[MagicalMoments]

We are going to MVMCP!!! Can't wait.
We have not told our DD yet. Want to surprise her. First thought was to pick her up from school in the packed van and break the new then as we head to FL. However, she always takes time to say bye to our dog before we take her to the kennel. And my DD is very involved with packing. So, I am a bit concerned that she will not be very happy about not saying bye to our dog. (My DD is sentimental about some things.) So even though she will be THRILLED about going to WDW, I don't think picking her up after school like that will work.
Now I am thinking of trying to hold out and tell her. It will be very hard. I am thinking of having a scavenger hunt type of thing at our house where one day, she will come home from school to a note on the door telling her to go look for something. And each something will be disney related or have a new disney item next to it. The final thing will have a note next to it saying "We are going to WDW on Dec 1!!!!" Then we can have fun for the next week or so talking about what we want to do this trip. That is a huge part of our WDW vacations. We talk alot about it.
The hard part will be me keeping it from her. It is so hard to not talk about my excitement! And I catch myself talking about it infront of her. Oops. But so far, she hasn't heard enough to get it...
What have you done to surprise your kids?

[Disneybound]

I am also interested in hearing from the rest of you on this subject. My family is also going to the MVMCP and my dh and I want it to be a total suprise to our ds.

Please share your stories: what worked for you as well as what didn't.....
Thanks.

[disneyguy]

I bet Matt(MerlinMatt) could help you a lot with this. He just surprised his kids with a trip to Disney, and they barely had a clue that they were going anywhere.

[MerlinMatt]

Originally Posted by disneyluva

I bet Matt(MerlinMatt) could help you a lot with this. He just surprised his kids with a trip to Disney, and they barely had a clue that they were going anywhere.

We've surprised the kids two years in a row, but I don't think we'll be able to surprise them anymore.

Both times, we travelled in May during a fairly chilly spring, so we were able to pack behind their backs by taking clothes from the "summer boxes" which hadn't been taken out yet.

Last year, we took them from school right to the airport, so I was able to take the dogs to the kennel in the morning. This year, we surprised them at 3:30 in the morning, and took them to the airport, so we had to lie to them about "testing" the new kennel before we took a vacation later in the summer.

It was VERY difficult! DW and I desperately wanted to tell them as we became more and more excited the closer the trip got. But we have pictures to prove how fun it was. DS had suspected that something was going on (he's 12), but he wasn't sure exactly what it was.

I LOVE the scavenger hunt idea. What a great thing to do over Thanksgiving weekend.

We have two trips planned, one for December this year and one for October next year. The kids know about both of them. So, our next surprise, if we're able to do it, won't be for at least a couple of years. I sincerely doubt that we'll be able to do it that close to the trip though. DS will be in High School in two years, so we have to be more sensitive about tests and whatnot.

I'd love to hear other ideas.

[MickeyManic]

We are VERY big on surprises, but since until this year we have always taken them out of school, we've not been able to make the trip itself a surprise.

However, back in 2000, we were driving a really crappy minivan and a small Saturn. The kids hated the Saturn because all three of them were cramped in the back seat. Since they knew that we didn't trust the van to make the trip, they also knew we'd be renting a vehicle. Hubby and I knew we were going to rent a nice van, but we decided to keep this fact from the kids.

We picked my daughter up from school on the day we were to leave by going in the school and checking her out. When we were walking out to the parking lot, she kept asking where the rental car was. I looked around and found a car just as small as our Saturn and told her that was it. She tried not to show her disappointment, but I could see it in her face. Hubby and I were grinning so hard as we opened the doors to the brand new rental van. Poor daughter....she was overjoyed!!!!

We then left to go through the pick-up lane at the boys' school. We were literally parked RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM and they didn't even know it was us. They sure weren't looking for a van!! The teacher helping kids to the cars probably thought we were kidnappers because we told her who we were there to pick up, and she kept calling them to come over but they were looking everywhere else trying to see where we were!! When they finally realized the van was "us" they were sooooo excited! I had made them all goodie bags also and bought them each a Disney plush and had them sitting in the seat for them.

I love, love, love surprises!!!

So, MagicalMoments, would it be possible to tell your DD that y'all are going on a vacation that she wouldn't be as excited about (like visiting distant relatives or a postage stamp museum)? That way she would get to pack and say goodbye to doggie. If not, the scavenger hunt sounds great too!

Good luck!!

Lisa

[inluvwithdisney]

We surprised our kids!!! We told them we were going to Wyoming to a friends to help them move!!! They hate going there!!! So they had no clue!! The night we were planning to leave we told them 1/2 hour before we were to leave for the airport!!!

I put together a backpack of all Disney stuff!!! I gave them these to carry on and they slowly found all the treasures throughout the trip!!

We kept the secret from April to September!!! It was VERY hard!! But VERY worth it!!!

Good Luck!!!

[mickaholic4077]

I know I would blab the second I made the plans if I had kids. My hat's off to those of you who can keep their mouths shut!!!!

