Latest / Mom Street USA / 47. 15+ Ways to Surprise Your Kids with a Disney Trip & Countdown to Disney Ideas

Transcript

47. 15+ Ways to Surprise Your Kids with a Disney Trip & Countdown to Disney Ideas · Mom Street USA

0:04
Welcome everybody to Mom St. USA.
0:06
My name is Jackie, AKA Wishes Mama, and joining me is my
0:10
wonderful Co host Kate, AKA the Disney Cicerone.
0:13
And tonight our topic is kind of different For what we've
0:18
normally done, we're typically giving you guys facts and
0:22
details and things like that about the the parks.
0:24
But tonight we're going to talk about ways to surprise your kids
0:27
or your family with a Disney trip.
0:30
So I'm excited to hear. We've got some input from some
0:33
of our community members that they gave and some different
0:36
ideas that Kate and I came up with.
0:37
So it's going to be a fun, a fun topic.
0:41
Yeah, I'm really excited for this one that we get to not only
0:45
share a few of the things that we have done with our families,
0:48
but also a lot of our Mom St. audiences has been contributing
0:51
and I'm sure that will contribute live as well as we're
0:53
here recording this on TikTok. But before we kind of get into
0:58
the weeds of all of the ideas for surprising your kids, your
1:04
spouse, your whoever for for Disney, mostly kids.
1:08
I think that's what we focus on here.
1:09
But yeah, you could use them for other things too.
1:12
I just wanted to do a little preface because I've had some
1:16
personal experience with this and it didn't go well.
1:19
So I think it's really important that when you're planning a
1:24
surprise that you think of your specific kids before you plan
1:28
the surprise. And some of the of you who might
1:31
have smaller children might not have like discovered yet and
1:34
kind of more of their personalities of how they handle
1:36
surprises. But some kids do not like
1:39
surprises or last minute trips or and or they might actually
1:45
give them some more anxiety like not having had time to like
1:48
mentally, mentally prepare for it.
1:51
And last minute surprises also don't allow you that time to
1:54
maybe show them like videos of rides or things like to like
1:57
just give them that space that they might need to wrap their
2:01
brains around like oh, we're going to go do this.
2:04
So I had a little experience that once with my son and I
2:09
think it was like, I don't know, two weeks before we, we
2:13
surprised him with a Disney trip.
2:15
It was like Christmas and then we were going in like January.
2:17
And he was so upset when we like unwrap the big present and stuff
2:23
and he like, he was angry at us. His reaction was not one I was
2:27
going to, like put anywhere because I was like, I felt like
2:30
a horrible mom. He felt betrayed, like we kept
2:33
something from him. He felt like we had dropped it
2:36
on him and like he needs time to like adjust and think about it.
2:41
So if you have somebody that's like that in your in your
2:44
family, you know, know who you're working with and maybe
2:47
adjust some of your surprises accordingly.
2:49
Maybe some surprises might work better for other kids or maybe
2:55
something the day of might not be good, but maybe like months
2:58
in advance would be better, just you know, Or vice versa if you
3:01
have little kids who can't wait. So that's just my little
3:04
disclaimer before we jump into surprises, which I never thought
3:07
I would need. And before I became a mom, I was
3:10
like so excited to surprise my kids with all of the things.
3:14
And I have realized that I still can do surprises, but I have to
3:17
do it in a way that is. Loving to my child.
3:20
So yeah, absolutely. And I am one who I haven't done
3:25
surprises, mostly because my oldest is one that, like, he
3:29
needs time to process, especially because he, for the
3:32
last couple trips has been at the age where he's been like
3:35
tall enough to do something new now.
3:38
And like, I have to prep him for that.
3:40
Like this last trip he was tall enough to do Tron.
3:42
And that was his like, the new thing that he was going to do
3:45
when we went. And I was like, yeah, but I was
3:47
like, I have to prep him. So that way he knows going into
3:51
it because he will, it will not be good if we go and we get to
3:56
Magic Kingdom. And I'm like, OK, buddy, you're
3:58
tall enough to ride Tron. He's going to be like.
4:00
Wait, wait, what? Like panic.
4:02
Yeah. So he is one that needs that
4:05
time. And both of my kids have gotten
4:08
so used to like giving input for our trips because we we love
4:12
including them in planning like what rides we want to do or what
4:16
parks we want to go to. Things like that.
4:17
That if I feel like now if I don't give them the ability to
4:20
help with that and any I can do that more last minute to an
4:24
extent. But like if I don't give them
4:26
the ability to help with that, I feel like they're going to be
4:28
really, really upset. So I agree.
4:30
You really have to make sure you're thinking about how your
4:34
kiddo will react. Do they enjoy surprises when
4:37
you've surprised them, maybe with other things?
4:39
Or are they not a kid? Maybe they want to help plan the
4:42
surprise for a sibling, or maybe they want to help be a part of
4:45
that process. That's a good idea, Yeah.
4:48
So, like, if it's something where you're.
4:50
Yes, yes, very true, very true. So yeah, definitely consider how
4:57
you want to go about that and how they will react if you are
5:00
planning a surprise. Yeah, Aaron over here says.
5:04
Our girls were so mellow about the whole surprise.
5:06
No Kitty excited squeals or anything, but they said they'd
5:09
want to be surprised again when we go next.
5:11
So I mean, I think it's good managing your expectations for
5:15
the surprise. Absolutely.
5:18
Don't. Don't think they're like, oh,
5:19
they're going to be like all these videos I've seen of them.
5:22
Kids like screaming and crying and so being so happy.
5:24
Like that doesn't always happen. I think that's a social media
5:27
construct of most things because we've seen kids react that way.
5:32
And so, you know, just go into it just being like, I'm just
5:34
giving them this like gift and they're going to accept it as
5:37
they're going to accept it and just make your peace with that
5:39
in in advance. Yes.
