When to tell them

[BUCKEYE MICKEY]

Ok we leave Monday. Oldest dd11 knows, the other three think we might go next year. I have been packing like mad all week while they are at school (dd2 keeps asking what I'm doing with her clothes ).

Plan is Monday get them up reg. time for school, yes it's a holiday, but they will not be fully awake for awhile. Then "Opps, what no school oh. Well lets have an outing to Columbus" (where the airport is).

Now I think we should tell them when we get to the airport. DH says tell them we're going to Chicago so I can see Oprah .
I just know some unsuspecting person is going to say have fun at disney, and I'll miss the look on their face.

When should we tell them. I also thought about saying they were going to the dentist, then surprise!

 

[DISLOVE]

We are planning a surprise trip for our daughter's 3rd birthday trip! We live in 10 days and she has no idea. This will be her 3rd trip and she talks about Disney World every day. We decided to do this trip as a surprise and I have to tell you that I am going insane! I want to tell her every minute!

We've decided to wake her up that morning and say, "It's time to go!" And when she says "Where are we going?" We will say, "Disney World!"

OR... we might say "We're going to Grampy's house!" My dad is giving us a ride to the airprort and we are meeting him at his house. THEN maybe we'll say, "Grampy is giving us a ride to the airport."

"WHY?"

Because we are going to Disney World!!!

I wish we were going today... sigh

 

[KristiKelly]

We told our kids 2 years ago when we were on our way. It's about a 10 hour drive so we just decided to start driving and see how far we could get before they started asking questions about where we were going. We knew as soon as they found out that the "are we there yet" & "how much longer" questions would start. We only got about an hour before DH & I were so excited to tell them.

 

[barkley]

we decided to surprise both of ours a few years back-we waited until their last school day, went into their classrooms at the end of the day and said "well, tell your teacher you'll see her in 2 weeks", the immediate response from each was "why?" CUZ YOUR GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!! the teachers were all in on it and they loved see the kids reactions. they also got the opportunity to run and tell a few friends as well (it is so exciting for them to be able to share the news).

in november we will be leaving on the 5th. dd (11) knows but ds (8) does not. i am going to give dh a box to open on his birthday (nov. 1st) inside will be a note that sez "happy birthday- saturday you get to go to wdw and on the disney cruise, you can take your 3 favorite friends with you!". hubby plans to openly mull over if he should take the cats or if he should just go bt himself my son will go crazy falling all over him to be one of the chosen 3 this will also give him only 3 days (all at school) to .

i love the idea of a vacation surprise!

 

[comom27]

I wanted to surprise our kiddos but dh can't keep a secret to save his life. He had a second point (which would depend on your kids' personalities).

When our oldest was in daycare, the family she stayed with did a surprise WDW trip. Got the kids up early, "surprise" - well two out of her three kids completely (I mean completely) freaked out when they got to the airport - I'm thinking they hadn't been on a plane before but I'm not sure. I know that there's a good chance that one of our 3 year olds might have been the type to freak out.

Personally, I think it's an awesome idea.

 

[Honeybehr1]

We are going Oct 16-21. DS 8th birthday is on the 15th. Noone knows except Dh, me and my CM rep. DS says he is too old to go but his brother would love it (huge goofy fan) and he would go to show him around. BUT he did see pics of the MNSSHP and that would be too cool and he would love to go to that. (we will be there on the 16th)

I bought the golden ears already and was thinking of putting a Mickey balloon in box with the ears and attaching a invitation to it inviting my sons to go to the party.
Sound OK?

I dont want it to be a "birthday gift" so it will be wrapped in Halloween paper or maybe Mickey lol

 

[barkley]

i love your idea! how did you get your mickey golden ears-i would love to get some for our suprise!

 

[jtopp]

We took our 3 children for a surprise visit a few years ago. We went on our normal WDW trip, and then surprised them with a smaller trip in early Dec.(to see the parks decorated). We told no one, and left the house for school at the normal time. My DW could not wait any longer and told them about 10 minutes into the trip that she did not feel like taking them to school, but to WDW instead. Utter chaos ensued. The best part of the trip was seeing our childrens faces when we told them.

 

[Honeybehr1]

i love your idea! how did you get your mickey golden ears-i would love to get some for our suprise!

I called the merchandising department and ordered them. I can take them to the park and have their names put on them.

 

[solferino]

We're leaving shortly after Christmas and will be doing the reaveal that day. Mind you it's not really a Christmas pressie, but given the amount of money and time of year, it just falls right.

