I have seem mention of this, so I guess I am not the first person to think of it:p

Just wondering what you put in the box - or any other creative ways you gave the gift. We will be leaving on the 31st. Did you have to explain hotel reservations, etc.? My older daughter will be 7.5 and is still a total believer, but I know that will not last forever, which is why I am doing it this year!

TIA for any tips!

Chandra

You could put a stuffed Disney character in their stocking holding the ticket.

Last Christmas Santa left Disney Dollars on the Christmas tree. Five dollar bills for me and one dollar bills for my daughter. We had fun searching the tree to get all of them.

If you have more than one child, you might want Santa to leave a note that the found dollars will be divided evenly.

We haven't done this with Disney tickets, but we did it Christmas '06 with a trip to San Francisco for our daughter. (Her first airplane trip!)

We went to AAA and got tour books and maps for San Francisco. I bought Ghirardelli chocolate, Rice-a-Roni (which used to be dubbed "The San Francisco Treat"), and we printed out pictures of San Francisco landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Lombard Street, etc.

We "layered" these things in a box, with the least obvious (the rice) on top and the more obvious toward the bottom. The last things in the box were the confirmation from the hotel and the airplane tickets.

I'm getting teary eyed just remembering how her little face looked as realization began to dawn. She actually knocked me over when she came to hug me.

You could do something similar by putting some Disney things in a box -- starting with some "general" things like a Mickey Mouse coloring book, with maybe an autograph book and pen in the middle; a park map, and perhaps a picture of your hotel closer to the bottom. The tickets could be the last thing. I think it would be worth the effort -- be sure to have a video camera ready!

That's a cool idea Tinkermommy. We are thinking of doing the scavenger hunt that had been mentioned on previous posts. Your idea is a pretty good one too! How old was your DD?

We did this a few years back when we lived in NC. Santa delivered a letter to the kids to let them know of their special gift. I used it in a scrapbook I made for that trip, so I still have it. Let me know if you want to see, I will scan it. :D

My Moms best friend did this last Christmas. She was going wrap a list of questions like, Where are there 6 feet mice? Then if they didn't get it she was going to tell them where there were going. She ended up just wrapping the passports in giftcard boxes & they were all leaving that night so it was quite crazy!! I also saw on America's Funniest Videos a family who wrapped parts of the sentence "We are going to Disneyland!" and they told all the kids to try & figure out what the whole sentence was & the oldest one figured it out & Yelled WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND! It was very cute.

We used Mickey Mouse crocs to "tell" our kids we'd be going to Disneyland. We stuffed the hotel reservation in the toes and put the shoes on the dinner chairs for the four kids who were going on the trip (a NYE gift, since we booked the hotel that day, not before Christmas). Santa could easily do something similar...it was great fun! :)

Santa always loved leaving treasure hunts for my sisters and me. There would be a note on the fireplace, next to our stockings, with a clue leading us somewhere else in the house. We'd go and find another note, then another, and finally we'd find some amazing present at the end of the chain. It always made a special present feel even more special - how nice of Santa to go to so much effort! (The Easter Bunny often used the same technique and hid our Easter baskets somewhere.)

This would work great with a few small "clue" toys along the path - a stuffed Mickey, some Disney Dollars, an autograph book, etc. And it's not hard to do, just start at the ending location and work backwards.

Santa always loved leaving treasure hunts for my sisters and me. There would be a note on the fireplace, next to our stockings, with a clue leading us somewhere else in the house. We'd go and find another note, then another, and finally we'd find some amazing present at the end of the chain. It always made a special present feel even more special - how nice of Santa to go to so much effort! (The Easter Bunny often used the same technique and hid our Easter baskets somewhere.)

This would work great with a few small "clue" toys along the path - a stuffed Mickey, some Disney Dollars, an autograph book, etc. And it's not hard to do, just start at the ending location and work backwards.

That's what we are planning for our DD. With this being her main present which means there will not be a lot under the tree this year. I like the autograph book and stuffy along the way suggestion. I was trying to come up with ideas that start out small and non-descript and end at the final Disney announcement (which I still haven't figured out yet!) Any ideas?

That's what we are planning for our DD. With this being her main present which means there will not be a lot under the tree this year. I like the autograph book and stuffy along the way suggestion. I was trying to come up with ideas that start out small and non-descript and end at the final Disney announcement (which I still haven't figured out yet!) Any ideas?

Since there won't be much under the tree, I think I'd focus on putting gifts under the tree rather than along the way of the treasure hunt. The treasure hunt is loads of fun even when there is just one main prize at the end, and that way you can maximize the amount of gifts that are under the tree, so it doesn't look like a "light" Christmas.

Have Santa leave a note on the mantel, next to the stockings, and the treasure hunt will probably be the first thing she does in the morning. Then she'll be delighted afterwards if she opens gifts from under the tree and finds some things that she can use to make her trip even more magical!

You can get creative and throw Disney hints along the treasure route. Perhaps use some Disney stickers on the clue notes, for example at each location she might be searching for a card with a Mickey sticker on it. And if you have existing Disney things around the house, you can make use of them. You could hide a clue inside a DVD case, inside a book, or under a stuffed toy. At the end of the hunt you could have a box wrapped in Disney paper, with a stuffed Mickey inside holding the tickets.

What fun, I can't wait until my son is old enough for treasure hunts!

We gave our kids (6 & 10) a trip to Disneyland last year for Christmas (we took the actual trip in July ... Christmas in July!). We had Santa give them toys that year so they'd have something to play with and we gave the trip from us. I went to the Disney store and got them each a hat, a t-shirt and a Disney gift card and wrapped them for under the tree. Then I had them open the boxes at the same time (different shapes, though, so it wasn't obvious they were the same gift). They didn't get it! But I had done a thing using Word that said "You're going to Disneyland!" and held it up when they looked at me, puzzled as to why they were getting such crummy gifts. They loved it!

Recently I surprised my youngest with at trip for his birthday. I went to pick him up at school wearing my Disney stuff (shirt, sweater, jacket, crocs) and handed him a picture that said "Happy Birthday" on the old Disneyland sign (from a link in a post here on this website). He got it right away!

If you want anything to decorate signs, etc. that you make on the computer, I've gotten a lot of great disney clipart off of www.disneyclips.com

Our friends that are headed to Disneyland in December (before Christmas) will be driving there from his parent's place in Arizona. They don't plan on telling the kids ANYTHING until they get there, but they'll have Disney movies in the car on the ride there and will be dropping hints the whole way. They told their oldest that they weren't going to to the Disneyland until she was seven (and she's six now) and they've been firm on that point with her. Little does she know! All three kids have NO CLUE. I wish I could be there the moment the oldest one reads the Disneyland sign or they figure it out on the ride there! Priceless!!