Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

[6loversofdisney]

Here is a link describing the one time we surprised our children. It was very specific. Basically, you have to go to Walt Disney World as a Kindergarten graduation present for this example.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=13113842&postcount=6

This is a post from Flightless Duck - too good not to share!!!!!!! Enjoy their story!!


We're back! We had a fabulous time! If you like pictures and pixie dust, stick around, 'cause I took lots of the former, and we were blessed with lots of the latter as well! Let's just say a future picture will feature the MouseEars family with _10_ characters!!!

Since our trip was a surprise for our kids, I have to start the trip report by describing how the surprise went! So, without further ado, part one!

Part One: The Surprise

Scott and I acted as though we were going to work as usual. The kids knew that my last day was actually the day before, but I had convinced them I had a meeting with my team. Unfortunately, Scott came downstairs in shorts. I said, in my best exaggerated adult-keeping-a-secret voice, "Did you forget you had to go to work today??" Never let it be said dh can't think on his feet. "Oh, we did such a great job solving a problem for one of our districts that the boss is giving us a picnic for lunch today. We're allowed to wear shorts." Liar, liar, shorts on fire. So anyway, we finally dropped the kids off at school, and told them I would get them later. And then we breathed. Because we couldn't POSSIBLY spill the beans now. It had been so very hard to keep the secret, especially the last night when we needed to be packing and had to wait for them to sleep! We ran back to the house and grabbed our dog Honey. She needed to go to the kennel, we needed to go to the bank, to Wal-mart (for batteries), pack the rest of the things we needed, pack the car, and get back in 4 hours. We did it in 3. And sat. And waited. Finally, we heard the dismissal announcement and went in to get the kids. Kai showed up first. She was surprised to see her dad, who was supposed to be at work. Another quick lie (horrible parents that we are) and she believed that he came home just to go to Mickey Dee's for lunch with us. (Obviously she had forgotten he had a picnic at work. Hmmm.) We sent her off to find her brother, and when she returned with him in tow, they wanted to show us their report cards. We're all, yeah, whatever, read this book. (We later discovered they both rocked their grades. We just didn't really care at that point. Did I mention we're horrible parents?)

They read the book. After a stunned second, this was their response.



I gotta say, I love that my kids' first impulse was gratitude. They threw their arms around Daddy and didn't let go. Then we had to explain that we were going RIGHT THAT SECOND. At that point, they were completely flipping. I'm sure people all around were staring, but I can't say for sure, cause I was so busy grabbing bookbags and musical instruments and hustling two kids to the car. There, Nicky found the Mickey Mouse we had bought him to match his sister's Minnie (from her kindergarten graduation). He loved him instantly, and spent the ride to the house (to ditch the bags and horn) hugging him and playing with his ears and making "wow" faces. Kai meanwhile was babbling and trying to determine if we had packed and prepared adequately. Cause how could we possibly have managed without her input? Also, she wanted to know details like when we'd get there, how long we'd stay, where we were staying... she's the practical one, Nicky's the dreamer.

So I'd say, Surprise: Successful!

Stay Tuned for Part Two: ROAD TRIP!

PS Sorry for the blur on the pic - they were moving pretty fast!
__________________

Childhood Visits Offsite, FW Cabins 2002, Pop 2006 (Incomplete Trip Report/Scrapbook), CSR Grand Gathering July 2009 (Trip Report), Pop 2010 (Trip Report)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last edited by MouseEarsJenny; 06-19-2006 at 09:51 PM.



Oh, flightless, I had to share this story - I hope you don't mind - It was too good not to share!!!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I am glad it went well. I love doing it. My daughter loves surprises and now that he can recognize them, so does my son.

I have done 3 surprise trips. My surprises have been pretty simple so far. In 2010, we took our first trip to Disney. It was Thanksgiving week and my daughter’s school closed Wednesday through Friday for the holiday plus a conference the teachers were going to attend the Monday and Tuesday before. We flew out that Sunday. It was mainly for my daughter, then 7 year-old as my son was just 10 months old then.

On Saturday she went on a play date and when she got back I had her come into the family room with her eyes closed.



When she opened them this is what she saw. I put a huge display on the couch with everything I had purchased for the trip.



In the middle was a note “from” Princess Tiana telling her what a good girl she had been and how I was bringing her and her brother to see her and all of her friends that week. It said the bags are packed and the plane leaves tomorrow and she couldn’t wait to meet her.

