ideas for Announcing Surprise Trip

[wahmtexas]

Would love to hear ideas and stories about revealing a surprise Disney trip...We are not telling the kids about our Christmas trip this year. Want to plan a surprise reveal, night before?? at airport?? once we arrive in Orlando??

 

[tzolkin]

We did a surprise our second trip. We told the kids we didn't have enough money to go back just yet, but we were saving up for the following year.

They knew we were going on vacation-- couldn't keep the packing and such a secret-- but they thought we were going to visit grandma in FL.

Even when they started seeing the Disney signs, DH reminded them that we had to drive by because grandma lives south of there. They did not know what was going on until we pulled into the parking lot of the resort.

They did get to see grandma so it wasn't totally a lie. She joined us for a few days during our trip but that was also a surprise. She checked in early and was sitting on a bench by the bus stop. We were headed to MK rope drop and one of the kids said, "Hey that lady looks like grandma".

 

[Benihana]

We were away for the weekend at a beach house with family and planned to fly straight from there Monday morning. We told the kids we were going to leave early in the morning to beat the traffic but if they were good we had planned to stop somewhere "fun" on the way home.

When we were 20 min from the airport we stopped for a quick breakfast and said it was time to talk about our fun stop, but first I had made them a book to remember our weekend at the beach. I gave my oldest a book I had made and asked her to read it outloud so her brother could hear too.

The book talked about a little princess and pirate who had fun at the beach with cousins and were sad their vacation was over. Then it talked about how their mommy and daddy surprised them by going to the airport. Then it finished with " when u wish upon a star...sometimes dreams really do come true.... This is a true story. We are heading to the airport right now to fly to.... ( picture of the characters in front of the castle on the last page). As they processed the news hubby and I pulled out earhats and they started screaming yay! We are going to Disney world!

They were so very happy and excited. Totally worth all the sneaky planning to see those little faces lit up with joy!

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

For our first trip, we did our surprise at the airport here - we woke the kids up at 4:30 in the morning and told them we had to drive some luggage to the airport for a co-worker who didn't have room in their car (they were 6 and 8, so fairly easy to convince). We got there, went inside and gave them a picture of the castle with "Surprise - we're going to Disney World!" on it.

They read it and said, "I don't get it..." (4:30 wakeup probably had a lot to do with that - they were pretty stunned). Once we were on the plane and they were more awake, the whole ride was "I can't believe we're going to Disney World! You're the best parents ever!").

 

[txcorey]

I'd love to hear more stories. I'm thinking of surprising my son at Christmas somehow. We will be leaving on January 2nd and I'd love to figure out a fun way to surprise him. That will be his big Christmas gift from us but I thought about having a few Disney related things he could open and tell him that his gifts are a clue to a big surprise or something. Still trying to figure out the best way to do it.

 

[lucyem]

Last Christmas we told the kids we were driving to grandma's for the weekend. We wanted to see how far we would get before they noticed. The previous summer we drove 4 hours north into VT with them thinking they were driving south to MD. We were in the hotel in VT before they really understood what was going on. Oh the power of the nintendo DS

At Christmas I had a suitcase in the car with the disney stuff. I packed for "grandma's" with them. The extra suitcase was never noticed. We started driving south towards CT where grandma lives. We got caught in traffic and went online to see there was tons all through CT. My DH and I had some discussions about avoiding it and ended up going west from MA into NY. My oldest heard some of our discussion and finally said "You do not go through NY to get to CT!" We told him he was right and that maybe we were not going to grandma's. It took a little bit to get them to guess WDW. We had just been in October so it was totally not on their radar. (yes we drive from New England )

 

[SEA333]

Last year when we went, we tried to keep the destination a secret as long as possible. We were driving from Chicago, and I bought a big wall map of the United States I made up a few clues for each large city/landmark we would be passing through, and pictures representing each fun activity we would be doing either on the way, while we were there, and on the way back since we had tons of things planned outside of Disney, too.

About 3 weeks before the trip, I read one set of clues to the kids per day (6th, 2nd, and Kindergarten at the time, and obviously the 6th grader helped the little ones out!) and they had to figure out what city/landmark the clue was about. Then they marked it on the map, where they soon had a line going from Chicago to Florida and back. On the days where we reached a spot where we had an activity planned for that location, I would show them the picture, and they could guess what the activity was as well.

