Surprise trip how did you reveal?

[Meglen]

My ds11 thinks we're going to Disney in 2021 but we actually are going this coming Dec. I am legit horrible at keeping secrets. I give Xmas gifts a month in advance and birthday gifts throughout the year since I legit can't hold on to anything.

So far I have held strong for 3 months. But once the time comes how should I do it? Wait till the day before? Few days? How did your kids handle having a travel surprise ?

Any experience would be helpful!

 

[Canooknic]

My boys LOVE surprises, they're very upset that we have included them in the planning for our next trip!

We always surprise them on the morning that we are leaving. The first time I did a scavenger hunt around the house that ended in my closet with Buzz suitcases and "we're going to Disneyworld" t-shirts, 2nd time we woke them at 3am by blasting the Jungle Book Groove through the house, 3rd was a school day so they came down for breakfast as usual and our kitchen was decorated with Disney balloons/table-wear and I served Mickey pancakes.

It's so hard to keep the secret, but soooo worth it for the big reveal!!

 

[Meglen]

My boys LOVE surprises, they're very upset that we have included them in the planning for our next trip!

We always surprise them on the morning that we are leaving. The first time I did a scavenger hunt around the house that ended in my closet with Buzz suitcases and "we're going to Disneyworld" t-shirts, 2nd time we woke them at 3am by blasting the Jungle Book Groove through the house, 3rd was a school day so they came down for breakfast as usual and our kitchen was decorated with Disney balloons/table-wear and I served Mickey pancakes.

It's so hard to keep the secret, but soooo worth it for the big reveal!!

This has me so excited. Such great ideas!

 

[Boopuff]

don't laugh. My DD turns 30 this year. We wanted to do something special. So we talked to her hubby and we were all set to go to Jamaica. We sat her down and said "we want to take you on a fun, special trip for your birthday". She stood up, jumping and clapping screaming "WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY!!!" yep. Change of plans.... So here we go taking our baby DD (LOL) on her dream trip!

 

[Afabena]

don't laugh. My DD turns 30 this year. We wanted to do something special. So we talked to her hubby and we were all set to go to Jamaica. We sat her down and said "we want to take you on a fun, special trip for your birthday". She stood up, jumping and clapping screaming "WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY!!!" yep. Change of plans.... So here we go taking our baby DD (LOL) on her dream trip!

That’s awesome!!

 

[DianaMB333]

Last year I took my 4 yr old niece to WDW.. we kept the secret up to the moment of checking at the Magical Express at MCO... she couldn't believe it!
Once at the hotel (her favourite princess is Ariel) we closed her eyes until getting to Little Mermaid building.. she kept jumping and laughing .. it is Ariel's hotel! (Art of Animation)... her bright eyes and smiles made our day!

 

[Jen81NYC]

We are planning on surprising our two kids (4.5 and 7) for their first trip mid-next month and are going to do a cute letter with a surprise box of a few new Disney items (shirt, pins, maybe sunglasses, stuff like that) the day before we leave (we leave on a Sunday so surprising on Saturday). I also impulse bought a Mickey waffle maker so may have those for breakfast when we tell them too. We’re leaving at the beginning of spring break but not pretending we’re traveling somewhere else In the weeks leading up to it—they’ll just think they have backup care or a sitter that week. I personally don’t find it appealing to put off the surprise until the airport or something like that—I don’t want to surreptitiously pack for everyone (which is also not feasible in a small NYC apt, lol) or have to come up with a whole cover story ruse or try to get them hyped up for an immediate trip when waking them up at some crazy early hours. Def not judging those who do of course—just not for me and would also likely backfire with my kids. For us at least, a “surprise! We’re going *TOMORROW*!” is as much of a surprise as we can handle and will give us a fun single day of collective anticipation and packing before our crack of dawn flight the next morning.

 

[YesterDark]

I spliced together Tom Hanks voice from different movies and interviews over a few hacked together Toy Story scenes to say that we're going to Walt Disney World. We did the reveal on Friday.