It took her a minute to catch on. She said, “where are we going?” I asked where all of the princesses on the backpack live. She asked if it started with a “D” and when I said yes, she tossed the note into the air and squealed “Disney World, here we come!” She hugged me and thanked me over and over and then started dancing around the room until she got to her baby brother. She hugged him and told him he was going to Disney World. He clapped, but I think it was probably for her singing.

That was my most elaborate one.

In 2011, we went to Sea World for fall break. We had a 4 day weekend. I picked dd up an hour early on Wednesday. She had no idea we were going anywhere. I told her I thought we could do something fun for fall break. We have a minivan so her door slides closed. I taped a sign to her window facing the inside that would reveal itself when she closed her door. So I told her I had something planned and when she closed her door, there would be a sign telling her where she was going. When she closed the door she saw this.



In 2012, no surprises. She was in on the trip and planning from the beginning.

This year, I was planning on a different vacation, but when I mentioned summer vacation, the children made it pretty plain they wanted to return to Disney. I decided to do it, but since it was so close, I kept it a secret in case I could not pull it off. We left the Thursday after Memorial Day driving, arrived that Friday and stayed 8 days. On Memorial Day I called a little meeting supposedly to talk about adding summer chores. My daughter goes to private school and they are done before Memorial Day. I told dd to wait at the printer because I was printing out a list of chores. Here she is pulling the list off the printer.



She’s smiling because the top of the paper looks like this:

2013 DISNEY WORLD PACKING LIST

I laughed so hard at the celebration that took place, I didn't get any pictures.

Once they calmed down I told them the chore for today was to help me pack.

 

[Yahweh]

My girls and I planned a disney world trip for Sept 2014. It was basically almost a year and a half away when we started planning. What they didn't know is that we were planning the trip for this September.

Here is a video of the reveal is anyone is interested. The reaction from my oldest girl is priceless

My only concern is I used some pictures form this site on the powerpoint presentation that I showed my kids. I hope I didn't cross some copyright boundaries.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfHpGKkIAmc

 

[rebbyparker]

I'm surprising my granddaughter and daughter with a trip on Christmas day. I've gotten her American Girl doll Mickey ears and a Minnie dress and she's going in a box holding a sign saying you're going to Disneyworld today. All her Christmas morning presents will be Disney based (gift cards, autograph book and bag with pin lanyard, starter pin set, quarters and pennies and autograph pillowcase). I love Etsy!

 

[Lilliputian]

We're at WDW now and surprised our 5 children. We decided to come because DH has to be here for a convention next week, so he took this week off work to vacation with us, and then the plan is for me to mostly take the kids by myself next week.

So we just told our children that we were going to Florida because their daddy had a convention he needed to go to for work, and we thought it would be fun for us all to come along. That part wasn't a lie. A few times they asked what kinds of things we'd be doing in Florida, and I just said things like, "I don't know--I'm sure we'll find some fun things to do."

We drove here. We decided to leave after lunch on Friday, stop about half-way, and then drive most of the day Saturday. They knew we were driving to Florida, so it was no big deal to put them all in the car and take off on a big trip. On Saturday morning, right as we got ready to hit the road again after stopping overnight, we put the 4 older ones (ages 10, 9, 6, and 3) in a clump and handed them gift bags, saying that we got them some gifts to make the trip be a little less boring. We started videoing and told them to open them when told to.

The 3 year old went first. He got a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse movie. The 10 year old went next with a Hidden Mickey book. The 9 year old went next with a WDW trivia book. And then the 6 year old went last. He had guide maps to each of the 4 parks plus our Magic Bands. They still didn't figure it out, but when we told them, they were really excited. Unfortunately, they contained their enthusiasm a little too much to make for a great video, but they were happy and have told us several times that they're glad we're here and that they enjoyed the surprise. I'm glad we were able to do it. I've always wanted to surprise them, and I'm glad we had the chance. We won't do it again, though. I don't think it would be nearly as exciting next time.

 

[luvmy2babies]

My girls and I planned a disney world trip for Sept 2014. It was basically almost a year and a half away when we started planning. What they didn't know is that we were planning the trip for this September.

