There is a video of this and as soon as I have a steady internet connection I’ll get it uploaded to You Tube.
So this morning Jacob got up first. He is such an early bird. I heard him in the bathroom at a quarter to 4. I let him go lay on the couch for a few minutes. He saw the big box and said “Wooooah, that is a big box. Why did you make it so big?”
About 4:30 I woke up Emily and she was excited to see the box. I let them both open it together and she said “Ohhh it’s a Mickey balloon!” and Jacob said “It’s for my birthday party!” I pointed out to Emily that there was a note on it…
She read it. “You are going to Disney World tomorrow.” I corrected her. She said “You are going to Disney World today. For real? ” And we were like Yes! And she started giggling and jumping up and down and telling Jacob. And Jacob said “I don’t want to ride that Splash Mountain ride.” He is so mad at that ride for getting him wet. (Which is fine because it’s closed.)
Of course I didn’t think about the fact that Jacob was NOT going to want to leave the balloon at home. He threw a fit and I told him that his Nanny was going to come get it and that made him happy. It’s hard to pull him away from grandma for a week. They are like 2 pees in the pod.
It was such a wonderful surprise. I was so excited that I slept for like 2.5 hours last night. I am not kidding. I even listened to the last 5 chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on You Tube to try to fall asleep and it didn’t work. At least I got some Tylenol PM to take tonight.
I love Disney surprises. Im hoping to pull one off on our kiddos this year.
Can’t wait to see the video. The Disney surprise videos are always too cute.
How is the weather down there? I imagine it’s not terribly different than what you already have in Alabama, huh? I love when kids are this age – everything is so special with them. What memories you will have!
Great way to tell the kids!!
Holy moly, 4AM? Is that a normal wake up time or do you think he suspected something was up?? What time does he go to bed to get up that early??
He went to bed at 5 pm. Lol. Can’t blame him for getting up. ;)
Can’t wait to hear about your trip. Thank you for taking the time to post whole on vacation.
Please let me know if you have any tips as we are going in Late February!
What a cute idea!! I can only imagine the excitement in your house this morning! In October we surprised out kids…we had the car packed with suitcases, a sign on the suitcases that said “We’re going to DISNEY WORLD!! and then had the trunk filled with helium balloons. We sent the kids on a treasure hunt around the neighborhood (the neighbors loved being involved in the surprise) until they got to the last clue which lead them to the trunk of the car (which we marked with an X using painters tape) When they opened the trunk the balloons started floating out and our 3 year old was upset about watching the balloons float out of his reach and my 7 year old that could read, saw and read the sign was was yelling with excitement. My 5 year old was torn between the excitement of Disney and concern about the balloons floating away!! It was such a fun way to begin our trip! We love Disney!!
April
Wait (LOL)!!!! Your son got up at 4am?! Does he always get up that early?!
This sounds like an awesome way to have told the kids!
Have fun!!!!
Are you guys driving straight there. I also live in Birmingham and I am wondering what time will you arrive.
I can not wait to see the video. You got me wanting to go to Disney really bad. We may do a surprise trip this June. We told our girls that we could not go until 2012 when the youngest is 4 but I do not think I can wait that long. So if we go we what to surprise them like you did. Thanks for all the great info.
Aww…that’s so sweet. Can’t wait to see the video. My son would never go for the early morning thing. He’s up promptly at 7:00 every morning and woe to the person who gets him up before that!
Don’t worry about not sleeping sweetie — whatever gets you through the night is important in this case and in the case of your last few months. I hope this trip is able to restore you to where you need to be.
What a thrill it must’ve been for the kids. Can’t wait to see your video.
Are you there yet, are you there yet?? What are you doing??? hahaha
Kristin,
I hope yall have a lot of fun. I am planning my first trip with my daughter for next Dec and I can’t wait to see what kind of advice you can give me from this trip. HAVE FUN!
What a great way to tell them! My friend did something similar and the video is hilarious. What a great memory for them!!
That is sooo cool! I would love to surprise my kids with a trip to Disney!!
I can’t believe your kids are up SO EARLY!! OMG!
OMG! How exciting!!! Now you got my mind going about how I could pull that off. LOL
So sweet!! I teared up a little!! Surprises are the BEST…but a Disney Surprise is just Magical!!
You should be on the Disney commericals they do for telling the kids. Such a sweet thing !!!!! You guys are awesome parents this will be something they remember their whole life !!!!
I love the balloon idea! I can’t wait to surprise my little ones on year! Enjoy every moment with your family. Let us know how the crowds are at this time.
And I purposely left you alone so you’d get some sleep last night!
Whoops, didn’t think about the balloon being an issue, I would have just said Mickey will be here when you get back- cause we are going to leave and go see him now too!
That would have been a good idea, too! :)
What a great way to surprise the kids. I am not sure I could have keep it a surprise for as long as you did. You were not kidding when you said the kids were early raisers (that was a few blog posts ago). Have an AWESOME time!
It’s not easy to keep these kind of surprises a secret. :)
How fun! We are going in a year and have not told my children yet. My son is 3 and we have never discussed Disney with him before so he probably won’t fully grasp it until we are there. My daughter is 10 though and loves to be overly dramatic on how “she has NEVER been there” haha. I can’t wait to tell her. I have not been either, so I’m excited as well! Can’t wait to follow along with you on your trip!
They will both be so excited! :)
Oh!! can’t wait to see it!!! you are giving me ideas for our next trip.
Yay! What a fun way to surprise the kids! Cannot wait to see the video!
How exciting! How old are your children? I am fairly new to your site.
Emily is 6 and Jacob is 3. :)
What an awesome story!! Thanks so much for sharing it. I’ve been so excited to hear how they loved the surprise.
What a great way to suprise the kids. Hope you get some sleep!! Give Mickey a hug from me. ;)
Will do!
I can not wait to see the video. Was it captured with your iphone? If so can’t the iphone upload it to youtube while you drive?
Unfortunately it is on the video camera….. :-\
Awesome! So excited for you!!!!
What a cool way to tell them! That is awesome!!
Can’t wait to see the video. I thought my son was an early river but your son has him beat! 3:45??? That’s way early
Love it! It brought tears to my eyes. You all deserve this so much! I can’t wait to see the video!
Hope you and your family have a wonderful trip! Looking forward to watching the video. Can’t wait to return to Disney this year for my family’s annual trip in August.
I can’t wait to see the video!!!!
What a fun idea. We decided to surprise our kids as well with our trip. I love the balloon idea. I may barrow the idea from you.
It worked out well for us. :)
That is so awesome and exciting! I hope your family has a wonderful and healing time. Enjoy those precious little ones.
Very awesome! I love the “Why did you make the box so big?” Not Why is there a box? Too funny!
I am so excited for you guys!!!! Did you mean to peas in a pod? Pee in a pod would be ewwwie Mama! I laughed and giggled right along with your daughter at this post. I cannot and I mean cannot wait to see the video! Safe and happy travels to you and your beautiful family.
Ooops! Darn typos. ;)
What wonderful surprises at your house!! Have fun!!!