Trying to surprise the kids with a Disney cruise...

[Yumi696]

So I have a quick question: around when does the mail come with the luggage tags and that little notebook/pamphlet thing?

Just so I know in advance so that I can get to the mail first and still be able to surprise them.

Also when would you surprise kids (more like teenagers but they're kids to me ) with a Disney cruise? A month before? A week before? I know some people like to involve children in the planning process, but they're never been interested in that so that's not a factor for us.

Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So I have a quick question: around when does the mail come with the luggage tags and that little notebook/pamphlet thing?

Just so I know in advance so that I can get to the mail first and still be able to surprise them.

Also when would you surprise kids (more like teenagers but they're kids to me ) with a Disney cruise? A month before? A week before? I know some people like to involve children in the planning process, but they're never been interested in that so that's not a factor for us.

Thanks!

The booklet comes about 30-45 days before the cruise. If you used a TA, it may go to them.

Here's what it looks like (about 5X7):

 

[TrySomethingNew]

You could call to get the address for that delivery changed possibly.

Good luck with the surprise! Our oldest was 13 when we surprised them with a cruise. She is not into the planning or packing so it worked for us. We flew to MCO, stayed at BW at WDW and during dinner the night before the surprise cruise, we gave them a short "book" we made telling them we would be going on a Disney Cruise the next day.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I can't keep secrets like that. But, as you've said they are teens (they're still our babies, even when they have their own babies, right?) you might want to give them enough notice to arrange their homework, if that's a factor. They probably want their friends to know they won't be texting/calling during that time. But that could be just a couple of days. Do you have to buy any clothes items for which you need their participation? You'll either have to come clean or have a good story (Dear Aunt Mae in Florida is getting married???) Also, you said your kids aren't interested in the planning, but would they want a say in the excursions or participate in creating door decor items? These will factor in when you will tell them.

Good luck and don't forget to post how you surprised them.

 

[Yumi696]

The booklet comes about 30-45 days before the cruise. If you used a TA, it may go to them.

Here's what it looks like (about 5X7):
View attachment 163053
View attachment 163054

You could call to get the address for that delivery changed possibly.

Good luck with the surprise! Our oldest was 13 when we surprised them with a cruise. She is not into the planning or packing so it worked for us. We flew to MCO, stayed at BW at WDW and during dinner the night before the surprise cruise, we gave them a short "book" we made telling them we would be going on a Disney Cruise the next day.

Thank you so much! I could probably get the documents sent to my cousin's house... or I'll start guarding the mailbox two months from the cruise

 

[Yumi696]

I can't keep secrets like that. But, as you've said they are teens (they're still our babies, even when they have their own babies, right?) you might want to give them enough notice to arrange their homework, if that's a factor. They probably want their friends to know they won't be texting/calling during that time. But that could be just a couple of days. Do you have to buy any clothes items for which you need their participation? You'll either have to come clean or have a good story (Dear Aunt Mae in Florida is getting married???) Also, you said your kids aren't interested in the planning, but would they want a say in the excursions or participate in creating door decor items? These will factor in when you will tell them.

Good luck and don't forget to post how you surprised them.

It's the summer and they don't have homework... we're going at the end of August.

I think we're gonna tell them that we're driving to North Carolina for a beach vacation.

I wish they were interested in planning or decorating, but they're really not. So we can get away with surprising them. We're also tentatively planning on connecting our cruise to a Universal trip! We haven't been to the other side of the WWoHP because it wasn't built yet the last time we went to Universal. I'm so excited.

 

[My2litteprincesses]

We got ours today for our 5/28 sailing!

 

[MomtoBJSF]

You can have the post office hold your mail and go pick it up directly , if you know when it's coming that is. Our first cruise was 2 years ago, we haven't taken one since. booked a 7 day fantasy cruise our kids have no idea, ages 9,7, and 6. They know we are going to stay at Disney for 6 days prior to the cruise, I have cruise shirts made for them, plan on having them wear it the we are checking out, not sure they will catch on or not, but that will be how we surprise them.

For the first cruise we just drove to PC and said we were going to take a tour of the ship, lol, they figured it out when we got there and screamed.

 

[squirk]

We once did a "Land & Sea" trip, but only told our kids about the "Land" part. As such, they were not suspicious when they saw us packing, boarding the pets, etc.

We did not tell them about the "Sea" part until we left WDW and stopped for breakfast in Cocoa Beach. Fortunately, they weren't paying attention to the road signs as we were driving there.

 

[trayecejay]

We surprised our three in December with their first Disney cruise. We didn't reveal it until we were at the Miami airport. They thought we were traveling with DH for work. It was a priceless moment. My kids are planners and I thought I would really be bummed not being able to talk to them about it for a year, but it ended up being something special for DH and I to talk about and plan for in secret. Our documents went to the TA. She handed them off to me at church instead of mailing them. Watching the mailbox was way to stressful for me. Good luck!