5:41
And you may have both. If you're surprising multiple
5:43
people, you may have some that are like crazy excited and then
5:47
you may have some that are crying and hysterical and not
5:51
excited and not happy about it. So just.
5:53
Process yourself. Maybe 2 needs to work where
5:56
they're just like, oh, oh, and then like a week later they're
5:59
like, oh, I'm really excited about that.
6:01
You know that just happens, so, right?
6:02
Yes, fine. Exactly.
6:04
Well, if you decide you do want to plan a surprise as.
6:08
We like sort of sorry out of it at the beginning.
6:10
Weird, don't be talked out of it because surprises are so much
6:14
fun. Just the way you go about doing
6:16
that. My guess is, is the thing that I
6:18
would, yeah. Absolutely.
6:20
So let's talk about some different ways that you could go
6:23
about surprising your travel party, where there would be
6:27
kids, your parents, your siblings, whoever you're going
6:31
with. We're going to kind of give you
6:33
guys some different ways and different locations, I guess, in
6:35
which you could surprise people. So maybe some ideas will help
6:39
spark your creativity for your own personal experience and
6:43
that. But the first one that came to
6:45
my mind was one that I probably will never do because I just
6:48
don't like flying. I was.
6:51
Going to say like you got we never done an airport.
6:53
No, no is surprising. Either on the way to the
6:57
airport, or when you get to the airport, or when you get to the
7:00
gate for your flight, whatever it may be, but airport related
7:04
surprises. Yeah, it's really interesting
7:07
because I've never done this just because of my particular
7:10
thing with my family. But I did research a lot of it,
7:12
and I've seen a lot of people that'll say, you know, they'll
7:15
say, oh, we're going to grandma's house.
7:17
And so they'll have them pack their suitcase and and whatnot.
7:20
And then, like, on the way to the airport, they'll tell them
7:22
Or when they arrive at the airport and they're checking in
7:25
or, you know, all those kinds of things and maybe have AT shirt
7:28
on hand that they can change into.
7:29
That's like, I'm going to Disney your best day ever.
7:31
Those kinds of things lots of people have seen do that, which
7:36
sounds really fun in theory. If you've got the right kind of
7:42
kid, for sure. So our friend Kristen gave us a
7:46
little peek at one of the ways that she had surprised her kids
7:50
with a Disney trip. So I'll just read what she
7:52
submitted to us on our discord, she said.
7:54
We told them that we were going to a baseball tournament, and we
7:57
woke him up super early and told them when we were about 5
8:00
minutes away from airport parking.
8:01
Somehow we packed discreetly and pulled it all off.
8:03
But it was a bear, she. Said, Oh my gosh, Kristen, good
8:08
for you for like managing that, right Sounds.
8:11
Really hard to pack discreetly, right?
8:13
I have no idea I would do that. No, you almost need to.
8:16
Like, I was thinking about this after I read Kristen's was like,
8:20
I feel like with my kids. Because, again, they're involved
8:23
in like every aspect of this trip.
8:25
I would almost have to pack two completely separate suitcases,
8:30
like one that I packed for them for the trip, and then one that
8:32
they helped to pack for the pretend trip that we were going
8:35
on. With all their stuffies and
8:38
blankets and toys and things, yeah.
8:42
Yeah, yeah, that would be. That would be a lot of work for
8:44
sure. And then this was a cute idea
8:47
that our friend Holly submitted on our Discord as well.
8:50
She said she got a Mickey from build-a-bear and had him wrapped
8:54
up in his box and let her daughter open it once They were
8:57
about halfway into the drive, packed the car while she was
9:01
with her dad over the weekend, so she had no idea that we were
9:03
going anywhere. So yeah, if you've got like a
9:06
place that your kiddo can go that you can get that done,
9:09
that's always super helpful. But that may not be the case and
9:12
you may have to just pack two suitcases like I said.
9:16
Yeah, but that's really fun though.
9:18
I like the idea of Mickey from build-a-bear.
9:20
Thanks Holly for that. Appreciate that.
9:23
Yeah. In terms of other airport
9:26
surprises I've seen, you know, I feel like with older kids they
9:31
have more of a clue of like what's happening.
9:34
So it's I think it's harder to do it but you know you can also
9:38
you could wake them up the, you know almost the day of depending
9:41
on when your flight time was you know and be like pack a
9:44
suitcase, we're going to Disney today.
9:47
And here's our flight and that would be really fun.
9:50
So yeah, I think wake up surprises would be hard because
9:53
I feel like my kids are fairly good morning people, but they're
9:58
still like not that awake in the morning that like if I were to
10:01
wake them up and be and tell them that, I think they would
10:03
just stare at me like, what? I feel like I could get away
10:11
with like in terms of like people are talking about packing
10:14
here and how hard it would be to like hide that from your kids.
10:17
And I I feel like for me, I could maybe pretend that I'm,
10:20
I'm packing for my own trip because I do go to Disney.
10:23
And so just pack all the Disney esque things and be like you
10:27
guys have to pack for Grandma's house and I'm packing for
10:30
Disney. Yeah, that's true.
10:32
That's true. That would work out pretty well.
10:36
So yeah, wake up surprises. I don't know.
10:39
I feel, I feel like that would work if you were driving.
10:42
I feel like it like not like your distance, like driving like
10:46
not that. Far a more reasonable.
10:48
Distance is what you're trying to get at, Kate.
10:50
I wasn't going to say that I just, you know, but you were
10:53
hinting at it. Well, to be fair, Elliot was
10:56
saying like, we should drive to Disneyland the next time we go.
10:59
And I was like, that's like 15 hours.
11:03
I was like, I don't know, but no thanks.
11:09
Yep. I feel that.
11:11
And I will say, and I will always say that's the only
11:13
reason that we can do it is because my kids will sleep in
11:16
the car and we have figured out how to do it.
11:18
So we drive overnight. If we were like leaving first
11:21
thing in the morning and driving through the day, I don't think
11:24
we would drive. No, that's fair.
