Special Touches

[Jordan's MOM]

OK, we are a month away and the big stuff is done. The room is paid for, PS's are made and we have the tickets in hand. Now I want to add lots of little disney touches to make the trip extra fun without a lot of extra money. DS is 9 but really get into things like that. So far I have got those new Disney extreme coolers for him to carry into the parks and a mickey toothbrush and toothpaste to appear in the room and some of those pooh bath tablets that turn the water different colors. I also have a few disney CD's and activity books for the trip. What else has anyone done? Feel free to use my ideas and please share yours with me!

Jordan's mom

 

[joshua4]

Do you have some time on your hands and a color printer? If so, make him a special autograph book. Pull the list of the characters off the internet and then go to disneyclipart.com. Print out your favorite picture of each character and glue stick to oversized index cards (I did mine in an oversized index card spiral bound book -- you can find at any office supply store). Be sure to glue on to the blank side of the card. I cannot tell you how excited the characters were when we presented each with their picture for signature. They made a big deal over my then 4 year old son and some of them raced around to show the other characters. Captain Hook made the biggest deal of all -- Smee finally had to take the book away from him because he was spending so much time looking at all of the pictures. Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum got very excited as well to see that we had included them.

Anyway, it takes a bunch of time because you have to copy the picture and then manipulate it to get to be the right size and then print it and cut it out. I put them in alphabetical order so that we could find characters quickly and also ended up putting some characters together -- like the whole Pooh gang were on the same page and all signed that page.

Other things I did was have a present from Mickey on trip day with airplane activities -- stickers, books, etc.

Also, mickey and all of the other characters wrote my son letters -- eg, 5 days left! Can't wait for you to come on my ride. See you soon. Buzz Lightyear -- with a picture of Buzz on the letter from the clip art site. I am not sure if a 9 year old would believe that or not -- might be too old. Anyway, it was a fun way to count down the days left.

Finally, Mickey also sent a package for the flight home with more stickers, etc and an invitation to come back some day soon. It made leaving less traumatic for both of us.

Have a great time!

Lauren

 

[kecall]

My DD's received a "Welcome Package" when we arrived (We stuck the bags outside our door , then quickly knocked on the door, skooted back from the door, and asked our DD's to get that for us...boy were they surprised to find these 2 glittery, sparkling packages with their names on them...each with a personalized note welcoming them to Disney)-

- In the Disney bags were special Disney candies (like Wonderballs, mickey lollipops...) an autograph book pressed penny book & Guest of Honor Badge (which I had ordered ahead of time through www.giftsofalifetime.com), Mickey fanny pack with goodies inside like Disney dollars, a tiny flashlight (for scary rides...came in handy many times!), a tiny container of bubbles (which helped pass the time in line...loved it!), a tiny keychain "etch-a-sketch" (also for waiting in lines), new sunglasses, and lip gloss & hair clips (which I guess you don't need!) a mickey pen from the Disney store.

Go to the Dollar Store you and will find lots of neat little things.

Also, everyday "Mickey" would bring a little present that the girls would find on their beds. Some days it was a hair clip or minnie bracelet (bought at my local Disney store for cheap!), other days it was new jammies or even a favorite princess doll. The girls would get so excited to find their next present!

One other thing that Gran made for the girls and they loved them was their own personal travel kit. She couldn't find any Disney travel kits, so she bought a clear one and put Disney sticker on them. Inside she packaged their own toothbrush, toothpaste, hair brush, lotion, lipgloss, soap. It worked out great! They would each grab their kit and take care of all their needs themselves....even put their toothbrushes and paste away!!!

For in the car (we drove) I had several Disney coloring, sticker, and activity books for them. I also got a little tackle box and filled it with new crayons and markers and colored pencils. I bought a couple of Disney games, as well as the Birnbaum's Disney for Kids by kids book (which the girls read over and over and over again...they even read it after we left!)

Hope you can get some ideas from what I did!

have fun!!

 

[amyhwang]

Boy, kecall, you are some mom! I like that! We are going to drive also from Maryland in less than 2 weeks, and I've been going to the disney store, the dollar store, etc... We are also getting a dvd player installed in our new minivan today, and I got a collection of disney movies to watch on the way down and back. I like the idea of new jammies, my kids (dd2.5, ds4.5) would like that. Too bad I gave my ds his new buzz lightyear ones a couple of weeks ago! I got some marker coloring sets (comes with pictures to draw and stickers) at the disney store on clearance a while ago - I think it'll kill time in the room or waiting for food in restaurants too. And tds has those light chasers too - got one buzz and one princess. Still $10 but less than at the parks, plus it's fun to have it already in case we don't see them for sale.

 

[vicb]

About a month ago I found Disney "Look and Find" books at JCPenney for $5. I bought one for each kid to have on the plane. They came in different themes: Mickey, Beauty and Beast.....

I too bought ahead GOH badges, Sorcerer Mickey beanies, and wonderballs.

