Hi Gabriel,
Thanks for bringing your question to planDisney! Surprising your family with a trip to Walt Disney World Resort is an amazing idea! There are a few things you can do to avoid spoiling the big reveal, so let’s talk about the steps you should take.
It sounds like you are already connected with your family through your Family & Friends List on your My Disney Experience account. The first thing you should do is change the settings for what you share with your family members. Log in to your
My Disney Experience account on a web browser and visit your Family & Friends List. For each family member, click “Settings” next to their name. You’ll find “Allow (name) to view all of your plans” and toggle that switch to off. Repeat this step for each family member. This will hide any plans from your family that they are not linked to.
Now that you are not sharing all plans with these Guests, you can start making reservations. Whether it is a
Disney Resort hotel reservation or a
dining reservation, you should still indicate the correct number of Guests on the reservation, but only assign your name. If you are
purchasing theme park tickets, you can purchase the tickets and reassign them to your family once you surprise them. I also recommend you add the family members to the Disney Resort hotel reservation (after you reveal the trip) so they can use their
Disney band or
My Disney Experience mobile app to open the hotel room door.
I hope this helps with your surprise plans, Gabriel! How will you reveal the trip to your family? I have fond memories of my parents surprising our family with a trip to Walt Disney World for Christmas many years ago. I’m sure this will be a memorable vacation for your family! If you have any more questions as you continue to plan, please come back and see us at planDisney!
Kaitlin