I'm afraid DS will be upset by our surprise trip

[Nom]

I have to say, I agree with LuvOrlando. I would just tell them so you can get the sulk over with. The fact that he is SO fixated on this RnR that he is still bringing it up leads me to believe that he might really sulk for quite a while after you get there (don't take what I am saying personally, I say it because my dd is the same way and I've BTDT.)

If he fixates on WDW for the next wek before you go , so what- then he can spend that time getting ready and knowing what he will be able to do on the trip.

I also agree that it's not safe to pump up high height, especially on a ride that goes upsidown with shoulder harnesses.

Whatever you end up doing, I hope it all goes well!

 

[draw]

I remember 5 years ago or so my niece wasn't tall enough for a ride and they gave her a certificate for a return visit when tall enough. It could have been a fast pass type but I don't remember. Good Luck

 

[Jill in Chicago]

I am not big on surprises at all. I think kids, just like adults, need time to get their thoughts and expectations together. If you tell him now he'll have time to mull things over. What if you get to Disney and he spends his first few days distraught? I think it would be better if he were upset at home, and could have time to pull himself together at home, versus at Disney. I know I am coming on really strong, but I have heard so very many not good turn outs from Disney surprises.

 

[Priorityonecb]

Not Disney, but we did the "Wake up...surprise we are flying to San Diego to go to Sea World" thing. One of our daughters, was *not happy at *all. She will tell you to this day...though we did have a fabulous time that weekend...she didn't appreciate being surprised.

When we "surprised" her with at trip to NYC for her 16th birthday, we "gave" it to her 3 months in advance so she could have time to absorb, plan, and get excited. Lesson learned.

The other child on the other hand, would *love a surprise like that. We'll have to wait until Dd1 graduates and goes off to college before doing a surprise trip to Dd2.

 

[Jill in Chicago]

Yep everyone knows their own kids best. Some kids love surprises and others do not like surprises at all. I think though that sometimes parents get confused between something they would love, like being surprised, and whether their child would love that same thing.

 

[dijid]

Thanks for all the responses. Our DD's love surprises, but our DS not so. DH was thinking that he might privately tell DS a day or two before we go and ask that he not tell his sisters. This way he can deal with it before we go.

We are thinking this will be our last WDW trip. Although I'll never say never, we aren't planning a return. There's so many other things we want to do, and we just don't have the $$ for them all. *sigh* I do expect we'll have a wonderful trip, lots of good memories, and DH can go on an upside-down roller coaster at our local amusement park next year.

 

[Ellester]

One of the all time classic "surprise" responses is in post #14 of this thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1297468

As far as height issues, if he is so close make sure you go to RnR first thing in the day. Our little guy was just at 42" when we went and several times he made the requirement in the morning but had compressed a tiny bit by the evening and no longer made it.

 

[Nom]

DH was thinking that he might privately tell DS a day or two before we go and ask that he not tell his sisters. This way he can deal with it before we go.

I was thinking about that as an option as well- it's a great way to deal with the situation.

I hope you have a great trip!

 

[nuzmom]

I do NOT like surprises. I would HAVE to tell my kids at least a couple of weeks before leaving. For us, part of going to WDW is the excitement leading up to it. We enjoy watching disney movies and doing a disney countdown calendar. We even plan what outfits we'll all be wearing while there (Disney ones, of course).

As far as RNR, just say "we'll measure you when we get there". Personally, we don't do "lift" shoes, but one pair of NORMAL tennis shoes raised my DS a whole 1/2 more than the others. Still don't know why, I think it had more padding - which is why we considered it in the first place - all the walking!!!

Let him know that you'll be doing the other parks first and enjoying many, many things on your trip. Get him excited over Expedition Everest!!! I believe it has a shorter requirement than RNR. Also, if he doesn't do "well" on it, then RNR should not even be considered.

Also, just for the record - it is VERY VERY easy to avoid RNR. Yes, mickey bars are sold at the crossroads for TOT and RNR. It's difficult to see RNR from the ice cream stand, but stand with your back towards RNR just in case.

When my DS couldn't go on it (hopefully, this Dec will be his first time he can), I just explained that I didn't think he'd be tall enough, but we could check after we got there. If he wasn't, he could choose anything else for he and I to do (we gave some options). (He couldn't get enough of TOT!!!)

Be sure he understands, it's completely a safety issue, not an issue of him "being old enough". Of course, he's "big enough", just not tall enough YET.

We also allowed our DS to make the decision if our older DS and dad could ride without him. We took the attitude - if he can't ride, we won't ride, no big deal. Our older DS felt badly for his little brother and was willing to wait. Of course, little DS wanted his brother to ride even if it was without him.

