Surprise your kids

[travelmom]

Has anyone ever surprised your kids with a stay in the happiest place on earth? We have done this twice.
Our two oldest daughters were tricked into thinking we were going camping. We have our own place on the Trinity river where we have been camping their whole lives. We always make the five hour drive late at night so they never knew the difference. When we got to Anaheim early in the morning, We took them into a fastfood restaurant, and their Dad went into the bathroom. The girls looked at me and said where are we? I said I don't know, somehow your Dad took a wrong turn and we ended up here. My daughter asked how could Daddy get lost going to our land? I said I don't know, but you should try to cheer him up because we don't know what we will do now. We better just try to find something fun to do here. When we drove through the gate, the squeals and shreaks nearly blew my head off. It was really hard to keep the secret for six months, but so worth it. We did the same thing with our three youngest. They all still talk about it. You should try it, it is so exciting!

[Nephythys]

I am doing this- I have AP's to WDW. I want to use them one more time before they expire and become scrap book items. So I am planning a trip the first weekend of June. I am not telling Rose anything- I literally plan to pack without her knowledge- drive to the airport and go- and see when she figures it out. I think she will get it either when we get to the resort (which is off-property but is the same one we stayed at before) or when we drive on property.

[Tinkerbell]

I haven't any children yet, although I fully intend to surprise them with many trips to Disneyland. But some of my best memories are the moments when my mom used to surprise my sister and I with trips to the Happiest Place on Earth! I think those types of moments stick with you so much more than a planned event.

[Metal God]

we try to suprise them but even the 3 year old knows the way. once we get past the 22 freeway on knott its only a matter of time before we hear " we going to disneyland?"

[Ortizmo2000]

we try to suprise them but even the 3 year old knows the way. once we get past the 22 freeway on knott its only a matter of time before we hear " we going to disneyland?"

Heheheh....sometimes, you just know.

I dont have kids but I surprised a GF of mine on her birthday once by blindfolding her on the drive to the park. As we pulled up to the gate of the parking lot, I gave a simple "Shhhh" to the guy in the ticket booth. He just nodded (having seen this before obviously) took my cash, gave me the parking pass....ya-da-ya-da-ya-da........

Cool avatar BTW. The Priest rocks.

[Metal God]

Heheheh....sometimes, you just know.

I dont have kids but I surprised a GF of mine on her birthday once by blindfolding her on the drive to the park. As we pulled up to the gate of the parking lot, I gave a simple "Shhhh" to the guy in the ticket booth. He just nodded (having seen this before obviously) took my cash, gave me the parking pass....ya-da-ya-da-ya-da........

Cool avatar BTW. The Priest rocks.

Thats pretty cool you got her all the way there like that. Hard work I am sure.

Thanx , I love priest. I met halford at the grove a couple years ago. I may put that pic in my avatar for awhile.

Hey we live in the same city. HB rules

[Ortizmo2000]

Thats pretty cool you got her all the way there like that. Hard work I am sure.

Thanx , I love priest. I met halford at the grove a couple years ago. I may put that pic in my avatar for awhile.

Hey we live in the same city. HB rules

Wasn't hard to make the drive.......just a quick jaunt up Beach to Chapman, Left on West, right on Katella, left on Harbor til you reach the Main Gates (before the big parking garage on West St anyway).

I envy you for meeting Rob. Only rock icon I've ever met was Gene from Kiss.

And yes....HB rules the roost. Went to kindergarten here. This is home for me. Always will be.

[dsnylndmom]

I've tried but I always blow it cause I get so excited. Nowadays though, once we pass the 205 offramp on 5 they no, there's no foolin' them anymore. Shawn is only 6 but he says "Dis is the way to Disneyland!!!"

[Modern Folly]

My mom and dad always used to do this, once they told us we would be going to our dreaded aunt's house. It finally hit us that we weren't going to our aunt's when we drove past the Disneyland sign.

[Cousin Orville]

We did that, then really surprised them by telling them they had to reimburse us for the hotel sleepover on their eighteenth birthday. That was the bigger surprise!

[JMike]

My parents did this to me once or twice. The only one I remember is that we were told we were going to a furniture store, or some such thing like that.
Needless to say, it was always a more than pleasant surprise.