11:28
So you know, OK, moving on. I think one of the big ones that
11:34
we see a lot, especially you were talking about social media,
11:37
you know, people sharing their their surprises and things like
11:40
that is Christmas surprises with Disney trips.
11:43
So I feel like, hey, you have a personal.
11:45
Experience of doing this. Do you want to share a little
11:47
bit about that? Yeah.
11:49
So this is the one that didn't go well, but it did for my
11:52
girls. So, you know, two out of three
11:55
liked it. So I got a really big box and I
12:00
filled it with Disney stuff. So I filled it with like Disney
12:04
T-shirts and ears. And like, I made these little
12:07
tickets that looked like I'm going to Disney and I put all
12:10
their names on it and stuff. So those little like fake
12:12
airline tickets, essentially there's a lot of like, stuff on
12:16
Pinterest and Etsy and stuff like that.
12:18
So if you're looking for something like that, you don't
12:20
want to graphic design it yourself like a crazy person
12:23
like me. You can find it there.
12:26
And then I did. I got a giant Mickey Mylar
12:29
balloon, Not a regular balloon because those like, lose helium
12:32
like crazy, but a Mickey Mylar balloon.
12:34
And I attached a note to it that was like, we're going to Disney
12:37
and the dates on it. So when they opened up this
12:39
giant box as like their finale of Christmas morning, the Mickey
12:43
Balloon floated up with the dates.
12:45
And then like all their stuff was on inside and and most of
12:49
them really loved it. So I mean two out of three
12:53
that's that's pretty good, pretty good percentage there.
12:56
Yeah, it was really fun. So just make sure that if you
12:59
have high ceilings that you maybe weigh down the balloon a
13:01
little bit. Yeah, just saying.
13:04
Some sort of a weight in the bottom or attach it to the
13:06
bottom of the box or something like that.
13:09
I feel like this. Because then you'll be doing
13:11
something else on Christmas Day, yes?
13:13
So another way that you could do for Christmas is having each
13:18
present that someone opens be a different item that they need
13:21
for the trip. And I've seen, I've had friends
13:23
that have done this before and then their final present be
13:27
like, you know, whether it's a note that says you're going or
13:30
yeah, they're a plane ticket or whatever, you know, the way that
13:33
the way that will really reveal that you are actually going.
13:37
They may figure it out along the way depending on the person.
13:39
But that's another really cute way that you can do it.
13:43
You know, things like autographed books, T-shirts,
13:46
fans, ears, hand sanitizer, sunscreen.
13:50
You know, all of those types of things that you would need for a
13:53
trip. You can just piece them out and
13:56
put them all in a different package.
13:57
And you could make it so that it, it slowly gets more Disney
14:02
as you go, like give them something kind of a little bit
14:04
more random that you'd need on the trip and then you can make
14:08
it cause kind of fun because they're like, why are you giving
14:10
me this, right? Why am I getting?
14:12
Sunscreen for Christmas? Yeah.
14:15
And then you like you can get towards like maybe the Disney
14:17
shirts or the Disney ears or like well, you know, those kinds
14:20
of things that have more of a a trip vibe to closer to it and
14:25
then they might even start to guess.
14:26
So that's how I would do that. Yeah, I was doing super fun.
14:31
Put the pieces together. It's.
14:35
I did see a really fun one. That is, if you do Elf on the
14:40
Shelf. And if you do, I'm.
14:42
I'm sorry that you were one of them too.
14:46
We do not in our household like I do not.
14:50
Yeah, yeah, yeah. My dog is like, hey the our elf
14:55
is showing up tomorrow. Like yeah.
15:00
Yes he is. Nope.
15:02
Nope. Never did it.
15:04
Never will. I made a pact with my sister
15:07
that neither of us are doing it. So that way we don't have like,
15:11
you know, 'cause then you get into like, the cousins where,
15:14
like, some of them do and some of them don't.
15:15
It's like, no, we just we just don't.
15:18
Nope. I just talk directly to to the
15:21
big man. I don't need an elf.
15:23
Yeah. Yeah, no, I did rewrite the
15:25
book, though, 'cause I didn't like the story of it.
15:28
So I rewrote it and, like, glued things onto the pages.
15:31
It's time. Yeah, now I made it a little
15:34
story about how, like, we all make mistakes sometimes and
15:37
sometimes we need forgiveness and like people to give us grace
15:39
and understanding. And I was like, and I liked that
15:42
story better, 'cause I was like, I don't like this idea of spying
15:46
on you. Oh my gosh.
15:47
OK, sorry. Anyway, so let's talk about an
15:49
Elf on the Shelf surprise. Yeah.
15:51
So you could, you could do it a couple different ways.
15:53
You know, like, like, you get creative with it.
15:55
You could have him spell it out in marshmallows.
15:57
You know, you could have him. Or like, if you wanted, I
16:00
wouldn't do it. But if you wanted like sugar or
16:02
flour dust or something, and he's written in it, you know,
16:04
like, you could do those kinds of things.
16:06
You could also hit him, have him hit him, don't hit him, don't do
16:10
it, have him. You could have him sit between
16:13
Mickey and Minnie like stuffed animals and like hold a little
16:16
handwritten sign and maybe involved balloons or things like
16:20
that. I've seen that a couple of
16:21
times. But, you know, get creative with
16:23
it and it would be kind of a fun, a fun surprise that he gets
16:27
to spill the beatings on so. Yeah, I think that, and I think
16:31
that could be fun with like even if you just have, if you don't
16:34
have an elf or you just have, you know, Mickey and Minnie
16:36
stuffed animals or whatever it may be, you can even just like
16:39
set them up under your tree with a little sign or something like
16:42
that. You know, there's endless
16:44
possibilities for ways that you can do that even if you don't
16:46
have an Elf on the Shelf, so. Yes, for sure.
16:50
But if you do, we would love to actually see.
