Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

[6loversofdisney]

Can this be a thread for those of us who surprise our kids or family members with a Disney trip? When I was looking on this site for ideas, I couldn't find many. Thanks

 

[Benihana]

Here's what we did....

We were away for the weekend at a beach house with family and planned to fly straight from there Monday morning. We told the kids we were going to leave early in the morning to beat the traffic but if they were good we had planned to stop somewhere "fun" on the way home.

When we were 20 min from the airport we stopped for a quick breakfast and said it was time to talk about our fun stop, but first I had made them a book to remember our weekend at the beach. I gave my oldest a book I had made and asked her to read it outloud so her brother could hear too.

The book talked about a little princess and pirate who had fun at the beach with cousins and were sad their vacation was over. Then it talked about how their mommy and daddy surprised them by going to the airport. Then it finished with " when u wish upon a star...sometimes dreams really do come true.... This is a true story. We are heading to the airport right now to fly to.... ( picture of the characters in front of the castle on the last page). As they processed the news hubby and I pulled out earhats and they started screaming yay! We are going to Disney world!

They were so very happy and excited. Totally worth all the sneaky planning to see those little faces lit up with joy!

 

[maplevale]

I can't wait to hear ideas too!

We are planning on surprising our 6 and 2 year old at Christmas. I plan on doing a BIG box and filling it with (hopefully helium but we will see how Christmas eve goes) balloons and at the bottom making a card/book/tickets for DD to read out loud.

I am trying not to get MY expectation too high on the reaction. DD6 is a traveler and DD2 is pretty young still. And of course I said 'Disney' out loud this morning... thankfully ODD was too busy talking!

 

[6loversofdisney]

Then it finished with " when u wish upon a star...sometimes dreams really do come true....

Yep, you made me tear up lol!!

 

[bethifoody]

Search "Keeper of the Secret" - used to be a thread around here about this very topic. Can't find it, but there's lots of references to it & may yield some ideas.

When my 2 youngest ones were 5 & 8, I surprised them. We'd never taken them anywhere on vacation, so they were very naive. I suggested that we go take a plane ride, b/c we'd never done that before. So we talked about that for a while... They were excited to go on a plane. As it got closer, I told them I'd bought our tickets & we were going to Orlando - might as well go someplace fun, right? And hey, since planes don't just land, load & leave - they have to wait a while to refill & restock - maybe we could see if we could get on a bus & go 'look at Disney World'. Well, they thought that was a great idea, a great way to kill a couple of hours.

So we got down there & I 'checked at the ME desk to see if we could just go look'. Golly gee, sure enough they let us go for a ride, lol. And hey, maybe we can get off at the Contemporary (where I had reservations!) to go up & watch the monorail drive through the hotel... So that's what we did. Only I stopped at the check in desk 'to see where we needed to go'. When I was just about checked in, I called the boys (who'd been sitting watching cartoons w/ their older brother (who was in on the secret)) over & the CM behind the desk asked if they'd like to spend 5 days there.

I had my oldest ds take pictures doing this & we got 'a money shot' where you can see the realization dawning on them. It was great!

I'd never be able to pull that off again, but it was fun when I did it. There were other surprises in store (Dad was in law school but came down late the next night after he took his finals; my sister & her family were there too!) & all in all, it was a great trip!

 

[momof3littles]

I think we are going to do a scavenger hunt for our 3 kids, ending in a huge box of balloons like I've seen mentioned in other threads. They'll get fairly normal Christmas gifts, but I want to have them do a scavenger hunt when they think they are all done opening gifts. They will be 9, 7, and 3 (almost 4) at the time, so hopefully they'll get it

I saw this today on Amazon and thought it would be fun in lieu of a bunch of balloons http://www.amazon.com/Mickey-Mouse-...UTF8&colid=1LR636XEF5ZE5&coliid=I3WQIPYF3XL1X

I picked up ornaments for the kids, and I'll probably get them a few Disney themed gifts as part of their scavenger hunt, or for the very end. My son loves anything engineering related, as does my daughter, so I'm thinking of an IMagineering video or two.

I need to come up with some poem-like or fun rhyming clues.

I'm sooooo excited. They've never been, and my DH has never been. I haven't been there since I was 4, but I still remember riding Dumbo, the Haunted Mansion, the Fort Wilderness trailer/cabin we stayed in, the campfire with Chip and Dale at FW, and the ferry ride

 

[Coconuts]

Our best surprise was a few years ago. I told the kids they had dentist appointments and would be leaving school early, @1pm. We've done this many times before for various appointments so they didn't suspect anything. Told them we were stopping at the house to brush their teeth quickly first. When they walked in the door, all of our luggage was in the foyer with their Mickey ears on top, and DH was standing with the video camera saying, "We're going to WDW!" They freaked out and then we headed right to the airport.

