Sunday, January 19, 2014

Disney World Countdown Calendar

It's been a trip 3 years in the making. Geesh, my old 6th grader was only in 3rd grade when visions of Dole Whips started dancing in his head. For the last 3 years, any time my kids were bored, my default was, "Let's talk about Disney World." And, it always worked; must be the most magical conversation starter in the world or something—a conversation starter that grew into hours and hours of very serious work. Ashlyn created an online store to earn spending money for herself and the rest of the gang. Evan created an activity book for all of us to work on as we counted down. And, now, here we are, right in the middle of the countdown (and a concerted effort to grow a Mickey Mouse head chia pet), and all are seriously abuzz here. When Evan dreamed up a way to countdown in style, I was all for it. He's seriously creative. He may just have a future as a Disney Imagineer after all. Disney countdown 1 We started by finding a silhouette image online of Cinderella's castle. I think this one was actually solid black when I found it, but I saved it to my own computer then inserted it into a Word document, made it fill the page and then made it super light to save on ink.  After we printed it, I outlined the castle with a sharpie to see the edges better. Disney countdown 2 We taped 4 pages of white paper together to make one big page. Then, we (okay, whatever, I) drew the outline of the castle, trying that method we used in elementary school of looking at what was in the lower left corner of the original and then translating that to the lower left corner of the big paper and so on. There's gotta be a name for that method—any of you remember it? We decided we wanted to countdown from 20. So, once the castle was drawn, we spaced out 19 different "doors" and drew them first with pencil and then a sharpie when we were happy with where they all were.  The last door is the big door to the castle. The "I"s or doors on the bottom were about 2" x 2". Others were slightly different to better fit the space. Disney countdown 3 Using gigantic paper clips we found in my desk, we secured the paper template to our cloud patterned poster board we happened to have on hand for some random reason. We cut through the pattern and the poster board. Leaving the pattern attached, I used an Exacto knife and cut along the lines for the doors. Note: don't forget a cutting board! Disney countdown 4 When we removed the pattern, the castle looked like this. Starting to take shape! Disney countdown 6 Evan had already made a list all by himself of 20 different little activities to go behind the doors.
  1. Wear a Disney shirt
  2. Play Disney name that tune
  3. Drink out of a Disney cup
  4. Talk like a Disney character
  5. Pick out a toy to take to Disney World
  6. Talk like a pirate
  7. Pretend the car is an airplane going to Disney
  8. Pretend to be a cast member
  9. Play Disney charades
  10. Be a Disney character for the day
  11. Pretend you are eating at a Disney restaurant
  12. Sing a Disney song
  13. Design a new Disney ride
  14. Draw a Disney poster
  15. Do your best Monsters Inc. roar
  16. Design a new themed Disney restaurant
  17. Trade a pin
  18. Share your favorite Disney ride and what you like about it
  19. Draw your favorite Disney character
  20. Do a Disney parade around the house *THE LAST ONE*
And, I wrote them on small pieces of paper that were only slightly bigger than the openings of the doors. (Since they had to be written pretty small to see the words well when the doors were opened, I did this part for him.) Disney countdown 7 Evan taped them to the back of the castle shape wherever there were door cuts. And, I decorated the last large piece of paper to go behind the door on the last day. You could use a page cut out from a Disney travel magazine for this piece if you wanted and then use white paper as conversation bubbles with the words coming from Mickey. We went with simple. Disney countdown 8 Evan then wrote the numbers from 1-20 on the doors, mixing them up and adding his own little decos. Disney countdown 10   Disney countdown 11 We taped this thing up to the wall in the kitchen at the kids' eye level and open a door every morning and then do what it says. FYI: Drew can do an awesome Mickey impression. And, I have no idea why Walt Disney World does not have a restaurant that looks like the Star Wars cantina. That would rock. 14 days to go until 17 of us head to the most magical place on earth!!!

Disney countdown 17

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Darth Vader Goes to Disneyland

This is a funny video I found on the Disney website. It's about Darth Vader going to Disneyland for Star Tours, but the ride is closed. So, he waits and goes on rides. After that, he checks, and it's still not open. Then, he breaks in!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Help Kids Know They Need to Stay in School

I have to stay in school because I want to work at Disney World. I know I need to learn stuff so that I can do that when I'm big. But, sometimes, kids don't think they need to stay in school. They think school is hard or boring. But, it's really important.

P&G, a big company that makes a lot of different stuff we buy like laundry soap and diapers, is supporting CIS or Communities in Schools that works with kids to help them stay in school so that they can keep learning and graduate from high school and get the job that they want someday.

They are making a difference!

Use P&G coupons to give to this organization. And, click here to watch a very short video on Facebook. Every time it is viewed, P&G will give 25 cents to Communities in School, up to $10,000. To give that much, the video needs to be watched 40,000. Can you be one of those?

While you are there, you may want to enter the contest for whatever school you name to win $10,000 to help them help kids stay in school. I wonder if my school could win!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Push


I found a walking trash can in Tomorrowland. His name was Push. He is always roaming around somewhere in Tomorrowland. Sometimes, he is in stores or near rides. He is really funny. See if you can find the person controlling him. 


Newspaper Robot


On the way to the people mover, I found a newspaper robot. I really liked it. 


I looked at the newspapers, and it said "Stitch Escapes." I really liked looking at it.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Star Wars Video

This is a game I did at www.starwars.com. And, the game was called Crawl Creator. It is fun to make up your own story, and I like the Star Wars website.

Monday, June 27, 2011

My Yard Goes Disney


This is a show that Disney imagineers come to your house, and they send the children to somewhere, and they surprise them by making their backyard a Disney theme. I like watching it. The first one I watched was the theme Animal Kingdom. The second one I watched was a Mickey shaped pool. Today, I am watching a pirate one. 

If they came to my house, I would like to make my backyard a Star Tours theme.


The show is on HGTV. Watch it!