Things you do to get kids excited for the trip

[feistyunicorn]

We have two years until our trip. It will my sons first time! We are not telling him yet but we want to do some Disney specific things to build up to the trip. I am going to plan some family movie nights. Dose any one have any other ideas?

 

[Jessica0312]

I used to make countdowns for the kids. It took a little bit of time but I printed Mickey heads with numbers on them on index cards and had them bound. When we told my DD and my nieces that we were taking them, we gave them the countdowns along with some other Disney goodies. I can't remember what I started the countdown at, I want to say like 100.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

What about having World Showcase Country themed nights?

Some ideas I've had are:
Mexico- Make tacos & sopapillas, construct mini pinatas & maracas, practice a Mexican dance, watch The 3 Caballeros

Japan- Make Chicken/veggie tempura & frushi, use chopsticks, make and decorate paper fans & carp windsocks, play "Ohajiki" (similar to marbles with flat glass or plastic stones), watch Cars 2 or a Disney Japanese anime

China- Cook sesame chicken & fried rice, eat fortune cookies, practice making origami, construct paper Chinese lanterns, have fun with sparklers, watch Mulan

Morocco- Eat kebabs & make Moroccan snake cookies together (google the recipe), make African drums & masks, play mancala, watch Lion King

UK- Cut kid-friendly tea sandwiches out with cookie cutters along with scones, make holiday "crackers," build & decorate castles made from boxes and TP rolls, watch Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan

Italy- Bake pizzas & make spaghetti and meatballs cupcakes, make paper bag or stick puppets and put on a puppet show, paint your own Mona Lisas, watch Pinocchio

Germany- Eat bratwurst, make soft pretzels, make Bavarian hats and TP roll windmills, play Stern-halma (basically just Chinese Checkers), read some of the original Grimm's fairytales and then watch the comparable Disney movie

Norway- Make Norwegian meatballs and school bread, build cardboard viking ships, helmets, and shields, decorate rocks to look like trolls, watch a video of the Northern Lights, watch Frozen

France- Make Croque Monsieur and Apple Ratatouille for dessert, construct popsicle stick or Lego Eiffel Towers, make "bilboquet" craft (ball in a cup), play "escargot" (French hopscotch), watch Ratatouille

Canada- Make pancakes with real maple syrup and maple cream cookies cut into Maple leafs, do maple leaf rubbings, construct Inuksuk out of small rocks and stones, play hockey, watch Brother Bear

Maybe incorporate some fun facts, basic words like "hello," "goodbye," and "thank you" that can be used with the CMs when you go, along with some authentic music from YouTube, and show where the country is on a map or globe.

Another idea is Disney themed crafts and games.

 

[Rwethereyet?]

We do not tell the kids until we are in the car and heading to Disney, hahaha! It is an 8 hour drive so that is plenty of anticipation for my crew. I make the kids travel goody bags with little Disney souvenirs I get mostly at Target or the Dollar store and their favorite snacks. We play movies on the way down in the car that match the parks we will be going to (lion king if we are going to Animal Kingdom, etc). I also make them little itineraries telling that what we plan to do each day and one or two things that they will find exciting. My daughter told me last weekend that the goody bag and itinerary was actually her favorite thing about our trips. Be careful though, if it is on the itinerary they will hold you to it!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

My kids are a bit older (11, 8) but we actually get them involved in the planning. We look at restaurant menus to find new places to try and they help me decide which FPs to book at each park based on our priorities for that trip. We also start a countdown calendar around 30 days out.
Another fun thing we did when they were younger, I would do 14 days of "gifts" prior to the start of the trip...just small items they would need for the vacation like Disney themed t-shirts, glow toys, new pin lanyards, things like that.

 

[friedela]

We have two years until our trip. It will my sons first time! We are not telling him yet but we want to do some Disney specific things to build up to the trip. I am going to plan some family movie nights. Dose any one have any other ideas?

We would watch youtube videos of Disney and say things like, "wouldn't it be amazing to go there?!" lol. Then when we told then we were going we made a countdown chain and they cut a link off every day. We started at Christmas and our trip was late Feb though so it was too long. As we got closer to the trip they would forget to cut it off, I think it just felt like it took forever for it to come, lol.

 

[Beth33]

We watched the planning videos on the WDW website to give the kids an idea of what to expect. They got pretty excited, and I think it'll help make them more comfortable with the bigger rides. (They're 3 and 5, so they don't have a lot of experience with coasters, dark rides, and the like.)

 

[disneydreamer1980]

We watch Disney movies every weekend, especially ones they’ve never seen, like all the oldies (Swiss family Robinson, etc) We look through pictures of past trips and talk about them. We go to our local Disney store, they usually have trivia days and special activities. We do a countdown starting at 3 months out, where they get something (a new Disney tee or dollar store Disney toy-all stuff for the trip or ride down) every week during the countdown, and the last day of the countdown they get their Disney GC spending money.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would start by watching Disney movies. That's what we did when we surprised the kids.

 

[aliciamakino]

What about having World Showcase Country themed nights?

Some ideas I've had are:
Mexico- Make tacos & sopapillas, construct mini pinatas & maracas, practice a Mexican dance, watch The 3 Caballeros

Japan- Make Chicken/veggie tempura & frushi, use chopsticks, make and decorate paper fans & carp windsocks, play "Ohajiki" (similar to marbles with flat glass or plastic stones), watch Cars 2 or a Disney Japanese anime

China- Cook sesame chicken & fried rice, eat fortune cookies, practice making origami, construct paper Chinese lanterns, have fun with sparklers, watch Mulan

Morocco- Eat kebabs & make Moroccan snake cookies together (google the recipe), make African drums & masks, play mancala, watch Lion King

UK- Cut kid-friendly tea sandwiches out with cookie cutters along with scones, make holiday "crackers," build & decorate castles made from boxes and TP rolls, watch Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan

Italy- Bake pizzas & make spaghetti and meatballs cupcakes, make paper bag or stick puppets and put on a puppet show, paint your own Mona Lisas, watch Pinocchio

Germany- Eat bratwurst, make soft pretzels, make Bavarian hats and TP roll windmills, play Stern-halma (basically just Chinese Checkers), read some of the original Grimm's fairytales and then watch the comparable Disney movie

Norway- Make Norwegian meatballs and school bread, build cardboard viking ships, helmets, and shields, decorate rocks to look like trolls, watch a video of the Northern Lights, watch Frozen

France- Make Croque Monsieur and Apple Ratatouille for dessert, construct popsicle stick or Lego Eiffel Towers, make "bilboquet" craft (ball in a cup), play "escargot" (French hopscotch), watch Ratatouille

Canada- Make pancakes with real maple syrup and maple cream cookies cut into Maple leafs, do maple leaf rubbings, construct Inuksuk out of small rocks and stones, play hockey, watch Brother Bear

Maybe incorporate some fun facts, basic words like "hello," "goodbye," and "thank you" that can be used with the CMs when you go, along with some authentic music from YouTube, and show where the country is on a map or globe.

Another idea is Disney themed crafts and games.

I LOVE all of these ideas!!!!