Border crossing and surprises - question

Shir Kahn

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 27, 2006
So up until recently, our plans had been to drive down to Florida from Winnipeg, which is a 32 hour drive each way. We've done it plenty of times before. I found a good deal for flying out of Fargo recently and have switched plans without my wife knowing. So she currently thinks that we're leaving on Friday night and driving until we arrive late on Sunday. Then we would be at WDW until Friday, where we would drive back, arriving home Sunday night. With our new plans, we're flying out on Saturday, arriving in the afternoon and flying home on Sunday. We would still be leaving Winnipeg on Friday night at the same time we would be if we were driving down, because our flight is at 6am and I'd like to do the 4 hour drive during as much daylight as possible and then stay at a hotel until we leave for the airport.

Now, after all that, my question is, once we're at the border and the guard starts asking us questions, I'm sure he/she will start with "where are you going?", and I'll reply "we're going to WDW". If he follows up with a question about whether we're flying down or driving, I'm definitely telling the truth, that we'll be flying out of Fargo, but if at that point my wife shows total surprise, how do you think the guard will react to that? Should I say "we're flying out of Fargo, but she didn't know that until now!" or should I just ruin the surprise early so that she won't be surprised if the question comes up? Anyone have experience with this kind of thing?

I've also wondered about a total surprise WDW trip some day, where I pack her luggage without her knowing, load it in the car while she isn't around and then we go for our "day trip" to Grand Forks. I was thinking that I would put a note into the passport stating that she didn't know we were going to WDW and if it could be a surprise, great, but if they have to ruin the surprise, that would be ok too.
 
I‘d also tell her before crossing the border. And I wouldn’t be passing any notes like that in anybody’s passport. Don’t mess with border patrol.
Have fun!!
Yeah, I definitely don't want a flag in my permanent file! "Randomly Chosen" for searches for the rest of our lives! :teeth:
 


What about her luggage? Does she pack as if she's flying even when you drive to WDW? We drive to Disney (2200+ miles RT) and I tend to pack everything but the kitchen sink. I would have to pack very differently if we were flying.
She generally packs the same no matter what. Although, she might pack heavier thinking we're driving down and would have the car for souvenir space. She also wouldn't likely have a carry-on ready, so that's a good point for sure!
 


She generally packs the same no matter what. Although, she might pack heavier thinking we're driving down and would have the car for souvenir space. She also wouldn't likely have a carry-on ready, so that's a good point for sure!

I would really tell her. I have some things that I like to bring for plane trip, that I wouldn't need for a road trip, that would make my flight pretty miserable if I were without. I also like to pack an empty bag when flying, for souvenirs on the way back, that I wouldn't bring if I had a car at my disposal. I would want to start the vacation on the best possible foot and allow her to prepare properly for the trip at hand.
 
Are you absolutely sure that your wife will enjoy the surprise?
I'm 100% sure she would, but there would be some inconveniences that were listed above, so I actually told her when she got off work today! Of course, first I asked a bunch of questions about how she was planning on handling the 32 hour drive down, talked about how we only had 4 full days and wondered aloud how we were going to get everything done that we wanted, spoke about the restaurants we really love that we wouldn't be able to do this trip due to time. Then I handed her a spreadsheet with the plans I've made for our actual full trip! So I did get to surprise her and it worked pretty well! She's pretty stoic about things, so she was ready to go along with the shorter trip with the long drive, but she was also pretty happy when she found out about the new plans!

Thanks for the replies everyone!
 

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