Some questions if you surprised your kids with a Disney trip

[nsl]

We currently live within driving distance of WDW and qualify for military tickets, neither of which will be true after June. H and I were just trolling around hotel websites tonight and realized that we could do a long weekend trip (arriving Thursday night and departing Monday midday) in April for under $2,000 if we stay off-property near Disney Springs, so we’re going to go back for the second time in a year (third for me since I did a girls trip in Oct).  We ordinarily plan for a trip every three years, so this will come as a total shock to our kids. 

To the questions:  we want to surprise our boys—12 and 9–and I’m interested in tips for how those of you who did this pulled it off. How did you pack for them?  How did you plan for travel entertainment?  My boys are reasonably attentive to detail and will notice if stuff starts disappearing from their rooms. How can I pull this off?

[bowies]

Our kids are younger so they’re far less attentive, lol. We fly there so a lot of our stuff is squirreled away already - travel size toiletries, etc. Clothes get diverted from the dryer to our room about a week prior, and clean clothes remain folded in baskets so there’s less opportunity to notice what is missing (this is not out of our norm). I WFH one day a week so that’s typically when I do most of the packing. Last year I went as far as putting the full suitcases back into the closet where they’re normally stored. The night before, we load the car up after the kids are asleep. If there’s anything that can’t be easily packed ahead of time, like a tablet, then there’s the good ol’ power of distraction - kids are recruited to help with something in the backyard while the other parent swipes their stuff.

We’ve surprised them twice, not telling them until we were in the airport.

[mainelyfoolish]

We surprised our kids with a “bonus” trip to Disney World the year we had annual passes. We went during a time they didn’t have school so we didn’t have to inform the school or coordinate with teachers. We pulled it off by inventing a reason to travel; we told them we were going to my cousin’s wedding in Kansas City (I do actually have a single cousin living there). They didn’t figure it out until at the gate in the airport when my then 9 year old DD said, “Why does the gate sign say Orlando?” They were happy about the surprise but their reaction was anticlimactic.

[illgetthere]

Is there something else you could tell them you have to drive to that's less interesting? I surprised my kids, but it was just an extra day on an existing trip. I had them pack a separate overnight bag "JIC" and started driving home on our last day. We surprised them by pulling into WDW on our way out of Orlando and already had a one night bag packed to easily bring in the hotel.
Road trip entertainment is usually some downloaded Netflix on their tablets/phone

[minniemouse]

Buy new clothes and toiletries for the trip? That’s all I got, sorry. I think my 10 year old would notice if stuff was missing too.

[goldengirlz]

This won’t be helpful but we’re combining this trip with one to visit her grandparents so the idea is to make her think we’re going just to NY rather than WDW AND New York. Hopefully she won’t ask why I’m packing bathing suits.

[TBM]

I'm sure this is no help, but I will share anyway. ;p

My kids are grown ups and one has kids of her own now, and the one time we surprised them with a day trip to Disneyland still comes up in discussions... as the single worst day we ever had at Disneyland. lol

It turns out that they don't do well with surprises, even good ones. We should have known, since they didn't like going out to dinner or doing things on the spur of the moment because, "...I wasn't expecting it." They were really out of sorts the whole day in the park, and we never made that mistake again.

I can relate, since I felt like I had been lied to when my family had a small surprise birthday party for me once, and I now have some anxiety issues that mean that I sometimes need to mentally prepare for things first, but I think as a kid, Disneyland would not have been a problem for me. I think I spent my entire childhood hoping that every trip within 200 miles of there would result in a trip to Disneyland.

[Doggy Mommy]

I don’t have kids so feel free to ignore me. I’ve seen plenty of Disney surprise videos where kids are crying or just look confused. Not everyone likes big surprises. I also think half the fun is looking forward to it, making plans, watching YouTube videos of rides and treats etc. Just my opinion. :-)

[Deleted]

Can you surprise them before you leave home? Maybe tell them the night before you leave so they can pack their own stuff? I think you’re still likely to get a great reaction, but it gives it time to sink in before they actually arrive, and gives them control over what they pack (and at that age, they can and should be helping to pack their own stuff).

[pizzaandtulips]

Feb 5, 2020 19:46:34 GMT -5 Doggy Mommy said:

I don’t have kids so feel free to ignore me. I’ve seen plenty of Disney surprise videos where kids are crying or just look confused. Not everyone likes big surprises. I also think half the fun is looking forward to it, making plans, watching YouTube videos of rides and treats etc. Just my opinion. :-)

Agree! I told my kids about a friend who surprised her kids with a trip to WDW, and my son was horrified and made me promise to never surprise him like that! He loves the anticipation and planning. All kids are different so it’s great if it works for other kids but definitely wouldn’t work for mine.

[was5]

We "surprised" our younger kids (age 5) about 3 weeks before we left. We told our older kid (age 11) before our window opened to select fast passes. I wanted her in on the planning.

ETA- our trip was the week before Christmas. We gave them a Mickey snow globe as a gift when we were decorating our house for Christmas. They didn't really get it and we had to explain. It took the thrill out of the surprise, lol.

[TamiTaylor]

We packed J secretly the night before our trip. We told him we (Eric and I) we’re going on a trip and he was going to stay with grandma. We told him the morning of before heading to the airport. His reaction was kind of a let down. We thought he would be more excited and surprised. He was more like oh okay.

[miss1180]

we surprised my boys LAST december, when they were 8 and 5. i told them a couple hours before we had to leave. it was christmas time, so i set up our elf on the shelf with disney park maps, mickey lollipops and a note that told them we were leaving in a couple hours. My 8 year old actually cried- and not good tears HAHA "Do we have to leave right now??" Why didn't you tell me before??" He has some anxiety and definitely needs to know whats coming up- so looking back, it wasn't the best idea HAHA
As far as packing and stuff- i'm a SAHM, so i would just pack while they were at school/ preschool, and kept the suitcases in a closet they don't go into. Also, we live in NJ so they're not wearing shorts and short leaves in december, so they didn't miss the clothes i was packing for them LOL and then i just packed the last few things that morning, after we told them since i had a couple hours.
they had fun- but if i had to do it again, i would probably tell them a day or 2 before to give them more time to get used to the idea, and then you can pack without worrying about them finding out LOL

[milano]

My 5yo asked me to give him 3 days notice before our next trip. He knew about his first 2 trips way in advance and he said it's hard to wait a long time but did NOT want to be surprised because he likes feeling excited. Lol. I was kind of amazed at him being able to recognize/communicate that at 5. I hate surprises myself so I shouldn't be shocked. The anticipation and planning is half the fun! Especially at a place like Disney where a lot is usually planned before you arrive. I'm not sure how I'd pull off packing his stuff without him noticing.