Need Ideas On How To Surprise Kids With Trip !!!!

[groberaew]

I'm sure that this has been asked a million times. But I need ideas on how to surprise my two older children. I have younger kids and it'll be easy to get things by them. My two oldest are very intuitive and pick up on stuff easily. I'd like to be able to surprise them. We weren't expected to go back to WDW until December of 2007 and now we are returning this Dec for 10 days !

I'm sooooo excited. I can barely contain it. I hope I don't let it slip.

My oldest is in College and so we won't be leaving until she begins her break. The younger ones are being taken out of school. So I have to let the school know about two weeks before we go.

What is a good way to surprise two teenagers ?

Thanks In Advance !!!

Posting Incognito since my kids read these threads !!!

 

[Kim1964]

Well, I surprised my then 9 year old daughter last year by bringing a suitcase up from the basement and putting stuff in it, right in front of her. When she asked what I was doing, I said, "We're heading to the airport in 3 hours. You and I are going to Disney World for 5 days". The look on her face was priceless.....and I'd kept the secret for 5 months!!

 

[minniebeth]

My DF is going to surprise her kids by having everything packed and ready to go and that day do a big Disney breakfast...everything from the decorations, paper products and as much food Disney related she can be creative in preparing. She will announce their trip, departing that day during breakfast!

 

[lovindonald]

For out first trip to the Nick Hotel I did a scavenger hunt. I bought things like Spongebob Mac & Cheese and fruit snacks, goggles for the pool, something for the plane and it ended with a new inexpensive luggage set for each of them. I used the bright colored post cards in green, orange and yellow (nick colors) and sent them on a mad chase around the house. All of them including my teenager loved it. Too bad when they got to the end, they asked why they had luggage. I guess they really had no idea. They still talk about that and how they should have figured it out over a year later.

 

[barkley]

(if the teachers will keep mum and they can do the school work during or after the trip) you can try what we did-we waited until the day before we were leaving (so it was their last day of school but they did'nt know it) and when we went to pick them up we made sure we got there a little bit earlier than the end of class so we would be sure to catch them with their friends/teachers around. played it real low key and as we were walking out the door casualy said to them 'oh you probably want to tell your friends 'goodbye' you won't be seeing them for about a week' (the kids are looking at us like we're nuts)-they say 'huh, what are you talking about?' we respond with 'well we leave for disney world tomorrow morning so you won't be here, -that is unless you don't want to go, i'm sure grandma could keep you and bring you to school each day' first it was shock, then denial ('no way', 'realy?', 'mom it is so NOT cool to tease me') then screams of happiness from them and their delighted friends (the teachers got a huge kick out of).

we've also surprised them by having it 'announced' as part of a gift dh or i get (if dh or i have a bday close to when we are leaving we've been known to have that person get a homemade gift certificate that reads 'happy birthday you get a trip to wdw on x date-you can bring x number of people-your choice'). it's realy amusing to watch dad 'struggle' over deciding who he should 'invite' and watching the younger kids try to convince him that they are 'excellent traveling companions'

 

[Disney_Mama]

We are going Nov 30th and my two DD's have no idea. I am going to pack their bags while they are in school. When they get home we will get into the car and not tell them a thing. We will be driving into the US to catch our flight and still not a word as to where we are going. Spending the night at a hotel and still we will not tell. Once we get to the airport and because my kids can read....I think they will figure it out. We are going in March as well and they know all about that trip. It's soooooo hard not to talk about it. I have made all the dinner reservations I got the Wishes Specialty Cruise My dad's 80th birthday...Can't Wait Good luck with your surprise!

 

[miche61]

Disney_mama- we also are going Nov. 30th. DD13, DD11 (turning 11 on our trip) and DS9 don't know we're going. Even DH is not in on the whole thing.

We have three b-days that we'll be celebrating right before we leave. I plan on having DH's family be there when the kids will open gifts for the plane- glo necklaces, gum, Disney wash cloths. I even have a word find for them to do if they don't get it by then. I have about twp months to plan the whole surprise. I can't wait.

We've also surprised the kids before. We've gotten them up at 4:30 in the morning to tell them we were getting on the plane. They loved it!
We also picked up oldest DD- then 10 at school at lunch time with a note that today is the day we're going to WDW. The kids from school will still ask when I'm at school if I'm there to pick her up for a trip.
I guess we've usually surprised our kids now that I think about it.
Have fun everyone with your surprises!

 

[luvmy2sams]

We surprised DD with a trip for her birthday this past January. Since we were flying out of DFW, we had told her that we were taking her to Rainforest Cafe and Build-A-Bear in Grapevine for her birthday, staying in a hotel overnight for convenience. We had informed her teacher a couple of months earlier, and the teacher was fantastic with keeping the surprise and assembling all her homework for the 7 days she'd be absent. After we'd had dinner and built bears, we returned to the hotel to open the rest of her presents. I'd ordered a bear tee from zazzle.com and embroidered "Disney World January 7th-17th, 2006" on the back of it. We wrapped the shirt in a star box and gave her a Cinderella birthday card which read "may all your wishes come true this year". This was DD's last present to open, and once she realized what the shirt meant, she was shaking and crying. It was the best reveal...and keeping quiet for 8 months was the most difficult thing we've ever done!

