ideas for the big reveal....

[Mrs Lapo]

Hello, I was wondering if I could pick your brains about how to reveal the big surprise to my kids. We went in 2014 for the first time & I had given them a box with assorted Disney stuff and a note that we were going to WDW & they loved it! I really wanted to maybe just wait until the day of this time & just wake them up early for our flight and tell them that morning.... but I have some complications with that. 1) it doesn't give us time to build the excitement, watch Disney movies, read up on rides etc. 2) my ex husband may ruin the surprise at any moment. So0o0o I'm leaning on telling them rather soon so I have control and can actually surprise them. We aren't going until Sept. But what are some fun ways that you have told your kids?? Also, please keep in mind that this Momma Bear is tapped out.... this trip is literally costing me every penny I have so0o I'm trying to keep this reveal budget friendly.

Thanks so much!!

 

[Suprize2017]

When we went last year we told our kids about 6 weeks before we went. We spelled out “We are going to Florida February 26!” on index cards and then cut the cards so one letter was on each. Then we played quick little card and dice games like Tenzie, Spot It, and Yahtzee. Every time we finished, the winner would get to draw a letter. They were confused at first, but then figured out the letters would give them a message. After the last letter was given, they went to work solving it. It was really fun, they were super excited, and best of all, it cost us nothing.

 

[zobow02]

it's too bad your ex might ruin the surprise I was a gonna suggest...
since your going during the beginning of the school year on the first morning of school you could put something heavy in their backpacks and then have it be something Disney.

 

[Mrs Lapo]

When we went last year we told our kids about 6 weeks before we went. We spelled out “We are going to Florida February 26!” on index cards and then cut the cards so one letter was on each. Then we played quick little card and dice games like Tenzie, Spot It, and Yahtzee. Every time we finished, the winner would get to draw a letter. They were confused at first, but then figured out the letters would give them a message. After the last letter was given, they went to work solving it. It was really fun, they were super excited, and best of all, it cost us nothing.

I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! This is so cute & super fun! My kids would love this! They're 5, 9 & 13 plus my best friend's daughter is 7. So this would be perfect for all of them because they can all read (for the most part) and maybe we could assign my son as the designated card flipper since he's the youngest. Thank you so much for sharing!!

 

[YesterDark]

Last year when we went, we just told the kids but they were 4 and 2. We hung up a calendar decorated with Disney and did a count down every day for 3 months.

Next time we schedule it (next year since this year we had another baby), I think we might just hang another calendar on the wall but make it blank and just give the kids stickers to put on the calendar until they figure it out by themselves. My kids are smart and they'll probably just say, "Hey are we going back to disney?" the moment the see a blank paper with boxes drawn on it.

 

[Mrs Lapo]

it's too bad your ex might ruin the surprise I was a gonna suggest...
since your going during the beginning of the school year on the first morning of school you could put something heavy in their backpacks and then have it be something Disney.

Ya, I am trying my hardest to keep him happy so he doesn't spoil it but I'm not sure I want to wait that long.... but that's a good idea too. It would probably help ease the pain of their first day too... lol

 

[Suprize2017]

I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! This is so cute & super fun! My kids would love this! They're 5, 9 & 13 plus my best friend's daughter is 7. So this would be perfect for all of them because they can all read (for the most part) and maybe we could assign my son as the designated card flipper since he's the youngest. Thank you so much for sharing!!

I’m glad you liked it! It was a spur of the moment idea for my husband and me. On our first trip, we surprised them the morning of, at the airport (we told them we were going to the airport to say good-bye to their grandparents). Our last trip was as I already wrote. We are currently planning our third, and most likely final, trip (kids will start HS next year and missing school will be a bigger deal). They have told us that being surprised is part of the fun for them, so the pressure is on to come up with another way to surprise the!

 

[KristenB17]

Hope you find a great way to do it. Foggy brain right now, can't think of much to help.

 

[NYCgrrl]

When we went last year we told our kids about 6 weeks before we went. We spelled out “We are going to Florida February 26!” on index cards and then cut the cards so one letter was on each. Then we played quick little card and dice games like Tenzie, Spot It, and Yahtzee. Every time we finished, the winner would get to draw a letter. They were confused at first, but then figured out the letters would give them a message. After the last letter was given, they went to work solving it. It was really fun, they were super excited, and best of all, it cost us nothing.

I would like this 100 times more if the system let me

My idea was a scavenger hunt that ends with kiddies' existing toys (stuffed toys, electronics, etc) having the addition of felt or construction paper Mickey ears but you topped that idea by far!

 

[Wild4Walt]

Scavenger hunt with Disney items. You can tell them it's a Disney hunt with the prize to be determine at the end of the hunt based on how well they worked as a team and how hard. At the end the 'prize' is the Disney trip.

