How or DO you tell your family about your WDW trip?!

[fostrmom2mny]

For those of you that have read many of my posts, I'm a foster parent. My youngest foster daughter has never been to WDW and has been looking forward to going the entire two years that we have been saving up for the trip She's the kind of child that really wants people to give her surprises, but she takes great delight in "figuring" out the surprise before it happens. I gave her a surprise B-day party for her 12th B-day and it was so much fun pulling one over on her without her figuring it out ahead of time. The look on her face, and the expression that she gave me when she said, "Mom, you really surprised me!"
It is because of this I have decided not to tell the kids exactly when our trip will be, or what all we will be doing while we will be there. (My son is going to be blown away by the two hour ToT!)
I've decided that we will start packing this summer, then Nov 26 I'll wake them up and say, "Wake up, we're going to WDW today!" That not only will get them up and going, but will make for a wonderful surprise! It will keep my foster daughter from stressing out about it. (She does that with EVERYTHING new.) She's never flown befor and though she can't wait to fly, I know she'll worry about it.
My biggest hope is that the trip will coinside with our adoption of her. It should be about that time that we may get to adopt her. Then the trip will not only be a surprise, but act as a celebration as well
So, do you tell your kids, and HOW do you tell them. I know it is good to incluude them in the planning. We've been making a Must See and Must Do list that we will incorporate in this trip. Gerri

 

[Floydian]

When we took our daughters to DL for the first time, we didn't tell them a thing. We had their bags packed, and my parents picked us up in the morning to take us to the Airport. So by that time, they knew we were going somewhere, but they had no idea where. Luckily for us, it worked out perfectly. On the drive to the DL Hotel, we passed a huge mall, and I asked if they wanted to go to the mall. Well ,of course they said yes, so I said we'd see what else there was to do. As we turned onto the street where the hotel is, I asked if they wanted to go back to the mall, and I got a loud YES! Then, about 2 seconds later, our oldest saw the Disneyland Hotel sign and screamed NOOOOO! We wanna go to Disneyland! Things couldn't have possibly worked out any better than that.

But now, since they're a bit older, I think we'll let them help to plan some. We'll have 12 days there, so it'd be good to let them pik out some of the things that they might want to do. Like you, I think we won't tell them exactly when we're going though. Otherwise, that's all we'll hear about for weeks.

Anyhow, we'll have to meet when we're there as our oldest DD will be 13.

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody's looking.
Courage is doing the right thing, even when it's unpopular.
Floydian
Go ahead, send a message to flydian@go.com. I dare 'ya.

 

[mnbrowns]

Last year we told the girls about a week before and it worked out nicely. I think just bringing them to airport would have been to stressful. It would have been a good kind of stress, but still stress. They're the type that need to settle into the idea of big events. They also got to help put together last minute itinararies. I might do the same thing this year.
P.S. fostrmom2mny-I'm sending pixie dust your way that you'll get to keep this child your whole life long. I hope to see you in november.

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1997 (WDW 25th birthday) Institute Villas
1999 DxL
2000 WL and Swan!!!