Hello! We’re surprising the kids for their first holiday season trip to WDW and I would love some ideas for how (and when) to reveal the trip. DD is 8 and DS is 5 and we fly out very very early on a Monday morning. Do I tell them Sunday? Wake them up and tell them in the wee hours of the morning before going to the airport? At the airport? I’d love to hear from some others who have surprised their kiddos and had it work out great!
It really depends on how your kids like surprises. Our surprise reveal when driving under “The Sign” did not get the excited reaction we had hoped for. We really should have known better, as DD does not like changes in plans or surprises (good or bad).
We have an elf on the shelf, so I made Mickey ears out of play-doh for ours and made him hold a banner that said we’re going to Disney tomorrow. We did that the morning before the day we left. It was a big hit.
I THINK we are going to have my husband re-edit our vaca video from last time and have the kids watch it. At the end my husband, sister, brother in law, and I are going to come on (wearing our ears) and say we are going to Disneyworld.
This all depends on if we can find our ears and get a quiet moment for the four of us to record this while on vacation at the beach next week. If not, my poor husband has to work some magic with a video camera.
We served mickey cookies one night for dessert before our trip and told them it was a “hint” about their surprise. They loved it!
We’ve done 2 “surprise” reveals, one on Christmas morning with a gift box of Disney plushes and one scavenger hunt. The Christmas reveal was for their second trip about 2 weeks in advance, they were very underwhelmed. They said “oh, okay”…not the reaction we hoped for!! Mine loved the scavenger hunt we did for their 4th trip last year.I made up clues using pictures from a previous trip of WDW landmarks. I finished it with a sign saying they were going back to Disney and filled the closet with streamers. They were jumping up and down!! My kids were 4/6 for the 1st surprise and 6/8 for the 2nd, so the reaction might depend on the age of your kids as well.
They love surprises, so I’m not worried about upsetting them. A scavenger hunt sounds like a fun idea!
OK, since they love surprises, Google “Disney Trip Reveal Video” and you will get a ton of results.
Can I make one suggestion and I apologize in advance if anyone did this – but please don’t do it in front of other kids (strangers) or at school when other kids are around or anything. I just always can’t help but think of the kids who don’t get to go to Disneyworld for whatever circumstances.
Can’t wait to hear about the reveal 
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We are doing one the morning we leave for the airport in just 5 days!! We bought t-shirts that say “I’m going to Disney World” and “August, 2014” from MzDiznee (find her on Facebook, her stuff is really cute.) We are also going to have the suitcases ready at the door. My DS9 told me awhile ago that packed suitcases would be the only real way he would be believe me.
That said, if we were leaving super early, I probably would do the reveal the night before because they might be unwilling to get up and get going without knowing why. Plus, if they are dazed from sleep, the impact might not be quite what we are hoping for.
We are hoping to try the scavenger hunt idea this Fall…last time (the first family trip), we told our DDs that they had been so good, we bought them something special - had them put on a Belle and Ariel dress. We told them they needed somewhere to wear the dresses, and had them read oversized flash cards (in Waltograph, of course) We Are Going To Disneyworld !
After the shock, and a few tears and nervous giggling, we showed them the poster-sized countdown calendar - we were two weeks out. They added princess stickers to the calendar every day to count down…it really helped for them to have that visual.
We learned that they really did need that adjustment time before the trip…then they were super-excited, and Mommy could pack and prepare. 
Good Luck !!
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