Good luck with your surprise!

 

[groberaew]

Thank you so much for the ideas thus far.

My problem is my two oldest. How much time should I give them to pack ??

I'm thinking of waiting until the day before we leave but I'm nervous about not giving them enough time.

We will be driving down this time and are staying offsite for 10 days ! So, they'll probably be packing lots !


Keep the ideas coming !!

 

[MayMom]

Why don't you write them a funny poem?

I am doing this for my DS and I can't wait. He thinks we are going to the city to stay all night for my birthday for 1 night. We will get him up at 4(AM!) to catch the plane. I have a backpack packed with all kinds of Disney stuff that I will give him at the airport, but before he opens it I wrote a poem about where we are going and we will have hime read it!!! We are definately going to be taping it! My mom (his Nana) is about to burst - she is not going and she wants to see his face so bad when he finds out!

 

[groberaew]

Why don't you write them a funny poem?

I am doing this for my DS and I can't wait. He thinks we are going to the city to stay all night for my birthday for 1 night. We will get him up at 4(AM!) to catch the plane. I have a backpack packed with all kinds of Disney stuff that I will give him at the airport, but before he opens it I wrote a poem about where we are going and we will have hime read it!!! We are definately going to be taping it! My mom (his Nana) is about to burst - she is not going and she wants to see his face so bad when he finds out!

Wow, You are leaving very soon. How exciting !!

Let us know how it goes and if he was shocked out of his boots !!

 

[beck0321]

You could just tell them you are all headed to the beach or something for a few days as a family vacation. That way they'll know they need to pack and get ready for a vacation. However, when you arrive in DisneyWorld (without having mentioned anything), I think they'll still be VERY surprised. Someone my DH works with did this with their kids.

 

[Disney's Fab 4]

We were able to keep a secret the first time.... My children, were much younger then yours.... but they use to always look at pictures from my Disney trips when I was younger and ask if we could take them sometime... Then we had a pizza party and used Mickey Mouse plates and cups and finally we told them we were leaving the next day.... They were sooo happy... me too! It was great seeing the surprise on there faces....


However....... To surprize your older ones..... You could get out all there summer clothes, already have there shampoos, new tooth brushes, film etc packed and wake them up early the day before you leave and then with a nice breakfast with a Disney Theme during breakfast you could let them know!..... That way there since you already packed the personnels packed... all they would have to do is pack there clothes..... 1 entire day should be enough for them to pack.... I mean if someone told me you get to go to WDW tomorrow all you need to do is pack... Let me tell you I could probably pack in an hour!!!!



Have fun! You will have to keep us Dis'ers posted... I love seeing all these ideas.... We went last year and I told the kids far to in advance... But we are going next year and hopfully I can keep it a surprise!!! I love the whole surprise thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BigOnDis]

We did a tresure hunt a couple of years ago with our kids. We gave them clues that led to the next clue and so on until then end where we had written a sort of peom about us all going to Disney. The look on their faces was priceless, I wish I would have had a camera.

We did it about two weeks before we were going to leave so they could think about what they wanted to take and give them some time to beg moeny from their grandparents for spending money.

We thought about the just one day getting up and going suprise but thought it would better if they helped pick out clothes they like to wear and things to take so we did it in advance.

Have fun with it.

 

[ReinerFam]

I have kept this a secret since Dec 30th, 2005! My friends can't believe it! Our kids have been told that we are going to visit friends in another state. This way they know that we are going away and I can get their homework early and have them do all of it before we leave. They think that we are driving to visit our friends which would be about a 12 hour drive. So our first surprise will be that we are actually flying and then when we get into the airport, with video camera in hand, we are going to surprise them with the trip to DW!

This past weekend, I overheard my oldest daughter (I have three children) telling my son that her dream vacation would be to go to DW. They would take a limo and then they would stay in the park and they would stay for a whole week! Well all but the limo will come true - but we are doing the Magical Express so it's almost like a limo!

 

[tjmw2727]

My first "girls only" trip I surprised my dd's but they were only 6 and 8 yo. We told them I had to drive dad to the airport in the am and they would be slightly tardy for school (my 8yo was livid). They didn't think twice as my dh travels for business but I dont' usually drive him. When we got to the airport parking lot I got the kids and the suitcases out of the car and asked them if they wanted to go to Disney World, it was cool! It was also easy to pack as they were little and it was October in New England so the summer stuff was put away.

As for your older kids - unless you have access to pack for them and really know what they want to bring its going to be tough. Perhaps the scavenger hunt idea (cool idea!) a week or so prior would work. Still a surprise but time for picky teens to pack?

Let us know, ok?

TJ