Surprise Cruise Questions

[Waffles]

Has anyone here ever suprised their kids with a Disney cruise? We are thinking about it, but I wanted to get some input first. The main thing I would be concerned about is the DK's finding the papers or seeing them come in the mail. We also have nooooo idea how exactly we would suprose them with it.
Has anyone done this before? I qould love to hear your stories, tips, suggestions...anything!

TIA

 

[DisneyKids]

We did this for our kids. They were fairly young (5 and 9) so it was easy to hide along the way. We surprised them at Christmas. We had a bunch of gifts wrapped up that would be things to bring on the trip (sunglasses, etc.) and pictures to clue them in on what was going on. They opened them one by one and we sort of worked our way through going on a trip, where it might be, etc. until they figured it out. They loved it and the trip was great. Have fun with it.

 

[kcashner]

If you book thru a travel agent, the documents are sent to the agent. I then pick them up at her office. That way, nothing is sent to my home, and it would make a surprise easier.

The only time I had a problem with this system was the one time I used an out of town agent (not realizing that the special was thru Disney, not thru this agent.) Disney sends the docs FedEx, requiring a signature. The out of town agent then used another service who dropped them on my porch! A neighborhood dog tore them up! My DD knew about the cruise, and was devastated when I sent her to "clean up the trash in the yard" and the "trash" was our documents. She was concerned that we couldn't go on the trip. I made the TA pay for replacement since they had never gotten to ME.

Yeah, you can surprise the kids, and it will be great.

 

[hydster]

And I cant wait! The last Dis cruise we went on we told them as soon as we booked it which was far in advance because the grandparents were going to go. This time we have had it booked for about 3 or 4 months and arent leaving until the 28th of April but we decided to take advantage of the next few months so we are going to tell them Christmas night. We just made up a huge treasure hunt for the kids and they will have to solve a problem and then go find a clue. Each clue will be where to go next and will have a puzzle piece in it and as soon as they get all the puzzle pieces it will tell them where to find the last clue. We are going to wrap a huge box and inside it we are going to put in a DCL Postcard that a dis'er here on this board was kind enough to send me THANK YOU AGAIN Maleficent59! On it it tells the kids that last cruise wasnt enough time or something so to come back and see them again on the 7 day along with some left over Disney Dollars from our last trip we forgot to use. We plan on doing this AFTER Christmas day is done and they think there is nothing else to get. I am so excited and then this way they can do something to earn some Disney Dollars and regular money to take with them on the trip.

Heidi

 

[outahere]

We have a couple more DCL cruises booked, which DS9 knows nothing about. He knows we're going to Florida during certain upcoming school vacations, but thinks we're going to visit family.
I guess we do have an advantage with family living there. We have even asked him if he could go to Marco Island (one of his favorite places - and ours) or on another cruise, which would he choose. He still can't make up his mind, so I guess we'll have to decide. If we do go on the cruise, he probably won't know about it until we go to the DCL bus at the Orlando airport.

We don't usually talk about either of the cruises in front of him, but have slipped a couple times and he didn't pick up on it.

 

[DisneyCruiseCrazy89]

I heard someone a while back ago say that they took 4 glass ornaments and painted a different number for their stateroom number on each and then hung them on the tree all mixed up... and on Christmas Eve (Or Christmas Day... I can't remember) they let their children arrange until they got it right and told them!! I have always thought that would be WONDERFUL!

 

[cjsmith]

We surprised our 3 kids last Christmas with a 4 night cruise. I put their tickets in 3 different size boxes and had them open them last. It took forever for them to figure out because the thought these were the tickets for their June 7 night cruise that they already knew about and not a new cruise.
Once again we're surprising them with another cruise, this time a 7 night again. I have a whole treasure hunt planned for Christmas morning. I purchased gold chocolate coins, written down the word to Yo HO Yo Ho a Priates's life for me, have a beanie baby stuffed parrott, bought Pirates of the Carribean, etc. I'll have them follow the clues until they find the tickets again under the tree. (I'll place the tickets under the tree while they're searching!)