Surprise trip

[disneykid99]

We have taken our kids to Disney several times - at least once a year for the past 6 years. We are planning a SURPRISE trip for Oct. :secret: The kids no nothing about it. They think we are going down to visit their grandparents - which we are doing first. I was wondering if any of you have ever done a surprise trip for your kids and if you had any tips on making it extra special. The only things I have thought of so far is to go to the Disney store and get them a few t-shirts to surprise them with once we are there.
Thank you :mickey:

[MickeysEars]

We had a big box with baloons in it that popped out when they opened it. A big Mickey head, minnie head and a Merry Christmas Princess baloon. they loved it

[goofyhygienist]

Too funny! I am planning a surprise trip for my girls in September! We booked in January and have had a very hard time keeping our mouths shut! The girls think we are going to a dental convention and will change planes in Orlando! This trip is for my youngest daughters birthday.. my older daughter has been there twice on her birthday! We are so excited and counting down the days.. i have 2 sets of clothes i am getting ready.. the "fake" clothes and our DISNEY clothes which i am hiding in my husbands closet! Have a wonderful time.... aren't surprises great!!! We aren't going to tell them till we get the the airport. They think we are changing planes.. so i am going to hand my younger daughter the maps i ordered.. and ask her if she would rather go "there" instead. cannot wait!!!

[BellesRose]

My parents tried that once...but my mom just can't keep a secret :D We were on our way to Target and my brother and I were talking about what we wanted to buy with our money, when she told us "Don't spend anything, you may want to save it for DISNEY!" She then told us that they were going to surprise us and take us for the day. We sure didn't spend our money at Target, though! :thumbsup:

If I ever have kids, I'm definitely going to pull a surprise Disney trip on them :secret:


Oh, and the Disney shirts are such a cute idea!

[Sunshine1010]

50% of the time, we surprise our child. It's always been wonderful.

We never gave him gifts to figure it out...we would always just ,...."Oh, by the way, we have a surprise for you"...kind of thing.

We have been successful many times. Surprising foster children and even my son's friend that has gone with us before.

We've used all kinds of excuses, and they've all worked. All the teachers have always been a part of it.

The surprise factor has been wonderful....

[CanadianWDWFan]

I am just moving this thread over to Vacation Planning.

We did it this last May, we didn't tell them that we were going until we were driving to the airport.

Another trip while visiting my parents in Clearwater we drove to Disney World after telling the kids we were heading home. Our youngest , 4 at the time, noticed all the signs but our oldest missed them. The look on their faces as we passed the gates was absolutely priceless.

[beckylovestink]

we are surprising our kids for September...I cant take keeping it in any longer....so...
on our whiteboard I made a hangman game. The phrase says we are going to walt disney world! I am allowing the kids to pick a letter each night after dinner to try to figure out the phrase.
We could not decide how to tell them and I thought of this today.
I think it will still take a while to figure out (they are 9 and 6) but at least they know a surprise is in store.
My daughter thinks it may be a new Wii game...boy is she in for a surprise!

[Dsnygirl]

How fun!!

We surprised our girls two years ago, and it was SO fun! We did a scavenger hunt, with the final clue/surprise being found in our Magic Kingdom board game. (Two Birnbaum Disney for Kids books :))

I've also heard of people making word searches online, and having the remaining letters that aren't circled spell out "We're going to Disneyworld" or something similar.

The shirts is a GREAT idea... I think no matter how you do it, they'll be thrilled!! Have fun!

[Mary Poppins fan]

When my DS (now 16) was little, we always kept the trip a surprise (mainly for our own sanity!) We'd get up the morning we were leaving and ask him if he'd like to go see Mickey. Our biggest surprise trip was a couple of years ago in early September. I told the kids I had to pick them up early from school for a doctor's appointment. When we got home there was a limo waiting - on the way to the airport the kids each had a puzzle/word search to figure out where we were going. The expressions on their faces were priceless!

[buzznwoodysmom]

We've surprised our kids a few times, but we never used any "gifts/props" for our surprises. The first time they were very young. They knew we were going on vacation, but didn't know where until we arrived. They were so young that their reaction wasn't all that we'd hoped for. They were happy, just too young to fully understand what was going on. Years later we vacationed at Disney's Vero Beach resort. They asked the entire trip if we could please go to WDW since we were in Florida. We kept telling them that just because we vacation in Florida doesn't mean we have to go to WDW. On the "drive back home" I took out the video camera and started recording them. I asked what their favorite part of the trip was, did they have fun, did they have enough fun or did they want more fun? They both said they wanted more fun so I told them to look out the front windsheild and there we were driving through the gates of WDW. They hadn't noticed any of the signs up till that point. They were screaming and just so excited. It was such a fun surprise. Then this past Nov. we spent a week at Beach Club and had our traditional breakfast at Ohana's before heading home. At breakfast I asked if there was anything they wanted to do that we hadn't gotten around to doing during the week. Oldest DS said "Hmmm, stay one more night?". Then younger DS said "No way I wanna stay 3 more nights". Well much to their surprise we were indeed staying 3 more nights, at the Poly. Our family had wanted to stay at the Poly for a very, very long time. This was a great surprise. Not only did they get to stay for 3 more nights, but we were staying at our favorite resort for the first time, and we had MVMCP tickets, and the Luau booked. I think you should just wait until you are driving on site to let them know! Good luck and have fun with it.

[disneykid99]

Thank you all for the great posts and ideas. I am really starting to get excited about keeping it a suprise. I am so worried about blowing it that I am not even telling our friends we are going.

[Dsnygirl]

Thank you all for the great posts and ideas. I am really starting to get excited about keeping it a suprise. I am so worried about blowing it that I am not even telling our friends we are going.
Let me tell you, that was the hardest part for me... I love having the kids involved in counting down the days, picking out a few fun outfits just for the trip, having them help pick restaurants, etc. So it was SO hard for me to not say anything -- I can't tell you the times I almost blew it and had to stop mid-sentence and make up something else!! :D Have fun!

[AntMagsMom]

We just booked a trip this weekend for September 9 - 13 and we're not telling the kids until we wake them up to go to the airport!

Now, I just pray that there won't be a hurricane!!!:(

[andreallybadeggs]

We surprised DD twice:
once at age 5-- we tacked on WDW at the end of a beach vacation and just drove until she realized where we were
second time was amazing-- for her Sweet 16. Along with her BFF's parents we kept it a secret for 6 agonizing months! A month before the date, we told them that we were taking them to Branson, a 2 hour drive from home-- they were happy with that. Then we drove to the airport and gave them boarding passes for Dallas-- they were very happy with that. Then we arrived in Dallas and gave them boarding passes for Tampa-- they were REALLY happy with that; a long weekend at the beach! Just before we got on the plane we asked DD, if she could be anywhere in the world and at any hotel in the world for her Sweet 16, what she would choose. She was reluctant to answer, thinking that a trip to Florida was already much more than she had anticipated but with some coaxing she finally admitted that her "wildest dream birthday" would be to drive from Tampa to WDW and spend the weekend in an MK view room at the Grand Floridian. DH and I smiled and said "Good, because that's exactly what we have planned." :cloud9: