Deciding when or how to tell the kids about their upcoming Disney vacation is a big deal for parents. Do you just mention it at dinner one night or go for a big reveal? Do you tell them weeks or months in advance or spring it on them at the last minute.
My husband and I struggled a bit with this decision when it came to our trip to Walt Disney World. When it comes to Disneyland, we go all the time, and given the fact that we live 40 minutes to an hour away, we often casually decide on a moment’s notice to spend a day at the “Happiest Place on Earth.” When it comes to Disneyland trips, there’s rarely any big anticipation or ramp up to our visits. (With the exception of last summer when my family and I attended the media opening of Cars Land; that was a HUGE deal.)
In the end, we decided that telling the boys ahead of time would likely result in a restless night sleep the night before the trip, which in turn may result in grumpy kids once we got to Walt Disney World. We decided that we would wait until we were at the airport. We built up a “back story” about why we would be going to the airport. We told the kids that we would be driving my husband to a business trip flight and walking him to his gate (they no nothing about how airports work). We allowed the kids to make plans for the days we would be gone on the trip and kept hidden all of the things we were planning and packing.
Now I know what you are thinking: How did you keep that secret?! It wasn’t easy, and I’ll be honest, I couldn’t help but talk about Walt Disney World while we were planning. I showed the kids pictures of my previous visits and videos on Youtube. We talked all about how “cool” it would be to visit the resort and what we would do at each park. The kids were salivating for a Walt Disney World.
My husband and I (ok – it was just me…) built up the big reveal in our heads. In my imagination, our kids were going to jump up and cheer with tears of joy, wrapping their arms around us with glee when we made the big Walt Disney World announcement. It was going to be a glorious parenting triump and an amazing way to start our trip. Instead, this is how it went down. It was a total mess.
Basically, my oldest son didn’t believe us. Our cover story was so convincing he thought we were joking. We had to show him his clothes and “lovie” in the suitcase and the Magical Express vouchers. Once we convinced him we were going, he still thought my husband was going on a business trip and wasn’t going with us. Our plan backfired. Big time. It probably took a good 5 to ten minutes for us to fully convince him we were really going on a family vacation and that he was going to get to miss school.
I felt a little deflated with my epic failure but felt rejuvinated when five hours later we met up with my parents, they got this reaction, the moment of glee I had hoped for back at LAX:
So, when it comes to when to tell the kids about your Disney trip, don’t take making that decision lightly! And in the end, since we had a really great time, the reveal didn’t really matter–it’s what happened on the trip that was important.
In the end, we decided that telling the boys ahead of time would likely result in a restless night sleep the night before the trip, which in turn may result in grumpy kids once we got to Walt Disney World. We decided that we would wait until we were at the airport. We built up a “back story” about why we would be going to the airport. We told the kids that we would be driving my husband to a business trip flight and walking him to his gate (they no nothing about how airports work). We allowed the kids to make plans for the days we would be gone on the trip and kept hidden all of the things we were planning and packing.
Now I know what you are thinking: How did you keep that secret?! It wasn’t easy, and I’ll be honest, I couldn’t help but talk about Walt Disney World while we were planning. I showed the kids pictures of my previous visits and videos on Youtube. We talked all about how “cool” it would be to visit the resort and what we would do at each park. The kids were salivating for a Walt Disney World.
My husband and I (ok – it was just me…) built up the big reveal in our heads. In my imagination, our kids were going to jump up and cheer with tears of joy, wrapping their arms around us with glee when we made the big Walt Disney World announcement. It was going to be a glorious parenting triump and an amazing way to start our trip. Instead, this is how it went down. It was a total mess.
Basically, my oldest son didn’t believe us. Our cover story was so convincing he thought we were joking. We had to show him his clothes and “lovie” in the suitcase and the Magical Express vouchers. Once we convinced him we were going, he still thought my husband was going on a business trip and wasn’t going with us. Our plan backfired. Big time. It probably took a good 5 to ten minutes for us to fully convince him we were really going on a family vacation and that he was going to get to miss school.
I felt a little deflated with my epic failure but felt rejuvinated when five hours later we met up with my parents, they got this reaction, the moment of glee I had hoped for back at LAX:
So, when it comes to when to tell the kids about your Disney trip, don’t take making that decision lightly! And in the end, since we had a really great time, the reveal didn’t really matter–it’s what happened on the trip that was important.
The reveal in our video is edited a bit because the entire thing was such a mess!
How and when have you revealed your Disney Parks trips to your children?
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This makes me laugh because I would’ve amped it up to.. and expected jumping and screaming like all the cute videos people post on you tube. HAHA In reality I think MOST kids don’t react because they don’t believe you. My brother’s kids did the same thing when they surprised them with a trip to Disneyland. HAHA So, don’t feel like it was only you. I think it happens more often than not! Always good to try and to video it JUST IN CASE they are jumping up and down and you get one of those super cute videos that us Disney crazed people wish we owned! ahahah I get so excited for each trip that I don’t know if I could ever keep it a secret.