Surprising kids with a WDW vacation, how?

[luvmy2sams]

We surprised DD a year ago tomorrow as part of her 7th birthday. Over the summer DD said she'd like to spend the weekend in Dallas for her birthday, going to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and doing Build A Bear. This fit in perfectly with our scheduled flight out of DFW the morning after her big day. I ordered a Build A Bear tee and embroidered Disney World January
7-17, 2006 on it. We then wrapped the shirt in a painted star box and enclosed a magical Cinderella card. After spending the evening at the mall doing all the required birthday things, we returned to our hotel room and opened presents. When she opened the star box and read the shirt, it took her a good 2 minutes to register what it meant. By the time she realized what was happening, she was jumping up and down and literally shaking. The video of those moments is priceless to us.

Would we do it again? In a heartbeat. Keeping that secret for close to a year was oh-so-challenging, but the result was worth every second of it.

 

[AimKo]

We did a suprise trip last March with my DD who was then just shy of 4 and my DS 1 1/2. We told my DD that we were going to have lunch at McDonalds (which to her is a pretty big thrill all on its own!), we drove to the airport and told DD it would be fun to have McD and watch the airplanes take off and land (DH flew in the army and DD has uncles who fly as well so it didn't seem to unusual to raise any real questions). I hustled the kids in while DH checked the bags and parked the car.

We got McD and watched out the big windows and saw a plane land and head for a gate. DH says to DD, "you know where that one is going? (oddly it was our plane) Its going to Disney World"..."really?"..."how would you like to get on it and go to Disney World?" My DD just stood there absolutely stunned, grinning and hiccuping with excitement! It was incredibly priceless!

We had a direct flight, so we were there in under 2 hours... did Magic buggage check-in...we had our necessities in the back-pack so we did a quick check in, hopped the bus and were thru the gates of MK by late afternoon. We have great video of DD trying sooooo hard not to break into a complete run to the castle!

We are taking another whirlwind, suprise trip over Pres week, so trying to come up with a fresh way of surprising her. Thinking maybe a little gift bag with a button in it outside her door in the morning...or showing up at day care with pixie dust.

Aimee

 

[quiltymom]

DH & I decided to keep our last trip a secret, mostly since we didn't want to hear "is it time to go to DW yet?" five gadzillion times before the trip happened and so they would sleep the night before the flight. We had them guess at the airport, but they didn't seem too excited (maybe because of the early hour!). Now I wish we didn't do it, and here are the reasons.

1. DD (who was 4 at the time) was scared out of her mind of all the characters, even the Princesses! Which was frustrating since we had one character meal a day planned. She wouldn't even wear her princess dresses I brought along. It took 4 days for her to get near one, but she finally did. I think that if I had told her ahead of time, she would've done much better.

2. It would have been fun for the kids to help plan the trip. Granted, our last trip was a real treat -- my in-laws brought us there for their 50th anniversary!! -- and we did lots of pre-planned things, but for our next trip I think the input from them (they will be 9 and 7) on what they want to do will be invaluable to our planning process.

Was I happy we surprised them last time? Yes and no. I just think it all depends upon your kids and how they respond to things. Right now I'd much rather hear them asking how many days until the trip than "are we going to Disney World again?"

 

[homeschool mom]

We have 3 DDs ages 12, 13, and 15 and 2 DSs ages 5 and 7. We have been to WDW with 4 of the kids 4 times and all 5 3 times. The last time we went (April 2005) we had about 3 weeks left on our APs and I said to my DH, "Wouldn't it be great to surprise the kids with one more trip on these APs?" We had already gone twice before - April and December 2004. He agreed and I got our reservations for about 10 days later. I really wanted to just wait and tell the kids the day we were to leave, but when you have to pack 5 kids and 2 adults, that really isn't very easy. We finally decided to tell them just a week in advance. For dinner that evening, I set the table with our Mickey shaped plastic plates (saved from kids' meals in the parks), plastic flatwear (acquired at POP century cafeteria - just enough for 7 of us), and cups from a meal we had at Epcot. The kids were totally clueless. They expect me to do crazy things concerning Disney every once in a while. When we questioned them a little bit to see if they could figure out why the table was set in such a way they finally figured it out. I must say they weren't real excited which was kind of a let down for me. They did get excited as the week went on. We always drive down so we can visit family in FL, and my DH was sick the whole way down that trip. I drove all 18 hours myself. Unfortunately, that was probably our worst trip to the World. DH was sick in the hotel for the entire week along with one DD. Those of us who weren't sick had a great time, though. On one of the days, two of my DDs, both little boys and myself accomplished more in one day than we ever have before while in the World. We walked 6 miles at Epcot that day and the boys never complained.

