When and how to tell the kids

[ANNFMUR]

we are going to in about 2 weeks. The kids think we are saving to hopefully go in October. I am dying to tell them but am not sure if I should. The anticipation could be fun. The are 9, 5, and 2. Any ideas?

 

[cara loves the poly]

My 8 year old daughter just said to wait until the day you leave to surprise them!

 

[BuzzNutt]

I told my son as I book the trip. He helps me plan and makes his requests. We borrowed an idea for a countdown and we are still buying the jelly beans as the trip is far off for us. I would so tell them now and have fun planning and talking about the vacation together because then it really is a family trip. That's my opinion, have a great time either way!!

 

[A M&Asmom]

Last time we went (we only had one child at the time and she was 9) We told her we were going to South Dakota for vacation....loaded up in the car...drove to the airport parking and the little bus came to pick us up to take us to the airport...we told her we decided to take a bus instead....they drop us off at the terminal and we told her we decided to fly instead (and she never questioned any of this!). By the time we landed in Orlando...she still had no idea until we asked her if she knew where she was. She looked around (it was dark at the time) and saw the palm trees and just asked if they had palm trees in SD? We told her no...but look at the licence plates on all of the cars...she about freaked! She couldn't believe we kept it a secret from her the whole time. Well this time we have 3 children we are taking. So we told the oldest dd now 14...and the 5 & 2 1/2 year old just don't seem to get it that we are actually going. Everytime they see a commercial for WDW they just say they want to go there sometime. I even have the planning DVD for them to watch and showed them where we were staying...still doesn't sink in...oh well...more fun when we get there then! I can't wait till my youngest DD (2 1/2) sees the princesses and DS (5) sees Buzz and all his favorite characters!

 

[MomofCKJ]

We have our trip booked for December and it is the first time for our 3 kids ages 9, 7 and 4. They have wanted to go for so long. We are not telling them till the night before. My plan is to wrap up either some sort of Disney hats or shirts or autograph books and tell them they can each open one Christmas present early (we leave 12/15) since it is something they will have more fun with before Christmas. They are going to go through the roof!!

I think that taking part in the planning can also be a ton of fun. For us we just wanted their first trip to be a suprise and since we booked so far in advance I didn't want to do the "When are we going again?" for 10 months!

We talk about "Someday when we go to Disney" all the time and I ordered the planning dvd so we can watch that and they can plan their "dream" trip without realizing it is really going to happen this year!

Allyson

 

[checkwriter]

Thought about not telling our kids, but knew we couldn't keep the secret. Plus, half the fun is the anticipation and planning. So we've told them we're going, but have built in some smaller surprises. Like: we're flying (they think we're driving for 20 hours straight through). Their "favorite aunt" is meeting us at the airport and is coming with us (they asked her to come but she said she "has to work"). We're staying on-site (I told them we're off-site, and our first night is off-site, but then we'll head in to the park in the am and check in to the Poly).

Somehow our 7-year-old thinks that staying off-site means we'll have to climb a fence to get in the park every morning. Or so he told one of our friends. So I guess that will be another surprise, at least for him. No fence-climbing. We're going legit!

 

[hollyb]

We told our two that we are going next year. They are 5 and 8. We started to save money for our trip. Our 8 year would freak if we just sprung this on him at the last minute. He needs to know whats going on in his life. We however are not talking about it 24/7 to much overload for them. About 1 month before we go we will start really getting them into it.

 

[dsnymomof4]

Since you've kept it a secret this long, I would tell them the night before. Maybe let them open a present of box with Disney stuff in it. I would love do this for my children - what a wonderful surprise that would be!

 

[justus3]

I am going with 2 different families. We have decided to surprise the kids 3 in all. We are going to let them play the Disney Scene It game. Whoever wins the game will recieve and envolope saying somthing like, Thanks for playing the game you and the other players are going to WDW on so and so date. Still working on the wording but something like that. We will let them play about a week or so before the trip. My son knows I am planning, very nosy kid, but he doesn't know when.

 

[mouseplanner]

To me, half the fun of vacationing is in the planning and the anticipation. Go ahead and let them know!! It will still be a surprise, just an earlier surprise!

 

[NatalieO]

I was gonna try to keep it a secret from my kids ages 5,7, and 8 But being a single parent the planning for this I really needed their inputs. The funny thing is for about a month while I did all the adult planning (airfare, tickets,hotel etc...) I didn't tell them, but coming home one day with a measuring tape and having them line up against the wall several times with flip-flops, sandals and sneakers, they were getting suspicious. Then shopping for summer clothes in the middle of the winter in Nebraska was a dead giveaway my middle daughter was like mom your killing us, whats up your sleeve so I told them and I am happy I did cause they each have their own little things they want to do. Its fun. My suprises will be some character meals and little treats like that.