Once they knew we were obviously going to Florida, I started to show them the pictures of the resort hotel we were staying at (Hilton Convention Center on I-Drive&the BEST pool area for kids I have ever seen in my LIFE!!!), and the rest of the things we would be doing - Atlanta Falcons Stadium tour, Mammoth Caves, Cocoa Beach, I-FLY Indoor Skydiving, Gatorland Zip-lining, Disney, A Detroit Tigers Spring Training game (we are originally from Michigan!), etc. The kids LOVED getting their clue in the morning, and got more and more excited each day. It was really awesome.

This year, we are going to DW only and staying at POR, and the kids have NO idea we are even taking a trip. I will pack everything in secret and leave the bags hidden in my closet. We leave on a Thursday in November, and DH and I are planning on waking them up as if it is a normal school day. We are counting this as part of their Christmas gifts (now they are in 8th, 4th, and 2nd grades), and have been BEGGING us to go back, but to fly down this time, even to the point where they have all said that they would rather have a trip for a gift than toys (no worries - we are still getting them a few things for Christmas! LOL).

We are going to get their Christmas Stockings and some lights/small decorations out when they go to bed the night before, and I will put their plane tickets, their magic bands (if we get them!) or their KTTW tickets, a $50 Disney gift card per kid, a pair of sunglasses, sunscreen, and a new bathing suit each into their stockings, along with a portion of a progressive note that each will take a turn reading that will say something along the lines of "Santa heard your request, and he came early to three very special kids to bring you the trip you have asked for - get dressed and ready to go - our flight leaves in four hours -we are going to Disney World!!!!" I have not shown them the DW planning DVD yet because I am afraid they will figure out that we are going, so I thought that I would put that in and play it as they are waking up J

Hopefully they will be super-excited LOL and after we get dressed, we will be ready to head to the airport!!!

 

[awalker1015]

Cute ideas! We are surprising ds6 and dd8. They think we are going to NC for fall break (our flight connects through Raleigh). We may get the SW flight attendants to help us break the news. Or may do it between flights. No sure yet. Have autograph books and their magic bands. May wrap those. I need to figure this out!

 

[wahmtexas]

thanks for replying, keep them coming I love the idea of getting the Disney cards with money on them before the trip and giving them as part of the surprise

 

[northeast_minnie]

We are surprising our DS 8 on Christmas morning with a trip to WDW Easter 2014.

We are making a Disney box up I already have a plush Mickey Mouse in it - hoping to get a postcard back from Mickey Mouse to put in it, Getting Kids Guide to WDW by kids book to put in and some Disney sweets(candy) also putting in a countdown chain with the number of days to our trip. Think we are also putting some American Dollars in so he has his own spending money.

Cannot wait to surprise him on Christmas morning.
xx

 

[Rowdymom81]

I'm going with my daughter and 6 y/o granddaughter in October. The plan is to "take Mimi to the airport and bring her car back home." Once at the airport we'll say, "Surprise!! We ALL going to Disney World!"

That is, if her Dad doesn't give it away. He's not known for thinking before he speaks.

 

[nadajoy]

We are surprising DD5 with our March trip on Christmas!! We found a Disney princess suitcase and she is going to unwrap it, inside the suitcase is going to be the free maps we got from the Disney world website, a copy of Birnbaum guide to Disney for kids and a Disney princess calendar that she had asked us for! We are going to open the calendar so we can look at the pretty pictures for each month and when we get to March I wrote in big letters, "We are going to Disney World!!" What will also be nice about the calendar is every night before the trip we will cross a day off the on the calendar, she can't ask how long until the trip because she will know!!

 

[Vailbaby]

Good Luck.
I couldn't keep a secret. Taking my twins for their 7th birthday in December and they've known for months.

 

[SqueakBC]

On our first trip, we "accidentally" let our girls find a variety of clues, like a print out of our trip itinerary, a vacation planning video, etc. They totally felt like a pair of little Nancy Drews sleuths who put together a bunch of clues and outsmarted mom and dad.

The rest of our trips though, we've always opted with telling them early so we get the fun of weeks of planning. The anticipation and countdown just adds to the whole experience!

 

[foxxxy83]

I've booked an airport hotel and have got my dad to come round after I pick my 6 yr old son up from school to ask us if we can help him with a job. Nothing new in our house so my son won't suspect then am telling him we're going to stay over at the hotel and watch the planes and let him think that's his surprise... then, when he gets up in the morning, there will be a present with an "invitation" from Mickey to go see him for his Halloween party in Florida!