WANTED: Ideas For A Fun/Clever Way To Tell The Kids They Are Going To Disneyland!

[deejdigsdis]

I am so excited to introduce my kids to "the magic" later this year! They are ages 3, 6, and 9. This will be their first trip and I wanted to break the news to them in a FUN way, rather than a "We're going to Disneyland. Please pass the broccoli..." sort of way.

A little background on their concept of Disneyland... My oldest 2 have watched home movies of me there with my family in the late 80s/early 90s. They have also watched (many times) an old video from 1989 called "A Day at Disneyland." It's only 30 minutes long, and shows snippets of the different characters going on the different rides. Goofy rides BTMR and Jungle Cruise, Smee and Hook ride POTC, Alice rides the Teacups, etc. At the end it shows a bit of the Main Street Electrical Parade and the fireworks. So, they are pretty much familiar with just the old school stuff. (I guess I am too, for that matter!) My kids actually used to sit in boxes in front of the TV and watch this video over and over, pretending they were riding the rides with the characters! Cute, but at the same time I wondered if this was as close as they were going to get to my very favorite place.

So...any ideas out there for how I should tell them? By the way, they are all boys, so no princess-related suggestions please.

Thanks!

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

Why not have a family game of Monopoly, but replace some of their money with Disney Dollars? So, when they go to set up the game, they look at the money?

Or, you could do a scavenger hunt with Disney stuff - leading to a book about Disneyland, or something with the name on it. Good Luck! How fun is that going to be? I hope that whatever you do, you take pictures!

 

[deejdigsdis]

Love those ideas Shelby! Yes, pictures are a must... my mom gets teary thinking about the kids finally getting to go and wants to see pictures of the big announcement since she isn't close by.

 

[kari12177]

Get a box and fill it with Mickey balloons and have a gold envelope in with a card saying they are going to DL

 

[jory29]

I'd order a puzzle from artscow.com where you [first pre-design a photo of your family, and photoshop the Disneyland castle in the background, or whatever ride, etc. you think they'd like... I'd also have the words 'We're going to Disneyland!' on the puzzle with the date shown, etc.] Let me know if you need help making the picture to submit to artscow to create a puzzle. If you go along with that idea, of course.


Then, tell the kids you need help doing a puzzle. Watch their faces as they figure it all out!!

 

[jacs1234]

What we are going to do is , sit around the dining room table and act like we are discussing our " holiday at the beach " with our 9 , 7 , 5 and 3 year olds .
JUST THEN ! There is a knock on the door and in comes a gift wrapped box with a " special invitation " from Mickey and Minnie begging the kids to come to DL
We will put our Disney luggage tags and park hoppers in there to add to the excitement

 

[rune_74]

I have a family of 9 4 and 3. I'm not going to tell them anything. I plan on(this may work) driving up to the park after landing at the airport and getting the rental. I'm just going to point out the window.

I will tell them we are flying to see an old friend, which mickey most definately is.

 

[deejdigsdis]

I am loving ALL of these ideas! Keep 'em coming! I'm going to have to plan another fun trip so I can use more than one, or incorporate ideas to make other announcements.

The thing that got the ball rolling was when my 6 year old saw a commercial on TV where a little boy is sitting at his desk at school and opens an envelope with his name on it. Out flies a Mickey balloon. They were advertising getting in free on your birthday. My son said, "Mom...you can get in to Disneyland for 3 days free on your birthday! You have to take us while we are young so we will enjoy it." (Not sure where he got "3 days" -- don't we wish! So that's what got me thinking about how we need to make this work and not put it off anymore. Other stuff will ALWAYS come up, to take away that $$$ you have put away for your trip. But the kids are only young for so long... I've been trying hard to cut corners wherever I could so we can do this. SO EXCITED!

 

[alvernon90]

First, make an excuse for your one-armed friend to take a car trip with you. Then pile all the kids into the car and drive down the road. Just as you are about to pass a road sign, have your friend stick out his prosthetic arm out the window to hit the sign, ripping the arm clean off. As the kids are screaming and yelling, have your friend turn around to the back seat and say, "That's why you should keep your hands and arms inside the ride vehicle at all times when you're at Disneyland!"

</Arrested Development>

 

[JustAKid]

I'd order a puzzle from artscow.com where you [first pre-design a photo of your family, and photoshop the Disneyland castle in the background, or whatever ride, etc. you think they'd like... I'd also have the words 'We're going to Disneyland!' on the puzzle with the date shown, etc.] Let me know if you need help making the picture to submit to artscow to create a puzzle. If you go along with that idea, of course.


Then, tell the kids you need help doing a puzzle. Watch their faces as they figure it all out!!

I like to draw the suspense out, you think you know what's coming, you HOPE it's coming....YES! I KNEW IT!! So taking from the above wonderful idea, and adding a few other elements, I would have the kids go on a treasure hunt (POTC!) looking for a certain color of balloon (a color for each child as a way for the parents to remember the cute story of why they decided to do a big reveal in the first place) and tied to that is a puzzle piece, on the back of which is the clue for the next balloon. Their final puzzle piece can be hidden in their favorite Disney move, or attatched to it? Okay, this may be a bit too much but it was fun thinking about it !

