Make it a surprise?

[dhlovesbelle]

I am so glad for this thread! We are going in Nov and this will be our 2nd trip so I was going to surprise them (dd11, ds9, ds7, ds4,ds2) the day of. But now having read all these great thoughts I think I will surprise them a day or two ahead of time. This way they still have the 2 days of excited anticipation but I don't have 4 months of "how long until...?" I love to plan surprises so I am very excited to do a scavenger hunt or little things that will get their mind on Disneyland to see how long it will take them to figure it all out Good times!!

 

[lumpydj]

We're surprising DD. She's been to WDW about 4 or 5 times now and DLR once. She's 9 years old. We told her that DH has to go to CA for work and we're going with him. While he's working, we'll hang out at the pool or explore. We won't tell her it's a family vacation to DLR until we show up at the hotel. 24 more days to go!!!!

I'll tell you though, it's killing me not telling her, but DH won't let me tell at this point. We're hoping to catch her reaction on video. I will say, I don't think I'll do the surprise thing again, but it will be so worth it this time. I do think she would have enjoyed planning though. One reason for not telling her is that we don't want her questioning why we're going to DLR instead of WDW.

 

[Kelsie]

I vote for telling them, half the fun is in the planning and anticipation. We just returned from the store where the girls bought a bunch of stuff to do in the car.

 

[Brady's Mom]

We didn't tell our sons, 11, 5 and 3 until 4 days before our last trip. I would have heard the "are we going to Disneyland today?" question about a million times. Besides we really, really wanted to surprise them. They knew we were planning on going to DL in Dec., but we switched our trip around to go in March and so we could still talk about Disney related stuff. That is the only thing that saved me. It was soooo hard not to talk specifically about Disneyland.

We gave each of our little boys an invitation with Mickey on the front and filled in the rest of the information on the invite with dates of air travel, the name of the hotel and how long we were going to be there. Our 11 year old was so happy he cried. (That doesn't happen often!)

The best part is that now we are still going in Dec., our kids know about it and we talk and plan about it almost every day. They do ask me how long til we go and I just tell them we have to have Halloween and Thanksgiving first before we go. They don't know the exact dates yet.

Hope you have a great trip.

 

[Jenn1116]

They didn't know till we rolled up to the hotel, which is no mean feat when you're coming from Australia.

 

[PHXscuba]

I agree with everyone that said it really depends on the child(ren). If they're not Disney vets, DL can be kind of big and scary for a young first-timer.
My oldest DS was 4.5 when we took him to DL for the first time. He was one of those who sometimes would get very overwhelmed in a new situation, so the night before (while staying at Grandma's in OC) we showed him the Sing-Along video about Mickey Mouse at Disneyland (we've had it since he was a baby, so it's got to be at least 12-13 years old now). We told him that was what we were going to be doing the next day and let him ask questions. He had a great time.
Three years later, similar set-up, we were taking DS (7.5) again, along with DD (4.5). She is much more easygoing, so we told her we were going to see some family friends that morning (we told DS while we were getting ready and warned him to keep it a secret -- he was so proud of himself). She didn't have a clue until we pulled into the parking garage. Also had a great time.
I suppose if I were coming from a long way away, I might keep it a secret until a month before and then use a countdown chain (my kids love making them). Maybe tell them about the trip but not about some of the details?
I have a hard time keeping secrets from my kids, especially since they can read (over my shoulder sometimes) and I do so much online research for our trips. I am super-advance-planning a family Alaskan cruise for 2010 and have no idea how long I will be able to keep that under wraps.

PHXscuba
"You can't have everything -- besides, where would you put it all?"

 

[Husker Mickey]

We have been to DL many times. The first time for our DD was when she was 5, our son was 7. We decided to tell our kids ahead of time to help them "prepare" for the trip. We made countdown calendars for both of them with things about DL and Disney in general. That was before DCA. It was great fun!
The last time we went, we surprised three kids on our group. One was our DD who is now 15. We travelled in two cars to Denver with the kids knowing that we were spending Fall Break in Denver. The two cousins, ages 6 & 9 didn't have much of a reaction when we got to the airport, but our DD was stunned. We took several pics when we "revealed" our true destination as we got out of our cars at the airport and her face told the story.

 

[IBLarsen]

We have our first trip booked to DL the first of October. Our kids are just now 3 and 5, we have told them that we are going and they have seen commercials and I ordered them a Disneyland DVD that was recommended that has singing and shots of a group of kids/characters at Disneyland. They have seen that, my 3 yo DD loves that! She also see's the castle of course on the commercials and asks daily when we can go to Disneyland to see HER castle. (She really believes she has her own castle waiting for her somewhere in this world). Needless to say both of my kids are very excited about the trip, and it is great to see the anticipation and to give them something to look forward to..kind of like Christmas, the build up is part of the Christmas spirit...I want my kids to be in the Disney spirit! Although I think telling my kids 4 months in advance was a little much, they don't quite grasp that amount of time, and to them I'm sure it seems that I'm making a promise that is never coming true, and the never ending "when are we going" question does get a little old. So I have learned my lesson and will wait until about a month out next time we plan any kind of family vacation.

 

[Wadeandbasia]

But about 2 weeks into planning, we found out she could read some words. NOw we are going the youtube and co-planning route. Our two year old son loves watching Disneyland Railroad and Monorail videos. Go figure.

Our trip is in a few weeks.

Wade

 

[bethy]

We plan to go many times over the coming years and will continue to opt for involving them in the planning and anticipation. But DH and I have agreed that just once, when the kids are old enough to cope and remember it, we will wake them up early on some random day and put them in the car and drive immediately to the airport to hop a flight to Orange County. I can hardly wait!

For your situation I would definitely tell and prepare them ahead of time. They are too young to really get what you would be trying to do.

 

[heatherleigh]

I've never considered doing a surprise. Probably because my husband and I get so excited, we start planning the next trip right after we get back. I really think half the fun is the planning. My 6-year old practically counts down the days. I think I'll make a little card for him to keep track of the days, now that we have a solid date. He would love it. The Youtube videos and movies get them even more excited. I vote for telling him before the trip.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I'm of two minds. There have been a lot of valid reasons brought up as to why you should tell them, but I'll never forget the time my parents surprised us.

When I was 12 years old, we lived in Utah and my dad had a convention in Las Vegas. Aware that they were halfway from Disneyland, my parents secretly planned a trip. Since we went to Vegas in the trailer and were unaware that you could stay in a trailer while in Anaheim, we did not see this coming especially since we'd just gone two years before.

When we left Las Vegas, my parents said we were going to the Hoover Dam. So, when my ears started to pop and I asked what I could do about it, they made up "cures" that all involved keeping my eyes closed so I couldn't read the road signs for the dam exit. When I fell asleep before we crossed the border their ruse was nearly complete. At a gas station in California, I loudly wondered what all the California license plates were doing in Nevada thinking we were still going to the Hoover Dam. It was only when we came to the border check for fruit and such that I realized we were actually in California.

I'll never forget the excitement in that van as we all began to realize that we were going to Disneyland. I was the oldest at 12, my brother was 9, my sister was 5, and the youngest two were 2 and 1, so they were just happy since everybody else was. So, it is a lot of fun to surprise the kids.