Since we're going with my IL's we're going to wait to have her unwrap a special gift at their house. I'm planning on including her luggage tag, a pair of Disney sunglasses, some disney dollars and a hoodie or tshirt of some kind. I think she'll figure it out right away.

The last time we went it was a total surprise. She didn't know until we were on the way to the airport. There's NO WAY we'll be able to pull that off again.


ug: <= My little guy!

 

[scrapperjill]

We have been ploting and planning for weeks now...Were scheduled to go Oct. 19th...leaving our house around 12:30am on the 18th and arriving in Orlando in the evening of the 19th..

Anyway. We have a group of 6 kids ranging from 6-13 that were surprising. We went back and forth on when to tell them and how...at first we were going to wait until we woke them to jump in the car and head to the airport....but then decided they may like some time (like we do) to enjoy the thought of the upcomming trip..and to have some time to enjoy planning and learning about WDW (also like we do). So we decided to tell them at our annual back to school dinner...but soon found we had to postpone it a couple more weeks.

We also purchased the Golden Mickey ears...along with the GOH badges....and although we could have waited and had them engraved (GOH badges) and had the name put on the ears when we arrived at the park for free...we decided to have them done now...as part of the suprise. So right now were waiting for the hats/ears to be finished. And have the suprise dinner planed for 9/16 as of now.

Besides the ear/hat and GOH badges we also made custom tee-shirts for everyone, ordered the planning DVD for each family (there's 4 families in our group), gathered travel brouchers/flyers, and luggage tags for all the kids....OP...I also made faux WDW passes and had them laminated (they really look NOTHING like the real tickets ) with our ADR listed with times and conf. # and all the cell phone numbers of everyone in the group on one side and a pic of the castle and a "logo" that says...Watch out world...hear we come" (with Disney squeezed between the words.."out" and "world") ...anywho...I put the faux passes in id holders on lanyards for everyone...and made "dis" buttons for eveyone in the group also. It seems like there's something else .....Oh..yea big Mickey and Minnie mylar ballons for all the kids.

I can't wait to let them in on it. According to our plan right now...we'll be telling them about 30 days before we go...which will be enough time for them to be excited and look forward to it comming, and to learn a little about what there is to do..but not so long they'll keep asking..When when when.

I also picked up a couple of the WDW for kids by kids planner/guidebooks...for my girls to give them after the dinner (not everyone wanted to get them....but I found a GREAT deal at AAA...$3 for each book this past week...if they would have had more I would have got one for each families )

 

[ShellyL]

We are surprising our 5 children on the 23rd of Sept with a trip to WDW. We started out making plans to go the Myrtl Beach and until it was all done we are going to Disney. We are having some trouble keeping under our hats, I am the problems with my sudden bursts of excitement and tears, but we hoep to pull it off.
Here's our plan... We weill be leaving immediatley after school on the 23rd. WE will be heading for the airport but they don't know they will think we are driving to the beach since it is all the same direction. We are figuring when we get to the airport we will say we wanted to surprise them by flying to our vaction this time since they loved it so much when we flew to Arizona in July. The we figure once we get to the bording gate we will get the camcorder out and start our usual corny "so what do expect to get from this vacation and are you excited to fly" Then I want to tell our 3 year old a secret and it will be that we are going to see Cinderella, which she has been asking us to do for 6 months. I figure she will start telling everyone and then they will figure it out and we will have it on tape. My DH is a little concerned about the scene it will make but who cares. I don't think I want to wait until we are off the plane in Orlando because we won't be able to have the camcorder out in time to get there reations.
So that's my story and I hope to be sticking to it!!!
Michele

 

[lee]

We took our first family trip when our oldest children were five and three. The night before we were to leave (with the video camera on) we told them we would be leaving for WDW in the morning. The five year old burst out in tears because she was disappointed we were not going to the beach. It took her about ten minutes to warm up to the idea and then she was thrilled, as we all were. They still love watching the video tape of when we told them!

 

[Ladyw/theTramp]

We are surprising our kids this time too! I can't wait!! We went last year and it's all they've talked about since! We are going again this Dec and we are using "Disney's Enchanted call" as part of breaking the news.

It is great!! You can pick your character, either Mickey or a princess, and the theme. They even have a "you're going on a trip today" theme. They call and "talk" to your child at a prearranged time. The best part is it's only $2.49 per call!

So for us, Mickey is calling to wake them up and tell them they are taking a trip .. then I plan to have their suitcases set out with their Mickey Ears on them and a Disney outfit set out to put on ... for them to see when they walk downstairs!!

All with the video camera ready, of course!!

