Surprising your kids with WDW? We are!

[Cheshire Figment]

A few years ago I help one of my nephews surprise his seven year old daughter. I sent her a greeting card with no return address, but on the envelope clearly marked "Do No Open Until November 29". Because of the contents he let me know when it arrived. This was driving his daughter crazy; especially when on the 29th her mother said she would have to wait until she was home from school to open it.

Anyway, evening comes along and she finally is allowed to open the envelope. Inside she finds a generic card with Mickey on the front. When she opens it three tickets drop out. The inside of the card says: "Dear Emma, I hope you and your parents will come down to visit me" and was signed by Mickey. (It helps to know some people who have been trained to sign Mickey's name.)

And her parents told her to start reading what was on the card (3rd grade). She starts off where it says "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas" and then sees (and reads) where it also says "Valid Only November 30". She looks at her parents, and says in a very anguished tone: "But that's tomorrow!"

And the next day they flew down.

(Side note - I had recorded the numbers of the tickets in case the envelope got lost as there was no return address.)

 

[monkeybug]

We surprised our kids last year. We drove down, and told the kids we were going to Aunt Berthas. Having never met Aunt Bertha, they asked a lot of questions through out the drive. Aunt Bertha started out sounding pretty fun, but as the ride went on, and the kids asked more questions, they realized that Aunt Bertha had some quirks.
She lived in a trailer, in a swamp. She had a mean dog, that bites. She didn't really like kids, and she smelled. Like rotten meat. The kids would have to sleep on her floor because the trailer was so small, and there were fleas. And possibly rats.
They looked like they might get sick.
Just as our car rolled under the Walt Disney World sign I turned around in my seat and said
"hey guys, guess what?"
"What?"
"You don't have an Aunt Bertha!"
The looks on their faces when they realized where we were was priceless!!!

This year we are telling them that we are going to Sea World (because we are) because it's free (it is), and we just don't have the money for Disney World. After we leave Sea World we are checking in to the Coronado springs, but we are telling them we are only staying there because it's cheap with the military discount. The next morning we are driving to the MK, but I'm going to tell the kids that we are just going to take pictures of the Welcome show because I forgot to last year (which I did). They won't know we are staying for another 5 days and that we are actually going to Disney, until we are walking down Main Street!

 

[0hLovely]

Keeping Disney a secret is probably the hardest thing i've EVER done. SERIOUSLY! and it's only been since October!

We are surprising our dd in 13 days ( ) and since we like to fly we had to tell her something, just so she really has no idea WHERE exactly we are going since she can obviously read and hear what the Capt has to say. My DH's family has a vacation home in Naples, FL so she thinks we are just renting a car from Orlando and painting the house for them!

We don't plan to tell her until we arrive at the ME area to check in!!
I will probably give her a t-shirt and new pins and tell her she may need these. and let me tell you, she is going to FLIP out!! This is her first visit, we wanted to wait till she was old enough to really enjoy the Disney Experience. (we went to DL when she was 3, no flames pleaseee haha) She enjoys learning all about wdw with me so she knows everything to know, with me being a Disnut!

It's also her Bday, day 2 of our trip! Can't wait to tell her she's going to BBB too! --- So as you can see this surprise is KILLING me! I just want to share it!! She also has no idea but my Brother in law is coming along too for his first visit!!

Oh so exciting!!

We're having a family party the day before we leave... I keep thinking maybe we should surprise her then with a gift basket, but i love our idea too. Which do you think is better???

 

[0hLovely]

We surprised our kids last year. We drove down, and told the kids we were going to Aunt Berthas. Having never met Aunt Bertha, they asked a lot of questions through out the drive. Aunt Bertha started out sounding pretty fun, but as the ride went on, and the kids asked more questions, they realized that Aunt Bertha had some quirks.
She lived in a trailer, in a swamp. She had a mean dog, that bites. She didn't really like kids, and she smelled. Like rotten meat. The kids would have to sleep on her floor because the trailer was so small, and there were fleas. And possibly rats.
They looked like they might get sick.
Just as our car rolled under the Walt Disney World sign I turned around in my seat and said
"hey guys, guess what?"
"What?"
"You don't have an Aunt Bertha!"
The looks on their faces when they realized where we were was priceless!!!