Whatever you do, if he isn't tall enough, make sure he does something special during that time. Do not allow him to just wait outside the ride!!!! It's a CONSTANT reminder that he's not tall enough. We also split up prior to the street going to RNR. It was easier for DH and DS to leave us then the other way around.

 

[labdogs42]

I vote to tell your son about the trip now, too. I'm another one who hates surprises and I would have had a miserable time at Disney if someone had taken me there on a surprise trip. I would never have gotten over it. I loathe surprises! I'm glad to hear I'm not alone! Please do your son a favor and tell him SOON!!

 

[merryweather's twin]

At first I thought he would get over it and ride it later... No big deal. My kids have to wait all the time.

But after reading that you have no plans on returning at all I think your kid is right. And you know it.

You have made it so he will never get to enjoy the one ride in WDW he has waited for years to ride by going when he is only half an inch shy of his goal. You Decided you could not wait six months to go and planned a trip without telling him... even now, and then at some point told him or said in his presence (one more trip and we are not going back!!! )So now he is obsessed with going later.
Think how you would feel if your parents did this to you? He is 6 and although we do not see not riding as a big deal he does. And he thinks there will not be chance ever....

I think the only cure for this is another trip when he is taller and can ride! And you both should tell him now (let him be the secret keeper so he is involved and can plan.. for some it is the best part..)And tell him this is not the last trip if he can't ride. Becouse it means so much to him and he means just as much to you. Even if it takes a while to get back. He will have a great trip now if he knows he will have a chance later.

Then mabie go to shoe carnival and measure him with 4-5 pairs of different sneakers and see if he makes the height with any. I have found that regular rebocks add about 1/2 a inch(had to re-hem church pants on DS12 for school play last year). It is not cheating if they are shoes he would wear anytime. And it will not effect the safety of riding or they would make all the kids take off their shoes to measure.(Do not get the 3 inch sandals, or lifts, or cowboy boots) but just normal rebock sneakers.

I am sorry if this comes across harsh but my parents did almost the same thing to me and I am 34 and can still cry about it( I wish it did not still effect me) when it is brought up at family gatherings as a joke. I have since went over 40 times with my DH and kids and sometimes wonder if my WDW obsession began at 7 in front of Space mountain.

I hope this is not taken too harshly. Bobbie

 

[dijid]

You have made it so he will never get to enjoy the one ride in WDW he has waited for years to ride by going when he is only half an inch shy of his goal. You Decided you could not wait six months to go and planned a trip without telling him... even now, and then at some point told him or said in his presence (one more trip and we are not going back!!! )So now he is obsessed with going later.
Think how you would feel if your parents did this to you? He is 6 and although we do not see not riding as a big deal he does. And he thinks there will not be chance ever.... :

Um...No...that's not at all how it is. We booked this trip the day Free DDP became available. At that time, we had promised the kids we would book a trip when our youngest reached 40". She was about 40" at the time. The family riding Test Track, BTMRR, ToT and SM were what we were concerned about. DS had never mentioned riding RnRC EVER. HE's been to WDW 3 times, and there were other rides that were important, but not that one.

DH and I decided at first not to tell the kids until closer. Four months of waiting would kill them. As time went by, we thought it would be fun to totally surprise them.

Then, DS had his 6yo check up about 3 weeks ago. HE realized he was within spitting distance of the upside down coaster at a local amusement park. Then when DH and I started talking about WDW (because our trip is coming up and we wanted to see what the kids would think about things) DS made the connection with RnRC. So, really, it's only been the last week that this has been a concern. We never dreamed he would be that interested in riding it.

We already did the shoe shopping and found some Cars light up shoes that put him just a hair short of 48". By now he has to be suspecting something, but he still thinks we're waiting to book a trip.

Like I said previously, we will probably tell him a day or two before we go. He has had anxiety attacks in the past, and we would rather deal with that here than in the parks. But since he also weirdly obsesses about things, we don't want to tell him too far in advance as he will never sleep.

 

[yrdlyprincess]

I think that I would cry if either one of my kids got upset after all the planning that I have done. Both of my kids know that we are going just not WHEN we are going...I think I would strangle someone if they told my kids early!!