Another great tip I had read here on family board was to buy inexpensive glo-necklaces and bracelets to have at nighttime parades and fireworks shows! Much less expensive than the ones they sell there!

 

[kecall]

Oh, yeah!! I forgot....our local dollar store also has those fiber optic "flashlights", which was great for Fantasmic...and walking around. They also had glow bracelets (4 in a package for $1!!!! They can be used as bracelets or attached together to make necklaces!) I bought every package they had! I took some with me just about every night. My girls also enjoyed handing some out to other children that they met (Hey! For 25 cents each, I can be the "big spender"!!!)

 

[cgcw]

If you are staying onsite, you can request an autographed picture (from the front desk) of your child's favorite character. When we went last year, they "magically" appeared in our room while we were out. The kids thought it was great.

 

[vicb]

Really???? That sounds neat. What resort were you staying at? Did you just ask at guest relations?

 

[pixiemomma]

As someone else suggested, I made a custom character autograph book. The CM all got quite a kick out of it. And it was easy for my children who cannot read yet to find the appropriate picture when we happened upon a character. Have fun!

 

[catwho]

Yes; please explain how one gets autographed pictures of Characters at the resorts. I have kids that would be thrilled with pictures from Mickey, Belle and Jasmine! What's the cost?

Thanks!


51 more days!

 

[Crow]

What neat ideas!! I had a friend pick up some neat things like ears and pins for a basket to surprise my DS onour next trip...now I have even more ideas!!!

Thanks!!

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Thanks everyone!

I am gotten some great ideas and I think others have too. Hope everyone has as much fun with these ideas as I will.

Jordan's mom

 

[ChiTownZee]

Get some Disney Dollars!!

Although I think I enjoy spending them even more than my daughter, she gets a real kick out of using Mickey Mouse Money to get sodas and the like. It's just fun to use Disney money instead of 'everyday money'!

 

[LKS]

I have already bought a few things. Mickey Mouse band-aids for 1.27 at drugstore.com (but considering the postage, this is only a good deal if you find some other stuff you want) and just today I bought an Disney Magicolor art set with magic pens that only color in the mickey design on the sheets enclosed. There are 24 Mickey and friend's design sheets and 6 markers. We haven't tried it yet, but I thought they'd be great for travel since they only color on the design. Hope it works. 6.46 at Walmart. I have the mini-bubbles and took those on our Disney Cruise last year and had people asking where we got them. We drew a crowd. I think I will take some again. I have months yet to keep looking for things and will use many of the ideas above.

 

[catwho]

For those of you that pay your kids allowances, consider paying them part in D$$. My kids love getting the D$$! Last week I was a bit short on dollar bills when it came to doling out their allowances, and both my girls said, "We'll take the balance in D$$!!" LOL!! They both have about $30 saved for the trip! Younger dd keeps her money counted by the number of miniature snowglobes she can buy. Last week she said, "Hey Mommy, I'm up to 3 snowglobes already!"


46 more days!

 

[snugglebug]

I love the idea of the picture autograph book. My luck, I'd leave someone out. Where would I find a list of all the characters to include?

Can I just request an autographed picture when I send my room request to the resort? That would be wonderful for the kiddos.

We are leave early Easter morning. Easter bunny won't be visiting our house next year so, I plan to do up some plastic eggs that the EB will leave along the way. When we make a stop, I'll just hop out and drop 2 eggs (one for each kiddo) that will contain candy, stickers or some other small gift. Each will be Disney themed. The kids don't know where we will be going so it'll be a sort of clue for them (ages 3 and 5). I also plan to do up an Easter Basket or something to that effect that either dh or I will slip into the room before the kids get in there. That's where I'd like to have the autograph book, pen, and I already bought Disney beanies too. Still trying to decide what else to include, maybe a fanny pack, new hat, water bottle, jsut stuff they'll need at the park.

Any other ideas I should consider?

 

[kecall]

snugglebug -- Head to this link to find a tremendous list of characters and the possible places to find them!!!

http://www.wdwinfo.com/sites/character/index.html

I would recommend your bringing tiny flashlights for the kids to carry in their fanny packs. More than once our DDs were scared and pulled them out....it gave them a sense of being "safe".....Also, buy a couple of tiny bottles of bubbles (like the kind that are necklaces.)
These were the BEST things I brought to pass the time while waiting in line. They also worked as "ice breakers" with other children waiting in line around us.

Have fun surprising your kids...we did the same thing and it made the trip that much more memorable!!!

 

[cgcw]

Just saw ths came back up with a question about the autographed character pictures for our kids. We stayed at the Polynesian and just asked at the front desk when we were down there. Think I may have originally read about it here. Worked like a charm. They asked up who our kids favorites were - I believe they had a list to select from. I know we had one Mickey and one Dale/Chip (don't remember which). I would assume if one hotel is doing it they should all do it. We went last in Sept. 2000. Hope it still works.