16:54
If you do do that, I would love to see pictures of how you
16:57
revealed it. Yeah, that.
16:58
Would be really fun to see. Yes, that would be super fun.
17:01
So kind of hand in hand with Christmas.
17:04
In very similar fashion you can do birthday surprises for
17:07
revealing your Disney trip. A lot of similar ways you can do
17:11
their birthday gifts are you know, little things that they
17:14
need for their trip or any of the reasons the the things we
17:18
just gave you for Christmas just.
17:20
Tweak them and make them birthday surprises.
17:22
And it works pretty much the same way for that, too.
17:24
Yeah, I feel like one year for my daughter's birthday had
17:29
family members each have like a piece of the sign that was like
17:33
the surprise and that they would like.
17:35
I don't remember how they revealed it, but we did do it.
17:37
One year that was. I was like, I'm thinking of like
17:40
the banana hippie hat thing from my throats right now.
17:45
But we did do that and I'm just trying to remember exactly how
17:49
we had him reveal it. But that is also an option.
17:51
If you have family or friends at a birthday party, maybe they can
17:54
all kind of appear with it somehow.
17:56
That's. Another way of revealing it for
17:59
any of you who don't know what Kate is referring to with the
18:02
Frozen thing, just go watch The Frozen Christmas Olaf Christmas
18:07
Special. I don't remember exactly what
18:09
it's called, but go watch it. It'll make sense.
18:11
It's adorable, OK? Yeah.
18:13
Thank you for that. I knew exactly what you were
18:17
talking about. But I was like a hippie cat.
18:19
I think is what it is. Something like that.
18:20
It's, yes, yes, something like that.
18:23
So exactly. Except with the sign.
18:25
Yes, the next one that we have on our list, I actually saw our
18:29
friend Abby here post in our chat that scavenger hunts are a
18:32
super fun way that you can reveal a Disney trip.
18:35
So there's so many different ways that you can do scavenger
18:39
hunts, but you know, hiding clues around the house to help
18:42
reveal it. Or, you know, one clue leads to
18:44
the next or however you choose to do it.
18:47
Again there are, there are like pre made versions of these all
18:52
over Etsy and Pinterest if you're like I want to do.
18:54
It but I have no idea what to do.
18:56
Just do some searching around and you'll be able to find one
18:59
I'm sure. Yeah, but it's a ton of print
19:01
super out there for that like and a lot of them are free so
19:05
you don't even have to put in much effort to find them.
19:07
So, but those are really fun. I like scavenger hunts a lot.
19:11
I think they're. Creative.
19:14
Yeah. My kids are like just getting
19:16
old enough now that, like, I can do, like where my son will be
19:19
able to read, like if we do clues that like, lead from one
19:21
to the other or when something that needs to read.
19:23
He's like old enough now that he'll be able to do that.
19:26
So I'm like, how can I do that for future things?
19:30
I got to give him enough notice, but I could still do a surprise,
19:33
like scavenger hunt to reveal it.
19:35
So we'll see, Yeah. One that I actually did come up
19:40
with myself one year, and I think we did this actually at a
19:43
birthday party, but I call it like Easter egg hunt because
19:46
it's kind of like an Easter egg hunt.
19:48
So something I did was I I gathered a whole bunch of rocks
19:52
and I painted them bright colors with each letter being a a
19:55
letter in the surprise sentence that I wanted to spell.
19:58
I think it was like we're going to Disney World and like the
20:00
date. Then I hid them in the yard when
20:04
the kids weren't looking. And then I I remembered how many
20:08
there were. And I was like, you have to find
20:10
X number of colored rocks in the yard ready that go.
20:15
And it was at a birthday party. So like all the kids were
20:17
searching and they found them and then they brought them back.
20:21
And we, since we did this outside, I think I put like
20:25
dashed lines in chalk on the sidewalk for like, you know how
20:28
many words there were. And then they had to assemble
20:32
the sentence to find out the surprise.
20:34
Now if you have like, yeah this is probably more for kids that
20:37
can read. I think is a little bit more for
20:39
them, but even little kids that or if you have younger siblings,
20:42
they would have fun finding them and bringing them if even if
20:45
they couldn't read it. But if you, if your kids are
20:49
struggling a little bit, you can give them hints by, you know,
20:51
like kind of like inserting a letter here and there of like
20:54
where it should go and then they can kind of figure it out.
20:57
But that actually was one of my favorite surprises we've ever
20:59
done because they really got to get actively involved in it.
21:02
Of course, I could never do it again because they would guess
21:05
it. It's probably a 1A1 and done,
21:10
but you could also if you've got younger kids you could also like
21:13
color code for the words, so like.
21:15
Yes. Make all the letters of the
21:17
words all the same color, so that way it makes it easier for
21:19
them to try to figure out if you've got some like beginning
21:22
readers that like maybe would be able to figure out the words,
21:24
but might need a little bit of help with that.
21:26
Yeah, that's a good idea. I should have done that.
21:28
I didn't. I didn't do that.
21:29
But. It worked out.
21:32
So they still figured it out. That's all that really matters,
21:35
is that they figure out the surprise.
21:36
In the end, you know it's all good.
21:38
It's true it. Was fun.
21:41
So another way that you can do a surprise is by doing a Disney
21:45
movie night or a Disney themed movie.
21:49
You can have character themed snacks and you know that we see,
21:52
I feel like in this day and age we've been talking about
21:55
Pinterest and Etsy. Like we see so many different
21:57
options and different ideas for these kind of Disney movie
22:00
themed days and nights, but kind of doing one of those.
22:04
And then as the credits roll, you can announce that you're
22:06
going to Disney or include that in your evening in your dessert
22:10
or your however you want to do it with that.
22:12
But doing that kind of with maybe a favorite Disney family
22:15
movie that you guys enjoy would be fun.
22:18
Yeah, I think it would be fun. I was thinking about that assess
22:20
like how would I like announce it.
