Surprising kids!

mandis77

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 31, 2014
Hi there! After almost a year of planning we are 22 days from our trip (1/28/2020). Our girls ages 12 and 8 think we are heading to Marco Island for 2 weeks but in reality we are flying to Orlando for a week first then a week in Marco. My family is no stranger to WDW and my kids tease me that I'd never be able to surprise them because I love to talk about the planning process too much. Haha!

I'd love to hear some stories about how you surprised your kids. Right now DH is planning on making a video the morning of (about an hour before we leave for airport) of us three going over the checklist. Then we will mention we "forgot" to put on the luggage tags. I will hand them those telltale yellow Magical Express tags and ask them to help us put them on. DH will say "oh, and you're going to need these" as he hands them their Magic Bands. And the screaming/crying will begin! I have been to our local Disney Store a few times and will have a bag sitting on their beds with clothes and ears, then give them a little time to collect pins, Duffy, etc all their "Disney" things. I am losing my mind with impatience!!!

We normally stay at Pop, but we decided to splurge and do AKL. They are going to lose their minds!

Tell me your stories, how did you surprise you kiddos?
 
OMG I am excited and I aren't even going on your trip :).

We have our first family trip planned for Disneyland in October we will celebrate little misses birthday as she turns 5 while we are there.

We have not told her as we don't want the when are we going and I don't think she even understands Disneyland yet. She just knows that it is a place a long, long, long way away where Mickey Mouse lives and it costs a lot of money to get to there. (we live in New Zealand).

I will follow along with this thread and read all the great ways others have surprised their children.

My little miss is already planning her next birthday and wants an Elsa Frozen party. We had a Cinderella party for her 4th birthday. I told her the other day I don't think you will be having an Elsa party.
 
OMG I am excited and I aren't even going on your trip :).

We have our first family trip planned for Disneyland in October we will celebrate little misses birthday as she turns 5 while we are there.

We have not told her as we don't want the when are we going and I don't think she even understands Disneyland yet. She just knows that it is a place a long, long, long way away where Mickey Mouse lives and it costs a lot of money to get to there. (we live in New Zealand).

I will follow along with this thread and read all the great ways others have surprised their children.

My little miss is already planning her next birthday and wants an Elsa Frozen party. We had a Cinderella party for her 4th birthday. I told her the other day I don't think you will be having an Elsa party.

Yay! That sounds so exciting! We took our girls when they were very very young. Disneyland was *so* special and I hope we go there in 2021! Happy planning!
 
I haven't done it yet, but I have a surprise planned for our trip this December.

Our plan is on Monday, 12/21, the day before we leave, the kids will be on holiday break from school. After going to have dinner that evening, we'll come home to find that Santa's visited early and left a carry-on wheelie luggage bag for each of the kids with a letter that says, "I had to bring your gift early because you're going to Disney World!" There will be faux tickets printed and attached to the letter. Inside their luggage will be ears, their Magic Bands, a "Take Me to the Mouse!" shirt to wear to the airport the next day, and a Mickey/Minnie holiday plush. They'll get to pack a few things that they want to bring (I'll have their clothes/necessities all packed), and in the morning, we'll head to the airport.

Probably the biggest surprise of all of this is going to be that the kids will find out at the resort that their grandparents, their aunts and uncles, and their cousins are all there, too. (We might break this to them ahead of time to avoid the #cousinsquad losing their minds and scaring other visitors. LOL)

I'm pretty much banking on this being the most "extra AF" thing I ever do as a mother, but we'll see.
 
The last time we went as a whole family was 3 years ago and we had surprised the kids. My husband and I had to go out of town for a wedding the couple of days before we left. We planned ot have my mom meet us just outside of the airport with the girls ready to have a fun family day at a water park. When we all met up we asked if they were ready to go to the water park and handed them an envelope to open. Inside were tickets saying they were going to Disney World. We asked them if they wanted to go to a water park in Disney instead and then we headed into the airport and started our vacation. I made a folder up of all the things we were going to do and where we were staying to give to them to read on the plane.
 
I haven't done it yet, but I have a surprise planned for our trip this December.

Our plan is on Monday, 12/21, the day before we leave, the kids will be on holiday break from school. After going to have dinner that evening, we'll come home to find that Santa's visited early and left a carry-on wheelie luggage bag for each of the kids with a letter that says, "I had to bring your gift early because you're going to Disney World!" There will be faux tickets printed and attached to the letter. Inside their luggage will be ears, their Magic Bands, a "Take Me to the Mouse!" shirt to wear to the airport the next day, and a Mickey/Minnie holiday plush. They'll get to pack a few things that they want to bring (I'll have their clothes/necessities all packed), and in the morning, we'll head to the airport.

Probably the biggest surprise of all of this is going to be that the kids will find out at the resort that their grandparents, their aunts and uncles, and their cousins are all there, too. (We might break this to them ahead of time to avoid the #cousinsquad losing their minds and scaring other visitors. LOL)

I'm pretty much banking on this being the most "extra AF" thing I ever do as a mother, but we'll see.
That's awesome, especially the part about extended family all being there too. What a special trip!
 
Im so excited for you !!!!!

