Surprising kids with the trip...advice on my method

[Pamnkevin]

So before anyone warns me how it could go wrong...my kids take surprises well. We've been to Disney before and they love it. They've asked me a hundred times to go back so I know the surprise will go well.

Okay, so we're leaving on a Friday. As soon as we pick my son up from school, we'll be heading to the airport. My daughter will be picked up right before we get him, so I'll have all of the luggage in the car ready to go. I've had a million ideas of how to tell them when we're in the car, but I keep circling back to this one. I wrote and will read this to them:

T’was right after school and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even the big mouse

The bags were all packed, all stuffed with great care

And in just a few hours, we’ll take off in the air

The children were clueless, in the back seat they sat

While Mommy and Daddy couldn’t wait for this chat

And Daddy in the driver’s seat and I up here too

Couldn’t wait to tell the kids all the fun things we’ll do

In just a few minutes, you should figure it out

Get prepared, be ready, you may scream and shout

With excitement that is, you may just go nuts

Here it comes, are you ready, hold onto your butts

Magic carpets, flying elephants, parades and fireworks too

Princesses, space rangers, and Winnie the Pooh

Roller coasters, teacups, so much more to spout

Should I keep going on or have you figured it out

at this point, they should guess and the'll be too excited for me to continue with anything further. What do you all think? Should I tweak anything? My other ideas were just to say we have reservations, but there's a dress code and you have to wear a hat...then I'd pull out our Mickey ears from the last trip

 

[LadyLuck24]

That is the cutest poem! I like "hold on to your butts." You will need to videotape this!

 

[thr33boys]

It's great. I wouldn't change a thing. I agree it should be recorded, inconspicuously, if you can.

 

[Pamnkevin]

That is the cutest poem! I like "hold on to your butts." You will need to videotape this!

Thanks! We love Jurassic Park, so I was cracking up writing that line

 

[Cuchman]

How old are they? We have surprised our kids maybe 10 times in different ways.....they are now 12,14, and 16 and it is nearly impossible now.
One of my favorites was when we told them we had to pick up their great grandmother from the airport.....and then we just went in and said "how about we just get on this plane to Orlando?"

 

[Pamnkevin]

How old are they? We have surprised our kids maybe 10 times in different ways.....they are now 12,14, and 16 and it is nearly impossible now.
One of my favorites was when we told them we had to pick up their great grandmother from the airport.....and then we just went in and said "how about we just get on this plane to Orlando?"

They are 5 & 8. Both have been to Disney twice and always ask to go back

 

[lroger01]

I love the poem! Do keep in mind the logistics of revealing it in the car. Will both of you be able to see the reaction from the front seat? And record it? If you have time, it might be worth it to stop somewhere that allows you to read the poem outside of the car.

 

[Sytrace]

I love your poem! So cool! And the " hold onto your butts" part is fantastic. lol

About 6 months ago we told the kids (ages 12 and 13) to pack for a weekend at Grandma's house (Clearwater, FL) which is about 2 hours from Orlando.
As we were travelling on I4 we told them that we had to stop at Fort Wilderness Lodge to drop off some materials to one of our guys who was working on a job there. (We have a plumbing company and we do some work around the Downtown Disney area so this was not too much of a stretch)
The cat was out of the bag though at the guard gate when the guard asked if we had a reservation and then ID. LOL
They totally believed it up until that point.

Have a great time and it would be great if you could take video and post it here after the trip.

 

[Pamnkevin]

I love the poem! Do keep in mind the logistics of revealing it in the car. Will both of you be able to see the reaction from the front seat? And record it? If you have time, it might be worth it to stop somewhere that allows you to read the poem outside of the car.

That is very true...thanks for the suggestion.

 

[skuttle]

I hope you get great reactions. We surprised our kids over spring break. We woke them up at 4am to start the drive. The 11 year old just said "no we're not" and went back to sleep. The 4 year old was excited. He went wake up the 2 year, telling him we were going see Mickey and the 2 year old promptly responded "I want to see Spiderman." *sigh*

Great poem, BTW!

 

[Fiddysmum]

I love the poem! We are also surprising our kids with their very first trip. They know eventually we will go to Disney, but not that we are going in 4 weeks! Not entirely sure how to surprise them yet, but we are definitely not telling them until the morning we fly out!

