Making the wait magical

[jretzlaff22]

We are taking our kids to Disney in June for my daughter's 9th birthday. They already know we are going, but I still want to do something fun for our "reveal" at around 200 days. Then something fun at 180 with food, 100, 90, 60, and 30 days. Anything suggestions/ideas for me?

 

[skuttle]

We always do a paper chain staring at 100 days out. It helps the kids see how much longer they have to wait!

 

[jensen]

The planning is as fun as the actual trip for our family. We pull out the park maps and discuss how we'll tour... we build a spreadsheet with time slots for each ride and show and meal. We look up the menus online and talk about our favorite foods and what we might order. We look up the entertainment schedules and put the shows we want to see into our spreadsheet. This is done before 60 days so we can book our fastpasses around the schedule.

We plan our off-site outings and look at google streetview to help us plan those.
We look up the Wishes video on you tube and watch it at bedtime.
We keep the Disney Vacation Video in the car and watch it driving to school and running errands.
We keep the Wishes and Illuminations soundtracks in the stereo and listen to them while cleaning the house.
We make mickey pancakes for breakfast.
We do the paper chain.
We start packing about a month before... deciding which stuffed animals will go along and whether we need to buy a new swimsuit.
When DD was younger, we chose headbands and hair ties that matched her princess dresses.
DS likes to wear a Star Wars shirt the day we go to DHS or a Beatles tshirt when we go to Epcot, so we are always looking for shirts that might fit the theme when we are out shopping.

Our Disney vacation is the primary topic of conversation from the day we book until we get home.

 

[Jfsag123]

We have a Disney night every other weekend during which we play Disney games and watch a Dsiney movie as a family. Sometimes we might theme dinner around the movie (ex: spaghetti with Lady and the Tramp, gumbo with The Princess and the Frog). As we get closer to the trip, we move to doing it every week and start watching movies that are more relevant to the parks to get us in the mood. We also do a countdown chain and like to watch WDW videos on YouTube.

We are also going back in June, but this trip is a surprise for the kids, as they think we are not returning until 2017.

 

[Disneyalea]

I love the anticipation and think that the time before the trip can be ALMOST as fun as the vacation itself! My youngest son actually gets disappointed when we get to our last Mickey Monday before our trip. We just enjoy all of our pre-trip activities. I have a blog specifically for planning Disney fun, like Disney nights (like the person above mentioned) which we call Mickey Mondays, as well as fun countdowns with Disney activities on each day. https://aleasalbums.wordpress.com/

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We begin counting down about a year in advance or when we book. I buy little things like new Disney shirts, door décor if it's a cruise, picture frames...little things like that, that I try to have arrive at certain times that I call Mickey Mail. In the beginning months we get something once a month or sometimes twice a month and they gradually increase in arrival times as we get closer, until there is something once a week on the week we leave. (Pins for trading, lanyards, new shoes, guidebooks, maps...anything used on the trip or for scrapbooking after the trip). We also make a list of Disney movies that have multiple movies in a series and we watch them to countdown during family movie day once a week. When we went to Universal last year, we booked only 2 months before we went and we counted down by watching the Harry Potter movies, one movie once a week.