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<\/a><\/p>\nYou see them all over YouTube and Facebook. \u00a0The tear jerking videos of kids as they are told they are going to Walt Disney World for the first time. \u00a0However, knowing when is the right moment to tell your kids is one of the tougher decisions for parents as they start to plan their vacation to Disney. \u00a0Do you tell your princess that her dreams are to come true only to be faced with the daily question of \u201care we going today?\u201d \u00a0or do you wait until the last minute and surprise them but miss out on \u00a0planning the trip together. \u00a0Either way you are going to Walt Disney World, but what is the best way to go about this decision?<\/p>\n
When we decided to take our daughter (4) and son (almost two) to Disney for the first time, I knew I wanted to tell them in advance so they could share in the planning fun.\u00a0 Right away I knew that I wanted the \u201cunveiling\u201d of the trip to be extra special. \u00a0Our daughter was a huge Cinderella fan and was under the impression that only people who received invites from Cinderella herself could come and visit Disney. \u00a0I used this in my creativeness for how we told her and her brother we were heading to Disney World. \u00a0I created a royal invitation from Cinderella inviting them to come and visit. \u00a0Along with that invitation came a book all about Disney, the Disney Vacation Planning DVD, a Disney calendar, a Minnie plush and \u201ctickets\u201d to the hotel as well as the airplane. \u00a0This started our magical planning time together.<\/p>\n
We now had three months to wait and I didn\u2019t want the magic to be lost during that time, so I came up with fun things every week for our kids that would keep the excitement and magic going while teaching them about Disney World. \u00a0For the next ten weeks they received a letter and a small gift from a Disney character.<\/p>\n Sometimes these letters invited the kids to come and visit them at specific restaurants while we were visiting, or they would give clues about specific rides they liked, or they would just ask questions about what they were excited about in regards to the trip.<\/p>\n The small gifts that came with the letters were things that they would need for the trip and tied into the character that wrote the letter.<\/p>\n Our daughter\u2019s favorite gift was a craft set from Rapunzel whose letter explained to our daughter that Rapunzel was extremely busy right now learning to be a princess and painting, but she\u2019d make sure to wave when she saw us. \u00a0This letter helped us set the stage that we wouldn\u2019t probably be standing in the four hour long line to see Rapunzel during our trip. \u00a0Another favorite was an old camera that Cinderella had \u201ctalked to her parents\u201d about giving to our daughter for capturing her favorite things on the trip. \u00a0Other small gifts we did throughout out our wait were items such as puzzles, pajamas, books, crafts, and placemats.<\/p>\n In addition to the fun gifts and the excitement of the letters, the\u00a0 letters would make references to rides and shows that the characters liked and we would use that to motivate us to watch YouTube videos. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0By watching videos of shows such as Fantasmic, we were hoping they\u2019d be less scared when we were actually there watching them.<\/p>\n During this time, we also took a week to write a letter to Mickey. \u00a0Although our daughter was more focused on Cinderella, she was aware that it was Mickey\u2019s park, so she wrote him a letter about how excited she was about coming down to visit. \u00a0Mickey, of course came through and sent a postcard back which was a fun way to keep the magic going throughout the wait.<\/p>\n As we got closer to the trip, we did a variety of things to not only keep the magic going, but to pick up the excitement. \u00a0We took our daughter to the store and sent her on a scavenger hunt of things that she\u2019d need for the trip. \u00a0It was fun for her to walk around the store and search for different items such as chapstick, Kleenex, and a few toys. \u00a0\u00a0She loved being able to choose which items she wanted for herself. \u00a0Again this was just a simple way to keep things fun as we got closer to the trip. \u00a0We were already going to go and buy these items, so why not make it a fun, family adventure.<\/p>\n Once she had picked out all her items we then took the next step and worked with her to pack her airplane bag. \u00a0She had a list to look at and used that to pack her very own carry on backpack for the plane. \u00a0Once again she loved the choices and feeling independent.<\/p>\n Mousekeeping envelopes were another fun and magical adventure we did together. \u00a0We used Disney stickers and paper to decorate different envelopes that we\u2019d leave for our Mousekeepers while on the trip. \u00a0As the trip got closer we did a variety of these small craft activities together to keep us talking Disney while being crafty at the same time. \u00a0We did pixie dust cards, luggage tags and stroller signs as fun ways to make our trip a little more magical.<\/p>\n With only one month left, we started a Disney calendar as well as a Disney countdown chain. \u00a0There are so many ideas and choices out there now that it almost becomes overwhelming, but you just need to find one that fits your child\u2019s age level. \u00a0We went with a simple calendar that I made where we could put up a different Disney character each day to show how many had passed. \u00a0The chain was also Disney themed and printed offline. \u00a0Both of these used a specific character for each day so she could see the repetition of the weeks as we waited. \u00a0It was so much fun to see her head to the calendar and chain following bath time to put up the next character and take down the link in the chain giving us a constant reminder of the magic to come.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n