We are going back this spring sometime to celebrate special birthdays for my girls. We have one turning 16 and the other turning 13 both on May 22. We will definitely be going in May if not sooner. Just trying to find those good deals right now.
Diane

 

[homeschool mom]

After all of the rambling in my last post I forgot to say something. I have suggested to DH that we surprise the kids when we've gone to WDW on other trips, but he doesn't like the idea. He would rather include them in the planning. I see his point, but I sure do love a good surprise.

Diane

 

[MNdisneygal]

I could use some help too... we are surprising our friends 12 and 15 year old.... but since I planned the trip they want me to tell them.... I need a creative way..they are clueless boys so HELP ME... I only have a week to go

 

[DreaminDisney]

I love all your stories! I'm getting some pretty good ideas from all of you.

MNdisneygal, You're surprising boys 12 & 15? Do they have any clue at all? You're leaving in a week? hmmmm... anyone??

 

[jensen]

We are hoping to surprise the kids at the airport this year, as well. The past two trips, we've told them ahead of time and did a countdown and all that. This year I'm trying to figure out how to get them to the airport without seeing the luggage. I'm thinking of sending DH to the airport early in the morning to check all the bags and get the boarding passes and then take the kids right before we need to board the plane. We'll see how it goes... in 18 days!!

 

[twinscandc]

I've been doing a lot of thinking about how to surprise my DD's (age 10). This will be their 6th trip, and they have always been involved with the planning, but a surprise trip will blow their minds!!

I love the idea of a treasure hunt, the fortune cookie, but my gut feeling is that we should tell them 15 minutes before we have to leave the house. We have a mid morning flight, so we would need to leave our house by 8:00am. This will be during their Spring Break, so they will probably be sleeping in. My idea is to wake them up and tell them to look outside. Then outside will be a limo waiting with a banner on it saying "Let's go to Disney World". It will be all packed and ready to go. All they would have to do is brush their teeth and get dressed (heck, they could do that in the limo!).

I haven't made up my mind yet. Our trip dates are 3/20/07 to 3/27/07.

 

[tnmom25]

We are planning our 2nd trip for December. We are camping at FW and the kids already know everything about it. I can't contain my excitement enough to surprise them. Although this past year, we were able to surprise them on April Fool's Day... that was so hard. But that was our first trip and I had no idea what we had been missing. Now, I know and I'm just as excited as they are!!! Kudos to those of you that can surprise your kids, maybe one day I'll get the hang of it!

 

[Tamara]

My DH & I are going to surprise DD13 & DS11 with a trip in June. They will be missing the last two days of school (because of snow days) but we don't want to tell them until the last minute (by last minute I mean the day before they are out of school so they can clean out their lockers). Anyway, I have been trying to think of ways to surprise them. I've thought about the fortune cookies, I was thinking of making Mickey waffles for dinner and then surprising them that way, but I really can't figure out exactly what I want to do. I really enjoy reading the posts and I want to hear more stories so keep them coming! Even if you don't have an actual story but have some ideas.....send them!!! I'm looking forward to hearing from all you folks with creative minds

 

[tnmom25]

My DH & I are going to surprise DD13 & DS11 with a trip in June. They will be missing the last two days of school (because of snow days) but we don't want to tell them until the last minute (by last minute I mean the day before they are out of school so they can clean out their lockers).

It would be cool if you could not let them know why they had to clean out their lockers. Make up a story about having to go somewhere else. Then if you were able to, hide something in the bottom of their locker that would surprise them. You'd have to get into their locker without them knowing, but that would be cool.

 

[AprilLooWho]

We were at the Disney store and my DH told our DD's to pick out a doll.

DD's: Yeah!
DH: Well, do you know why you are getting these toys?
DD's: Because we like Ariel and Mulan??
DH: You get to take them home.
DD's: Yes, we know.
DH: No, not our home...their home....Disney World!!!!
DD's: What???? We are going to Disney World??? WOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!

