Surprise Trips

[BusyP76]

For those of you who have surprised your kids (or plan to) with a Disney trip, HOW DID YOU PULL THIS OFF?!!! I am having the hardest time not letting the cat out of the bag. DH is constantly having to talk me down. I keep reminding myself how awesome it will be when we surprise them but it's killing me!! We are 100 days out today and I don't know how much longer I can keep my mouth shut!! I thought it might be helpful to hear some great surprise stories.

 

[cgattis]

For those of you who have surprised your kids (or plan to) with a Disney trip, HOW DID YOU PULL THIS OFF?!!! I am having the hardest time not letting the cat out of the bag. DH is constantly having to talk me down. I keep reminding myself how awesome it will be when we surprise them but it's killing me!! We are 100 days out today and I don't know how much longer I can keep my mouth shut!! I thought it might be helpful to hear some great surprise stories.

I used to love doing surprise trips, but now that my kids are older, I find it more fun to let them in on the pre-trip excitement too.

 

[dislovefrommn]

Ours was easy because we had another trip booked that they knew about! Last fall we booked our (then) very first trip to Disney for this coming Sept. Around Nov my hubby decided he wanted to go before then so we booked a short trip for Feb and decided we would surprise the kids with it. The kids knew about the Sept trip so we could talk about Disney and they just assumed we meant the fall trip! They were shocked when we told them we were going the next day!

 

[dislovefrommn]

How are you going to tell them?

 

[BusyP76]

How are you going to tell them?

I'm not sure yet. We've taken them to WDW twice and Disneyland once and they've always been in on the planning (or at least the excitement from the beginning when they were really young). This is the first vacation of any kind that they haven't known about. I know I want my older DD to open the MagicBands for the big reveal because it's her 16th birthday that we are celebrating. But I haven't decided exactly how that will play out.

 

[BusyP76]

I used to love doing surprise trips, but now that my kids are older, I find it more fun to let them in on the pre-trip excitement too.

This is my exact problem!! We've never planned a vacation without them being in on the pre-trip fun and excitment. The two people who are my go-to people to talk about the trip with (DH has zero desire to discuss trip plans with me) are the exact people I can't tell about this one. It's driving me mad!!! Lol

 

[Hopefully]

This is my exact problem!! We've never planned a vacation without them being in on the pre-trip fun and excitment. The two people who are my go-to people to talk about the trip with (DH has zero desire to discuss trip plans with me) are the exact people I can't tell about this one. It's driving me mad!!! Lol

I understand that you planned a surprise - but why?
I love the pre-trip planning process and sharing with them would be fun for all of you I would think

 

[cgattis]

I'm not sure yet. We've taken them to WDW twice and Disneyland once and they've always been in on the planning (or at least the excitement from the beginning when they were really young). This is the first vacation of any kind that they haven't known about. I know I want my older DD to open the MagicBands for the big reveal because it's her 16th birthday that we are celebrating. But I haven't decided exactly how that will play out.

Ahh! That will make an awesome surprise! You'll just have to use the DISboards for your discussion fix until then, I guess! Or find some poor coworker or friend who will listen even if they don't care LOL

 

[BusyP76]

I understand that you planned a surprise - but why?
I love the pre-trip planning process and sharing with them would be fun for all of you I would think

It's for my daughter's 16th birthday. We decided to surprise her with a trip to her favorite place on the planet. And we usually do plan vacation together as it is part of the fun. This trip is a surprise though.

 

[Hopefully]

It's for my daughter's 16th birthday. We decided to surprise her with a trip to her favorite place on the planet.

Yes but would she get added joy out of helping to plan her 16th Birthday trip?

 

[rastahomie]

I've told Mrs. Homie that our next trip will be a surprise to her. She knows it is happening, just not when (unfortunately, I don't know when it's happening either, lol).

 

[BusyP76]

Yes but would she get added joy out of helping to plan her 16th Birthday trip?

I'm sure she probably would but it's still going to be a surprise. She doesn't want a big party but she asked if we could just take a weekend trip somewhere as a family. So we said sure and sent her on to plan and research resorts and activities within a few hours driving distance of home. Then we went behind her back and bought plane tickets and booked a 6 night trip to her dream resort on WDW property. So I'm more than fine with the surprise element but I'm having some trouble keeping my lips zipped

 

[hurricane]

My parents surprised my sister when she was 6. We told her that she was going to the beach. It helped that personality wise she is oblivious so the couple of times we slipped she didn't notice.

