Best way to tell kids you're going to Disney

[BigBaloo]

We're starting to plan our next trip to WDW & are trying to come up w/ another cool way to tell our kids we're going.

Our last trip (SW weekend 07) we woke the kids up at 5am, I said I didn't feel like going to work & how about we blow off school & go to Disney? My DW & I already had their things packed & headed to the airport. It was awesome. Now the problem is how do you top it? :mickey:

[judoma]

That's an awesome story!:mickey:

[Disney fans..]

What a cute little story..I can't keep secrets like that, I would have exploded! Let us know what you chose to do this time.

[Soul_Power]

If you go onto YouTube and just search for "Disney Surprise" there's a lot if videos that come up. There are some really cute/funny ones on there, so maybe you could get some ideas from what was done in the past!

How exciting! :mickey: Let us know how it goes!

[jonahbear2006]

We talked about playing a board game; Disney monopoly or something and allowing the kids to win and already having a prize in an envelope; a disney card that when opened it says, You won a trip to Disney, Get in the car!
We decided to tell the kids we were going to visit my cousin, when they woke up we got them out of the car and said where are we, they looked around and my middle child said, "this looks like fort wilderness!" Yay!!! We are in Disney!!! They looked to the heavens and grinned ear to ear!

[disneyfan328]

For our trip last year ( my, DD-19 and DH 2nd trip and DD - 7 and DS 5 First Trip ever) we decided to do it as a surprise for the 2 youngest. The oldest knew and was able to help plan the trip and help with the surprise. It was a lot of fun. I made autograph books, travel journals and personalized tshirts for the kids (the big kid too as I didn't want the kids to know that she knew all along.) I had been picking stuff up here and there at the disney store and dollar store that were disney related - beach towels, coloring books ect. I packed everything up in a big box with a large piece of cardboard on top covering the gifts. On top of that I printed up (using clip art and other stuff from the web) a letter from Mickey and the princesses and friends inviting my family to a 9 day stay at Port Orleans I had this in a big manilla envelope and I printed it on cardstock. I then sealed it all up and "shipped it"(with the help of a neighbor) to our house about a month before the trip - right about this time last year actually. The box had written on it to be opened after dinner in big letters ( like when they print FRAGILE on it). That night I made a disney themed dinner (large cheese pizza and 2 small indv. pepperoni pizzas when placed on the table looked like a mickey head. salad with cucumber and cherry tomoato slices to look like mickey heads and homemade choc. chip cookies in the shape of what else - mickey) no one really caught on until the cookies and my DS said - hey mom these look like Mickey heads, I said hmm they do kind of look like him huh, isn't that funny - after dinner we took the kids in the living room and let them open the box. the 7 year old read the letter out loud and the look of shock and surprise on her face was priceless. Her brother and her started dancing around the living room then proceeded to rip open the rest of the box. (Which also held a special invite for my DH to do the richard petty ride along expierence for our anniversary gift - he knew nothing about it and was even more surprised than the kids were.

I also did invitations for each day of the trip that had tinkerbell and the castle on the front of each one that said "Lets see what Magic awaits you today...." Then inside I had an invite to the park of the day and for whatever TS meal (and even a few CS that we knew we were doing like Toy Story ) The kids loved waking up each morning to look for where "Tink" had placed the invite. Little things like this are saved with our Disney mementos and really helped make the trip extra special.

[BigBaloo]

Thanks for the ideas.... I knew I'd get some good ones.

We live in NJ & their cousins live in Alabama so I like the cousin route. I just need for them to coordinate a trip at the same time so when I say we're going to see their cousins I won't be lying!!:mickey:

[KAT1811]

Our last trip (SW weekend 07) we woke the kids up at 5am, I said I didn't feel like going to work & how about we blow off school & go to Disney? My DW & I already had their things packed & headed to the airport. It was awesome. Now the problem is how do you top it? :mickey:

This is our plan this year. Although we will not be getting up at 5:00am. Thank heavens!!! I'll pack the children and the car while our oldest is at school and then we'll pile the little ones in the car, pick our oldest up at school and off to the airport we go! I'm not too sure who's more excited me or DH!!! This is our first trip to the World with just our immediate family. We usually travel with at least my parents so the alone time is something we are really looking forward to.

You could do a scavenger hunt with Disney themed items that the children need to find around the house and then the last item they find could be an envelope with a video tape inside with you singing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song and then announcing your trip. Or you could put your past trips on a photo CD and have a "photo" at the end saying "to be continued . . ." and then the date of your upcoming trip.

[thumperbug]

When my DS was 4 1/2 we woke him up at 4:30 am and told him to get up and get dressed because we were going to Disney. He asked "when?" We said "Now". I never saw my son jump awake and get dressed so fast.

Another thing we did.... we had a trip planned for June. We didn't tell my son we were going.

On Easter, we put Disney Dollars in a bunch of his Easter eggs and when he asked "why did the Easter Bunny give me DIsney Dollars?" we told him "He figured you could use it on a trip to Disney in June."

