Surprise Vacation

[Flesner]

We are surprising DD Hayley (8) with a special family vacation at Disneyworld to thank her for being such a good big sister. We just had a baby in November and she has adjusted fantastically. The plan is to have her stay at my parents the night before so we can pack and load up the minivan and then pick her up at 5am on the way to the airport the next morning. Every time we go to Indy we drive by the airport and I have always thought how neat it would be to just turn and take a spontaneous trip! I'm having the hardest time keeping my mouth shut though. I can't contain my excitement and it keeps seeping out!!!

Has anyone else planned a surprise trip. How did you tell the person/people? I'm dreaming of this big moment...I can't wait to see her face when she realizes where we are going.

Please let me know if you have done this or have any brilliant ideas! Thanks!

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

Last June we surprised our dd's. They were 4 and 8 at the time. I woke them up early and told them daddy had taken the day off and we were going to breakfast. They were all excited about that alone! We had them get dressed in new Princess shirts and sat them on the sofa downstairs. Then we told them we had a surprise for them and handed them each a big stuffed Minnie. They had no clue what was coming next even though my husband was filming them and my m-i-l was taking pictures. My husband and I then asked them where they wanted to eat breakfast and they said they didn't know. We said 'how about the airport?' They said okay?!? Then we told them we were eating at the airport because we were flying to Disney that morning. They were happy of course but didn't really believe us. When I told them to get their shoes on because we had to leave my oldest got really excited. My youngest would not believe us till we showed her the luggage we had packed in the back of the minivan. Then she started singing 'We're going to Disney World! We're going to Disney World!!' It was so hard keeping it a secret for 8 months but I am so glad we did. I watch that video all time and never get tired of their reactions! You will be so glad you surprised your daughter. Have a great time!

 

[pezpam]

I surprised DD7 with this last trip. She knew we were going down to FL to visit my grandmother (yes, we did that, too, lol) but had no idea we were headed to WDW. I had printed out a bunch of those trip-report pages someone on the DIS recommended and put them into a report cover. As soon as she said "I'm bored" on the plane, I said "I have a great idea. Why don't you start doing this?" and whipped out the pages. Her eyes flew open and her smile got about a mile wide.

It was wonderful.

I thought about getting the stewardesses involved somehow, but didn't plan that out and knew I couldn't count on having someone willing to play along help me out.

 

[Flesner]

Thank you for the posts! I LOVE hearing these stories!

 

[princess lovers mom]

we just completed our surprise trip 3 weeks ago and I am amazed myself how well it worked out !

we picked our DD's ages 9 &5 up from school and as it was report card day we went to the playground at school and looked at the report cards as told them that because they were so good that we had a surprise for them....we had the car already packed so just headed off down the road...after 5 minutes or so they said "where are we going" I replied that it was a surprise and that I would have clues for them as we went....we were driving to the airport in Phily which is about 3 hrs from home so that got a clue every 30 minutes or so...

what I did for the clues is pick some words to give them hints...surprise, vacation, hotel, sunshine, and sand...for each of these words I made a puzzle by using clip art to print pictures that started with the letters of the word across the top of a pc of paper and then cut them out like a puzzle...the older daughter had to write the letter on the piece that the picture started with , the younger put the puzzle together and then they read the word for their clue....

we arrived at the airport hotel at dark and they didn't even know they were at the airport, but did know they were in Phily...told them we had to get up early to get started (I think they thought they were there !)...so up they got at 4:30 am for a 7:00 flight...we took the airport shuttle down to our terminal and then they realized we were going on a plane and they got really excited...still didn't tell them where we were going !!

when we arrived at the Orlando airport the older daughter recognized it as Orlando (and had heard it on the airplane)...they still thought we were going to a beach beacause of the sand clue (we were staying at the Poly so I was not fibbing about the sand!)...

