Need Help Lying to my Children!! :)

[McGreezy]

Okay! We have our first EVER family trip anywhere...and it happens to be to Disney World...this October!! This will be a total surprise for them. Our flight is completely crazy early (Didn't think before I grabbed the deal -- we have to be at the airport at 5am as our flight leaves at 7am, and the airport is 1.5 hours away! That means up by 2:30am, out by 3:30am )

I need a way to surprise them. I don't want to do it the night before or they will never get to sleep (they are 14 and 8), and was considering telling them that we have something to do that day (a Sunday) somewhere so they can understand why we have to be out so early, then pulling off the highway to surprise them before we finally arrive at the airport to give them bags full of Disney goodies.

My 14 year old is getting pretty savvy though, so I need an idea of how to spring this on them and what to say we are doing that we need to get up that crazy early??? I tried looking at a calendar of events for Rhode Island for the weekend we are leaving (October 25th, Sunday) but the only thing going on is the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular. Why would we need to get up so early to go there? And ideally I was hoping to say we were doing something somewhat UNfun so when we spring Disney on them at the last minute its even more awesome because they thought they were going to do something boring and yucky.

It's the first and only time we can afford to do this while they're still kids. I want to make it amazing for them right from the start. Help!

 

[Lemurone]

Are you able to spend the night in a hotel near the airport that night? You could maybe make that play--driving out to go to a festival the next day or something.

 

[McGreezy]

Are you able to spend the night in a hotel near the airport that night? You could maybe make that play--driving out to go to a festival the next day or something.

Hmmmm that's not a bad plan, but I just hate to pay the extra money

 

[Pinkflmngo]

Wow!!! When I had a 14-year-old, she would have flipped and NOT in a good way if I had tried to pack for her. It would have NOT been a good surprise. I vote that you let him/her in on the secret and let it be a surprise for the younger one. This could be a total backfire. Maybe I am not understanding how you plan to pack their bags and not tell them they are going on a trip. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great trip. I can also tell you that at 14 they are fully capable of helping plan the trip and have a voice in what you do. Good luck.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Honestly, I think I would pull the trigger a 2 or 3 days or even a week out and here’s why:
1) That flight unless you find a hotel nearby (which I recommend by the way) means getting up in the middle of the night and no matter what time they go to bed, that is going to be really difficult.
2) Some people have been burned telling the children they were going somewhere else fun so the festival idea is a concern
3) Of course you know them best; but it is possible they, especially the 14 year-old might need some time to wrap his/her head around a trip like that, especially if/since they have never been and even more so if they will miss school.
4) Also it sounds like perhaps they have never been on a plane before so that is something else to consider

 

[cariann77]

Are you set on surprising the day of? At their age, there's a lot of fun in the anticipation and helping with the planning. Being able to choose restaurants and fast passes. It would make departure less stressful too since you won't have to sneak around to pack and such.

I wanted to wake my girls up and go, but decided on an early surprise because it was just too hard. I have to get school work for my kids and knew that someone would slip up! I planned a surprise scavenger hunt so, I still got my surprise reaction that I wanted.

Or just tell them when you wake them up. Have them go to bed normally without suspecting anything. Around 2:30am, start playing when you wish upon a star to wake them up and tell them get up, we're going to Disney!

 

[kuhltiffany]

Could you tell them something like the house is being fumigated, so you need to sleep in a hotel? That's a toughie!

Have a great time!

 

[McGreezy]

I don't know, I really believe both kids would be unbelievably excited and wouldn't get hung up on what I packed for them and just be grateful we were going They're really amazing kids. They have never been anywhere, we haven't ever been financially in a position to do anything even close to this, and we always dream together about Disney and what it will be like when we "finally get there". I want to make it a big surprise they'll always remember. They are dying to take a plane ride and They LOVE surprises. Maybe telling them the day before does make more sense, and then they can pack with me but I'm not sure yet

I LOVE the idea of playing When You Wish Upon a Star to get them up!! I'm going to do that no matter what! Thank you!

 

[McGreezy]

Could you tell them something like the house is being fumigated, so you need to sleep in a hotel? That's a toughie!

Have a great time!

HAHA I actually love this. This would really be good to because they'll wonder why the dogs have to go to Doggy Day Camp the night before anyways. That's a good reason!!

 

[scrapquitler]

Wow!!! When I had a 14-year-old, she would have flipped and NOT in a good way if I had tried to pack for her. It would have NOT been a good surprise. I vote that you let him/her in on the secret and let it be a surprise for the younger one. This could be a total backfire. Maybe I am not understanding how you plan to pack their bags and not tell them they are going on a trip. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great trip. I can also tell you that at 14 they are fully capable of helping plan the trip and have a voice in what you do. Good luck.

I agree with this. I have two kids that would NOT be good with a surprise like this. Tell them at least the night before.

 

[McGreezy]

I agree with this. I have two kids that would NOT be good with a surprise like this. Tell them at least the night before.

Wow really?? Are they girls may I ask? Because my son is 14, yes, but he's just really laid back, so maybe that's why I don't see him reacting this way at all.

