Poll: Surprise Kids or Not?

[cyberfilly]

Hi Folks,

I've never posted a poll thread before, but here goes....

We are planning on taking our two kids, ages 9 and 12 to WDW in mid-December '07 for our second WDW trip. Our first trip was in 2005. My question is would you surprise them with the trip at the last minute or not? I've been reading other threads about surprising kids and have shed a few tears reading what other posters have done! Very neat ideas!

My reasons FOR surprising:

1) For the look on their faces when they find out.
2) They can stay focused in school leading up to the trip.


My reason AGAINST surprising:

1) Telling them now lets them enjoy the excitement for the next 4 months. They may prefer this, but I don't know. They really enjoyed our countdown calendar last time.


So you can see I am very indecisive! Looking forward to the poll results! Thanks to everyone!

 

[WeRblam]

I don't see the Poll to vote...

But, in lieu of the actual poll - I would vote for surprising them. I did that for my two kids just the ages you have a few years back and they still comment about how they loved being surprised!

 

[linda0706]

I vote for telling them sooner. Maybe not right now - perhaps once school has started & is rolling along - but at least a few weeks ahead of time. For me, even when I was a kid, I LOVED the anticipation of something nearly as much as the actual event. OK, maybe not quite AS much, but I did love it. KWIM?

Plus, there's the fact that I am TOTALLY unable to keep a secret. I'd let it slip for sure

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I have a 1/2 and 1/2 approach to this. I let DD know that we are going to Disney but don't tell her the EXACT day. Tinkerbell does that for us. Tinkerbell comes to our house the morning we are leaving and leaves little gifts to use on the plane/at WDW. That way, we get the excitement of planning but also the surprise of "today's the day!"...and I admit it, we get to use Disney as a bribe for good behavior

I have had friends who didn't tell their kids til they were on the plane and the kids were HORRIBLE the whole trip (normally very well mannered children). They just got overly excited and never managed to calm down.

 

[Hannathy]

I voted for telling because to me the anticipation is actually better sometimes than the actual thing. Think Christmas as a kid. Also they are old enough to have a lot of input into the trip planning.

 

[powellrj]

I voted for telling them because when I was a kid my parents surprised me with a trip, and to this day I wish I had known about it so I could have anticipated the trip ahead of time.

Your kids are old enough that helping to plan the trip would be great fun for them.

 

[bnf2]

I voted for telling because to me the anticipation is actually better sometimes than the actual thing. Think Christmas as a kid. Also they are old enough to have a lot of input into the trip planning.

That's pretty much what I was about to say!

When we took the twins for their first trip in 2004 we told them only 3 weeks in advance (they were barely 5 at the time)- perfect: not too soon, but soon enough to "help" plan.

2006 we told them about 2 months out- nearly 7 by now- a little better with not asking each day, "How many more days???"

For this December, we told them in January- mainly because we are going with 2 other families (and we see them mutliple times a week- one is even our sitter!) Harder to keep it a secret this time. They are going on 8 and feel they are "seasoned" Disney kids rotfl:... kids!) and they love planning!

Have fun whatever you decide! We had nearly as much fun telling them each time as we did on the vacation!!!

 

[tchrrx]

I didn't vote b/c I chose a third option: Tell them you are going, but don't tell them when. We had DD7 help plan our last trip, but she had no idea when it would happen. I got the suitcases out 2 months early & just randomly packed. That way, she didn't see me frantically packing a couple days before & figure it out. It was a lot of fun this way b/c we got to see 'The Best of Both Worlds.'

 

[MomofCKJ]

I voted to suprise. We suprised our kids last December for their first WDW trip and didn't tell them till the night before. Now granted the reaction was not what I had envisioned but it is a most priceless video and makes me laugh, laugh, laugh. I would not have done it differently at all! To me there is no more awesome suprise than someone saying "We are leaving for Disney...tomorrow (or today!)." I am glad we did the suprise trip just once for them.

For the March 2008 trip they know and it is fun to talk and plan WITH them but I am still glad that we did one really great suprise trip!

