Surprising my 5 year old

[butterfly18237]

Hey Everyone

I was wondering how I should surprise my 5 year old son about our upcoming trip in September. I want to do something special. I also want to tell him on his birthday in June. Any suggestions. He loves Pluto and Mickey if that helps.

Thanks,

~*Kristy*~

 

[Mickey&Minnie]

My parents surpried me once when I was six. They planned the whole thing. Then I went to sleep one night and woke up later in the car. Then they told me we were going.

 

[golden_mudbug]

my 5 year old too

my son will be five the 17th of this month, we intend to take him to Disney in May! We decided not to tell him he is going, but only that we are going on a trip. He wont know it until we arrive at the parks, and to tell you the true the urge to tell him is killing me and my wife.

 

[JessicaB]

I have a surprise trip planned for my DS 14th birthday in Nov. The suspense is killing me. I still don't know how I will pull it off without him the wiser. My plan is to check him out of school the day we leave a little early and tell him we are going then. I have a bag filled with Disney pins and other items to give him for the trip when I tell him. Your 5 year old will be so excited. Have fun.:sohappy:

 

[butterfly18237]

We went in December and told my son really early but he was fine with it. Every so often he would ask if today was the day we were going to see Mickey. About two months before we did a count down and we would get so excited. I want to experience that again with him. I want to know what I could do for his birthday to give a trip to Disney. He can not read yet so I want to think of something creative. With the help of all of you.

I also thought of not telling him but watching his face every time we counted was priceless and now that he knows what disney is I want his input on what shows and rides are must sees for him. He's 5 his favorites change hourly haha.

Thanks for the suggestions so far keep them coming. And I know the suspense is killing me also. haha

 

[Disneykidder]

Did you want to wait to get to Florida to tell/show him or tell him on the morning of? My niece and nephew(from CA) met my family in Disney last summer. My bro-in-law told them they were going to NY to see us. Much to their surprise when they arrived in FL and the pilot said where they were they were puzzled. They were actually disappointed that they were not in NY, go figure? So then their other surprise was seeing us at check-in the next day. That made their vacation!!(We hadn't seen them in a few years)

If you want to tell him the morning of, you could always make a box and fill it with some items and tell him it will be a guessing game as to a surprise you have for him. Put in a Disney dollar, water bottle, Mickey figurine, a camera, some things to get him thinking.

I have been to Disney many times with/without kids and it is so much different with kids. Seeing their faces is so memorable!! (More tiring with kids too, hehe)

Good luck!!:sohappy:

 

[NewfieFan]

We went in December and told my son really early but he was fine with it. Every so often he would ask if today was the day we were going to see Mickey. About two months before we did a count down and we would get so excited. I want to experience that again with him. I want to know what I could do for his birthday to give a trip to Disney. He can not read yet so I want to think of something creative. With the help of all of you.

I also thought of not telling him but watching his face every time we counted was priceless and now that he knows what disney is I want his input on what shows and rides are must sees for him. He's 5 his favorites change hourly haha.

Thanks for the suggestions so far keep them coming. And I know the suspense is killing me also. haha

I like your idea of telling/surprising him on his b-day! Anticipation is half the fun!:animwink: My parents did both (tell us in advance & surprise us in the car) on our two trips to Florida as children. While the surprise was great, if I had to pick I would choose knowing about it in advance - it's so fun to look forward to a trip (even as a child).

Now how to surprise him...? Are there things that he would associate with Disney or traveling? I have a 5 year old son (not quite, he's still 4 but he'll be 5 when we take our trip) as well. You could give him a special present with some things for the trip and then when he opens it up you can say, "these are for your trip to Disney in September!" Or if you're a crafty person you could make a poster with Disney characters, icons, scenes, etc. and then put his picture in the middle and then get him to figure out what the poster might mean. Oh, there's so many things you could do... How about a Disney themed cake for his b-day and then drop the surprise when you cut the cake? These are just some suggestions...

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!:wave:

 

[S&K_Md]

We went in December and told my son really early but he was fine with it. Every so often he would ask if today was the day we were going to see Mickey. About two months before we did a count down and we would get so excited. I want to experience that again with him. I want to know what I could do for his birthday to give a trip to Disney. He can not read yet so I want to think of something creative. With the help of all of you.

