To Surprise or Not?

[bkstrick0725]

We're heading to Disney in 3 weeks (YAY!!!) with our 5 year-old son. Right now, Jared doesn't know that we're going, he just knows that he's got a big surprise coming in February. We've enjoyed hearing him speculate on where we're going (to mars on a spaceship was the best) but I'm starting to wonder if surprising a 5 year-old is smart. We went when he was 2 and of course he remembers nothing. That trip was more for us than for him. This time around, I'm wondering if it would be smarter for me to prepare him for what he's going to see as I know that even the tamer attractions have some scary aspects. I'm rethinking the surprise part and leaning towards telling him so that we can watch some footage of the scarier stuff to get him prepared and used to the idea that it's not real and gauge his interest in it. I'm thinking he surprise will be when we're going and not where we're going.

Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to prepare your kid for the scary stuff? By scary, I mean rides like Pirates.

Thanks!

Kim

 

[mjkacmom]

We surprised the kids when they were 4, 4, 6, 9, and 11, and had absolutely no issues with any of the rides. Even my very tame youngest dd loved Pirates, although I did regret bringing ds4 on Dinosaur! I bought a book, with photos of the attractions, which they all looked through on the way down. Travel takes so long these days, we had plenty of time to prepare them!

 

[tinkermom23]

We thought the same thing with our DS9. There are so many cool ways to surprise kids with the trip, but we know our DS and it would be better to prepare him. He needs the time to process and anticipate the trip so that he can enjoy it. We will tell him at the 15 day to countdown.
I personally love surprises, he does not. You need to do what works for your son's personality/temperment.
Another thought, I LOVE the planning, it's half the fun, so I hope to share part of the planning fun with DS and let him help do some of the planning.
I'm sure you'll make the right choice for your DS and you'll all have a ton of FUN!!

 

[tzolkin]

My kids really enjoy the planning. We went for our first trip last May and we told them in January. They watched the Disney DVD and any specials on TV countless times, we would go on the Disney website regularly and they each had their "favorite" attractions. We made the customized maps. We even had family movie nights every week where we watched a Disney movie that has an attraction in the parks (My kids had not seen most of these movies, so I wanted them to be familiar with the characters.)

DH and I just booked our second trip for this May. We have decided to surprise the kids. They have remained obsessed with Disney, so they're always planning for our "next" trip. They talk about Disney every day, but they just don't know that we're going in May. We're telling them that we can't afford to go until the fall or probably next year and that we are going to visit grandma in FL in May.


As far as being scared, I'm not sure how much you can prepare for that in advance. I would explain the rides (either before your trip or before you ride) and take your child's lead whether something scares him or not. My 4 year old's top "must-see" was Tower of Terror. She talked about it for months before our trip. We warned her repeatedly, but she was determined to ride. We let her do it, but she was very scared and did not want to ride again. When I was younger we lived near Disney and had season passes. My one sister would start crying before we even got in line for an attraction one day and ride it repeatedly a few weeks/months later. There was no way to predict what would bother her or what her reaction would be.

 

[sndfan]

You know your child best. I know that my DS would probably be uncomfortable if we woke him up in the middle of the night and said we're headed to the airport. He does better to know a little in advance, so he can have fun and plan a few things in each park that he wants to do...so he can pick out a few books and stuff to take with him.

We did a scavenger hunt with the clues all leading to a Hidden Mickey book...he was surprised! Then we've had the last couple of weeks to plan and enjoy chatting about what we wanted to do...we leave next Friday!

No matter what...he will have a blast!

 

[Kae]

Surprise him> We did that for a short trip once & it was so worth it. We were in Naples for a vacation & decided to drive to wdw for 2 days. We told the kids we were going to visit some friends. And then luckliy DS wasn't quite reading yet but when he saw the Mickey shaped Electric Tower he knew where we were, that smile was the best.

