Surprising my 9 year-old Disney-obsessed kiddo

[DisnerdShelby]

Good evening, everyone!

I know there are LOTS of threads I'm sure, about surprising kiddos with their Disney trips. Our's may be a little different because we have been to Disney World more times than I can count, so it's not brand-new for our kiddos, and here's where I'm stumped...

We are originally from central Florida, but currently reside in Nebraska. We are fortunate enough to be able to do multiple Disney vacations each year (this year alone, we did WDW 2x and a Disney Cruise). We have two kids, ages 8.5 & 2.5, who have always been part of the planning process.

After our most recent trip to WDW, we had an amazing breakfast at 1900 Park Fare & my daughter fell in love with the beautiful Grand Floridian resort. This inspired us to book a surprise trip for her 9th birthday in May! She has NO idea, and we would love to surprise her this one time! She has been helping us plan the trip, thinking that we are staying at another resort, and during a different time of year- LOL.

We may fly in, but we are likely making a road trip out of it. I cannot think of how to surprise her! We will be checking in on the day of her birthday and staying for a week. Should we tell her a couple of days beforehand when we are heading down to Florida? Tell her we're heading somewhere else, and surprise her when we pull up? Any other suggestions? TIA!

 

[stephk1981]

I wish I could help with a surprise idea.....but, just a couple of thoughts......

I love the idea of surprising her the day of! If she loves Disney that much, she will be over the moon!!
The only problem is finding a way to get a 9 year old there without knowing where she's at!? Obviously she can read signs, as in knowledge of what state she is in.....I would worry as you all head south she would figure it out. Could you potentially tell her it's a Florida beach trip, then instead of showing up at the beach, you show up at GF. I don't know, this is tricky with a nine year old! We tried to surprise DS for his 8 th birthday, he guessed as we crossed into Florida.......uuuuggghhhh kids! Lol. Maybe a blindfold? But that's a long drive for a blindfold. If you have family in the south you could also say you are going to visit them.

You could also do a week of ' clues' about where you all are going, but again.... I'm sure she would guess Disney.

Either way, this is so exciting and I wish you all a super magical trip!!! Good luck

 

[unrequited23]

Is it possible to drive over night in hopes that she would fall asleep and not realize you were heading to FL?

 

[DisnerdShelby]

Oh, that may be a good idea!!!! Haha. It's about a 21 hour drive. We are crazy.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

How bout telling her you're going to Legoland instead of Disney. I do believe at some point they're on the same route. Then tell her something silly like you've lost the tickets or directions and just have to go to Disney! Then at Disney, lie once again about the resort As you pull up to the Grand Floridian, depending on the time, tell her you're going to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner first!

Just my silly suggestion!

 

[Tessaf]

Good evening, everyone!

I know there are LOTS of threads I'm sure, about surprising kiddos with their Disney trips. Our's may be a little different because we have been to Disney World more times than I can count, so it's not brand-new for our kiddos, and here's where I'm stumped...

We are originally from central Florida, but currently reside in Nebraska. We are fortunate enough to be able to do multiple Disney vacations each year (this year alone, we did WDW 2x and a Disney Cruise). We have two kids, ages 8.5 & 2.5, who have always been part of the planning process.

After our most recent trip to WDW, we had an amazing breakfast at 1900 Park Fare & my daughter fell in love with the beautiful Grand Floridian resort. This inspired us to book a surprise trip for her 9th birthday in May! She has NO idea, and we would love to surprise her this one time! She has been helping us plan the trip, thinking that we are staying at another resort, and during a different time of year- LOL.

We may fly in, but we are likely making a road trip out of it. I cannot think of how to surprise her! We will be checking in on the day of her birthday and staying for a week. Should we tell her a couple of days beforehand when we are heading down to Florida? Tell her we're heading somewhere else, and surprise her when we pull up? Any other suggestions? TIA!

We’ve done 2 WDW surprises-
The first trip I did with presents left at our door with all sorts of Disney related things, at the very bottom was a card that I made saying were we were going tomorrow. They loved the surprise!
The second trip wasn’t as fancy. The hubby and I wore Disney bound shirts and waiting to see how long it took them to figure it out lol.

Being as it’s her birthday, maybe let her have a ‘gift’ a day early and have it say she’s going???