It's a secret! How do we tell the kids!

[disneyagain]

We've been numerous times with the kids (DS11, DD9). So we decided to plan a surprise trip for them on 12/8/04.

Here's the plan so far.

We're going to let their teachers know at Parent/Teacher Conf on November 19th.

We have to pull them from school the day we leave about 1 hour early, we'll tell the kids that DD has an ortho appt.

Here's where we need help!

How and when should we tell them? We have about a 1hr ride to the airport. Should we make them suffer with curiosity? Should we tell them right off the bat? Give them little items to make them guess?

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.....This is so exciting, I hope DH and I don't blow the surprise beforehand!

 

[2x_dis_dad]

Make them suffer. It will be a lot more fun to watch them wonder what they are doing.

 

[disneyagain]

If you only knew my DS....He's a "need to know it all" kind of kid. It's tough to get anything past him. I'm sure he'll even question why he needs to go to the ortho appt., why can't he just ride the bus home, we'll probably beat him home anyway! We're really going to have to get creative with this one!

Our initial thought is to make them suffer, I've even considered letting the little sister in on it.....that will drive him NUTS!

But maybe that's just too cruel!

Come on fellow disers....bring on the ideas/suggestions!

 

[MissyBrenda]

I would definitely try and keep it a secret until you get in the car heading for the airport. Since they're 9 and 11, they can read, so chances of hiding it once you get to the airport are pretty slim. Since you have an hour in the car, I would make them guess by playing games.

One thing that might be a problem is packing for them without them knowing, especially if either child has opinions about clothes or what items they like to take on trips.

Oh, you mentioned your son is pretty hard to surprise. Can you just tell him that you have plans to go to dinner after the appt, so there's not time to stop at home to pick him up? Or something else you might have to do before coming home for the evening and you need him with you...

We don't have any children (yet) but I can't wait to one day surprise them with a WDW trip. Have fun!!

 

[llij]

We are surprising our two daughters with a trip in December and will be telling them over the Thanksgiving break. We will be having a scavenger hunt (Would be kinda hard for you in the car on that one! ), but at the end of the hunt they will find a puzzle that they need to put together. The puzzle tells them the news. Here is a copy of the puzzle that we had made.

I actually got these ideas right here on the DIS! It seems that lots of folks are surprising their kids in many wonderful creative ways! I borrowed some of these ideas and can't wait to do the hunt and puzzle!

Maybe you can make a puzzle or game of some sort for your children! Good luck with whatever you choose and have a wonderful trip!!!

 

[loribell]

We have surprised our kids twice (DS-12, DD-5). Once was a birthday trip over fall break with it extended for a couple of days into the next schoool week, but I caved and told my DS the day before we left so he could go ahead and work on the school work he was going to miss. They were both really thrilled about the trip (DS wasn't in school yet).

The last time was this summer. We were going to Vero Beach for part of the trip and we let the kids think we were going there for the whole trip. We drove and we never told them. It worked out great because both kids were asleep when we got to Orlando and never even woke up in the traffic! We woke them up when we got to CSR, got out of the car and DS said wow, this looks alot like Coronado. I said yeah it does, doesn't it. He realized what we had done when we wlaked up to the bell services area.

Now DD was not happy because she thought we were staying at Disney World and not going to the parks. She soon got over that. DS on the other hand would have preferred to spend the entire 13 days at Vero. I guess he has just been to many times. He had fun but still would have rather been at the beach.

Have fun and good luck trying to keep the secret.
Lori

 

[hannahryan]

We are leaving in 2 days with our 8 and 10 year olds. It is the first time surprising them! I am so excited for them. I think this will be their most memorable trip to WDW ever. We are picking the kids up from school at the usual time. I told the kids that their Dad has a business trip and we have to take him to the airport. They don't think anything of it because he travels a lot. After we park at the airport and open the trunk to get his suitcase, I will take theirs out too. I anticipate shocked looks on their little faces. I'm just going to say, "we're going to Disney World"!!!

