Summary: Lots of parents have dreams of surprising their kids with a trip to Disney World. Today, I have some ideas for how you might want to pull off the surprise (just be sure to not have super high expectations for their reaction - you never know how it's going to go). I also have a quick tip on preventing motion sickness on a ride at Epcot. These are notes from this episode. There's much more info included in the audio so be sure to listen to the episode for a better explanation. 4 ways to surprise kids 1. Custom lottery ticket Either make or order a custom lottery ticket that will announce the trip. DIY scratch-off lottery ticket tutorial - http://www.ohthelovelythings.com/2011/08/scratch-off-lottery-tickets-diy-free.html Photo credit to Ohthelovelythings.com Etsy shop to order custom tickets and decoder messages - https://www.etsy.com/shop/crankbunny?section_id=14119715 Photo credit to the crankbunny Etsy shop 2. Phone call from a character Have a friend who sounds like a character call you or pay $5 to hire somebody on fiverr.com to record a message for you. Mickey or Goofy voice actor - http://fiverr.com/esalaah/call-you-or-your-child-children-using-a-cartoon-voice-of-your-choice Princess voice actress - http://fiverr.com/asongaboutyou/read-anything-in-a-princess-voice To have your call appear to come from Florida, sign up for a free Florida Google Voice number at https://www.google.com/voice and then have that call forward to your home phone number. You may also want to setup a contact in your phone beforehand with a custom picture and name to show that the call is coming from Disney World or from the character. Here's a video of a family who did this for their trip surprise... 3. Puzzle scavenger hunt The basic idea is that you set up a scavenger hunt to find puzzle pieces and then when the puzzle is put together in the end, it announces your Disney World trip. To create the puzzle, you can design a graphic and upload it to a site that will create the puzzle piece layout such as http://bighugelabs.com/jigsaw.php You can also order a puzzle for just $5 and this site allows you to make some simple customizations like background color and text - http://www.printerstudio.com/unique-ideas/jigsaw-photo-puzzles.html Here's a video of a family who did this with their 3 children (the people who uploaded the video won't allow it to be embedded so you'll need to click over to watch it on YouTube) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOOlYr3475Q 4. Road trip scavenger hunt Driving to Disney World and need to entertain kids along the way? Reveal your trip with clues during your trip like this family did... Quick tip of the day People are often scared to ride Mission: Space at Epcot due to the potential for motion sickness. One way to make it easier is to make sure you face forward during the ride. Parents often want to look at their children next to them but the best idea is to just face forward and watch the screen in front of you. Subscribe to get new episodes There are a few ways to get new episodes of WDW Prep To Go. Subscribe in iTunes (and please leave a review!) Subscribe to the feed Listen on Stitcher ************************* Do you have other ideas for surprising kids with a Disney World trip? Please share them in the comments.
