Revealing our surprise trip... UPDATED!!

[DebIreland]

We went to WDW for our one-off (ahem!) holiday last June and have been talking about it, dreaming about it, salivating over it ever since! My boys who are 11 (almost 12) and 9 cannot wait to get back there!!!!! We also have a little girl who just turned 2 and had a fabulous time although obviously, she's too young to be aware of whether we're going back or not though she does say "Minnie" a lot and could spot a hidden Mickey a mile off. lol!!

So, this is the deal.... last Christmas we all sat down and came up with a rough timeframe of Winter 2008 to go back. The boys are already getting excited..... BUT little do they know that I've been planning and plotting and DISing and obsessing for the last 3 months to make it happen sooner. It was such a powerful draw (that magic is addictive!) I wanted to make it happen this year, for various reasons.... so the end result is....... we're going back in October - just 6 months away!

Our accommodation is booked, our theme park tickets are purchased and just last night I booked our flights. Woohoo!!!!!

Sooooo..... I want to reveal the surpise soon. Up to now, I didn't say anything because I wanted the whole thing to be booked before I said a word. But now I want the boys to be able to look forward to it and enjoy all the planning

So, now I'm trying to plan what way to reveal this big surprise...... I know I want to make up a package for all 3 children. I've purchased two copies of Birnbaum's WDW for Kids (one for each of my boys, silly to get two copies perhaps but they can write in them, put notes everywhere etc without having an all out battle about who has the book ). I also bought them 3 Disney pins each on Ebay and, of course, their theme park tickets. (I have a couple of little Pooh and Piglet soft toys for our girl and some Disney stickers so she's not left out!).

It's my eldest son's birthday on April 24th so initially I thought of announcing the trip then - he would open his birthday card and find his theme park ticket inside with a little card (that I'd make up myself) with the hotel name, dates etc. of our trip!!!! I'd then hand my 9yo a card too (a general one) with the same thing because he'll turn 10 in WDW so it would be his birthday gift early, you know?? But, now I'm thinking we'll announce it a bit sooner than that because I don't want it to be perceived as just E's present. I'm not sure. Not that anyone would care what it was labelled, they'll just be thrilled to get to WDW but anyway, regardless of whether we wait for the 24th or reveal all next weekend (perhaps Easter Sunday???).... I need ideas.....

My question (after that long, meandering intro!) is how would you announce it? Will I go head and just hand them the parcel each with the park ticket, book and pins inside? Or will I leave little Disney hints around the house to lead up to it? Or perhaps just mention it pretend-casually like "awww, I just realised we won't be here for Halloween this year", met by "Why?". "Cause we'll be in WDW of course!". That's just stupid actually. Although you see, just the other day my eldest boy was saying how he'd love some day to be in the U.S. for halloween because it's not much of a big deal over here!! Woohoo!! Little does he know....

How do I build up to it? Any ideas to add to my own (or replace my own!) to make my announcement a real event?

Thanks for listening....

 

[kimmikayb]

If you find something great, let me know because we're doing the same thing! I initially was going to wait until the morning we left and tell them on the way to the airport....but since they will be in 5th and 7th grade...I want them to have homework done first. So I'm planning on some sort of surprise.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

How about handing each of them a calendar with the "Big Day" circled in thick red ink. Let them thumb through the months before they find the day and when they ask what that date is for, you can hand them a card each with the tickets inside. You wouldn't even have to say a word -- let them put two and two together!! I'd love to see their faces!!

And give them a big thick marker so they can X off the days until the trip!

 

[Stephanie VanMeter]

Wow! It sounds like a great surprise. I like the Easter idea and then you would not have to wait much longer. If you have the movie (Disney video) maybe you could plan a movie night with popcorn and snacks and then tell them that night. Anyway you decide it will be thrilling!

 

[mrsmom]

I am surprising my kids with this on the way to the airport. check it out
https://secure.uvoxnetworks.com/disney/ My kids are in 3rd, 6th.7th grades.
Its a neat idea.
Kim

 

[Renee1061]

I think it would be a great Easter gift! Put the tickets in a big plastic egg and let them find them (or maybe just a note...I'd be afraid the tickets would get lost).

