Need a creative way to suprise kids

[travel with kids]

We will be on the DCL in April and then plan to spend 3 days at WDW. This a suprise for the kids dd8,ds 13. They think we will be driving home after the cruise.

We need a fun, creative way to tell the kids that we are staying in FL adn going to WDW. Any suggestions?......thanks.......Lee

 

[Mom of 6]

I would think you would not need to be "creative" in surprising them. I bet they would be just thrilled with being told on the last day of the cruise that the vacation is extended to WDW. To me this does not need any clever packaging, so to speak. It's just exciting in itself to know you are going!

 

[kaylajr]

why tell them?

i would just act like we were getting ready to drive home then drive thru the gates of disney

they'll figure it out quick i bet

 

[MiaSRN62]

We actually did this once. We had a week planned in WDW over the Easter break and never said a word. I should prefice with the fact that we usually drive down from PA.
Ok.....so, on the day we are to leave, we pick the kids up from school in the van. Normally they take the bus home, but I made up some excuse, like having a doctor appointment or something. My husband and I picked the kids up and had small posters made up and attached to the back seats. There were also balloons in the trunk. The signs said something like "whoo-hoo....we're going to WDW !". So when the kids got inside the car, the first thing that hit them were these big neon signs behind the 2 front seats, saying we were off to WDW. The kids' jaws were in the dropped position for at least 45 minutes ! lol
Since you are coming off the cruise, I don't know if you can manage to do this unless the day you start your cruise, after the kids have gotten out of the car, either you or your spouse place the signs in the car when they're not looking----then the signs will be there when you disembark and get back in the car ?! OR......during that last breakfast on the cruise, maybe you could prearrange with your servers to bring out something with that final breakfast on disembarkation morning and suprise them there ? I know we had the coolest servers on our Nov 2002 cruise----they would have come up with some fun way to let the kids in on the secret. Have a great time on the cruise and in WDW with your children

 

[travel with kids]

Thanks for the ideas. DH thought we would get in the car and drive to Orlando. Both kids probably would not know where we were heading (west vs. north). However, entering orlando, they would know. We have been there enough times. So, they would know before we hit the Welcome sign. But still, it would be exciting to see when they realized that they were going to wdw and not home. I also like the idea of a sign on the back of the seats. Both are great ideas....Thanks

 

[bobcat]

I used www.discoveryschool.com to make a hidden word find. I gave it to my kids as a rainy day activity the day before we were supposed to leave and when they solved it the were so excited.

 

[SheDaisy0088]

We have told my DS6 that we are going to go to Miami for our Anniversary at the end of the month!! We have been to Disney many times before but not for awhile lately!!

DH is going to pick up the rental car and then get him from school. Then they are going to drive to pick me up from work. Then we will tell him we are on our way to Miami. So we will drive and drive. DS has no idea that we are going!! I have done priceline and all the other preparation. We will suprise him when we drive thru the gates of Disney. If he asks before hand DH will tell him that we are going on a site seeing trip!! Can't wait to see the look on his face!!

 

[dsnycrzy]

Now this is going to be my 1st year keeping it a secret. I booked our train for 8/04 and have all the arrangement ready to book. I am going to get on the late train from DE (9P.M.) so I don't need to pick them up from daycare any earlier. I will pack our bags little by little about a week before we leave. I'll have my best freinds sister call me the day before asking to borrow my cooler and a bag with some blankets in it and can I give it to her sister who will met her at the station. Then I'll take the kids with me and drop the bags off at my friends house so they won't be alarmed at the next days events. Since I work at the daycare my kids attend I have to go to work or they will be suspicious but will leave at 3p.m. to go take my luggage from home to the train station and then go back to work. At 5:30P.M. when I leave work we'll go home as usual, eat dinner, take our showers and just as we settle down, I'll have my best friend call me asking if we want to take a ride with her to the train station because she can't carry all those bags up to the train alone and we'll gladly agree. We'll grab the first things in front of us to throw on (ha ha outfit will be half folded as though I was doing laundry) and gladly accept. And with my purse in hand with WDW ticket, hotel ressies, Disney $ and whatever else you shouldn't put in your suitcase and go to her house. Then she'll offer to take HER car because she already put the bags in it (and so she can keep an eye on my car while I'm gone), and off we'll go. When the train pulls up, I'll give the man the tickets and watch there mouths fall. Of course while waiting for the train I'll have to hear the long drowning sentences about how we aren't going to disney this year. It will be funny to see there reaction. I hope you think of something. It's really hard now a days kids are just so smart.

 

[travel with kids]

I love to surprise my kids. The cruise was going to be a surprise until my db walked into my house and announced "so, dad tells me you're going on a cruise....". my kids started screaming and jumping around the house. I couldn't tell them no, their uncle was off his rocker.....although my look could have set him in stone!! There are so few surprises in this world.

Again, thanks for all the great ideas and thanks for sharing your own surprise stories.....I love them.........Lee

 

[DeDixie]

We've done2 surprises, one we had a scavenger hunt (actually a hidden mickey hunt - dh made mickey heads out of wood and painted black) that led to a big disney box, inside we're disney $, pennies and quarters, new wdw for kids book, etc -- and a note that we were leaving in 17 days. We did this on Christmas. I told them ahead, so they could have fun in planning, etc.

The second time we did disney, then the cruise and then I surprized them with another 2 days back at WDW. We got in the towncar from Port Canaveral and I had told them we had a LONG day of travel home, with a layover in Atlanta for 3 hours, etc. Instead the driver took us to the Cont. The driver knew our secret, DH told him while they put the luggage in the car. Girls never paid attention, sitting in the back seat, and we got all the way to the WALT DISNEY WORLD entrance sign. Then the driver said, oh, no - I've gone the wrong way.....the girls looked up and they the driver said guess I have to take you back to the Cont. It was cool and the driver had fun.

If you are having a towncar pick up, the driver could hold a sign that says: Lisa and Ed, you're going to Dinsey.

Have fun!