To surprise or not to surprise...

[kikipug]

I didn't think of the packing aspect. Hmmm.... my boys usually pack their own stuff. It'll be very difficult I think to pack all their clothes without their knowing it (I homeschool so they are home during the day). Even if I arranged for them to be at a friends' house the day before we leave so I could pack, I could see them in the evening opening their drawers and yelling "hey! where are all my clothes?" Plus, I'd have to pack their carry-on bags too - which means sneaking from their beds their current reading book and hunting around their room for their gameboys and games...

I thought the same thing... I surprised our kids (DS8, DD11) last week with an extra-long weekend at WDW (we only live 75 miles away, with AP's, so staying onsite is a 'treat' for them...). Here's what I did... I got all of my stuff ready beforehand and stuffed it in the closet the night before. In the morning, we're sitting at the breakfast table, and, as one of them always does, DS8 says, "I don't want to go to the Y today"... to which I respond, "OK, I have an idea... let's have a scavenger hunt" (Right now, they ask???)... I listed out EXACTLY what I wanted them to pack (4 shirts, 4 shorts, blah, blah... right down to the gameboy)... and the last item on the list was "WDW Annual Pass... we're goin to Disney World!"... you have never seen 2 kids pack faster and more efficiently in your whole life!!!!!

They are so amazed that we managed to surprise them.

(I haven't told them about next May's DCL cruise... that's this year's Christmas present... so they'll get to do the whole 'anticipation' thing then.)

 

[Squiffy]

I surprised my kids and DH on our 2nd trip to DLP.

We had been in June 03 and loved it so much that 2 days after our return I decided to book a surprise 40th birthday for DH in March 04.

I kept it a suprise until 5 days before. We had a weekend with his parents for Mothersday (March in the UK) so I planned a bit of a quiz and told them it was part of Daddys birthday as he was going to be 40 and I wanted his birthday celebrations to go on and on.

They all took part in the quiz, which gave random words like, 6, nights, hotel, mickey, fly etc. They then had clues to help them construct a sentence telling them exactly where they were going, how they were getting there and for how long. I'd wrapped up little clues too. A Crystal Eiffel Tower ornament, A packet of French Onion Seeds and a few others. They all had great fun and the look of disbelief on their faces when they opened the Autograph books and purses with their spending money is was priceless. My DD cried, and her two brothers sat with their jaws on the floor.

It was a great way to do it because they had been before so I didn't feel I was taking away the anticipation, but by telling them 5 days beforehand they still had chance for the excitement to build and to help with the packing.

We all know about our trip to WDW in 2006. But I wouldn't hesitate to suprise them with a return trip.

When we got back he had another surprise which the children had been in on. We took him to London to see "The Lion King", it was fantastic. His birthday surprise lasted 3 Weeks. it was great

Whatever you decide to do, they will love it!!! Good Luck!

 

[Disneyonmymind]

I didn't read the other posts but I considered whether to try to surprise DD8 but decided it would be too much trouble trying to do all of the planning in secret. I just don't have enough time without her to pull it off. Plus it's fun to have her in on it and watch the excitement build. Also, we love to talk about it as a family. Part of the fun is the anticipation for us.

Jackie

 

[bamajill]

I agree that for us half of the fun is the anticipation of the trip, but I LOVE the idea of telling them you are leaving a day later than you actually are, then waking them up with the SURPRISE...we are going TODAY!!!!...that way you get a bit of the best of both worlds!

How exciting to get to start your vacation a day 'early' and I will certainly put that on my list of things to do on the next trip! Thanks for that idea!

 

[gigi1313]

I agree that for us half of the fun is the anticipation of the trip, but I LOVE the idea of telling them you are leaving a day later than you actually are, then waking them up with the SURPRISE...we are going TODAY!!!!...that way you get a bit of the best of both worlds!

