Surprising Teenagers with a Disney Trip!

[lovemy4sweeties]

Wow that certainly wasn't very nice for his partner!! Poor kid. I couldn't do that to another child. Did your son receive a lower grade since the other did most of the work?

That is why IMO older kids should be told at least a couple weeks ahead.

Sounds like he still had 2 days to work on it with his partner after he got back. I'm sure in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a big deal. I don't think she mentioned that the other kid did most of the work?? Maybe her son did most of the work when he returned from their trip. And, at 13 (so grade 7ish), I'm sure the teacher would have allowed an extension if needed. Sometimes life happens and you have to roll with the punches.

 

[Honeystar120608]

Sounds like he still had 2 days to work on it with his partner after he got back. I'm sure in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a big deal. I don't think she mentioned that the other kid did most of the work?? Maybe her son did most of the work when he returned from their trip. And, at 13 (so grade 7ish), I'm sure the teacher would have allowed an extension if needed. Sometimes life happens and you have to roll with the punches.

I think letting the teacher's know is a bit tricky. I know with my dd in gr 3 come sept, she will be starting french immersion, so I'm iffy on taking her out (if I can time it with our Canadian thanksgiving, since there are teacher meeting days the Thurs and Fri before that would work in our favor), and ds will be in gr 5....but the higher grades seem a bit harder to work with workload wise. However, I am a stickler for homework. It will be a long weekend when we get back.

Also, October is still a review month. So the things they are learning now, will be reviewed then, which isnt AS BAD.

 

[SEA333]

Wow that certainly wasn't very nice for his partner!! Poor kid. I couldn't do that to another child. Did your son receive a lower grade since the other did most of the work?

That is why IMO older kids should be told at least a couple weeks ahead.

Oh Please. Seriously. Partner ended up doing a solo project, and DS did his own. And, no, DS got 100% because he did ALL HIS OWN WORK and Ms. Teacher LOVED it.

Settle down. it's OUR life and decision....and it worked out really well for us. (I read your post on the other thread in case you are wondering why I have NO patience with you on this one). And, no, I did not feel sorry for partner OR DS one little bit because both of them put the project off till the last minute when it had been assigned for a month before and DS did not tell me about it except to say "Can S spend the night this weekend so we can make breakfast in the morning?" It wasn't until we got back that Ms. Teacher alerted me to what the project was.

A MINOR blip on a wonderful trip and surprise for MY kids....I'm not forcing you into it and don't care for your opinion. It already HAPPENED - 6 months ago - and I am NOT asking for or soliciting your advice.

Thank you.

 

[Honeystar120608]

Oh Please. Seriously. Partner ended up doing a solo project, and DS did his own. And, no, DS got 100% because he did ALL HIS OWN WORK and Ms. Teacher LOVED it.

Settle down. it's OUR life and decision....and it worked out really well for us. (I read your post on the other thread in case you are wondering why I have NO patience with you on this one). And, no, I did not feel sorry for partner OR DS one little bit because both of them put the project off till the last minute when it had been assigned for a month before and DS did not tell me about it except to say "Can S spend the night this weekend so we can make breakfast in the morning?" It wasn't until we got back that Ms. Teacher alerted me to what the project was.

A MINOR blip on a wonderful trip and surprise for MY kids....I'm not forcing you into it and don't care for your opinion. It already HAPPENED - 6 months ago - and I am NOT asking for or soliciting your advice.

Thank you.

I agree, at this age life is what you make it. I refuse to let my kids not experience life by not taking them out, and not rolling with all life has to offer. Like being woken up at 4am for a surprise trip to DW

And it's not like you were gone a month, it was one week, and obviously he got it done. It's unfortunate the teacher wasn't one to reply, but even if she/he had... does it really change the situation much? The kids still put the project until last minute. lol I know all about that, ds is constantly not telling me about his work. Which just makes more work for himself. When will he learn??

After all the storm days and sick days we've been through since the HOlidays, I would much rather pull the kids out of school for a vacation RIGHT NOW lol Ugh! Surprise, we are leaving tomorrow! Lottery draw is tonight!

 

[SEA333]

I agree, at this age life is what you make it. I refuse to let my kids not experience life by not taking them out, and not rolling with all life has to offer. Like being woken up at 4am for a surprise trip to DW

And it's not like you were gone a month, it was one week, and obviously he got it done. It's unfortunate the teacher wasn't one to reply, but even if she/he had... does it really change the situation much? The kids still put the project until last minute. lol I know all about that, ds is constantly not telling me about his work. Which just makes more work for himself. When will he learn??

