When to tell the kids?

[pad406]

Planning our first visit over Christmas and NY this year. I am loving all the planning, though the amount of resorts, dining options and everything else is daunting. I'd like the kids (DD 8, DS6) to share but DW thinks it's too far out for them. Any opinions, current plan is to tell them in Early Dec, 1st if I have my way

 

[casjen]

It wasn't our first trip, but my boys knew a good 6 months before we were going b/c it was a big family trip. They didn't help planning and lost track of how long it would be until the trip.

We also waited until a month before to tell and that was fun. But still seemed kind of long.

This time we're telling them 2 weeks before. We were going to wait until 2 days before but couldn't pass up April Fool's Day to trick them.

 

[LWatson]

We have told them the past 2 times as soon as we planned it. This time though we are holding out till the morning of (which is really hard for me). My 4yr old helped us pick out dining locations last time, but he was going off of a picture too not the actual menu.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

I think your plan (Dec. 1) sounds good. For a first trip, I would want to give kids that age some time to look at the attractions and get excited. My kids have all loved being involved in the planning with me.

This time, we are keeping it a surprise....but they are still giving me input for the trip they expect to happen in 2 years! We're going to tell them a week ahead of time. As much as I'd love to tell them the morning of, we have to drive our dogs to a relative's house, so they need a little notice. I'm making them shirts that say "Surprise, we're going to Disney World". It will be a fun surprise (although it's killing me to keep quiet), and they'll have a week to get really excited and pack, etc.

Have fun planning!

 

[Finniecat]

We have our trip planned, booked and paid for - we just need to pack and go at the end of June - however we had planned on not telling the kids until the morning we wake them up to go to the Park.

We are flying to Orlando but since we are there for 2 weeks we will be in town for a few days before we go to a park. I cannot wait to see thier faces when we get on the bus to go to the park. It will be priceless. they are 8 and 5.

 

[pad406]

Casjen you are soooo BAD, imagine that, April fools day. Mickeyherewecome, love the T shirt idea, can I steal it?

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Casjen you are soooo BAD, imagine that, April fools day. Mickeyherewecome, love the T shirt idea, can I steal it?

If you head down to the DISigns boards, you'll find lots of great t-shirt surprise ideas to use. I give all credit to those creative DISigners!

 

[Serling126]

If things had gone as planned, I would not have told my girls until about a month before our departure... however, we were over at my grandma's (who we are going with) a while back and she asked the girls if they were ready for Disney World!! Oops! I forgot to tell her that I was waiting to break the news... oh well!

It's worked out ok though... Now I can sit and read my Unofficial Guide & work on planning while they are in the room, I don't have to worry about keeping the secret. However, my younger one keeps asking "Are we going to Disney World today??" LOL!

 

[pad406]

So Casjen, did you do the April Fool's thing???