To Tell or Not to Tell?

[DisneyFr33k]

As you can tell from my signature, we have become Disney addicts and have traveled to the World almost every Fall. We've also taken 2 cruises over the past 2 years.

My DD (12) loves the World, where my DS (10) is less of a thrill ride junkie as his sister and prefers the cruise. So, we booked a 5 night stay at the World in October (with a 40% off pin) and then will travel to the port for a 3 day Bahama's cruise (from a GREAT deal offered when we cruised last February). But, we haven't told the kids yet. :secret:

Since we've done Disney so much we could almost be a tour guide (almost), we wanted to do something different. We are considering not telling the kids until the morning we are to get up at 4am and catch the flight. :alarm: The only thing that is stopping us is all the pre-trip anticipation and magic the kids love experiencing. :magic:

Any thoughts? Any of you surprised a loved one? If so, would you do it again?

I'd love any advice or perspectives you all may have. Or, if you have a better idea on how to make this a different beginning to our fantasy week in Florida, I'm all ears! :mickey:

Thanks!!

[SBETigg]

I couldn't wait until the last minute to tell. I love surprises, but I love the planning and anticipation more, and my daughter is just like me. A compromise would be perhaps to tell them a few weeks in advance. Whatever you do, I'm sure they will be thrilled.

[Cinderella's Lady in Waiting]

We did just that on our second trip to the world! It was a blast! Yes, they did not get to have the anticipation of going but if you go often enough it then becomes "something different". We woke our kids at 3am and asked if they wanted to go to WDW. They said yes but when they went to get dressed my daughter told her brother not to get excited that we were just going to the grocery store:confused:...she was only 10!! They have never forgotten a detail of that surprise trip. It was something none of us will forget!:mickey: Do it :thumbsup:. We also video taped the whole thing. We just watched it the other day!

[Lakin]

Tell them 2 weeks before. Enough time to be surprised, yet enough time to build excitement!

I, honestly, would not like being told last minute. I would be too worried about my luggage then I would about being excited.

[cherbie66]

For kids your childrens age, I say tell them. For younger kids who don't care about what clothes are packed for them and such, I'd say surprise.

I wanted to make our upcoming trip a surprise for my dd4 (turning 5), but my sister told her (not knowing it was a surprise). I think it would have been great to surprise her, but since this is her first trip, I'm glad she knows. We look on youtube a few times a week for videos showing the rides and she picked from the disney's website what rides she is excited about. Plus we are doing a disney reward chart for her so she can earn spending money. She is so excited and this excitement and planning is going to last longer than our trip, unfortunately.

[dtootsie42]

I would wait...on our last trip we were celebrating our youngest daughters 16th birthday. She thought we were going in the middle of December when we actually were going the Friday after Thanksgiving.

At the end of Thanksgiving dinner we said by the way you need to get your suitcase packed because we leave tomorrow for Disney World. She at first thought we were kidding and then she started shrieking. Needless to say she stayed up most of the night getting things ready. It was a blast to surprise her.

Dec. 1997---Contemporary
Dec. 1999--Poly
June 2000--Disneyland
Dec. 2001---Poly Concierge
Dec. 2003---Poly Concierge
Dec. 2005---Poly Concierge
Nov. 2007---Poly Concierge
Oct. 2008--DisneyLand
Next trip Dec. 2009--Poly Concierge

[motherof4]

I tried to that last year and my daughter figured it out. My parents were bugging me everyday to find out where we were going. I could not really plan it because I could not really ask anybodys opinion. It was kind of fun but I had to do all the planning. this year everyone is helping out.

[Kathy Jetson]

My ds who will be 6 when we go knows we are going sometime around his birthday in Oct. We will act like it is 2 weeks farther away than it is. I will suprise him by picking him up 1 hour early from school and telling him he has to get home to pack his suitcase because we are leaving!

[MickeyandTink]

We did a 100 day countdown last year, with a special card for each day on the countdown with something Disney related on it. After that trip, we told the kids it would probably be at least 2 or 3 years before we could go back.

However, we've been fortunate this year to have a little extra, unexpected money and have scheduled another trip. We are trying our best to keep it secret until the day before. We will be driving down to their grandmother's for what we will tell them is just a Labor Day weekend getaway. What they will find out on the way down is that we will actually be going to WDW in the morning.

