Surprise or Countdown?

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I vote for a "surprise" announcement and then have a trip countdown that isn't too long, like maybe 30 days or so. Surprise announcements the day of a trip seem popular and look really cool on commercials, but I know my 4 and 9 year olds would need time to mentally process and prepare for a trip as big as this. I also think that a lot of the excitement is being able to do a countdown, helping to shop and pack for the trip, watching the Disney vacation dvd, etc.

 

[starsweeper]

I love surprises, so that's what I would do. I plan to surprise my kids next time.

 

[Oliquig]

We're telling my niece on Christmas, and our trip is the first week of February. If we told her now, all the when are we leaving, I want to do this at Disney, do you think I could buy this for Disney, would drive me insane. I do want her to have some fun planning, but keep my own sanity.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

We are taking our first ever trip in September. We were planning to wait until the expansion was complete, but DD6 and DD4 would not stop talking and asking about Disney (thanks commercials!). Needless to say, we went ahead a booked it.
We are all planning and coutning down together. I made a "Mickey Board" with a tri-fold poster board. We decorated it togehter using stickers and we also tore out pages from the calender with 3 months on each side. In the middle each kids has a their own chart where they collect stars or "mouse money" to use for treats and souveniers. They earn mouse money by doing good deeds and being extra nice to eachother.
We also are doing one big dinner a month with a Disney movie and themed dinner. It's fun!!
Maybe surprise them when they are older. Right now its so much fun to see their excitement when talking and planning for our trip. We also watch the planning DVD so they can see where we will be staying, etc.

 

[northeast_minnie]

We are taking our 6 year old son for the first time to WDW in October (we have been about 10 times before sans child) and would definitely say do a countdown.

Our 6 year old has asked us to do a countdown chart for him for 100 days and he will mark the days off. Think it is nice to plan and tell the child about the forthcoming trip - love seeing the excitement on his face when he sees the attractions.

We also love watching previous DVDs from our trips.

113 days and counting till our next trip.

Tracey

 

[southern_redhead]

We did both. My ODS has known for several months that we are going. He has had fun looking things up and planning his own little itinerary of rides My younger two are nine and seven. I didn't tell them until last Sunday (we leave tomorrow morning!)

I did a whole big "suprise" thing. I had a Disney monopoly game, the planning CD, customized maps, and a countdown chain that I had made. Their reaction was "Uh. Okay." Clearly, they don't do well with a suprise at breakfast LOL However, each day one of the kids has gotten to remove a link and then we all watch a video about Disney (I found them on Netflix - search Disney Parks - and stream them through our Wii.) As the week has gone on they've gotten more and more excited, each link that comes off seems to amp up the anticipation. My youngest takes our last link off tonight and he is beyond over the moon.

I'm glad I told them a week out, had they been "Oh. Okay." When we pulled into the parking lot I might have had a coronary LOL We just don't do well with "knowing how to act" when something changes course suddenly. So I think we did it the right way (for us) by suprising them with a trip coming up in a few days. They've also had fun talking to some of their friends who have been and getting recommendations and reviews from them about what to do and what there is to see.

Surprise! Surprise!

I did this on my last trip with my 2 boys (at the time they were 8 and 15). It was for my oldests 16th birthday. I planned, and giggled, and planned, and giggled all while they never had a clue. It was so much fun at times and there were days when I wanted to tell them SO bad.

They got home from school on a Wednesday and I was at work. When I got off work that night I came to my mothers where they were and told them. Their reaction?

"Huh?" (It was so calm and non-emotional lol)
I think they were SO surprised they didn't know how to react. We literally packed and left within one hour of them finding out. Over the trip down it was "sinking in" and made the trip so much more fun.!

 

[braysmommy]

I am going with surprise for my DS5 for our upcoming trip this October. I told him about our transatlantic cruise ahead of time so he could get use to the idea of his first cruise and we could talk about what to expect. He is already overwhelmed with the idea of starting kindergarten and news of this trip might push him over the edge I might change my mind and tell him the week prior to leaving but for now going with the surprise!

 

[readytogotodisney]

We're doing a combination surprise/countdown. We're telling the kids on Christmas about our trip 2 weeks later in January. That way they get the best of both worlds!

 

[MushLRC]

I'm terrible. We go the same time each year so my kids are on a continuous countdown to the next trip, lol. My 3 year old watches the Disney Travel documentaries on Netflix on a pretty regular basis just because he loves to talk about what he is going to be big enough to ride on next year