sadism?

[MELSMICE]

We have done both & I don't think I will do the surprise thing anymore & here's why:

--When we have a trip planned that they know about we have special songs that we sing about the trip. We count down the days together. Each person has to pick two special things to do when we get there - something they've done before & want to do again & something they've never done & want to try. We talk about it non-stop & it is just so much fun. They really get into the planning. I go shopping & bring home "vacation" clothes for them to try on.

--When we surprised them, first of all it was torture for me. When we told them they were ecstatic but for about the first 3 days they kept saying they didn't feel like they were in Disney because they didn't get to plan. They all said they missed the planning, and although they liked the surprise, a lot of the fun was talking, planning & singing our special songs.

We are going in 42 more days (but whose counting) & every day one of them tells me how much longer until we are WDW. Being able to share the excitement with them is much more fun.

 

[raidermatt]

I like surprising my son also, but when it comes to WDW, I prefer to tell him. We watch the planning video, and look at old park maps, stuff like that. Plus we use it to help him learn about calendars, by marking off days.

 

[BWVPam]

We have done both ways. I have to tell you though, that the looks on the kids faces are priceless when they are surprised. The first time we did it, we decided in March to go on the trip to WDW over Mother's Day Weekend. We kept it a surprise, picked up the kids early at school, told them we were picking up grandma at airport. got to the airport and parked and then went around to the trunk to get the luggage out. When my husband pulled my son around to help him, he still hadn't got it. Wanted to know what was going on. So I asked the kids if they could go anywhere, where would they want to go? Of course, they said WDW. I said we are going. That was a great trip. The kids talked about it forever.

The next time we surprised them, we told them we were going to WDW, but didn't tell them that we were also going on a 3 day Disney cruise. The morning of the cruise, we packed up and told them we were going down to Vero Beach for a few days. As we drove into the Canaveral area, we could see the Disney ship. I asked the kids if they wanted to go see the ship up close. Of course they did. When we pulled up to the terminal, one of the CM's asked if they could unload the luggage. My husband whispered to the CM to play along. I asked the CM if he thought there was any way we could get on the ship last minute. He said, yeah he thought so, so I turned around and asked the kids if they would like to go on the crusie instead of Vero. Their eyes got so wide and they were so excited. Then when we got to the staterooms, I had already ordered surprise gift crates with notes from Mickey. I started to cry. The kids were so happy and just couldn't believe it.

So yes, it can be fun both ways. Have a blast.

Pam

 

[CarrieAP]

Really cool stories and fun to read! I could never surprise mine as can't keep a secret and love to include them in the planning, but so neat to hear all your stories. Thanks for sharing!

 

[skoi]

We've also done it both ways. For our dd's first trip (she was 3) we told her about four months ahead when the down payment was made. Then we watched videos, looked at pictures, etc. Unfortunately this was before we had internet access so we didn't have half the info we do now.

The next time we also told them ahead of time. DD knew we were going when her new brother was 3, so there was no hiding it. We planned it all together, watched our videos, looked at pictures of the hotel on the web. They were bouncing off the walls by the time we left

Of course we told them we weren't going back for a long time (until ds was at least 44 inches-- the magic Space Mountain number). But because we got great rates at the CR we went back again the next year! That was the surprise. We left the house, and told them we were driving to Virginia because of "a Navy thing" (well we did get the rates through a military deal). They didn't realize where we were going until we pulled up to the Autotrain, and the looks on their faces were precious. That is until they went totally ballistic and started jumping up and down. I was sure they were going to tip over the van.

We won't surprise again either, because it killed me to keep my mouth shut about the trip.

Julie

1975-off site
1992-CB
1997-DXL
2001-WL
2002-CR
2003-CR then first Disney cruise!

We won't be going back for a while but that's what I said in 2001!