Jambo Marianne!
Welcome to planDisney and thank you so much for submitting your question today! Oh my goodness Marianne, what an incredible surprise! As a fellow animal lover, I am so thrilled to be helping you today and hoping that we can keep the magic alive. Thankfully there are a few things we can do to make sure your family does not see your wild plans, so let's talk about My Disney Experience!
If you go into your
My Disney Experience account and click on "
My Family & Friends," you will be able to open your Family & Friends List and modify who can see your plans. Unfortunately, you can only change the settings to either
share all your plans with your family member or only the plans you have together. Therefore, if you do not have them linked to the reservation yet, you can simply click on "Update" next to their name and then on "Only Our Shared Plans," and they will not be able to see any plans you might not have linked them to. That way, you can keep the surprise for the activity that shall remain nameless, or any other magical plan you might make!
Now, Marianne, here are a few other things you can do to make this birthday celebration even more magical. First, a Disney birthday celebration is not complete until you have picked up your "Happy Birthday" button. These buttons are completely free and can be found at the front desk of your resort or at most merchandise locations. You can write your family member's name on the button yourself, or you can even have a talented Cast Member write it for you in beautiful cursive over in Magic Kingdom. Second,
Disney Floral & Gifts offers so many decorations and gifts to make your family member's day extra special. Indeed, you can have flowers, gift baskets and balloons delivered to their room seven days a week! These decorations can be purchased
online or on the phone with a Dream Maker. Lastly, if you decide to make any surprise dining reservations, you can even have a Mickey Mouse birthday cake delivered to your table.
Mickey Mouse Celebration Cakes can be customized with messages and can serve four to six guests, so they are perfect if the rest of your family is joining in on the birthday fun! The only thing to keep in mind is that Mickey Mouse Celebration Cakes can be added to your reservation at the restaurant's podium and that they have limited numbers of cakes for same-day requests, so make sure that you request it earlier than later!
I hope this was helpful, Marianne, and that you and your family have the most wonderful on the surprise trek. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. We are always here to help!
Have a magical day and as they say on the wildlife reserve: Kwaherini!
Ariane