This year we are telling them that we are going to Sea World (because we are) because it's free (it is), and we just don't have the money for Disney World. After we leave Sea World we are checking in to the Coronado springs, but we are telling them we are only staying there because it's cheap with the military discount. The next morning we are driving to the MK, but I'm going to tell the kids that we are just going to take pictures of the Welcome show because I forgot to last year (which I did). They won't know we are staying for another 5 days and that we are actually going to Disney, until we are walking down Main Street!

^ love it. Aunt Bertha sounds like a winner!

 

[monkeybug]

^ love it. Aunt Bertha sounds like a winner!

Oh my gosh, it was sooooo much fun making up Aunt Bertha. Made that 13 hour drive go much more quickly. My husband and I would be whispering to each other and giggling while our kiddos were napping.
My kids were 3 and 6 at the time, so they totally bought it.
We still joke when they are being bad that if they aren't careful we are going to ship them off to Ol' Aunt Bertha!

 

[monkeybug]

Keeping Disney a secret is probably the hardest thing i've EVER done. SERIOUSLY! and it's only been since October!

We are surprising our dd in 13 days ( ) and since we like to fly we had to tell her something, just so she really has no idea WHERE exactly we are going since she can obviously read and hear what the Capt has to say. My DH's family has a vacation home in Naples, FL so she thinks we are just renting a car from Orlando and painting the house for them!

We don't plan to tell her until we arrive at the ME area to check in!!
I will probably give her a t-shirt and new pins and tell her she may need these. and let me tell you, she is going to FLIP out!! This is her first visit, we wanted to wait till she was old enough to really enjoy the Disney Experience. (we went to DL when she was 3, no flames pleaseee haha) She enjoys learning all about wdw with me so she knows everything to know, with me being a Disnut!

It's also her Bday, day 2 of our trip! Can't wait to tell her she's going to BBB too! --- So as you can see this surprise is KILLING me! I just want to share it!! She also has no idea but my Brother in law is coming along too for his first visit!!

Oh so exciting!!

We're having a family party the day before we leave... I keep thinking maybe we should surprise her then with a gift basket, but i love our idea too. Which do you think is better???

As long as she knows she is going on a trip, and can pack and plan accordingly, I say wait until you get to ME. How often do you get the chance to be surprised like that in life?

 

[1osfan]

We surprised our kids last year. We drove down, and told the kids we were going to Aunt Berthas. Having never met Aunt Bertha, they asked a lot of questions through out the drive. Aunt Bertha started out sounding pretty fun, but as the ride went on, and the kids asked more questions, they realized that Aunt Bertha had some quirks.
She lived in a trailer, in a swamp. She had a mean dog, that bites. She didn't really like kids, and she smelled. Like rotten meat. The kids would have to sleep on her floor because the trailer was so small, and there were fleas. And possibly rats.
They looked like they might get sick.
Just as our car rolled under the Walt Disney World sign I turned around in my seat and said
"hey guys, guess what?"
"What?"
"You don't have an Aunt Bertha!"
The looks on their faces when they realized where we were was priceless!!!

This is great!! I may use some of this. We took our two to WDW last summer for the first time and had the most amazing time! We drove (18 hours straight through) and got a great deal (4/3). Trying to teach DD6 about the value of money, we talked about how it was possible to make the trip and why we probably would not be able to do it again for a couple of years.

Well, we are going back this summer! This time we are flying and we are not telling the kids. We are going to try to not tell them until we are leaving MCO and boarding a Disney bus. I don't think there will be a problem surprising DS3 because of his age, but DD7 is bright and very observant. I am not sure we are going to be able to keep it from her, but we'll see.

 

[Mom2darlingboys]

We've told our boys both times we have gone, mostly because we couldn't keep it to ourselves, we were so excited! The last time we considered a surprise, but I didn't feel it was fair to deprive them of their excitement.

Having lived through a 70-day countdown, I have since reconsidered! We all know how long it seems when WE have to wait - to kids, 3 months is like dog years!