 

[disnut8]

We surprised our granddaughter back when she was 5. She had just turned five and most of our family hadn't met her yet (my son married her mother). They drove to Georgia from Ohio to "meet the rest of the family". What she didn't know is that the rest of family was going to be at Disney World to meet her. And I reasoned that Mickey was part of the family.

We normally don't drive in via World Drive but we did that day so she could see it. My son had diverted her attention the entire way whenever a Disney World sign would come up so she had no clue. When we reached the first purple sign, I turned around and said, "XXXXXX, do you remember when I said we would take you to Disney World?" She said she did, playing with her dolls in the back seat. I said, "you are here".

So, you could just tell your kids, after picking them up from school, "you guys said you wanted to go back to Disney World, right?" And then add, "we are going right now".

But I love the poem.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I think the poem is fantastic!!!!!

I surprised my DD once when she was about 8. It didn't go so well. I had arranged with her teacher in advance to pick her up early so we could go to the airport. After I got her we stopped off to say good bye to her dad and to tell her so he could watch the reaction. Now, we had been to WDW before and she knew that we would go again sometime. When I told her that I had not been truthful about where we were going(told her I had a dentist appt and couldn't pick her up from school on time so opted to pick her up early) and then dropped the WDW bomb she was silent. She just stood there and I thought she was processing it. Then she started crying and crying hard. It took a while for her to stop and then she was silent again the entire hour+ drive to the airport. We totally laugh about it now(she's 16). The funniest part is that I had packed her clothes about a week before we left and I put all her favourite things in the bag. All week long she kept asking for her jeans or a t-shirt etc. and I just kept saying that I didn't know where they were and she must have left them at school. She still finds it funny that she completely bought my lie about the clothes.

 

[Pamnkevin]

I think the poem is fantastic!!!!!

I surprised my DD once when she was about 8. It didn't go so well. I had arranged with her teacher in advance to pick her up early so we could go to the airport. After I got her we stopped off to say good bye to her dad and to tell her so he could watch the reaction. Now, we had been to WDW before and she knew that we would go again sometime. When I told her that I had not been truthful about where we were going(told her I had a dentist appt and couldn't pick her up from school on time so opted to pick her up early) and then dropped the WDW bomb she was silent. She just stood there and I thought she was processing it. Then she started crying and crying hard. It took a while for her to stop and then she was silent again the entire hour+ drive to the airport. We totally laugh about it now(she's 16). The funniest part is that I had packed her clothes about a week before we left and I put all her favourite things in the bag. All week long she kept asking for her jeans or a t-shirt etc. and I just kept saying that I didn't know where they were and she must have left them at school. She still finds it funny that she completely bought my lie about the clothes.

Do you know why she was so upset?

 

[dancin Disney style]

Do you know why she was so upset?

She later said it was just too big of a surprise and didn't know how to handle it. The tears just came out. It's actually really funny because she has always been very mature and easy going. Even now, the odd time that we talk about it, she will just shake her head and say "Mom it was a great idea but just way too much for a little kid."

Regardless of how it didn't turn out the way I planned, we have a very special memory.

 

[ForeverDance]

We are surprising our girls (3.5 and 18) with a trip this week. My biggest fear is that the little one is going to be upset. Because of the planning we had to do around the older one we ended up having to tell her that we were going camping as a family. We needed something so that she wouldn't make plans with her friends and she would pack a bag for us to have ready while she is away at Rookie Camp (starting university this fall). We didn't really mean for our youngest to hear about that because we didn't want her to be excited about camping (she's never been camping before). Unfortunately the oldest talked about it in front of her and now we are committed to the story. She keeps telling me how she's nervous and excited. DH thinks it's all going to be fine and she will be exicted and happy (she does talk about Disney all the time) but since we aren't telling her until we get there and we are driving and stopping for a couple of days in between, I'm just not sure how it's going to go. Oh well. I guess we'll soon see.

 

[rainboots]

Ours will get the surprise at Christmas from my parents. We will be about 30 days out, so we can still do fun movie nights each weekend leading up to the trip. My idea is to get some Mickey balloons and wrap them in a big box. In theory, I would love to do it outside in the snow, and make it a family photo shoot, but it may sound better in my head than in actuality. Or since it's my parents surprise, I could let them plan it, but that would kill the control freak planner in me!! Haha!