[MiceMan]

My uncle did this to me this summer. It was really funny because they were planning it and I kept guessing but I NEVER thought they would take me to Disneyland. The funniest thing was when my Aunt was asking my Uncle whether they let bags into "The Place" and I piped up saying that when I went to Disneyland last year they did, and that's the biggest place around here! They were so awesome and completely played it off ... I had no idea where we were going until we got to the ticket booth though because we came on side streets and parked in Timon lot, which I had never parked in before. Definitely funny stuff!

[Snacks]

I cant keep a secret like this ... No way.....

If I could ..... They always know when we are crossing over to the USA and at the boarder you have to say what your doing...

Its just best to let them be excited and have their count down...... The Count down is 1/2 the fun!

[Michelle]

My parents did this to me once. I agreed to go on a rather boring trip across the Southwest and as we got to the exit my mom said, "I really have to go to the bathroom." I then exclaimed that she was terribly cruel and my parents started laughing. I thought it was a sick joke pretty much until we got into the parking lot.

[sicjkr]

i did this to my kids once, when they were younger, it was so cool to see the surprise and joy on their face when we got there!

[Tedi Bara]

I live in Washington, and once about days before Christmas my parents called my sister and I into the living room. They had two envelopes one with a number 1 and one with a number 2. They told us to pick one and we picked #1, inside it said you going to Disneyland!!! We left for the airporst the next morning.

[Tinkerbelle]

I can't do...we always plan on surprising them but 2 weeks before we end up telling them...though we do find cool ways to do it. Last trip for example we watched the Disney planning video (not an unusual thing my 3 yr old loved it and would watch it all the time) so when he was watching DH and I sat down and started watching (planned all along) we called our dd in to see something, she watched in a huff, she hates watching since she thinks we are not going (hehehe) anyway at some point my so sais 'mommy, we go to disneyland please?" I said sure, how bout next week. they fliped or more specificly my son did my daughter just stared at me for the longest time before it sank in then she litteraly bounced off the walls.

I need a great way to tell them this year...I'm thinking a balloon pop or something,

any ideas?

[Goin2DL]

A couple of years ago we were went to my sistet-in-law's wedding in Oregon. We had to drive up through CA. to get there. My son asked us "Can't we stop at DL?". We told him no, that the trip to Oregon was enough. We secretly booked a trip for a couple of days after the wedding. We were driving "home" when Zac saw the signs for DL - he was dying! He couldn't believe that we were so close but not going! We exited on Harbor and were right in front of the entrance and said "Well, we are here anyway, we might as well stay a couple of days". The kids were thrilled! Zac (who was 7 at the time) couldn't believe that we had kept it secret the whole time.

[ttztotdca50]

^Hehe...I love surprises!

Once, my parents said that we were going to an art museum and that I had to take time off from school (I was in first grade at the time). Anyways, I fell asleep in the car, and when I woke up, there was a Disney statue in the front! We were at the Disneyland Hotel! I remember I wasn't sure if we were actually staying there or not, but my Mom said we were! Woo hoo!

[stinkerbell]

We just did it for Christmas!

We decided not to buy the girls a lot of presents for Christmas, but instead planned a Christmas Day surprise. We held out....then on Christmas Eve, when our parents and my sister and my husband's brother were over for dinner and present-opening, we decided to do the kids' scavenger hunt that night instead of waiting til the next morning.

It was so much fun, all the adults following the three kids running through the house, upstairs then downstairs then back up.....ten clues in all. At then end there was a note taped to the back of the Mickey head ornament on the tree telling the girls to pack their bags.....they were headed to Disneyland!

Then all of their grandparents and aunts and uncles gave them their Disney Dollars. They each got a little more than $200, plus some Toys R Us cards. Cassidy sold some Disney Dollars to her sisters and got enough Toys R Us credit to buy a Gameboy Advance SP when we got to Anaheim! Smart kid!

After breakfast and present opening on Christmas morning, we packed (they got all new shirts and coats and hats and gloves that day) and loaded the car, turned on the DVD player, stopped at Starbucks and headed out. We got to Disneyland on Dec. 26th in the a.m. It was so much fun!!!

I'm not sure we'd ever be able to pull it off again, but it was a great Christmas and a wonderful trip. We stayed in Anaheim until Jan. 1.