For my Feb 09 trip, I was not going to tell my DH or DS about the trip until the last minute.

The day before we leave is Valentines day and I was going to give my DH a card that read "Start packing, we leave for Disney tomorrow". But, I couldn't keep that trip a secret.

MY DH has been very down lately so I told him about it and it definitely cheered him up.

Now thats all he keeps talking about.

[5fromabove]

We are going in 10 days and it's a total surprise for the kids. :secret: They always get depressed/bummed out at the end of the summer...with school starting up and all. Our oldest DD can't go, due to High School sports commitment's. She does know about the trip though, b/c I bought her a plane ticket too before I knew her coach wouldn't let her go. She was sworn to secrecy. What I did was buy cheap tickets on SWA out of Manchester, NH (we always fly out of Boston). I dropped hints here and there about how we should go do something that last week before school starts...they thought that would be great. About a month ago I said, "hey, let's head up to New Hampshire that week". I grew up there, and we've been a couple times...but they've mentioned wanting to go back. They are now completely convinced we are going to NH, and they'll ask things like, "can I bring this to NH"?, etc. ;) We are going to go about packing as if we are heading to a week long trip, etc. I am NOT good with secrets usually...so I have had a heck of a time containing myself, LOL. However, the anticipation of THEIR excitement...is what is keeping me quiet. :) We reserved two rooms at ASSports because our boys are such huge sports guys. I think they will love that...and we always do princessy things for the girls.
On that Sunday, we will head out around 9 for a leisurely ride north (we live about 3 hours from the airport, and the flight isn't until mid afternoon). We plan to bring a picnic lunch and stop at the NH welcome center. Depending how much further the drive is to Manchester and how we're doing on time...we'll probably pop the surprise there. I have created some of those candy bar wrappers that you can get on one on the other Disney sites (make on your own computer). I'll ask anyone if they want dessert...and pull them out of the cooler. The wrappers have a bunch of characters on them and say, "We're going to Disney World". I told DH we should be careful where we give them to them, as the kids will likely start screaming and yelling and strangers might wonder if something is wrong, LOL.
Then, each morning of the trip, I'll give them that day's plan...so they won't know what park we are going to, or TS meals etc, until that day. :)
The MAIN reason we are going that week is that it's my Dad's 60th birthday. He lives in Florida and we haven't seen him since Feb., so we'll also be surprising the kids with a day with Grandpa. I've made ressies for a nice dinner, and ordered a special cake for my Dad. That's a surprise for him :D
Whenever I really need to talk Disney (the kids ask OFTEN about it)...I ramble on about our April '09 trip when then know we are going with our good friends. :D
I must admit, it is getting TOUGH to contain myself, I'm almost to the single digits at this point. :) I'll let you know how the surprise goes when I get back :)

[Marilyn Michetti]

Well, if it were me, I'd say, "you're staying at Aunt Joan's for a few days while mommie and daddy are away".:D

Seriously?, don't tell them anything. Just go to the airport with them, check in, get on the plane, and see how long it takes for them to figure it out. (O.K., so what do I know)?:)

[thumperbug]

Wait until you get to the airport to tell them!!!!!!! Will they see the DME tags on the bags or will you wait until you get to the airport to put them on?? I like the wrapper idea

[5fromabove]

Wait until you get to the airport to tell them!!!!!!! Will they see the DME tags on the bags or will you wait until you get to the airport to put them on?? I like the wrapper idea

I was going to just have DH pull into the long term parking lot...but I'm not familiar with this airport at all. I'm afraid DS-12 will see signs and say, "uh, what are we doing at an airport" and blurt it out before I'm ready LOL. I'm not putting the DME tags on until we get there...and am hiding all things Disney. In fact, it was almost blown the other day when DS-12 got the mail for me and that packet that comes just before your trip with, "special ideas to make your trip more magical" printed on it was in the mailbox. He's like, "what's this"? ... I said..."oh, that's for our April trip". phew. close call. If I actually pull this off, it will be a minor miracle :)

[#1donaldfan]

I don't know if that can be topped.....that would be the coolest thing ever, to wake up thinking, AAAARRGGG another day of school to find out we're going to Disney instead......how can that be topped ????

What a great surprise.......I'm not sure I could contain that secret ......:mickey:

[TheRustyScupper]

So it wasn't Disney . . .

1) We decided to take the kids and grandkids to Europe.
2) During a family dinner, we casually slipped it into the conversation.
3) Kinda of just before putting a fork-full of food into our mouth.
4) It was a small comment.
5) We just sat back and waited for it to sink in.
6) Then the kids went crazy.

NOTE: The wife sort of muttered to me, rather than making a definitive statement, "I guess we just have to take to kids and grandkids with us. Of course, we don't know if they want to go."

[DisneyDoug2]

The first time that we took our kids to Disney, we picked them up early from school and just told them we were going on an adventure and that was all, it was not until we were with in eye sight of the big entry sign that they realized that we were going to Disney. The look and excitement was un believable! Something I will remember the rest of my life!

Since then we have never been able to top that.