 

[xtsayshi]

We're surprising our kids too. We're playing it off as a beach vacation. The day we board the Dream we're going to say we are going to check out a new beach but we have to take a boat ride to get to it. They're 8 and 9. The excitement is killing me!! Only a month left of waiting though.

 

[Mrs Green]

We are surprising ours too. We board the ship on my daughter's 8th birthday. I think our cover story will be that we are going to vacation in Vancouver and on the morning of the cruise I plan to say that we need to change hotels. My kids are little (7 and 2) so they don't really care about planning or packing. It is our very first cruise and my daughter has frequently said "I want to go on a disney cruise" so I am hoping that she will love getting this as a birthday surprise! Keeping this a surprise has the added benefit of not hearing her ask a thousand times per day when we are going to leave

 

[Drusilla99]

Are your teens boys or girls? I have 2 teens also, both girls, and one wouldn't care, but the other would freak if she couldn't pack her own clothes for a cruise. Definitely a different wardrobe than just a beach trip. I don't know his boys would be, but something to think about.

 

[Floridatinaherb]

Are your teens boys or girls? I have 2 teens also, both girls, and one wouldn't care, but the other would freak if she couldn't pack her own clothes for a cruise. Definitely a different wardrobe than just a beach trip. I don't know his boys would be, but something to think about.

That is my dilemma as well. DD will be 15 and DS will be 12 when we cruise next year. I had wanted to wait until we started driving to PC to tell them, but I know DD will freak out if she doesn't have advance wardrobe notification. Still trying to figure out how and when to drop the news on them!

 

[Partyof4LA]

My oldest brings in the mail every day but doesn't really look at what's in it aside from just checking if anything is addressed to him. He brought in that envelope along with several other mailings from DCL and our TA without even noticing.
We surprised them with the trip a couple weeks out. I really wanted to tell them we were just taking a beach trip and surprise them as we drove up to the ship, but DS developed a sudden interest in all things Titanic and was reading lots of books about it about a month out. He told us no way was he ever getting on a big boat in the ocean lol. We told him earlier than planned so he had time to process it and ask questions. We had a box with snorkel masks and mouthpieces, their Mickey/Minnie ear hats, bathing suits, and put the DCL notebook thing at the bottom of the box. I addressed the box to them and had a neighbor come drop it off and ring the doorbell.

 

[mdgineok]

We once did a "Land & Sea" trip, but only told our kids about the "Land" part. As such, they were not suspicious when they saw us packing, boarding the pets, etc.

We did not tell them about the "Sea" part until we left WDW and stopped for breakfast in Cocoa Beach. Fortunately, they weren't paying attention to the road signs as we were driving there.

We are doing something similar. We are staying onsite at WDW before (also a surprise) and when we leave we will tell them we are going to go to the beach for the day.

Mark in MN

 

[Drusilla99]

We did a land & sea surprise a couple of years ago, but because of the packing dilemma, we gave them a couple months notice. We gave them the surprise at Christmas for a spring break trip, that way they could still pack themselves and be in on deciding excursions. First they opened a WDW ornament with the year on it & they went nuts. Second gift was a ship replica...totally crazy! That's back when you could get the replicas without being on the ship. A dcl photo album, pin, or anything along those lines would work. Any holidays coming up before the trip?

 

[MrsVandDisney]

My kids are quite a bit younger but we surprised them last May. We told them we were going to skip school to go and see a movie. We had breakfast and then at 9am., the Mickey call came and we were in the car by 9:15 driving to the airport (bags were pre-packed and waiting in the basement out of sight). We got the whole thing on video and it was an amazing surprise. We'll likely be doing something similar for cruise #2.

 

[diznymom]

Our first cruise was several days at WDW, then the cruise. DS knew about the WDW part. He found out about the cruise part when we arrived at PC.
Mail.......I'm the only one that checks the mail. Also, I get a bit of advertising mail from Disney.

If you are going to Universal and a cruise, maybe tell the kids about Universal, but not the cruise. I definitely would no tell them we were going somewhere we weren't, but maybe something very vague. Some kids are very sensitive about people, esp. parents, lying to them. I know mine is.

 

[MaineChapmans]

We love to do surprise vacations...one fun one was last year was when we were at SFO, we did a surprise "oops", we're flying to Hawaii, not Los Angeles.

However, DH had a valid point on why we shouldn't this time:

We're doing the Mediterranean, and it's our girls' first time to Europe. I'm half Italian and have been to Italy many times, and DH has been once. He'd like for the girls to learn about where we're going before we get there.

Pompeii, Rome, Florence... There's a lot to learn about.

The youngest and I aren't going to Rome (I'm not interested, and youngest always wants to stay on the ship so I'm going to indulge her). DH isn't going to Florence because he'll hang on the ship with his Mom, but I am definitely going on the excursion into Florence to show the kids where I went to school and some of my favorite places.

Anyway, so yeah, no surprises this time. We do love them though. Someday we'll do a "Disney Surprise" but it'll be more like a basic Bahamas cruise.

Ciao!