Here is a video of the reveal is anyone is interested. The reaction from my oldest girl is priceless

My only concern is I used some pictures form this site on the powerpoint presentation that I showed my kids. I hope I didn't cross some copyright boundaries.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfHpGKkIAmc

Now, I'm a complete mess. That was precious.

 

[Fivesacharm]

Surprises are the best! Here's what we did last Christmas:

For awhile we were going to Disney nearly every year (at least every other) but then life happened and it had been a few years since we'd been back. The two youngest were...well...pretty young the last time we were there, so when we decided to go, we set out to make it a big surprise!

Disney park passes were bought, as were Disney themed balloons. The passes were bought at the Disney store and they came in individual paper envelopes that we hole punched and tied a balloon to (we also wrote names on each of the envelopes).

We found a huge box and stuffed all the balloons with envelopes tied to them inside and then wrapped it like a normal Christmas present. The gift was an "afterthought" that they opened last.

It was a great surprise because at first they didn't know what to make if balloons in a box, but eventually they figured it out and everyone was screaming and jumping up and down! It was the best!

 

[northeast_minnie]

First of all sorry if I have already posted on here but couldn;t find my post.

We are planning a surprise trip to WDW Easter 2014 - we are not telling our DS who is 8. We are making up a Disney box with countdown chain, a mickey mouse, a note from Mickey saying looking forward to seeing you at Easter, Some American dollars, a tips for kids by kids book and some Disney candy.

Cannot wait to see his face. That is is between me and my DH we can keep it quiet - oh well only 80 days and counting till the surprise - hope it is worth it.

 

[chcoley]

We surprised my 3 DDs (7, 5, and 2 at the time) with our first trip last November. We went the day after Thanksgiving and had been telling them all week that we were going shopping and would have to get up early.

I had their bags packed and sitting in the kitchen with their ear hats on top and every Disney character toy we own sitting on our kitchen table. Our Elf on the Shelf even got in on the action...I had a friend make her an ear hat and a Mickey shirt.

My inlaws and my parents all went with us, so they came early and snuck in our kitchen and hid. We called the girls downstairs and they came around the corner to all of us standing there, wearing ear hats. They knew immediately what was going on and their faces were PRICELESS!

We kept the secret for over 9 months and there were several times I wanted to break down and tell them...I'm so glad we didn't!!!

 

[Pesky]

This year, I was planning on a different vacation, but when I mentioned summer vacation, the children made it pretty plain they wanted to return to Disney. I decided to do it, but since it was so close, I kept it a secret in case I could not pull it off. We left the Thursday after Memorial Day driving, arrived that Friday and stayed 8 days. On Memorial Day I called a little meeting supposedly to talk about adding summer chores. My daughter goes to private school and they are done before Memorial Day. I told dd to wait at the printer because I was printing out a list of chores. Here she is pulling the list off the printer.



She’s smiling because the top of the paper looks like this:

2013 DISNEY WORLD PACKING LIST

I laughed so hard at the celebration that took place, I didn't get any pictures.

Once they calmed down I told them the chore for today was to help me pack.

OMG, that is AWESOME! I may have to steal that for the WDW trip in a few years. I figured I wanted them in on planning too so something like this would be perfect.

 

[stitchlover]

Our daughter had her 16th birthday in October 2011. That was the year that the Dis Unplugged did Disapalooza at Harry Potter that December. So we decided to surprise our daughter with a trip to Disney and DAP as her gift.

On her birthday we had 4 gifts for her to open:

Gift one a Little Tykes airplane with all the little people in it (we live in Texas and flew to Orlando)
A cylinder of Lincoln Logs that would build a log cabin (we had reservations at Wilderness Lodge)
A personalized acceptance letter to Hogwarts (purchased off the Warner Bros website)
Tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party for Sunday evening

She was very confused by all the gifts until she got to the MVMCP tickets and then it kind of dawned on her. We explained the whole thing and she actually cried. Best gift ever!

 

[whositsandwhatsits]

My little guy has been begging us everyday for months now to go back to Disney. He's only 3.5 and never flown. So the whole trip will have fun surprises (plane, bus, etc). We aren't going to say a thing, but have that camcorder going. I can't wait until we pull onto property and he sees the signs and it dawns on him where we are!!!

 

[SEA333]

We are surprising our kids in November (13, 9, and 7) the morning we leave for our trip. Both boys play football and DD cheers and we are immersed in football from late July until the week before we leave, so DH had a great idea. We always joke with our boys that they will win the superbowl and go to Disneyworld, and after big wins, DH always says "DS! You have just won the big game! What you are going to do next!?" and the kids joke back and say "I'm going to Disneyworld!". The other thing he always tells his team (he's the defensive coordinator for DS13's team) is "Who's got it better than us!?" (Harbaugh) and the kids answer "Nobody!". So we are going to stage these little exchanges so that next time DH asks I can get it on video, and we are going to put the video's together and use this on the TV as we wake them up. The night before we leave, we are going to let them sleep in the living room so they all wake up at the same time. We will also have bags for each kid with their Magic Band, plane ticket (copy of! LOL), sunglasses, and a $50 Disney GC each, plus a progressive note in each bag that the kids will read that will say something to the effect of we are going to Disney World!

Then it'll be off to the airport!!!

 

[finnybear]

We had a friend keep the kids (4 and 7) for awhile and set up a surprise which they came home to:
- balloons with mickey head cutouts tied to the ribbons
- an invitation to DW from Mickey shaped like Mickey: "Pack your bags, you're going to Disneyworld! See you next week!"
- packing lists shaped like Mickey heads
- luggage tags shaped like Mickey heads with their initials
- one balloon coloured to look like an owl with an invitation to Hogwarts

If I had any idea how to insert pictures I would show you!

 

[6loversofdisney]

Even though I started this thread, I need a little help again!!

I am planning to surprise the kids again with another trip.

Here are the things to take into account:

1) I need a way to basically say, "Hey, you aren't going to see many gifts under the tree because this is it" (I have one child who I think still believes in Santa).

2) My kids are age: 17, 15, 11, 8

3) I would like to surprise them right before we go as in, like a week or two, so that they can get their wits about them, pack, get schoolwork, etc.

One thing I've tossed around - have a large box 'delivered' to the house - wrapped up like a Christmas present - large bow on top with four ends for the kids to pull...they open up the box and ....... not sure what to do here - I thought about including a letter from Santa explaining that this is basically their gift. Please give me any thoughts you have/I am open to any ideas

 

[harrisb1964]

My TA suggested putting Mickey Ears in a box and wrapping it.

 

[ToyStory#1fan'sMom]

We're going next May and I want to surprise the kiddos (ds 13, second trip and dd will turn 6 while we're there, first trip)...still looking for ideas!

 

[Meldev]

An earlier poster mentioned telling kids they had dentist appt and pick them up from school early - I may steal that idea! We are getting ours early from school as well and that's a good excuse (as long as they don't happen to remember our dentist is actually closed on Fridays - lol!)

Then we'll stop home (as poster said to 'brush teeth') pull in driveway, open garage door to balloons and sign! Saying - we're going to Disney!

 

[rwalker1304]

Even though I started this thread, I need a little help again!!

I am planning to surprise the kids again with another trip.

Here are the things to take into account:

1) I need a way to basically say, "Hey, you aren't going to see many gifts under the tree because this is it" (I have one child who I think still believes in Santa).

2) My kids are age: 17, 15, 11, 8

3) I would like to surprise them right before we go as in, like a week or two, so that they can get their wits about them, pack, get schoolwork, etc.

One thing I've tossed around - have a large box 'delivered' to the house - wrapped up like a Christmas present - large bow on top with four ends for the kids to pull...they open up the box and ....... not sure what to do here - I thought about including a letter from Santa explaining that this is basically their gift. Please give me any thoughts you have/I am open to any ideas

How about helium balloons inside so that they float up when the box is opened (tie/tape them to the inside of the box)? You could even put notes on each of the strings (secured so they pop up as well). Mickey shaped confetti inside could work too, so that it bursts out with some fanfare!

 

[DYOBL0305]

I love the scavenger hunt idea!

We are driving to FL and not planning on breaking the news to them until the night before we arrive there. Since it'll most likely be a 2 day trip AND dd's birthday will be the day after we arrive, the plan is to wrap a box and tell her we're giving her one of her gifts early. We're going to fill the box with lots of Disney goodies and at the very the bottom we're placing a Mickey Mouse birthday card that lights up and plays "when you wish upon a star" and writing "your dream is finally coming true, we're going to Disney World!!!!"

I get teary eyed just thinking about it, I cannot wait to see their expressions!!!!