I also thought of not telling him but watching his face every time we counted was priceless and now that he knows what disney is I want his input on what shows and rides are must sees for him. He's 5 his favorites change hourly haha.

Thanks for the suggestions so far keep them coming. And I know the suspense is killing me also. haha

Last year, we surprised my son on his 5th birthday with a day in the MK, culminating in dinner (and his birthday cake) at the Castle. We were going down to visit my grandfather (his great-grandfather) in St. Pete and he was just looking forward to that. When we pulled off of I-4 and up to the WDW signage, we had the video camera going as we asked him if he recognized where we were. The expression on his face as it dawned on him and we explained that we were going to spend the one night and go to MK the next day for his birthday was absolutely priceless. He opened his presents that morning in the room at ASM. My wife had gotten a big pointy birthday hat that he wore all day over his mouse ears, along with his "It's My Birthday!" button. Made for great pictures! It was a fabulous day all in all. Now we start planning for our daughter's 5-year-old birthday trip...

It's a tough call on whether to go with surprise or anticipation and counting down. I personally love the period before a trip with all the planning and daydreaming ("I'm too excited to sleep..."). Both have their advantages. But the good news is, either way in the end, you still end up in WDW!

 

[danpam1024]

Maybe for his birthday present you can get him a card and fill it with Disney Dollars (Available at your nearby Disney Store). When he asks what they are you can tell him it's to buy whatever he wants AT DISNEY WORLD!!!:sohappy: Good luck, I could NEVER keep a secret that big! Love Disney Dollars...when I have extra cash, I go buy some, that way it's like free $$ on vacation :lol:

 

[SteveUK]

How about a birthday card 'from' Mickey saying that Mickey and all his friends are looking foward to seeing you soon.

Maybe if the card had a big pic of WDW on it to make it a bit more visual and less reliant on the reading thing?

 

[coltow]

We are going to surprise DS too. We are going to go in August with lots of family and he knows about it, mainly because we talk about it every day. We are also going in December and are not telling him. We are going to celebrate his 5th birthday while we are there. My plan is to send him to preschool and (hopefully) get a flight for right after school so we can just pick him up and go staight to airport. We have plenty of time to decide on how exactly to tell him or have him guess.

 

[Minnietoo]

My sister in laws surprised my 5 and 8 yr old with a trip to WDW with just the aunties for Christmas but they weren't going until March. They bought them this cd that has all the music from the rides and the kids guide to WDW. My son couldn't read all of it since he is still learning to read but it sure gave him incentive to figure out what each word was! He also made a list of all the rides he wanted to go on which gave him writing practice! LOL

Now we are taking them back in November and he still talks about how he has to make a list of what he wants to do there and tries to read the book!

 

[Carolyn1717]

Depending on how your traveling there - I booked a family, while I was working for Disney, from Atlanta. They were going to be driving from Atlanta. They were not telling the children anything. They put them in the car while they were asleep and planned it so that when they woke up they are at the Welcome to Disney World Arches. I thought that was a great idea.

Even if you are flying in, you don't have to tell them where your are going. Just wait until you are here and they figure it out for themselves....have a camera ready for the expressions on their faces.

 

[santa's surpriz]

I did this for my 5 year old daughter last christmas, boy was it amazing. I managed not to tell her...we stayed at an airport hotel to go "swimming" in December. The next morning the waitress brought us a letter from Santa Claus. Letters from Santa were on the bedside table every morning with a little gift (Disney Store clearance items) & details of our day. Letter included a "look who's watching you!" warning t o give me a little leverage (it was just the two of us.) I plan to the same next trip, probably early 2009 but from Mickey or the Princesses. Mickey and Pluto could send him a birthday letter and reveal....

 

[elizs77]

We just surprised our son this week, as he turned 5 on April 9.

For his last present, we gave him two presents to open. The first was a package of the free custom maps that you can order from Disney. Inside was a little paper I had done up on the computer as a certificate with pictures that showed we were going to Disney, staying at Poly with the volcano pool and flying down. The second present was the Birnbaum WDW for kids book.