This year, if we can keep the secret quiet, we are surprising them at the airport. We are telling them we are going shopping (which for two boys is the worst kind of torture!), and when we get to the airport, we'll tell them we're checking it out as we have never flown out of this location before. Hopefully, they are in the airport before they find out! We've been talking last year's trip a lot lately, so I have little doubt they are going to be excited!

Fingers crossed that the surprise STAYS a surprise!

 

[Andrea73]

Yep, our kids have never been. My parents live in Jacksonville so when we say we are going to FL, they assume we are going there. We are not going to say a word and see how long it takes them to realize we did not turn onto I-10!! When they finally catch on, I plan on telling them we are going to see some friends and when they ask who, the answer will be" Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Mickey & Minnie" They are going to flip out! They will be 5 and almost 9 for the trip.

 

[J Le]

How about a reverse surprise - for Mom, not me (aka the kid). I have the best Mom in the universe! Really. And she loves loves loves Christmas. So I'm going to surprise her with a holiday trip to WDW.

I'm still debating on the how, but likely it'll be on Thanksgiving just a few days before we leave.

Just a few more months and I can tell my aunt (her sister) about it - I'm planning to have her sister and brother (with their spouses) waiting in the restaurant our first night!

 

[Kat-CO]

We are going the first week in May as a birthday surprise for my granddaughters 4th birthday. Her aunt and I will arrive at the airport 2 hours before their flight arrives and we will be at the gate when their plane lands. She will be so excited to see us and even more surprised when she finds out we are at Disney World and she gets to see the princesses. We hope to get some awesome pictures of their arrival and our trip. Does anyone know of anything we can do to make this trip extra special as this is her first time at any Disney park and I haven't been to Disney World in 18 years?

 

[LadySiren]

If you're at a Disney resort, tell them about her birthday and that it's her first trip ever. She'll definitely get an "I'm celebrating..." button for the birthday part at least (not sure if they have a button for first trips, sorry). If she wears the button in the parks, she'll likely get a little extra attention from the CMs. If you're not at a Disney resort, maybe one of the other good folks here can say whether you can get the button from Guest Services, as I'm not sure about that one. Sounds like a great trip!

We are going the first week in May as a birthday surprise for my granddaughters 4th birthday. Her aunt and I will arrive at the airport 2 hours before their flight arrives and we will be at the gate when their plane lands. She will be so excited to see us and even more surprised when she finds out we are at Disney World and she gets to see the princesses. We hope to get some awesome pictures of their arrival and our trip. Does anyone know of anything we can do to make this trip extra special as this is her first time at any Disney park and I haven't been to Disney World in 18 years?

Edit: Fixing fat-finger typo...

 

[gwcollins71]

We are going for DD's (will be 5) and hubby's bd's (a lot older than 5). He knows as its been paid for a while. It will also be our sons first trip. He'll be 13 mos. and his hair is getting awfully long.
air
We aren't planning on saying anything until the morning we leave. Our daughter is having a Little Mermaid themed party at our Y's play pool on Saturday, then we're doing a family thing for my husband that night at a pizza place. Sunday, we'll clean up the house and Monday morning we'll leave for the airport. We're planning on waking her up like we're running late and race to the car on the guise that we're running late. Then we'll all drive to drive to the airport. I figure in the car, we can give her an autograph book and her mouse ears.

My daughter has been asking every day for 2 years (since we last went) when we're going back, so we don't want to tell her too early.

 

[milmore104]

We surprised our DD when she was 7. It was WONDERFUL. Watch the video all the time and still cry. We had to tell her we were headed somewhere seeing our airport is 3 hours away. We told her we were going out of town w/ Daddy on work business. This made it easy to get homeowork and get her out of town. We checked into our airport hotel and started doing her homework. I had made her spelling word flash cards (as usual) but the last Words were... Your going to Disney World Surprise Princess! Happy Birthday. She didn't get it at first and had to read it again. Then still not believing us we had to show her all the tickets and paper work. Then she ran through the hotel telling ANYONE that would listen.

We are surprising her again this Dec. I gift her a present for the 25 days of Christmas. Just something little she finds in her Mickey advent calander. I'm thinking I'll put something in there to tell her the morning we leave.

Good Luck. Hope it all works out. We've planned w/our kids and surprised them. Surprising them is just the best.