How exciting to get to start your vacation a day 'early' and I will certainly put that on my list of things to do on the next trip! Thanks for that idea!

your welcomed! it realllllly worked well for my kids! they were so excited to be going yet they did not lose sleep and still think we just decided to go a day early 'cause we just could not wait! LOL! we will probably do the same thing this year... we're leaving on a thursday morning and i will probably tell them we're not going 'til saturday... that full night of sleep before the trip is almost as priceless as the look on their faces when you say "LET'S GO NOW!" LOL! we're also staying a day longer than they think we are... we're going to check out of POFQ, go to AK for the day and then suggest a little tour of the AKL (ds' dream resort, he drools over the website and the planning dvd and watched the slide show on allearsnet for entertainment! he's got dd hooked on it too!) and watch their faces light up when we show them our room! LOL! and teehee

 

[bigmerle1966]

For the trip we are taking this June we are surprising the kids. It is me, my DSis and her two DD (soon to be 5 and 20m) and a friend and her three DS (4, 9 and 11). It will be the first time the friend and her sons are going. We have been telling them we are going to Cape Cod and all about what we are going to do there. We are telling them two days before at my neices 5th b-day party. They are going to do a scavenger hunt searching for puzzle pieces that they will put together that will have a poem on it about visiting Disney. The last piece that actually gives it away will be given to them by the 20 month old. It is going to be great because we have talked to them about Disney because my DS and the friend are going in September for some Christian music festival (can't remember what it's called) We did tell the 11yo that we would take him for his college graduation present, his mother teases him about riding Dumbo with her. It is going to be great and the kids will love the surprise.

Like another poster said it is really dependant on how your kids like surprises. I will try to post back and let you know exactly how it worked out.

 

[mill4023]

I agree that for us half of the fun is the anticipation of the trip, but I LOVE the idea of telling them you are leaving a day later than you actually are, then waking them up with the SURPRISE...we are going TODAY!!!!...that way you get a bit of the best of both worlds!

How exciting to get to start your vacation a day 'early' and I will certainly put that on my list of things to do on the next trip! Thanks for that idea!

I also like that idea. Either that, or not telling them exactly when you are going. That way, they get to enjoy the anticipation and you still get to surprise them one morning when you wake them up and say "hey, let's go". The only problem is that the day before we leave, I'll probably be going nuts trying to make sure everything is done, packed, and taken care of.

 

[Skatermom23]

We told our kids the last two times we went...they were 9 & 11 the first trip and 11 & 13 the second. The first time we went it was kind of fun to plan the trip together but the second time I wish I hadn't told them. I am planning another trip and a cruise and I have no intention of letting them know until that morning! As for them already having plans...since I am the one who carts the kids around, any plans have to come through me and I will nix anything that interfers. Bottom line though, you have to know your kids...how will they react to a sudden change in plans? I know mine will LOVE IT!!!!

 

[Minerva]

It doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing. My kids know we're going and they've really enjoyed helping in the planning and doing their own research to determine what *their must do things are. There are also things that they don't know about though that will be surprises. They know we're starting our stay at Sports and ending it at Pop. They know we'll be staying somewhere else in between but they don't know where and won't until we get there or at least until we pull onto the road to WL and they see the signs if I can't keep them busy enough to miss them. DD doesn't know that we'll be at MVMCP at all much less that we'll be celebrating her birthday there and she doesn't know that we'll be eating her birthday dinner in the castle, ds does know about those things but he doesn't know all the details about MVMCP like the snow on Main Street and the special parade and fireworks. DS doesn't know that another night we'll be eating at LTT, a place right out of his favorite book Johnny Tremain.

Sometimes I think I would love to pull off a total surprise but then I see my kids digging out the Birnbaum's for kids and listen to them planning and I listen to my younger one trying to convince my older one that he really *should go on RnR and TOT with her and I realize that while a total suprise would be nice for *me in some ways it would be shortchanging *them. That's just us though. Do what you feel will work best for your family.

