We did it!!!
The morning we left, we woke them up for school like normal. They got ready and were getting their coats and shoes on to leave, and DH told them to all sit on the couch. We decided the night before to use a Sharpie and wrote:
"Who's got it..."
"Better than us?"
"NOBODY!!!!"
on the front side of each of the kids' gift bags, and:
We are...
Going to...
DISNEYWORLD!!!!
on the backsides. DH gave each kid their bag while I filmed, and they read it in order, then we had them turn the bags over and read again in order. They were like "oh wow...cool" and started looking in their bags. Then DH brought out their Magic Bands, and they thought those were neat, and it started to click with DS13. He was like "Wait....are we going right NOW?!" We told him to look in his bag and he pulled out his boarding pass. His eyes got HUGE and he started to laugh and tell the younger kids. It finally dawned on all three, and they jumped up and screamed and yelled and hugged us and were so super excited!
We then told them that they had 10 minutes to ONE thing they would like to bring that would fit in their bag, and get their shoes on. DS7 chose his stuffed dog, DD chose something (I can't remember), and DS13 grabbed his phone.
The best part was, though, about 15 minutes later, I peeked out the window (the curtains were closed) and saw that the limo had arrived. We told the kids that it was time to go and that the car was out front. DH works for a major rental car corporation in their title acquisition (I'm sure I spelled that totally wrong! LOL) department, so we regularly rent or use company cars, and the kids are always excited to see the latest vehicle he brings home. So, as I videotaped, they ran to the window and opened the curtain and saw a ginormous white stretch limo in front of the house. DS7 was so funny...."A limo??!!" You got us a limo??!!! How did you guys afford that???!!!" They ran out to the limo and jumped right in. It was absolutely perfect!
I would totally recommend surprising kids at least once in their lives. It was the most magical way to start our vacation....it was so fun to have them think back to all of the hints we gave them, and for them to find out that pretty much everybody in their lives knew about the trip, from their babysitter to their teachers...even DS13's spanish tutor (he is in advanced Spanish) and their football/cheer coaches - they got such a kick out of it all.
The only thing I would recommend is making sure you plan it when nothing is going on (like in between sports seasons) and make sure to tell the kids' teachers. We told the younger kids' teachers, but I didn't tell DS13's 8th grade teachers (for various reasons, but #1 being that he has had just about the same teachers the past three years and they have never once replied back when I tell them he will be gone for a few days). Of course this time, I didn't alert them, and DS ended up being in the middle of a partner project that was due the friday we came back (he went back to school on the Wednesday). Other than that, though, all went very well, and most importantly, all three said that they LOVED that we surprised them!