Surprising the kids....

[KimR]

We are going to surprise the girls again with a trip to WDW! We did it last year and they loved it. My oldest said she'd much rather be surprised but insisted I'd never be able to pull it off again, because she's wise to my ways...well, we'll see about that! Last year I told them I had to keep them out of school for a series of dental/doctor appts in preparation for the next school year. They didn't suspect a thing and were ecstatic when they found out they were going to WDW instead (who wouldn't be?)

The plan for this year is I'm going to tell them DH has a business meeting and we have to drive him down becuase he couldn't get a flight and would be traveling on with someone else, so he doesn't want to have his car down there. He travels quite a bit for business, so I don't think they'll have a problem believing this. Now, the part I am unsure of is how to spring the surprise on them. I originally thought we'd just drive down and I'd wait and see how long it took them to realize where we were going. They are all oblivious to the surroundings when in the car so its likely they wouldn't recognize anything until we pull up to the Yacht Club. Maybe not even then because the only resort they have stayed at is the GF, so I don't think they'd realize they were at Disney! My other thought is when we are almost there, hand them each an envelope and tell them there is a surprise inside. I'll put 'April Fool!!' on the envelopes (we are leaving April 1) and decorate them festively. Inside will be their park hopper passes and maybe an autograph book and pen. So...what do you all think? Any other creative ideas?

 

[StinkerbellsMom]

We are 'taking Grandma to the Airport' before school one day (March 30th) and then when we get into the Airport (to help her with all her bags and say a proper goodbye), I will ask them, Gee, wouldn't it be great to just hop on a plane and go somewhere? Where would YOU go? Of course, their answer will be DISNEY WORLD! We had to cancel a recent trip because dh got a promotion and was needed on the 'homefront'. And then I will announce, GOOD IDEA ... Let's Go! And march them up to the Gate and off we will fly! Maybe you can use a similar line? Tell them ... gee, wouldn't it be grand to just drive and drive until we hit Florida and ended up in Disney World? On road trips I usually give my kids 'Itinerary Folders' ... we have often surprised them with trips ... we don't tell them where we are going, but clues are inside the Folders ... I put the states that we will pass through in the order we will drive through them and then the last page has the BIG clues as to our Destination. Its great because the girls have learned so much about State Flags, Flowers and other things and they get such a kick out of figuring out the mileage we've driven (gotta keep those math skills honed) and how many times we stopped for gas, how fast we are travelling and how many miles we've covered, etc. I LOVE Road Trips!!! We will be driving down at the end of June and are SO EXCITED about it!!! Good luck with the surprise!!! I hope it works well for you!!!!

 

[dsmith]

On one Disney trip I tried to surprise my kids, 11 and 9 at the time. Gee were they mad! One even cried. I found out real quick that they really enjoyed the anticipation of an upcoming trip. I’ll never make that mistake again.

 

[KimR]

oh, wow, stinkerbellsmom, I'd love to see their faces when you tell them! I would have loved a surprise like that when I was a kid! Be sure to take videos! dsmith, I'm so sorry your kids didn't take well to the surprise. I was actually a little worried about the same thing last year, but they don't really get into the planning the way I do and my middle DD does NOT handle anticipation well at all so it worked out great. One of the reasons I'm doing it this way is in case something comes up (my mother is not well), they will not be disapointed because they never knew about it in the first place. Plus, it's fun to imagine their reaction when they find out!

 

[LoveThatDarnMouse]

We plan on surprising our kids with our upcoming trip. I've had it booked since October and haven't leaked it yet~however, I dont' think I'm going to wait quite as long as the very last minute to tell them. I want to give them just a little anticipation, but not enough where it's going to drive them nuts.

Whatever you do, have fun doing it. They will be sooooo excited!

 

[Noelle]

We did this for Xmas this last year with our 3 year old and 11 year old. We told them that Dad's car needed to go into the shop and we were driving him to a rental place near the airport. It worked like a charm. Then when we got to the airport we told them that we were going on Vacation. Since we had a connection in Denver, we told them we were going skiing. Neither of them were too thrilled about the ski vacation thing. Once we arrived at the Denver airport, we gave them their Annual Passes. My youngest jumped up and down yelling, "I'm a winner." I still don't know what that response was all about. My oldest was so happy to be going WDW for Xmas and her birthday. It's one of those great moment I'll never forget! I hope you have a good time!