Let us know what you decide to do!

Renee

 

[DebIreland]

Oh wow!!! So many great ideas already!
You know even though I said we might announce it on Easter Sunday, I hadn't even thought of doing an Easter basket or putting them in a plastic egg like you suggested Renee!! Excellent!

And the Disney movie!! Of course! It's so obvious now that I see it and yet, I hadn't thought of it ... Thanks Stephanie!

And the calendar, yes, why not?!!! I'm going to do all those things I think or some kinda fun combination! I love it.....

 

[Lorelai]

We are doing a surprise trip in two weeks. We have to fill in our 12 year old a week in advance because he has to get his classwork & baseball schedule sorted out. But for our 7 & 3 year olds..... we are telling them the day before. Still trying to figure out how to do so!

 

[Mickey Fanatic]

At Christmas my aunt and uncle surprised my cousins with tickets to a Maple Leafs game in Pittsburgh. My aunt taped different words on the bottom of golf balls that my cousins picked from a gift bag. In the end the golf balls spelled out the game, date and place or something like that.

With Easter coming you could do the same thing with the plastic Easter eggs and a basket and spell out the Walt Disney World, the dates of the trip and maybe your hotel.

 

[RustManFan]

May I suggest the playing of a theme park CD at the time of presentation? See if they recognize the tunes !!

Also maybe give each of the boys something that they can use to start saving their own spending money - jar, can, doesn't have to be fancy and you could get them to decorate them themselves !

And I really love the calendar idea......

 

[Brianne]

I'd make them work for it a little.

We did something similar for Christmas one year, putting hints in little wrapped boxes around the house. A treasure hunt, if you will. I could definitely see you doing something like that, tying it into Easter. Plus, that way it's for both boys instead of tying into one of their birthdays.

Have fun!

 

[Tricia1972]

I also like the Easter tie in. I was thinking that you could do any of these things:
* Hide all of your Disney trinkets in plastic eggs around the house. Pins should easily fit in a plastic egg.
* Hide the Disney video and the books under a Mickey Mouse theme egg hidden by the Easter Bunny. (If your 2-year old is into the Easter Bunny you could present it that he let the secret out of the bag.)
* If you color eggs - have the boys and your DD color eggs to leave for the easter bunny. When the bunny hides the eggs he can put Disney Stickers on all of the eggs.
* Bury the tickets at the bottom of the baskets under the easter grass. The tickets will be safe, but still hidden.

All of the Disney theme should lead to a question prior to getting to the basket but the basket can be the final confirmation for them.

How fun!!! I am so excited for you. Please be sure to let us know how you do it.

 

[Mykelogan]

Wow, such great ideas already! Your kids are going to love this surprise I am sure. Here's my twist on the Easter Egg hunt idea. Hide eggs with the words "We're Going Back To DisneyWorld In October!", one word per egg, along with other general eggs for them to find. When they sit down to open up the eggs they will have to work together to assemble the words into the proclamation.

Mike

 

[knovak]

We're planning a suprise trip in 4 1/2 weeks and we are telling are DD's the night before. I was planning on having our suitcases packed with there Pin Lanyards and Disney water bottle/fans from last year on top or there Minnie Ear Hats - not sure yet - but I can't wait!!!

 

[DebIreland]

Thanks everyone! !!!!

So many great ideas.... Yes, a treasure hunt (thanks Brianne) for little eggs with one word on each (thanks Mickey Fantatic)!! Or even *IN* each - I'll empty the eggs (real ones) with minimal cracking (!!) and put a little card with a word on it in each one, secure the bottom of the egg again and paint them up and then give them the clues to find each one and discover the proclamation, as Mike said!!! Yes it's all coming together - looks like one big omelette for lunch on Saturday.

Then when they've mapped the words together, I give them one more clue to search for the bigger plastic egg in the basket filled with the pins and stickers (and the park tickets in the grass underneath, thanks Tricia!). How does that sound?

I'm so glad I asked for ideas.... I hadn't thought of any of this.

RustManFan, we're definitely gonna get them saving. Believe it or not, they're already putting spare change in a jar for 2008!!!! Hee hee.

