If you were going to surprise your kids at Christmas with a trip to Disney World, what would you do?
Here’s a video of Emily when we surprised her in 2009 on our very first trip.
And here’s a video of us surprising the kids with the trip in 2011.
Here are a few ideas from the readers:
We are surprising our kids with their trip this December. We do an advent calendar every year with activities on it so the plan right now is to have our 12 year old open it up and it will say something like “Get ready to celebrate with Mickey” or the like. We’re still working out the details on when to leave & how to surprise them, but I really want to use the advent calendar. I’m not sure our 2 year old will really get what is going on, but I think it will be pretty phenomenal for our 12 year old! – Gretchen
My husband and I have surprised our two boys twice. They knew about the first couple of trips and had fun preparing and counting down. We had a lot fun knowing a secret and keeping them in the dark. Once we told them we were going to Washington DC for Easter Break. We really were – we flew out of the DC Airport. They had been to DC sighseeing before and knew it was hard to find a place to park. We pulled into a huge parking lot (at the airport longterm parking area) and told them we needed a bus to our hotel. They figured out we were at an airport and that the tram was taking us to the terminal. The second surprise came on the last day of school. We picked the kids up (5th grade and 2nd grade) and told them we were going to McDonald’s for ice cream. We stop at McDonald’s (this was a ‘potty stop’ for the trip to the airport) and got ice cream. We took a picture of them in the parking lot and turned the video on the camera and told them we were going to see the most famous mouse in the world. One son said “Jerry – from Tom and Jerry?” and the other one said “but you promised to take me to Target”. Not exactly the reaction we dreamed of, but they were super excited to find out we would be there for Star Wars Weekend! – Dawn
We surprised our kids a few years ago. I had bought them costumes and woke them up as usual at the hotel and told them to go get their clothes and get dressed. When they opened their suitcase they had costumes to put on. They were so excited. – Sarah
My husband and I surprised his two teenage sons with a trip to Disney on Christmas last year for that following February. I order custom M&Ms and secret decoder rings (think A Christmas Story) – “Santa” wrote a letter to each of the boys requesting they decode a secret message explaining their final Christmas Surprise … the boys each had a bag of M&Ms and there were numbers on the M&Ms – those numbers matched up with letters on their rings. (UR) (GOIN) (TO) (DISNEY) (but the letters were actually numbers on the M&Ms) It took them about 10 – 15 minutes to figure it out – both working together to see who got what numbers figured out – they were quite surprised and had alot of fun! – Amy
If you were going to surprise your kids at Christmas with a trip to Disney World, what would you do?
We surprised our kids with a WDW trip last year, the week before Christmas. We told them we were going to the beach for the weekend (I didn’t want to sneak around to pack). About 3 hours into the trip, we stopped and gave them gifts of Disney pullovers (which they didn’t need in the 80 degree days in Orlando), mouse ears with Santa hats, and a scrapbook each. They didn’t catch on quickly, so my husband told them we were headed to Disney World. My daughter was speechless, and my son said, “Aww…I wanted to go to the beach!” Not the initial reactions we were looking for, but we had a fantastic trip!
We are planning a Spring trip to Disney. On Christmas morning we are surprising my 2 with a Christmas Gift they can open together. I got the Free Disney maps and the Disney DVD. I am going to make each an autograph book and put a countdown chain in there too. I am so excited!!
I’m surprising my 3 girls with disney annual passes this year and we will be making the trip jan 14th. I’m going to make golden tickets (like Wonka) and I’ve bought a toy cinderella carriage and horse to put in front of the tree. I’m also going have trading pins, disney sweaters and pjs to open. I’m gonna wrap them in disney christmas paper. Hopefully this will get them excited about a piece of paper. I’ve got friends bring the official maps so they can plan their attack of the parks. When we go I’m going to have my husband go speak to customer service before we get there and tell them the tickets are from santa. Hopefully they will play along.
