ideas for reveal of surprise guest at wdw

[Jennygt]

I am planning a family trip to WDW this Aug, staying at GRand floridian Me, dh, dd,ds,and my parents. Surprise guest is my brother and his GF. My brother has not been since 1988?( I remember the grand floridian was being built)

My kids are going to flip, but I really want to surprise our mom. This is a big year, my bother turns 40 and my mom 70.

So I want to have him "pop" up in wdw somewhere. Any suggestions?

I looked at Gifts of a lifetime but I think that might be out of my $$ range.

I would love to hear any stories, suggestions!

 

[conandrob240]

So many ideas. He can be sitting at your table at a restaurant. You can get seated at the restaurant first, he can speak to,your server and show up at the table to take your order or bring your drinks.

He can be on a ride going around i view as you wait in line. Good rides for this: Dumbo, carousel.

Pop into a store on Main at first and have him be there.

Have fun!

 

[Jennygt]

So many ideas. He can be sitting at your table at a restaurant. You can get seated at the restaurant first, he can speak to,your server and show up at the table to take your order or bring your drinks.

He can be on a ride going around i view as you wait in line. Good rides for this: Dumbo, carousel.

Pop into a store on Main at first and have him be there.

Have fun!

omg thats great! See I have no good ideas! please keep them comming!

 

[parismeow]

you could be watching a show or something, have your mum sit on the end. your brother could sit next to her while you distract her, and then he could start up a casual conversation, where your mum will realise its him.

Or you could be buying some popcorn or churros from a food stand, and have him hand it to your mum as if he were working there (i am sure you could make it work with the cast member)

I also like the carousel idea from above

 

[BrianL]

Okay, this might be hard to engineer, but maybe if you could somehow get them on a row behind you on Splash Mountain, then tell your mom to check out the picture at the end of the ride to see him them there. Maybe they could wear a hat and sunglasses behind you and go at RD when the line is extremely short and sparse. I don't know how to guarantee you all are on a boat together though without CM assistance. It'd be a fun reveal though.

 

[Jennygt]

seriously you guys have great ideas!! I would have thought of none of this

 

[kiltclan]

Another idea is to try to engineer it during a character meet. TST is an idea for this maybe. You could all head in to see Mickey (and probably speak to the CM in the parlor about it in advance) and see if they could work your brother in through the back door?

 

[Off to Neverland 7]

You could have the family standing in front of the castle at MK for a picture and he "pops" into the picture

 

[Caseheidi]

The lobby of the GF is so great. My first thought was that he could hide in the lobby. You could take a moment to just sit and listen to the fabulous Band there, and he could come up and ask your mom for a dance,

 

[tobikaye]

Just something to think about, but you might want to engineer the surprise somewhere everyone can visit for a bit once he shows up. So, a restaurant or lobby might be a good place. I also like the one in front of the castle where you can usually find a place to move to talk after.

I would avoid doing this in a show or after a ride line, unless you can move them to get out of the way of others. I know in my family that when my brother has surprised us that my mom or grandma have been known to make some kind of exclaimation that set off the rest of us laughing. Then they spend the next 10-20 minutes asking all kinds of questions and not moving from their spots.

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

We surprised our kids a few years ago- We flew down two days in advance, then had my mom fly down- we all stayed in a 2 bedroom at OKW. I ran to the lobby to meet my mom as she got off DME (told kids I was refilling drinks) and then we walked back to the room- I knocked on the door and pretended that I forgot my card to get in and my husband who was inside with the kids told them to open the door for me- when they did and saw my mom standing there they lost it! Never heard my 3 year old (at the time) scream from joy so loud. It was great because I took video from outside the door and my husband was taking video from inside so we have my kids' reaction and my moms too!

 

[HockeyIsLife]

I actually did this with my kids. We surprised them with my cousin and her daughter. We were staying at the Grand Floridian and they met us there. they were arriving at the GF around 10, So I booked the Spirit of Aloha show, and when we came back I pretended I needed to speak to the CM about something. My cousin and her daughter were sitting in the little sitting area with the TV's and I told the girls "Go sit and watch the TV for a few moments while I speak to the Cast Members". It was so cute with they got there, my oldest said hello to them, and then took a double take and the kids got all excited.

 

[Ronda93]

I like the idea of them photobombing a family photo in front of the castle. If you group is the kind that immediately gathers around the camera to see how it turned out...

 

[IWannaBuildASnowman]

Love the photobombing idea. Or just have the family gathered for the pic then have him run in and say wait wait, one more! and have the photographer capture the moment when your mom sees him.

 

[cincystamper]

Take the photobombing in front of the castle a step further....get the photopass photographer involved. Have him/her "try" to get a picture and start getting annoyed with the guy who keeps photobombing your shot. The photographer could apologize to your family, explaining that he's trying to wait until that guy behind you gets out of your shot....which will probably lead to everyone in your family turning around to see who the annoying guy is. Surprise! The added bonus is, if your photographer is on the ball, they'll be snapping pictures the whole time so you'll get those cool shots, too.

 

[tjevans]

I am planning a family trip to WDW this Aug, staying at GF. Me, dh, dd,ds,and my parents. Surprise guest is my brother and his GF. My brother has not been since 1988?( I remember the gf was being built)

You remember the girlfriend being built? Some people just share way too much of their private lives!

 

[Mamapapa]

Take the photobombing in front of the castle a step further....get the photopass photographer involved. Have him/her "try" to get a picture and start getting annoyed with the guy who keeps photobombing your shot. The photographer could apologize to your family, explaining that he's trying to wait until that guy behind you gets out of your shot....which will probably lead to everyone in your family turning around to see who the annoying guy is. Surprise! The added bonus is, if your photographer is on the ball, they'll be snapping pictures the whole time so you'll get those cool shots, too.

I love, love, love this idea!!

 

[Jennygt]

You remember the girlfriend being built? Some people just share way too much of their private lives!

Lol I meant we were there when Grand Floridian was being built, too many gf's

 

[jeanico2000]

You remember the girlfriend being built? Some people just share way too much of their private lives!

 

[mcd2745]

I was struggling to come up with a good idea for this, but then we lucked into a good surprise last April. My parents were coming down to surpise their grandkids. My kids thought they could never possibly go because my mom has very bad vertigo (among other health issues)and will not fly. But they decided to attempt to take the train down (from NYC). The train ride down went well and they arrived in WDW late morning when we were in MK (we had flown down a couple of days earlier). They called me and said they were checked in and heading to MK to meet us. The "problem" was, we couldn't get to the front of the park to meet up with them as that morning we were selected to be the Grand Marshalls for the Festival of Fantasy parade and had to be over by Splash Mntn - where the parade starts. Whne I explained the situation to the CM who selected us he told me to have them wait near the end of the parade route - by the firehouse. When we got to the end of the route in the Grand Marshall's car, and our kids spotted their grandparents...the look on their faces was priceless!!! We then had a private little section to watch the parade together.