Surprising the kids, how/when if to tell them...

[Turts8]

Family if four headed to Disney for a week u. December. Flying into Tampa to stay with parents 3 days prior. Our plan is to not tell the children until the day of, just drive right up to gm the gates and say!"you guys wanna stay here for a week??!"

I'm having second thoughts though. I kinda want them to be excited and liking forward to the trip.

This is probably the only time we will be able to go so we want it to be as special as possible.

We welcome all suggestions!! This board is great.!

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

Me I would have a hard time not telling them for that long! I think either approach will be fun

 

[lahobbs4]

We like to tell them we are going, but we don't tell them WHEN. I like for them to get excited, ask them what they want to ride, where they want to eat, watch youtube videos, etc. Also, I don't know how old yours are, but it works as a great behavior tool for my 6 and 5 year old!!

 

[Turts8]

Ds 9 and dd 6. Staying at POR. my biggest problem is my excitement and I kinda feel bad that they don't know. Although if I told them 6 months out, they'd me bonkers fir 6 months.... What to do...

 

[JennyDrake]

TELL THEM. Trust me.

We did a surprise trip for nieces and nephews and it was a train wreck.

Let the kids get excited and INVOLVE THEM IN THE PLANNING. 2 weeks in advance is ample time.

ENJOY!!!!

 

[maryandtyson]

My kids like to know at least a few weeks ahead of time. They like to plan a bit: clothes and toys to bring etc. I have seen surprises go horribly wrong because it's overwhelming. Others do it and it's fine. You know your kids. Do they like being surprised or are they planners? Do things have to be a certain way or are they more go with the flow?

 

[fbb]

We welcome all suggestions!! This board is great.!

Nowadays my wife just leaves a note reminding the kid to feed the dog.

 

[georgina]

I vote to tell them ahead of time. Mine always enjoyed the anticipation and planning too.

 

[bbjunkie]

We just surprised our 9 year-old daughter and it went perfectly. We had fat, yellow yarn I braided and wound all through the house. It was meant to be Rapunzel's hair. She followed her hair, which included a few surprises clipped on with dollar store Disney barrettes, until a mini-scrapbook at the end. The scrapbook (8x8) had 9 pages:

"You've come to the end of my hair and you've found,
Treasures and clues; we're vacation-bound.
Your bags are all packed and we're ready to go,
Off to discover new rides, friends, and shows.
We're off to a place where dreams do come true,
A special vacation planned just for you.
So hurry, let's go! You'll be thrilled, whirled, and twirled,
On our family vacation
To Walt Disney World!"

She couldn't believe it. We left the next morning at 8:00 am. We drove from Michigan, so she had the Birnbaum's travel guide in the car with her and was able to tell us what her choices would brand what she was excited to do. I know her well enough to plan the dinner reservations and fast passes without her telling me what she wanted. I also have a ore-made Disney scrapbook made and only had to add the pictures I took during her Rapunzel hunt. It was great!

 

[mjkacmom]

We surprised our 5 kids the morning of (they had 15 minutes before the axe service came), and they loved it! It was a 10 day vacation, and we surprised them with DCL at the end of our 6 nights at the BCV's (they thought we were going to the airport, until they saw the ship). The surprise itself was one of the best parts of the trip for them (ages 4 - 11).

 

[Turts8]

That is amazing. And a great idea. Wonder what we could do fir the boy. Tangled is definitely one if her favorites.

 

[Turts8]

Yet another great surprise. You guys are very creative.

 

[vcunning]

We do surprise trips or parts of trips with our kids all the time. They're pretty seasoned travelers. Just don't do it like this . . .

If you listen, they've been driving all night and are only in North Carolina. I'm guessing the kids are pretty wiped.

 

[Becki Quoss]

We have will have a 9 and 11 year old when we go. We have told them we are going sometime in the next 2 years, but they don't know when. I have spent some time this summer letting them help us plan, so they are part of the planning process. They are so excited to go. We are going to drive down. We are going to stop by the beach on the way, as well. So we want to see how long it takes for them to figure it out. I bet my DD guesses before we even leave.

 

[JimmyV]

TELL THEM. Trust me.

Let the kids get excited and INVOLVE THEM IN THE PLANNING. 2 weeks in advance is ample time.

I know it is a personal choice, but I really, really, really agree with this. Surprises are fun. But to me, it is more fun for us to break the news over family dinner and ask our DD what restaurants she wants to try to eat at, (and now, which rides to get FPs for). I love it when she voices her opinion and it makes the planning more fun, and makes her more invested in the vacation as a whole.

 

[nobellybutton]

We surprised my DS at the time he was 8 for the Nickelodeon suites hotel for a long weekend and we got the "oh my gosh " out of him. But I think as parents we plan and plan and over plan that the excitement & suspense we have once we give the surprise, it's not as over the top as we want or could end up like some of those videos. So, my Halloween trip I plan on telling them soon so they can be part of it as well.i want the excitement to be for all of us

 

[Kelly014]

We surprised my DD last year (she was 4) the morning of and it was great. We were up super early to get to the airport, so I told her we needed to go to the store and she fell back asleep in the car. When we parked at the airport I gave her a gift bag full of Mickey stuff and then told her. She loved it!! I sort of prepped her beforehand by watching the disney planning movie things, but it was easy to pick FP and food based on what I knew she liked.

We're doing the same thing this year except it's an evening flight so we'll pick her up from school and surprise her. She does well with surprises and I appreciate not being asked when were going or why it takes so long leading up to vacation

 

[juliekzp]

We've done surprises the morning of (we're going to get on the plane!) twice, and both times ended in tears. Now instead we make a countdown chart (usually starting around 20), and the kids LOVE to cross out the days and exclaim how close it's getting and talk about what we're going to do.

 

[JennyDrake]

Let me clarify MY opinion....if your kids have been before, go ahead and surprise 'em, but if it is a once in a lifetime or once in a long time trip and/or they are teenagers, don't do the surprise route.

As PPer said, surprises can go horribly wrong--ours did. The kids were 14, 16 & 18 and were COMPLETELY overwhelmed to the point all they wanted to do was sit in the hotel room and eat junk food. Note: to *surprise* was not our mandate, it was the stepmother's and was a condition of our being able to take the kids on their first ever, out of state vacation.

 

[nobellybutton]

I did the countdown with DD when she was going on her 1st trip to WDW and we did it because my DS went to stay at Grandparents house in Florida but she was still too young to imagine a night without mommy . So when he left we did the calendar so she knew exactly when we were leaving