When to tell the kids??

[ajo]

We didn't tell our kids and had Mickey call them the night before we left for Florida. The look on their faces was priceless. Our little one didn't quite understand what a cruise was, but he knew it was a trip and involved Disney so he was excited! During dinner on the last night of the cruise, he asked if he could trade Christmas to go on another cruise.

 

[AndreAggie]

Thanks for sharing all your stories...I love hearing them! I think we've narrowed it down to complete surprise, saying we're going with Daddy on a work trip since it's spring break and school's out. Or surprise him with a Mickey call a day or two before so we have a little time to "explore" the ship.

 

[MANDMDUO]

We had one of the DISigners here on the boards make up the graphics for us. The graphic had a picture of the ship with Mickey and said "Pack your bags (insert kids names here), your going on a Disney Cruise" Then at the bottom it had the cruise dates. We printed two copies, framed and wrapped them. Then we gave one to each kid along with a Castaway Cay Vinylmation (they collect them so I bought two on eBay to add to the surprise). We waited until all the other presents were done that morning and things had settled down. Then we brought them out as "overlooked" presents

We really confused them though because we had one cruise booked on the Wonder for January and then had a B2B booked on the Dream for April. So the kids had different cruise dates on their graphics. So it was a double surprise.

It was so fun watching their faces as the read them. It took a bit for it to sink in, but after that they were jumping up and down

What was the name of the DISigner that made the signs for you?

 

[jtba]

we'll be going to alaska this summer, and i'm not planning on telling them until the day before, when i'll arrange for mickey to call on the phone and do the big reveal.

otherwise i'll be hearing "when are we going???" all day long for months on end.

but more importantly, i don't want them to ask me at inappropriate places and times. for safety reasons i prefer as little people to know about this trip as possible beforehand. we live in a safe area, but there have been a number of break-ins in the neighborhood. so i just prefer to keep things to ourselves for the time being. no announcements on social media either.

to provide the end to this story, we managed to keep our cruise a total secret until an hour before we went to the cruise terminal, haha! i forgot to arrange for the mickey call, but told the kids we were going to vancouver to see the aquarium, which we visited the day before the cruise. then about an hour before we were to depart for the cruise terminal from the hotel, i told them. they were completely floored. have the whole thing on video.

 

[Mr. Green]

We told our kids (9 and 6) early on. The planning process with them has been so fun. They watch YouTube videos of the Fantasy and go to the Disney Cruise site to plan. My oldest has a full list of activities she wants to hit. Again, for us the planning has been so fun and it's great to see them excited as the day approaches.