Haven't told kids yet for our trip next week...

[gobosox00]

We are flying out next Friday and haven't told our 5yo and 3yo yet. We were just waiting to tell them when it got closer, but now we are so close we are thinking of just going with it as a surprise. We are flying out first thing in the morning (leave the house at 6:30am). Tell me your best surprise stories for ideas! We were thinking a big sign from Mickey saying see you this afternoon!

 

[CrazyHare]

We're really bad parents. We aren't telling our 4 year old. She's going to find out when we pull up in a couple days. We have been talking about our trip and telling her it's the one we are taking next year with the extended family. She's going to be so surprised when we spend her first week of preschool at Disney.

 

[gobosox00]

Haha, too funny. We have been caught talking about Disney a few times too and have said the same thing, that we are planning the trip next year.

 

[Klayfish]

We tried to think of all kinds of clever things when our kids were younger, but the one that did the best was a simple 1/4 sheet cake with the Castle on it. Took them a few minutes to figure out what it was all about, but they freaked when they figured it out.

 

[Gracie09]

We woke them up one morning with ITS DISNEY DAY!!!!
They knew we were going but didn't know when

Another time we started driving them to school. They were in kindergarten at the time. I pulled out of the driveway and said - why don't we go to Disney instead of school today.
One started crying because she needed to learn to read and if she missed kindergarten she would never know how to read (mind you she already could read basic books). The other cried because the first was crying.

 

[Wild4Walt]

My brother told my niece they were flying to Idaho. Somehow she missed they saying at take off what time they would be landing and where so when they landed in Orlando she was completely surprised.

 

[lucyddr]

Our 4.5 yo twins know they are going at some point this year, but don't know it's within a few weeks. We had planned to wake them up for our early flight with the surprise, but have decided not to do that as our girl is NOT happy in the mornings and the excitement would be lost with her moods.

I am having a baker friend to make me 6 cupcakes. Each one will have a Disney character they love. I'll have a card from Mickey attached to the cupcake container that we will read to them the night before, which will invite them to wake up super early and fly down. I'm so excited that I can't stand it. I know they will be ecstatic!

 

[WDWFan0813]

We didn't tell our 4.5 before we took her the first time. When we picked her up from daycare and she saw all the stuff in the car we just told her we were going on a trip and it was a surprise. We flew into Tampa and began giving her clues as we got closer to Orlando, even when she realized we were going to Disney, it didn't really hit her until we got into Animation Hall to check into our room.

 

[PirateRedhead]

I love reading these!

We leave in 5 weeks and are springing it on our son the day before. Last time we did it a month prior. I wrote a little book "from Mickey", with photos and details and left it on the front porch, then rang the doorbell and hid so I could video.

This time I made a video with Disney trivia questions. Every time he answers a question, he'll collect a pre-packed Ziplock with something he needs for the trip. On the last question, he'll collect a small suitcase and be directed to pack up all his items, followed by the reveal. I'm ridiculously excited to watch him figure it out - I'm sure he'll guess partway through!

 

[Capang]

We are telling our 6 year old we have to drop off grandma at the airport, which is a fairly common thing. Then we will pull out our luggage and say oops I guess we are leaving, not gram. Then we will let her figure out the rest. Which will take her about 0.0076 seconds.

 

[gobosox00]

Love these all. We ended up deciding to tell them last night (we leave on Friday morning), We just told them we had a surprise for them, and put out their Mickey stuffed animals wearing chef hats with a sign that said "I'll see you in 5 days!"

 

[heather13]

We just told them we had a surprise for them, and put out their Mickey stuffed animals wearing chef hats with a sign that said "I'll see you in 5 days!"

That's awesome!

We went for the first time on my daughter's 5th birthday (her sister was 2). She asked for weeks if she could go to Orlando for her birthday so she could visit Disney. We thought it would be a great surprise to take her to the airport and tell her the news when we got to the gate. We reached the gate and I said, "If you could go anywhere, where would you like to go?" Her response: "Are we going to the airport candy store?!!" When we told her we were actually going to Disney she was disappointed she wasn't getting candy.
Sometimes the surprises work, sometimes they don't!!

 

[jtopp]

Hope you remembered to record their reaction to the news. If you truly surprised them it will be a moment to cherish forever.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

We keep out trips a secret and I try to find a clever way to tell them. Last year we told them the night before on my sons 5th birthday. I put their magic bands in Disney decorated cups and they knew right away where we use those bands. He expressed disappointment because he wanted to go to Fiesta Texas!!
The year before we woke them up early and told them the mailman had left a package for them. My son 4 yrs at the time ripped open the red wrapping paper and it was our magic bands. We left right after he opened the package. I love looking at those videos of when we surprise them.

 

[mernin]

We spend the night before at a hotel near the airport at home. Told them it was because we had missed some of their swimming lessons so it was to make up for that playing in the pool (they often asked to stay at a hotel to play in the pool). Woke them up at 3am (5am flight) and gave the a little gift bag with a tsum tsum purse & Disney tshirt with a note that "get ready, we're going to Disney world". My oldest read it and when she got to Disney World she said it really quiet then said "really?" And squeeled. It was the best! Then we got ready to head to the airport! We recorded it and it's great to watch it back

 

[Arielfan98]

I've seen so many different surprise videos! Your kids seem too young to pretend you're taking them to school, otherwise that'd be a good ruse. I'd suggest maybe telling them "dad" or "mom" is going on a work trip and you're dropping them off? Or, you can tell them you're flying somewhere else? I'm not sure how knowledgeable your children are. When I was 5 I knew a flight to Orlando meant Disney World lol. Another fun and cute simple idea is to make mickey mouse pancakes for the breakfast before your flight and ask them why they would have mickey shaped pancakes. You could also get them cool Disney gear/clothes for the plane ride and a Disney backpack?

 

[gobosox00]

Hope you remembered to record their reaction to the news. If you truly surprised them it will be a moment to cherish forever.

Yes, we got it on video! The five year old was pretty excited.

 

[Lilylogan]

We are surprising out 6 and 2 year olds next month. Picking the oldest up from school early- telling her its for a dental appointment and then seeing how long til she realizes we are going to the airport. Knowing her she'll probably say "oh but I really wanted to get my teeth cleaned" lol.

 

[LovePug]

We tried to think of all kinds of clever things when our kids were younger, but the one that did the best was a simple 1/4 sheet cake with the Castle on it. Took them a few minutes to figure out what it was all about, but they freaked when they figured it out.

This is what we did only we added a road leading to the castle and had the words "We're going to Disney!" on it.

 

[JoCoSelma]

We are leaving in 23 days...the kids didn't have a great summer because of sickness in the family, so we are going to start packing on a Wednesday and if asked, tell them we are headed to the beach, since they didn't get a beach vacation this summer. We will leave early early on Saturday and drive from NC to Daytona Beach (so we aren't lying to them) and spending Saturday and Sunday in Daytona Beach. We have lunch reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table on Monday and I've created invitations for them to be "slipped under the hotel door" on Sunday night so Monday morning when we wake up, those invitations will be waiting for them. That's how we are doing the "Surprise, we're going to Disney!" This will be everyone's first trip to Disney, so I'm super excited!!