Our neighbors wrapped there kids suitcases and had them open them... they were so excited that they were going to WDW.... then they told them we are leaving in one hour. I dont know if i could keep that secret it must be so hard
 


Hi there! After almost a year of planning we are 22 days from our trip (1/28/2020). Our girls ages 12 and 8 think we are heading to Marco Island for 2 weeks but in reality we are flying to Orlando for a week first then a week in Marco. My family is no stranger to WDW and my kids tease me that I'd never be able to surprise them because I love to talk about the planning process too much. Haha!

I'd love to hear some stories about how you surprised your kids. Right now DH is planning on making a video the morning of (about an hour before we leave for airport) of us three going over the checklist. Then we will mention we "forgot" to put on the luggage tags. I will hand them those telltale yellow Magical Express tags and ask them to help us put them on. DH will say "oh, and you're going to need these" as he hands them their Magic Bands. And the screaming/crying will begin! I have been to our local Disney Store a few times and will have a bag sitting on their beds with clothes and ears, then give them a little time to collect pins, Duffy, etc all their "Disney" things. I am losing my mind with impatience!!!

We normally stay at Pop, but we decided to splurge and do AKL. They are going to lose their minds!

Tell me your stories, how did you surprise you kiddos?

I'm not a surprise person myself, so I've never done it. But I love your idea, and I think you're already way ahead of the type of surprises that go wrong because the kids already know they're going on vacation.

I love that you're very prepared, as well - already have an "excuse" to be videotaping, have the Disney bags ready, and built in time for them to collect anything special they want to bring. I think it's going to go off as planned, and be an excellent surprise.

P.S. - We splurged on AKL for our most recent trip as well, and were so glad we did. Have a great time!!
 
I'm not a surprise person myself, so I've never done it. But I love your idea, and I think you're already way ahead of the type of surprises that go wrong because the kids already know they're going on vacation.

I love that you're very prepared, as well - already have an "excuse" to be videotaping, have the Disney bags ready, and built in time for them to collect anything special they want to bring. I think it's going to go off as planned, and be an excellent surprise.

P.S. - We splurged on AKL for our most recent trip as well, and were so glad we did. Have a great time!!
Thank you! So far so good, 10 more days 😊
 
How fun! Your girls are going to be so excited. We surprised ours with the first DLR trip by just showing up at the GC and asking if they knew where we were (DS (4yo then): THE HOTEL! Well he was accurate. DD was the one to figure it out.). For WDW, we did a scavenger hunt and the last clue revealed we were going to WDW. It all works out any way you do it. :)
 
When we suprised our daughter, we had set her up to think we were going to Six Flags so she’d pack appropriately. My ex used an image of the old paper Fastpasses for her favorite ride and edited the return time to be the dates of our trip. Then the inside of the card said we were going to Disneyland instead of Six Flags. We gave it to get in the driveway and videoed it. Then we gave her 5 minutes to run back into the house to get her pins and anything Disney related that she wanted to take. She was sobbing for about 20 minutes. It was her first trip to California and had been asking to go for while to see how different it was from WDW.
 
When we suprised our daughter, we had set her up to think we were going to Six Flags so she’d pack appropriately. My ex used an image of the old paper Fastpasses for her favorite ride and edited the return time to be the dates of our trip. Then the inside of the card said we were going to Disneyland instead of Six Flags. We gave it to get in the driveway and videoed it. Then we gave her 5 minutes to run back into the house to get her pins and anything Disney related that she wanted to take. She was sobbing for about 20 minutes. It was her first trip to California and had been asking to go for while to see how different it was from WDW.
I love it! We want to give our kids some time to collect their Disney things too.
 
Hi there! After almost a year of planning we are 22 days from our trip (1/28/2020). Our girls ages 12 and 8 think we are heading to Marco Island for 2 weeks but in reality we are flying to Orlando for a week first then a week in Marco. My family is no stranger to WDW and my kids tease me that I'd never be able to surprise them because I love to talk about the planning process too much. Haha!

I'd love to hear some stories about how you surprised your kids. Right now DH is planning on making a video the morning of (about an hour before we leave for airport) of us three going over the checklist. Then we will mention we "forgot" to put on the luggage tags. I will hand them those telltale yellow Magical Express tags and ask them to help us put them on. DH will say "oh, and you're going to need these" as he hands them their Magic Bands. And the screaming/crying will begin! I have been to our local Disney Store a few times and will have a bag sitting on their beds with clothes and ears, then give them a little time to collect pins, Duffy, etc all their "Disney" things. I am losing my mind with impatience!!!

We normally stay at Pop, but we decided to splurge and do AKL. They are going to lose their minds!

Tell me your stories, how did you surprise you kiddos?
I love that your extended family is meeting you there! We did not surprise my kids but we surprised them about their grandparents also joining us. They had no idea until we met them at the hoteI (we are from the same area but on different flights). I was expecting a big shriek and jump in the lobby but my daughter was literally speechless. The girl who talks nonstop was just stunned. My son had a confused look and asked them “what are you doing here?” 🤦🏻‍♀️ It was not what I expected but still a good memory. I am planning a trip for 2021 and my kids are expecting them to come along again so be prepared for future trips!
 
We did something similar, and our kids loved it. The suprise and ability to capture their faces as they put the whole thing together is priceless. I am jealous..our kids are too old now and don't get in to it quite as much (don't get me wrong they still love Disney, just not like they used to). I hope it all goes well and you have a magical moment before the magic begins.
 

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