Our next Disney vacation is still pretty far away, so I’ve got an important decision to make. We’ve taken our children on 2 Disney vacations so far and I’m really excited about our next trip. They’ll be 6 and 7 years old by then so it will be a much different experience than the ones when they were 2 & 3 and then 4 & 5. With the last 2 trips, I excitedly shared every detail of our planning with them as I could hardly contain my own excitement. Next time, I’m debating keeping it a secret. Since we haven’t booked our next trip or officially started planning, there’s still time to opt for keeping it a secret. To tell or not to tell?
And if we keep it a secret, for how long? Do we tell them a week before? A month before? Or the day of? I have so many conflicting thoughts about it. When in doubt, write it out!
Pros and Cons to keeping your next Walt Disney World vacation secret:
Pros:
1. The sense of accomplishment for actually managing to keep it a secret!
2. The element of surprise – the looks on their faces when they find out.
3. There’s a lot of fun to be had in planning and executing the surprise (as well as the trip itself).
Cons:
1. The kids don’t get a chance to participate in planning.
2. The kids don’t get the feeling of allowing their excitement to build in anticipation.
3. What if their reaction is disappointing? What if they need time to process that big of an event?
4. What if they are overwhelmed with the suddenness of it?
5. There’s a good possibility they would ask questions that would require me to lie to them in order to keep up the secret.
6. It would be REALLY hard to not blurt out exciting details of the trip ahead of time.
7. If we told them day of, we’d have to figure out how to pack and make all of the arrangements without them noticing. See number 5.
I could probably go on, but I think the decision has been made for me. I don’t think I’m the secret-keeping type of Disney vacation planner/mom. So much of the fun is talking about it with my family and getting their input into fun things we will do. Maybe character meals or other fun surprises during the trip would be easier for me to manage. Which camp are you in and why? To tell or not to tell?
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Candice was raised in east Tennessee. While in college, her best friend dragged her to a Walt Disney World College Program recruiting session at the University of Tennessee and the rest is Disney history. In the Fall of 1999, Candice became a quick service food hostess for Sunset Ranch Market and Fantasmic at Disney-MGM Studios – or what is now known as Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While soaking up her time as a cast member, she met Ryan, a neighbor and a fellow college programmer who worked as a custodial host at Epcot. Four years later, Candice moved to the Midwest and married that boy from across the hall. They now live in Greenwood, Indiana with their two little boys. The Disney-loving foursome took their first family trip to The Happiest Place on Earth in 2013 and Candice is eagerly planning their return. Candice also works full-time at a community mental health center and enjoys taking photographs and blogging at Mommy in the Midwest.
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