 

[gigi1313]

For the trip we are taking this June we are surprising the kids. It is me, my DSis and her two DD (soon to be 5 and 20m) and a friend and her three DS (4, 9 and 11). It will be the first time the friend and her sons are going. We have been telling them we are going to Cape Cod and all about what we are going to do there. We are telling them two days before at my neices 5th b-day party. They are going to do a scavenger hunt searching for puzzle pieces that they will put together that will have a poem on it about visiting Disney. The last piece that actually gives it away will be given to them by the 20 month old. It is going to be great because we have talked to them about Disney because my DS and the friend are going in September for some Christian music festival (can't remember what it's called) We did tell the 11yo that we would take him for his college graduation present, his mother teases him about riding Dumbo with her. It is going to be great and the kids will love the surprise.

Like another poster said it is really dependant on how your kids like surprises. I will try to post back and let you know exactly how it worked out.

what if the kids are upset that they're not going to the ocean?!

 

[yxe dad]

I'm waiting until x-mas to surprise my DS6, DS8, with another surprise for my mother who babysits sometimes and helps out where she can. One of my boys x-mas presents will be getting their spending money for the trip in disney dollars. When they ask where they can spend it I'll tell them "surprise" you can spend it in WDW in 9 days. As for my mom she knows she's coming on the trip with myself and the boys but her surprise is a disney cruise in the middle of our hoilday. I hope I don't let the surprise out, but talking about it this waym, sure does make it more enjoyable.
The only concern I have is making sure the kids don't fall behind in school while we're gone. I'm going to tell the teachers at the start of the year and remind them as the trip comes near. At the x-mas break I'll get the 2 weeks of work done ahead of time so the kids don't have to do homework on the trip. To get them to do the work without too many ?'s I'll tell them we might be going snowboarding if I can get the time off work.

 

[bigmerle1966]

what if the kids are upset that they're not going to the ocean?!

I know for sure the three boys won't, they really want to go. My DN on the other hand, we never know with her. She may be upset that we aren't going to the beach for her birthday, which is on the 23rd, but in the end I know she will be excited, she has been 4 times before and loves it.

The only bad thing about it is that from now on when we tell the boys we are going somewhere for vacation they will think we are lying to them.

 

[SuperDuperBounce]

We surprised the kids DS4, DD7, and DD10 last March heading south out of Hilton Head to WDW. We made it almost to the MK parking lot gate headed to WL before DD7 figured it out (we kept them pretty distracted). She was wondering what a monorail was doing in North Carolina. The ruse was helped by the fact NC has a lot of billboards advertising discount Disney tickets.

The best part was it was DD7's birthday.

 

[milmore104]

I haven't suprised my family w/ a trip to WDW. I have to budget it in so they would know if I was watching what we were spending. I do suprise then in other ways though. Like last trip I suprised them w/ AKL. they thought we were staying at ASMo but I had secrectly booked AKL. SO that was great. We had rented a limo to pick us up and when they began to pull into AKL I quietly said to DH " It's kind of rude to pick up another family along the way don't you think!" He said yes but what are you going to do about it? I said get out!!! He finally figured it out when our luggage was taken out of the car. It was a great suprise! I also have told them our trip was shorter than it really was and asked them the night before leaving if they wanted to stay a week longer! It made them feel GREAT!!! Good luck w/ what you decide

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

what if the kids are upset that they're not going to the ocean?!

I am the DSis of BigMerle! My dd is the 5 year old and when I ask her where she would really like to spend her birthday, she says with NO hesitation "the beach at DISNEY WORLD!" So, she most likely won't be sad we are going. I might have to take her to a beach that day though!

The three boys will NOT be upset with us! With all the advertising going on lately, they really want to go! They got a little taste of it last November, as we spent the day there before our cruise. Just at POR and AKL, and driving around a bit. If we thought they would be upset, we wouldn't be doing it. But they will FREAK!

 

[sugermouse]

To be or not to be, that is the question!