[Cynsayshi]

We are leaving May 15 for a quick weekend trip to the World. It's going to be a surprise to my 5-year-old DS.

That Thursday is his last day of Pre-K. We don't plan to tell him until we're at the airport - or longer, if we can avoid it. DH and I will pack and take the bags to the airport during my lunch hour, while he's at school.

DH will have our younger son with him and pick him up from school as usual, but rather than go home, he'll swing by my office to pick me up, then we'll all head off to the airport.

Christopher's a pretty savvy traveler for a 5-year-old, and LOVES Disney anything. Do you think we can avoid telling him where we're going before we arrive in Orlando? Or should we tell him at the airport here in Dallas, or while we're on the plane?

Any recommendations would be gratefully appreciated - especially those sneaky people who've managed to pull it off with their kids/spouses/significant others? I love sneaky...

[Goodegirl2007]

I'm sorry I don't have any advice...but I'm very interested in any responses that you get! My DS is 4, and we made the big mistake and told him about the trip months ago! Sometimes it comes in handy when trying to modify his behavior, but every day he asks "do we leave today?" I guess I can't blame him!!

[TinksFriend]

This actually happend to me when I was about 14. My parents took my sister and I on a "small weekend vacation" it looked like alot of luggage packed to me but I didn't catch on. Driving from NJ we were heading south to where I thought was going to be Virginia. We got on the Cape May Ferry to go to Delaware and as we were sitting on deck they handed us each a box. In the box was a beautiful Disney charm bracelet. Under it there was a note that said..."I'll bet you thought you were going to Virginia but really you are going to see....--at this point you had to unfold the papr and in it were stickers with all of the Disney characters on it! We we were sooooo surprised and ended up with a wonderful 10 day trip.

[Jennatrz]

Oh I love surprises. If you can avoid it tell you ds that your going somewhere else. Tell him when you land. Not sure if you could pull it off but it will be fun trying. How exciting for you and your family. Please let us know how it goes.

[Monique]

I've managed to surpirse my kiddos a couple of times. Once I told them we were going but told them we'd be leaving on August 9th when we actually really left on August 8th. You should have seen their faces that morning!! I surpirsed them in March when they thought we'd just be hanging around the house for Spring Break and then the day before I told them we were off to the Mouse House!

If I were you I would wait until you were at least on the airplane. They will, at some point, make an announcement about your destination so be prepared for that.

[DisneyTeacher]

I hope your big surprise goes better than ours. Two years ago we surprised our son with a birthday trip. He had NO clue. We got up the first day of summer vacation and acted like it was a school day. He noticed we were going the wrong way so we told him we were skipping school and going to spend the day in a city near us (where we usually fly out of). He was fine with that and didn't say much most of the drive. When we pulled up to the airport he asked why we were there--I ran around the car, pulled him out and told him we were going to WDW for his birthday. Just a day or two before he wished on a star for a WDW trip so I thought for sure he would be jumping up and down. Nope. He looked at me as said, "But I hate to fly!" That was it, months of planning and that's all I got. I didn't get screams of happiness. I didn't get jumping up and down. I didn't get a huge hug and a thank you mom. I got a "But I hate to fly!"

He had a wonderful time but I didn't get the excitement I thought I would. We haven't surprised him since. We may again one day but he may be a kid who needs to know what's going on before it happens.

[inluvwithdisney]

We have suprised our kids a couple of times and it was AWESOME!! The first time we told them right before we left for the airport and our oldest DD cried she got so excited!!! The other time was right before Christmas so we gave them a present with tickets in them the night before!!! They screamed and yelled and wooooped it up!!! They loved it and I loved surprising them!!!
I hope it goes well!!! Maybe give him a present with something disney in it on the way to the airport or at the airport!!!

Let us know how it goes!!

[unamadreditre]

I have no advice. I'm still trying to figure out how to tell my kids about our June trip. They're really bummed right now because DH and I told them we are thinking about going to Branson, MO this summer.

[Cynsayshi]

Originally Posted by unamadreditre

I have no advice. I'm still trying to figure out how to tell my kids about our June trip. They're really bummed right now because DH and I told them we are thinking about going to Branson, MO this summer.

Oh, that's funny!

[Cynsayshi]

So far, DS still doesn't have a clue, which is good.

I would love to keep the secret until we arrive in Orlando, but I think as soon as he hears the destination on the announcement, he'll figure it out. Plus, if there are other kids that are obviously Disney-bound, that will help, too.

[mairinmaureen]

I was going to bring up what Monique said about the pilot mentioning the destination at some point during the flight. Does he know Disney is in Orlando? If so, I would tell him when you are on the plane and ready for take-off. Good luck with the surprise! I dream of someone surprising me with a wonderful trip one day.

[12Amigos]

In 2005 we had a trip planned for late Sept. Hurricane Katrina had just hit our area pretty hard the month before and in all the chaos our daughter had totally forgotten that we had been planning a trip. The night before we were supposed to leave for Florida, Rita hit . We had evacuated to my Father in Law's house a few days before, so my daugher didn't question all the luggage. I called our airline and had our tickets moved to an airport that wasn't closed and we decided to leave a day early. Disney was great about adding a night to our reservation FOR FREE and even gave us an evacuation rate of $89.00 a night at POR .

Now the good part!

McDonalds was running their promotion to win a trip to WDW and our daughter had seen the commercials for it several times. The night we evacuated we stopped at McDs on the way out of town and I saved the game card which had a picture of Goofy on it. The morning we were schedualed to leave for the trip my husband picked up McDs hashbrowns for out daughter for breakfast and stuck the game piece that I wrote "YOU'RE A WINNER!" on in the bag. My daughter ate her hashbrown and talked about how great it would be to win the trip and then flipped over her game piece.

SHE FREAKED OUT !

Everyone started scraming and cheering and we started rushing her around and telling her that we had to leave right then and go on this special trip!
She told everyone in the airport that she was the McDonalds winner, as well as the Magical Express driver, the check in desk attendent, and anyone else that would listen. To this day she still talks about the trip she won for us .

[ssn]

We surprised DD7 last year. I made a t-shirt for her that said "Surprise Jillian we're going to Disney World!"

We were also going to the Pirate and Princess Party - so I made up a scroll invitation from Minnie inviting her to the Party that night!

The morning we were leaving I sent her into our spare room and the shirt and scroll were laying on the bed. She read them both out loud and screamed and jumped up and down! It was great! She wore the shirt on the plane and so many people commented on it.

[Cynsayshi]

That is so cool!

One of the things I want to do is to get something special and new at the Disney outlet here. I need to get up there, soon.

[tonyksl]

Here is what I would do. I would tell them you are going some place else. It can be anywhere. Pick Washington DC. Take the 5 year old to the Washington DC website, the Smithsonian Institute website, etc. Start talking to them about the importance of our nation's history. Just getting out of kindergarten, he may just know some of the things you are talking about. President Bush in the White House! Woohoo! How boring for a 5 year old. But, you have to make it sound exciting.

Now, when you get to Orlando, act disappointed and complain that the pilot must have made a wrong turn. Then, in a matter of fact way, just state, "Oh well, since we wound up in Orlando, might as well go to Disney World." Then ask him his opinion on that idea.

This is sort of what I did with mine when they were 4 and 2. We had a wedding to go to for a few days on the west coast of Florida. We packed up to "leave", and daddy made a wrong turn into WDW. Needless to say, I wasn't allowed to turn around and go home.