Not sure I can keep quiet for much longer!!

[ROBEAR84]

As it is now NEXT MONTH!!!! ... I am finding it increasingly difficult to keep quiet about this trip to the children and I'm wondering how long to leave it until I do spill the beans!

Our first trip with the children in March 2010, DD knew about it from when we booked (months before) and it was a nightmare! She turned 3 whilst we were there and every day for the months beforehand kept asking if it was time yet! Very cute (she was taking the guide book and brochure to bed every night!) but was a bit much!

On the October trip of the same year we did the exact opposite, didn't tell her and just arrived at Ashford hoping she'd figure it out - she didn't! lol. It was a bit of an anti climax and I really missed the excitement of the lead up!!

This time I have a postcard from Minnie and Mickey (thanks HappyPanda!!) waiting to be thrown back on the doorstep when the time comes to tell them but I'm just not sure how long to leave it!!

Do you (as DH does) think it's still too long, would you wait til a few weeks before? the week before??

Seems like such a stupid thing but I want to get it right this time!

 

[DLPdaft]

definitely the week before for telling the children - they are still young and so a week to them is a lifetime away !

In the meantime, chew your OHs ear off about how excited you are, or come on here and do it .

 

[HappyPanda]

Do you (as DH does) think it's still too long, would you wait til a few weeks before? the week before??

Oooh glad it got to you ok!

I told DD when we had 30 days to go and it was nice counting down it together. We made a countdown calendar and each day we crossed another day off.

I had worried whether it was too soon, but it was so nice sharing my excitement with her!

This time, I accidently told her when we had 60 days to go!


Which was definitely too soon but it just kind of slipped out! lol

If you think you can keep it a secret until a week before, I would try to do that at least then it's a nice manageable number for them to countdown!

 

[ROBEAR84]

definitely the week before for telling the children - they are still young and so a week to them is a lifetime away !

In the meantime, chew your OHs ear off about how excited you are, or come on here and do it .

Yeah they are and that's exactly why we haven't told them yet but it's soooo hard!! They keep asking if we can go (think they keep overhearing us talk about it as because they're young they don't twig so we can talk more than if they were older!)

Just booked Steakhouse brunch for the day we get there, I'm struggling to plan much more now though as I've had the planner done for 6 months!!

OH is just as bad as me, I keep getting texts telling me how many work days he has etc... but us getting excited about it just makes me want to tell them all the more! I may have to ban him talking about it to me at all!!

 

[ROBEAR84]

Oooh glad it got to you ok!

Yes! thanks so much Helen, sorry I thought I let you know when it did! We keep 'finding' it in the hidden spot and getting all excited ourselves!!


If you think you can keep it a secret until a week before, I would try to do that at least then it's a nice manageable number for them to countdown!

See, I was thinking 10 days as it's a nice round number for a countdown! it's just the matter of whether I can keep my mouth shut for that long!! I may have to have my own countdown until the countdown!!

.

 

[DLPDreams]

I have nearly dropped myself in it a few times as has my Mum . I am fairly sure my DD1 knows we have a tripped planned but I just keep telling her that I priced it up and it was too expensive. She has just turned 7 so isn't silly/isn't so easy to deflect!

DD2 has heard me talking to my DH and Mum about the trip - in 'code' lol but it's obviously not working as she said to her sister the other day "we are going to Disneyland", when DD1 said we aren't, she categorically stated we are!

I, meanwhile just keep denying it and trying to change the subject!

We always tell them on the day we leave for the airport . We leave for the airport mid morning, so that way they have time to digest it, get excited etc. Plus, it means they sleep properly the night before so arrive fairly rested rather than if they knew - they'd not sleep (well certainly DD1 wouldn't and DD2 would be up with the larks!). I'm hoping that our best bet of Dreams viewing will be our first night for this reason.

I do keep thinking should I give in and tell them a bit nearer - like a week before, but for the sleep reason the most, I'm leaving it. Plus I have lots of nice little gifts for them which I want to give them the day we go as part of the revelation!

I will obviously need to pack before and will have suitcases around but I will tell them we are going to a friend's caravan - excuse always comes in handy!

For our November trip I can't decide what to do as I need to take them out of school for one afternoon. Plus, because it's Christmas, I think it would be nice to get them excited about seeing Santa at Disney. Have plenty of time to think about that one though .

Good luck deciding what to do - no matter when you do it, make sure you have the video camera to the ready .

 

[jothp]

It is really hard not telling. We did a surprise trip one Christmas and I'm not sure how I managed to keep it a secret. I think any time now would be fine. If you made a countdown for them it wouldn't be much longer than an advent calendar is counting down to Christmas.

 

[deepblue]

We're telling DD on her birthday, which is the day before we travel. She's got all the excitement of her birthday to look forward to, which is quite enough!! I may have told her about a week before, otherwise. She quite likes being able to count sleeps on her fingers so not more than 10 sleeps away. I'm looking forward to her being old enough to understand better and share in the planning excitement though, definitely. Well done for not slipping up!! It's hard to do :rofl:

 

[evcollins]

Ohhhh, how exciting!! We are in the same boat about telling the kids about their FIRST Disney trip!! Our Fairy Godmailer is sending our postcard sometime this week, but I'm trying to intercept it and plan a bigger surprise so DH can see their reaction, too, since he's at work when the mail comes.

At least - least - six years ago my DH's job had a fire sale and was selling this huge Mickey Mouse for $10, so naturally because it was such a great price, I bought two. Gave one to my stepmother b/c she loves Mickey and the other one has been in his plastic, still in the crushed box, waiting for someone to love on him. Lol!

