I spring a surprise on my spouse like that.

 

[Mousin' Around]

As the wife who does the checklists, shopping, laundry, packing, double checking, etc., etc., I think I'd KILL you if you told me that morning! But maybe that's just me. I can see when both parents are in on it and surprising the kids, but I think it adds a whole different wrinkle if you're surprising your wife as well. Will you take care of the pre-trip shopping, laundry, packing, etc.?

Without a doubt. If you knew what we've been through you would understand. We all thought we were going to lose her. She would be all over this with smiles and hugs.

 

[Mousin' Around]

My wife would be thrilled until she saw how much money I spent without her okay. We are financially okay, but not enough to do Disney without both knowing about it.

But if I ever win the lottery, I am so going to surprise her with random trips to everywhere.

I got a huge bonus. And after everything we went through, money is not our priority. Life and our family is everything. You live once and are not promised tomorrow. She would not care about the money.

 

[Mousin' Around]

This. Unless you do allll the packing normally, that's a huge amount of work! I would hate if if my husband tried to do the packing

I have been doing everything for my family solo for more than a year. This is nothing.

 

[Mousin' Around]

I’m all for surprises. I don't have a spouse; but I’ve surprised my two children more than once from we are going to the airport now to we are leaving in three days. They love surprises and love Disney so much though I could probably wake them at 2am and say Disney and they’ll bounce. My daughter doesn’t care what is in her suitcase (tried to get her to check through it last trip) or about the planning (says, “I know you’ve got it mom). But all children are different. My husband Lord rest his soul, was so nosey, you couldn't even surprise him with dinner out. I tried once just telling him "don't make plans for such and such a night" and he drove me batty until I told him.

I think since you are also surprising your wife, at least a week or two, maybe three even if the two of you continue to hold it from the children. I’m guessing her job is at home and she doesn’t need to line up vacation time; but still preparing a home before vacation adds to the everyday management of it. I can’t imagine surprising another adult with a 10 day trip like that the day of departure or within 3 days. I can’t imagine being surprised with one either. Something like heading to the beach for a few days maybe; but Disney…no.

That will be hard on you too. When planning these, it gets harder and harder the closer the trip gets with the packing and last minute errands and all. When I get to the last minute errands is when I let the cat out of the bag. One thing I always do at this point due to a close call with our 2nd trip is say nothing until our package is paid in full.

I have done everything for my family for more than a year. My wife was very sick and we thought we were going to lose her. Believe me when I say you have no idea how much I can handle. lol Planning Disney is nothing. I think people tend to think this is a woman's responsibility anyhow, but when you have taken care of two teens, a wife, all of the bills, a full-time job, your home, etc planning a vacation is like brushing your teeth.

 

[bumbershoot]

With all you have planned, I'm not sure 10 days is enough time.

 

[Mousin' Around]

I just happen to be surprising DH and DGD with a trip next week.

Don't worry, I have arranged with his boss for his time off.
I had the wonderful Disingers here do a couple of surprise notes for me to use.
So happens we are leaving in the morning.
I'm telling DH after DGD leaves for school. I have a note that tells him he isn't going to work that day, to pack, we leave for Disney in a couple of hours.
We are driving to get DGD from school (early) with the car loaded. It's her last day and I plan to give her the note telling her the car is pack and we leave for Disney today.

Oh, and as for the money, we fund Disney trips with an account I use for freelance work. If I don't get the work, we don't get the trip. This year I have the funds to do AP's, 3 trips to WDW and 1 to DL. DH knows about DL but none of the years just yet

I hope you have a fantastic trip. You have everything lined up perfectly. The wife currently does not work so I don't have to worry about that. lol

 

[mykidsrqts]

I've surprised my kids in 3 different ways but none last minute. Although my son would be fine with a last minute "we're going to Disney" announcement, my daughter definitely would not. She loves Disney more than anything else, but she hates late minute surprises. She is a planner and likes to know plans in advance for everything. It's not just an age thing, with her its a personality thing. She also loves the planning part of the Disney trip. She even says that she thinks it would be disappointing to not be part of the planning. So, I think personality is an important factor regarding how close to the date can you wait.