22:23
And I was like if I was like tech savvy enough, I would
22:27
figure out a way to just kind of like have a slide appear on the
22:30
TV after the end of the movie. And I was like, I don't think I
22:32
would be able to figure that out.
22:35
So I mean I could, but I, you know, you could also do things
22:38
like, you know, so it intermission time or something.
22:41
You know instead of waiting till the end you could have a box of
22:45
their favorite candy or something.
22:46
And on it is like, you know or in it or something is like we're
22:49
going to Disney and you know, there's lots of ideas for how to
22:52
do that. Yeah, we've got one in my chat
22:55
over here. Eldora said that they made a
22:57
video for their kids about the with their surprise and they're
23:01
doing it at Christmas this year. But yeah, doing a video would be
23:03
super, super fun. Yeah, that would be really fun.
23:07
You could get really creative with that.
23:13
Now I'm actively thinking, I'm like, how could I do that for my
23:16
kids? So another thing you could do is
23:19
make either a physical like Disney memory book or picture
23:24
book or a slideshow from past trips and then have the final
23:28
page or slide then reveal your announcement.
23:31
So it's kind of fun. Then you get to walk down memory
23:33
lane of some of your favorite trips and then be like and we're
23:36
going. Again, So yeah, I saw that one
23:39
on the list that you put on there.
23:41
I was like, oh, that's really good because my kids are
23:44
constantly asking to look at the videos and photos from our
23:47
previous trips. So, like, compiling them some
23:50
way so that way we can look at it.
23:52
And then, yeah, have the last part be we're going again.
23:55
Yay. I think it'd be really fun.
23:58
So another way that you can do it is revealing it through a DIY
24:02
Disney themed like Mad Lib. So make your own Mad Lib story
24:07
and then the final sentence can be like the reveal that you're
24:10
going or when you're going and that kind of thing That would be
24:13
super fun for like we talked about, you know, little kids and
24:16
older kids. That would be fun for older
24:17
kids, I feel like, because they're going to get.
24:19
A kick out of that Mad Lib a little bit more probably than
24:22
your younger kids. Like, my kids love Mad Libs.
24:25
They do them all the time. My daughter wants to do them.
24:27
Anytime we're driving in the car somewhere, she's like, let's do
24:30
a Mad Lib. I'm like, OK, so I mean, they're
24:35
fun. Kate's a little mad libbed out,
24:37
so she will not be doing that. One loves them, loves them.
24:41
So we have a lot of Mad Libs. I mean, I feel like you.
24:46
Can't be mad about that because it's like they're learning
24:49
English things like part of speech and all of that.
24:53
So Hate's not convinced. She is not convinced of that.
24:59
You're right. And something else.
25:05
You can do this. This is kind of goes along with
25:07
the movie night too. You can also do a Disney themed
25:09
breakfast or dinner and then tell them the surprise as well.
25:12
So that'd be fun to have all the food themed after it.
25:14
It'll be, I always thought it would be fun to do like a lady
25:16
in the Tramp, kind of like Italian night and you have the
25:19
meatballs and the spaghetti and you play Mona Notte on the music
25:23
and and then you just have it incorporated into the evening
25:26
somehow. I think that.
25:27
Would be really fun, Yeah. I feel like Mickey Waffles would
25:31
be my big one with that. Like you talked about breakfast.
25:33
Because I have. I've like this amazing old
25:35
school Mickey Waffle waffle maker that like my parents
25:39
bought when I was a kid that I like took from my parents house
25:42
when I moved out because they didn't need the Mickey Waffle
25:44
Maker anymore. You know, like this is mine.
25:47
This. Is mine.
25:48
I'm going to bar and then I'm going to and they were like,
25:50
sure, yes, go ahead. But I like use it now for my
25:53
kids. It's like I think it's got like
25:55
1990 written on it somewhere. So like it's it's nice, it's
25:59
it's a good one. But we, we, we use it
26:03
infrequently enough that like if I pull it out, they and like
26:07
really hinted at it, they would be like are we going to Disney?
26:11
I know I have 1:00 somewhere in my closet.
26:13
I don't think I've touched in like a year.
26:14
So he's another. That's an interesting idea.
26:18
You can. Get that out.
26:19
I know and. Oh goodness.
26:22
Mickey waffles are the best kind of.
26:23
Waffles they are. I just want them to be like
26:26
Disney ones. Like they're the one I have.
26:28
Makes those like super flat ones that are just they're shaped
26:30
like it, but they're not like the Belgian holes.
26:33
You know, a minor like the good ones that have, like all the
26:36
like the valleys in them that collect.
26:38
The syrup, Yeah, that's like what you need.
26:40
And that's why I don't make it. So I was like, well, it's kind
26:43
of like a pancake. Yeah, Mickey pancake, Not a
26:47
time. I mean, it's still better than a
26:49
regular pancake. Anything Mickey shaped,
26:52
regardless. Always better, always better.
26:55
But. That's true.
26:56
That's true. OK, so another way that you can
26:59
surprise someone with a trip to Disney.
27:03
This one is more Princess based. I know I saw someone in my chat
27:05
asking about princesses, but you can do a letter from Cinderella
27:09
with a glass slipper on a pillow or cushion.
27:11
Any other themed Princess type thing that you can think of?
27:14
I think of like Rapunzel with a frying pan.
27:16
Just like with the letter on the inside.
27:19
You know all sorts of different ways that you can do a Princess
27:22
letter from whatever Princess. Your kiddo maybe most keen on
27:28
getting a surprise from, but that's a super fun way to do
27:30
like a character letter as a surprise.
27:33
Yeah. And I think I this is one I also
27:34
did see on Pinterest because it's like there was like a
27:37
printable that went with it. And I wish I could remember
27:39
whose whose Pinterest it was, but I don't off the top of my
27:42
hand, but that it was really cute because I had the little
27:46
characters in it as you go. So even for small kids they
27:49
could still see like the icons of all the things.