 

[JustAKid]

First, make an excuse for your one-armed friend to take a car trip with you. Then pile all the kids into the car and drive down the road. Just as you are about to pass a road sign, have your friend stick out his prosthetic arm out the window to hit the sign, ripping the arm clean off. As the kids are screaming and yelling, have your friend turn around to the back seat and say, "That's why you should keep your hands and arms inside the ride vehicle at all times when you're at Disneyland!"

</Arrested Development>

This is SO random, and SO inappropriate that I can't help but die of laughter. Tears. Lots of tears. Can't see through them...

 

[D. Crockett]

If there could be a way to pack their luggage without them knowing, and have all their bags hidden in the trunk of the car. On whatever day you leave to go to the airport, make it appear as if you're all just going out to "run some errands".

When you pull into the airport parking lot, they will start to get suspicious that this isn't a typical "errand". Just play it off as you're needing to stop and "check something".

Park the car. Before getting out, tell the kids you need to check something. Go to trunk of car. Before opening trunk (with kids standing right there, of course), ask in a very serious/concerned manner.
"I have a question, and I need the honest truth".

This will create suspense.

Open trunk to expose all the packed luggage. "Do you think this will be enough stuff to get us to Disneyland? 'Cause that's where we're going."


Oh, and alvernon90...almost made me spew Coke Zero out one nostril. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[darph nader]

Do like my wife and I did years ago. Tell the kids you're fishing and head the wrong direction. (We gave our kids the tickets for Disneyland,they freaked. Except my youngest son,,,he wanted to go fishing)

 

[khook82]

One of these is sort of what my parents did for us when we were kids. It was the most amazing surprise. We drove to Vancouver and were told that we were visiting our grandparents. Then they had all us kids gather for a picture (my cousins were with us). And we were like oh mom just take it. She said I need you guys to smile. ... Would you smile if you knew we were going to Disneyland and then pulled out the tickets.

We then flew out in 3 hours. It was great because we had no time to hype Disneyland up so it was pure excitement.

Good luck and let us know how you tell them.

 

[alvernon90]

This is SO random, and SO inappropriate that I can't help but die of laughter. Tears. Lots of tears. Can't see through them...

Oh, and alvernon90...almost made me spew Coke Zero out one nostril. Thanks for the laugh.

I can't take credit for that gag, it comes from the dearly missed TV show Arrested Development. The father in that family repeatedly asked a one-armed employee to engage in arm-ripped-off events to teach his kids lessons. The various "lessons" and the ongoing trauma they caused well into adulthood were a running gag through three seasons of the show.

We then flew out in 3 hours. It was great because we had no time to hype Disneyland up so it was pure excitement.

I totally agree with this. Though it was a different theme park, when I was a kid the most fun I ever had was when I was surprised to be pulling into the Six Flags parking lot. As an adult the planning and anticipation can be fun, but having no time to think (and raise hopes that are likely to be disappointed) can really make a trip like that fun. I would vote for telling them at the last possible minute.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Yes, Alvernon90 brought out the "loud snort laugh" in me as well.

OK...I'm torn. While the "last minute surprise" sounds like a lot of fun, I don't think that I can hold out that long. And remembering my experiences from childhood...we had one DL trip that was a surprise. We knew about the rest of them a few months in advance. And I have to say, I really preferred the excitement of looking forward to it. {We would actually sit around and plan on who would ride with who for each ride. }

And I don't think we can use the excuse "we need to go run errands." Last spring we were visiting Grandma (6 hours away) and we told the kids "we need to go run errands." They were not happy about leaving cousins, etc. to go run errands. We left Grandma's and pulled into a park about 3 minutes down the road, where we "happened" to run into the 3 best friends of our 3 kids who had moved far, far away 7 months earlier. That was a fun moment. My oldest actually said, "Mom...can you tell us we are going to run errands again and then take us to the park and we'll be surprised that we're meeting our friends..." So I think that one's out.

Any more ideas?? I love this!

 

[shellncesar]

As part of the celebrations promotion, the Disneyland Resort website has a link where you can customize a video. You just put in your name and why you are visiting and they put it in a premade video. It is really cool!

Here is the link:
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/index?name=DisneyPersonalizedVideoPage

Check it out. You could tell the kids someone sent you a special message for them!!!

 

[Maddle]

You could do a take-off of the commercial that your son noticed - How about a helium balloon (or three) in a box? He lifts off the cover, and the balloon lifts out on its own. For a balloon weight you could use a key chain or luggage tag or something themed with the trip information on it.

Maddle

 

[disneymama83]

You could do a take-off of the commercial that your son noticed - How about a helium balloon (or three) in a box? He lifts off the cover, and the balloon lifts out on its own. For a balloon weight you could use a key chain or luggage tag or something themed with the trip information on it.

Maddle

This is a great idea

 

[hurleysweety]

I personally don't have an idea - but if you search on youtube, there are so many cute surprises! Kids of all ages, families of all sizes, different scenarios being told in creative ways that their going to Disney! Some bring tears to my eyes when the kids get all excited. I ecspecially love any of the ones where the kids are confused at first and then one kid gets it and their jaw just drops as they realize "We're going to Disneyland (or World in some cases!)

I have to admit, I'll watch these when I'm bored and feeling sad about Disney - it makes me happy to think of all the families and kids that arrive every day!