Surprise trip #1: surprise gift box filled with helium balloons and a sign "We're going to Disney!"
Surprise trip #2: Very involved multi-day scavenger hunt
Surprise trip #3: Elaborate April Fool's Day prank

 

[Mousin' Around]

I would be thrilled when my husband surprised me like that, but I would also want to kill him. I don't know your family life and agreements you and your wife have. But as you are doing this big, if I were your wife I would like to know the financial side of it. This is not a trip on a budget, to me major financial decisions should be made together.

I would tell your wife earlier, to make sure that she doesn't make plans that might be hard to cancel (can't think of an example). Also, not just so she can help pack and prepare, but when you surprise her at the same time, she cannot enjoy the surprise and joy it brings to the children. It will be a great memory you are making, but let your wife in on it so she can enjoy the expressions on the faces of the children. (And help dry your tears in the case the children aren't thrilled ;-) )

I understand what you mean about the financial part. We are really very okay financially.

The telling her part I will have to give some thought. Thanks for mentioning it that way. My kids being thrilled is not a question.

 

[Mousin' Around]

How old are the kids? If they are young I'd surprise them the day of. If they are teens I'd let them know in advance as they may have some other stuff going on. As for your wife? If it was me I'd kill you if you told me the day of but I'm not one for surprises. Won't she have to shop for stuff or just prepare?

LOL I think a lot of women are that way. You ladies are wonderful the way you take care of your families and think of everything.

There would be no prep work for her to do. Her being with us is the biggest thing. But maybe I should tell them on a Saturday we are going on a Monday.

 

[Indio]

Since you've been taking care of everything for a year, I say go for it! Surprise them all! I've surprised my youngest son with a mom/son trip, but never got to surprise my older 2 or my husband with anything big like that. I would be thrilled if I thought my husband could handle all the packing!

Have a ball!!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I have done everything for my family for more than a year. My wife was very sick and we thought we were going to lose her. Believe me when I say you have no idea how much I can handle. lol Planning Disney is nothing. I think people tend to think this is a woman's responsibility anyhow, but when you have taken care of two teens, a wife, all of the bills, a full-time job, your home, etc planning a vacation is like brushing your teeth.

I just meant keeping the secret gets harder and harder because of what has to be done. I had no question as to whether you could handle the packing, just felt an adult would need more lead time.

I’ve been on that road only I lost my husband so I’m in year 6 now of taking care of my family alone after 4 years as his caregiver and I’ve met others on the same road doing it all for their children. I hope you all enjoy your trip. Glad she is better.

 

[Karin1984]

I have done everything for my family for more than a year. My wife was very sick and we thought we were going to lose her.

I'm sorry for your hard year, a trip will be a good way to celebrate life. you know your wife better than we do, if she loves last minute surprises, especially after the year she had I can imagine the need for what is important in life. I change to: go for it!
My only other concern would be: I take it your wife has fully recovered and has the stamina by then to have a long Disney vacation? You have quite a full schedule planned.

 

[lostmypooh]

I am so grateful your wife has a husband like you! I am also so sorry that you all have had such a difficult year. At the same time, I'm happy that things must be getting better if you can take this amazing vacation you have planned! Maybe tell your wife a few days prior to the trip so she can pack what she needs. Women can get pretty particular about what we want to wear...LOL. It will also give your wife the opportunity to share in the joy when you tell the kids. Tell them the day of. I think that would be awesome! No matter how you decide to handle it, I hope that this trip is a true blessing to you and your family! You are in my prayers.

 

[bigcrit]

Kudos to you for all your efforts. I think this is awesome!

I plan all of our trips, soup to nuts, and I am a guy. I just have a knack for setting up trips. Little do they know the Dis always makes me look like a genius.

in 2006 we surprised our daughters with a trip. We picked them up at school on our way to the airport, it was for their birthday. They loved it.

