To tell or not to tell?

[goinback]

We are going to Disney's Vero Beach Resort in Sept. We have not told our kids because we wanted to be sure it would work out first. Now we are thinking about surprising them the morning we leave and not telling them till we land in Orlando. But on the other hand, the anticipation is fun too. What do you think we should do?

 

[MeLaNie9]

How old are your kids? Our oldest is still young enough that when we tell him we are going to WDW he forgets in a few days or he will ask "are we going tomorrow?" - no real concept of time yet! He is also young enough that we "prepare" him for the trips by watching Disney movies, the Disney trip planning video, and our movies from our other trips and we discuss what things he might want to do on our next trip. I think that is so much fun! However, for older kids, the wait until going may seem like forever - it might be cool to be surprised!

 

[mommytobug]

We are going in November and we are not telling our dd who is 8 (turning 9 on the trip). We will not tell her until we get to the airport or maybe even until we land. She is saving her money for a trip for next year LOL. She is going to be so happy!

 

[MissMet]

I wouldn't keep them totally in the dark. As a kid if I heard our plane was landing in Orlando or if it landed in MCO I would automatically think WDW. You don't want them to end up disappointed, unless you're planning to go to WDW from there.

I would not tell them anything, then that morning when you wake them up or something, tell them everything. Then no higher expectations & the anticipation during the car &/or plane ride would still be there. The best of both.

 

[goinback]

I wouldn't keep them totally in the dark. As a kid if I heard our plane was landing in Orlando or if it landed in MCO I would automatically think WDW. You don't want them to end up disappointed, unless you're planning to go to WDW from there.

I would not tell them anything, then that morning when you wake them up or something, tell them everything. Then no higher expectations & the anticipation during the car &/or plane ride would still be there. The best of both.

I didn't think that they might think we were going to WDW! I'm glad you mentioned that!

 

[goinback]

How old are your kids? Our oldest is still young enough that when we tell him we are going to WDW he forgets in a few days or he will ask "are we going tomorrow?" - no real concept of time yet! He is also young enough that we "prepare" him for the trips by watching Disney movies, the Disney trip planning video, and our movies from our other trips and we discuss what things he might want to do on our next trip. I think that is so much fun! However, for older kids, the wait until going may seem like forever - it might be cool to be surprised!

My kids are 13, 9 & 7. As far as planning goes, I don't think there is much to plan for Vero. The wait seems like forever to me right now, I can't imagine how they would feel if they knew now

 

[KimK2006]

Your kids will LOVE Vero! (So will you!)

 

[MissMet]

I didn't think that they might think we were going to WDW! I'm glad you mentioned that!

As a kid whenever we were in MCO, I immediately thought WDW. Add on that as a kid I wouldn't realize that you would fly to MCO to go to Vero. So that's why I thought of it.

I gotta tell you, I would have LOVED to be woken up one morning & my mom say, "Pack your bags we're going to Vero Beach". I would have remembered that morning forever.

 

[goinback]

We are going in November and we are not telling our dd who is 8 (turning 9 on the trip). We will not tell her until we get to the airport or maybe even until we land. She is saving her money for a trip for next year LOL. She is going to be so happy!

Are you going to WDW or Vero?

 

[JanB]

I gotta tell you, I would have LOVED to be woken up one morning & my mom say, "Pack your bags we're going to Vero Beach". I would have remembered that morning forever. [/QUOTE]

That is exactly what I would do. Then as the day progresses, you can fill them in on more of the details, including "We're flying to Orlando, where we'll get our car to drive to Vero."

You might want to give thought to how well this would go over with your 13-yr-old. Would he/she be upset that he/she didn't have enough time to get his or her own belongings ready for the trip? If so, you could consider letting him/her in on the secret a couple of weeks ahead.

 

[tweedlemom]

My husband's cousin did something similar with her two school age kids. She actually sent them to school, had their bags secretly packed, then midday, surprisingly picked them up at school. Once they were in the car, she told them they were going to Disney World and they were thrilled. Problem is, now if she ever picks them up from school for the dentist, doctor, they think they're really going to Disney and are disappointed when they're not! She tried to get us to do the whole SECRET TRIP thing, but it's just not us. Our kids NEED the planning; they love the anticipation and the countdown. If your kids won't mind missing out on that, then go for it!

 

[PA Princess]

We did the whole suprise thing when our two oldest were turning 6 and 7. We drove to visit relatives in SC, and after that visit we told them we were headed to visit some "friends." As we drove through the WDW gate thingies (on the highway into WDW) they figured out where we were.

I have to say that it was okay. The kids were surprised...in fact shocked, so shocked that it took them some time to really even grasp what and where. It was a great trip overall (one of our tops), but I would not do the whole surprise thing again.

