Surprise Struggles Are Real!

[6loversofdisney]

My dh and I honeymooned at wdw 25 years ago. We are surprising our four kids and going back in 25 days. We have done many surprises throughout their lives and this is kind of one they will never see coming as we just celebrated with a huge trip with them.

How should we tell them? It will be about the week before because no one has commitments. Just running out of ideas. Most likely our last surprise for them.

Help!

 

[DisneyOma]

I'd tell the older, college age kids now, before they do get busy!

 

[mjkacmom]

I have kids similar ages, I’d tell them now. My kids have plans that I don’t know about. What about work?

 

[luvmy2babies]

Are those ages right? 21, 19, 16 and 13? Are you sure they don't have plans? Not that Disney wouldn't trump most things; but still. I am guessing the 21 and 19 year-old are in college and/or don't have jobs. I have a 16 year-old and she likes to know at least 3 weeks out if she's leaving town. If you're going in August I would go ahead and let them know.

The last time I surprised my oldest she was 11. She had also been to Disney before. Have your children been before or was your honeymoon the only trip? I'd probably do something simple like give them new luggage with Disney shirts in it. And then something that indicates when you are going like some Disney gift cards with Family vacation 2019. Have they been asking to go? If so, something like what I did for my son last year might work. He had been asking to go; so one day I gave him an envelope and said we would do a countdown and inside was a sheet of paper indicating the number of days until we would go. Now I did this on the day we left (he was 8); so on the paper was a big 0 with the words "let's go!" underneath; but you could make an actual countdown chain or calendar and surprise them with it.

I'm trying to figure out a reveal myself. Everyone knows about our upcoming trip; but we're bringing my mother. Trying to think of a creative way to tell her I've paid for the trip and all she'll need is spending money.

I hope you all have a great time and it goes well.

 

[YesterDark]

I always cringe when people say they are surprising people with a vacation outside 30-40 days. So much could go wrong.

 

[kikismom]

Are those ages right? 21, 19, 16 and 13? Are you sure they don't have plans? Not that Disney wouldn't trump most things; but still. I am guessing the 21 and 19 year-old are in college and/or don't have jobs. I have a 16 year-old and she likes to know at least 3 weeks out if she's leaving town. If you're going in August I would go ahead and let them know.

The last time I surprised my oldest she was 11. She had also been to Disney before. Have your children been before or was your honeymoon the only trip? I'd probably do something simple like give them new luggage with Disney shirts in it. And then something that indicates when you are going like some Disney gift cards with Family vacation 2019. Have they been asking to go? If so, something like what I did for my son last year might work. He had been asking to go; so one day I gave him an envelope and said we would do a countdown and inside was a sheet of paper indicating the number of days until we would go. Now I did this on the day we left (he was 8); so on the paper was a big 0 with the words "let's go!" underneath; but you could make an actual countdown chain or calendar and surprise them with it.

I'm trying to figure out a reveal myself. Everyone knows about our upcoming trip; but we're bringing my mother. Trying to think of a creative way to tell her I've paid for the trip and all she'll need is spending money.

I hope you all have a great time and it goes well.

I surprised my mom with a trip last October, technically I surprised her and my 5 year old daughter but the surprise worked better on my mom.

I chose to surprise her only the night before. My dad was in on it so we knew she had no other plans, he also had paid for some gift cards so she had extra spending money. I went to her house and told her to get ready because we were heading to a hotel at the airport to fly out early tomorrow. I had made all sorts of things for her to figure it out. Scratch off tickets are easy to make with glue and black paint. They had things like "churro" "Mickey" "ears" etc... on there and she figured it out quickly. I had bought and washed matching shirts for the three of us for the trip so she didn't have to pack much. She handled it very well.

My daughter did not handle it well. She started crying and said she wanted to go to Las Vegas instead, she has never been to Las Vegas before but overheard a conversation about how great their pools are and had it in her head that's where she wanted to go. Keep in mind this kid has been to Disneyland many times before and loves the place. I didn't see the surprise going that way for her.

I can find the recipe and instructions for the scratch tickets if you want. I printed a template of a mickey head and put the scratch part on there. My mom thought it was really fun.

 

[MrsPete]

I personally would not want to be the recipient of such a surprise. I mean, the trip would be great, but I wouldn't want to be told the night before! I enjoy the planning, and I'd enjoy the trip more knowing I'd had time to research /choose the restaurants, etc. that I'd want to visit. I might want to buy a new swimsuit or a new pair of shorts. I'd enjoy the trip more with time to plan.

 

[stewart715]

Y'all: I am sure OP knows their family well enough to know if a surprise like this is a "good idea" or not. And it's really not what they asked. OP is surprising THEIR kids, not YOUR kids, so what you or your kids would want is an irrelevant and pointless contribution to the thread. And looking at their signature, this isn't their family's first rodeo with WDW.

Anyways, OP: Since they are a bit older, I think just getting them together for dinner and telling them simply may be the way to go. May just have them open the MagicBand box or something. At end of day, it's the trip that matters the most. Hope you all have an amazing time on this family trip!

 

[Eeyore daily]

I second the telling over dinner idea. Sounds like a fun time!

 

[doubletoast]

In June we woke up our 16 year old daughter and said "How fast could you get dressed if we were getting in the car to drive to Disney?"

 

[kikismom]

In June we woke up our 16 year old daughter and said "How fast could you get dressed if we were getting in the car to drive to Disney?"

I would need about 30 seconds! Maybe a minute so I could text my boss to tell her I'm heading to Disney!