Well, that day is coming. Grabbing ole Mickey from the basement storage, buying red, yellow and black balloons and sticking huge Mickey with the postcard and balloons in it, and also including a paper chain countdown to eliminate the "is it time to go now" into a wardrobe box. It will be marked with "Special Delivery" to come "show up" on Saturday. I swear, I'm sooo excited! I'm going to be more excited than anyone else. Lol!

My thought is to tell them around the two-week mark so we can break in our new shoes, try on the new clothes, etc....and start preparing them for what to expect. I'll show them YouTube videos for rides I'm not sure they'll want to ride or not, who they want to meet, letting them know that we're headed for rides first and we can shop before we leave. And most important, prepare them for SWW! Are we standing in forever lines to meet Darth Vader, Chewy and whoever else they "might" want to meet, or catching the shows and attractions??

Wow! Still so much to do....but it'll all be great!

ec

 

[DLPDreams]

Sam - that sounds such a nice birthday treat for your DD .

ECollins - your plan sounds fab - the Mickey figure sounds amazing! What is SWW? To the best of my knowledge DLRP doesn't have Star Wars characters out everyday - infact quite rarely I think. But I'm no Star Wars expert! The most you get on 'normal' days is the Star Tours ride and some merchandise in the shops.... All the same, your kids will have a great time I'm sure .

 

[sammie1884]

I totally understand your pain on this one

We are going next month too and I am the only one in the house that knows! I am deffo telling hubbie on his birthday which is 2 days before we go BUT I can not decide weather to tell our 3 year old then too?! Or if I should leave it until the morning we go (for the good night sleep reasons!)

 

[DLPDreams]

Sammie - totally depends on your child. Do they take surprises well? - some kids don't and need time to digest it. Also, do you think he/she would sleep well the night before if they knew? I just know at least one of my girls wouldn't and we'd arrive all knarky and tired which isn't a good start!

I remember a friend telling me she booked a surprise trip for very early January one year, and they made this huge 'thing' of telling their DD (who was 5) on Christmas day. Needless to say she wasn't that fussed because it was Christmas day and she had all her other presents to open! I think they were quite disappointed as they expected her to be doing cartwheels or something! On the flipside, I've read on here (I think) of someone telling their child they were going somewhere else, so off they set but when they got to the Eurotunnel, said child burst out crying when they realised they weren't going to Nannies or the zoo or wherever it was . Poor things!

 

[Hipster Meg]

Our son knows that we're planning a trip but not when for - as we're planning on going next January it's going to be part of his christmas present and I plan on telling him a couple of days before Christmas as I know that he gets so over whelmed with stuff on the day that he just wouldn't take it in. He doesn't react well to surprises so telling him on the day we go really isn't an option!

 

[scampbunny]

lol ro - its hard keepin a secret

my keeping secret failed, as cay has no concept of it all anyhow, and fin burst into tears worried we hadnt got his stuff, so in our case, surprises dont work

this time, they know bout it, but im telling them they wont know the exact day til i wake them in the morning.... this is to eliminate the non sleeping.......... not sure if it will work lol

 

[A dream is a wish]

lol ro - its hard keepin a secret

my keeping secret failed, as cay has no concept of it all anyhow, and fin burst into tears worried we hadnt got his stuff, so in our case, surprises dont work

this time, they know bout it, but im telling them they wont know the exact day til i wake them in the morning.... this is to eliminate the non sleeping.......... not sure if it will work lol

That is what I'm doing! Chloe knows we're going in July but I'm not telling her until I have to wake her up in the middle of the night to travel! When we went away last year for a few weeks before she was crazy, I can't do that again

 

[ROBEAR84]

Thanks for all the replies, it's so nice to see I'm not the only one having trouble!

I've managed to get under the 4 week mark now, woo hoo! as the children have been at their grandparents for the weekend out the way of me and my big mouth!

I've decided to try and keep quiet until about the 2 week mark (so only two weeks of silence to go!! )

Definitely agreed with the point about the lead up to Christmas! They were fine with that and loved opening their calendars each day so I'm thinking of doing something similar for them to count down the last 10 sleeps or so!

Oh it's so close now and I'm so excited! Just hate that this time in a month we'll be home

 

[scald]

I am finding it hard also. Don't know how our secret is going to pan out. We are going to South of France on holidays. We always take tgv and eurostar to London and then ferry to Ireland because I hate flying. So the kids think its the usual tgv ride to Lille for the Eurostar. What they don't know is we will just get up and off train at Marne La Valle (which happens to be a stop on the way).

It will either be brilliant, or they will completely freak out coz they thought we were going to London. Either way, I 've managed to keep my trap shut about it so far

 

[sammie1884]

Sammie - totally depends on your child. Do they take surprises well? - some kids don't and need time to digest it. Also, do you think he/she would sleep well the night before if they knew? I just know at least one of my girls wouldn't and we'd arrive all knarky and tired which isn't a good start!

I remember a friend telling me she booked a surprise trip for very early January one year, and they made this huge 'thing' of telling their DD (who was 5) on Christmas day. Needless to say she wasn't that fussed because it was Christmas day and she had all her other presents to open! I think they were quite disappointed as they expected her to be doing cartwheels or something! On the flipside, I've read on here (I think) of someone telling their child they were going somewhere else, so off they set but when they got to the Eurotunnel, said child burst out crying when they realised they weren't going to Nannies or the zoo or wherever it was . Poor things!

Its a difficult one because he is only 3. We recently went to peppa pig world and told him about a month before and he was bouncing off the walls for a good few days! In one way I think it will be nice for them both to find out at the same time but I will still need some sleep before we go! We are only going for a couple of days so I really need him to be wide awake so we can see 20th celebrations late in the eve!
I really don't know how he will react if we tell him when we get to eurostar terminal, he has been before so knows what the eurostar is for.