Anticipation Ideas

[TEK224]

I have trip planned for Sept. Taking my niece, her BF and her family. There are 3 kids (4,6 & 8). Only my niece has been to WDW before. I've started a countdown for them. Every 25 days I leave something at their house as a reminder about our upcoming trip.

So far I've left a Mickey greeting card & an envelope for each of them with a $1 Disney Dollar (for them to start saving their spending money).

Next week I'm giving them the mini bobbleheads that you can order for FREE with the UPC codes from selected Keebler snacks. I just got them in the mail. They are so cute. I ordered the classics (Mickey, Minnie, Donald & Goofy) and the Lion King (Simba, Timon, Nala and Pumba) (I was really hoping for Rafiki, though ). Did I say they were FREE!!! Even shipping was FREE!

I also got Pooh and Buz Lightyear in some Kellogg's cereal boxes.

As we get closer to the date, I'm going to print out menus from Deb Wills' site, so they can pick where they want to eat.

I've already gotten them the planning video (that was their gift at Christmas - to let them know about the trip), and someone posted a link about activity sheets to be downloaded.

If anyone has any other suggestions (little or no cost - wise) I'd be happy to hear them.
Thanks!
Terri

 

[Kallison]

Hi Teri - Want to adopt me?! We always make a paper chain for the number of days left until the trip, then the kids tear off one each morning. We have a postcard of Cinderella's Castle we attach on the end.

How about getting them each autograph books, then fat pens to go with them? Dollar stores sometimes have Disney stuff. Glow in the dark necklaces for when you will be out at night? Princess or Pooh fruit snacks to take to the park? Disposable cameras so they can take their own pictures. K-mart has the giant Mickey lollipops like they sell on Main Street for $1. We take stuff to the Parks to give to the characters such as nuts for Chip and Dale, little honey pot for Pooh, dog biscuits for Pluto, etc. Have fun.

 

[SeaWitch]

I like the fat pen & autograph book idea - you could always buy them an inexpensive book at the dollar store and have them decorate themselves...

a little film canister filled with bright, clean pennies (for the penny pressing machines)

Print off some coloring book pages for them from the Disney Clipart site

have a Disney Movie watching night

How about buying a couple of inexpensive pins from TDS so they can Pin trade with CM's

 

[ShariM]

Last January my niece and nephew were going to Disney World, and I got this idea off from the Dis boards at that time: I sent them letters from different Disney Characters. I sent one letter a day for about two weeks to help count down. For example, since I had already gotten priority seatings for Cinderella's breakfast, I sent them a letter from Cinderella inviting them to the castle for breakfast. We stayed at the All Star Movies, so I sent letters from Buzz and the Dalmations telling them about the pool and hotel and that they were excited for them to arrive. At one point my niece thanked Cinderella for the breakfast invitation, and Cinderella played right along and said she was so excited they could make it! The last letter to arrive was "from" Mickey saying he would "See ya real soon!" They LOVED the letters and couldn't wait to get the mail each day. (They are 7 and 9 years old)

 

[TEK224]

Keep them all coming. I'm taking notes.

Terri:

Pinkbounc

 

[epcotitis]

new socks from the sock fairy! My kids always get new socks form the sock fairy right before a trip to WDW! It may not be exciting but it is a milestone and very useful!
Deb

 

[Kallison]

Epcotitis - We always get new socks too - before any vacation! I like to see nice white socks in my pictures - lol!

 

[ceecee]

Since you have all those Kelloggs UPCs order some Lanyards, they are $2.99 and they are really cute. Then when you run out of ideas you could use pins for them to trade. Disney Store had some great buys but I think they're gone now. We ordered a lot of "trader pins" on Ebay a few years ago.
We also watch Disney videos a lot in the few months before we leave to really get us in the mood and listen to our CDs.

 

[SeaWitch]

Great idea about the letter... I think I will do that for our upcoming trip. My husband has a couple of nieces/nephews that will be joining us for the 1st time!

I guess I need to start collecting some Kellogg's UPCs so I can get a couple of lanyards to go with the pins I bought.

 

[karebear1]

Last year when we took our daughter and her friends to WDW we would have a Disney Date once a month. WE would watch a Disney Movie- planned a dinner that went with the movie ( like .... 101 Dalmations- we'd have dog bone biscuits.... etc. ) and then we'd play Disney Cherades or Disney Trivia and we'd draw u our plans for what restaurants, what parks, what days. At the last one we had, we invited their parents over so we could tell them what our plans were (they were all given a typed up agenda), where we were staying, telephone numbers of the hotels , got medical permission and other general info including what the rules were. We had soooooo much fun those months leading up to our trip! Here's the funny thing- were these kids 7, 8, 9???? NO- it was my daugthers Senior year in HS and her friend were 17, 18 and 19!!!! It was one of the best trips ever! Have a great time using you imagination- you'll have just as good a time as the kids.
ShariM- I LOVE the idea of your letter from Cindy and from the characters. How sweet is that? I'm gonna use that one of these days if any of my kids get married and have children!

 

[Kallison]

I just thought of another one, get them familiar with some of the Disney stories so they will enjoy the attractions more. A big one is The Swiss Family Robinson - my kids never saw this movie until before our trip. It is one of their favorites and they really appreciated all the details in the Treehouse. You can usually find this on video pretty cheap.

 

[karebear1]

I have a couple more- when my kids were younger we gave each of them their own fanny pack. That way they could carry all their little things around their waist and get them when they needed them. They were given money for their b-days and other special occasions. They saved this money and used it to buy their own souveniers and treats. It was very surprising how responsible they were with that money. They could buy whatever they wanted, but when the money ws gone- it was gone! They all came home with some! How about buying each one a disposable camera and letting them take pictures? They would love that I'm sure. Check the Disney Store for sales- they have some great deals going- I'll bet you could buy matching t-shirts for them for not too much. If you can't find them, then make your own matching t-shirts. You could have everyone bring a white t- shirt and then you could tie-dye or iron on a design you made for the special occasion.