How to tell the kids?

[angiepangie95]

We've taken a number of trips in the past with our children, girl 12 and boy 5. We've planned another trip for this December but haven't told the kids yet. We plan on driving from Texas and arriving on Dec 18, my daughter's 13th B-Day. I'm looking for a great way to break the news to them - any thoughts?

[Cheshire Figment]

Buy tickets for MVMCP for December 18th. Have them shipped to you at home. Buy a Mickey Mouse birthday card for your daughter, put the tickets in, and give it to her the night before you are leaving. The tickets are date-specific.

[jenjustinsmom]

Pack the car when the y r not around then get in and go see how long it takes them to figure it out.

[Greg in TN]

Our kids were quite a bit younger when we tried this (6 & 3), but we told them we were going to eat pizza in front of the TV & watch a movie. Then the "movie" turned out to be the WDW vacation planning DVD. This was their first trip to WDW, and their first time to watch that DVD. Not sure how effective that would be for older kids, or kids who have been to WDW previously ... I like the sound of the MVMCP tickets inside the Mickey B-Day card idea .. IF you're going to MVMCP ... Otherwise some other WDW-specific item (actual park tickets, park map, etc) would probably get the same effect.

Have fun !!!

[WDW heart]

How about Don't tell them till the morning of. We have done this to my kids with smaller trips a couple times. We took them to Great Wolf Lodge for Spring Break last year. They knew we were going to Williamsburg but had no idea the hotel had a Waterpark in it. They were really tickled!!

[JeffG]

Obviously different kids are different, but at age 12 if my parents hadn't told me about a family vacation early enough to allow me to take part in the planning, I would have been rather ticked at them.

-Jeff

[crrees]

My brother told me nephew that they were going to Gainesville for another "buisness conference", my nephew is 5 BTW. WDW is by far his favorite place, it just so happens my nephew fell asleep right as they were passing orlando, so my brother decided not to wake him up and drove to the contemporary where they were really staying. When they took my nephew out of the car and he woke up, he could see that he was in a familiar place. He started freaking out and my sister-in-law caught it all on tape.

That kid was beaming for the entire vacation

[WDW heart]

Originally Posted by crrees

My brother told me nephew that they were going to Gainesville for another "buisness conference", my nephew is 5 BTW. WDW is by far his favorite place, it just so happens my nephew fell asleep right as they were passing orlando, so my brother decided not to wake him up and drove to the contemporary where they were really staying. When they took my nephew out of the car and he woke up, he could see that he was in a familiar place. He started freaking out and my sister-in-law caught it all on tape.

That kid was beaming for the entire vacation

That is adorable!!

[KJSJpipe]

I am waiting for the kids (7&10) to figure it out. We will get in the car at my mothers Friday morning and just start driving. Hopefully I can keep my mouth shut another couple of days!

[angiepangie95]

Thanks for the suggestions. In the past we've tried telling the kids we were going to visit relatives and then drove to Disney World. Since we have no relatives on that side of the US, my daughter figured it out by the time we hit Mississippi. I like the birthday card idea. She's having a slumber party the Friday before we leave so I can give it to her then. Her friends will be so jealous!

[tappenfeat]

One year I surprised my DD with a trip to WDW....I packed her clothes while she was in school...hid the suitcases and she had no idea.

So, the morning of she woke up and said, "What are we doing today Mom?"

And I said, "Ohhhhh, I don't know, I think today we are going to..........GO TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!"

She was so surprised and the look on her face was priceless....

We still talk about that day and that was 3 years ago...it worked like a charm.

She asked me to do that again for her again someday........

The last 2 trips she knew....so with her getting older it was harder to keep it a secret...I'll have to think of some new ideas...hmmmmmmmm

[justgeorgi]

My best friends first trip to Disney (we were with them) this is how she told her kids...

We told them that one of her daughters and my daughter were going to fly to a talent competition. Since we needed a ride to the airport our husbands were going to drive us and bring along her older daughter and son for the 'ride'. At the time her oldest daughter was 11 and cranky, just hitting puberty and NONE too happy to be being dragged on this long round trip to the airport for "nothing."