 

[swillis]

I was gonna try to keep it a secret from my kids ages 5,7, and 8 But being a single parent the planning for this I really needed their inputs. The funny thing is for about a month while I did all the adult planning (airfare, tickets,hotel etc...) I didn't tell them, but coming home one day with a measuring tape and having them line up against the wall several times with flip-flops, sandals and sneakers, they were getting suspicious. Then shopping for summer clothes in the middle of the winter in Nebraska was a dead giveaway my middle daughter was like mom your killing us, whats up your sleeve so I told them and I am happy I did cause they each have their own little things they want to do. Its fun. My suprises will be some character meals and little treats like that.

Ok Natalie, having been a single mom for several years, your post actually brought tears to my eyes! I have to give you tremendous credit for being able to give your kids this wonderful gift. They will remember it forever! ANd someday, when they have families of their own, and they are trying to find a way to afford a Disney vacation (as we all do!) they will look back on this trip and just be in total awe of you. That you did it. All by yourself!!

 

[cfrith]

We are sort of surprising our 4 and 7 year olds. They think we will probably go this summer, but really we're going the end of April. We'll wake them up that morning and tell them (we have to get up at 4am!). That way they won't be too excited to sleep the night before! I have special Disney gift bags made that we'll give them too. This way they've been able to help plan and get excited about it, but it will happen way before they expect!

 

[NatalieO]

Thank you so much swillis for those encouraging words, being a new single parent (about a year now). I am trying to keep things as normal for the kids as possible. Its kinda sad to say that it makes the kids grow up way sooner than they need to since most of our decisions are team efforts now. But I know that they will appreciated the hard work. When we go to Disney I will let them take the lead and go with the flow so we can all enjoy ourselves. (with some guidelines ) Since being a single parent my motto has been "obstacles are only what you see, when you take your eyes off the goal." Some of those obstacles I have to stand on my tip toes to see the goal but I know its there.

 

[WDWCPAlumni]

Well we have gone a few times with our kids. The last time they were 4 and almost 2. My 2 yo had no idea what was going on but he knew he should be excited because his brother was very excited. The two of them woke up at 3am the day we left. It made for a very very long and tired day!! We wont make that mistake again. We are planning a trip in October, and they boys know we are going in October. But they have no idea what day. This way they can plan a bit, but we try to not over do the discussion because everyone can get burned out with all the disney talk. Anyway, we will wake them up the day we leave for a very early flight and they can wear a new disney outfit. On the 3 hour plane trip they will get their disney surprises so they have something to do on our wait. Hopefully this works better for us.
I kind of think whatever you do, you tell them you dont tell them.....you will wonder if you should have done it the other way. Just pick what you think your heart says(tell them) and go with it!!!!

 

[NatalieO]

WDWCPAlumni, our flight leaves Omaha at 6am so we will be doing the early morning thing as well, my kids never have been on an airplane before. We arrive at Orlando at noon, like you said I can imagine this will be a long day since they will have to wake up around 4am. What did you do when you got there? Any suggestions?

 

[Lucky'sMom]

On one of our trips when my kids were 7, 5 and 3, we told them that Daddy was going to a conference, and that the kids and I were going to grandma's house. We told them we were dropping Daddy off at the airport, and then driving to Grandma's. We brought them into the airport (did curbside check-in) to say good-bye to Daddy. Then we got out the video camera...and they just couldn't imagine what was going on! I videotaped their faces while I was telling them that we were all actually going to WDW. They looked shocked at first, then disbelief, then ecstatic! It was great, and I will always be so glad to have this on video.

 

[Tarzan]

Somehow our 7-year-old thinks that staying off-site means we'll have to climb a fence to get in the park every morning. Or so he told one of our friends. So I guess that will be another surprise, at least for him. No fence-climbing. We're going legit!

This really made me laugh. That is so cute!

We are surprising our children in 5 weeks. We have asked them if they would ever like to be surprised and they said they would. We talk about WDW all the time so when I ask them questions they don't get suspicious. They think that we are not going back until next year and my DD-7 is especially keen to return asap. Can't wait to see how they react to the surprise.

 

[new_mouser]

I told DD we were going, but gave her the date that's a week later. That way she still gets to help plan, but will be surprised when she wakes up one morning and finds out she's going. Our trip is still several months away, and she's already packing - so I'll know she'll be ready when the time comes.