Need help coming up with a story (Keeping it a surprise)

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

K people. I need your creative minds

We are telling our kids we're going to Las Vegas (about a 5 hour drive from here). We will stay one night there because a 13 hour driving day is too long for littles. My kids LOVE vegas so they will be so excited as it is.

From here we don't know how to surprise them. My oldest is 7 and can read REALLY well...my brother is coming and we have to keep it from him also because he's mentally handicapped and he'd spill. He can also read really well and he'd KNOW something was up. He has no filter so he'd totally spill it the second he figured it out (which would be soon..he'd notice there are no signs going to Utah).

So how do we do this? I REALLY wanted to drive up to DL and say TAAAHDAAAHHH but I don't see how that's possible.

My only other thought is concocting a story about staying in Vegas one night and then going to California..and then saying that we, unfortunately, won't be near Disneyland. Or that we can't afford to go or something.

I'm pretty sure my brother knows that Disneyland is in Anaheim so..*sigh* Creative ideas? I may post this as it's own thread too. I HAVE to get our stories straight

 

[bumbershoot]

If they love Vegas, and you're not going to Vegas, I would NOT use Vegas as the story. Otherwise you're going to have some disappointed kidlets.

Where are you driving from? What would make sense as a story, but won't get them excited about it?


I'm not really a fan of surprise trips (DS loves helping to plan them!), but my mom pulled off a surprise ONCE and it was good. Though honestly I don't know how or WHY she did it, as we tortured her the whole time... We were going to Grand Canyon for Thanksgiving, from San Jose. So the drive did take us near Anaheim. And the WHOLE way down we begged and begged, and while we were at GC we begged, and as we drove home we begged and begged. I remember that it was dusk or night and we had gotten quiet, and we saw the big Disneyland sign (when it was there, instead of in John Stamos' backyard LOL) and we started begging again, and then it turned out that they had a DLH room reserved the whole time and tickets and everything.

It was so fun, but gosh it would have been just as fun to KNOW!


Anyway, don't use a place they want to go to unless you're going there.


Use, I don't know...Winnemucca, or Death Valley, or something like that, instead. That way Disneyland will be pure joy, not "oh but we wanted to go to THAT place, too".


********

I read it over again again. So you ARE going to Vegas but just sleeping there.

I don't know, I think I would still use a different place as "this is where we are going", if you're going to do the surprise. Otherwise, why would they want to get in the car to leave the place they like?

"We're going to Burbank to watch some boring talk show be filmed while you kids take a class in (something they dislike)!" That'll explain the area, somewhat, LOL, while not getting them excited.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

I had considered telling them IN Vegas so they're ok with leaving. We will be staying there one night on the way back. I had also considered saying we're going to california for Daddy to work? Telling them that, yes, we are going to vegas, we get to see vegas a little (which we will, we love it) but then it's on to california..and MAYBE we'll get to go to a beach?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Mugglemama]

This is the ONLY time ever that we're keeping it a surprise, too. My kids have been in the park over 100 times and we've NEVER done a surprise trip (they love to help plan, too, so we always spend months relishing in the fun of that before the trip).

This time, however, we've only got 1 day. It's been a decade since we've done just 1 day in the parks, so my kids can't even remember it (in fact, the youngest wasn't even born yet). We're just going to do a day solely in Disneyland (something else we haven't done in a decade).

Before I was able to talk DH into doing just one day (he feels it's not worth the drive, etc. unless we can stay for at least 3 days...), we had been planning to be in Anaheim for the Harvest Crusade. Then it morphed into doing one day at Harvest, and one day at Dland. Lol, and THEN, we dropped Harvest Crusade altogether (because we realized it was going to entail a lot of waiting in the parking lot before opening if we wanted good seats - with nothing but port-a-potties and acres of asphalt parking lot in the August heat - doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun with 3 kids), and decided to just do the one day at DLand. BUT, my kids still think we're ONLY going to Harvest Crusade. We never mentioned Dland to them. Bwahahahahahaaa!!

Maybe you could use the same story? The Harvest Crusade is a Christian event...it's held at Angel Stadium in Anaheim every year....they have multiple live bands and stuff - it's geared towards teens and young adults, the event is a lot of fun. Could you tell your kids you're going for a day of fun and concerts at Angel Stadium???

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Hmmmmmmmmmm Possible. I've never heard of that. I could make it more simple and say we're going to go watch a baseball game. mmmhmm. I know my DH has some family out there. We could say we're going to go see them but they have NO idea who they are. (DH's uncle).

Totally jealous your kids have been so much. The surprise will be a fun new twist for you guys!

