How have you surprised your kids?

Last surprised trip I got my DD's a congradulation card with Mickey on it, put in some disney gift cards, and told them that they may come in handy where we were going. We live in Oklahoma and they thought we were flying down to Dallas Tx for the week so they were completly surprised and it took the younger one a little while to figure it out cause she thought that ment going to the mall, but by the time the bus picked us up from the parking lot at the airport she was screaming and jumping all over the place.:mickey:

One trip we didn't tell the girls until we were boarding the airplane. They were completely shocked. But that only worked one time. Our oldest caught on a little before the youngest because she read the sign at the boarding gate. We had told them we were goingto visit a relative which wasn't a lie because their grandmother was meeting us at MCO!

IrishMickey;2441013 wrote: We will be there in 3 weeks, we have not told our 3 kids yet (13, 11, & 9). We are trying to keep it a surprise, so far so good, but now we want to know how to tell them. We are planning on picking them up from school on Friday and heading down. One thought was to put a note in their lunches that reads "this lunch may be awesome, but wouldn't it be more fun to be having breakfast with Donald Duck tomorrow" or something like that. Thoughts, ideas or things that you have done. Thanks:mickey:

I like that idea.I would love to be a fly on the wall to see their reaction.

I love your idea! :mickey:

That sounds like a great idea! Love the other stories here too. We've only surprised them once. We were driving down to Florida to see their grandparents, but didn't tell them we'd decided to stop in WDW for a couple of nights to do the Christmas party. As we were getting closer and seeing the road signs for Disney, they kept saying, "Wish we were going there too!" So when we pulled under the welcome sign and said "Surprise!" they were stunned. It was so fun. :mickey:

We've never surprised them with a big trip though. I would never be able to keep a secret like that. Besides, half the fun of a trip is talking about what we're going to do while we're there. We did surprise them with a suite at AoA last trip though.

We're leaving Christmas night to make the 12 hour drive. We plan on waking the girls up a little before midnight to load them up in the car and just drive. I'm hoping not to have to say anything until we actually pull under the Welcome gate. I want it to be an absolute surprise. We also have relatives that live in Florida so I know I can hold them off with that for a good while but I really really hope I can pull off the surprise until the gate. I planned this trip a few months ago so it has been KILLING me to keep my mouth shut! In fact my hubby almost blew it last night while he was explaining to his Dad's girlfriend why we wouldn't be around for Christmas this year. LOL

Keeping the secret is the hardest part, I am about ready to pop, but I have made it this far, hope I can last. Thanks for all the ideas and well wishes, it is nice to tell the secret here! I think we are going to put a note in their lunch, because as soon as we start driving they will know, but only the destination not all the fun plans:thumbsup: we have not been in three years because we were stationed in Los Angeles, so we miss our monthly trips to Disneyland, looking forward to using our new AP's here:mickey:

We used to tent camp a lot when our boys were little. So we told them were were going on a camping trip to Florida. Had the van all packed and picked them up from school. Drove to Florida. We went camping alright . . . at the Wilderness Lodge! We never told them where we we really going. Oldest son was asleep in the car when we arrived at WDW, but younger son was awake and alert and started getting suspicious when we started getting close to WDW (we had been there before). When he finally figured it out as we passed under the big Disney sign, he woke up big brother with screaming and shouting in the car, "We're going to Disney World!, We're going to Disney World!" It was great!

I love the idea :cloud9: love surprising kids with Disney. The only thing I would add is maybe have the letter/note in Disney writing and coming from Donald himself. If that is what you are doing the next morning maybe have it "written" by Donald or the characters inviting them to join them for breakfast. Also to make it really fun make a note for you as well so when they show you, you can say "I got one too and mine has the resort info & travel plans” etc.. Good luck and have a wonderful trip..

The only thing I would mention is, do you want to see their faces when they find out? If so, maybe reconsider and give them the note at breakfast when they are home and you see the excitement.

We've never surprised our family because we are all crazy into the planning and can't stop talking about it.

Have a ton of fun!!!

hhhmm, I do want to see their faces, but if they know before school they may never get out of the car:blush:. We will probably send a cryptic note in their lunches and then pick them up in our Santa Mickey hats and see if it clicks. :mickey::mickey::mickey:

Sounds like a great plan! When we were in sight of the welcome gate, I turned around and filmed the girls as we told them. I love watching that video!

I would want to see their faces also, so putting a note in the lunchbox might not let you see that.

When I surprised mine (who was 12 at the time) with a Disney Cruise, I made a book (computer paper and a binder - nothing fancy), and lead her on a story that ended with her going on the cruise.

It was great watching her read the book, and get excited when she realized she was going on a Disney cruise.

When our boys were 5 and 15, we informed them that we were vacationing in Springfield, IL. Coming from Northwest Indiana, that seemed appropriate to them. We had tickets for a different theme park northwest of Chicago for the day and hotel for the overnight near there. After a busy day at the theme park and going to a nearby outlet mall, we settled in to a local steakhouse for dinner. As we were enjoying our dinner, the teenager said, "Do we really have to go to Springfield for vacation? It sounds lame." My husband and I looked at each other and both said, "Do you want to tell them?" When my husband informed them that the real plans were to fly to Florida in the morning and spend 10 days at Disney, I thought both boys would have to be scraped off the ceiling. They kept bouncing up and down, even the teen. Bedtime was almost non existent. But great memories for all even now 13 years later.:joy: