to the DIS! 
Plus, teens just don't seem to act too excited about much of anything; they think it's not "cool." 
We are surprising our kids, too, and we leave in 5 days! (Nov. 14th) I thought this week would never come, and not it is here!
My kids are DS13, DD9, and DS7 1/2. I bought gift bags for each of them, which will include:
$50 Disney Gift card
plane boarding pass
granola bar
goldfish crackers
slim jim
glowsticks
gum
Crunch bar
rasins/peanuts (depends on which kid likes what snack)
Invisible Ink book
We also have their magic bands, but we like how all 5 of them look in the box together, so we will present them altogether instead of putting one in each bag.
So, my kids have absolutely NO clue we are going anywhere. We have been so busy with football and cheerleading season, and I just spent the last week on an out of state business trip, that they haven't even paid attention that I packed our bags and they are waiting in my closet for Thursday! LOL
So, tomorrow DS7 will play his "superbowl" game for our league as his team went undefeated this season. DD will be cheering for the team a level/age higher, who also are playing their "superbowl" game. Hopefully their teams will win and we will be able to catch them saying "I'm going to Disneyworld!" (something we joke about all the time) on video, which we will use to play on the TV Thursday morning. We will wake them up and get them ready like it's a regular school day, then call all of them into the kitchen/living room where we will play their video on the TV and their gift bags will be waiting on the table. They will each have part of a progressive note in their bags to read, which will say "You have earned the Ultimate Crunch Award" (something they have always had as incentive prizes in football) "All three of you worked hard, gave 100% every play every day, in school and on the field" "Your dedication deserves a great reward - you are going to Disney World!"
Then we will tell them to look out the window, and hopefully timed it well, because the last part of their surprise is that we have hired a limo to take us to the airport!
Our flight leaves Chicago Ohare airport at 10am.
I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!
We did it!!!
The morning we left, we woke them up for school like normal. They got ready and were getting their coats and shoes on to leave, and DH told them to all sit on the couch. We decided the night before to use a Sharpie and wrote:
"Who's got it..."
"Better than us?"
"NOBODY!!!!"
on the front side of each of the kids' gift bags, and:
We are...
Going to...
DISNEYWORLD!!!!
on the backsides. DH gave each kid their bag while I filmed, and they read it in order, then we had them turn the bags over and read again in order. They were like "oh wow...cool" and started looking in their bags. Then DH brought out their Magic Bands, and they thought those were neat, and it started to click with DS13. He was like "Wait....are we going right NOW?!" We told him to look in his bag and he pulled out his boarding pass. His eyes got HUGE and he started to laugh and tell the younger kids. It finally dawned on all three, and they jumped up and screamed and yelled and hugged us and were so super excited!
We then told them that they had 10 minutes to ONE thing they would like to bring that would fit in their bag, and get their shoes on. DS7 chose his stuffed dog, DD chose something (I can't remember), and DS13 grabbed his phone.
The best part was, though, about 15 minutes later, I peeked out the window (the curtains were closed) and saw that the limo had arrived. We told the kids that it was time to go and that the car was out front. DH works for a major rental car corporation in their title acquisition (I'm sure I spelled that totally wrong! LOL) department, so we regularly rent or use company cars, and the kids are always excited to see the latest vehicle he brings home. So, as I videotaped, they ran to the window and opened the curtain and saw a ginormous white stretch limo in front of the house. DS7 was so funny...."A limo??!!" You got us a limo??!!! How did you guys afford that???!!!" They ran out to the limo and jumped right in. It was absolutely perfect!
I would totally recommend surprising kids at least once in their lives. It was the most magical way to start our vacation....it was so fun to have them think back to all of the hints we gave them, and for them to find out that pretty much everybody in their lives knew about the trip, from their babysitter to their teachers...even DS13's spanish tutor (he is in advanced Spanish) and their football/cheer coaches - they got such a kick out of it all.
The only thing I would recommend is making sure you plan it when nothing is going on (like in between sports seasons) and make sure to tell the kids' teachers. We told the younger kids' teachers, but I didn't tell DS13's 8th grade teachers (for various reasons, but #1 being that he has had just about the same teachers the past three years and they have never once replied back when I tell them he will be gone for a few days). Of course this time, I didn't alert them, and DS ended up being in the middle of a partner project that was due the friday we came back (he went back to school on the Wednesday). Other than that, though, all went very well, and most importantly, all three said that they LOVED that we surprised them!
I had to bump this post, because I think it deserves to be bumped!
We just decided that we will be going to DW in Oct for our 6th trip. We've never surprised our 2 kids, now 8 and 9 who have done all 5 trips with us. So to us, its how do we make every trip different?
This year we've decided, painstakingly, to not tell the kids. Our kids will love the surprise, I know they will. They've helped plan every trip thus far, and I dont think we are taking anything away from them by not telling them.
They think that because it's DH and my 10th anniversary that we are going to NYC just he and I, without them. We changed our minds, it won't be the same without a DW trip this year!
Last October, DS would NOT fall asleep, and our flight always departs at 6am... so a 4am wakeup call is necessary (we live very close to our airport) so how do we surprise them so they sleep the night before, and are up in time for the flight? I think we will wake them up the morning of, and tell them to get up and dressed and meet us in the living room. DH is great with computers and will do up a video basically telling them that our 10th year anniversary wouldnt be near as exciting and meaningful without having them near, and that Mom and Dad are going to New York, with them,but only as a stop over on our way to Disney World
And at the end of the video say You have 5 mins to get ready because out flight leaves in 2 hours...kind of thing.
That's all I've come up with. They are clever kids, the video can't be too long. They've seen far too many Disney Surprise trip videos on youtube...they youtube them themselves. lol
If anybody has any further input, I'd love it.
I think I will price out a limo ride to the airport as well. They'd freak over that!
). Have fun with it!
Sounds like they will like a surprise this time around- I like that they have been in on the planning several times already- though the 4 am thing is a bit problematic. If you don't think they will react well being pulled out of bed and surprised at that hour, I would surprise them a few days before with the video. It's close enough that it will be super exciting, but maybe over a few days time, he will be able to relax enough to sleep that night.
You know best, but just my two cents on those EARLY mornings. My kids would also want more than 5 minutes to make sure they got the right clothes and stuffed animals packed (and yes, they are 12 and 15 and this is still a thing
We might even tell them a couple days before that we need to drive Dad to the airport for a business trip which happens often enough, at least this way they know they have to get up the night before, and will anticipate the early hour. As for clothes, I know what they will want. DS will wear whatever I pack him, and my fashionista 8 yr old, I know her inside out. lol Will be sure to have everything available from head to toe, incl earings. 
But their bacpacks for the plane, or a stuffy...stuff like that they will need to grab. Nothing much. I will have their DSs and tablets charged and ready to go, backpacks at the door with their essentials. I pretty much do it this way every time, they are just more involved. lol It will be a bit tricky!!
