Need Help with Fun Surprises Please

[JenM475]

We just told my 6-yr-old DD that we will be heading down to Disney in March. This will be our third trip to Disney in the last 13 months, and while there is always new stuff to do, I was hoping to find some small, new surprises for her. Nothing over-the-top expensive--just fun and different. I ordered a special chocolate slipper for dessert at the Grand Floridian, booked lunch with Remy at Chefs de France, etc. I was hoping you guys might have some other lesser-known fun ideas. Thanks!!!

 

[Perditamarie]

Well, here are some ideas:

* try on and take photos of every hat in World Showcase...even a giftshop....is very silly and makes for a great layout in a photo book

* would be tasty to collect/taste a sweet treat from each country too.....take some "to go" so there are no bellyaches at the end of the day

* try to perfectly time a Dumbo ride to coincide w/wishes fireworks at MK

* try to win a prize at the midway in AK or the Boardwalk

* do a scavenger hunt:

http://www.mouseplanet.com/mike/ms050715.htm

* start penny pressing or pin trading...maybe a theme like princesses,mickey and minnie or fairies

* start a Christmas ornament collection...buy an ornament to comemmorate each trip

 

[woodkins]

My 7 yr old dd loved the penny pressing!! I brought quarters and pennies in mini m&m containers (layer 2 quarters & a penny, 2q&p etc so it is easy to do when you find the machines). You can buy the pressed penny books at any gift shop at WDW for about $7. They have them in all the parks and it was especially fun going to all the countries in Epcot.

The barber shop in MK was a HUGE hit, surprisingly considering I dropped $50 on BBB & she liked the BS waaay more. She got the colors and confetti & it was $7 plus a tip. Super fun & she got compliments everywhere we went.

You can buy a passport to go around the countries at Epcot for about $10. It looks like a real passport and you get it stamped in each country and the CM writes a welcome message in their native language. It also comes with stickers that the child puts into the book. This was a fun activity and my dd shared it with her class when we got back.

On one of her earliest trips we purchased one of the inexpensive "silver" charm bracelets they sell in the gift shops. We buy charms that are significant to her life...ie: every year she is a princess for Halloween so we buy the charm of that princess, we get the charm of the different resorts that we have stayed at, her birthstone mickey ears etc. We add a charm on each trip. She loves looking at it and can tell you the meaning behind each charm. I am of course LOL too paranoid to let her wear it, so we bought another bracelet on our last trip with a few fun charms that she can wear. At 7 I am too worried that it would be lost and I want it to be a keepsake for her to have always.

My personal favorite was to have her keep a journal. Each day we would take downtime and she would write what her favorite part of her day was along with an illustration. I just came across her journal from her trip when she was in Kindergarten (2yrs ago) and it was so awesome to see the growth in her handwriting, drawing and spelling, but also to see how her interests have changed. It will make a great keepsake for years to come. We used a marble notebook from WalMart that had a top part for drawing and then lines underneath for the written part.

 

[-Hope-]

I have for my kids: journals, autograph books, passports, dinner invitations, notes from characters, pressed penny tubes, and t-shirts. All of these things can be found on the DISign boards and made pretty inexpensively. I plan to leave a small gift and dinner invitations with a note from the character out each night for them to find in the morning. Some of the gift will be: a t-shirt for the day, glow necklaces to wear to Spectro, stickers, etc.

We'll bring the pressed penny tubes with us into the parks. The kids will also be signing up for at least two Kim Possible missions in World Showcase. I'm buying lanyards and trading pins on ebay before we go- since they'll be trading it doesn't matter what pins we get in advance so I can get them really cheap. We plan to use every form of transportation at least once. We'll take the ferry from DHS to WS, the water taxi from DTD to POFQ (even though we're not staying there, we'll just grab something to eat and look around so we have an excuse to do the water taxi), and the monorail from Epcot to the Contemporary.

 

[AirGoofy]

Two DDs (7,5) really enjoy the boat transportation (especially from MK resorts to MK and DTD to resorts. The open air and small boat rides are really fun. We have done pictures and autographs, but I have an Aunt that did a laminated photo cube that serves as an end table of with one of her vacation photos. There is the balloon at DTD that takes up the family up in the air. I don't remember how much it was, but not that bad (given Disney prices). From an earlier post, I wonder if I could time that with fireworks from Epcot or MK.

 

[JenM475]

Thank you so much! There are some great ideas here which I know she will love. I appreciate all of your help!