Crossing Disney World off my bucket list & how we surprised our kids with the news!

It wasn’t until my family moved to Canada in 1989 that I was introduced to Disney… I was almost a tween! But when I found out about Disney, specifically Mickey Mouse, Aladdin and the best animation movie of my childhood, the Lion King, I fell in love. I became obsessed with everything Disney. My room was covered with framed Disney art and animated movie posters. I shopped at the Disney store almost exclusively collecting everything Aladdin. I always dreamed of going to Disney but as a kid we were never able. I knew that I would go one day. It was something that my husband and I spoke about all the time once we started having kids. We analyzed, researched and inquired as to when would be the ideal time to go.

Luckily, we don’t have to wonder any more. My family and I will be heading to Disney World this week! EEEEK! I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it. In fact, going to Disney World was on my bucket list of things to do before I turn 40. I have to pinch myself just to know I’m not dreaming.

Since this is a dream come true for me it only made sense that I share my excitement with my family and I knew that I had to do something special to tell my boys about our upcoming trip. After doing a lot of research online and speaking with friends who have been to Disney World previously, I decided to do a scavenger hunt to reveal our trip. I also knew that I didn’t’ want to tell them too far in advance as little kids can get anxious about an upcoming trip and they don’t really understand the concept of time. So 17 days before our trip, we hid clues and videotaped the hunt. The back of each clue had a word printed on it, so at the end of the search, when you put all the clues together, it would spell out the phrase “WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD.” Not that it really mattered because none of my boys can read yet (they’re five and under). You can download the clues that I made HERE and use them as is or change them to make it personal for your family.

I also created a countdown chain to help them understand how much time (aka days) are left until the big trip. This was a big hit with my five year old son!

You can download the Disney Font that I used and an image of Mickey Mouse head HERE.

Here is the video of the scavenger hunt and how my boys found out about our big trip.

If you’re planning on doing a Disney trip reveal, here are some things I learned (the hard way as you’ll see in the video) from my experience:

1. Make sure your house is clean and tidy if you plan on recording the reveal and sharing it with others.
2. If at all possible, try to conduct the reveal when your kids are in a good mood
3. If you have a baby at home, it helps to do something like this when he or she is asleep.
4. Tell your kids, especially the younger ones, what Disney World is in detail before you do the reveal. They will be much more excited once they understand where they’re going to!
5. Keep the video rolling even after the reveal is over. I’m upset because we didn’t capture my oldest son jumping up and down on our bed once it finally sank in that we’ll be going to Disney World. He was still just processing it all in when we captured it on video.

I also love how my friend Tammy from inRdream told her kids about their trip. Similarly, she revealed it to them through a treasure hunt but an outdoor one through geocaching. You can find out more about her reveal here.

So if you revealed a big trip to your kids, how did you do it and how it pan out? I’d love to know!