When we arrived at the airport my friend gave her 3 children each a gift and told the younger daughter it was to 'wear' on the plane to the talent competition and told her older 11 year old that it was for being so 'understanding' that she couldn't go with us on their first plane ride. (Her youngest child was just a toddler so he didn't know a thing either way lol!)

The gifts were zip up sweatshirts with Mickey Mouse on the front and their name under them...they were thrilled...I was video taping and said "hey whats it say on the back?"

They flipped them over....

They said "My First Trip To Disneyworld" and under that a pic of their favorite character and the dates we would be there....they cried, laughed, cried some more...it was PRICELESS....something none of us will ever, ever forget.
Then we got on the plane and all flew to Disney!

[neslerspecial]

My husband and I have officially pulled off a surprise for our kids and are looking for a way to tell them too. All these idea's are great! I get so excited everytime I think of how to tell them. We are leaving on Saturday / for 8 days. My boys are 11,9 and my daughter is 6. They have been to Disney once 2 years ago and loved it! Hoping the weather is warmer by Saturday~!

[swps]

My boys (7,5,3,1) have no idea that we are going to WDW in December, 12-19th. Granted they are a little younger than some of the previous examples, but this is what my wife and I are planning.

We bought the older 3 custom Disney shirts from Zazzle.com and the youngest a Pal Mickey from the resort. We plan on packing the night before we leave while the kids sleep, fortunately they are all heavy sleepers so I'm not planning on them waking up. The next morning we plan on having the kids get up and ready for school and pre-school but set out the new shirts for them to wear. We'll see if they figure it at that point, or when we load them up to take them to school and drive past the school. In either case it will be a big surprise!!!

In any case, I couldn't imagine how hard it would be on them if they knew we were going. I can't wait to see how excited they are!!!

-swps

[KJSJpipe]

Still haven't cracked yet! I wonder how far we get before they realize whats going on. My bet is no farther then Virginia since they think we are going to a place in Maryland.

[WDW heart]

Originally Posted by KJSJpipe

Still haven't cracked yet! I wonder how far we get before they realize whats going on. My bet is no farther then Virginia since they think we are going to a place in Maryland.

I love this!! You have to update us and let us know how they take it!

[pixiepower]

I love this thread! Last year, "Santa" left a scroll on the tree, which unrolled , explained that we were going to Disney, where we were staying etc. My kids were 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 so I am not sure they really "got it" since the trip was in early February. My son thought we were leaving that day, and when we said "no, now we are going to Baba's for Christmas dinner...we're going to Disney in February" he just shrugged and ran off to play with his new toys.

They now understand, but have a hard time handing hype of any sort because of their still limited concepts of time, so I think this year it will be a total surprise.

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law picked up my niece early from school one day and pretended they were taking my brother-in-law to the airport for business. When they got to the airport, they broke the news and she was sooo excited. She's asked my sister-in-law to do it again sometime.

We are looking at booking one of these great Southwest deals, which will involve pulling them out of bed at 3 am, to get to the airport for the earliest n/s flight, and not telling them until they "wake up". I am crazy excited just thinking about it!

Please keep us updated and let us know what you do! The other stories are great too!!!!

[ehbowen]

It was the other side of the country, but we sent my six nephews and nieces (all my sister's) on a scavenger hunt throughout Nana and Pawpaw's house. On Christmas morning, after opening packages, we gave the littlest (1 yr) an envelope and said that that, "was your BIG present." Inside, it said, "WHY? Because we like you!" and told the next youngest (3) to look under the bathroom sink to find WHO. By this time of course the big kids were really into it. In that envelope was a list of all our names, and directions for the youngest boy (6) to go into the garage to find WHEN. In the garage workbench was a calendar with the dates circled in red (May 19-30, 2006) and directions for the 9 year old girl to look in the file cabinet to find WHAT. In the cabinet was a copy of the "Travel" section from the local newspaper and directions for the oldest boy (10) to look in the upstairs closet to find HOW. In that closet was a wrapped package containing a miniature carved wooden train set and directions for the oldest girl (12) to look in the antique Victrola to find WHERE. And, in the last location, there was a wrapped DVD of "Disneyland Fun".

