I just booked our next trip today! We are taking our 2 youngest kiddos (9 and 3) at the end of February! We plan on keeping it a complete surprise. I am sure that once we get to the airport and check in for a flight to Orlando the oldest of the 2 will surely figure it out! Very exciting. Last trip was hubby and I earlier this year. The last time the kiddos went was Spring Break 2016.
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I think we will tell our kids the day before. They will not be able to wait much longer than a day. I can hardly wait myself!
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We are going in two weeks (EEEEK!!!) and havenât told our kids (DS7, DD4 - infant is staying home with grandparents!). I plan to pick them up at school/daycare and head to the airport - telling them we are meeting Daddy for dinner. Hoping they donât ask too many questions! Haha. Daddy will be heading to the airport straight from work and will meet us there. The plan is to hand them homemade âticketsâ that say we are going to Disney and hope for the best.
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The airport is 1 hour from our house. We told our granddaughter (10yrs old) that we had to pick up my sister at the airport. (Which we have done before) We asked her if she would like to come with us and afterwards we would go out for lunch.
We knew she would say yes. We had all our luggage hidden in the back of the truck.
Once at the airport, my wife and her started walking to the airport while I got the video camera going. I called the back to the truck and told her that my sister was not coming. Her face had a very confused look on it. Then we said âinstead we are going to WDWâ Of course she did not believe us until we opened the back of the truck to expose all of luggage.
To use a clichĂ© âHer expression was pricelessâ
It was well worth the months of secrecy and planning. I still get emotional thinking about it.
I think surprises are a lot better than months of anticipation.
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We stayed at paradise pier with the concierge. It was fun and worth it since there was 5 of us in 5 the room. Let me know if you have any questions. I just got back from a quick weekend and we are going back for a longer trip In January.
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Weâve started a tradition of going to WDW each year around the holidaysâŠso we donât try to surprise them lolâŠplus they LOVE the countdown and taking part in planning.
BUT we did pull off a total surprise with an end-of-summer trip to Disneyland! Weâd never gone there and they had NO ideaâŠwe happened upon a ridiculously cheap JetBlue flash fareâŠand that w/ my TA discount at Disneyland Hotel made it impossible to pass up. We told them daddy had to go to Phoenix for workâŠand we were going to be able to tag along. We just told them about 2 days priorâŠjust so weâd have an explanation for waking them up early for the flight. We waited till we got to the airport and parked, then they had a surprise in their bags (lanyards w/ a Disney GC and printed park ticketâŠ). They were super excited! 
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We are doing it in two weeks. Originally told them we were going but then after they had a rough week of not listening and whining about their chores, we told them we cancelled the trip (but⊠I didnât just in case). Two months later they have been angelic and we leave next Friday. We will pick them up from school and then start driving while they think we are headed to a soccer tournament for my older sonâŠgoing to see how far we can get before they realize. Itâs our first time driving instead of flying and weâve got ten hours in the car! Hope we can make it at least 4-5 and then somehow TBD we will tell them.
I did buy the disney trivia game and thought I might start reading questions and see how long it takes them to figure it out. Maybe get them into a rhythm and then make a âquestionâ âWhere are we REALLY headed?â
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Surprised the kids 3 times:
1st time just with my oldest when he was 5. He thought we were just going to watch planes at the airport (gullible). I slipped the ticket agent our tickets and asked her questions about affording a flight to Orlando. She winked and said there was room on a plane leaving shortly. I asked him if he wanted to go to Disney right then and he went nuts!
2nd time, oldest was in on it but 5 year old twins thought they were taking me to the airport for business trip. At the airport I said I didnt want to go to FL without them and wanted to take them with me right then to Disney. 5:30am so all i got were blank stares:slight_smile:
3rd time: just took the twins (10y/o) since oldest was at college. They opened rather boring Christmas presents but said they understood $$ was tight that year. Then I wheeled out 3 new suitcases and handed them out. They had to open them to see what was inside to show them where were going. Oldest got trip to NYC. Twins opened numbered presents to reveal a trip to warm weather, then Universal then Disney. But wouldnt tell them WHEN we were going. I packed their suitcases and hid them. Then a day in Feb, while kids were home for snow day, had them help me pull suitcases out of the attic and told them to get showered and ready to head to the airport. Lots of excitement on that day!
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