 

[scrapquitler]

Wow really?? Are they girls may I ask? Because my son is 14, yes, but he's just really laid back, so maybe that's why I don't see him reacting this way at all.

I have one of each. My son would be more upset than my daughter if I tried to spring a surprise like a trip on him. But he needs lots of advance notice for transitions in general and is always asking me to confirm plans and remind him what time we will do this or that, etc.

 

[McGreezy]

I have one of each. My son would be more upset than my daughter if I tried to spring a surprise like a trip on him. But he needs lots of advance notice for transitions in general and is always asking me to confirm plans and remind him what time we will do this or that, etc.

Oh I see. Yah, I could see my daughter being that way when she gets to that age but for now I feel pretty safe in surprising them. I am the laundry-doer and neither will notice at all if a handful of their clothes are missing the night before. Very excited for this surprise! I'm just mostly worried about it getting spoiled by letting too many people in on it :/

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Wow!!! When I had a 14-year-old, she would have flipped and NOT in a good way if I had tried to pack for her. It would have NOT been a good surprise. I vote that you let him/her in on the secret and let it be a surprise for the younger one. This could be a total backfire. Maybe I am not understanding how you plan to pack their bags and not tell them they are going on a trip. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great trip. I can also tell you that at 14 they are fully capable of helping plan the trip and have a voice in what you do. Good luck.

I agree. I don't get the point of surprise trips. Half the fun is in the planning.

Plus, when I was 14, it would have been rough missing school for a vacation, especially if I hadn't had advance notice.

 

[ChitownFamily]

I agree. I don't get the point of surprise trips. Half the fun is in the planning.

Plus, when I was 14, it would have been rough missing school for a vacation, especially if I hadn't had advance notice.

Yep, I agree too. At 14, I would have wanted to help plan the fast pass plus selections and restaurants. Think of it this way: no matter when you tell them it will be a surprise. Why not include them in the planning?

 

[Flynnismine]

Do you have any relatives that live out of town? If so, you could say that your flying out of town to a family reunion. Then they can pick out and pack their own clothes and whatever else they feel they'd need. Plus this will get them mentally prepared for an early flight and plane travel ahead of time. Just a thought.

 

[Thing 1]

No way would I do that at 14. Well, I would not do a surprise trip anytime as I won't lie to my kids but at 14 I can not image it not causing at least some issues. That is six months and a grade away for school issues. Will it be high school next year? What classes is he taking? Is he ok to miss them? Will you talk to his teachers behind his back? Does he have sports or band obligations, or might he next fall? What if he makes big (to him ) plans for that week-end ? Eight year old may be less issues, but it might be so much more fun to plan what they really want to do there. Maybe she would really LOVE to do BBB or may really think that is silly. She is right there on the edge. You know your kids best and you get to choose. I have taken kids at 8 and 14 and both trips that age were great and both times DS helped a lot is planning. He choose meals and helped pick the resort and we worked together to save extra spending money. the planning was 1/2 the fun for our family.

 

[Lemurone]

Oh lord, there's never a surprise thread without the "I don't lie to my kids" comment. Must suck on Christmas morning when they know what's in the packages already (or birthdays, or any other time of the year that we lie to our children in order to surprise them). OP, if you think your kids are good with surprises, DO IT! Our first trip was a surprise. I ordered custom scratch-off cards and a giant fortune cookie, and we came home the night before to dinner "magically" already on the table with the cookie and card. It revealed we were going to Disney tomorrow. We went a different route, as we pretended to be surprised too, and they still haven't caught on that it was really mom & dad who planned the trip. It was our magical treat!
For our trip next month, I decided to try and follow everyone's advice about how much kids enjoy planning and anticipation. Not so much. My son IS a planner, but he couldn't care less about FastPass times. I bought books, we've watched YouTube videos of rides, but they really don't care to participate. I wish we had chosen to surprise them again, so we decided we are picking them up early on the last day of school and telling them we're leaving right then instead of the next morning like they think. I can't WAIT to embarrass the heck out of them when mom and dad show up to school in Mickey ears!
Please ignore the unsolicited advice about missing school and things you didn't ask for and surprise your kids. It's your money and your choice.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Will they be missing school to go or do they have some kind of break that covers the entire trip or are they homeschooled? I think that and the departure time are the biggest things in my mind that might call for telling them sooner.

I’ve surprised my two although my oldest was just 11 the last time I did it. They loved it and my daughter has said she prefers being surprised (because it means less waiting). She really didn’t care what was in her suitcase; but she had to be the one to pack her carryon bag for the plane. I’ve seen plenty of videos of teens surprised at the airport and most were great. As I said before you know them best. I just wouldn’t want school concerns or something like "did you pack my..." to put a damper on such an exciting time. I hope you enjoy your vacation.

 

[pkelly6]

Once when I needed to get my kids up early for a surprise trip, we set all the clocks ahead - including the car - and hid their phones/iPods/anything showing time until we were well underway. At a rest stop it was still very dark and they couldn't figure out why no one was around!