27:52
So that was really fun. And another thing I saw that was
27:56
a lot of people were doing was getting a custom photo puzzle
28:00
made of like a picture of their kids.
28:04
And it was like, you know, we're going to Disney or like, you
28:06
know, the date of your trip or all those kinds of things, but
28:08
like your kids at Disney. So that would be a really fun
28:12
one if you have anybody who loves puzzles and even have some
28:15
like, simple ones that were only like, I don't know, 8-9 pieces
28:19
or whatever. So even if you had little kids,
28:21
they could still put it together, which I think it was
28:23
fun. Yeah.
28:24
Yeah, there's a there's a 1500 puzzle.
28:27
Good luck. Have fun to.
28:31
Field. But my son would be like, OK,
28:36
he. Is like.
28:37
He loves puzzles, loves puzzles. I do too.
28:40
So he would, and he is like ridiculously good at them for a
28:44
7 year old, which like he's better than I am.
28:46
So I'm like, yeah, you. Fashionable puzzle people that
28:50
like put it together like timed puzzle.
28:52
Really. Competitions I saw saw a TikTok.
28:55
There's like, interesting people, like they hit the thing,
28:57
like in chess or whatever, and then they're like all pouring
29:00
out their pieces and like teams and trying to put these puzzles
29:02
together and the fastest one wins.
29:03
I was like this is like a thing. That's so cool.
29:06
I'd be so good at that. I now feel like I need to show
29:11
my son that they have different, like age brackets because like
29:16
he's not up to like the thousand piece puzzles yet but he can he
29:20
can whip out like a 300 piece puzzle way faster than than I
29:24
can. Well, there you go, his future
29:26
career professional puzzle maker.
29:30
So this one custom photo of a puzzle.
29:34
Yep, that's that's on my list. Now next on our list, another
29:40
idea of kind of a little bit more of a spread out way to
29:43
surprise whoever you're surprising is giving little
29:47
gifts like once a week that are just for fun, but maybe just
29:50
happened to be all Disney themed that then eventually culminate
29:55
in the surprise of a Disney trip.
29:58
I think this would be really fun because it's, like,
30:00
surreptitiously surprising them. It's like, you know, just
30:03
leaving little gifts around. Be like it's like what's this
30:06
for like I don't know. Just for fun.
30:08
Because I love you. Yeah.
30:10
Just just. You know.
30:12
I just thought you could use it today.
30:14
Whatever it is, you know, it's like, look like you needed it
30:18
and they'll get suspicious. It's it's a little, it's a
30:20
little bit like shady, but it's all been really fun, a little
30:23
sneaky, sneaky, sneaky. So yeah, I don't know.
30:28
That one's kind of fun, you know, because then do a build up
30:31
to it and then it's like, oh, surprise.
30:33
Yeah, and they're like, oh, that's one of those reactions.
30:38
Oh, I get it now. Yeah, I actually did see a
30:42
recipe for this on Pinterest, which is a a cake with a
30:45
surprise Mickey head inside when you slice it.
30:48
So that also would work for birthday really well too.
30:51
So if you want to throw that in there or you could do it on
30:55
Christmas, you could have like a special Christmas cake dessert
30:58
and then slice and then what's inside here is Mickey, but you
31:03
can like make it yourself. It's like a twice baked cake
31:05
kind of idea where you have the Mickey inside.
31:07
I don't know if I'd trust myself to do it, but you could also
31:11
have a bakery, a local bakery, do it for you.
31:13
But I just thought that was a a fun idea for instead of a gender
31:16
reveal, having like a Mickey revealed the little slice.
31:19
I love that. Our friend Tran just put in the
31:22
chat over here when we went in May, my friend edited a video of
31:25
Mickey telling my kids that the surprise and made it say their
31:27
names too. And I've seen that before too,
31:30
where like maybe you had like a friend who went before you or
31:33
went, you know, previously that they've like, yeah, recorded
31:36
like, hey, Mickey, can you say hi to my friend?
31:38
So and so they're going to come visit you on, you know, this
31:41
date or that kind of thing and done like little like recordings
31:44
or things like that. Then I've also seen from the
31:47
parks people do like postcards. So like, they send a post, like
31:51
if someone's at the parks, if you've got someone that goes,
31:53
they can send a postcard from, like, signed with the character
31:56
signature on it and send it like from the parks to your house for
31:59
your surprise too. Yeah, you could totally have the
32:02
character autograph A postcard. It would be easy.
32:06
Yeah, you just idea. You just got to time it and like
32:08
have someone down there which like makes it a little bit more
32:11
challenging depending on who you are.
32:13
What the local does so you can surprise your family.
32:16
No, I was kidding all these people.
32:19
Right. No, don't do that, Don't do
32:21
that. But yeah, so if you have someone
32:25
or just the other thing that you can do is if you're a family
32:28
that goes, you know, once a year or once every other year, you
32:31
can just kind of stockpile them. So like have the characters sign
32:35
a postcard and then just kind of stash them away for a year or
32:38
two down the down the the road and then oh look, we got this in
32:42
the mail. Today, well, I saw a mom say she
32:46
just stuck it in the mailbox earlier in the day or like right
32:50
before their kids got home from school or whatever.
32:52
And then they just walked in the mailbox to check the mail and
32:55
like, oh, there's something from the king, So you can just get
32:58
sneaky, you know? Oh gosh.
33:02
Well, that, I think, is that the we have both the surprise ideas,
33:08
but we also have a few ideas for counting down to your trip.
33:12
Shall we transition into that discussion?
33:14
These are my favorite. I don't do surprises because my
33:18
kids are just like, we're just not there.
33:20
But I love doing countdowns with them.
33:23
It is so much fun. We do it almost every trip, and
33:27
we have ever since, like my daughter's first trip.
33:31
We've done some sort of countdown process ever since.
33:36
So this is one of my favorite things to do.
33:39
Well, do you want to start with the one that you like to do most
33:42
often? Oh, see.