 

[IrishNYC]

We didn't tell DD, then 5, where we were going. Not a word through 6 months of planning, we even kept quiet about where the flight was going (she didn't know Orlando from Chicago). She figured it out when we were walking to DME.

 

[AJA]

I will start out by saying my daughter looooves the planning stage of vacation. We just sat down together last night and made a dining reservation for our October trip.

Now, that said, we have surprised her twice. Once when she was 8 and this past January when she was 11. For the age 8 surprise we woke her up the morning we were leaving with her favorite teddy bears dressed in Disney costumes and asked her where she thought they (and she) were going. She was totally surprised. In the weeks leading up to our trip I had been talking and "future planning" our next trip with her and what she would like to see/do/pack for a sometime in the future trip. At age 8 any accidently dropped hints went over her head. -Now I don't think I would get away with it.

Our January trip we surprised her with the magic bands about 10 days before our vacation. Still a huge surprise for her but also gave her some time to plan and pack/plan her clothing, help with some touring decisions (we didn't have our fs+ set up yet -we were still able to get plenty of our must do rides) etc.
We took her to her favorite restaurant to have dessert, something she asks to do but we never seem to have time to go out "just" for dessert. I had the box with our magic bands wrapped and also the little disney booklet they mail out with welcome (your family's name) that gave her the dates and our hotel info.

 

[Lynzer4]

I am going to guess your trip is when she is already out of school on a break? If not I would tell her before school starts for the year as she might find it challenging to be out of school for 5 days. Missing school in High School is hard and stressful to make up.

I surprised my 8 year old nephew in September. I told in about 30 days before we left and I did it with puzzle of his last trip and a hunt were he had to collect the pieces.

Make sure you are ready for their reaction. It might not be the one you think will happen. One of my favorite things is to watch you tube videos of Disney surprises BUT often the reaction is not what you would expect.

One of my favorites is a little girl that keeps asking her parents... why would you lie to me about this... that just plan mean! LOL

 

[DaisyLou2]

The first trip when my daughter was 10 we picked her up from school on our way to the hotel (for Park, Sleep and Fly) which worked out great. She was so super excited! The second time the following year we surprised her a month before (on Christmas day) so that she would be able to look forward to it because some people told me she will like being involved in the planning. The trip totally distracted her at school for that month and it ended up not being the best option for her. It depends on your kids I guess. You know them best. What would they like better?

 

[BusyP76]

The first trip when my daughter was 10 we picked her up from school on our way to the hotel (for Park, Sleep and Fly) which worked out great. She was so super excited! The second time the following year we surprised her a month before (on Christmas day) so that she would be able to look forward to it because some people told me she will like being involved in the planning. The trip totally distracted her at school for that month and it ended up not being the best option for her. It depends on your kids I guess. You know them best. What would they like better?

I'm not at all concerned about leaving them out of the planning. They have never NOT been involved in vacation planning. But I definitely want this specific trip to be a surprise. I think I'm going to have to give her some advanced warning though so that she can adjust accordingly at school.

 

[absolutmey]

DS is 8 and we're planning a surprise trip for his 9th birthday. I'm also having a hard time not letting it slip. I know the surprise is going to be wonderful (because he really wants to go back to WDW) but it's just so exciting! I think we've decided to have dinner at my ILs house the night before we leave (they're going with us) and have him open up a couple wrapped packages - small, med and large. Small being a new SW pin, Med is a hidden mickey book and large our magic bands. I don't know if he'll guess it from the pins and book but he'll know once he opens the bands!

 

[MommaBerd]

I am the planner but I also LOVE a surprise! That being said, I think I would feel a little conflicted if my DH had asked me to research and plan a place I would like to go for my birthday, and then surprised me with a different trip. Yes, I know "but it's DISNEY!" and that's true, but I still would have invested time and energy (and anticipation) in a trip that ISN'T going to happen.

I of course have no idea how much your daughter is throwing herself into the planning of her birthday weekend and how that is playing out... but just something to keep in mind.

No matter what, I hope she is wonderfully surprised and that it's a magical 16th birthday!