 

[kim3339]

You could tell them you're going to Huntington Beach for the week/end. That's really close to DL so it would throw off their thinking. You could explain to them where it is and show them on a map and not to get excited by DL b/c you have to pass it to get there.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

That's a good idea because it'd be easy to GO to HB and just play for a bit and then go to the hotel which HAPPENS to be right across the street from DL ROFL

 

[Mugglemama]

Totally jealous your kids have been so much. The surprise will be a fun new twist for you guys!

I realized the 100+ number was inaccurate as far as the younger ones go, anyway. When my 2 oldest were small, and the third was a baby, we had AP's for 2 years and lived very nearby DLR. So, that's when we went dozens and dozens of times. The oldest will not be on this trip (she is away at college), so the only one who will be on this trip who would remember going ALL those times is the 13 year old. My 2 youngest have only gone for one multi-day trip per year (usually) for most (or all, in the case of the youngest) of their lives. So, they've not been in the parks nearly as much as their older brother and sister (that they would remember, anyway).

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Still, that's awesome I'd totally do the same if I lived closer. It's not quite worth an AP for us in Utah, but I hope that someday it is.

My friend suggested a cake with the destination written out on it in Vegas...at the end of a scavenger hunt.

 

[Misskitty3]

Would it be an option to leave LV at night and arrive at DL after the kids have fallen asleep in the car? You could still tell them Daddy is going on a buisness trip and you all are tagging along...but if the kids are asleep, they won't see the signs for Anaheim.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Hm. Maybe for a 5ish hour drive this is feasible. Good idea. I have so many things to bring up with Dh tonight. I love you guys!!! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Misskitty3]

Another idea that might be fun is that you all could "win" a trip to DL while you are in Vegas. Tons of different ways the winning could happen besides gambling.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

oooo that's TOTALLY creative, kitty!

 

[Brady's Mom]

Still, that's awesome I'd totally do the same if I lived closer. It's not quite worth an AP for us in Utah, but I hope that someday it is.

My friend suggested a cake with the destination written out on it in Vegas...at the end of a scavenger hunt.

Oh, AP's are definitely worth it in Utah. We had them a year and a half ago and used them 4 times. It made saving and planning for a trip super easy. Since we didn't have to worry about the cost of park tickets, we only had to worry about hotel, gas and food costs. Definitely worth it - even if you only go 2 times in one calendar year. Go in December, then again 50 or 51 weeks later and the only things you have to come up with price wise are hotel, food and gas!

Sorry for the hijack - I don't have any creative ideas about how to tell your kids - but I liked Kitty's idea of "winning" a trip!

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

hahaha I remember talking with you last go around Brady'smom! Yeah I think for us it'd just be 'too much' still...but in the future (maybe in 5 years) I can see us doing AP's

 

[Mugglemama]

Still, that's awesome I'd totally do the same if I lived closer. It's not quite worth an AP for us in Utah, but I hope that someday it is.

My friend suggested a cake with the destination written out on it in Vegas...at the end of a scavenger hunt.

Yeah, we moved back to CA after 5 years in Boise, and are planning to get AP's next year. Even though we live 10 hours from DLR, we could still probably get 4 trips out of those AP's, making it totally worth it. I'll never get to take my 2 youngest as much as we were able to take the 2 oldest (we only lived 30 minutes away from the parks back then...), but I am VERY much looking forward to the 2 youngest getting to do the AP thing, like their older siblings did.

The cake idea at the end of a scavenger hunt is REALLY cute! At the end of the hunt, you could have them find index cards with the words....WE....ARE...GOING...TO....and then they find the cake! FUN!!!

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Oooo cute idea!

and Yeah I can't wait til we are settled enough to do AP's. We JUST bought our first house so stuff is tight. This is a tax return trip ROFL. I know it won't always be so tight and I know that soon it'll be SOOOO worth it to do AP's.

 

[Brady's Mom]

hahaha I remember talking with you last go around Brady'smom! Yeah I think for us it'd just be 'too much' still...but in the future (maybe in 5 years) I can see us doing AP's

It would never have worked for us if our kids had been the same age as yours. Our youngest was 4/5 yrs. old and the others were 6/7 and 12/13. It makes a BIG difference if they are a little older and can sit in the car seat longer than 1-2 hours! Our big saving grace for our boys is the portable DVD player with a video game attached. They'll swap that thing back and forth for hours without an argument. We used to do movies, but they didn't stay really involved with them and we got a lot of "are we there yets", now they hardly even notice where we are!

Congratulations on the new house! That is a big change from renting. I still remember that feeling of being overwhelmed and a little dazed that we actually did it!