Okay, so on another thread someone mentioned how they are going to tell their kids on the way down with maps of the park. This got me to thinking how others have surprised their kids with the news of a trip to DLR. I like the idea I know they do for WDW, that of the fairy godmother postcard thing (I know they have a cute name for it, just can't think of it). So- share your ideas or actual ways you've used, I am curious. thanks!!1

I'm no help since I just tell the kids we are going. LOL I have an 18yr old and a 9yr old and we just tell them. They are actually usually in the room when we are discussing it anyway.

I used the character call to tell my cousins last year. If you book online you get to use it.

When I was a kid, my parents had the back of the car packed up, and told us to get in, that we were going to the grocery store.

Instead they drove to the airport. They told us once we got there.

Best. Surprise. Ever.

Like in my entire life.

peachy,
my bf was thinking of springing it on me like that. his plan was to keep me up for over 24 hrs so i'd be super sleepy and then on the way home from dinner somewhere, just keep driving, and when i woke up, voila! we'd be at disneyland! (that never went thru since i manage the finances. :p)

my parents used to surprise us by buying a mickey or other disney character and say that they wanted to visit home, so we just HAD to take him. :D

When we surprised our boys with our trip last year, we "told" them by buying them Mickey Mouse crocs and placing them under their chair for dinner (it was New Year's Eve). We were traveling with another family and our friends did the same for their kids. It took a while for the kids to figure out why we would give these crocs as gifts, but once they did, they were all very excited!

The best part was seeing all four kids wearing their Mickey crocs at Disneyland!

The first time we took our kids we were planning a "secret" trip for Feb. For Christmas I ordered the "Disneyland Vacation Planning Video" (it was a video 5 years ago). I wrapped it in a giant box. They were so funny, going through all the tissue, and then seeing the tape. They didn't understand. They were so excited to get a video, they didn't understand we were going there! Then they were really excited.

We are doing another trip end of April early May over my son's 8th b-day. My husband often travels so we are going to make it just like we are taking daddy to the airport and then surprise my DS (DD is 12 and way too snoopy to surprise anymore) Although someone in a previous post mentioned that you could get a call from a character the morning you leave. Anyone know anything more about that?

We have done the "surprise" trip with our boys. We loaded the car after they went to bed. Woke them up at 5 a.m. threw them in the car. They were so excited, we barely went 2 hours and we gave in and told them :D.

Someone else posted the idea serving a dinner full of "disney food", I thought that was pretty cute!

I love this thread. Last June my friend and I decided to surprise our daughters with a trip to DL. We bought them little tote bags and filled them with tons of Disney Princess things to keep them entertained on the airplane, and we also got them Disney dollars. We packed in secret and my friend brought her daughter over early one morning for a "girls day out".....once they got there we gave them the tote bags and told them to guess what we were going to do that day. They noticed their Disney dollars and my friends daughter said "the disney store??" We said "better than that".....my daughter was dying to say "Disneyland?" but she wouldn't even go there thinking "no way are we going there"....I finally told her "say it.....say where you think we are going"....she finally said "Disneyland???" and we screamed "YES!!!!" They were shocked! It was one of the best surprises ever....We all had a blast!!!

Although someone in a previous post mentioned that you could get a call from a character the morning you leave. Anyone know anything more about that?

I recently looked this up, so I have info handy :D This is one place you can schedule/order a character call with if you aren't booking online-
https://secure.uvoxnetworks.com/disney/affhome.html?affno=66

THANK YOU! This is perfect!

I went to the Disney fairies site and created a fairy for my niece and nephew's first trip. Then I downloaded her "personalized" stationary and she sent them a letter sprinkled with pixie dust and plastered with Peter Pan/Tink stamps. (Sent from Orange County since DL doesn't have its own post office.) "Rosemary" sent the kids (too) many gifts and exchanged Disney tips with them via e-mail (it's hard for a fairy to get stuff into a human mailbox on a regular basis). She also managed to drop off a lot of surprises, notes, and pixie dust in their hotel room. They loved the magic and also responded very well to Rosemary's tips, particularly the one that said "smart kids take naps."