Then lots of jumping around the store!!!!!

 

[sasmmb]

If your kids like jigsaw puzzles a fun approach is to do the jigsaw yourself on a large sheet of cardboard, then once it's done put a large sheet of cardboard on top of the puzzle, flip it over and write your message on the back (crayon or sharpie works best). Then break up the puzzle and have your kids put it together. They'll think it's kind of weird that the backs on some of the puzzle pieces have a letter or part of a letter. Usually they'll eventually figure out there will be a message on back and work harder to complete it.

I surprised my niece with a WDW trip this way, and since we are 1000 miles apart I would just mail her a few pieces every day.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Our kids haven't know about either of our previous trips, and they don't know about the upcoming trip in May. This year, we're leaving immediately after DS6 graduates from kindergarten. We're going to put pj's on them and tell them we're going for a drive, and hope they fall asleep. We're driving at night, so hopefully they will. We'll tell them when we get there, or whenever they ask. They're 6 and 3, so they may not ask. The last time, when we drove under the WDW sign, DS4 (at the time) said, "Wow, we're close to Disneyworld! Maybe we could go there again someday, I had fun last year!". LOL

 

[Tamara]

If your kids like jigsaw puzzles a fun approach is to do the jigsaw yourself on a large sheet of cardboard, then once it's done put a large sheet of cardboard on top of the puzzle, flip it over and write your message on the back (crayon or sharpie works best). Then break up the puzzle and have your kids put it together. They'll think it's kind of weird that the backs on some of the puzzle pieces have a letter or part of a letter. Usually they'll eventually figure out there will be a message on back and work harder to complete it.

I surprised my niece with a WDW trip this way, and since we are 1000 miles apart I would just mail her a few pieces every day.

This is such a great idea! I think there is a site somewhere that I can actually have a picture created into a jigsaw puzzle, maybe I can make something on the computer with different hints and then send it off to become a puzzle........

I really liked the "locker idea" too but I'm afraid when they clean out their lockers, they won't really examine whats in there---but they'd just throw it in the trash.

Thanks for the ideas, keep'em coming!

 

[PrincessasMommy]

We have a surprise trip booked for this October!!!!

I have 3 girls; ages 11, 4 & 2 and am due with #4 in late June.

We went in April 2005 with all 3 and LOVED it! My oldest thinks we may take her for her 13th birthday in October 2008. I told her that with 4 kids and Mommy not working it may be 2009.....he he!!

So, she still talks about WDW on occassion, about what rides she wants to go on next time. And we watch our home videos of it too. She thinks I am planning wwaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy in advance because we are on "such a tight budget" (or so we've led her to believe)!!!

Her 12th birthday is October 19th and we live in Toronto, she LOVES to go to Buffalo to shop so we told her that instead of a party we will go on a weekend trip shopping in Buffalo!! She is soooo excited about that already!!! That explains Buffalo and the suitcases!! And we are going to take her Aunt on our weekend trip too - she would never suspect that my sister would go to WDW with us on a "family" trip because our family trips always consist of just us.

We will have lunch when we get to Buffalo and decide to "sight see" and maybe check out the airport area. Daddy will park and she'll wonder what we are doing there and not the outlets......

As soon as she asks we will tell her that we changed our minds and want to do something wwaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy more fun for her birthday.......we'll ask her and her sisters "Wouldn't you rather take a plane to Disney?"

I can't wait!!! It's going to be magical!!

 

[TnTWalter]

they opened it up to find pal micky holding a sign that said 'We're going to Disney World'...we had our oldest read it [she was 6 at time]. IT was so cute! Then we only had a week of 'how many more days until WDW...'

Can't decide when to tell them this time.
Trish

 

[tnmom25]

I really liked the "locker idea" too but I'm afraid when they clean out their lockers, they won't really examine whats in there---but they'd just throw it in the trash.

That's true, I didn't think of that!! I guess if their lockers are anything like some I've seen (not mine of course ) it's probably all trash-worthy!!

 

[Tamara]

Does anyone know if I can have the Wilderness Lodge refillable mugs sent to me ahead of time? I was thinking of maybe putting them out for dinner the night we surprise them but I don't know how to go about getting them without actually being at the resort......any ideas? (and sad to say, as much as I would love to do this... going to Disneyworld for the weekend is out of the question)