After all the storm days and sick days we've been through since the HOlidays, I would much rather pull the kids out of school for a vacation RIGHT NOW lol Ugh! Surprise, we are leaving tomorrow! Lottery draw is tonight!

Actually, it was 4 days LOL Thursday, Friday, and Monday/Tuesday. We came back late Monday night, so I went to work Tuesday, but let the kids stay home with DH. That's when I got the email from Ms. Teacher asking if he would be ready with the project and partner is just going to do his own and DS could do his own. We have a very small school district/school, and we are very lucky that our teachers treat our kids like family. Or...maybe not so lucky...we moved here on purpose BECAUSE of the school district

I would be so excited for you if you can do it!!!! I re-watch the reveal video of our trip all the time...especially when I am having a bad day or need a pick-me-up. Our winter here in Chicago was awful, too, and it seems like years have passed since November!!!

My DD just told me the other day that she wants another "surprise" LOL I told her "You never know when it might happen!!!"

 

[Honeystar120608]

Actually, it was 4 days LOL Thursday, Friday, and Monday/Tuesday. We came back late Monday night, so I went to work Tuesday, but let the kids stay home with DH. That's when I got the email from Ms. Teacher asking if he would be ready with the project and partner is just going to do his own and DS could do his own. We have a very small school district/school, and we are very lucky that our teachers treat our kids like family. Or...maybe not so lucky...we moved here on purpose BECAUSE of the school district

I would be so excited for you if you ever can do it!!!! I re-watch the reveal video of our trip all the time...especially when I am having a bad day or need a pick-me-up. Our winter here in Chicago was awful, too, and it seems like years have passed since November!!!

My DD just told me the other day that she wants another "surprise" LOL I told her "You never know when it might happen!!!"

AWwww cute! Do you have the vid posted on DIS? Would love to see it. I want to get some USD for the kids, but our dollar is crap right now. So we will give them about $100 spending money each the morning of. They will flip, Disney trip and a (in their eyes) a million dollars ...which at this point it will probably cost me that much lol

My friend's sister just surprised her kids for their first visit to disney, 2 hours before their flight departed. Now, everyone does things the way they want, I'm not one to judge. But I do think that the first trip should have some warning. To get the hype going, to experience that DW experience prior. But they are having a great time, and all their pics are making me totally nostalgic.

Our school is the same. It's not small, but not big. I become very one on one with all their teachers so I'm on top of their studies. One year DS who was in Kindergarten at the time, did a journal. Needless to say, the first day driving to Maine to catch our flight, we drove over a deer. That picture and journal entry was very interesting. lol

 

[SEA333]

AWwww cute! Do you have the vid posted on DIS? Would love to see it. I want to get some USD for the kids, but our dollar is crap right now. So we will give them about $100 spending money each the morning of. They will flip, Disney trip and a (in their eyes) a million dollars ...which at this point it will probably cost me that much lol

My friend's sister just surprised her kids for their first visit to disney, 2 hours before their flight departed. Now, everyone does things the way they want, I'm not one to judge. But I do think that the first trip should have some warning. To get the hype going, to experience that DW experience prior. But they are having a great time, and all their pics are making me totally nostalgic.

Our school is the same. It's not small, but not big. I become very one on one with all their teachers so I'm on top of their studies. One year DS who was in Kindergarten at the time, did a journal. Needless to say, the first day driving to Maine to catch our flight, we drove over a deer. That picture and journal entry was very interesting. lol

I would love to post it, but I do not know how!! LOL I could probably figure it out if I get time to try, though, so maybe I will.

I agree on the first time thing...ours had been to MK and DTD before, and told us that they would love to see the other parks and stay at Disney (the first time we went to FL and only went to MK/DTD as part of a larger adventure in FL). I don't think we would have surprised them had it been our first time because they wouldn't have know *what* to be excited for. And I think their ages were good, too, because it really did take DS13 to figure it out...and it even took him a minute to realize what was going on!

I love the story about the deer LOL - we are from Michigan in the country and people hit deer all the time! I thought I would be done with that when we moved to Chicago, but of course we chose the one suburb that is surrounded by woods LOL, and those darn things jump out at me all the time still!!!

I will try to upload the video and see if I can post it. I'll get back to you and let you know if I succeed!! LOL


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202059240979133&l=5932031274999430265
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201182820789176&l=995630679739190172

 

[Honeystar120608]

I would love to post it, but I do not know how!! LOL I could probably figure it out if I get time to try, though, so maybe I will.