 

[purplepixie]

We just got back from a surprise trip for our girls. My mom had taken the girls for the morning so we could pack up the car without questions. We drove from MN so there would be more stuff then usual and cause questions. We met them someplace on the way out of town and told the girls we wanted a picture of them with grandma so we could get them together and use the video on the digital camera. Neither one really got it at first. DD7 just sat there waiting for us to take the picture. I had to put the camera down and tell her that it was just to get her reaction and we were really going to DW. DD5 had to look in the car and see it was really packed. They finally got it after about 5 min. The drive down was enough time to tell them about some of the plans and get them excited about what they wanted to do. We celebrated DD5 5th b-day and gave DD7 a day to be special for her. They each got to pick what we did that day.

It wasn't so hard for us to keep the secret. We almost had a few other people slip though. Mostly it was right before we left. They wanted to say bye or have fun. Luckily the most of that went over the kids heads and they didn't pick up on anything.

 

[DisneyD]

I'm such a mean mom....

We went to CBR for 7 days and the Wonder cruise for 3 in 2003. We didn't tell either DD who were 6 and 7 at the time. I packed in the LOCKED guest room and DH loaded the SUV the night before and covered everything with blankets so they couldn't see.

We told the kids we were going to pick them up early from summer care that day and spend the day at Six Flags (we had Season Passes, so it made sense to them). Instead, we drove to the airport.

Now, here's the mean part. I had Disney hats on them (from a previous trip), Disney shirts that said "Disney Fun Seekers" on it and other Mickey-themed stuff.... and they still thought they were going to Six Flags!

Here's the funny part, when we revealed where we were really going, my DD6 looked at me in confusion and said "So...we're NOT going to SIX FLAGS????"
She almost looked crushed! I got it on video and everyone laughs hysterically when they see it!

 

[Nancyg56]

We are taking my DGD, who will be 4, in Jan and are planning to surprise her. My DD think that she hears parts of conversations, so she will not be overehellmed. She keeps asking to fly on a plane, so we may tell her in the morning that we are taking her for a airplane ride, and when we arrive spring WDW on her. I don't know because it is so hard to keep a secret, but her expression will be priceless.

 

[littleprissboutique]

We are taking my DD back in Jan 06. She will be three at that time. We always tell her where she is going. She loves Disney. But, with her being so young it is like a suprise everyday....LOL I say--"Kaylee guess where you are going to go again" and she says "WHERE MOMMY" I tell her Disney to see Cinderella and Minnie. She goes nuts.. She runs all over the house screaming " Yeah I going to Disee!" (that is how she says Disney...) I know in a couple of years I wont be able to do this, but I just like to see her face everyday....! One day I will have to keep it a secret and it will be so hard!!!!

 

[Marthasor]

My DH, IL's and I are taking our DS's 9 & 11 to WDW in Dec. 05 and we were trying to keep it a surprise, but someone let the cat out of the bag last week. I thought, since it wasn't a secret anymore that I would let them in on the plans so far and I ended up ordering 2 Disneyworld for kids by kids books - I knew my DS 9 would be into the whole thing, but based on former remarks from my DS 11, I thought he would think the whole thing was a bit "babyish". Well, 5 minutes into opening their books, they were both drawing pictures of all of the Disney characters inside! We then got on the internet and ordered 2 WDW autograph books. We are going to put their drawings inside the books and, hopefully, when we see the characters they drew, they are going to ask them to autograph them! They are both TOTALLY into it! I think, now, I am glad we prepared these particular kids ahead of time. My DS 11 also found out about Pal Mickey, and he thinks that is "totally cool" - so much for "babyish"!! Can't wait to go!

 

[Cam2Mike]

Wow, you all have me thinking about how to tell my Ds's about our next trip (6/06). We have gone 3 times, first two times we told them about 3 months before. I was just too excited to keep it a secret. On our last trip we didn't tell them until the taxi for the airport was beeping outside.

It was a lot of fun, we got them out of school a little early and told them we were going to have a long weekend and do something special. They're imaginations weren't big enough, the best they could come up with was the local science museum or acqurium and they were pretty happy about those possibilities. After we got them from school we entered our house through the back door because all the luggage was on the front porch. As the taxi pulled up we dropped the bomb. One DS believed us and literally started doing a happy dance around the living room. The other DS was totally stunned and didn't really seem to believe us. We were about half way to the airport when he really started to believe it.

It was really a great moment..thanks for reminding me!!

Now that I have tried the last minute surprise I will definetly do it again. If I can contain myself that is....