Can be little things like stickers, books, Disney maps ( you can get on eBay ), buttons, pins, napkins ( believe me you can find those on eBay too ), music, movies if they don't have one that you want to include.

if you google it, you will find lots of options from mild in cost to extreme.

 

[Jen309]

First time was a little elaborate - we got a Disney character puzzle from the dollar store, and put it together, writing on the cardboard side "go turn on the TV and hit play". They had to put together the puzzle as a team, then flip it over, and read the message. Afterward, they watched a video I'd created on my phone using imovie and uploaded to youTube. It was a cool little 2 minute video with pics of the kids and disney, ending with "Surprise, we're going to Disney!". This time, I just got several sheets of scrap paper and wrote one word at a time "we....are....going....to....disney.... with more details about our trip. I passed them out (making sure mine was the one with Disney on it), and we sat in a circle and each read a word in turn, going down the list. (Hope that makes sense). It was as good a surprise as creating a whole video, and took seconds. Good luck with your reveal!

 

[blackpearl77]

We did the scavenger hunt too! I googled disney scavenger hunt clues and got ideas. We did it inside and outside the house. The final clue had a card saying we're going to Disney and his backpack with airplane activities in it. He liked that since he's into pirates so it was like a treasure map. The other time we did a surprise we just got a big box and put balloons in it and put it outside and pretended the ups man just came. And he opened it and the balloons rose up with a note attached. After the last trip he says he wants to be in charge of all the planning so probably won't do another surprise trip hehe!

 

[WiredForFlight]

Best Friend and I decided to get his mom (and us) and Annual passes since all she could do was talk about coming back for Christmas. So the two of us went to Guest Relations at the the International Gateway of Epcot. We there found out she had to be present and she had to have her ID. He finished his AP answering all the normal questions they ask and then told the cast member we needed to figure out how to get his mom one with out telling her.

Having left my ID in the hotel room we went back there to retrieve it (it was YC so not far of a walk) and saw her ID. We snagged that and told her we wanted to meet up at the store near the International Gateway but first we had a quick question for Guest Relations but we insisted she stay by us vs go to store for shopping. He dropped her ID to the cast member (and cast member could see her there for verification) and she wildly started clicking away, but then we needed her Magic Band to link the account... I snapped it off her wrist and in one move slide it through the window. Again the cast member said zero words and just banged away at the keyboard. His mom very quickly was like *** are you doing... and we said getting her "Banned for Life" from the park and started to giggle, she knew something was up but we just kept saying nope we are banning her because she keeps saying "I don't want to go back... I want to go else where" (note: she also says she keeps wanting to go back over and over) so we said we where fixing that so she could not go back.

Finally the cast member finished (again zero words where said and man it was in record time) and she handed her the AP card and a button that said Celebrating Mothers Day on it. His mom broke down crying knowing that she would get her trip back to WDW for Christmas. Was so worth it to surprise her and have a big reveal.

So if you can find away to have that big reveal and surprise someone. Do it. So worth it.

 

[angiegal]

When we took our two oldest children for the first time, we put some things in their rooms while they were asleep. We got Mickey canteens and autograph books and left them on their dressers, Mickey and Minnie plushies next to them and a little "pixie dust" on their bed and floor. We had a Disney planning VCR tape (yep, my kids are that old) ready to go first thing in the morning so when they woke up, they would see and hear it in the family room. We even made Mickey pancakes for breakfast that day. It was about a week before the trip, so it was a great way to give them a few gifts they would use on the trip and kick off the countdown to our trip!

 

[Revan]

Coming in late after hearing about this thread on DisUnplugged.

While not technically a reveal, I think this gives way more bang for the buck. Here is what I did back in 2008. Two families, 4 kids (11,10,8,7), iPhones and technology just becoming mainstream with the tween crowd. We told the kids early, this would be the first trip for all 4 kids, adults had been in the distant past, but this is what I did that was a bit unique. I created a blog (Blogger, I think) and for 8 months I uploaded a new blog post every day. All the adults and all the kids would anticipate the post, read it and comment, every day. It was usually some random fact about the World or a trivia question. At the end I had hundreds of posts, with comments from the kids and adults.

When I got back I pulled the blog into one of those PhotoBook editors, replaced all the stock photography with our photos and printed hardcovers for each family. Ten years later they still talk about the build-up of anticipation and excitement to open their web browser every day and see the post. The Photobook hasn't left our coffee table.

Ha! I just checked and it's still live and available if anyone wants to see it, though alot of the photo links are dead - BLOG

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

I have 2 little ones and we're going to surprise them the day before, but we're thinking about small surprise ideas, like a bath bomb with a disney character inside or a message inside a mickey waffle

 

[katyjeka]

We surprised our girls one year with a bunch of balloons. My dh blew up a bunch and we filled one with Disney confetti that I bought at Michael's for a couple dollars. We then had them pop them and when the confetti feel they unrolled a paper telling them what was up. It made a cute video and they glued the confetti in their autograph books. Have a great trip.