Time to tell the truth.....

[BoingBoingBaggie]

Well, for nine long months myself and DW have been keeping a secret from our 5 year old DD and with the 3 week holiday approaching on Sept 12th, it has come time to tell all to our little

We have been telling her that mommy and daddy have to save really hard for anything that we really want and that it would take years to save to take her to WDW, but in reality, we have been planning/saving for this for a few years already.

DD thinks that she will be going when she is about 9 or 10 - she has no idea that she will be celebrating her 6th birthday over there with not only a meal at the Royal Table, but also a trip to MNSSHP on the nightime.

Tomorrow, we will finally reveal the truth to our little angel but not before we are truely evil one final time........

DD will be told that, unfortunately, she cant have a birthday party this year, and when she asks why, the answer will be that she will be celebrating her birthday not with her friends but with Mickey in Florida this year.

We have a couple of large helium balloons, one of Mickey, the other of Minnie (try hiding inflated balloons from a 5 year old for 2 days ) that will make an appearance, as will a large cuddly Pluto that has been stored away for a while.

We will then sit down and show her all the planning DVD's for both Disney and US/IOA, before we give her a small folder that we have prepared to ease the question that will follow almost every day after tomorrow - i.e. "When are we going to Disneyworld".

I have prepared a ring binder with A4 sheets inside. Each sheet of paper has the number of days remaining until we go, as well as a couple of Disney pictures that I downloaded from the internet for her to colour in. We will also crank up the Disney movie watching in the final 31 days before we fly.

And just for our treasured memories, we will be hiding the camcorder so that we can capture the moment when we tell her about the trip of a lieftime that she has always wanted to go on.

So wish us luck..........................................

 

[Hilary]

Good luck!

I'm sure you'll enjoy the surprise as much as your DD ... or maybe even a bit more!

 

[BRobson]

Oh that is so lovely. Hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow

 

[LJP]

That's brought a big lump to my throat. Let us know how it goes!!

 

[Daysleeper40]

WOW - lucky little lady!!

That's so sweet - and she is sooo not going to thank you when you reel that video out on her 18th birthday

Thats a really good idea about the ringbinder - fancy making one up for me??

 

[jtlover]

We did the same thing for our DD on her 6th birthday - though I cant keep surprises so we didnt keep it a secret. She is now 15 and still loves Disney just as much

Let us know how it goes tomorrow

 

[arieliwish]

That's a brilliant surprise and birthday treat. Hope she has a fantastic reaction!

My cousin surprised his daughter on their first trip to WDW, she was about 7/8 and they packed their stuff to go on holiday to Blackpool, they used to go regular. However, when they arrived at Manchester airport she asked why they were there and they told her they were about to fly to see the Magic Kingdom, and she had an absolute fit about wanting to go to Blackpool!!! HA HA! I think she had been building up to the Pleasure Beach and maybe wasn't quite aware of what WDW had in store!

They still laugh about that one and she's now nearly 22 and they've been to WDW every year since!

Lynn

 

[Bambi Sunshine]

OMG That is soooooooooo sweet, made me all teary (hormones dag namit lol) If I ever have children then I would LOVE to spring a trip to Disney on them...its on my list of things to do to look back on when I am in my nursing home lol

That's a brilliant surprise and birthday treat. Hope she has a fantastic reaction!

My cousin surprised his daughter on their first trip to WDW, she was about 7/8 and they packed their stuff to go on holiday to Blackpool, they used to go regular. However, when they arrived at Manchester airport she asked why they were there and they told her they were about to fly to see the Magic Kingdom, and she had an absolute fit about wanting to go to Blackpool!!! HA HA! I think she had been building up to the Pleasure Beach and maybe wasn't quite aware of what WDW had in store!

They still laugh about that one and she's now nearly 22 and they've been to
WDW every year since!

Lynn

OMG That made me laugh!!