When we took our dd for her birthday trip, we had her in on it from the start and she was part of the planning. That worked some much better for her temperment especially.

For our family, the anticipation of the WDW or the beach or any other vacation is really almost as much fun as the trip, so surprises are just not as much fun as we imagined they would be. Now we will often include a surprise in the trip (Wishes cruise, BBB, etc) but we prefer to let all know ahead about our trips.

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

Well, on our last trip (also our first), we planned with the girls, and it was soooo much fun talking about what we were going to do and watching Disney dvds and buying Disney clothes, etc. The next trip we take (sometime in the future), we'll probably have to keep it a secret b/c some family members invited themselves along last time. The trip wasn't a disaster (there were a few unmagical moments), but we really want to go by ourselves next time. From things they've said, we're pretty sure they're going to try to hitchkike our next trip, so that means keeping it a secret. We'll see how it goes!

 

[goinback]

Well, on our last trip (also our first), we planned with the girls, and it was soooo much fun talking about what we were going to do and watching Disney dvds and buying Disney clothes, etc. The next trip we take (sometime in the future), we'll probably have to keep it a secret b/c some family members invited themselves along last time. The trip wasn't a disaster (there were a few unmagical moments), but we really want to go by ourselves next time. From things they've said, we're pretty sure they're going to try to hitchkike our next trip, so that means keeping it a secret. We'll see how it goes!

Yipes! I would keep it a secret if I were you too!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cruz91]

But last trip - we did the surprise for the kids. We had an early flight (8:00 a.m. or so - which means we had to wake them up around 6:00 to get to the airport in time). It turns out that our first three days or so were not very good. The kids were really cranky and 'challenging'. I'm not sure if it was getting woken up that early and goofed up their sleep, or the fact that we surprised them and it didn't settle in where we were going.

From now on - we'll tell them well in advance. That has other benefits. Now we talk about it all the time and it's almost like we're 'adding on' to our vacation because we so enjoy talking about it. Also, it helps get them to understand money. Now, when they get money from tooth fairy or something and they want a toy, we tell them they can go spend their money on something here, or save it for WDW and buy something there. It's a nice little life lesson learning tool.

 

[dana1003]

im sooo bad at keeping something a surprise ...a friend of mine told her son and daughter they were all going on a business trip to ohio..when they got to the airport the kids asked them why it said "orlando" up on the gate where they were sitting- she told them it was probably for another flight..when they got on board my girlfriend pulled the flight attendant aside and asked her to please hand her kids some disney money(which she had from a previous trip) and to tell them that they were going to need this were they were going..she said when they openend the envelope and saw the $ her son screamed and her daughter started crying( they were 6 and 8) then the captain made a special announcement and told the kids they were turning the plane around around and flying to disney world!!! i cried when she told me the story..i still do.

 

[topaz_onyx]

Well your 13 yr old might not be very pleased because;
She might have some major social event planned
If you pack her bag, you might not put in the things she wants
She may also not have very much money - i like to take a lot of money on vacation

 

[solferino]

We are going in November and we are not telling our dd who is 8 (turning 9 on the trip). We will not tell her until we get to the airport or maybe even until we land. She is saving her money for a trip for next year LOL. She is going to be so happy!

Wow, that's impressive! Our DD also turns 9 on our trip. I'm not sure when we're going to tell her. The first time was on the way to the airport. The 2nd time was a week before. Maybe this time it'll be a month.

 

[goinback]

Well your 13 yr old might not be very pleased because;
She might have some major social event planned
If you pack her bag, you might not put in the things she wants
She may also not have very much money - i like to take a lot of money on vacation

That is a very good point!!!!!!!

 

[JenEeyore]

We've done it both ways with DS. He has been gong to WDW since he was a baby and the younger trips were no prob because he didn't get it at all. I think once we woke him up the morning of the trip and told him it was "our turn" for the airplane - that was always our cover when he would be asking when we were going, that it wasn't "our turn" for the plane - we had to wait. The upside was there wasn't weeks of countdown (tried that once, not good) and we had pre-packed him etc. The downside is that when we returned he thought we would go at a moment's notice again, so constantly had "packed" his stuff in suitcases, bags, etc etc etc "just in case" we would go.

I think last time we told him like the day before, and that worked well because he could pick out a few special things to take, but he didn't have time to be in the "is it today" mode for a long time.

I agree with others though that the older ones may need a bit more lead time to mentally get into the groove of the trip, or cancel existing plans etc. I would personally hold off until closer to the trip though to tell so the wait isn't enormously long. However you do it - have FUN!!! Vero is wonderfully relaxing!