Take ear plugs, get the Birbaums guide for WDW with kids read it yourself that will help. Have a great trip

Kae

 

[Darcy03231]

I took my niece for her first trip in October (she was a week shy of her 5th birthday). We told her a week before the trip that she was going and I thought that was a perfect time to tell her. She had enough time to be really excited and anticipate the trip without it being too far out. She had a great time counting down the days on the calendar before we left and telling everyone that she was going.

 

[koolaidmoms]

This is the first time that we actually have told the kids we are going on a WDW trip. We always travel by car and we always call all our trips adventures. Sometimes they know where we are going, sometimes not. On our last trip DD pretty much figured it out. We had told them we were going to visit their aunt & uncle. They were just it was in WDW!

Thankful that my children don't pay attention to state signs and we did not mention where we were - ever! DD figured it out when we had to stop at the Welcome Center in FL. DS did not get it until we pulled onto property. Then he saw a bus and said, "It's not fair they get to go to WDW!"

But, now we are dealing not only with my endless planning but theirs too. I just don't want them to be too disappointed in building this trip up. I am still planning lots of surprises - they know nothing about our DDP reservations or that we plan on putting them in the Neverland club, which I think they will love.

You know your kids. What would they like - to be in on the planning or a really great surprise?

 

[angelat]

We went in April of '08 and there were some rides that our DS10 at the time and DD8 at the time just wouldn't go on because they thought they'd be too scared. For different reasons, but still...So last summer we sat down at the computer and found videos on youtube of the specific rides they wouldn't go on and some we didn't get a chance to go on so they could see what they were missing.

that would be my suggestion. You don't even have to tell him WHY you are shoiwng him. Just be on the computer one day and say, "Hey Jared, come look at some of the videos I found. These are great!" If you do it early enough, maybe he won't put two and two together and you can still have a big surprise in Feb.

HTH! Good luck and have a great trip!!

 

[BeckityBobbidyBoo!]

The anticipation is half the fun! Tell him a week or two ahead of time (maybe by way of a treasure hunt). Then he can think about it, dream about it, talk about it with you and his friends.

 

[pkjne]

When we went back in Sept 2007 we took our kids on a treasure hunt they were 5,7 and 9 then and they thought that was great we did it two months before we left. It was nice.................
This time we surprised them and just told them one night during prayer. My husband was saying prayer and at the end he said and please Lord watch over us and give us patience with each other when we travel to Florida in February and my youngest son who is 8 could hardly contain himself until my husband got finished with prayer he was like we are going to DISNEY again ??????
We said yes he was like oh that is great that is just great and now every time we sit down to dinner we talk about our dining reservations things like that what we are going to do and see
It is so much fun.

I know that we thought about just telling them the morning we left. We were going to either tell them that morning or wait and pick them up from school have the van packed while they were in school then pick them up and just head out when they started asking where we were going just let them know that we were thinking we might go to DISNEY to see what their reactions were but we didn't do that I couldn't hold out that long

We wanted to tell them at Christmas too but I couldn't hold out so we told them before Christmas as I said through a prayer SMILE

Enjoy your trip

 

[dixietime]

We're heading to Disney in 3 weeks (YAY!!!) with our 5 year-old son. Right now, Jared doesn't know that we're going, he just knows that he's got a big surprise coming in February. We've enjoyed hearing him speculate on where we're going (to mars on a spaceship was the best) but I'm starting to wonder if surprising a 5 year-old is smart. We went when he was 2 and of course he remembers nothing. That trip was more for us than for him. This time around, I'm wondering if it would be smarter for me to prepare him for what he's going to see as I know that even the tamer attractions have some scary aspects. I'm rethinking the surprise part and leaning towards telling him so that we can watch some footage of the scarier stuff to get him prepared and used to the idea that it's not real and gauge his interest in it. I'm thinking he surprise will be when we're going and not where we're going.

Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to prepare your kid for the scary stuff? By scary, I mean rides like Pirates.

Thanks!

Kim

We surprised our two girls last year, just picked them up from school, ate lunch, and told them we were headed to Disney that afternoon. They were thrilled!

As far as preparing for Disney, it would be conflicting with the surprise thing, but I usually search on youtube for videos of the rides, and they can see the whole thing. Good luck on your trip.