Fun and Creative Ways to Tell Your Kids You're Going to Disneyland or Walt Disney World

Fun and Creative Ways to Tell Your Children You're Going to Disneyland or Walt Disney World!

Taking your family to a Disney park is always a magical time. How you break it to your kids that you’re going can be JUST as magical! The following are five fun ways to tell your kids that you’re going to a Disney park (whether just for the day or for a whole vacation for those that don’t live near the parks.)

THE DECOY - I’ve done this one and for the right crowd, can work great. A bit of a long story on how I personally implemented this idea, but it goes something like this. Make up some story as to why the family needs to get up early in the morning (in our case, it was 5:00 am on Christmas morning - it took some doing but my teenage sons never saw it coming.) Do what you can to make it sound mundane but necessary (I.e. a trip to an old friend of YOURS, an errand that is far away but is necessary, etc.) You get to be creative on this one based on your own family’s lifestyle. Now, you might be tempted to tell them right away…but resist as if too early, their brains won’t be fully engaged yet. Instead, simply get in the car (prepacked, of course) and head to the park or airport. See how long it takes for them to figure it out. Trust me, there will be a buzz in the car as they start figuring out that they aren’t going in the right direction of the errand or wherever else you told them you were headed!

Disney Park Scavenger Hunt!
The Great Disney Park Adventure Challenge

THE BROADCAST - Huge billboard signs are super fun…but quite costly. However, you can make your own by purchasing some Disney themed wrapping paper (sometimes you can get lucky at your local dollar store!) Cover your garage door (if you have one) with the wrapping paper. With cut out letters (white can work just fine if the wrapping paper colors are bright or darker) spell our “We’re going to Disneyland!” When they come home from school and see it on the garage they’ll be filled with excitement!

Disneyland Scavenger Hunt
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THE STRING ALONG - There are many versions of this type of activity but you’ll get the gist of it pretty quickly. Take a skein of yarn and about every 15-20 feet or so tie a small note, piece of candy or small dollar store toy to it. Now string that yarn ALL THROUGHOUT your home - under tables and under beds. Make sure that the string is threaded through places that your kids will be able to fit through because they will be following the string, rolling it up in a ball, collecting the small treats as they go. If more than one child will be participating (and you have older kids) tie the kids’ wrists to each other so that they have to go through chained together. It’s a LOT of fun to do and fun to watch. At the end of the yarn, place a note explaining that you are going to a Disney Park!

THE NOT-CHRISTMAS STOCKING - For those that celebrate Christmas, take out the kids stockings and place them over the fireplace (or wherever you usually hang them during the holiday.) Do this overnight so that they wake up to them. When they ask about them, you can feel free to pretend like you have no idea. Inside the stockings place a small Disney themed gift and a note from Mickey saying that he’s personally inviting them to his park and that he was so excited that you are coming that he couldn’t wait until Christmas to tell them!

THE WRAPPED GIFT(s) - Everyone loves to unwrap a gift. There’s just something exciting about removing the ribbon and peeling back that paper! Prolong the fun by wrapping the gift in a variety of ways, inside of each other. For example, write a note explaining your Disney park trip plans and put it inside a small plastic sandwich baggie. Wrap that bag in wrapping paper and place that in a baby food jar. Then wrap that jar and place it in a small box - and wrap that. Place that box in a larger box. Keep getting larger and larger until you get to a large yard trash bag with a big box (or a SUPER large box even, such as an appliance box.) The large gift will be exciting to see and they’ll have fun unwrapping each layer to get to the center (remember…they won’t know how many layers to expect!)