Surprising the kids with a trip next week!

[MKCP84]

I have to chime in. Back in 2005 we surprised out DDs ages 12 and 9 then. We told them they had dentist appointments at noon and would be picking them up from school. They finally figured it out when we got to the airport. I hid the video camera in the van and videotaped their whole reaction. Priceless. We watch the video of the trip and just laugh. Of course they want us to "surprise" them again.

 

[Sammie]

My parents surprised me once when I was 16 involving my birthday, I cried for hours due to the disappointment.

Even to this day as an adult I just do not see the need. Sorry but just my opinion.

As a family some of our best memories are from planning the trip together, I sincerely hope it comes off without a hitch but you did ask for opinions.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

My parents surprised me once when I was 16 involving my birthday, I cried for hours due to the disappointment.

Even to this day as an adult I just do not see the need. Sorry but just my opinion.

As a family some of our best memories are from planning the trip together, I sincerely hope it comes off without a hitch but you did ask for opinions.

I appreciate your opinion and all the opinions here and the stories of their surprise trips. I'm more worried about my son being angry with us for keeping a secret but I'm sure my daughter will be excited. We've decided to pack tomorrow while my daughter is at a friends house. My son won't notice we are packing. We'll go to bed on Sunday night and then wake up early Monday morning and wake them up and spring the surprise on them.

We've abandoned the idea of telling them that we were going to DC and Philly to them to the airport without them knowing our true destintaion. After thinking about it more, I think if we told them we were going somewhere else that they would end up getting upset just to make the surprise last longer and I don't want to get them upset. We've got a 90 mile drive to the airport and I don't want them spending the whole drive complaining about how boring its going to be in DC. I think being woken up by your parents and being told we are going to Disney World today is going to turn out to be a nice surprise on its own.

 

[yandbfan]

We are from the Chicago area and were visiting relatives in DC. We surprised our kids one year at Reagan National Airport. Instead of going back home to Chicago we told them to take a look at the airline tickets. I guess we will just have to go to Orlando first. They loved it.

 

[DVC4me4Ever]

We surprised our DD one time with a Disney cruise. She thought we were just going to WDW and we stayed the night before at the Orlando airport hotel. We told her we could not get room reservations at WDW until the next night and we wanted to get down there early. She bought it hook line and sinker!

At the time she was only about 7 and trusted everything Mom and Dad said. So she was involved in the WDW planning part (which really did take place AFTER the cruise) but the DCL portion was the surprise factor.

She was so excited and started screaming and crying when she was the ship. It was so special and amazing that we still talk about it years later.

I wish you the very best with your surprise and I bet it comes off just as you and your DW would like...ENJOY!!! These types of moments only happen once in a while in our life so cherish them!!!!

 

[Sammie]

I appreciate your opinion and all the opininos hrer and the sroties of their surprise trips. I'm more worried about my son being angry with us for keeping a secret but I'm sure my daughter will be excited. We've decided to pack tomorrow while my daughter is at a friends house. My son won't notice we are packing. We'll go to bed on Sunday night and then wake up early Monday morning and wake them up and spring the surprise on them.

We've abandoned the idea of telling them that we were going to DC and Philly to them to the airport without them knowing our true destintaion. After thinking about it more, I think if we told them we were going somewhere else that they would end up getting upset just to make the surprise last longer and I don't want to get them upset. We've got a 90 mile drive to the airport and I don't want them spending the whole drive complaining about how boring its going to be in DC. I think being woken up by your parents and being told we are going to Disney World today is going to turn out to be a nice surprise on its own.

I think that is a good idea, dealing with teenagers can be so tricky, never know what makes them happy and they can get upset over the smalllest things.

Have a wonderful trip.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Be sure to let us know how it went. Have a great vacation!

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

Be sure to let us know how it went. Have a great vacation!

We are back and it was a great "surprise" vacation. For the surprise we woke up our son first and he came in his sisters room and then we said get dreesed we're going to Disney and while my son13 was excited and still sleepy, my daughter10 threw her pillow at me and crawled back under the blanket! I'll tell you that it was very funny- but not to her.

She was not happy about being woken up, she cried a bit too. She made us promise that we would never do a surprise trip again. We promised and then we were off.

Random thoughts: The trip itself was awesome.
We went all the parks and we all had loads of fun. We will all rememeber the "surprise" trip to Disney for along time.

My daughter got to be on stage with microphone in hand in the Flights of Wonder show at AK so that was real big highlight.

We did on line check in and our room was ready when we arrived at 12:30pm from the ME. We stayed in a 1br at OKW for 4 nights and then one night at CBR. We love OKW. I rented a car from the Car Care center and I really liked having a car now to get around. The parks seemed empty to us seeing that when we were there in late June it was packed, so a late August crowd is light.

Next trip: No Surprises- 1st Disney cruise in December!

 

[cydswipe]

Our DD9 and DD6 know we're going to Disney sometime before Halloween. I didn't want to deal with the hyper, constant... "when are we going" for months/weeks.

I considered having an Enchanted Phone call made the night before, but have since decided to have the call made during our layover in Atlanta.

I want my 4th grader to come home from school, do homework, take a shower, and go to bed like normal. (that goes for the kindergartner too!) We have a 5:50 flight and a hour drive to the airport, so I want them to go to bed NOT EXCITED.

They will have NO clue about the packing, as they rarely go in the basement utility room, where I plan to pack.

We're doing MNNSHP so we told them it was going to be before Halloween, so they could choose a costume and I could start making them..


We leave Sept 23.... can't wait...


Enjoy your trip!

Let us know how it goes!

 

[JasonDVC]

We've abandoned the idea of telling them that we were going to DC and Philly to them to the airport without them knowing our true destintaion. After thinking about it more, I think if we told them we were going somewhere else that they would end up getting upset just to make the surprise last longer and I don't want to get them upset. We've got a 90 mile drive to the airport and I don't want them spending the whole drive complaining about how boring its going to be in DC. I think being woken up by your parents and being told we are going to Disney World today is going to turn out to be a nice surprise on its own.

It's too bad they think a trip to DC is "boring". I plan on taking my children there when they are old enough. I hope they too won't find it "boring".