 

[jstbcuz94]

I just got back and surprised my kids. I let the kids teachers know, and told them it was a surprise for them. One of them asked where we were going and I said we had to take dad to the airport. Then when we arrived, he pulled up to the curb and I got out and one of them said "Is she the only one getting out?" So I said well I thought that we would go to FL so if you want to go our plane leaves in an hour. THey were so excited.

 

[disneyagain]

I really like the puzzle idea...the kids and I like to do puzzles...

Where would I get one, AC Moore or Michaels? Do they have different sizes....

I have to get one that will fit on their lap desk in the back seat.


Good Idea about going out to dinner after the appt.....


Here's to more planning and hoping attendance levels are low to moderate!

 

[llij]

I ordered my puzzle online from Jigsaw puzzles, but I bet you could get blank puzzles from Michaels or any craft store. Get one that you could put a photo on. Have fun with your surpise and let us know how it went when you get back!

 

[AKASnowWhite]

We surprised our kids with a trip one time....same idea as you, told the teachers ahead of time, got school work "on the sly".....I did all the packing while the kids were at school.....THEN...we had told the kids that DH had a business trip to Miami ( not unusual at the time....) and that I was going along for the weekend...(again, not unusual...Gramma often takes the kids for a weekend...) but they could come with Gramma to drop us off at the airport.

Now, this was back in 2000, so at that time anyone could go to the gate at the airport, not just ticketed passengers....so we checked in at the desk, DH and I checked us ALL in, while the airlines people helped us keep the secret!....and went to the gate to wait for our flight...when it was time to board, we told the kids to "Say goodbye to Gramma"....oh the confusion. It was priceless The kids were sooooo surprised!

I still can't believe we pulled that one off. Nearly the whole TOWN knew we were going!

Now my kids aren't so young and easy to trick anymore.

Good luck, however you decide to surprise them!

 

[campinggal]

I'm planning a surprise trip with DD (age 7 1/2) leaving on Dec 9th!! We'll see you there!

Great ideas!

As one of the posters mentioned above, I'm know that pre-packing for her is not going to work- combination that she is growing so much and I know some of her summer clothes just won't fit and then that is compounded by developing opinions of what she likes to wear. LOL!!

We have an early flight out on Thurs so I'll do something on Wednesday eve and then she can help me pack.

If it weren't for the clothes/packing thing- I would love to just arrive at the airport!

Such fun!

 

[llp479]

We surprised our 3 dds in September. We told the 10 yr old dds that the 7 yr old dd had a MD apt and we wouldn't be home in time to meet the bus. On our way to the airport we passed the local 6 flags. Girls wanted to go that weekend. DH said, yes would be fun to go to a theme park for the weekend. I turned on the Illuminations CD, which girls recognize immediately. DH says wouldn't it be fun to see fireworks this weekend. DDs still don't get it. Finally, I said Dad and I thought we'ld go to WDW to see the fireworks at Epcot. DDs look at us like we're crazy. Finally we just had to flat out say, we're on a way to the airport to go to WDW. They all started crying they were so happy.

 

[CaseyJr]

We did this 2 Thanksgivings ago, over the school break, when DS was 7.

We sent DS to a "Kids Nite Out" event Friday night so DH & I could pack and secretly get the stuff in the van for an early am trip to the airport. We all got up the next morning as if it was a normal day (it didn't dawn on him that it was a Saturday morning.....). We only have about a 15-20 min. drive to the airport from our house. Of course, by the time we got to the airport he figured out it was a trip, but not to WHERE!

We finally had to fess up at the DFW airport -- every family there had kids and were wearing Disney clothes and carrying Disney toys, and guess where they were all going?

DH & I had so much fun with it! DS will never live it down!

 

[ZIPBAGS]

I knew I couldn't keep the secret. But, originally my wife and I were suppose to go to Las Vegas this week alone. But, my wife couldn't take the time off from work. So we decided that I would take my 2 DD (ages 7 & 9) to Disneyworld before Thanksgiving and my wife would stay home with our 20month old DS. I sat them down and I said that Mommy & I aren't going away. But, that I was taking them to Disneyworld. They went nuts. My older daughter starting yelling "That's what I am talking about!". I am very excited to go.

Another problem with not telling them. Is a lot of the fun of going. Is talking about it and planning it with the kids.