I agree on the first time thing...ours had been to MK and DTD before, and told us that they would love to see the other parks and stay at Disney (the first time we went to FL and only went to MK/DTD as part of a larger adventure in FL). I don't think we would have surprised them had it been our first time because they wouldn't have know *what* to be excited for. And I think their ages were good, too, because it really did take DS13 to figure it out...and it even took him a minute to realize what was going on!

I love the story about the deer LOL - we are from Michigan in the country and people hit deer all the time! I thought I would be done with that when we moved to Chicago, but of course we chose the one suburb that is surrounded by woods LOL, and those darn things jump out at me all the time still!!!

I will try to upload the video and see if I can post it. I'll get back to you and let you know if I succeed!! LOL

Great!

lol It's woods everywhere here. We 'think' we are city folk, and we DO live in the city, but....well, we have 4 pheasants living on our property. So we can't be all too urban. lol I've been to enough places to know I wouldn't have it any other way though.

We did learn our lesson though. Thankfully united airlines flies in and out daily from our city now. 6am flight to Newark airport then connect and we are in Disney by noon. It's fantastic! Early, but we are in our fav place in less than a few hours! Plus, we love EWR So no more tripe to save money on flights into Maine. It was about a 6 hour drive each way. Ugh.

The only way I'd know how is to upload it to youtube, then link it here. But... there must be other ways??

 

[ssommerville]

I'm planning a trip in September which is going to be a complete surprise for my kids- DD 14, DD 13, DS 12, and DS 2. This will be our 6th trip in the last 7 years, so it's been a little difficult to figure out a way to surprise the older ones since they will know exactly the direction we're traveling in. What I've done so far is actually planned the trip, with their help- we even already have our dining reservations. We made all the reservations and I just left if for a few days and when I came home from work Monday I told them that I was very sorry, but there is just no way I'm going to be able to make the trip in September. I told them that I would need more time to get everything paid for and that we would push it back to January or December. They were disappointed, but happy that we would still be going later. I told them that I had already asked for the time off of work, so I would just shorten the trip and go spend some time with my sister in Bartow, Fl and possibly go to Legoland or Busch Gardens. I'm going to plan the drive so that we pass through Orlando around 3pm and I'm going to ask if they want to stop at Downtown Disney for a couple of hours, until my sister gets off work, and maybe ride the boat over to Riverside for a carriage ride (that's where we're going to stay). I'm going to let the older kids go for a carriage ride and tell them that I need to use the restroom and change the baby and I'll just meet them after the ride. While they're on the ride, I'm going to check in and hide everything in the diaper bag- then meet back up with them and ride the boat back to Downtown Disney. When we get in the car, I'm going to look through my bag and pretend that I lost my phone and that I must have left it in the restroom, then drive back to the resort to get it. I plan to slip the guard at the gate a note with my license telling him that the kids don't know we're staying and just tell him that I think I left my phone while we were visiting earlier. I'm going to walk into the lobby while the kids wait in the car and then go out and tell them that someone had just called the front desk and said their child had found the phone in the restroom and it was in their room. I'll tell the kids that I told would just go around and pick it up and then I'll ask them to walk to the door with me and then when we get there- SURPRISE! Momma's got the key to the room! I know it's a pretty detailed plan, but my kids usually go with whatever I tell them, so I'm hoping it goes off well.

 

[Kristina4109]

I have an eight year old girl and we've been to Disneyland more times than I can count and Walt Disney World once (planning trip #2 now!) and I just think I'd go CRAZY trying to keep it a secret. Good for you for pulling it off!

 

[lovemy4sweeties]