MrsMom, the phone call will be such an amazing surprise for your children! It would require international call rates for me though, not that they'd even have it available to here I bet but thanks for the thought all the same.

Lorelai and knovak, how exciting, just a few weeks to both your trips. Wow!!!! Your children are so not gonna sleep that night! lol!

 

[Tricia1972]

Deb - Inquiring minds are dying to know. How did they react?? I am dying to know!! Please update when you can.

 

[DebIreland]

It was amazing!!! I'm so grateful for all the ideas I got here - the big reveal went so well my boys were on air!!

This is what happened....

On Saturday morning I cracked the ends off 8 eggs (used the eggs for French toast of course cause I have the Irish famine mentality - food must not be wasted ). I washed the empty shells and left them a while (hidden of course). Saturday afternoon I went shopping for a few last minute things - Disney gift wrap, a princess tiara and Disney juice bottle for my girl, hard-back notebooks for all three of them and some little furry chicks for decorating the basket.

When the kids went to bed on Saturday night I painted the eggs (using my 9 year old's painting kit - I enjoyed that part a lot!!!). I got out an old basket I had from a hamper years ago and got out all the bits and pieces I had put away (guide books, Disney pins, theme park tickets etc.). Then I got on the computer and typed up 8 clues which were simple, perhaps a bit corny, but effective!! Here they are (I'll put the locations in brackets):

1. Is Spongebob ready to hatch an egg?
[Egg hidden under my DD's Spongebob soft toy in her rooom]

2. Is this an egg cup? Looks like a tea cup.
[Egg hidden in a tea cup on the dresser]

3. An egg where Aisling sleeps!
[Egg in baby's cot - this one was tricky to do as she slept for most of the afternoon! lol]

4. Trapped in a birthday card
[my birthday cards were still up from a few days before so I hid one in the open part of one of those]

5. This egg is looking after our hats
[Egg hidden in a drawer in the hall where we keep hats]

6. Does this egg want to be dried ?
[In the clothes dryer!]

7. Look out! That viking ship has an egg on board?
[Hidden in my son's Lego viking ship in his room]

8. Can an egg play the piano?
[On the piano!]

So that's the clues done. But I didn't actually hide the eggs yet of course! Then I typed up eight separate words which were:
We’re / going / back / to / Disney / World / in / October!

Then I typed up a very simple itinerary with the dates, flights, hotels and theme parks listed!

I printed out those pages, cut the clues into eight strips and the words into individual pieces. The paint on the eggs was dry by now so I put one word into each egg and put a little bit of clear tape at the bottom to hold in each word - this took some time as I didn't want the word to stick to the inside of the tape but it worked in the end. Can we say 'obsessive'?

I then printed the itineraries and stuck one in the inside page of each of the boys' notebooks.

I then wrapped up 3 parcels, each one in Disney paper. In the boys parcels I put: a guide book, 3 Disney pins (bought on EBay), a Disney planning DVD [thanks to Disney for sending me two of these by accident instead of one!!! Woohoo!!!] and a theme park ticket (wrapped in its own paper too) and the notebook for holiday planning! In my DDs parcel: a princess tiara, Disney juice cup, a little Mickey Mouse clock (which I found for 2 euro in a discount store!!!), some crayons and a notebook (for scribbles and doodles!).

All 3 parcels went into the basket and I decorated it with straw and little furry chicks and plastic eggs. I hid that temporarily.

So the next day, after a visit to my mothers and after the kids got too many chocolate eggs from people (!!) we came back home and I got to work. I went and hid all 8 eggs discreetly. They hadn't a clue what I was doing, didn't even notice me sneaking around!!!

I called the kids into the living room and told them we had a surprise for them and we were going to do an easter egg hunt and that there was one word in each egg and when all 8 eggs were gathered they could make a sentence from the 8 words and that sentence would reveal a great surprise. They were very, very excited!!!!!!

So I had the clues on 8 strips of paper folded and they each, in turn, took a piece of paper each and were told to get the egg, open it and put the word on the table but not to tell each other what word they had revealed (this left them guessing a bit longer!!). So they were running all over the house - it was really funny and very exciting. My heart was racing and DH was loving it too! The clues were easy so it didn't take them long to gather the eggs.

