We’re going to Disney! Again. I don’t know how it happened, but for the third year in a row, I’m taking my family to the Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World.
As much as I want to, I haven’t told the girls yet. If I tell them too early, they bug me every.single.day. “Are we going to Disney World today? Tomorrow? Next week? I want to go to Disney World nowwwwww.” Last year I told them at Christmas. They opened a box filled with Christmas ornaments and inside the box I had written “We’re going to Walt Disney World!” They squealed with happiness, of course, but by February the excitement had dissipated, and our trip wasn’t until March.
I’ve debated waiting until the morning we depart and literally running into their room and telling them, “Wake up, we’re going to Disney World!” but I’m not sure how they’d react. That would be fun to get on video, though, wouldn’t it? And it sure would make packing so much easier.
So while I continue to go back and forth about whether or not I’m going to tell them, I will (silently) countdown the weeks until our trip to WDW with a weekly Disney family night, kind of like ‘Family Game Night’, but with a Disney theme. Some ideas I have in mind:
- Eat Disney food! Recreate a fun recipe you tried at WDW (Dole Whips… mmm!), or put a Disney spin on a family favorite. Mickey Mouse pancakes are pretty easy to make, as is a Mickey-shaped pizza. There are some great recipe ideas at Disney Family.com. If starting from scratch isn’t your thing, I’ve seen Kraft Mac ‘N Cheese with different Disney characters, and sometimes you can even find special Disney cereal.
- Do a craft! Make luggage tags, an autograph book (they’re expensive in the parks!), paint matching t-shirts, etc.
- Play a game! Lately, we’ve been playing Disneyland Adventures for Xbox Kinect almost every day. It’s so fun. For Wii, there’s Epic Mickey, Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey, Tangled, and Toy Story Mania. And for both consoles, Disney Universe, Cars 2, and Toy Story 3. Don’t forget board games, too! My daughters’ favorite is Pretty Pretty Princess, Cinderella edition, by Hasbro.
- Watch a movie! I like to record movies on the DVR. Just in the next week, for instance, on Disney Channel you can find The Lion King on Sunday, 101 Dalmations Monday, Monsters Inc. on Tuesday, etc. If you have Netflix, add a bunch of your favorite Disney flicks to your queue.
- Wear Disney PJs! My girls probably have enough Disney Princess night gowns to wear a different one every night of the week. DisneyStore.com frequently has great sales on them.
- Read a story! I never realized how many Disney books we had until I started pulling them all off the bookshelf. Easily a couple of dozen, if not more. Disney Digital Books are fun, too!
Your kids will surely be dreaming of Disney after all that! 😉
YOUR TURN: Do you count down to your Disney trips in a special way? Please share!
Oh, I love this! I say you tell them the morning you leave. If YOU can wait that long. It’s so fun to surprise them at the very last minute like that. The last time we went to Disney we didn’t tell our boys until the day before. They were shocked and SO excited.
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Thank you SO much for coming up with these great topics for the count down. Like you said, we tend to watch Disney movies as we get ready for a trip. We try to think of those that have not been seen in a while, or ever (*gasp*). The Disney PJ’s and books are already around the house. My eight year old is also fascinated with reading the Hidden Mickey book right now.
Beth @ TheAngelForever´s last blog post ..Tuesday Tales – Protecting Our Kindle
Before being a dad (and other things) I worked at WDW for a couple years. It’s an amazing place where cast members can learn tons about customer service, marketing, PR and just how to be a better person. I’m looking forward to my first DSMM this year and it’ll be great to experience those things again, except this time as a blogger.
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We’re going to Disney in November and I’ve been debating internally on how to tell my daughter. We’ve promised her that we would take her sometime but haven’t told her when. I’d love to do a surprise visit at least once- like say we are going to pick my husband up at the airport but really go get on a plane and go to Disney instead. Someday.
I like the idea of waiting until the morning of, but my daughter needs LOTS of prepping. The weekly countdown is a great way to pump your kids up and maybe one week before have the big reveal? Whatever you do it will be a “win” 😉 I look forward to meeting you at the conference! Thanks for putting this hop together.
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I heard about those Dole Whips and I can’t wait to get to Disney and try one! lol
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The first time we took our kids to Disney, we told them FAR in advance (they were 3 & 5 when we went). I loved every minute of it because we could share the planning with the kids. We looked at maps, watched videos, and talked about what things would be like. Now that they’ve experienced Disney, I bet it would be harder. I think next time we’d probably surprise them or wait until things got closer.
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OMG!! So excited i get to see you there…haven’t seen you since Austin a couple of years ago! I, too, told the hubs i want to suprise them the day of but he wants to build on the excitement talking about rides, etc….not sure what we will do yet…..if i do wait, i will definitely get it on video! Looking foward to catching up soon!
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