I'm planning a trip in September which is going to be a complete surprise for my kids- DD 14, DD 13, DS 12, and DS 2. This will be our 6th trip in the last 7 years, so it's been a little difficult to figure out a way to surprise the older ones since they will know exactly the direction we're traveling in. What I've done so far is actually planned the trip, with their help- we even already have our dining reservations. We made all the reservations and I just left if for a few days and when I came home from work Monday I told them that I was very sorry, but there is just no way I'm going to be able to make the trip in September. I told them that I would need more time to get everything paid for and that we would push it back to January or December. They were disappointed, but happy that we would still be going later. I told them that I had already asked for the time off of work, so I would just shorten the trip and go spend some time with my sister in Bartow, Fl and possibly go to Legoland or Busch Gardens. I'm going to plan the drive so that we pass through Orlando around 3pm and I'm going to ask if they want to stop at Downtown Disney for a couple of hours, until my sister gets off work, and maybe ride the boat over to Riverside for a carriage ride (that's where we're going to stay). I'm going to let the older kids go for a carriage ride and tell them that I need to use the restroom and change the baby and I'll just meet them after the ride. While they're on the ride, I'm going to check in and hide everything in the diaper bag- then meet back up with them and ride the boat back to Downtown Disney. When we get in the car, I'm going to look through my bag and pretend that I lost my phone and that I must have left it in the restroom, then drive back to the resort to get it. I plan to slip the guard at the gate a note with my license telling him that the kids don't know we're staying and just tell him that I think I left my phone while we were visiting earlier. I'm going to walk into the lobby while the kids wait in the car and then go out and tell them that someone had just called the front desk and said their child had found the phone in the restroom and it was in their room. I'll tell the kids that I told would just go around and pick it up and then I'll ask them to walk to the door with me and then when we get there- SURPRISE! Momma's got the key to the room! I know it's a pretty detailed plan, but my kids usually go with whatever I tell them, so I'm hoping it goes off well.

Very well planned! Sounds great!! Let us know how it goes!

 

[disneydeal]

WE usually go to Disney for 8-10 days but for our upcoming trip I've told my daughter we'll try and do 3 days. She KNOWS that's not nearly enough time do to past trips.
She's been trying to talk me into 4 days.
Little does she know we're staying for 10 days Disney then 2 more at beach. So yea she'll be surprised. I've even shown her the magicband fastpass choices, I just didn't continue showing her after that 3rd day.

 

[SEA333]

Great!

lol It's woods everywhere here. We 'think' we are city folk, and we DO live in the city, but....well, we have 4 pheasants living on our property. So we can't be all too urban. lol I've been to enough places to know I wouldn't have it any other way though.

We did learn our lesson though. Thankfully united airlines flies in and out daily from our city now. 6am flight to Newark airport then connect and we are in Disney by noon. It's fantastic! Early, but we are in our fav place in less than a few hours! Plus, we love EWR So no more tripe to save money on flights into Maine. It was about a 6 hour drive each way. Ugh.

The only way I'd know how is to upload it to youtube, then link it here. But... there must be other ways??

I think I found a way...it's through my facebook account, but I think it works. Let me know if not...

The first video is when we told them to sit down because we had a surprise for them. Ignore the bad filming/editing, the messy house, and the obnoxious 13 year that cannot follow simple directions LOL

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202059240979133&l=5932031274999430265

The next video is about 10 minutes later when the limo arrived. I think they were more excited about that than the first surprise!! LOL The best part is, if you listen very closely with about 5 seconds left on the video, you can hear DS13 say "This is amazing...thank you guys".

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201182820789176&l=995630679739190172

Now, *who* was saying it's never a good idea to surprise kids with a trip because it never turns out the way the parents think it will??!!

(and before the cranksters really do answer, please know this is a rhetorical question, the trip took place 6 months ago, and it turned out EXACTLY the way we wanted it to! So, I am really not looking for negative feedback LOL)

 

[AprilRenee]

Awww those videos made me get all choked up! So sweet!!!

 

[Honeystar120608]

I think I found a way...it's through my facebook account, but I think it works. Let me know if not...

The first video is when we told them to sit down because we had a surprise for them. Ignore the bad filming/editing, the messy house, and the obnoxious 13 year that cannot follow simple directions LOL

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202059240979133&l=5932031274999430265

The next video is about 10 minutes later when the limo arrived. I think they were more excited about that than the first surprise!! LOL The best part is, if you listen very closely with about 5 seconds left on the video, you can hear DS13 say "This is amazing...thank you guys".

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201182820789176&l=995630679739190172

Now, *who* was saying it's never a good idea to surprise kids with a trip because it never turns out the way the parents think it will??!!

(and before the cranksters really do answer, please know this is a rhetorical question, the trip took place 6 months ago, and it turned out EXACTLY the way we wanted it to! So, I am really not looking for negative feedback LOL)

Oh My Gosh, that was just awesome! I teared up! Your little guy's reaction was awesome!! I sat and showed my hubby. Pure joy, just adored the videos, thanks so much for sharing!!!

 

[Surfinpiratee]

I'm looking for some ideas to surprise my boyfriend!! Got any?