33:43
OK. So I go back and forth between
33:45
the top two. So I'll talk about, I'll chat
33:47
about those and then you can talk about the other two that
33:49
we've drawn on. I get the leftovers.
33:55
You gave me the option that was that was not a no.
34:00
So two ways that I have done countdowns most often with my
34:03
kids. One that I did when they were
34:07
really, really little that was super easy, was I took my
34:10
cricket and I printed Mickey heads and I just made them
34:13
different colors. And then I just like we just
34:15
found a a blank little part of our wall where the kids could
34:19
reach. And then I numbered them.
34:21
And yeah, we just did. Kate's showing a picture.
34:22
We just did Countdown to Disney World.
34:24
And then I just taped them all up.
34:27
And then every day we took turns of who got to take it off.
34:31
And we, you know, I'm one of those moms that makes everything
34:34
educational. So we counted and we talked
34:36
about. Nothing wrong with.
34:39
That we talked about taking one away and what that means and all
34:42
that. And it literally just took me.
34:44
I mean, I if I had to cut them myself, I probably wouldn't do
34:49
it. But I have a cricket, I'm very
34:51
fortunate that I do. And so I just literally like
34:54
copied and pasted and made them all sorts of different colors
34:56
and printed them and it took a lot less time than cutting them
34:59
all out myself. Yeah, I found a couple that look
35:03
like that too, that the people do them in different ways where
35:06
you can just cover up the numbers instead of having the
35:09
numbers written on them. So that's really fun too.
35:13
Yeah, in lots of different ways. Yeah, they don't have to be
35:15
fancy, you know? Like, I feel like we all have
35:17
been in this Pinterest world for a while where everything has to
35:20
be looked super cute and it I have nothing wrong with anything
35:23
looking super cute or handmade, but doesn't have to be fancy.
35:27
Just saying. Yeah, no, absolutely.
35:29
And I love too because like my kids will help me put them up
35:32
too. So like it's it's just it's a
35:34
whole, we do it all together, which I think is part of the fun
35:36
of that and the other thing that we do.
35:39
Before you move on, Erin said. My wife did that, but made it so
35:42
it looked like the up house with balloons.
35:45
Cute. Yeah, it would be really cute.
35:47
Yeah. I've seen lots of different ways
35:48
that you can. I mean, you could do glass
35:50
slippers for princesses and take those off.
35:52
You know, you can do little castles it.
35:54
But it really just depends on how how intricate you want to
35:58
get with it and how much time you want to spend with it.
36:00
I went for the most simple design because Mickey's Head is
36:05
very easy to make. So that was super simple and I
36:08
needed to print. I think I started that countdown
36:12
that that particular one, I think I started at like 50 days.
36:15
So that was 50 tiny little Mickey heads that we taped to
36:18
the wall. And yeah, I told you I really
36:21
like countdowns, OK, Because I also need them because I get
36:26
just as excited to go. So yeah, that was that was a fun
36:30
one that we did. And then one of the other ones
36:33
that we've done before is a paper chain link that we have
36:38
done as well. We do this one frequently for
36:40
like other countdowns like Christmas time or birthdays or
36:43
things like that, but lots of cute little ways.
36:45
You can do Kate's showing some different like Mickey and Minnie
36:48
themed ones, or you can give them little ears or little bows
36:51
or little buttons on Mickey's shorts.
36:55
Lots of different ways you can do that printing ones that are
36:59
exist online that you can make them look like magic bands,
37:02
which is a super fun idea, having them have that design on
37:06
them as well as another way that you can do it.
37:08
I found this one too. That's like Princess Countdown
37:11
ones. They have different princesses
37:13
at the top, and then they're all themed with the colors of those
37:15
princesses, which I thought was really fun.
37:19
Aaron's saying Pirates of the Caribbean to make them all
37:21
identical chickens. I might have to do that.
37:27
That's legit. Like my favorite one ever.
37:30
You win, Aaron. Well done.
37:32
That's that's like a Kate personal one right there.
37:34
I I'd love. Hey.
37:36
Post it on Pinterest and Etsy. Put on the blog, it'd be great.
37:42
Literally there you go trying to saying that she would get too
37:45
excited. Imagine starting it like day 505
37:49
hundred. I think your little house is
37:52
just covered in Mickey heads. The chain goes like around the
37:56
kitchen and the couch you get pretty extreme.
38:02
But I I'm here for that. I would like that.
38:05
That would be so fun because, like, we have, so we have like a
38:08
double tall like stairwell that I just like envision us like
38:10
draping it down the wall because it's like fun.
38:13
I know. I'm, you know.
38:15
Too bad I don't have a date for my next trip yet.
38:17
I could count how many days it was.
38:20
It's just like I need to make a countdown.
38:22
Do you have a Christmas countdown?
38:24
No, I had not. Yet.
38:26
That was I I literally thought as I was making notes for this
38:29
episode, I was like, I don't have my Christmas countdown.
38:31
We usually do the paper chain links for Christmas.
38:34
So I need to, I need to get on that and get them all.
38:37
My kids usually help me write the numbers on those ones and
38:40
then we build it all together. Which, by the way, is a
38:43
tradition that comes from the UK, from the 1850s.
38:46
That's where the paper chains came from.
38:48
So the more curious as to where it started.
38:51
There it is. There you go.
38:52
Yeah, We talked about that in our small world history episode.
38:58
Yeah. Holidays.
38:59
So you talked about paper chains and the Mickey heads on the
39:02
wall. Yes.
39:03
So one that I usually do is the like the chalkboard or dry erase
39:08
board countdown to your trip. So I I made one for my kids
39:12
which I forgot to bring here. But I did like days till the
39:18
Nikki boat I think and I had like for our crews and so I had
39:21
them countdown and they they love it.
39:24
Like my middle child in particular loves counting down
39:30
and writing it. So she's she just on it.
