Which is better: SURPRISE or ANTICIPATION?

[BluOrchid2]

I know that a lot of us are planning surprise trips to WDW, or have planned them in the past. But are surprise trips really all they're cracked up to be? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't dream of turning down a surprise trip if it were sprung on me, but for me, there is SO MUCH joy in planning and anticipating. Choosing restaurants, watching shows on the Travel Channel, reading the DIS daily (which I don't do unless I have a trip coming up)....stuff like that. Even my 14 yo son said that he'd rather know ahead of time, and we did pull a surprise trip on him a couple of years ago, not telling him we were going until we woke him up at 2:00 a.m. to go to the airport. He was in a daze all day, it was just so surreal.

For myself, I choose ANTICIPATION. What say you?

 

[meandtheguys2]

Most def. Anticipation! Love the planning, and the building of exciement.

 

[laurietg]

I myself love the anticipation!!!! I will plan and plan!!! I just love to surprise others, though. (so that I can plan and plan for them)!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Anticipation...it lasts longer. Not that I would be upset if DH planned a surprise trip for me, but I doubt that would happen because he knows how much I like to plan and countdown.

 

[babar41]

Anticipation! I can hear the song now! I think it really depends on who it is for. For kids, I'd go with the surprise. (On the parents part it eliminates answering the question "How many days till be go?") For me? I really get into the planning (drive myself and everyone who will listen to me nuts!) and would probably not appreciate someone surprising me by bustling me onto a plane. I would worry that others didn't take care of all the little things like who is coming in daily to feed the fish? Do they know to shut off the filter for 10 mins while the fish are eating? Where is the dog going to be? Who will be checking on the cat? Trips bring out the O/C in me!

Yep, mark me for the anticipation group!

 

[gigi1313]

anticipation!!!

although we did a "mix" on our last trip, and might again this time... 'cause that last 24 hours of anticipation is just tooooo much for my kids and i wanted them to sleep and be decently rested for our first day... so... i told them we were leaving tuesday but woke them up at 4am on monday yelling (extreme home makeover style) GOOD MORNING XXXXX FAMILY YOU'RE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD! and off we went... so they knew we were going, we just surprised them by going a day earlier than they expected...

this year we'll be staying two days longer than they expect, and at a different hotel (my son's dream is the AKL and that's where we'll be spending our last two nights!)

 

[KarenW]

Anticipation!!! We love the planning phase. I told my DD9 about some of the surprise trips people do and she basically threatened me if I ever did that (like I could, I get way too excited). She loves it all leading up to the trip almost as much as the trip.
We make trip boxes, countdown calendars, read books, watch movies (planning and others), save money, buy or make shirts, etc. It is so much fun. Our lives are filled with Disney, even more than normal, for months before the trip. I understand the joy of the surprise as well, but I could never do it.

 

[shelly3girls]

I use to think surprise but I am debating for our upcoming trip. We still have not told DDs. Last time we surprised them they were really excited but my niece who had not been there since an infant started crying hysterically b/c she was scared. She definitely would have been better off if we had built up to it. The surprise also caused problems when we arrived at 9:00pm and she didn't understand that she would not see Mickey right away. Lesson learned...young children need to be prepared.

 

[js]

My husband and I surprised our dd/ds once. I woke them up at about 4 am telling them it was time to get ready for school all the while my husband was video taping.
I had made a booklet and had my daughter read it and at the end it said get up, a limo is waiting outside and taking us to the airport to go to Disney! It was great and the kids we so excited.
BUT, that said, my kids LOVE Disney and quite honestly I don’t think I would surprise them again because they love the anticipation, talking about it and watching the planning videos over and over.
Every trip I buy them the new Disney For Kids book and on our last trip in December I also purchased the Passporter for both my daughter and myself. My mom would come over (she also went with us) and the three of us would have a “meeting” and update the Passporter, decide where we were going to eat, fill in our PS, etc.
So, I think it is nice to do once but for us, the anticipation is more fun!

 

[CamColt]

I hate surprises (and DS is the same way), so I vote for anitcipation.

I am however surprising my kids a bit. At the end of our upcoming DL & DCL trip, we are spending the last day before our late flight home going to see the Red Sox play the Angles. Tickets are impossible to get for home games and our kids are huge baseball fans. As luck would have it they are playing out there that day. It's been killing me keeping this for the past 4 months, but I'm almost there.

 

[ntburns22]

Anticipation all the way. I even have told my kids. Yes DD asks how many more days and so on. But it is great to sit and talk to her about the trip and ask her questions so she is part of the planning too. Now with DS whenever he sees a picture of Donald. He just smiles and say Donald for breakfast. I love having my kids know about the trip

 

[KimR]

For me, definitely aniticipation. If DH surprised me with a trip I would be happy to go, naturally; yet at the same time I think i'd feel cheated out of the planning process. I absolutely love designing an itinerary, choosing restaurants, the resort, evening activities, etc.

However, my kids don't really get into the planning like I do and they'd much rather be surprised. We've surprised them on our last 3 trips and I would've thought it would be old by now but they still love it. In fact, last year I decided that the surprise thing had run it's course so I told my DD we were going to DW for spring break. She got a look of horror on her face and said 'NO! You're not supposed to tell me, it's supposed to be a surprise!!" So....I didn't mention another thing about it and she had forgotten about it by the time April rolled around.

It is getting difficult to surprise them though because we've gotten into a rut going during spring break. With the kids in school that's the only option for us other than summer (too hot for DH) and Christmas (too cold for me). Since DH has (reluctancly) agreed to yearly trips, they've pretty much got it figured out.

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

For me I like the Anticipation, and all the planning. But I am right now planning a surprise trip for me and my DH for Jan. It is so hard keeping it a secret. I love planning it, and can't wait untill we go. But a part of me wants to tell him so bad!! 6 months to keep it a secret , I hope I can make it

Anyone else surprise their DH can you tell me HOW you kept it a secret???

 

[MinnieM21]

I'd love for someone to surprise me with a Disney trip!

 

[imaprincez]

ANTICIPATION!!! 116 DAYS TO GO! WOOHOO!!!

 

[VelvetGloves]

My husband told me earlier this month that he had booked a trip for September and already paid for it. It was good to be surprised but still have two months worth of planning to do. He hit the big stuff, and I get to organize the little stuff, like ADRs. I got the best of both worlds. He was going to tell me the day we left, but he decided I love planning too much, so he sprung it on me early.

A few years ago, we (my hubby, my father, and myself) tried to surprise my mother and two brothers with a Xmas trip. We ended up telling them at Thankgiving because we knew mom would want to be in on the planning; she's big on anticipation.

It's fun to combine anticipation and surprise, but I don't think anyone in my family would be able to keep it a secret until the last minute.

VelvetGloves

 

[Laurajean1014]

Surprise - anticipation leads to over-expectations.

 

[pamouselover]

Dont get me wrong Anyone wants to surprize me with a trip to disney please do! But I like the anticipation. I have thought many times about keeping we are going to disney fromt he kids, just cant do it! I am surprizing my kids with were we are staying this trip. They still think we are at Music and we are staying at movies! Which was where they wanted to stay!

 

[*Fantasia*]

For me it's ANTICIPATION!! I can't be surprise because I do all the planning!! But I love anticipation! It's part of the fun!

 

[meeko_33785]

For children, I would say surprise. I can remember when I was little, anticipation was awful- I was a child that Christmas eve or the days before a vacation was slow, agonizing torture. If I was surpsised with a Disney trip, I would be extremly happy.

For an adult, I would say antisipation. Being able to plan and look forward to your own trip is the way to go for me.