Surprise trip

[Macagno]

We will be traveling to Disney the end of Sept with our two children (1 & 7). My daughter (7yr) has been haunting us since our last trip in March. "When are we going back!" Well... We joined the DVC in April so needless to say we are returning back in Sept.

We have not mentioned a word of this to her.... Every time she asks we simply say... Maybe next year. So she has no idea of our trip... Whenever anyone in our family mentions Disney we simply shoot them a look of death, because we really want to make this a surprise for her... And, my bro-in-law and sis-in law are planning to meet us there with their 3 children. So are really trying to make it an extra special surprise.

Here's the plan.... We will be flying so our plan is the morning of our flight we will get up as usual and then tell her that we have to take a short trip to see some family in Ohio. We usually visit our relatives in Ohio 2x a year. However, we drive. We figiured that we were going to tell her that we decided to fly this time.

Here is our challenge..... When we get to the airport and check in and they call boarding for Orlando, FL... I am hoping that she might be so excited about the idea of just taking a plane trip spur of the moment that she might not realize that they mentioned Florida. I am not too concerned that she might hear something on the actual flight, I can try and keep her occupied so that she does not pay attention. However, we we land in the Orlando airport Disney is everywhere.... I really and trying to keep this a secret until we reach the hotel. We will be staying at the Boardwalk.

Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[gonemousin']

How fun!!! She's going to LOVE it!!!

For the airport - can you get a DVD player/MP3 Player/radio, so that she'll have earphones on when they're doing the boarding call thing? Hmm...the next part is going to depend on how crafty you are, AND how gullible she is...heehee...once you land, can you keep talking to her so she's TOTALLY distracted - maybe torture her a little by making her carry/wheel a bag that's heavier than normal (obviously not TOO heavy, but heavy enough to make her focus on THAT instead of all the Disney shops and Magical Express CM's). Once you get to the baggage claim area, you'll be more likely to pull the whole thing off. Or, maybe when you land in Orlando, you can pretend to panic and say "oh my gosh, they took us to the wrong airport" - that way you acknowledge that you're in Orlando, but pretend you're not supposed to be. And when you're taking your car/bus/limo to the hotel, you can just tell her that you're driving to the correct airport. I don't know - this is definitely a tough one!!! How do you pull this off without outright lying to your DD??!!

Good luck!!

 

[Macagno]

I have a CD player that I plan on bringing for her. I like the idea of saying that we are at the wrong airport!!! That's a good one...

Thank so much I'll let you know how it turns out

 

[vicceja]

Hi!

OMG how excited she will be when she finds out she is headed to Disney. I'm hoping to surprise my boys this December as well. This is the first time we will not be letting them know ahead of time. I will not be telling them we are going until they figure it out themselves....my heart is pounding right now just imagining how they will react

 

[jtopp]

We took our children on a surprise trip a few years ago, but we let the cat out of the bag on the way to the airport(they knew it wasn't the way to school). I know that you don't want to tell your dd that soon, but at that point it also allows you to enjoy the look on her face when she finds out in a more controlled setting then in an airport concourse.

 

[luvmy2sams]

We're doing a similar thing in January for our kiddos. We leave from DFW the day after DD's birthday. Our plan so far is to tell her that we're taking her to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner and then a quick trip to Build a Bear before spending the night at a local hotel. We haven't decided how to spring the actual trip on her yet...maybe a scavenger hunt in the hotel? It will be the kiddos' first plane trip, so they'll be excited just by that possibility.

Hope that you have a magical vacation and that the surprise is a great success.

 

[Honeybehr1]

If she realizes that you are going to Orlando, you could tell her it is a connecting flight and will take one from Orlando to Ohio. She might not catch on

 

[ShellyL]

We are surprising our 5 children on the 23rd of Sept with a trip to WDW. We started out making plans to go the Myrtl Beach and until it was all done we are going to Disney. We are having some trouble keeping under our hats, I am the problems with my sudden bursts of excitement and tears, but we hoep to pull it off.
Here's our plan... We weill be leaving immediatley after school on the 23rd. WE will be heading for the airport but they don't know they will think we are driving to the beach since it is all the same direction. We are figuring when we get to the airport we will say we wanted to surprise them by flying to our vaction this time since they loved it so much when we flew to Arizona in July. The we figure once we get to the bording gate we will get the camcorder out and start our usual corny "so what do expect to get from this vacation and are you excited to fly" Then I want to tell our 3 year old a secret and it will be that we are going to see Cinderella, which she has been asking us to do for 6 months. I figure she will start telling everyone and then they will figure it out and we will have it on tape. My DH is a little concerned about the scene it will make but who cares. I don't think I want to wait until we are off the plane in Orlando because we won't be able to have the camcorder out in time to get there reations.
So that's my story and I hope to be sticking to it!!!
Michele

 

[kmwilson98]

I like the "connecting flight in Florida" idea - she might buy that. Maybe tell her you were supposed to connect through Detroit, but there was fog, or something like that...

We are surprising DD next month, for her 5th birthday. We are telling her that we need to go pick up a rental car (it will be EARLY in the morning, so she'll be super gullible...I hope...). We pick up rental cars for dh for business every once in a while, so I don't think she'll question that too much. We've even picked them up at our airport, so she shouldn't catch on when we first get there. Then when we check in, we may tell her that our rental car is at a different airport, and we need to fly over there to pick it up (real casual, as if this happens every day of the week).

We're flying into Tampa, so there won't be much if any Disney stuff, picking up the rental car, and then driving to my parents' house. At some point, she's going to figure out that we're going to Florida. We're going to tell her that we're going to Grandma and Pop's for her birthday - this will be enough to have her completely twitterpated. All her presents will be waiting for her there, but she won't get to open them until the next day after church.

So the next day on her birthday the first present she opens will be something (not sure what yet) telling her that we're going to WDW!!!!! She's been potty trained for 2 years, but I may have her wear a pullup that day just in case, lol. 48 hours later we'll be at the MK, eating at CRT. I think her head may explode.

Did I mention that she's never been there, and asks at least every few days when we'll get to? Last week I heard her wishing she had 100 fuzzy bunny banks so we could afford to go!