Allyson

 

[lgncd]

I told ds4 just so I have another person too share the excitement for the next couple months

 

[Doc CW]

My mom surprised my with a trip once and it was really cool, my mom said my face was priceless and I was so excited to go it was crazy. I would definitely surprise your kids.

 

[petrymom]

I voted to suprised, but I am in this same situation right now. I WANT to surprise, but I don't know how it would be possible. How do I pack, how do I keep my BIG MOUTH SHUT!!!!!

ONe pro would be that DS daydreams about going and school suffers and if it would be a surprise, he couldn't do this!!!

ONe con - the fact that they can't share in the excitement. The last time we all knew for a year in advance. It was SOOOO fun to count the days until Disney!!!!

Good luck in whatever you decide....

 

[portia9]

I can't imagine surprising them-we aren't going for 8 months and my kids are constantly talking about it! We are all so excited! I am really enjoying them looking so forward to it.

Yvette

 

[autumnbaby9]

i like the 1/2 and 1/2 idea. Kids get 2 help & anticipate but they also get the "maybe its tomorrow!" feeling.

 

[3PRINCESSMOM]

I did tell the DD13, but we kept it a secret. On Thanksgiving Day we finished dinner at my SIL's, they were having fun playing with their cousins when we said we had to leave. They were not happy. Begrudgingly they got their coats and said their good-byes. As we walked to our car their older sister asked them to guess where we are going? She told them. Of course, they didn't believe her. We walked them to the back of the van and showed them all the luggage, then pointed back at the house where everyone was watching. My 2 princesses were speechless! The 7 year old began to cry.

The most magical, magical moment of my life,,,(other than my 4 childrens births)!

Do the surprise thing!

 

[Familyof6]

Since this is their second trip in a couple years, it will be GREAT to surprise them! We did this for our 4 kids in 2003! (12, 10, 7, & 3) They can't get over how we kept it to ourselves and even packed for them without them having even a clue of what was going on. NOT ONE CLUE!!! They love that we did this.

Since we had just been on the "trip of a lifetime" to WDW/DCL in 2002, they didn't suspect that we'd be going again that soon. When I got dh to agree to let me book, at first we decided not to tell the kids in case things didn't work out and we had to cancel. As time went on and we hadn't told them about the trip, it just seemed that since we had gone this long without telling them, we should continue keep it a secret. We still weren't sure when we'd tell them. EVERYONE (adults) around them knew they were going, but they didn't. We had to put off my son's tonsillectomy and I had to explain to the ENT surgeon in private, so my son wouldn't hear. Their teachers all knew too...but they didn't miss any school. We went on the Tuesday of their April vacation. Vacation had started and we didn't go anywhere. Why would they think we'd go somewhere on TUESDAY???
I packed the suitcases in our attic!!! The day before we were leaving, it was 90* in NH!!! (a rare occasion in April) They wanted to go in the sprinkler! I had to tell them they couldn't (because they would have to go find their bathing suits, which were PACKED)!!! They were NOT happy with me. (until later when they found out why I wouldn't let them)
We had told them that we'd be going on a road trip the next day. I put out the clothes for them to wear. (Disney shirts..and shorts, hint, hint ) I had packed all their backpacks with things for the trip...snacks and games and such.
My dh put all the luggage and backpacks in the back of our pick-up truck. They never saw it! Normally we would take the Big, High-top, Conversion Van on any road trip, but that wouldn't fit in the parking garage at the airport. We just told them we wanted to take the truck. They kept asking and guessing where we might be going. As we drove along headed to the airport, they guessed that perhaps we were accompanying Daddy on a business trip to DC. We had talked about doing that before. One of them decided that it couldn't be that because they didn't have any luggage. Then one of them looked into the back of the truck and spotted the luggage.
It's funny, but they didn't check the board to see where the plane was going when we checked in. Then they heard Orlando...but they still weren't sure if they were going to Disney. They even missed the "Welcome to the Magic Kingdom Sign! (or whatever it said.)
They were truly SHOCKED to say the least!!! It was priceless! A memory that can't be replaced!
We had one final surprise for them at the end of the week. Our very close friends who we hadn't seen in quite some time, joined us for the day!

