You all have such great ideas!
Tinkerbell always visits our house on the day we leave for WDW so she knew something was up when she saw all the pixie dust on the driveway/path to the house
What a clever way to tie all your trips together. I wonder if I could start a tradition like that now.
I hear you about surprises, which is one reason we like to tell them about a month in advance. My kids like to have some control over things, so they get to help with the planning that way.
Our flight left at 11:30 so I checked her out of school and when we walked outside the school door a limo was waiting. She asked if that was for us and I said it was but she would find out where we were going once we got inside. In the limo I had placed a gift that was a scrapbook with the first couple of pages already completed. We were going to
MVMCP so I had one page with copies of those tickets but she still didn't know what was up until she came to a page with an envelope (a gift card was inside) with clip art that said, "Surprise, we're going to Disney". Her reaction was priceless and we enjoyed the ride and re-living the ride all week while we were there.
Oooh, I really like this idea. I wonder how much a limo would cost for us? Perhaps we'll do this for a future trip.
In October we surprised our girls with a trip for our youngests birthday. I arrainged for an Enchanted Call (only $2.50)
https://secure.uvoxnetworks.com/disney/ that I put on speaker phone for them to hear. The moment they heard Mickey's voice they knew what was about to happen. Worth the money as their reaction was priceless
I have done this for a prior trip on Christmas day, and it was a great way to break the news to them!
For our trip coming up in March, we're also surprising them. We're actually leaving a couple of days before their spring break starts (flights were WAY cheaper) - and we fly out in the afternoon. We're gonna pick the kids up a little early from school with our Mickey ears on. I can't wait!!!
I love this idea, but I always shy away from a public reveal because I think of all the kids who never get to go to Disney. I didn't get to go until I was 33, so I don't want to upset other kids. But I may be able to adapt this for a more private announcement someday.
We surprised our girls on Christmas day.
When they went downstairs there was just one small present with a disney balloon attached. In the present was a letter from Mickey Mouse inviting them to come and see him. Telling them where he wanted them to stay and when and also we brought some other favourite charcters in by saying the princesses would like them to go for breakfast at... and pooh would like them to join him for lunch as long as they didn't eat his honey etc.
They loved it and DD10 read it out to DD5.
Are you saying that was their only Christmas gift? If so, I am thoroughly impressed. We have done Disney as a Christmas gift twice, but we always still gave them some other gifts, just not as many as usual.
We've done many trips, but haven't really gotten too creative on surprises. The one time we did in the past was when we had an early flight (left at 8 a.m., so we had to be up and moving by 6 to get to the airport). They were about 4 and 7 at the time - and we woke them up and asked if they wanted to go to Disney. They were thoroughly confused, but I've never seen them get dressed so fast. We hadn't said a word about it leading up to that day. They just woke up and about 5 hours later we were walking into MK!
We did this once before DD4 was born, and it was great! But DD4 would not handle that well. She is one who plans and looks forward to things too much, so if we did that now, she would spend much of the trip sad about the things she was missing at school. Every child is different, and I love surprises, so I wish we could do this again.
Thanks to all of you for sharing your ideas. Now that we are DVC members, I am worried about our trips becoming less magical, so I will likely use each of these ideas at some point.