 

[AngiTN]

Without a doubt. If you knew what we've been through you would understand. We all thought we were going to lose her. She would be all over this with smiles and hugs.

I got a huge bonus. And after everything we went through, money is not our priority. Life and our family is everything. You live once and are not promised tomorrow. She would not care about the money.

I have been doing everything for my family solo for more than a year. This is nothing.

I have done everything for my family for more than a year. My wife was very sick and we thought we were going to lose her. Believe me when I say you have no idea how much I can handle. lol Planning Disney is nothing. I think people tend to think this is a woman's responsibility anyhow, but when you have taken care of two teens, a wife, all of the bills, a full-time job, your home, etc planning a vacation is like brushing your teeth.

I understand what you mean about the financial part. We are really very okay financially.

The telling her part I will have to give some thought. Thanks for mentioning it that way. My kids being thrilled is not a question.

LOL I think a lot of women are that way. You ladies are wonderful the way you take care of your families and think of everything.

There would be no prep work for her to do. Her being with us is the biggest thing. But maybe I should tell them on a Saturday we are going on a Monday.

Do it! Sounds like your family could use the fun. You only have things line up for surprising an adult under certain circumstances. Just give her enough time to pack and make sure she doesn't have anything booked you may not be aware of like a hair appoint or doctor's appointment.

I had to make sure DH's hairdresser didn't schedule him during our trip. Luckily we both go to the same person and when I got mine cut last I had her move DH so he wasn't down during our trip. Once I fixed that and worked with his boss it's been ok. It has been hard not to say "hey, what do you think about X or how about we try out Y". Also, I'm not sure I could have pulled off the surprise if it was not for our DL trip that is 1 week after we get back from WDW. I am doing prep work and DH thinks it's just for DL.

I'm giving DH enough notice to pack for himself but that's it. He does laundry in our house so I'm hoping he had washed what needs to be washed. I can't interfere there without raising his suspicion since I can't even operate the machines If I questioned him'd be curious why. I decided if something he must have is dirty we'll wash it there.

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

I surprised my daughter once. She was 14 at the time. She was trying to "be cool" since we were filming, but when the camera was turned off she let her excitement show. She was by no means rude. She was still very appreciative, but quite the modest and conservative young lady on the camera.

I love surprise videos, but one thing I notice is a trend is the parents are always more excited than the kids or the parents are very stressed out because the kids are not opening the box right, they are misbehaving in the car, they are not standing in the right place or something along those lines. Of course there are also the kids who are way too young. They dance around and such because of the excitement from mom and dad, but they simply do not get the magnitude of the surprise.

In most of the videos, the parents yell "we are going to Disney World" or "we are leaving for Disney today" and the kids just do not have the same level of excitement because it has not set in. The parents want the kids to be all worked up like them, but it does not always happen. Sometimes I believe it is because the parents do all of the planning and there is a build-up on their part and the kids have it sprung on them and it is just either a good or bad "shock". And sometimes, when a parent tells their kids their kids they are going on once place and then they tell them somewhere else, it creates a meltdown. They get excited about the idea in their head about one location and change is not always easy to take.

There are a few surprises that I have seen that went very well, but most do not turn out like these. Here are some good ones for some ideas:

YOU HAVE TO READ THE DESCRIPTION BEFORE WATCHING

Did not go so well:

WORST DAD EVER

 

[AngiTN]

When we surprised DGD last summer I made the mistake of not making it clear that we were going to Disney TODAY. She got excited but not the jump up and down excited she would have had I not had to explain to her when we are going. Because of that her video was eh. Didn't diminish her excitement just didn't make for the video memory I had hoped for.
So my advice is to make sure your reveal includes the when, now, today, in 2 days, etc.

 

[momof2n2]

I don't know your family. DH and I have surprised the kids with trips (not WDW) twice and it was a fun experience.