I love working with all of the amazing families whom I plan Disney vacations with . The excitement is palpable with every meeting. However, no parent really understands how important and how huge the words that are delivered to their children and the emotional impact they carry. Those 6 words: We are going to Disney World!!!
Thus the main question other than what is the right age to take them, is how do we tell them? Should it be a surprise? Should we tell them right away? What do we do?
Personally, for a first time visit, I think the surprise is the way to go. This does not mean the preparation, what my husband refers to as the brainwashing does not happen, it just happens in a silent way. For the two months prior to the trip you watch a new Disney movie once a week, you pick out Disney books from the library and read the stories. You play Ariel or Toy Story games at play time. You might watch some of the behind the scenes documentaries or talk about hidden mickeys and pin trading. All in the thought that you are just exploring Disney because some day when you are older we will take a trip, wink, wink.
Then you scoop them out of bed sleeping and tell them on the airplane that they are going to Disney. I sob just thinking about it!
If you are doing a trip for the second, third, fourth or fifth OK, I am back out of my dream, or if you have multiple age children traveling and want to tell them, there are excellent strategies for corralling their excitement.
You can tell them a month in advance and create a blank month calendar. Each day have the kids each put a Disney sticker on the day to count down. Have a couple of days designated as read a new Disney book day and a day a week designated as watch a new Disney movie night. You can also assign chores and if the children complete the chores they can earn a Disney dollar to use toward a souvenir in Walt Disney World.
Another idea is to create a chain link with a different Disney Trivia question on it, everyday the kids can take a link off the chain and answer the trivia question. This is a fun way to countdown to the excitement and an excellent math activity as well, if the kids ask how many days, you can tell them to go count the links left and that is their answer.
It is a personal decision how and when to tell them, but the end result is always the same an amazing vacation filled with magic and wonder and beautiful family memories that will last a lifetime.
