When and how to tell our 5 year old

[CherishL]

Hello!
So my husband and I just booked our trip for Oct! So excited!! It will be our daughter’s first trip; and she will be 5 by then. When should we tell her? And any cute ideas on how to announce it to her?

 

[GBRforWDW]

Does your child obsess about big things happening in the future? We've found it better to wait until the trip to tell our now 7yo because she gets too focused on the excitement of a trip to stay focused on the day to day stuff. A couple times we've waited til we saw the Disney sign and another time right before the flight.

You could get some Disney coloring books and a Minnie doll for the plane, then when you land at the airport or arrive at your hotel, ask her if she wants to meet the real Minnie Mouse!

 

[saraheliz]

When we went when my oldest was just shy of 5, we waited until 3-4 weeks out to tell her. We told her and then made a paper chain so she could take one off each day.

 

[Ranger Liz]

My kiddo is also 5 and we are surprising her. Either the night before or the morning of. If she knew this far out it would be bad, lol. Plus, there are some mornings if I ask her what she wants to do for the day and she asks if she can go to Disney.

Mind you, she has NEVER been there. Just dreaming already. So, hopefully, we can answer her 1 day... sure kid, we're going to Disney.

 

[GBRforWDW]

My kiddo is also 5 and we are surprising her. Either the night before or the morning of. If she knew this far out it would be bad, lol. Plus, there are some mornings if I ask her what she wants to do for the day and she asks if she can go to Disney.

Mind you, she has NEVER been there. Just dreaming already. So, hopefully, we can answer her 1 day... sure kid, we're going to Disney.

Oh my gosh, how cool will that be if she asks to go to Disney, you say sure, let's head to the airport. Haha so fun

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Oh my gosh, how cool will that be if she asks to go to Disney, you say sure, let's head to the airport. Haha so fun

but once you have done that she will expect any time that she asks she will go again

 

[PinkPixel]

Hello!
So my husband and I just booked our trip for Oct! So excited!! It will be our daughter’s first trip; and she will be 5 by then. When should we tell her? And any cute ideas on how to announce it to her?

I have taken various toys we already own (mickey and Minnie figurines inside barbie airplane etc) and made a display with balloons celebrating our trip day and half/ two days before we leave. So they go to sleep knowing the "day after tomorrow" we are getting on airplane. Let's them be involved with "packing" their bag (I already have it laid out but it's ready to pack) the next day and go to sleep again knowing we're traveling. Watch some parade videos next day etc.

 

[mrsdoubie]

We’re taking our almost 5 year old in May and am not telling him until 2 nights before. I’m putting together a Disney box for the trip. I found a woman on Etsy who makes personalized Disney tickets and our son is very big into getting tickets for things. I’m also putting a Mickey ear hat and a Disney pressed penny book (he loves those too) in there for the trip.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We took DS when he was five as well, and told him quite early on. For me, the planning really is part of the fun, and I definitely didn't want to leave him out of that!

We got one of those "by kids, for kids" type of guidebooks to look at together, and we also made a fun calendar that we could use to count down the time by weeks and then days.

 

[Lilsia]

I think that it depends on the child. Some can handle the wait better then others. My kids have been going since they were 1 year old and so they just assumed that we were going to Disney again every year. They just asked what resort we were staying at that year and put in their opinion on where they wanted to eat. If your child likes to plan and have a say, then I would tell them a couple of months in advance.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

My 6 year old likes to plan for stuff and isn't always great about changes in routine, so we tell the kids very early on about any travel and sometimes make calendars. He likes to look at brochures, help us plan, and even look at pictures of the resort and rides (and even ride videos) online. So I guess it depends on your kid's personality.

We are giving my daughter a Port Orleans Tiana Magicband for her birthday to symbolize a birthday trip to the POR princess rooms. I've seen people do Magicband presents as a way of presenting the trip to their kids, or Minnie ears, or even Disney luggage/luggage tags.

 

[sponica]

I'm bringing my 5.5 year old and a 20 month old in April. My oldest is like me, she does not like surprises (seriously, she asks what highway exit we'll be taking whenever we get on a highway).

I got her the 2022 kids guide to WDW (it's a little inaccurate as it described fast pass) and she LOVES it. She's been before, but doesn't remember the trip as she was about 20 months old the last time we went.

This trip is also the 4th we've had booked in the past 2 years....and the 3rd we told her about. (We didn't mention the one last year because even when I booked it I wasn't convinced it would happen).

 

[Mariearistocat]

We once picked ours up early at school at that age, car already packed. They were beyond excited!

 

[musika]

We did a scavenger hunt around our house and the last item they found was a surprise, we're going to Disney! We gave it to them 30 days in advance then did paper chains to count down. That way they got to anticipate a little and build excitement but still be surprised.

 

[Anna131517]

We don’t do anything special to “reveal” a trip to Disney World. We tell them and then show them videos of where we’ll be staying and what we’ll be doing. They have no concept of time but my kids do not do well with surprises so a long lead up works well for us.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

For our very first trip, our son was 7. We waited until about 1 week before. I think if we had told him too far in advance he would have been asking every week, "is this the week?"

I had a box that I added our Magic Bands, a couple mickey printed balloons (dollar store), a Cars wash cloth (those shrunk up ones from dollar store) and a count down chain (I printed a mickey head and made a paper chain, so he could remove one each night).

We were staying at Art of Animation in a Cars Suite. I made sure we watched Cars for the 1000x time and off we went, first plane ride and first Disney trip.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

So, our 5 year old knows we're going. We just told her when we booked (which was a year out, so she's known for a long time). But we are under no circumstances telling her exactly what day we're leaving. Kids get themselves so wound up, I know we will lose sleep for a week if she knows exactly when. We have an early flight, and I want to treat it as just any other day. I'll pack the bags ahead of time and tell her we're not leaving for another 2 weeks or whatever. And then when we wake her up the day of, it'll just be SURPRISE! Today's the day! And we will all be rested and happy

 

[c3ltspirit]

Our twins will be 6 for their first trip (Oct also!). We haven't told them. They are insane and will ask every day if it is the day. I would lose my mind. They see commercials and say they wish they could go and that it is so far away. We are driving down and taking an extra night to stay at a hotel near the airport the night before check in. We plan to wake up and tell them and then drive straight there. I am sure something will happen and it will be a hot mess but I like to fantasize it will be perfect

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I took my triplets first when they were 5. We told them with a few weeks to go and promptly made a paper chain so that there was a visual representation of how long it would be. I know I would have gotten the "how much longer" every darn day otherwise.

So, my suggestion would be decide how long of a paper chain you want to make and that's how far out you tell her.

 

[browneyedgirl1683]

For our first mini trip we took care not to mention anything until the last minute. We didn't want to deal with disappointment if we had to cancel. We gleaned preferences by watching videos and asking if she would ever like to try xyz etc.

We told her at the airport. It was cute and she was excited.