Parents all over create scenes from Disney commercials when they announce trips to their families. As Disney invites guests this year to “Let the Memories Begin”, we asked the Parenting Panel this week: How far in advance do you let the children know you’re going on a Disney resort vacation? How do you handle the anticipation and/or countdown for your trips?
Chris, also known as GusMan, is always planning his next family trip to WDW and loves to help others plan their trips as well through sharing his experiences. Chris writes:
In light of Disney’s marketing campaign where parents catch the moment they surprise their children with a Disney trip, I get a little jealous. I say that because I only wish I captured the look on my daughters face when we told her that we were going to Walt Disney World for the first time. By no means was it as elaborate as what you see on TV today, but I saw the excitement in her eyes, which to me was priceless.
Since we take at least an annual trip to WDW every year, it is something of a challenge surprising our kids. At the same time, while my daughter loves big surprises, my son hates them. I just don’t want to take the chance messing up a vacation if for some reason he reacts totally different than expected.
However, because there are many different things to do while at Disney, we keep certain details of our trip to ourselves until we arrive. One time, we left a card in our room addressed to the kids. When they opened it up after a day at the parks they found a note from Mickey “inviting” us back for another vacation during the Christmas season. Another time, I programmed my daughter’s cell phone so that when I called from my cell it would read “Mickey Mouse.” I, I mean, Mickey, sent her a text message inviting her to breakfast at Chef Mickey’s, even though mom and dad “couldn’t get an ADR.” Sure, sometimes you have to be a little creative, but I sometimes think that is a part of the magic. Regardless, they don’t concentrate on how you did it, they just light up when they find out they are going to do something special.
For us, planning our annual trip is truly a family affair. While we get our reservations nearly a year in advance, the countdown really starts up around six months before we leave. Many times we will recreate a meal we had at Disney while planning out where we would like to eat while on vacation. (Great for ADR planning!!) Maybe the next month, we will watch videos of our last trip sharing our favorite memories and attractions. The progression continues in such a way where as we prepare for our trip, the kids remain involved in the planning process. We found that by the time we leave, they have a good idea of what we are going to do and when
That last week before the trip is, by far, one of the most exciting and frantic times for our family. Between the packing, the confirming of all reservations, the checklists, you name it, things can become tense for both parents and kids In the past, when we noticed that tension levels were staring to rise, we would break our routine. We take time to go out to dinner, relax, and spend some time laughing with the kids about past trips. We found that such a break does help in such a way where we don’t end up way stressed out before the vacation begins.
A family vacation of any sort is a time to celebrate. Make a big deal over its planning and countdown. Keep a few surprises up your sleeve and present them at the right times. The combination of all that you do for that perfect vacation will create special memories that last a lifetime.
Emily Loftus is a wife, mom of 2, portrait photographer and Disneyland fanatic from Reno, Nevada. Emily writes:
Planning a Disney vacation is one thing, deciding on when and how you’re going to share the good news with the children, is another thing entirely. With factors such as how crazy-making it will be to hear “When are we going to Disneyland?” forty-seven times a day, and the fact that your trip may be the best motivational tool you have outside of Santa Claus himself, to consider, there are many things that can influence your decision. I’d contend that there is no right choice, only options, each of which can achieve a different result.
Over our years as a Disney traveling family, my husband and I have employed several different methods in telling our two children about their upcoming Disney visits. From surprising the kids with a Disney trip after we arrived at the airport, to planning our once-in-a-lifetime Disney Cruise vacation five years in advance, we’ve done it all and tried it all.
Planning a trip five years in advance had its upside. Our children, who are now tweens, had lots of time to save money and read up. We bought them a few children’s guide books and started a big change jar. They learned a lot about Disney World, Castaway Cay and the cruise ship before we ever even booked our trip. By the time we got there, they were old pros. Each of them had a hefty bit of money to spend on the trip as well, which they loved. In the last days we made a paper chain that they could rip a ring from each day. It helped to give them a good feel for how much longer they had to wait.
One cannot underplay the fun factor of a surprise Disney vacation. When we surprised our children, they knew they were headed to southern California, but they thought we were accompanying Daddy on a business trip. When we had arrived at the airport and were waiting to board our plane we broke the big news. The kids were very happy and very surprised. I’d definitely recommend a Disney surprise, if you can swing one, but one must be careful in the discussing of such things, in the vicinity of little ears.
Our plan to hide our secret involved the use of a secret word. During the time we were planning our vacation, we referred to anything Disney related as “the taxes.” What child listens when adults are talking about doing the taxes? If we had to discuss a day or time we’d say, “When do we need to see the accountant about paying the taxes?” for example. Our code words kept our operation a secret until the big reveal, which turned out to be a big success.
