To Suprise or Not????

[dward1961]

We are planning a trip in August, 5 adults and 2 kids 12 and 6. The kids have never been and have no idea, we can't decide if we should suprise them before hand or wait until we are leaving.

I was thinking if we wait until we leave they will be too excited to sit in the plane.....unless we don't tell them until we get off the plane?

Or should we do a savenger hunt with items they will need for the trip and at the end of the hunt have a suitcase with balloons and a sign attached telling them they are going to Disney. This would give them time to plan what they want to see and ride.

Does anyone have any experience with this age group.

We can't decide???

 

[mecllap]

I'm sure that's worked out well for some people, but I wonder why one would deprive the kids of all the fun of planning and anticipating the trip. I made a big mistake once of surprising my then 13-yo daughter with a trip to Hawaii for her birthday -- it really put a damper on the trip. I hadn't told her because she was spending most of the summer at her Dad's and I wanted her to enjoy that time and not just be thinking about Hawaii. It turned out she really wanted to come home and spend time with her friends for her birthday, which I didn't realize. This was a different situation, tho. I've read a lot of posts about kids planning to surprise their kids with the trip, but oddly, not too many who reported back about how that went.

You know your kids -- do they like surprises (or are they resistant to change), or would they enjoy the planning and looking forward to the trip?

 

[TheDizMom]

I like option 2. It is so much fun to plan a fun way to tell them before hand and then let the anticipation grow as the trip gets closer. My kids love to do a count down calendar before we go. We make a big ta-do about taking off the numbers every night. The last few nights before we go we plan Disney movie night, Disney dinner night, where we have food they might eat there, and carry-on bag packing night. We have even made Mickey shaped pizzas by rolling out biscuit dough and using our Mickey cookie cutter to make it Mickey shaped and then everyone puts their own toppings on. Make a few of those scavenger hunt things new entertainment items for the plane. I just think it makes the build up so much more fun for them, and for that matter us too . I also think it's fun for them to be able to participate in planning what their trip will be like. It is their trip too, so shouldn't they get to have some fun deciding what rides, parks and restaurants you all go to? I could never wait that long anyway, the suspense of knowing would kill me .

 

[Arielx2]

We have been before so are making this trip a surprise. If it was a first trip I would probably tell them.

 

[Broadway Duchess]

We've done it both ways.

DS9's first trip was at 4.5 weeks, so no surprise or planning fun there, LOL. We went for his fourth birthday, which was his sixth visit, and we did a month-long countdown to Disney: movies, music, old home videos (to this day, he loves seeing himself at 18 months at MGM), trips to The Disney Store, etc.

For trip 15, this past Christmas, we just wanted to do something "special" for him so we decided to keep the trip a surprise. He didn't know even when we got to the airport, as the luggage had already been loaded into the car and we went under the guise of dropping off my parents. By the time we got to our gate, he'd woken up sufficiently and his face when he figured it out -- PRICELESS.

All he really missed out on was the packing and shopping for a few T-shirts. He tries really hard to save his money for travel, so he had a pretty good stash of Disney Dollars and Universal Bucks. I think there are benefits to both ways, but whatever you choose, you'll get to see that goofy, happy look on their faces somehow. Good Luck and have a great trip!

 

[bellebud]

our last trip we did a combo... we told the kids way beforehand we were going to disney sometime during summer vacation, but we told them it would be a surprise as to when. So I was able to talk about the trip, they helped plan, etc, then we did a big surprise the morning of the trip. It really worked well and I'm really glad we did it that way.

 

[powellrj]

While it may be ok for the 6 year old, I would tell the 12 year old and let them help plan the trip. I know my kids love to pour over the books and plan what they are going to see and talk to their friends about the trip to share ideas.

 

[mjkacmom]

We surprised our kids, and between waiting at the airport, the plane trip, getting to the resort, etc., they had plenty of time to plan! They weren't crazy - I think the fact that it was a surprise actually made them more mellow - I can't imagine how hyped up they would be if they had know ahead of time - would've driven me crazy! They were just happy.

 

[Pixieflip]

We've done it both ways and i just polled my kids...they vote that both are great! How's that for not an answer?

This last time, I planned the whole thing and didn't even tell my husband! It was his gift for his 40th birthday and I had t-shirts made for everyone (check out the Disigners here). I found the Mickey shaped balloons from the commercials and tied and envelope with a "ticket" with their name attached, and it all popped out of a box they opened...it was an awesome moment of surprise and now we have till Christmas to plan and look forward to it and make countdown chains and have monthly family movie/theme nights on the 23rd of each month to count down the months!

It's all fun, just enjoy it, whatever you decide.

 

[conachan14]

I am surprising my kids the afternoon before we leave. They are 11, 8, and 6 I am sending them on a scavenger hunt when they get home from school ending with the suitcase with the balloons with a note attached. That says pack your bags we are going to disney tomorrow.

My husband is coming home on R&R from Iraq on the 22nd and we leave for disney on the 26th. I want them to be focused on their dad coming home and not the trip to disney. I will already have most of their stuff packed. And I think the night before we leave and the plane trip will be enough time for them to plan what they would like to do.

