surprise vacation

[sx2143]

I am starting to plan a family trip to Disney to surprise my mom. Originally I wanted to wait till we were just about leaving to let her know where we were going. But because she needs to take vacation at work, I think I will have to tell her a few months before. I might give her the tickets for christmas next year. We are going in the spring of 2006. Does anybody have any suggestions on good ways to surprise somebody with a Disney trip. I would love to hear them.

Thanks

[Kellie19891992]

make a care package with different disney items in or a couple disposable cameras, suntan lotion, disney dollars stuff like that

[BigDaddyKyle]

Be sure to throw in a lanyard and a couple of Disney Pins to go in that package too!!!!!

[disneydreamer98]

Have the Disney planning DVD sent to her....

[Kellie19891992]

for mother's day you can get her a mother day disney pin....

[disneygramma]

make sure to include a couple WDW handbooks...hidden mickeys and...oh yea...Walt Disney Trivia Book!!!!

[sx2143]

thanks guys, these are all great ideas.

[olmec26]

When my parents gave me and my sister a Disney trip for Easter, they had clues all throughout the house, like "This game is really neat, the next clue is under Mommy's potty seat" and "A tisket, a tasket, the last clue is under your Easter basket!" There were 6 clues, and the last one said to flip them over and speel out a word. That word was "DISNEY", and we were soon on our way to WDW!

[disneymaniac24]

Me and my brother were suprised with a trip. I thought my mom and I would just be watching my baby cousin (it was my aunt and uncle that were going) and I was excited abou that. But that morning my mom and dad woke my brother and I up and told us we were going to disney. At first I couldn't believe it. I think it was the only time I slept they night before a trip. The cool thing was though that my friend and I had been planning a "trip to Disney" only days before.

[dzney4lyf]

I say dont tell her and see if you can have the time off from work arranged for her. I did that for a long weekend for my parents once. They loved it.. I even packed their bags...

[olmec26]

I say dont tell her and see if you can have the time off from work arranged for her. I did that for a long weekend for my parents once. They loved it.. I even packed their bags...

Oh, this is an evil idea...

Do everything in the above post and go to her house and "kidnap" her. Blindfold her in the car, and bring her to the airport. Don't let her hold the boarding passes. Get some sound-blocking headphones so that she doesn't hear the destination when they announce it on the plane. When you get off the plane, keep her blindfolded and take her in a shuttle to the resort you're staying at. When you get there, take off her blindfold and look at the expression on her face!


Like I said, it's evil...

[DisneyonaDime]

Oh, this is an evil idea...

Do everything in the above post and go to her house and "kidnap" her. Blindfold her in the car, and bring her to the airport. Don't let her hold the boarding passes. Get some sound-blocking headphones so that she doesn't hear the destination when they announce it on the plane. When you get off the plane, keep her blindfolded and take her in a shuttle to the resort you're staying at. When you get there, take off her blindfold and look at the expression on her face!


Like I said, it's evil...

We actually did that to our kids, but without the kidnapping, blindfolding part. It was the best.

We told our kids that we were going to San Antonio to see their aunt. We drove through the night so that the kids would not be aware of the extra 8 hours on the road. We piled up pillows and bags around them so they couldn't see all of the obnoxious signs that start appearing when you enter Florida. When we were about 30 minutes outside of Orlando we convinced them that it would be fun to make a tent in the back seat as they watched movies and played video games.

To our surprise, we made it through Orlando and Kissimmee without them knowing where we were. We stayed offsite, so I went into the room before anybody and gathered up anything that had Disney, Orlando, or Florida written on it. We had some brochures and magazines from San Antonio that we brought with us and I put these all over the room. They still did not have a clue!! They went to bed talking about visiting the Alamo and their aunt.

In the morning, I went to the lobby to get breakfast for everyone and took it back to the room so they still wouldn't know where we were. I called my wife from the lobby and she pretended it was her sister and made plans to see her in a little bit. The kids still did not have a clue!!!

I set up the DVD player with the Disney World Planning DVD that they had watched 50 times. My wife distracted the kids with our video camera as we drove down 192. When we were about a mile outside of the gates, we spilled the beans. We told them that we weren't quite in San Antonio, but we had a DVD for them to watch that would help them know where we were. We started the DVD and as soon as they heard the music they shouted, Disney World!?!? Huh?

At this point they still did not believe us. In their minds they were in San Antonio, and they just couldn't believe that we were in Florida. When they saw the gates, their jaws dropped and they were screaming and jumping in their seats.

That was probably the best trip that we took. We watch the video of this over and over. Seeing their faces and reaction is priceless. What is even better is watching their faces as they were on Dumbo. They were still shocked to be there as just 30 minutes before they were thinking about the Alamo.

Surprises are great!!! I highly suggest it to anyone. The downside to that trip is that every time we go on a trip they are hesitant to believe us. One of the kids will have a map as the other reads the signs.

[MainStreet, USA]

Chris, that is the coolest vacation idea i have ever heard of! I would die happy if I was ever suprised last minute with a Disney vacation. I remember one time I marked off the calender for well over a year to one of our trips to WDW! If I ever went to sleep one night and just woke up in Disney, I'd swear it was a dream for the first day and a half I was there. Wow... now I want someone to suprise me!

[DisneyonaDime]

Chris, that is the coolest vacation idea i have ever heard of! I would die happy if I was ever suprised last minute with a Disney vacation. I remember one time I marked off the calender for well over a year to one of our trips to WDW! If I ever went to sleep one night and just woke up in Disney, I'd swear it was a dream for the first day and a half I was there. Wow... now I want someone to suprise me!

We decided to do the surprise thing because we had two previous trips spoiled at the last minute because of work and a funeral. We decided that we just couldn't take the kids through that for a third time in a row.

I don't think we ever thought we would make it as far as we did without them noticing, but it turned out real well. It will be something we'll still talk about 50 years from now.

[sx2143]

These are all great ideas. I would love to try to get her vacation time from work without her knowing, but her bosses are not the greatest, so I don't think that would work. I did think about the idea of saying we were going somewhere else. She is 56, so I think she would figure it out before we got to Orlando. But we live in Maryland, so I thought we could plan a trip to somewhere in Va or NC and have her be confused when we keep driving through those states.

If we fly, I love the idea of kidnapping her. However, given the current security at airports, I don't know if that would work. The airlines may not look kindley on someone getting on board in a blindfold. It might be a real surprise for her if we ended up in jail for being a national security threat.