[joonyer]

We pulled off a WDW trip without telling our kids (12 & 9 at the time) ahead of time. We told them we were going camping in Florida for a long weekend (so they knew we were going somewhere). Picked them up after school with the car already packed and headed south. Didn't tell them we were "camping" at Wilderness Lodge until we were on Disney property and my youngest figured out where we were going (they had been to WDW twice before). His big brother was asleep in the car and little brother began shouting "we're going to Disney World! - we're going to Disney World!", waking up his brother, who was really confused at first. That was a lot of excitement for DW & I to keep under our hats on the drive down, but it was a great surprise!

[Figment78]

Hmmmm.... this is a fun dilemma! I think I would tell them like, 2 or 3 days in advance. That way, they get to enjoy the "anticipation" part of the trip, but also are surprised!

[MNMS]

This is quite a dilemma. We've gone for the last 8 years and have never been able to surpirse our daughters. I like the anticipation too much and lots of talk about what we're going to do and what our favorites rides/attractions are. That being said I'm thinking of surprising them this year for a change. I'd try to surprise them.

[alliekat]

We are also Disney junkies and have been blessed to go often the last few years. My DD 11 is so into the planning, but I still like to suprise her a bit. When we last July we decided not to tell her until 2 months before. There are some great websites where you can get aerial images of pretty much anywhere. She knew we were going away and we hinted at something local like Mystic, CT or Hershey. We kept trying to zoom in on the map with the pictures and she kept saying that's not right your'e too far south, your'e near Florida, go up north further. Then as we kept zooming in too Orlando and it finally caught on. She was thrilled, that night she got the books out and started planning. For our next journey in Aug. we just decided to go last week. DH and I booked it all and then had her 2 year old brother deliver the news, she thought he was crazy. Then her eyes lit up and she ran to get her pin book to see what she needed. Disney is such a joy no matter how you share it they will be thrilled. Let us know what you do and have fun!! If you want those websites just PM me and I will give them to you.

[biodtl]

I think a surprise like that would be so much fun, and something they would never forget. the anticipation and planning if also fun, but since they have gone a lot before, they have already experienced that. I guarantee if you wake them up and surprise them, they will be telling the story to their grandkids someday.

[rubato]

We've done it both ways and they were both great. But, nothing will ever compare to my son's face in the car as we pulled into DW. He just thought we drove for 2 days to go to Florida and the beach. Instead he got to spend his 5th birthday in Disney. I still cry just thinking about it!

[steamboat willy]

Your son could probably care less what you would pack for him, but how in the WORLD could one pack a 12 year old girls suitcase to please her for such an fun and exciting trip? :secret:
The girls have to do the laying out on the bed the tops and short sets and you just have to have a new bathing suit for the pool and cruise and lets not forget that pair of sneakers or sandles and crocks well in advance where us guys take enough shorts and tee shirts per day to cover the trip and some may even match.
Am I right? :cool:

[Boost]

Our kids are too smart and usually figure it out. We live east of Orlando and for the times when we try to surprise them, they look around and know that they are on I-4 West and shout, "We're going to Disney!!!!!!!"

It is also fun to plan ahead and see them pack their little backpacks with a few toys so they feel like they have their own "stuff".

It's just fun all around....

[Ed]

Have you considered telling them you're going to WDW, but conveniently "forgetting" to tell them about the cruise? Then when they think they're packing up to go home :cry: on that last morning in the resort, tell them "Oh, by the way, I totally forgot to tell you - - we're not going home; we're going on a cruise!" :joy:

[doombuggygal]

I think this is a good idea depending on your child's personality. We did this when we went in March and it didn't turn out so well. We kept the trip secret for about 3 months which felt like torture. Then the night before we set up a scavenger hunt with clues around the house,we had grandparents come over to watch and videotaped it and were all so excitied, when she got to the end and figured out the surprise she burst into tears because she thought it was a joke. When we finally convinced her that yes we were going she seemed like she was too shocked to be excited and began to work about things like what clothes did we pack, did we remember pins, hats, etc. She was 9 when we did this and personality wise tends to be on the cautious/worrier side. If you have a very easygoing child would probably work out a lot better. In the future we will tell ahead of time and enjoy the planning together.