As you can imagine, we really had them all going by the time they found that last one. It turned out to be a great trip.

[tjrj]

What a fun thread! Yes, please keep us posted on how the kids take the news of upcoming trips.

If you've got a 2007 trip already booked to WDW you can register for a free call from Mickey on Christmas day. I just read about this on the DIS. Website is: mickeyholidaycall.com. Then Mickey will call whatever number you provide between 9-3pm Christmas day. I registered. Sounds fun!

Wasn't planning on telling my youngest-he's 15 but he has ASD-quite this early but....I like the calendar idea for him-concrete things work best. Thanks for the tip!

[vamassey]

Originally Posted by tjrj

If you've got a 2007 trip already booked to WDW you can register for a free call from Mickey on Christmas day. I just read about this on the DIS. Website is: mickeyholidaycall.com. Then Mickey will call whatever number you provide between 9-3pm Christmas day. I registered. Sounds fun!

Thanks so much for this info! I've registered too.

Vanessa

[counterwgt]

Originally Posted by tjrj

If you've got a 2007 trip already booked to WDW you can register for a free call from Mickey on Christmas day. I just read about this on the DIS. Website is: mickeyholidaycall.com. Then Mickey will call whatever number you provide between 9-3pm Christmas day. I registered. Sounds fun!

We will defiantly be using this.

I love these ideas on how to keep the surprise factor working for Disney.

We have been to DL twice and this will be our first to WDW.
The first time the kids were woken up at 4 AM with the words ‘Who wants to see Mickey?’ The second time they were involved in all the planning so the surprise factor was not exactly there.

I think we’ve hit on a novel idea for our DS (10) and DD (8) for this trip.

We had originally planned a spring break trip to Hawaii and as far as the kids are concerned we are still going there. We’ve helped this along a bit by leaving tour books for Hawaii lying about the house.

But we actually changed the Hawaii trip to a WDW trip leaving on Dec 28th.

My DW has found a Disney puzzle with 24 pieces that will have each piece lettered as follows.

Y O U A R E G O I N G T O D I S N E Y W O R L D

On Christmas morning they will each get 12 presents that will contain a small gift and 1 puzzle piece. After all gifts have been opened they will be allowed to assemble the puzzle.

We won’t tell them the date we are leaving as we will want them to get some sleep.

I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces.

[tink's mom]

When our daughter was 4 were taking a trip to see her Grandpa, but didn't tell her we were going to Disneyland first. We went to our hotel and when we got up in the morning my DH had some letters he had to mail, so we told DD we were all going to take a walk to find a mailbox. Now at this time our DD could recognize only two words, her name and "Disneyland". So when we got to the entrance we asked her "Do you think we could find a mailbox here?" She read the sign and said "yes" very excitedly. We started in and as we were walking across the parking lot a woman asked my DD if she was excited about going to Disneyland. DD said "Yes, we're looking for a mailbox!" It was so funny, she still thought we had just happened to run across Disneyland.

[Ayeegit]

Originally Posted by tjrj

If you've got a 2007 trip already booked to WDW you can register for a free call from Mickey on Christmas day. I just read about this on the DIS. Website is: mickeyholidaycall.com. Then Mickey will call whatever number you provide between 9-3pm Christmas day. I registered. Sounds fun!

Do you have to book directly through Disney to get an appropriate reservation number to use this, or would a package purchased from AAA work?

[tjrj]

Originally Posted by Ayeegit

Do you have to book directly through Disney to get an appropriate reservation number to use this, or would a package purchased from AAA work?

Absolutely a AAA package works. That's how I booked mine. Plus, it doesn't have to be a package. The box just asks for your reservation number-so a room only reservation would work too.

[Ayeegit]

Originally Posted by tjrj

Absolutely a AAA package works. That's how I booked mine. Plus, it doesn't have to be a package. The box just asks for your reservation number-so a room only reservation would work too.

Thanks! Sounds like a great way to break the news to the girls!