How did you tell your kids they are going to Disney?

[john64]

This will be our 4th family trip to Disney. All of our previous trips the kids knew that they where going. This time we are not telling them until the day of the trip. We are leaving on a Saturday, so school will not be and issue. The flight is not until 2pm in the afternoon so we have the morning to let them know. Any thoughts on how to surprise them? My daughter is 7 and son is 9 if that helps.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

How about having a general conversation of "what should we do today" with the kids. Kind of lead them with suggestions. At one point one may say something about going to Disney World. At that, your immediate response should be. "Yes, that's a great idea. Let's go today and start packing!"

 

[eastcarolinafan]

This will be our 4th family trip to Disney. All of our previous trips the kids knew that they where going. This time we are not telling them until the day of the trip. We are leaving on a Saturday, so school will not be and issue. The flight is not until 2pm in the afternoon so we have the morning to let them know. Any thoughts on how to surprise them? My daughter is 7 and son is 9 if that helps.

Well, it sounds like you guys are old hats at this by now, so I don't expect the surprise will be as filled with "Shock and Awe" as it would if you had never been. The element to focus on here is the surprise of the event itself. Why not pre-load the car with all the stuff and tell the kids in the morning you have to go pick up a friend at the airport who called unexpectedly and is flying in for business or something like that. That way you all can load up in the car and be on your way. Then, when you are on the road you can let the truth out.

Or, after you ask your kids for the fifth time to pick up their rooms or brush their teeth or clean the bathroom or make their bed or ... (fill in the blank), you can say with much exasperation: "Tell you what, you (fill in the blank) we will go to Disney World." And then see how fast your bathroom gets cleaned.

 

[stargazertechie]

Go search "Surprise Disney Trip" on youtube. There are great ideas in hundreds of videos

Just don't tell them that you're going to D!ck's house, you may be in for disappointment.

 

[sharonabe]

Have a box or jar with slips of paper in it. What the kids don't know is you have put "Go to Disney World" on ALL the slips. During or after breakfast say something like "Today is spontaneous day. I've written some activities we all like to do on these slips and we're going to draw one and just do it." Flip a coin to see who gets to draw out the slip of paper and go for it!

 

[GreenDog]

I said "hey I think we should go to Disney".

 

[kaligal]

Pick them up from school and tell them you're going.

We did it with my nephews. They knew we were going to go, but they were told a different date. Picked 'em up, asked them if they'd like to just go now and then said, "okay, because we are."

There were comments about "really?" and that it was good (which was the funnest part) and if their mom had remembered their bathing suits.

Then they screwed it up by saying they were hungry and what about their snack and they couldn't sit in the car for hours without eating and the little one said he would die if we wouldn't let him eat.

So we went to Burger King.

And then we were off.

And it was good.

 

[bytheblood]

Then they screwed it up by saying they were hungry .....

WOW

 

[coozieman]

Hi John - here is how i told my little guy last week:


We leave for the World in 20 days and tried my best to hold off telling my 8 year old DS he news, but couldn't wait any longer.

Started off the day yesterday by adding Disney items to his "Treasure Chest" - first a Hidden Mickey book, followed by a lanyard and lastly 20 pins that I bought from Ebay for $20! Everytime I had the chance, i would drop another one into the chest - it was priceless. He is such a HUGE believer in Disney magic and was/is convinved that Tink was adding these items.

Fast forward to the evening when we returned home from a Birthday party and a mysterious clue was in his treasure chest and the hunt for additional clues began

Take a look at the video I posted to see how it all unraveled (it's a bit long - with the actual suprise piece can be found at the 9 minute mark)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj9lQoarP0A

 

[stargazertechie]

Hi John - here is how i told my little guy last week:


We leave for the World in 20 days and tried my best to hold off telling my 8 year old DS he news, but couldn't wait any longer.

Started off the day yesterday by adding Disney items to his "Treasure Chest" - first a Hidden Mickey book, followed by a lanyard and lastly 20 pins that I bought from Ebay for $20! Everytime I had the chance, i would drop another one into the chest - it was priceless. He is such a HUGE believer in Disney magic and was/is convinved that Tink was adding these items.

Fast forward to the evening when we returned home from a Birthday party and a mysterious clue was in his treasure chest and the hunt for additional clues began

Take a look at the video I posted to see how it all unraveled (it's a bit long - with the actual suprise piece can be found at the 9 minute mark)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj9lQoarP0A

I loved your video, but I wouldn't suggest buying counterfeit merchandise to surprise kids with in the future.

 

[Redarrow5150]

Our kids don't know. We are going to surprise them with a Christmas trip and just talked with the wife about it today. I suggested we buy them two cameras for Christmas and take pictures of the Airline Tickets, Luggage and other Disney stuff. Box wrap each camera for Christmas (one present each) and let them know inside is your only present. We are going to let them open the day we are leaving and let them know we had to take pictures to make sure it was working. We then are going to let each one take a look at the pictures to see how long it takes for them to figure it out.

 

[AwfullyBigAdventures]

I also decided to surprise my kids with a trip. It will be the first ever for all of us. (Me too.) I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I decided to just show up at the airport on the day and let them 'guess' where we are going. We wont have a direct flight, we'll be going to Chicago on the first leg of the flight, so they'll be thrown for a while. I plan to slip in some clues here and there during the flight...I'm not sure what clues I'll use yet, but I'm getting excited just thinking about their reaction once they figure out what is going on.

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

I wish I could surprise my kids. I make such a big deal with shopping and packing
everyones suitcase -- I have suitcases all over the house, lol. It is impossible for me to hide it. Plus I can never hold it in because once I book a trip I am so excited. I'm sure gonna try though.

 

[john64]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. I'm sure the wife and i will be able to put something together. Stargazertechie, that video was great. I hope your trip is awesome. Sharon, I love your idea, straight and to the point. eastcarolinafan and Cheshire Figment, the wife wants to give them some notice like the day of, but both your idea's where on top of my list. Keep em coming!

 

[LauraLap]

I am surprising the kids with the date of the trip. We added 5 nights to our holiday, so they think we are going on the 25th when in fact we are going on the 20th (of this month!).

I'm lucky because the kids are at their aunts for the week so packing won't be an issue. When they come home I'll wash the few things left that I need and pack them after they've gone to bed.

I think I am just going to have them wake up this morning and then casually ask "So, what does everyone want to do today?", suggest going to Disney and then leave!

I can't wait

 

[Kaigler]

I loved your video, but I wouldn't suggest buying counterfeit merchandise to surprise kids with in the future.

How do you know they were counterfeit? And, what business is it of yours how someone spends their money?

 

[eastcarolinafan]

WOW

This is what I am talking about. You never know what a kid is gonna say. My daughter would do something just like that. You roll the dice and take your chances.

 

[stargazertechie]

How do you know they were counterfeit? And, what business is it of yours how someone spends their money?

Because no legitimate seller on ebay could make a profit selling pins at $1.00 each. The majority of those lots are filled with scrappers purchased directly from factories in China who illegally purchased the molds from original Disney pins.

Disney pins cost at least $6.00 in the park if you buy by the single pin. Between sales and the outlet store, you can get you cost down to $2-$3 per pin. Sure, occasionally a seller will thin out their collection on ebay, but who has 10,000+ pins to "thin out" of their collection? Ebay sellers are looking to make a profit. If they're selling pins at $1.00 each, if they are truly selling authentic pins, they'll be losing at least $1.25 per pin between ebay fees and paypal fees.

It's my business because people who trade these scrappers in the park ruin pin trading for the rest of us who actually buy authentic Disney pins.

 

[tallen429]

Since we have been several times (and will go several more), I decided to keep it a secret from the two littlest this time. I'm not really looking to make it a big "surprise" though. I'm just going to put out one of their Dis themed t-shirts, wake them up and tell them to hurry because Mickey is waiting to see them.
If I waitied until we got to the airport, they would almost certainly know where we were going so there isn't much point in that for us.
We have a fairly early flight so I won't have time for anything more elaborate (like a mickey themed breakfast or something)

 

[stargazertechie]

Since we have been several times (and will go several more), I decided to keep it a secret from the two littlest this time. I'm not really looking to make it a big "surprise" though. I'm just going to put out one of their Dis themed t-shirts, wake them up and tell them to hurry because Mickey is waiting to see them.
If I waitied until we got to the airport, they would almost certainly know where we were going so there isn't much point in that for us.
We have a fairly early flight so I won't have time for anything more elaborate (like a mickey themed breakfast or something)

Could you wake them up that morning with Disney music?