The first time we went, we “surprised” DD4 & my nephew 6 (at the time) at Christmas and it was a total fail. At first they were really excited but then when they realized we weren’t leaving “tomorrow?!” they were like eh, okay cool. We gave them a countdown but they were just too little to have the concept of going in a month.
One of the times after that we did a mother & daughter trip I surprised my daughter the night before we were to leave early in the morning and she was so excited.
We surprised my DD one year. We picked her up early from daycare when she was 3 or 4 and told her we were headed to the airport to go to Disney. She was very excited and had been there enough times to understand. However, I felt the whole trip was a mess because it was like she hadn’t been “prepared” for the fun of the trip so she was overwhelmed most the trip
Think it really depends on the kid. We did this a few years ago. We didn’t tell them until we were already in Florida (they thought we were just visiting family for the trip). The oldest (6 1/2 at the time) was so excited. The youngest (just turned 4) was excited but also anxious or confused about it. The oldest happens to be a more relaxed, go-with-the-flow sort of kid while the youngest does not like surprises or changes to his routine.
Why am I not surprised… 