Now, I don't know if it's because I've been talking about Disney and things to do "whenever we go back, whenever that may be," lately. Or maybe b/c he's really into SpongeBob and that's not at Disney. I don't know. He just wasn't that excited about it at the time. I will admit I was disappointed b/c I've been planning this since January. A few days have now passed, and he's getting more excited about it. We spent about a half hour tonight online picking out stuff that we want to do. Unfortunately, he wants to do Toy Story Mania, and it's only open to AP when we are there. Oh well!

I must also add that this is not his first trip to WDW, so I don't know if that has any bearing on his reaction.

So, please surprise your child. Please have fun with it! But please don't be upset if you don't get the reaction you want at first. It will come!

 

[Disney_Belle]

When I turned 7, my parents wrapped up my suitcase, and when I opened it there were little things wrapped up inside. The first one was an outfit with shorts and tank top (My birthday is in February so it wasn't very useful lol), the second was a picture of my cousins (who I was going with), another was a picture of a plane, a pair of sunglasses, a picture of a van (like my aunt had), and last but not least - a picture of Mickey & Minnie. When I figured out what it was I was kind of upset, because I thought I was getting a good toy lol. And all it was - a trip to WDW that I had to wait until April for lol. I was so unnappreciative at that age - what I would give for that to be a birthday present now!!!


If you go to youtube and type in "Disney Surprise" watch the videos of how people surprise their kids - they are great. And some put me in tears!!! The best ones are the ones when they just show up at the airport and A.) think they are going somewhere else or B.) don't even know they are at the airport and c.) Think they are dropping someone off.

Have fun and good luck!

 

[butterfly18237]

Hey everyone thanks for all your help.
I think I have ideas going on in my head. His birthday is in June so I still have time. Here is what im thinking: I'm thinking of putting different things Disney like disney dollars, maybe the mickey mouse club house figures, coloring book and bedtime storys disney book into a box thats decorated disney. Then maybe put it into his suitcase and get a little plane. Then I will have a card with our pictures from our last trip to disney. Then it says We are going to Disney in September. What does everyone think.

Thanks for your help
~*Kristy*~

 

[thrupaytonseyes]

We just did this last week for DS. He is also turning 5 and his favorites are Mickey and Pluto! We had to bring my brother to the airport as he was headed back home after a short visit. He found a flight that left 1/2 hr before ours! So we picked up DS from preschool and drove straight to the airport. We told him all the luggage was my brothers. When we got to the airport I brought our sons inside so they would not see my bro and DH packing the carseats into the bags. When we were all inside my brother asked my DS where he wanted to spend his birthday. It just so happened that DS and DH were watching tv the day before and saw a WDW commercial and DS said that was where he wanted to spend his birthday. After DS said Disney World my brother handed him a Mickey plush that I had found at the Disney Store the week prior. It is a birthday Mickey with him holding 2 plush balloons, one saying Happy Birthday on it. My brother told him Mickey asked my bro to give DS the plush and invite DS to spend his birthday at WDW. We then all said you're going to Disney World! He was so excited once he realized we were all going. I think at first he thought just he was going and he wasn't too excited about that prospect.

It was a wonderful trip!!!!! DS got lots of birthday attention! He just ate that up, showing anybody around him his birthday pin! I also got him a custom shirt from disneyshopping.com that said "It's my Birthday" on the front and the #5 on the back. The whole gang was on the front as well. He got a kick out of that! We did the passport at Epcot at the Kidcot stops and had the castmember write Happy Birthday to him in their native language.

 

[NewfieFan]

Hey everyone thanks for all your help.
I think I have ideas going on in my head. His birthday is in June so I still have time. Here is what im thinking: I'm thinking of putting different things Disney like disney dollars, maybe the mickey mouse club house figures, coloring book and bedtime storys disney book into a box thats decorated disney. Then maybe put it into his suitcase and get a little plane. Then I will have a card with our pictures from our last trip to disney. Then it says We are going to Disney in September. What does everyone think.

Thanks for your help
~*Kristy*~

Sounds great - let us know how it all turns out... (and take pics too:animwink!

 

[stmize]

on the disney web site you can get personal phone calls from the characters. Have one call on their birthday at a set time. I'm not sure if there is one for your going to disney world all the time but there was that option to have them call if you booked a Christmas trip then they would call Christmas Day.