 

[mgriff75]

Go with tall shoes. My son has heelies? The shoes with the wheels that flip up inside them. They have a very large heel. Also, we went on that ride on our last trip and my son was only 48" if you count his regular shoes and the tip of his hair. It was great. Keep in mind that some of the ride "guards" are reasonable and allow them on if there hair touches and some don't count the hair. That was the worst part for my DS6 some of the ride guards let him on, some didn't. He was cute with it, he didn't quite get the 48" concept & that if you are tall enough for a 48" ride you should be tall enough for them all. So he would see something that he likes and run up to the ride height things to see if he was tall enough. 80%+ let him on. But he had a mtinor melt down when he wanted to go back on a ride he had already riden, and the guard told him he wasn't tall enough. He didn't like that one bit. So just warn your son, 48" is going to be close for him, many of the rides will let him on, but some won't. If they don't let him on what he wants the first time, try again when the guard changes. And for those of you who thinks its unsafe for a 47.5" kid to ride a 48" rated ride, just think about it. There has to be some margin for error on the height. I wouldn't take my 40" kid on it, but 47.5" No problem.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm the oldest of 5, so even though I only have one kid so far, I feel I can chime in on this.

Part of being older is knowing that you don't always get to do everything, because there are others to consider.

You know your son might melt down over this, and that bothers you, but you are willing to risk it with this trip. But you are NOT willing to make your older one upset by not letting her ride.

To me, I just don't understand that. If my brother (the others are much younger, and are much taller than the two of us) hadn't wanted us to ride something until he could, I would bet $100 that we wouldn't have ridden. I loved my brother, no one wanted him to be upset, so we would just move on.

I think that a good idea for the day would be that you found out that coaster was closed, and NO ONE gets to ride it. Someone mentioned it is out of the way, so just find a way to not go over there (or hope really hard that it IS closed!).

They might both be upset to an extent, but hopefully she can either let her love for her brother, or the fact that it is "closed" heal her heart quickly, and he won't be AS upset as he might be watching his sib run off to do something he would love to do.

 

[bethbuchall]

One of the all time classic "surprise" responses is in post #14 of this thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1297468

I was laughing so hard, because that is almost exactly the reaction my kids would have, too. I know better than to try to surprise my kids, especially the older two.

 

[merryweather's twin]

I am glad he had only been worried about it for a few days. That makes it much less of a problem.Sorry if my post upset you. Good luck getting on. I hope he gets to do it at least once. We will be down close to the same time with our 5yo giving the height stick her best shot. We go 3-4 times a year so she will get there one day. Have a great trip. Bobbie

 

[pumpkin5156]

Hi there. I must say first off that I am shocked by the harshness (is that even a word ??) of some posters. I am sorry that your innocent and venting post was met with some hardcore people who obviously need to chill out a bit.

Anyways, that said, I do hope you have a marvelous time on your vaycay! I am jealous you get to go so soon! As for your situation, I think that you know your son the best, and as all parents know, we are not perfect. If you decide to surprise him, and it blows up in your face, what can you do? The past is past and what's done is done. I seriously doubt it will ruin your entire vacation, so don't worry about that. We live near Disneyland, and the CM's let my nephew ride all the "big kid" rides because he was like your son: just under it with his tennis shoes on. Don't count on this though.

People are going to give their opinions, but whatever. You are the mom. It is our vacation, and you will decide what to do. So have fun!!

 

[dijid]

Thanks pumpkin5156. It helps to have some support.

I think we have reached a point where everything is going to be ok. DH remembered Star Tours is at MGM and said he is willing to "take one for the team" (he and I both consider this a vomitorium) and take DS and younger DD on that while "big" DD and I ride RnRC.

So at lunch today I tell DS the good news: that I realize that he's big enough for ST and we don't have to wait til he's 48" because he can ride that with Dad while the others go on RnRC. He got excited and agreed that that would be fun and OK. I also asked the kids if they wanted to know when we plan our next WDW trip or be surprised and they all said they wanted to be surprised. They want us to just wake them up and tell them to get dressed, we're going to Disneyworld.

And while several posters don't think I should let DD ride RnRC, I have to disagree. I've been trying to teach my kids that Life is Fair - it just isn't identical for everyone. Everyone has the opportunity to choose to be happy with what they have, even if what they have is different than what they see someone else have. I also try to instill in them a sense of doing what's right for the individual and not doing something just because so-and-so is or isn't. I feel this is important in setting a good foundation for the peer pressure that will only continue to grow as they get older.

So I think we're set. My stress level is waaaaay down. I'm feeling good about surprising them, I have all our pre-trip shopping done and I've started stashing the stuff I need to pack in my room. Hopefully they won't notice that I don't ask them to put the laundry away on Mon/Tue!

 

[bethbuchall]

Yay!!! I hope that you all have a wonderful, magical trip!!!