Would you?

[disneyfan4u]

Okay, so my husband and I can't agree....I want to surprise the kids and not tell them we are going to Disney until we are at the airport. I have the whole thing worked out in my head. On the other hand my husband feels it is not right and we should give them some notice. What would you do? or Have you done it and what were the results? Would you surprise them?

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I would love to try to surprise my kids, and I am planning on doing just that, but I am not sure that I will be able to keep it a secret. Have you seen some of the videos on youtube where the parents surprise the kids? Some are so cute!

I am thinking of telling the kids that Daddy has a business trip to Florida and we are going to go with him, last minute of course. Then we will show up at Disney. I would love to pull it off but we will see.

Good luck to you!

 

[disneyfan4u]

I think it is a good idea also. My husband does not.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We kinda do both. DD knows we are going to Disney...she just doesn't know when. We surprise her that day with gifts from Tink letting her know that today is the day.

Personally, I would love to surprise her BUT I have a friend who surprised her sons and it went TOTALLY wrong. They were so overwhelmed when they found out that her normally very well behaved boys were BONKERS and never calmed down the whole week. I always think of them when I find out someone is surprising their little ones and suggest that people be aware that this could happen.

A huge part of the fun of Disney for us is the planning stages. You'll miss all of that if you surprise them that day.

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

We surprised the girls a day before our last trip. We left on a Sunday, and we made the big reveal on Saturday. This gave them some time to think about what was happening and wrap their heads around it. And we didn't have to deal with the "how many days?" syndrome!

 

[bzzymom]

I haven't surprised the kids on the day of the trip before, but I did tell DS as part of a Christmas present in 2005. Along with the trip, DS got to go on the pirate adventure cruise as part of his gift too. Our trip left on Jan 15th,so he didn't have much notice.

We did surprise him 2 weeks ago with a trip to his first major league ball game, 1 hour before DH and he were going to leave. He was really surprised and he was glad we kept it a secret.

 

[dementia412]

Sure surprise them, but not at the airport. Are you insane? You want to tell little kids they are about to go to Disney World right before they get on an airplane where they need to sit quietly and calmly. Instead I would wait until you are done with the flight or do it a day or two earlier. Let them get the out of their system before you get on that plain!

 

[JPS]

I'm taking my DS7 to Disney 24Sept-5Oct. I'm planning on not telling him at all until we get there. Our situation is slightly diffirent as we have a 26hr flight to get there! He knows we're going on vacation, but doesn't know where we're going... Closer to the time I will tell him that we're going on a plane (He's flown many times before)... Hopefully I can keep the big reveal until we actually arrive at Disney!!!!!
We have our interviews for our visas at the Embassy in the morning and I'm hoping that they will not spoil the surprise for us.

 

[Tink-aholic]

I think it depends on your kids and how old they are. I surprised DS when he was 10 at the airport (he actually didn't find out until they made the announcement of the destination at the gate). The reaction was priceless, and the next three hours consisted almost exclusively of "I don't have my ____________ (teddy bear, pins, bathing suit, etc)." Of course, I had packed everything and even repacked his school backpack with stuff for the plane.

The second-best part of that surprise (besides his reaction) is that he now knows I am CAPABLE of such a cool surprise...and he is always on his best behavior just in case.

Unless your kids are teenagers who have jobs and significant others, I say go for it! Have fun.

 

[powellrj]

While I know its not the samething, many years ago my parents surprised us with a trip to Kings Island 2 days after the parks grand opening. While it was a nice surprise, I would have liked to know ahead because anticipation is part of the fun for me.

I know with my kids they like the planning and anticipation of the trip as much as the trip itself. The last time we had the dining plan and they spent hours planning where we could eat and what to order. They also like to talk to their friends about the trip. I see your oldest DD is 14. I know when my kids were that age, they didn't like surprises of any kind.

 

[pigget74]

We did this when the older two were 7 and 4. They new we were going to Florida--we always go to Orange Beach and Perdido. Anyway we told them we were going to a different beach and it would take all of one day and the morning of the next. That kept them from asking how much longer. Anway. that Sunday morning as we were driving for Lake City to Disney-DS always had his head down as we passed signs and would them sit up and look around. We were able to keep the secret until we were going to go under the Welcome Sign. It was priceless.

 

[The Disney Bunch]

Your oldest is old enough to maybe want to help with planning - you might want to include her so she doesn't feel like a baby. The little one I would see surprising but I am not sure about at the airport - I would not like that for myself personally.

 

[Keara'sMom]

Is this your first trip? If so, then I think I wouldn't surprise them but instead let them help plan and get excited about it. If it's not your first trip, then by all means, go for the surprise!

We surprised our dd11 this past January on the day of our trip. We were going to try to wait until the airport, but she wouldn't get out of bed (our flight was early), so we told her to get her up--she moved pretty quickly after that! Anyway, she loved the surprise, and so did we!

 

[RMulieri]

Your kids are old enough so surprise is ok.I could never surprise my 4 yr old.She does not handle change very well, and to surprise her right before an airline flight would be the death of me( I would be lynched on board the plane).Plus, she takes a long time to warm up to new things.So i have been preparing her for months for the trip.She even helped make a cute countdown calendar, and asks me to read Birnbaums guide to her.

 

[Belle4mygrl]

We have surprised the 2 oldest ones when they were around 5 and 7. We were driving and they didn't know until they saw the "Welcome to WDW" signs. Needless to say, they were excited.

Of course, it depends on your child and how well they take surprises and change.

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

I wouldn't surprise them just because I LOVE the planning and how having all that time to anticipate makes the vacation seem that much longer. We're only there for a week so having some magic moments in the weeks ahead is a big part of the fun.

We make a paper chain with 30 links and cover it with Disney stickers and then every night we rip one link off for our countdown and talk about what we're going to do and see and eat (Mickey Bars!) at Disney. Since we go every year it's becoming a tradition for us.

 

[I_Know_You2!]

My kids have always enjoyed the excitement of planning and getting ready. Looking forward to a vacation is 1/2 of the fun. They's all feel royally ripped with a surprise. YMMV.

 

[littlbugmom]

For our first trip, we told my dd and my niece in advance. They enjoyed looking forward to it, counting down and planning for it.

My dd knew at the end of our last trip when our next trip would be. She's even better now at helping to plan and soooo excited!

 

[proteus]

A big vote to surprise them. I don't get the reasons for not doing so. Kids need time to plan? The adults do all the planning. Kids get too excited? No such vocabulary in my book, the more excited the better. How a person can react negatively to a surprise always confounded me, seems like a glass half empty outlook. I understand that part of the fun can be the waiting and planning but it is also a pain because it seems to take so long.

To me surprises are something that you experience mostly as a child, I'm willing to bet that those kids who were by a trip to WDW will never forget it.

 

[I_Know_You2!]

A big vote to surprise them. I don't get the reasons for not doing so. Kids need time to plan? The adults do all the planning. Kids get too excited? No such vocabulary in my book, the more excited the better. How a person can react negatively to a surprise always confounded me, seems like a glass half empty outlook. I understand that part of the fun can be the waiting and planning but it is also a pain because it seems to take so long.

To me surprises are something that you experience mostly as a child, I'm willing to bet that those kids who were by a trip to WDW will never forget it.

I'm willing to bet than no kid's trip to WDW is ever forgotten.

We like to look forward to things? What's so hard to get about that? We can enjoy a trip for 6 months, or for 2 weeks. Now, if your kids don't like to look forward to stuff, and plan for good times, that wouldn't apply to you, of course.