chipndale76
Active Member
We are going to Disney in 37 days, I would love ideas on how to surprise my four year old son. I was thinking of having a character call him to tell him he's going to DW. Any ideas??? Thank you!
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Ideas to surprise my 4 year old...
- Thread starter chipndale76
- Start date
Daniel Johnson
Well-Known Member
Why wife usually just text me screen shots of the credit card bill. I freak out and then she emails me the confirmation emails.... Smiles for days
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Haniel
Member
I have a little more time to plan the way I should break the news to my kids (4 and 2), and I'm debating whether to tell them at all. I cant tell them with soo much time in advance, they don't eve know where planning this and already ask when where going to the castle every time they see a Disney movie. But would love to enjoy the reaction they would have when they find out where going to go see Mickey and Minnie, and wouldn't be able to do that if I'm driving and they see Disney world signs.
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samosaurus
Well-Known Member
Just go to this link and put in your info: https://secure.v-blast.net/uvoxnetworks/disney8/landing.php
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HouCuseChickie
Well-Known Member
Ok- I think I've surprised my girls 3 or 4x. I have easy and not so easy ideas...since even elaborate surprises are often comprised of smaller surprises.
1. For one of the surprises...I did a string hunt with yarn throughout our house. The girls had to follow the yarn and there were little gifts at various points to tip them off to the big surprise (i.e. glow jewelry for nights in the parks, Disney pins, etc.). At the end of the yarn hunt was a big wrapped box. When they opened it up, I had 2 helium inflated Mickey ears balloons anchored in the box. So they popped up as soon as the box was opened and I yelled "Surprise!!! We're going to Disney World!!!" If the yarn hunt is too much, the box with the balloons alone would be an amazing surprise.
2. The Disney Store is always willing to reveal your surprise. They often only need an hour or less notice. You tell them what's going on, who is being surprised, etc. and they will go into full on magic surprise mode. Ours will even flash the lights, change the images playing on the screen, have the child's (or adult's) name in the imagery on the wall, and will announce everything over the PA system so it's this huge thing...with very little effort from you.
3. I once surprised my kids with a video slideshow. They had already been a couple of times, so I had personal material...but you could easily borrow pics of things in the parks and hotels to make your show and just add in music. I think it took me maybe 2 hours to make this slideshow...maybe not even that. You can even have little gifts for the child to open as they're watching and wrapping their head around it. This was my slideshow.
4. Age 4 is usually still young enough to wait to surprise them until they're there. i.e. they can't read or read well enough yet. A few years ago, before our kids could read, we drove from TX to FL and didn't reveal the big surprise until we were driving through the Maingate. It is still my fave surprise. Pardon my awful camera skills...but here's the vid.
5. If you're leaving early enough in the morning, you could plan a wakeup surprise. Last time we went, I went this route. I had the kids put out their clothes the night before (i.e. so they'd be ready to get dressed asap) along with carry on bags. After they fell asleep, I switched out their outfits with Disney outfits and added in new Disney carry ons. They are super sleepy in the vid and it's dark...but they were super psyched once they woke up a bit and it hit them.
EDIT- if you think the child can handle it...there's always the we're going and you're staying with grandma approach. I've never done this, but my kids seem to think that's what's happening for our next WDW trip. I guess it's a residual effect of surprising them so many times. DH and I are going to WDW without the kids in November. Our girls seem to think we're going to surprise them at the last minute and tell them they're coming too. It's not happening, but it would make for a decent surprise. I may just use this if we head to DLR next summer.
1. For one of the surprises...I did a string hunt with yarn throughout our house. The girls had to follow the yarn and there were little gifts at various points to tip them off to the big surprise (i.e. glow jewelry for nights in the parks, Disney pins, etc.). At the end of the yarn hunt was a big wrapped box. When they opened it up, I had 2 helium inflated Mickey ears balloons anchored in the box. So they popped up as soon as the box was opened and I yelled "Surprise!!! We're going to Disney World!!!" If the yarn hunt is too much, the box with the balloons alone would be an amazing surprise.
2. The Disney Store is always willing to reveal your surprise. They often only need an hour or less notice. You tell them what's going on, who is being surprised, etc. and they will go into full on magic surprise mode. Ours will even flash the lights, change the images playing on the screen, have the child's (or adult's) name in the imagery on the wall, and will announce everything over the PA system so it's this huge thing...with very little effort from you.
3. I once surprised my kids with a video slideshow. They had already been a couple of times, so I had personal material...but you could easily borrow pics of things in the parks and hotels to make your show and just add in music. I think it took me maybe 2 hours to make this slideshow...maybe not even that. You can even have little gifts for the child to open as they're watching and wrapping their head around it. This was my slideshow.
4. Age 4 is usually still young enough to wait to surprise them until they're there. i.e. they can't read or read well enough yet. A few years ago, before our kids could read, we drove from TX to FL and didn't reveal the big surprise until we were driving through the Maingate. It is still my fave surprise. Pardon my awful camera skills...but here's the vid.
5. If you're leaving early enough in the morning, you could plan a wakeup surprise. Last time we went, I went this route. I had the kids put out their clothes the night before (i.e. so they'd be ready to get dressed asap) along with carry on bags. After they fell asleep, I switched out their outfits with Disney outfits and added in new Disney carry ons. They are super sleepy in the vid and it's dark...but they were super psyched once they woke up a bit and it hit them.
EDIT- if you think the child can handle it...there's always the we're going and you're staying with grandma approach. I've never done this, but my kids seem to think that's what's happening for our next WDW trip. I guess it's a residual effect of surprising them so many times. DH and I are going to WDW without the kids in November. Our girls seem to think we're going to surprise them at the last minute and tell them they're coming too. It's not happening, but it would make for a decent surprise. I may just use this if we head to DLR next summer.
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