They are still looking for, and talking about, Rosemary, so I expect she will be back for future trips.

We also did a character call from the regular Disney website. Since we were staying offsite, we couldn't get the one where Mickey calls to say "You're going to Disneyland," but we could pay $2.95 to have him call to talk about taking a special family trip for my nephew's birthday. BIG hit.

Unfortunately, the first trip went awry, due to explosive illnesses in both kids. As a makeup, my sister did the surprise thing for my nephew before their passes expired. He's sweetly gullible for his age. He didn't have a clue until they passed a Disney Twofer Time ad near DL that that's where they were going (it's a four-hour drive). And he had a great time with that approach, too.

Seriously, no matter how you tell them, they'll be thrilled.

We told our kids on Christmas day. They each had special presents that I wrapped with Mickey paper. I had t-shirts custom made that say 'Disneyland or bust!' And I made a wooden countdown chalkboard at my work. They didn't get it at first either and I think the excitement of Christmas took away from the vacation news. As we get closer (16 days!) they are getting more and more excited!

Tshirt:
http://myweb.cableone.net/calmingweight/pic/tshirt.jpg

Countdown:
http://myweb.cableone.net/calmingweight/pic/disneyboard.jpg

When I took my kids for the first time in 2002 they didn't know until the afternoon before we left. My children's school had a Save at School banking program through Washington Mutual and they had been depositing small amounts of money every week hoping it would someday be used as their spending money at Disneyland. I picked them up from school the afternoon before we left and told them we had to go to the bank and withdraw their money from their Disneyland accounts. My daughter, who was 8 at the time, burst into tears. She thought we were out of money and had to use their savings to pay the bills. Her tears of disappointment were quickly turned to shrieks of joyful laughter when I explained it to her. It was absolutely the best surprise ever!!!

When I was a kid, my parents had the back of the car packed up, and told us to get in, that we were going to the grocery store.

Instead they drove to the airport. They told us once we got there.

Best. Surprise. Ever.

Like in my entire life.

I'm not a big fan of surprises, and have only had a few good ones in my life, but probably the first good surprise of my life was like yours.

We were on a bigger driving trip, spending Thanksgiving with my aunt, cousin, and then-uncle. We drove from my hometown, San Jose CA to the Grand Canyon for the holiday. I don't know how long my brother and I begged to go to DL, but I know it was, um, a few times. :rolleyes: We had a terrific time at the Grand Canyon (there was snow!).

Then it came time to drive home, and brother and I renewed our verbal assault of "please please please". As it was before, the answer was "no".

It was nighttime, and I vaguely remember seeing a big sign for DL from the freeway (this was late 70s by the way), and I think we asked One More Time.

And the answer was turning off onto the exit, pulling up to Disneyland Hotel, and having a longstanding reservation. :)

The stinkers! They had planned it the whole time. It was very cool. :cool::p

When I was 17, my boyfriend (now fiance) and his family were planning a trip to Disneyland and they asked me to go along with them. Of course, since I was still living at home, I had to ask my parent's permission. They stalled about it but eventually told me that they were going to have to say no - I don't remember the reasoning now, but needless to say I was quite disappointed.

A few weeks went by and it was my 18th birthday. My parents handed me a rather heavy present and I opened it to find three or four books wrapped in tissue paper. As I took the books out of the box, I saw something in an envelope at the bottom. I opened it up and found a parkhopper pass!

I was a little peeved that my folks had lied to me for that long, and that they had actually given me so much grief about wanting to go, but that was all forgotten! It was a great surprise!

Since then my DF and I have visited Disneyland four consecutive summers, got engaged there last summer and are heading to WDW for our honeymoon so I guess I can essentially thank my parents for kick-starting my Disney fanatascism! :D

We have suprised our children for the last two trips. We didnt do it for the "surprise" factor, we did it because my dd gets sick when she is excited. Really sick- throwing up visit to the doc sick.