They certainly had the BEST stories when they got back to school! Even though some other families had gone to WDW, none could say that they were surprised by their trip except our kids! (not why we did it though)
THEY WILL NEVER FORGET IT!!! (OK, maybe the one who was 3 will mix up the trips a bit...) We're going again this Sunday! They're excited...but it will NOT compare to the last trip!

SURPRISE THEM!!!!

Familyof6

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

We've taken our 2 older kids to DL 7 and 6 times respectively and WDW once, but one of best Disney memories ever was our 1 surprise trip. We picked dd up from school with the car already packed and told her we were going on a long drive. She asked where and we said we thought we take a small vacation to a hotel, which made both kids get really excited (they LOVE staying at hotels). They asked a few questions on the 6 hour drive but really expected nothing other than a hotel and some swimming and room service. We arrived after dark and they were sound asleep. We actually got them into bed at the hotel with them having no clue where we were. The next morning this continued (we had always stayed at DL hotel and were offsite this time), with us saying "gee I hope they have something fun to do around here and we're not too bored." Other parents nearby were giving us very strange looks. We convinced the kids to just go for a walk around the block. DD quickly recognized the DIsney trash cans but just thought that town we were in must love Disney too. We walked all the way up to the ticket gate of the park (since we had always stayed onsite the walk looked completely different to them because we'd always come into the DL park areas from Downtown Disney) and suddenly both kids eyes just got huge and ds said "mom did you know where we are???" It was sooo fun!! The only reason our trip TOMORROW (woohoo!!!) isn't a surprise is because its our youngest sons first trip. We just adopted him in June and it was important to prep him for everything.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I love the surprise stories...actually gave me goosebumps of excitement! However, I could never pull it off. The closest we came was surprising DD with our Disneyland trip and that was only because we actually were spending a week out in LA visiting family and Disneyland was a two day side trip. We arrived at our hotel at Disneyland late at night. DD slept half the plane ride so she was wired when we got there. So DH took her swimming to tire her out...he ended up out there until 12am with her (which to DD would have been 3am cuz of the time difference). She came running back to the room with her eyes wide. She asked me if I knew that Mickey lived here too. DH explained that she had seen the YOAMD banners at the hotel. DH told me that he had explained to her that Mickey "lives" in Florida but "vacations" in California DD asked if we could try to find his vacation house. We told her that if she (finally) went to bed, we would try to find it tomorrow. Worked like a charm.

 

[rneyland]

We have been 3 times with our son. The first two times we surprised him. The third time (age 12) we let him know ahead of time.

The first time (age 4) we had Pooh call on the first morning and ask him to breakfast at CP. Great way to surprise and get going.

The second time (age 10) we told him that we were going to Tampa to visit family and the see the Cooking Museum (wife made that up). When we got on the airplane I gave the flight attendants an envelope with pictures of WDW on the outside and an invitation to spend his b-day with Mickey and friends. The flight attendants brought it to him about 10 minutes before take off. They were so excite to participate that three of them came to his seat to watch. The look on his face was priceless and it made a great start to the trip. The pilots even announced has b-day trip over the plane's intercom and invited him to see the cockpit. A Cast Member was on the flight and she gave us an extra one day pass, which we used for a friend. We were all in tears of happiness and excitement. An incredible start to a great trip.

The third trip (age 12) it was just father and son going it we enjoyed planning it together.

 

[kcrew]

I voted for telling because to me the anticipation is actually better sometimes than the actual thing. Think Christmas as a kid. Also they are old enough to have a lot of input into the trip planning.

Oh that is perfectly said!! It is exactly the reason I would say tell, tell, tell! A surprise is exciting for like 5 minutes (and aren't you actually surprising them when you tell them in advance?), but when you tell them the excitement is prolonged for months! And why are we all on these boards anyway? We love the anticipation and the planning! Kids love it just as much and there are so many fun activities that you can do, and planning share with your kids in the upcoming months, rather than POW, look we're at Disney!