We are so very, very, very, very excited that we’re heading to the Happiest Place on earth in just a few days!
As part of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, our schedule will be packed, and it will surely be an incredible event!
The kids are elated, my husband is elated, I am elated, and though Brady doesn’t know it yet, I’m sure he’ll be elated to be a spoiled grand-dog for a bit.
The last time we went to Disney, Maddy was 5 years old, Owen was 4, and Cora was days away from turning 3.ย So things were a wee bit different.
Now that the kids are 8, 6, and 5, what we’re doing to prepare–and what we plan to do while we’re there–have taken more of a ‘big-kid’ spin.ย And a little bit o’ preparation–and activating the ole schema–makes sense so that everyone makes the most of this awesome opportunity!
Here’s the skinny. . .
- Homemade Autograph Books: Last time, our kids barely knew how to write their names.
Now, they’re totally into writing, into collecting, and into challenges–so having them make a homemade, just-for-Disney Autograph Book was the perfect idea.
Inspired by my sweet, totally smart friend Julie, of Just Precious, Cora and I hit the craft store and bought three inexpensive, hardcover blank books.
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And then we covered that little ladybug (though she certainly was cute!) with an over-sized white label sticker, and Maddy, Owen, and Cora each decorated the cover of their books.ย
They used Disney stickers I bought at the craft store and that we had here at home.ย They also used letter stickers for their names, though Owen was totally cool just writing his in with pencil.
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Finally, the kids made a page for each character they thought they would see.ย Actually, Maddy and Owen made a page for each character, and Cora just put her stickers anywhere she wanted, grouping the princesses together and the Minnie and Mickey’s together, and doing pretty much anything she pleased.
I’m not sure she understood the concept of the Autograph Book, but that’s fine with me.ย She was happy, so I was happy.
Maddy went a little fancy with her pages, adding the character’s name and ‘sign here’, but Owen just slapped on a sticker of each character, and he was good to go.
We decided that it would be way too hard for Maddy to do this for every single character, so she plans to stamp the letters for about half of them. I thought it was a smart substitute!
Owen makes his autograph book pages!
Cora works on her cover.
Cora’s princess pages. . .
. . . and our home-made stickers on the jumbo labels.
We had a few packs of stickers from the craft store, like I said, but we realized we were missing many of our favorite characters.ย So Maddy and I hit the internet for some characters, and I formatted a page that matched our jumbo, over-sized labels, and we printed those puppies out! Yay!
One really important thing I reminded the kids as we worked was that they needed to leave the characters enough space to sign.ย Often their gloves were big, so signing may be difficult.
Another thing we talked about–that Maddy remembered from last time–was that many characters cannot speak; they wave, they move their bodies, but Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, all of the big fuzzy guys don’t talk.ย Just something good to remember so the kids aren’t broken-hearted when Mickey doesn’t say, Hello, CORA!! I’ve waited my life to meet you!! (Though she’ll expect that from the princesses, I’m sure. .. . )
. . . and our home-made stickers on the jumbo labels.And that’s it! Just a quickie, inexpensive activity that (I think!) will add a bit of excitement to our trip, will get our kids super-excited to meet their favorite Disney characters, and will give them a real hand in memory-making!
Thank you, thank you,ย Julie, for the inspiration and idea, and please check out Julie’sย Just Preciousย for other fabulous kid-happy, mom-happy ideas!
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Here are a few other ways to countdown or celebrate your own Disney vacation:ย
- Disney word search
- Disney surprise scavenger hunt
- Countdown to Disney with Disney Dollars
- Disney fun fact lunchbox love notes
- Lessons from Disney Social Media Moms Celebration
fyi: affiliate links are used in this post
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I hope you have a WONDERFUL time. I absolutely LOVE Disney. My Dad worked there growing up and I danced the ELP and we take our kids there 3-4 times a year AND do the VIP tour with our favorite guide, Daniel, often. He is so incredible that if he isn’t scheduled he comes in on his day off to be our guide because my kids LOVE him. He has literally watched them grow up. I have pics of him helping me with Pumpkin in her baby bucket, carrying her on his shoulders, and then walking with her holding her hand. It truly is a magical place inside and out. It is THE model of how to run a company I must say.
I look forward to following your blog and finding out what this whole Disney Social Media Moms is all about!
-Karin
We went to Disney back in December and it was glorious!!! They just know how to treat families. We made so many special memories. Annabelle got chosen to open 1900 Park Fare with Mary Poppins…she was so excited because Mary (and Alice from Wonderland who was also there) are her favorites. And Jeb got chosen to open the 3:00 parade! He thought he was the coolest kid in Disney World! It was so much fun. I can’t wait to go back in a few years when Henry is older. He wasn’t tall enough to ride a lot of the bigger kid rides that his brother and sister rode, except at Lego Land, which was his favorite by far!
Amy – I’m so excited for you! We’ve been to Disney a number of times and your right, the prep for going changes as the kids get older. One of my favorite things is taking pics of the kids in the same places in the parks that we were at on previous visits – they think it’s funny when they see the pics side-by-side at home ๐
Don’t forget to bring one of those really large pens for autographs – the characters with ‘glove hands’ find it easier to sign with the larger pens.
One of our most favorite memories from Disney is an autograph – my daughter had a broken wrist, and Stitch insisted on signing her cast in addition to her book – she thought that was just wonderful and still has the cast!
Have fun!!
Thanks, Jacquie!! Great ideas–cannot wait to do the picture idea and YES!! big pen is a must!!
Such a cute and fun idea! I love the kids’ handwriting on the pages, too.
Just wanted to share another resource for blank books (without ladybugs)- barebooks.com. They have great blank books in several sizes plus other blank items (puzzles, board games, etc.)
This is so gorgeous! And I love how much work and learning went into them as well by the kids… and I bet they loved doing it!
I’d love to do this one day with my kids when they’re older and we go on that dream trip to Disneyland!! (one i’ve had since I was a kid).
We use those plain books a fair bit as we get them for free from a family member. So great! ๐ Thanks for sharing this lovely post. Debs
Brilliant! The planning beforehand makes the trip go well and the children will know what to expect. I love the books with stickers and “Minnie, sign here” is so child driven. ๐ Thank you so much! Carolyn
Amy, I really like the idea of getting the kids involved in making their own autograph books. I bet it really does add to the anticipation! You’d think, the big scrapbooker that I am, I’d have thought to have E make one before we went last month. Duh! She’d have loved that, oh well…wonder if she’ll still be into it next time. That would certainly be a fun way to make getting the autograph’s new again. I hope, no I know, your whole family will have a wonderful time. It really is fun as a parent to see the differences between Disney trips when the kids are older. It was a different experience with E at five then back at the first SMMoms! Can’t wait to hear all the details!
Katie–thanks so much!! I am missing you here since we experienced our first Disney Social Media Moms but you are right–kids are totally different two years later, and it’s like our first time all over again!! Miss you friend–and can’t wait to see your super-awesome scrapbook-inspired autograph books!!
Hello! I’ve been following your blog for a while now and finally
got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Dallas Tx!
Just wanted to mention keep up the good job!