My husband and I surprised his two teenage sons with a trip to Disney on Christmas last year for that following February. I order custom M&Ms and secret decoder rings (think A Christmas Story) – “Santa” wrote a letter to each of the boys requesting they decode a secret message explaining their final Christmas Surprise … the boys each had a bag of M&Ms and there were numbers on the M&Ms – those numbers matched up with letters on their rings. (UR) (GOIN) (TO) (DISNEY) (but the letters were actually numbers on the M&Ms) It took them about 10 – 15 minutes to figure it out – both working together to see who got what numbers figured out – they were quite surprised and had alot of fun!
We are suprising our kids this year with a Christmas trip. It is getting harder every day for me to keep the secret! We have been the last 2 summers,we didn’t go this summer so we could go at Christmas instead. i know the lines and crowds will be terrible, but I think they will enjoy just “seeing” everything all lit up and in the Christmas spirit. Now if I can just keep the secret 2 more months!
I’m with ya on this one. We too have gone always in spring/summer in the past but not this yr. Because we are going Dec 9-14th!!!! My daughter has no idea. I’m trying so hard to think of an awesome way to spill the beans. If you come on with something great I can’t wait to here it
We went last year the week before Christmas…Dec. 16-22, and it was much more manageable than we expected. Stay away from the parks with EMH and get there early to enjoy the rides. The parks are so beautiful at night! Tip: don’t save AK for last, as we did. It was OK, but a letdown compared to the Christmas sites in the other 3 parks.
I surprised my daughter for her 9th bday 2 yrs ago she thought we had to go to tenn for someone else… then this past march I went to my daughters class with our mouse ears and surprised her again in front of her class… teacher and school staff was in on it… next time were telling the month but making a fake day up so she can semi help plan which she likes to do
We’re surprising our 3 kids and my baby sister in November. We’re going to have them do a little scavenger hunt right before we leave. At the end of the hunt, they will get their I heart Mickey tote bags filled with goodies. I can’t wait to see the surprise on their faces! They’ve been asking to go back all year and think the next time we go will be in 2014!
We surprised our kids a few years ago. I had bought them costumes and woke them up as usual at the hotel and told them to go get their clothes and get dressed. When they opened their suitcase they had costumes to put on. They were so excited.
We will be surprising our kids this Christmas with a trip in February. I am still trying to find something awesome, but I want to drop little hints using Elf on the Shelf. I think that’d be cute. One thing my dad did for me when I was little was get this great big box (I swore I was getting a computer back then when the mointors were humongus) And put a smaller box inside that one, and a smaller one inside that one…etc. Until the very last box has something revealing the gift of a trip to disney.
we surprised our kids back on may first..we gave them a signed a letter from mickey and minnie when we got the airport with grammy and papa. then surprised them again when we got to our hotel when there other grammy and two uncles were waiting there for us..it was a great family affair for the first trip to disney
My husband and I have surprised our two boys twice. They knew about the first couple of trips and had fun preparing and counting down. We had a lot fun knowing a secret and keeping them in the dark. Once we told them we were going to Washington DC for Easter Break. We really were – we flew out of the DC Airport. They had been to DC sighseeing before and knew it was hard to find a place to park. We pulled into a huge parking lot (at the airport longterm parking area) and told them we needed a bus to our hotel. They figured out we were at an airport and that the tram was taking us to the terminal. The second surprise came on the last day of school. We picked the kids up (5th grade and 2nd grade) and told them we were going to McDonald’s for ice cream. We stop at McDonald’s (this was a ‘potty stop’ for the trip to the airport) and got ice cream. We took a picture of them in the parking lot and turned the video on the camera and told them we were going to see the most famous mouse in the world. One son said “Jerry – from Tom and Jerry?” and the other one said “but you promised to take me to Target”. Not exactly the reaction we dreamed of, but they were super excited to find out we would be there for Star Wars Weekend!
We are surprising our kids with their trip this December. We do an advent calendar every year with activities on it so the plan right now is to have our 12 year old open it up and it will say something like “Get ready to celebrate with Mickey” or the like. We’re still working out the details on when to leave & how to surprise them, but I really want to use the advent calendar. I’m not sure our 2 year old will really get what is going on, but I think it will be pretty phenomenal for our 12 year old!
That sounds like such a fun idea!
I will be surprising my son with a big family Disney trip (uncle, aunt, cousins) in 3 weeks! Still trying to decide on how to surprise him!