It was funny, but I don't think the kids really got it. They were more excited to watch Zombies 2.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We surprised the kids with the trip as a Christmas gift - though we didn't go until a few months later. I printed up a letter as if written from Mickey inviting them down and made up "gift certificates" for them to use in Galaxy's Edge for building droids

I think the scope of the surprise really depends on the individual being surprised - I know some will love the whole "want to go to Disney today?" thing, but others that will stress them out and/or they are better with some time to process ... plus my kids like to be involved (at least somewhat) in the planning. Not sure when your DS's birthday is but maybe reveal it then? Or just pick some time to surprise him ahead of time?

 

[pixiemama91]

We surprised our kids the day of a few years ago. My DH and I were out of town a couple of days before the trip for a wedding so we had my mom meet us just outside the airport with the kids. The kids thought that we were meeting near the airport because we were dropping someone off after the wedding and that we would meet up with them to go have a fun day at a water park. We asked them if they would prefer to go to a water park in Disney and that we were getting on a plane right now to leave and handed them an envelope with pretend disney tickets saying Surprise. My youngest was 2 at the time so it was a little lost on her but the kids were still excited. I made a folder of all the things we had planned and information about our resort for them to look over on the plane.

I would like to surprise them again sometime. I have an idea to make a video of all of our past trips and have a family disney night and watch the video with the end of the video revealing that we are going to Disney and then leave the next morning.

 

[daisy2013]

When my daughters were 5 we surprised them on the day of the trip in the car. We asked if they wanted to go to kindergarten or Disney World. They burst into tears and one started crying that she had to go to school because it was the day she was learning read and if she didn't learn to read she couldn't be a dentist (her preferred career at the time.) They cried all the way to the airport.

 

[Meglen]

I think the scope of the surprise really depends on the individual being surprised - I know some will love the whole "want to go to Disney today?" thing, but others that will stress them out and/or they are better with some time to process ... plus my kids like to be involved (at least somewhat) in the planning.

At the moment im "planning" our 2021 trip so hes telling me things he wants to do so he is still helping plan but just for a sooner trip. He does like surprises I think we might try the.... wake him up at 3am tell him to get dressed (he wants a family vacation tee with the year on it) put on the shirt and let him figure it out idk still thinking of ideas!

 

[DisLiss]

My boys LOVE surprises, they're very upset that we have included them in the planning for our next trip!

I love reading/hearing about people surprising their kids, but I'll never get to do it because my kids are the exact opposite!! My one is very much a "tell me exactly what we're doing along with plans B, C, & D" kind of kid, because he gets nervous easily. And my other is very much a "the journey is more than the destination" kind of kid. He takes everything as it comes and doesn't get nervous at all, but he loves the anticipation of anything. We often try to really slow special things down and really focus on them for him because he's the type to later say "Waiting for XYZ was more fun than the actual XYZ." We often do very spontaneous small things with them, so that the one can have fun without stressing over the unknown and the other can have fun without any journey to overshadow it.

I do, however, like to try to at least have some surprise for them during the trip....booking something special, or having a little something extra for them to use on the trip, etc. That gives me a tiny bit of fun planning a "surprise" despite not having surprise loving offspring, LOL!

 

[DisLiss]

At the moment im "planning" our 2021 trip so hes telling me things he wants to do so he is still helping plan but just for a sooner trip. He does like surprises I think we might try the.... wake him up at 3am tell him to get dressed (he wants a family vacation tee with the year on it) put on the shirt and let him figure it out idk still thinking of ideas!

This sounds like such a great way of finding the best of both worlds..he gets to plan and be surprised! (So long as he doesn't still want a trip in 2021, too! That would be my youngest for sure. "Yeah, Mom, this is great, but I still get to go in 2021, right??" I could totally hear him asking me that! )

 

[TheMaxRebo]

At the moment im "planning" our 2021 trip so hes telling me things he wants to do so he is still helping plan but just for a sooner trip. He does like surprises I think we might try the.... wake him up at 3am tell him to get dressed (he wants a family vacation tee with the year on it) put on the shirt and let him figure it out idk still thinking of ideas!