Trip 1: Told them we were going to Long Beach for daddys work (which really is in LB). We had just been to DL about 4-5 months before, so they didnt suspect a thing. We flew down at night, so they were asleep when we got to the hotel. We hid all the DL things in the room before we brought them in and put them to bed. After their morning bath, before breakfast we told them what we were really doing. They were shocked.

Trip 2: Scavenger hunt! We got them up for school one morning, and gave them an envelope. In it was a "clue". We sent them to various rooms to collect clues and prizes- Nemo fruit snacks, pool toys, Mickey coloring books, build a bear gift cards, etc. The last clue was to watch the dvd in the portable player. It was the disney planning dvd. My dd figured it out part way through, and didnt say a word. She didnt want to ask and be wrong. My son didnt really get what was going on until we told him. The whole thing ended with a character call from Mickey. To finish off the surprise, the grandparents were waiting at the airport to go with us.

They know we are going in May this year with friends. They do not know the dates. They are already asking if they can have another scavenger hunt and how we plan to surprise them. I guess I need to get busy!

One year for Christmas each of our DD's got:
Their own suitcase.
A new bathing suit.
A "Going to Disneyland" Barbie
and in their stockings were:
a couple of magazines
sunscreen (and little things for on the plane)
and in the branches of the Christmas tree itself Santa hid the Boarding Passes to leave Boxing Day! That was exciting!

After each daughter received their ITF Black Belt in TaeKwonDo, we gave them a congratulations card and each time inside was a trip to Disneyland where we were leaving the next day!

I'm Canadian and I can't remember when boxing day is? Is that December 26th?

My kids always know. It is a long drive and only one way there and we aren't good at secrets.

The other day I was in Walmart and they had really cute Disney themed Easter baskets. If I were going to make a surprise I would fill one with goodies and deliver it to them the morning of the trip.

My neighbor drove her kids down who had never been and just told them we're going to California. They checked into the hotel on State College Blvd. and then the next morning was Christmas and they told them. All of them are very small though and not reading so really didn't have a clue where they were until that moment.

I have to correct myself. LOL We did surprise my oldest and my 2 nephews and my niece way back in 96. My roommate and I decided to take them all for Christmas so we bought tickets at the Disney Store and then Christmas Eve night we all gathered at my house with my sister bringing her kids and put their tickets inside the tree in envelopes with their names on them. All of them just kind of looked at these tickets like "Wha??" and I had to tell them we were leaving the next morning for Disneyland. My son was 7, my nephews were 8 and 11 and my niece was 7. That was a fun trip!

[QUOTE=momuvseven;1203046]I'm Canadian and I can't remember when boxing day is? Is that December 26th?

QUOTE]

Where in Canada do you live? We are Canadian too....and yes..Boxing Day is December 26.

Yup here in edmonton boxing day is the 26th! LOL. I think I'll use a character call to let my son (4) know this year. But I'll wait till closer to the trip so I don't get nagged every day :)

I recently looked this up, so I have info handy :D This is one place you can schedule/order a character call with if you aren't booking online-
https://secure.uvoxnetworks.com/disney/affhome.html?affno=66

can i ask you which options you chose for your call? Thanks!

can i ask you which options you chose for your call? Thanks!

I just did a call for my nephew 3 days ago- who is there as we speak If you choose "good morning" from mickey ( not sure about the other people as I only wanted mickey) you can then choose "going on a vacation" although its genralized for any vacation - it ends with him saying "see you real soon"

I thought that was great as an option

I just did a call for my nephew 3 days ago- who is there as we speak If you choose "good morning" from mickey ( not sure about the other people as I only wanted mickey) you can then choose "going on a vacation" although its genralized for any vacation - it ends with him saying "see you real soon"

I thought that was great as an option

Thanks Carina!!!