 

[ChristyJ]

We're surprising our DDs (5 & will be 8 during our trip ) in a month-this will be our first trip to Disney. We're planning on videotaping the whole thing...my oldest DD sounds like your son-because of that, I've created a basic itinerary for her that outlines each day (leaving some surprises out like a Princess breakfast, etc.). I figure she can read this on the plane ride-I've also kept one day open for us to plan as a family. I also have told both teachers and they know it's a secret. DDs (8 yr. old) teacher actually wrote a note saying that she was excited for my daughter to have this experience and is not worried about my daughter missing school. I'll show the note to my daughter.

Anyway, since my daughter's and my husband's birthdays are on the same day, we've already told them that we would be headed to Nana & Papa's house for the weekend, so now I have a cover for packing!

 

[NYDisneyMom]

We just got back from our "surprise" trip!! We picked up the kids about an hour early from school. They thought we were going to take their Nana to a dr's appointment. I wrote their teacher's a note and they knew of the surprise too.

When the kids got in the car they saw DH and asked what he was doing there. I had told them there would be a Halloween surprise, when they least expected it. So when they asked what dad was doing there, I said "I told you I'd surprise you when you least expected it.....We're going to Disney!" LOL!

They were speechless. My little guy sat there with his mouth open. The older one just looked puzzled and asked when. I said.."right now! Our plane leaves in an hour!"

It was great!! They called just about everyone they knew on my cell phone from the airport. We had a great trip...I'll never be able to get away with THAT again!

 

[05ChristmasSurprise]

To tell our friends, we have made a scrapbook up talking about the trip that we went on last year and how it just wasn't as much fun as it would have been with them. In the end is the itinerary and APs and copies of our Swan ressies.

The kids know we're going next year, but they're too young to really have a concept of time. So, we're not going to tell them when we're leaving and do it on the sly. We will pick up DD that morning and we tell the kids sometimes we're going on a Mystery Trip. We take a weekend break and go spend the night in a hotel (usually one overnight that I get a 50% off rate from Entertainment). It's fun to swim in an indoor pool and we eat dinner out and then come home.

Anyway - we're telling them it's a mystery trip. We're driving this time (airports are a PITA with four kids!) and we're going to stop halfway for a "mystery trip" stop in a hotel. They'll have no idea that we're going down to Disney instead of heading home

 

[nhdisnut]

I have been loving reading these stories about surprise trips to WDW! We have now taken the kids three times, but perhaps our most memorable trip was when we surprised them (Feb 2002). We had an early morning flight and had to be at the airport at 6:30 am. We spent the previous night at a hotel near the airport (the kids thought that swimming in the pool there would be the highlight of their school vacation - they loved it so much they asked to spend anther night in the hotel), and at 5:30 am we woke the kids up with Disney clothes laid out and ready to go. It took a while for the kids to figure out what we meant when we told them that "We're changing hotels," but once they figured out the clues their response was magical! The most fun though was the fact that we videotaped the entire surprise and can now re-live it over and over! The day only got better when in just a few hours from when they found out we were walking down Main St. USA!

Originally posted by ChristyJ
We're surprising our DDs (5 & will be 8 during our trip ) in a month-this will be our first trip to Disney. We're planning on videotaping the whole thing...

Christy - this will be something you treasure forever!

We enjoyed surprising the kids so much we are doing it again this coming April! Now the kids are older (DS 12, DD 9) so we haven't figured out our "story" yet, but since we just went to WDW last April I know they are not expecting to go again so soon!

 

[lilallybean]

I called Disney and had them send letters to our home to confirm our vacation plans. I had one sent to each child. It is a great letter...along the lines of Emily, we are glad to hear that you are planning a visit with us! We look forward to seeing you on-----.
Anyways, I saved ALL the junk mail that came to the house for MONTHS! When we were on our way...we drove to the World I had a LARGE stack of mail that I needed help going through. At the very bottom was mail for each of the kids. I just said "Wow...look at this you each got some mail too!!!" I loved it! I don't think they will every forget it. Who would have thought that junk mail would be so much fun!
Good luck and have a blast!!!