 

[disneyholic family]

oh wow - that is so sweet....
i wish i could be a fly on the wall when you spring the surprise on her....
how wonderful!!!!!

there is nothing better than enjoying WDW through the eyes of your children...

i started going to WDW when i was 18 years old and it was always amazing....
but once we had kids it only got better and better and better each year....
enjoying something we all love together...


as for springing the surprise at the airport, my neighbors did that....
like us, they're american expats.....but unlike us (we go to WDW every year) they hadn't been back to the states since their oldest son was born (over 23 years ago)......they told their younger kids they were going to a nearby resort (on the red sea), but instead they were headed for WDW....in terms of clothing, packing is the same....their boys were 9, 13 and 15 (the oldest 2 were in the military and couldn't come along).....how they managed to keep it a secret is a mystery to me, but they did....
so they got to the airport and instead of going to the domestic terminal they drove up to the international terminal, telling the security person that they were headed to florida......talk about shock and awe...
we were at WDW, when they arrived.....you've never seen 3 happier boys in your life....they were thrilled beyond words....despite the July heat and crowds.....i don't think i'd ever be able to keep a secret like that from the kids....we enjoy planning everything together so it would be too hard....but it was fun to enjoy our neighbors secret vicariously....

 

[PoppyAnna]

Congratulations on keeping the secret and I hope it all goes well.

We are seriously considering a second trp this year around sept/oct, a real budget trip (in fact it's becoming quite a challenge how cheap I can source the elements we would like ) but nevertheless a trip to WDW!
If we decide to go ahead, we are going to keep it a secret from our 2 and 4 yo DD's. Not sure it'll be quite as exciting as your surprise though.
The ring binder is a smashing idea

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

You won't need any luck - but have you warned the neighbours about th screaming

We did something very similar with our DD for her second trip; it was worth the cost of the trip alone to see her face.

Enjoy the day - let us know how it went

 

[MrsJobba1]

That sounds wonderful - its brought tears to my eyes.

Please update us on how it all goes

congrats

 

[natalielongstaff]

what a lucky little girl

i hope you all have a great day today and a wonderful trip

 

[CHEK]

Have a great day today , I'm sure she'll love it . We did something very similar last year, our DD's thought we were going to Rhyl Sun Center for the day, until we arrived at Manchester Airport , the look on their faces was priceless . Congrats and have a Fab holiday

 

[wils]

How wonderful Please tell us all about the 'reveal' and your DD's reaction! I love the idea of the ringbinder - we had a paperchain we cut a link off every day.

DD has no idea that we fly out to Disney on Christmas Day. We are staying overnight at Gatwick the night before so I think we might end up telling her a day early! She will be eating with Cinderella on Boxing Day.

 

[Vicki1971]

That is fantastic! Well done for keeping it a secret for so long. I am totally useless with them. I bet she is over the moon.

 

[Snowy-girls]

What a lovely suprise for your little girl,please let us know how it goes.We done something similar for our little girl when she was 3yrs.Hope it goes as well as ours did.x.

 

[Cyrano]

It will be magical to see the look on her face
Well done for keeping the surprise

 

[diddldonna]

Please keep us updated.

Donna

 

[BoingBoingBaggie]

Well, what a fantastic moment to see the look on my DD's face when she realised that her dream was going to come true.

She has been bouncing around like Tigger all morning and most of the afternoon. We have watched the planning DVD's from both Disney and Universal, she has seen all the maps of the parks that I was kindly sent.

I feel sorry for the characters as DD reckons that she will be squeezing/hugging every single one of them - even the bad guys!

She is so excited about MNSSHP, especially being as it on her birthday. She was dumb-struck when I showed her the special invites that Mickey had sent us so that we could attend one of his parties!

DW and myself can now breathe a sig of relief and be able to talk about it openly with her, and it is already paying dividends, as she has helped us book our ADR's (see the new thread I am about to post in about 30 mins)

Thanks for all the comments