 

[jennc27]

I want to surprise my two boys (8 & 3), but do not know how to do it. I thought about sending a letter inviting the boys to WDW or making up a game and the prize will be a trip to WDW. I kind of like the box with balloons and then attach the letter. I still get to plan with them because we had planed to go in June 2010, but with the buy 4 get 3free we were able to do it in Aug 2009! My husband and I realized that when we talked about moving the date up they were not around! So with me still planning for June 2010 I still can talk about our trip and it will be no different to them! We just do not talk about the date. Also my mother and father are taking us all to an all-inclusive in Mexico in June so I do not want to take away from that.

 

[Mama to Three]

We are doing both!

We are going to tell them about three weeks out. We don't want to tell them now. With the economy the way it is it would suck to have to back out of it with them. We will probably have the fun of a scavenger hunt and all that. Then we will have fun with the count down calendar and building the anticipation.

They have been begging for a trip to WDW. They have never been. We just keep saying we really wish we could, but its just too expensive. They haven't the slightest idea of what is going on.

Plus it will be way easier to pack if they know what is going on!

 

[dward1961]

Thank you to everyone for the responses

We have decided on the scavenger hunt about one month before the trip. It will hve items they will need and want on the vacation. Toothbrush, laundry bag (that should confuse them), planning books, disney dollars, things to keep them busy on the plane, snacks and at the end a duffel bag with a balloon inside attached to a note saying you going to Disney World

They have no idea and are going to be so excited, I can't wait to see their faces.

Thanks again to the best planners on earth!!

 

[jpkkld]

What kind of kids are they - do they like surprises, or do they get overwhelmed? Do they know what Disney really IS (esp. the 6yo)? Or do they think it's just the castle, with a couple rides inside (like I thought until my first visit at 20)?

For our dd4, we are giving her 25 days notice. That's what she gets at Christmas, so it seems reasonable. She is one of those kids who NEEDS advance preparation for everything. So this is my plan:

Friday night, 25 days to go: Pop in the Disney planning video for our weekly movie night. Then we will next present her with a countdown calendar and Cinderella tee (Walmart, $5).

The countdown calendar is a bit different. I found alphabetical lists of characters and chose 1 character for each letter. I google-imaged all their pics, and pics of the major icons for each park we're going to (i.e., the Castle, the Tree of Life). I printed out each pic and cut them out (about 2" for the characters, about 6-8" for the icons). On a huge posterboard, I pasted the character pics close to the icon that best represents that character (i.e., Cinderella is right in front of the castle). Then I covered the whole thing in contact paper. Finally, I bought a package of sticky-back foam sheets and cut out mouse heads to cover each character. I numbered the mouse heads to correspond to the alphabet (actually, reverse: A:25, B:24, . . . Z:0). Every day, she can take off one mouse head sticker to reveal the next character.

Why did I do all that? Each day, the letter and character we reveal will determine our "research" for the day. So, at bedtime, we will read that character's story. During the day, we can look for pics online corresponding to the letter, like looking for pics of Fantasyland on F day, or pics of our hotel (Riverside) on R day. This way, dd won't be so overwhelmed when she's faced with a huge resort and a different park each day.

Granted, there's a tradeoff between the surprise factor and the anticipation. For me (and for dd too), anticipation wins every time. Have fun!
-Kristin

 

[JKSWonder]

We are surprising our daughter this time.

She has been to Disney World a few times....it is her very favorite place. Last trip, we did a countdown calendar. This time, it's her 8th birthday, so we are going to pick her up at school, her bags already in the car, and off we go!

Unbeknownst to her, she helped to shop and pack for the trip! I told her we needed to get ready for camp this summer and the stores were having sales, so we went and got some new summer clothes, including Disney T-Shirts. I put all the stuff in a suitcase, telling her I wasn't ready to put the stuff in her drawers yet because it was still chilly out and that I would just keep it in the suitcase until we were to change out her drawers for the summer!

I am not sure if this is diabolical or nice on my part, I just know I am having a huge amount of fun planning it!

 

[Sandi]

We've let DD14 in on the news since she was about 5. Before that, I'd only tell her a week or so in advance since every day would start with "is this the day we go to Disney?" Now, she prepares PowerPoint presentations in advance for other members of our traveling group (usually aunts, uncles, grandparents); figures out which days we'll be doing what based on crowd analyses, EMH's, etc.; and prepares laminated daily cards (color coded, of course) with ADR#s, etc. The advance time also gives her time to prepare the housekeeping tip envelopes we need each day (usually she uses blow pens to make really pretty envelopes).

For her, planning is half the fun.

 

[marcielm]

We were going to try and surprise our kids with our trip... but I couldn't keep my big mouth shut!

I accidentally let it slip that we could "buy soymilk at Disney" for our DD. DS#1 (who is 9) yelled "That's where we are going!!!!". I couldn't believe it. Just 3 wks before the trip. However, it was nice to have them give me their opinions on some of the ADR's I had made, and then to be able to know I did okay, but should try and change one if possible.

I wish I had made the scavenger hunt & suprised them that way. Then they could've known and helped me do some planning.