The added bonus to all of this was no frequent Disney related questions, no lack of sleep the night before the trip, no asking and begging and pleading to go now or leave early or whatever straws at which a Disney-crazed child might grab.
For most of our trips, though, we have told the kids one to two months in advance. This is just enough time to give them some extra chores so they can earn some of their own pocket money, and not long enough that they feel like they have to wait forever to go.
Jenny is a former theme park employee, avid Disney fan(atic), and an at-home mom to two Disney vets (4 and 5 years old.) Jenny writes:
How far in advance do I tell the kids we are going to DL? My answer, in short: It depends. Selfishly, it depends on what I want to deal with. My guideline for if / when to tell this kids depends on the type of trip.
- Day trip, just the kids and myself – When I am planning on taking the kids during the week by myself, I usually don’t tell the kids. Why? These types of trips often get rescheduled due to weather, illness, or something else comes up. It saves me from breaking the bad news, and they are none the wiser that it would have been a “Disneyland Day” today if only it wasn’t raining. Plus, it is always fun for me to wake the kids up early with a, “get dressed, we are going to Disneyland!” Growing up, that would have been the coolest if my parents had done that!
- Day trip with either the husband or friends – I will tell the kids in this scenario, as I know sometimes the build up and anticipation is almost as fun as the actual event (sometimes more fun?) This lets the kids get excited, plan ride strategies, etc. and gives me some well behaved kids just before the trip! I do warn them of the chance that rain or illness on anyone’s part would cause us to reschedule. Just recently, my son earned a trip to Disneyland with just me with his good behavior. My son is only a year and a half younger than his bossy sister, and being the easy going brother, he usually gets dragged around Disneyland doing what sister wants. I told him he would get a special trip with me, where HE gets to pick what we do all day. Our trip was planned for December, and of course it was scheduled to rain on our day. My son was upset, but he understood. In this case, he and I really enjoyed the “planning” of the trip, and are still “planning” to go.
- Big trip to WDW – This one gets its own category. I still don’t know when to tell the kids we are planning a trip to Orlando in the summer. We have a wedding to go to in Europe, and my husband and I thought stopping in Orlando on the way out would be a fun idea. But I think until plane and park tickets are actually purchased, we are not going to tell them. It might be fun to even surprise them as the plane lands in Orlando. Or it could be too much of a surprise that throws them completely for a loop. We will probably keep going back and forth on this until we get closer to the summer. I think it will be fun to print out some maps and go over some of the attractions that are different than the ones we have.
Bottom line, there really is no bad way to deliver the news that there is a Disney trip coming up!
Mary Kraemer is an avid Disney fan and travel consultant with CruisingCo/MouseEarVacations who loves to travel with her husband and children to Disney destinations as often as possible! Mary writes:
This is an issue that has changed over time for my family. We are able to visit Disneyland several times a year, and even though we go fairly often, we are always excited about each new trip. Usually, we have several trips in the works at any given time, and there are times when we have our Disney trips scheduled a year or more in advance.
When my kids were in elementary school, several teachers requested that we not tell our kids that we were going to Disneyland ahead of time, because they were distracted in class, especially on the day of departure. At that age, it was easier for me to keep the travel plans quiet because I could pack their clothes while they were at school, load up the van, and simply pick them up when it was time to go.
When we had a summer Disney trip or cruise, there was no reason that the kids couldn’t know about it beforehand. They would savor watching the trip-planning videos (now DVDs) that Disney would send for free. This was especially true for their first cruise, where it was an unfamiliar experience, so they wanted to spend as much time as possible finding out all the details about their upcoming trip.
Now that they’re a bit older (end of middle school/beginning of high school), they are able to better manage their excitement and balance their responsibilities. So, we look at the school calendar, strategize about where we want to go when they have time off (because, honest to goodness, we do have other travel besides Disney destinations), and work it out together. When it’s time to get ready to go, it’s so nice that each of my kids can be responsible for packing their own things; all the ask is how many days we’ll be gone, and the next thing I know, their stuff is ready for the suitcase!
One of our favorite pastimes for the ride to Disneyland (or the plane ride to Orlando) is to list our ‘must do’ items. That helps us focus on making sure everybody has an idea of what the rest of the family would like to do, and we work as a group to make sure that those items are covered on the trip. We also strategize on how we’re going to approach our days; what rides to go on first, what needs to have a Fastpass, etc. Last, but not least, we also have a specific list of foods that we enjoy at the parks; items, such as Dole Whip, that are as important to a visit to the parks as rides or attractions.
I think—and my family would probably agree—that I am the one in the family who has the hardest time containing their excitement about an upcoming Disney vacation. And the best way for me to handle the anticipation is to always have another Disney trip (or three) in the works, so there’s always something to forward to!
It’s your turn—keep the discussion flowing!
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