How to pass the time until vacation

[JodyLynC]

I am starting on a couple of projects to help with counting down to our vacation this May.

1) My girls each have a wall calendar that we use to write down their classes, activities, and events. At the end of each month, I plan on putting something on each blank day of the next mongh. It might be a Disney stickers, a glob of glitter glue (to look like pixie dust), or a fun fact. I cover each Disney item with a sticky note that can be pulled off on that day. The sticky note itself will list the number of months, weeks, days till our vacation.

2) Each weekend that we don't have something planned, I will have a Disney activity. Here are some of the activities I have planned:
- Make a countdown chain (This will be done at the end of Feb so we can have it in place for March.
- Make a Disney treat. (I'll try making Krispy treats or cookies in the shape of a Mickey head.) :
- Read over a park brochure and pick out the A list of activities and rides (must do's) then the B list (might do's)
- After going over the park brochures, I plan on getting the customizable maps. We will examine and read them.
- Print up menus of the restaurants that we have ADR's for and of the CS restaurants we are interested in.
- Shop for Fanny packs for the kids.
- Shop at the Dollar store to pick out games and activities for the car trip.
- Select and Print out printables for the car trip.
- Create a vacation book. Last year we got some plain white 3 ring binders. The girls decorated them using markers and foam stickers. For each day, we put card stock like paper in the book that have that day's planned activity. (For travel days, we would paste a piece of map that shows the planned route for that day.) Behind the activity page, we put plain paper that the girls could use to write what we did that day, meals we ate and other memories. After the trip, I add a photo page that the girls can use to add their pictures to. (They are getting disposable cameras to use.)
- Make Lime Green Mickeys. We'll cut out the Mickey Heads we picked up at Home Depot and laminate them to put on packs or pin to shirts while at WDW.
- Buy and decorate an autograph book for the Characters to sign.
- Create a packing list and shop for any last minute items.
- Pack. I will let the girls help me put together snack packs for the car. They'll also help put their outfits together and put them in Ziploc bags.

3) Disney movie night. Every 2 to 3 weeks we do a pizza and movie night. From now until the trip, we'll do Disney movies and note cool lines that we can say to the characters when we meet them.


Now that I have written it down, it looks like I have tons of stuff that will help pass the time until our vacation. Does anyone else have ideas and suggestions??

 

[madysmom]

I love your ideas! It will make the anticipation of your trip so much more exciting and you will be very well prepared and organized. I am so impressed I am going to copy your list and refer to it myself for my family. Thank you!

 

[JodyLynC]

Ooh, I remembered other activities to add to #2.
- Learn how to say Hello in all of the languages of Epcot. I am going to put these on index cards and we will spend some time practicing them.
- Work on Geography. I plan on listing all the states on the front and back of an index card (or 2). When the girls meet people at WDW, they can put a mark next to the state they are from. I'm also going to have a countries card so the girls can write down the countries that non-US visitors are from. While we are making these cards, we'll look at maps and see if we can learn a fun fact for each state.

I have to say that all of these ideas are not mine, but gleaned from reading the DIS boards.

Anybody else want to add anything?

 

[PeterPanMom]

Great ideas! I've been trying to think of ideas too - my DD is going through withdrawls! Thank you!

 

[JodyLynC]

I might try making a meat loaf in the shape of a Mickey head.

 

[JodyLynC]

Bumping in case anybody had any new (or old) ideas.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I have been trying to think of activities for some of the big numbers. Here's what I have so far:

100 Days: I am going to make cards that have the number 100 cut out from Disney scrapbooking paper on the front. On the inside of the card I am going to put: Days Until the Magic! Then, I am going to fill the cards with glitter (pixie dust) and Disney Dollars.

75 Days: Not quite sure what to do yet for this one...still thinking.

50 Days: I want to find a good guidebook for the kids (I am leaning towards the Guide to the Magic for Kids) and leave it wrapped up at the breakfast table.

From 25 days onward do the countdown chain with an activity for each day.

Hopefully, it will make the time go by a little bit quicker for the kids (and for me)!

 

[1hero2princesses]

My kids loved the christmas advent calandar we did this year, so I was thinking of doing something similar before disney. Not exactly sure for how long. Also my kids love treasure hunts so we may do a few of those for disney treasures - either something to bring with like a flashlight or for a disney dollar or two. My husband thinks I am crazy by the way.

 

[Perditamarie]

Sounds like a lot of fun anticipation for the trip. Check out the Creative DISign boards for some inspiration-- there are some very talented folks over there who share their designs and expertise for making t-shirts and autograph books and a lot of other fun stuff. Here is a link to a Diser's website where you can print a passport book for Epcot's world showcase...especially neat if you will be at Epcot multiple times and can do the mask activity as well as a passport:

http://www.patsdesigns.com/index.html

Some other things I do to prepare is to become very familiar w/my camera...like practice the quick draw, become familiar w/night mode, etc.

You could also compile some favorite Disney music for the car ride...and come up w/some Disney Car Bingo, I Spy and other games for the trip.

Happy planning!

 

[Wit]

We've made a Countdown to disney poster. I printed out 130 Mickey heads (how many days we had at the time) and we pasted them to a poster board. We Used tacky glue and gliter to write Countdown to Disney in bubble letters then the girls decorated the rest of the poster. Each day we mark off a Mickey.

We've a huge platic jar (the kind you get full of gum or candy at GFS or Sams Club) and decorated a label that says Family Fun Disney Fund one it. We each wrote our names and decorated the label with mickeys etc. All the change goes into the jar, and before the vacation we are going to turn it into Disney Dollars and use it for souvineers!

We also have Disney Movie Nights/Marathons

We bought the girls there own Birnbaums for Kids 2208 WDW Guide and they are plotting out thier have to dos!

The kids actively helped in choosing the ADRS, and making the Custom Maps.

And I am sure I'll snag ideas from this thread for more things to do!