If you live out-of-state, or just a bit too far to visit Disneyland very often, and do get the opportunity to plan a trip – one of the best parts (for me, anyway) is telling the kids and getting them just as excited about it as you are!
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| We don’t get to come as often as we would like, but we still feel that Disneyland is our home-away-from-home! |
You can surprise your family with a trip to Disneyland! I always thought it would have been awesome to be surprised with a “we’re going right now!” trip to Disneyland or DisneyWorld as a kid, or even now! I’ve teared up at those DisneyParks commercials they used to air, where someone actually surprised their kids, video-taped it, and sent it in to Disney. If you google “Disneyland surprise ideas” you’ll find dozens of great ideas out there. I wish I had more to share on this idea, but sadly I’ve never surprised anyone or been surprised with a trip – oh, but it’s on my life list of to-do’s!
You can get prepared and excited for Disneyland together! You may also not want to surprise the kids because anticipation is half the fun!!! I love the feeling of looking forward to an upcoming Disneyland trip – it’s so exciting. Here are some things you can do with your kids to get them just as excited about it:
- Sing Disney songs – If you don’t have any CDs, turn on Pandora Radio (pandora.com) and make your own “Disney Kids” channel. Liam’s favorite is “it’s a small world” – I’m so excited to ride with him and sing it together!
- Watch Disney movies – The classic cartoons are great for getting to know the characters so your kids are looking forward to meeting them in the park. You can also order the free Disneyland Planning DVD (I practically collect these), which really prepares your kids for some new sights and experiences.
- Look at Disneyland books – I have a picture book of Disneyland that I bought a decade ago that Liam loves, and some maps from past trips that he’s enjoyed. Also, some travel guides have great colorful pictures that kids would love (I recommend Birnbaum Guides – I have one for every year we’ve visited). Coloring books of Disney characters might also be enjoyable – there’ve been some cute ones lately in the $1 section at Target.
- Buy Disney clothes – let your child pick out a T-shirt with their favorite character/s on it that they can wear on the first day of vacation.
- Look up Disneyland on the web – Check out the official Disneyland website or do a search on YouTube for some cool Disneyland videos (we’ve been stalking it for new videos of Cars Land!).
- Just talk about Disneyland – Ask your kids what they want to do there, or are looking forward to riding/seeing/eating.
By talking about it and doing many of the ideas above, my son has gone from telling us he doesn’t want to go on rides, to asking us if we want to go on the Monorail with him. In fact, he’s so excited to get to California he’s started asking me, oh about 28,302 times a day if we’re leaving yet. So here’s one more thing we’ve done to get ready:
Our trip was 38 days away when we made this, I probably should’ve waited until it was about 20 days off because the chain was SO long – but oh well, it was fun and he loves ripping off one link every morning and counting the remaining links to see how many days are left. It still hasn’t stopped him from asking if it’s time to go yet though. 🙂
It’s your turn to share what you do get your family pumped-up for your Disneyland vacation. Or, I would love, love, LOVE to hear how you were surprised or were able to surprise your kids/ spouse/friend/etc. with a trip.
Read more from Jessica on her blog, Idahome. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, or on Instagram.
Read more from Jessica on her blog, Idahome. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, or on Instagram.
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