How do you keep it a secret?!?!

[JustMeFran]

My husband just gave the green light for a mother/daughter trip one last time before she becomes a Disney adult (she is 9 now...). We just went this January, and Hubby is not as much of an addict as DD and I are! So in terms of planning I just keep asking her what she liked doing on the last trip, what color MB she wants for her next tip, where she wants to eat again...to her it is just dreaming about our next future trip...so that is going to help! I plan on surprising her at Christmas. For gifts, we only do 4 gifts for each person (a want, a need, a wear and a read), her want will be pins to trade and her wear will be her final gift, her MB!
I can do it!! I hope!

 

[2prince'smom]

It has been SO hard. DS (age 14) keeps finding things that I am worried are going to blow the surprise . . . he's SO nosey. lol

He saw my phone's calendar and read "Check Be Our Guest" and said "What's that mom? Why is that on there?" I said "Oh, it's just some software that I'm having to check for the kids at work." :-0 He says "OH. I thought it was for Disney World."

Then he came in and saw the itinerary laying out and I know he was either looking through that or the calendar that I had there.

I don't know what he knows, but I'm still keeping quiet for him and DS (age 8). I can't WAIT to surprise them!!

 

[MollieW]

I tried to keep it a secret but my daughter found out. If you can't manage to keep it secret, don't fret. Planning with my kids has actually been really fun!

 

[Kimberly9701]

My husband just gave the green light for a mother/daughter trip one last time before she becomes a Disney adult (she is 9 now...). We just went this January, and Hubby is not as much of an addict as DD and I are! So in terms of planning I just keep asking her what she liked doing on the last trip, what color MB she wants for her next tip, where she wants to eat again...to her it is just dreaming about our next future trip...so that is going to help! I plan on surprising her at Christmas. For gifts, we only do 4 gifts for each person (a want, a need, a wear and a read), her want will be pins to trade and her wear will be her final gift, her MB!
I can do it!! I hope!

This is GREAT!! How wonderful!
Yep our magic bands are going to be in the box left by Santa in our stateroom. I just have to pull this off!!!

 

[TXStormtrooper]

I've always thought it would be fun to keep it a secret, but never have. We do make a big surprise out of the reveal/announcement that we are going and then let our children help with the planning. It's never been a problem for them to know months in advance because they are active in the planning process. They love to have a visible countdown the last 50 days or so.

 

[wollydoodle]

We've done both...surprise and involved in planning. I wouldn't trade either!! Nothing will ever top the surprise, so I can say it was worth the wait. (It was our first trip.) Since we loved it so much we, of course, have "had" to go back several times since then. : D They have known about the last three trips and we had fun planning, but my dd13 says she wants to be surprised again because she hates waiting. I'm actually hoping someone will surprise ME!! Lol...

 

[Kimberly9701]

We've done both...surprise and involved in planning. I wouldn't trade either!! Nothing will ever top the surprise, so I can say it was worth the wait. (It was our first trip.) Since we loved it so much we, of course, have "had" to go back several times since then. : D They have known about the last three trips and we had fun planning, but my dd13 says she wants to be surprised again because she hates waiting. I'm actually hoping someone will surprise ME!! Lol...

Ha ha wouldn't that be nice!!

 

[famy27]

For the large majority of our trips, my DDs are involved in the planning. I did one surprise trip in September 2014, which turned into a bit of a problem, but it worked out okay in the end. My older DD had a long weekend off of school, so at the last minute, I decided to book a trip at BC. When she asked on Thursday night where she'd be spending Friday (backup daycare, friend's house, etc.), I said "Actually, you'll be spending it with me at WDW." She thought I was joking for the first five minutes, but once she realized, I was serious, she got so excited. So, the next morning we get to the airport to board our plane, and it turns out that every flight was grounded due to some disgruntled worker setting a fire at the radar center. We spent the entire day at the airport and never got a flight out. Our surprise trip almost ended up as no trip at all. Luckily, I was finally able to get us on a flight out the following morning. I ended up pulling her out of school to make up for the lost vacation day. We had a great trip after that rocky start.

Now, I'm ready to try the surprise thing again. We have a stay planned for Labor Day at Poly, and the girls know all about that and are super-excited, as it's our first time at Poly and we're doing MNSSHP and the AK Night Safari party for DVC members. What they don't know is that I booked us a stay at YC for 4th of July. I really want to do new Soarin' and FEA, and we only have one EP day planned in Sept, so I am worried about getting all the EP FPs I need. We decided to make 4th of July all about EP and SAB. We do have reservations on the 3rd for Narcoosee's so that we can see the MK fireworks, but that's it. Three days at EP (maybe HS for the new SW fireworks), swimming, and that's it.

I booked this trip 71 days out, so that helps with not having to keep a secret for too long. We haven't decided how we're going to surprise them yet. We certainly won't be able to surprise them once we get near the airport. So, we'll probably tell them the night before, since that's the only way we'll get them out of bed early enough to catch our flight.

 

[Kimberly9701]

For the large majority of our trips, my DDs are involved in the planning. I did one surprise trip in September 2014, which turned into a bit of a problem, but it worked out okay in the end. My older DD had a long weekend off of school, so at the last minute, I decided to book a trip at BC. When she asked on Thursday night where she'd be spending Friday (backup daycare, friend's house, etc.), I said "Actually, you'll be spending it with me at WDW." She thought I was joking for the first five minutes, but once she realized, I was serious, she got so excited. So, the next morning we get to the airport to board our plane, and it turns out that every flight was grounded due to some disgruntled worker setting a fire at the radar center. We spent the entire day at the airport and never got a flight out. Our surprise trip almost ended up as no trip at all. Luckily, I was finally able to get us on a flight out the following morning. I ended up pulling her out of school to make up for the lost vacation day. We had a great trip after that rocky start.

Now, I'm ready to try the surprise thing again. We have a stay planned for Labor Day at Poly, and the girls know all about that and are super-excited, as it's our first time at Poly and we're doing MNSSHP and the AK Night Safari party for DVC members. What they don't know is that I booked us a stay at YC for 4th of July. I really want to do new Soarin' and FEA, and we only have one EP day planned in Sept, so I am worried about getting all the EP FPs I need. We decided to make 4th of July all about EP and SAB. We do have reservations on the 3rd for Narcoosee's so that we can see the MK fireworks, but that's it. Three days at EP (maybe HS for the new SW fireworks), swimming, and that's it.

I booked this trip 71 days out, so that helps with not having to keep a secret for too long. We haven't decided how we're going to surprise them yet. We certainly won't be able to surprise them once we get near the airport. So, we'll probably tell them the night before, since that's the only way we'll get them out of bed early enough to catch our flight.

That's so neat!! Have a wonderful time!!!

 

[DisMom829]

I'm struggling to keep our Mom/DD trip a surprise! I almost let it slip this weekend when I mentioned that we had to spend the night at the airport. She asked what for and I just said, Mom has to go to Atlanta for work. You & Daddy are dropping me off.

My kids are normally very involved with planning. So this has been hard!! 41 more days, I'm determined to keep it a surprise.

My plan is to pack her things and when we get to the airport to drop "me" off, I'll give her a gift to remember, her MB of course!!

 

[EagleG17]

We never keep our Disney trips a secret from our kids. We let them help plan due to life skills learned.

 

[Ametista]

we are planning a surprise trip next month and I'm DYING to tell my kids. but I've always wanted to surprise them with a trip so I'm staying strong. I just keep thinking about when we pick them up early from school that day and telling them we're leaving right now for WDW. The look on their faces will make it worth it!

Tell them they have dentist appointments that afternoon and that's what they will think they have to look forward to, LOL.

 

[Kimberly9701]

We never keep our Disney trips a secret from our kids. We let them help plan due to life skills learned.

He will be helping in planning with the cruise, and learning about the different countries that we are visiting. Once I tell him about it anyway..still haven't decided about when I'm going to do that part. Since we just went to Disney World for 10 days this past September- I can guess pretty much of what he will or will not want to do. But it is killing me not asking about some of our dining plans..I think I'll take a pp's advice on that and phrase it as "next time we go to wdw...."

 

[Kimberly9701]

Tell them they have dentist appointments that afternoon and that's what they will think they have to look forward to, LOL.

Ha ha! That's great!

 

[SnipsNSnails]

We don't. I could never do it!

 

[wollydoodle]

Ha ha wouldn't that be nice!!

It would except then I wouldn't be able to hyper-plan all my ADR's and Fastpasses!!

 

[smec73]

I do just because I've had to cancel trips or postpone in the past. I don't want to disappoint them, if that happens.

 

[powellrj]

We have never surprised our kids because my parents surprised me with a trip when I was a kid and I hated it. To this day I still hate surprises. I love the anticipation.

With teens that would have been almost impossible to do. My kids were always so busy that they needed time to make arrangements for our trips. Sports, drama, choir, friends. I am not sure if they ever would have forgiven me if a surprise trip would have meant they lost a spot in a play or on a team. They love WDW, but these things are important to them too.

 

[Kimberly9701]

We have never surprised our kids because my parents surprised me with a trip when I was a kid and I hated it. To this day I still hate surprises. I love the anticipation.

With teens that would have been almost impossible to do. My kids were always so busy that they needed time to make arrangements for our trips. Sports, drama, choir, friends. I am not sure if they ever would have forgiven me if a surprise trip would have meant they lost a spot in a play or on a team. They love WDW, but these things are important to them too.

But you don't even like Christmas presents? Which is essentially what this is...just an early one

 

[powellrj]

But you don't even like Christmas presents? Which is essentially what this is...just an early one

With Christmas presents I don't have to worry about changing plans and moving my calendar around. Even as a teen there were lots of things to plan when taking a trip. Was there a big school project coming up or another big school thing.