How did you tell/surprise the kids???

SGregory27 · June 11, 2014, 06:08:57 PM

I love reading about the kids finding out about going to DLP and I thought it would be fun to share How you did it/going to do it and how they reacted.

2013 was the first year with the kids.
We didn't tell DD1 (she was just 4y then and DD2 wasn't 1y) she knew we were going on a train. Even at Ashford with the Disney pictures or when mickey said we could go to the platform she didn't know. It wasn't until they said that the train approaching the platform was the train to Disneyland Paris did she get it and started jumping up and down hugging me and this was the start of me crying at everything that holiday.

We told her that we were going this year, but have just booked for next Feb half term and have decided not to tell them (DD1 will be just 6yrs and DD2 will be 2 weeks away from 3Yrs) until either DD1 6th Birthday which is 2 weeks before we go or until she works it out when we get to the hotel at Ashford the night before.

So please share your story of how.
Pictures and/or videos of their reactions would be great to see

Livvipivvi · June 11, 2014, 06:52:41 PM

I've got to be honest, I was very boring and just told our 2 DD's that we had booked it. They were very excited and we really happy to be going, but looking back I do wish that we had done something special to tell them.

We are hoping to go again. I've been looking at a few dates around christmas time. Ideally I wanted to go between christmas and new year and I was going to pack all the cases and wrap them with a print out of the tickets for our DD's to open on christmas morning and tell them that we were going the next day or whatever, but the prices are silly money, with between christmas and new year being the same price as christmas itself! So I'm thinking about going just before christmas now instead. If we do this it won't be as magical as the christmas day idea, but I am going to pick them up from school after lunch on their last day, telling them that they have to finish early because we have to go shopping for something important (my DD's hate shopping lol) and just drive straight to the airport and not say anything until we park up and take the cases out of the boot

andlorna · June 11, 2014, 07:11:47 PM

We went in feb this year and told them the morning we where going here is the video x

http://youtu.be/dVvwqgAGp-Y

msRavenswood · June 11, 2014, 07:21:49 PM

Quote from: andlorna on June 11, 2014, 07:11:47 PM
We went in feb this year and told them the morning we where going here is the video x

Awwww, how adorable!

Mileto · June 11, 2014, 08:20:21 PM

Oh, no, andlorna! I am crying!

SGregory27 · June 11, 2014, 08:33:23 PM

andlorna Brilliant made me cry

andlorna · June 11, 2014, 08:45:09 PM

Quote from: SGregory27 on June 11, 2014, 08:33:23 PM
andlorna Brilliant made me cry

So do I ever time I still watch it....although we have been lot's of times before we kept this a secret for 9 months.....it killed us not telling them but it was worth it.

daddyof2 · June 11, 2014, 09:04:06 PM

Nice video. We were going to wait, possibly until we got there but our eldest (3) realised on the Eurostar, when she saw a luggage label with Disney on it.

Zee79 · June 12, 2014, 10:52:44 AM

There have been older posts with reference to this topic and some are fantastic if you want to find it and take a peek. Normally we just tell the kids we've booked but when we went May 2013 I booked whilst they were at school and put a poster up in the front room that read 'if you go down to the woods today..... ' they then turned over 'The Sequoia Lodge is your surprise!' Lets just say the neighbours heard their response

Zee79 · November 08, 2014, 09:41:35 PM

Just done it again

Booked without the kids knowing. This time however, Olaf sent them a little letter telling them a trip had been booked and if he would see them there for New Year. I posted the letter to them

I've done the same for my nephew who we are taking with us for part of his Christmas present from my family and his grandparents.

pialykke · November 08, 2014, 11:53:49 PM

The first time we went, hubby accidently mentioned it in front of them a month before we were going, and kinda spoiled the surprise....

Last time (march this year) I had made a treasurehunt for them - but to be honest, didn't really get the excited response I was hoping for........ $:-\$ Here's the video:

This time (we're going on Thursday!!!) we haven't told them yet.....! Hubby wanted to just wake them up at 4 am (we fly out at 7am) and say - we're going now........ But I am worried it will be too much for them - DS8 is a sensitive boy, and I'm worried he'll get so affected by the excitement, he'll make himself ill.....
So we've decided to tell them the evening before - having dinner quite early, and then telling them to go pack their bags and get ready for Disneyland in the morning.............

One surprise that does await them in the morning though is the fact that my mum and my sister are coming too...!! They'll be meeting us at the airport, so the boys wont have a clue. When we went in March, we went by my mums house to pick her up on the way to the airport - they didn't know she was coming then either. So this time when we go past her town without stopping, they'll think she's not coming.
So I think we'll leave it at that.