The first word DS9 got was 'October', DS11 came back with 'Disney', DS9 came back with 'back' and so on.... (remember they didn't know what words the other one had so it wasn't too obvious!!). But as it went on, after about 3 words each, they were each practically hyper-ventillating with excitement as DS11's head was spinning with the words 'Disney' and 'going' and my other boy was grinning ear to ear with the words 'back' and 'October' wondering what was happening!!! We said nothing, just laughed and enjoyed it while eating chocolate on the sofa!! It was great entertainment. DD was running after them, loving every minute of it and wondering why Spongebob had an egg under him. lol!

So they had 7 clues which took no time at all to gather (but enough time to keep the momentum and excitement alive!) and then DS11 was stumped on the last clue "Does this egg want to be dried" He was shouting up from the kitchen, "it's not by the sink, I thought it wanted to be dried Mom? Dad? Help?" He was going crazy at this stage with excitement and meanwhile DS9 is about to burst in the living room waiting for the word. So I shouted down "what else do we dry?" and he was like "I dunno" I said "how about clothes?". So he ran to the clothes dryer and we could hear him struggling with the door and he shouted up "I can't open it, it won't open, how do you open it. Mom? Mo-o-o-m". Of course I hadn't bargained on the male gene kicking in and the automatic aversion to anything domestic. (kidding, kidding).

Anyway, I told him how to open the darn dryer door which he did and came running back with the egg and cracked it open to reveal another word. They put the words down and formed the sentence "we're going back to Disney World in October!" very fast. Well, they were overjoyed. My 11 year old was literally perspiring and shaking. He was so excited, he was just overcome. My 9 year old was quieter but smiling and couldn't take it in I think. He's like his Dad, much more laid back, DS11 is like me, excitable! lol He's a very passionate and emotional child! He ran over and gave me and his Dad a big hug and said "thank you so much, thank you so much, this is the best day of my life". He had tears in his eyes. It really is a dream come true for him to go back to WDW. He was so happy there and loved every minute of it (I won't go into too much detail here but he had some problems as a young child, autistic tendencies including many communication problems and, although he's doing very well now, he has his ups and downs, but I've never seen him so completely at peace and happy as I did at WDW).

So my other DS hugged us too and thanked us and, of course, our little girl did too just cause she does that all the time Then I think I said "cool, money does buy love!" (I was kidding of course!!!).

Then the boys were throwing a hundred questions at us like "how are we getting there?", "where are we staying?", "what theme parks are we visiting?", "can we see more of Animal Kingdom?" etc. etc. I told them to close their eyes for a minute and DS 11 said "there's MORE???". I went out of the room, got the Easter basket and brought it in and put it on the table, told them to open their eyes. When they saw the parcels they were just over the moon, they each opened their parcel and were thrilled to see the guide books (started looking at them straight away), loved the planning DVDs and studied the pins. DS11 ran to get his pins from last year and knew exactly where they were - he's extrememly fastidious and organised. DS9 said "oh I wonder where last years pins are?". [My guess is they're somewhere between the room at Port Orleans and MCO Airport ]

I told them to open their notebooks and they saw the 'itinerary' and were jumping up and down again!!!! DS11 put on the vacation planning DVD straight away and we all watched it amidst a hundred questions and "thank you's". DD2 played on the floor with her clock and tiara and joined in the excitement and kept saying "Minnie, awww" over and over again. She loves Minnie so much and anything Disney to her is 'Minnie'!!

So that was it folks!!! It was a GREAT success and I enjoyed every second of the great reveal!!. Thanks again to all who helped me with ideas I'd never have thought of myself.

So we're going back to Disney World!!! WOOHOO!!!!

 

[gems_smiling]

WOW that sounds sooo brilliant. What a great way to tell your kids.

 

[SerinaEmily]

oh geesh, that got me all teary, what a great reveal! I'm so happy for you

 

[DebIreland]

Thanks Gems and SerinaF, I enjoyed it immensely.