If you think he would be into that then I would go for it - I think it would be amazing to wake up and then find out you are going to Disney that day .... I just know some kids aren't into that (I saw one video where the kids thought they were going to Grandma's only to be told they were really going to Disney and then they started crying as they really wanted to go to Grandmas!)

 

[fsjking]

A few years ago, we were doing a pre-Christmas December trip to DL and taking our 9 year old. We were flying out and our flight times worked out that she had to wake up the same time she had to get up for school anyway. So we wrapped a big box like a Christmas present and had it filled with balloons tied to a "we're going to Disneyland" sign. We got her up and brought her downstairs and she really wasn't awake enough to understand what was going on. She opened it and was like huh? I guess the moral of the story is make sure they are awake and functioning before springing a surprise. lol

 

[Afabena]

I had intentions to surprise my 6 yr old twins for their first trip. We made it a few months (we booked the room about 10 months in advance) and one night we were watching a show together on Disney’s popular rides and my husband said casually to my daughter, “I can’t wait to ride that one with you” not realizing that he just let the cat out of the bag. My daughter instantly caught on and said “we’re going?!”. And that was that lol!
We did manage to keep the fact that my parents were also coming a secret. The big reveal was meeting us at the hotel pool on our arrival day. My daughter was stunned speechless, and my son was very confused. Not the reaction I expected but still memorable.

 

[mjkacmom]

We woke the kids up that morning with tshirts and lanyards. They were told that they were going to a birthday luncheon for a fictional aunt at a nursing home 3 hours away, so were happy to fly to WDW instead. It was a November trip, so I packed their clothes around the same time as I would’ve been packing them up for the attic. They were even more excited when they saw their grandparents in the van that picked us up.

We had 6 nights at the BC (2 bedroom villa), and then instead of taking us to the airport, we pulled up at the DCL cruise port. My kids are very chill, and once they knew I had contacted their teachers. My oldest was 11, it was the last time I surprised them because I think once they get to middle school they should have a heads up.

 

[lorenae]

I love reading/hearing about people surprising their kids, but I'll never get to do it because my kids are the exact opposite!! My one is very much a "tell me exactly what we're doing along with plans B, C, & D" kind of kid, because he gets nervous easily. And my other is very much a "the journey is more than the destination" kind of kid. He takes everything as it comes and doesn't get nervous at all, but he loves the anticipation of anything. We often try to really slow special things down and really focus on them for him because he's the type to later say "Waiting for XYZ was more fun than the actual XYZ." We often do very spontaneous small things with them, so that the one can have fun without stressing over the unknown and the other can have fun without any journey to overshadow it.

I do, however, like to try to at least have some surprise for them during the trip....booking something special, or having a little something extra for them to use on the trip, etc. That gives me a tiny bit of fun planning a "surprise" despite not having surprise loving offspring, LOL!

That’s exactly how my grandsons are! So, it’s still a surprise, sort of, because I”m putting disney kids’ travel books in their Easter basket with the card from Mickey you get after a trip, and some sunscreen/UV protection long sleeved T-shirts.

It will be 28 days to the day we leave from Easter, so a surprise but plenty of time for them to also plan and be ready. The older one writes journal entries about things, and he will want to circle the things he must do/see in the travel book. The younger one loves to be included in all plans.

I would love to just be “hey, get in the car kids!” but it won’t work for our situation.

 

[DaisieOneil]

My brother and I surprised our sister last may. She knew we were going but not when. I have always sent her cards/letters in the mail because I go to school in a different city so I told her there was a card I'd sent her a while ago in the mail and it was actually a postcard saying that we were leaving at 3am the next morning. We also gave her a little gift with some t-shirts and a magic band skin.

One piece of advice I will give, especially for slightly older kids, is give them at least a day to pack up their own things and kind of prepare to leave. This was really helpful for us as my sister likes to handle her own packing and she had a solid few hours to choose her outfits and such. I just made sure that everything she might want to take was clean and ready to go.