so we get our luggage and get in our limo where the driver also knew it was a surprise so did not say anything! they were sooo tired and they had a movie showing in the back and I got them to lay down in the limo and the 5 yr old fell aslepp and the 9 yr old was watching the movie and not looking out the window as we drove right onto DIsney property, past the EPCOt BALL, past the MK and Disney buses driving by left and right !!!!

so we pull up to the Poly and go into the lobby...I take the girls up to the counter with me and tell the CM that I have pulled something off...could they tell ou girls where they are..he says, the Polynesian?..I say which is where..he.?Florida?...more specific..?Disneyworld?...and the girls freak out and start running around so excited hugging and thanking my DH and I...we were all intears including the CM's to see how excited they were.....

It was worth all the planning and secrets for that moment!!!

by the way we were upgraded to a water view room witha straight on view of the castle from our balcony and then they delevered a personalized signed photo of Mickey and Minnie to the girls in the room wishing them a magical vacation and telling them how great their parents are to do this for them !!!lots of pixie dust flying that day!!!!

good luck with your planning...a surprise once is worth it!!!

 

[Flesner]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to share our surprise story with you. It went off without a hitch. My DD, Hayley, thought my husband was going on a golf trip with one of his buddies, Mike, and that we were dropping him off at the Indy airport where we would meet up with Mike's family. The guys were to get on a plane and the Moms and kids were going to head to the Indy zoo.

We pulled up to the curb-side check-in and I asked Hayley to wait in the car with Caya (DD-6 months) while we got all of the luggage out. I was able to check us all in and then got DD's out of the car so DH could go park. When he got back we went all the way to the gate and sat down to wait. I had made Hayley a card and written a letter inside. I video taped while she read it out loud. The letter just thanked her for being such a good big sister and told her how proud we were of her. It ended with we couldn't think of a better way to let you know just how much we love and appreciate you...

She had to lift the page and written underneat it said "We're going to Disneyworld!!! (right now)"

She was in complete shock trying to figure out how we had pulled this off. She was somewhat confused and concerned about my husband's golf trip. She cried and thanked us about 3000 times and the whole way there she was asking someone to pinch her because she thought she was dreaming.

I love my family so much....I could not have asked for a better birthday present!!!!

 

[dismom9761]

That sounds wonderful!!How did the trip go?I am taking my daughter in September-I wish I had thought to surprise her.

 

[rkandmjsmommy]

Hi
All these stories are GREAT

We are also surprising our kids, we will wake them up and tell them we are going to Disney, although I have some time to think of another way, I LOVE the clues idea. I bet my 3 year old son would figure it out before my 6 year old daugther

 

[miche61]

I love to hear surprise stories!!! We've surprised our kids with trips. The first time, we picked oldest DD up at school (then aged 9) , actually DH stopped for lunch with her. Then he gave her a card from me saying that after lunch, we were leaving for the airport for WDW. All her class mates were envious! To this day (DD now 12), if we come in for lunch, a friend will ask if we're picking her up for a trip. The other two kiddos were much younger, one was a little upset (DD5) that she was going to miss school that day for the trip, while DS4 wasn't really all that impressed. (Youngest two had never been to WDW- oldest had gone 3-4 times by then. Long story short, youngest two had only been here 18 months from Russia, so they didn't have a clue).
The next surprise was Jan. 2004. The kids knew we were going, but not when. We bought them new tennies in anticipation of the trip, and told them when we were leaving for WDW, they could wear their new shoes. We woke them up at 4:30 AM and announced they should put their new shoes on- they were very excited. Because they knew we were going, they could help a little in the planning and we didn't have the constant questioning of how many days, etc.
Our next trip will be a surprise for EVERYONE! DH included. I think when I surprise the kids, I'll look for a cereal box that has an offer for winning a trip to WDW, and hide some kind of certificate in it announcing that we've won and have to leave the next day. I might surprise DH with the trip for an early b-day present. I don't have it all figured out, but I'm working on it- I have 18 months left to think.....