 

[Pesky]

We are doing a layered surprise. We are doing a scavenger hunt at home with some clues leading to discovering we are going to the ILs for Christmas. We are then going to have two wrapped boxes, one for each. We will either give them to the kids at my BIL's house (where we spend our first night) or as we drive up to the hotel. We will tell them that each has a piece of a puzzle and they have to put it together to find out what their gift is. DD's box has a slip of paper with the word "LAND" and DS's has the word "DISNEY." Should be fun!

 

[3 Little Princesses]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2809643 check out that link. I posted the clues for the scavenger hunt I had for my girls on Christmas morning. It was so much fun and so hard to keep a secret!! I hope the link comes up the right way, I never posted one before...

 

[GotLabradors]

The plan is to order personalized mickey ears and put them in a box at Christmas along with a Mickey themed Christmas card explaining the details of the trip and the really nice maps you can order from WDW. Then they can help me plan for a while!

 

[grainsmommy]

Awesome! We are celebrating Christmas early this year since hubby is deploying to Afg. We are celebrating on Oct 20. We have gotten the kids mostly disney themed gifts and we decorated our tree with mostly Disney ornaments. On "Christmas" morning we'll have them open all their gifts and at the very end they will open the new Hallmark Disney castle ornament that sings. It will have a clue to lead them on a scavenger hunt and then they will have to find the box with the balloons and countdown Mickey chain and note about where we are going. I AM SO EXCITED!!! It will be all of our first time (hubby has been but he won't get to come we are going the 2nd week in Dec) I cannot wait. Sometimes thinking about it is the only thing that pulls me out of the sadness of him going. I hope it's a good distraction for the kids. They are 9, 5 and 3, but DS will turn 4 at the park.

 

[Jerzetta]

Yep, you made me tear up lol!!

me too.

We leave in 2 days with our DD who will have a bday there. I wanted to surprise her so badly but couldn't keep it a secret. I was going to make a video of all her favorite people - teacher, Sunday School teacher, best friends mommy and have them say each 1 word "name you are going to Disney world" and then gave us dancing in Mickey ears. Oh well maybe on her 2nd trip.

 

[6loversofdisney]

hubby has been but he won't get to come we are going the 2nd week in Dec) I cannot wait. Sometimes thinking about it is the only thing that pulls me out of the sadness of him going. I hope it's a good distraction for the kids. They are 9, 5 and 3, but DS will turn 4 at the park.

I think it will be a wonderful distraction for them and for you! I wish for you that he could be there too - that day will come

 

[6loversofdisney]

I was going to make a video of all her favorite people - teacher, Sunday School teacher, best friends mommy and have them say each 1 word "name you are going to Disney world" and then gave us dancing in Mickey ears.

Love this idea - you're right, maybe next time!!

 

[Happyjen27]

We are doing a surprise trip this year!

Nothing elaborate. We're going to pick them up from school a bit early, perhaps I will copy a PP and say it's for the dentist. Then, when they get to the car, they will see their mouse ears/pluto hat on their car seats and realize WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY.

And then off we go, to the airport.

 

[Happyjen27]

me too.

We leave in 2 days with our DD who will have a bday there. I wanted to surprise her so badly but couldn't keep it a secret. I was going to make a video of all her favorite people - teacher, Sunday School teacher, best friends mommy and have them say each 1 word "name you are going to Disney world" and then gave us dancing in Mickey ears. Oh well maybe on her 2nd trip.

You might have a better reaction for her 2nd trip. I think before they go to The World they have no idea what is in store for them, and how amazing it is. So, her second time, she'll totally know and be overjoyed!!

 

[6loversofdisney]

I guess I will share my stories with you - we did it to the kids twice!!

First time was the best - we went in 2009 and said we would go back every five years. We had free dining when we went in 2009. We got offered the bounceback offer while we were there. I waited until the kids were at the pool with Daddy and I was alone in the room to call and make the reservation for 2010. My husband and I kept the secret for pretty much a whole year!! We didn't even tell too many friends or family because we didn't want anyone to slip We planned the trip for 17 days (which was the BEST)! It was going to be 10 days but the air made it worth it to stay there longer which meant we could have "down" time which was nice. Anyway, back to the surprise and how we pulled it off. I did refer to and subscribe to the "Keeper of the secret" thread that I found but not everyone knows to search for that but they may search the word "surprise" or "how to surprise"

What we did was started to tell the kids we were going to a wedding in Georgia. They were young enough that they wouldn't be paying much mind at the airport and such. I lied and lied through my teeth. I told them that this relative that was getting married was a long, lost one that they had never met but since they had invited our family, we would go to the wedding. I even had my SIL make a fake wedding invite (that was the best). It came in the mail and I shared it with them that day. It was your typical "So and so request the honor of your presence on _______" She even made it on a thicker paper and cut it down to the normal invitation size. Once that part was done, I started telling the kids that I was a little worried we would be bored there and that I was looking for different things we could do online. I printed out places that were nearby where this fake wedding was going to take place and showed them to them. It all had to seem legit because of the two older kids and their possible desire to look things up themselves.

So, fast forward to the arrival at the airport, I got a little nervous when we went to the spot where we were to board the plane and there are people everywhere with Disney shirts on and even Mickey ears lol. I said to my husband, "We better do this now before they figure it out". We asked the four kids to sit in a row from oldest to youngest so we could do a family picture. Once we had them all set up, we casually got the camera out and the camcorder. We didn't want to raise a flag with the camcorder. They were in front of the glass window and the airplane was in the background. We handed each of them a letter inside of an envelope that had their name on the outside. Each letter was age appropriate for each of them. While I won't be able to remember what they all said, I will give you the gist.

I will type more in a minute.....

 

[ness0905]

Dec 2012 we surprised our dd5 and ds3 with a scavenger hunt and she just started learning to read and was sounding out Disney world and my DS was like "Disney world" we were like yes screaming and we are leaving right now they just stood there I said come on the car is packed they just started walking to the car I was upset they weren't excited but as we said our goodbyes to our family as she was sitting in the car she I noticed she was crying what's wrong "we are going to Disney world I thought you were joking us" it was great and the whole first 5 hours of the drive its 16 hours and then they feel asleep they would just say I can't believe we are going to Disney world it was worth the initial blank faces

 

[FlightlessDuck]

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

 

[6loversofdisney]

I guess I will share my stories with you - we did it to the kids twice!!

First time was the best - we went in 2009 and said we would go back every five years. We had free dining when we went in 2009. We got offered the bounceback offer while we were there. I waited until the kids were at the pool with Daddy and I was alone in the room to call and make the reservation for 2010. My husband and I kept the secret for pretty much a whole year!! We didn't even tell too many friends or family because we didn't want anyone to slip We planned the trip for 17 days (which was the BEST)! It was going to be 10 days but the air made it worth it to stay there longer which meant we could have "down" time which was nice. Anyway, back to the surprise and how we pulled it off. I did refer to and subscribe to the "Keeper of the secret" thread that I found but not everyone knows to search for that but they may search the word "surprise" or "how to surprise"

What we did was started to tell the kids we were going to a wedding in Georgia. They were young enough that they wouldn't be paying much mind at the airport and such. I lied and lied through my teeth. I told them that this relative that was getting married was a long, lost one that they had never met but since they had invited our family, we would go to the wedding. I even had my SIL make a fake wedding invite (that was the best). It came in the mail and I shared it with them that day. It was your typical "So and so request the honor of your presence on _______" She even made it on a thicker paper and cut it down to the normal invitation size. Once that part was done, I started telling the kids that I was a little worried we would be bored there and that I was looking for different things we could do online. I printed out places that were nearby where this fake wedding was going to take place and showed them to them. It all had to seem legit because of the two older kids and their possible desire to look things up themselves.

So, fast forward to the arrival at the airport, I got a little nervous when we went to the spot where we were to board the plane and there are people everywhere with Disney shirts on and even Mickey ears lol. I said to my husband, "We better do this now before they figure it out". We asked the four kids to sit in a row from oldest to youngest so we could do a family picture. Once we had them all set up, we casually got the camera out and the camcorder. We didn't want to raise a flag with the camcorder. They were in front of the glass window and the airplane was in the background. We handed each of them a letter inside of an envelope that had their name on the outside. Each letter was age appropriate for each of them. While I won't be able to remember what they all said, I will give you the gist.

I will type more in a minute.....

Sorry - had to step away for a second. So, the letters to the oldest three were about being honest, truthful, and how it was not good to tell lies (which we had done to them). We talked about how if someone does tell a lie and then asks for forgiveness, that you should give it to them. We also talked in length about how much we loved them and wanted to do nice things for them because they were all such great kids and how much we wanted them in our lives and just loved spending time with them. The third child's letter was something about how this wedding was gonna be kind of boring and we needed something to do that would be fun! The youngest letter was a picture of a whole bunch of Disney characters and it had all of their signatures on it. (I have this knack of being able to copy just about any signature in the world) lol. At the top of the letter, it said, "Forget about that wedding in Georgia and Come See Us Instead!!"

I will admit the younger two didn't quite get it and that was okay but the oldest two went right into tears! It was truly one of the best moments in my DH and my life.

We stayed on property, we had free dining which at that time meant 1TS, 1QS, and 1S per person per day - we ate great, we saw tons of characters!! It was amazing and unforgettable!!

The last time we surprised them or I should say the second time we did it, they were older - we told them we were gonna drive to South Carolina to go to the beach to get away. They were excited. We had a great road trip and a few minor problems with a flat at 1:00 a.m. on a Sunday But all in all, it was a great road trip. The kids were not paying any attention to where we were at or where we were heading, just that the GPS kept telling them we were getting closer. (It's a lonnng drive lol). All of a sudden, my oldest says, "Turn down the music" - "Did that sign just say Florida?" My husband and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes. They were all excited and happy.

While my kids might not jump up and down or cry every time they get a surprise, we still love to do it!! We have done it with many other things in their lives and will continue. It is priceless and the window of time you have to do these things closes every single day!

Blessings to all and keep on surprising!!!