[phayes93]

We (well, at least I) love surprises too. Several trips back, we told the kids we were going to visit relatives in Mississippi (we live near STL). Our son being 12 and daughter 8, they had very little idea we weren't going there. You know, they didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the roadmap back then. We departed at midnight, so when they woke up we were in Georgia. Our son finally figured something was up when he finally say the Florida Welcome Center, but DD missed that. He then helped us keep her in the dark until we pulled into Orlando. When DD saw Cinderella's Castle, she started crying (So did we just a little).

Then last year, I surprised DD again (she and I are the biggest Disney Freaks in our family). She was 17 by then and she and I had a college-search trip/WDW vacation in August. She thought we were staying at the Best Western near Downtown Disney because everything on-site was booked solid. In fact, we did stay at the Best western our first night. The next day, I told her we were moving to the Courtyard by Marriott - cheaper rate, I said. We re-packed and headed for MGM with the idea of checking in at the Courtyard later in the day. As we sat at the stoplight in front of CBR, I said, "You know, we always say we're going to stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort and we never have." She said she really wanted to try it sometime. So I said, "OK," turned the car into the CBR and we checked in. She was dumbfounded! She's a hard person to keep a secret from, but I managed it. She loved it and we had a great Father-Daughter vacation.

[LAURENGOLD]

Originally Posted by mickaholic4077

I know I would blab the second I made the plans if I had kids. My hat's off to those of you who can keep their mouths shut!!!!

Me too!!!!! My DD is at the age (and now experience level too) where she really likes to have a hand in the planning.....just yesterday Auntie was over, and DD was asking...."Auntie...Sci-Fi or Hollywood and Vine...I choose H&V because......" it was the cutest thing!!!

Someday though, I hope to just say..."Dev, get in the car............we're going to WDW!!!"

Can't wait to hear what you come up with for a surprise!!

[karliebug]

We went to WDW with my SIL and neice a couple of years ago. We told our kids that we would be driving them to the airport for their trip and then we would head off to a local amusement park for the day. They had no idea until we got to the airport and I told them "We aren't going to Hershey afterall". They were of course disappointed until I said " We are going to WDW with Aunt Sue!" My 7 yr old kept saying "Do you really mean it?" ,even as we were getting on the plane. It was a great surprixe!

[MissDisney]

We have tried, but we've never made it to the end. We are really pathetic about keeping it under wraps!!!

[hanwill]

We went in Dec 2002, just after my DD turned 3. I showed her the planning video (a lot) and we talked about how our neighbors were going and how much fun it would be. We got in the car to drive and when she asked where we were going, we told her the zoo. (Not exactly a lie!) We talked about all of the animals that we would see there. She was so excited that she fell asleep about an hour outside of Orlando, so she missed the signs entering the property.
She didn't even know where we were, until 5 am the next morning when she rolled over in the bed and told me that she had seen Mickey and Goofy on the curtains (she is very observant). I told her that the hotel put us in a Disney room because they knew that she liked the characters... When it was time to get up, we told her what we were really going to do and that we were going to eat with Cinderella (CRT). She was so excited!!! She had a great day at the MK and even got to dance with Snow White and the 7 dwarfs in the parade.
She couldn't smile in any picture for about the first two days that we were there because she was in awe of the princesses, etc. Needless to say, I have sprouted another Disney fan in this house and we are working on my son who is 2!

[Disneybound]

I have enjoyed reading all of your "suprise" stories. If others have suprised their children or even if you haven't but you have thought about how you would...please continue to share with us.
I will let all of you know what my final plans will be once I determine how I am going to pull it off.
Stacey

[LuvWDW]

Oh magicmoments.. I encourage you to hang in there and keep it a surprise. We surprised our DD's twice and it's soo much fun.

Our first trip we just told them DH was taking off the next day and to think of something fun to do, this was exciting enough because DH had been working a lot. Anywho.. we woke them up at 5:30 a.m. the next morning, my DH told them he thought of something.... WALT DISNEY WORLD... Oh it was so much fun ! They were sooo excited! I LOVE watching the video. Makes it even more Magical!

The secound trip I just wrote "WDW trip " on their own calendars that they kept in their rooms - on the dates we were going - which was a couple months away. I almost forgot I did it until on of my DD's came running out one day saying 'We're going to Disney World again!!!"

So try to keep it a secret... at least tell them you are going somewhere REALLY boring!!

Let us know how it goes!

[MagicalMoments]

Great ideas!!! Thank you!!
I am trying to make it as close as I can to the departure. I am leaning toward doing the scavenger hunt close to the end with the announcement of the trip at the end of the hunt. (I started to buy some Disney things that will be part of the hunt. They have some awesome stuff on sale at the Disney store right now!!) Maybe doing that a week or two before so that we can also share the excitement of the planning together.
My DD is so involved with the planning and that part is so much part of the fun for us, that is why it is so hard to keep it from her for so long. And she has been talking about wanting to go back. (She already has Disney in her blood!!) The other day, out of the blue, she asked which ride I liked better, TOT or RnR. It is SO hard to not say "Guess what......" But I am still hanging in there.