39:32
So right now we have like a, you know those like sequin pillows
39:35
that like change from one together.
39:37
So we have one of those that's like our Christmas sequin
39:40
pillow. And so she writes like how many
39:42
days are left till Christmas on that one every day.
39:44
I love it. So anyway, so there's a lot of
39:48
really fun ideas for how you could do this.
39:49
They have some really cute ones on Etsy and Pinterest where it
39:52
looks like a Mickey with his like red pants on the bottom and
39:55
a black chalkboard on the top. I have found this one.
39:59
It's like a Mickey head that is days till Disney and then you
40:02
can just change on the Mickey's head.
40:05
They also have some really cute printables out there you can put
40:08
behind a picture frame that'll say yeah and then you just do
40:12
like a dry erase marker to change it.
40:14
So that's like dollar store craft.
40:16
Like, yeah, My issue with that is that I don't love my own
40:19
handwriting. Oh.
40:22
Which is why do it. Yep.
40:24
Which is why I've never, I don't typically do those ones where
40:27
you have to write it unless I have my kids do it because I'm.
40:30
Yeah, I'm just just me. I just.
40:32
Have the kids do it. It's cute and it's their
40:34
handwriting exactly. And you don't judge yourself
40:37
exactly, actually, but there's lots.
40:41
Of Yeah. Yep.
40:42
Oh, poor Jackie. It's OK.
40:46
I think I'll survive. It's OK.
40:48
I also, there's another one you can do is like these blocks.
40:51
If you have, you can get a specific one for Disney or if
40:55
you already have like calendar ones, you can use those and kind
40:58
of, you know, repurpose them for Disney.
41:01
Make yourself a little sign to go with it.
41:03
Like again, you don't have to spend a lot of money on these
41:05
things just to make them fun because I know you know it's
41:08
already expensive enough to go on a Disney trip.
41:10
You don't have to invest in something specific just for the
41:14
countdown. You know, paper chains are just
41:16
strips of paper, so not not very expensive.
41:19
I did like this one. This one is like a a wheel of
41:23
clothes pins and then you have numbers on the clothes pins and
41:27
then you like take them off. I think as you get closer to
41:29
your trip and they put Mickey in the middle of this one, but that
41:32
would be really easy. Like do it yourself, one to do
41:36
or you can visually see it going down.
41:40
It's really neat. Yeah.
41:41
And I will say one that we didn't put on our list but just
41:43
came to me that I've done before.
41:45
If you're not super crafty or you like, that's not your vibe
41:49
and you own any of the like Amazon devices, I know there is
41:53
like a a thing that you can teach it to do like countdowns
41:57
for you. So like we have taught ours
41:59
before. So that way our kids can just
42:00
like ask it how many days until Disney and it'll respond.
42:03
So there's lots of like electronic ways that you can do
42:05
it too. If that's more your vibe.
42:07
I've been, you're like, I don't want to.
42:09
I'm not crafty. Well.
42:11
Then teach your Alexa to tell you how many days it is until
42:14
your Disney trip. I also have on my iPhone I use
42:19
Widget Smith and you can create a countdown that's on there that
42:22
counts down to specific date and I put a Disney photo behind it.
42:26
So every because I go on I go off into Disney so that I was
42:31
like oh here's how many days till I have till like pack for
42:33
my next trip is usually how I'm like.
42:35
It's usually panic. It's like trying to like hook.
42:38
To panic countdown How many days until panic?
42:42
But my kids like to see it too, you know, like, and they're just
42:44
like, hey mom, how many days? And then I just pulled that
42:46
open. I know.
42:47
Also, if you're going on a Disney cruise, the Disney Cruise
42:50
Line app has a really fun countdown on it as well that's
42:53
like ticking like Second Spy. So you can see you can pull that
42:57
up on the app and then show them like, oh, here's how many days
42:59
we have left. So my kids really like that one.
43:02
Yeah, and there are a couple other apps that exist out there
43:05
that you can use specifically for Disney countdowns.
43:08
There are also just general countdown apps that you can,
43:11
like Kate said, you can add your own photo to or do whatever you
43:15
want to with it as well. If the electronic thing is more
43:17
your vibe, I know that like you could put easily put it like on
43:21
if your kids have a a tablet or something that they use, you
43:24
could throw it on there. That way like they don't have to
43:27
take your phone to do it. They can put it, you know, you
43:30
can put it on there, so you can say like, hey, remember, so
43:32
click here, like that'll show you how many days.
43:34
So that way they have access to it.
43:36
Which is part of the reason why I like doing countdowns because
43:39
my kids get just as excited as I do.
43:41
But like the more they ask me about how many days, the more
43:44
anxious I get about wanting to go.
43:46
So it's easier for me if I can just like if they just know
43:50
where they can go look. So that way they're not asking
43:52
me multiple times a day. Very helpful.
43:56
Yeah, I think why we stopped doing paper chains over the
43:59
years as my kids got older was just because we would forget.
44:03
And then we'd have to, like, count all of the links to see
44:05
where we like. If you don't number them, I
44:07
think that was like our problem. Like, you just number them
44:09
because then otherwise you're like, you spend a lot of time
44:12
counting. Yup.
44:13
And that's not fun. Or at least every five.
44:15
We've done it where we've numbered like every five before.
44:18
So, like, give yourself a benchmark somewhere along the
44:20
way. Because if you don't, yeah, it's
44:22
a lot of counting. Because you inevitably will
44:25
forget to take one off one of the days because you know who
44:29
has time. So life happens.
44:31
Like you said. My oldest is both of my kids
44:33
really, but my oldest especially is like really up on the the
44:36
countdowns because we've got we don't have like our paper chain
44:39
up for Christmas, but we've got a couple other little like
44:42
countdown things that are that are out now in our house now
44:45
that we've put all of our decorations up.
44:47
So like it literally our little Santa, one that has like a
44:49
little wheel that you change. The number has been up for two
44:52
days and my son has changed it both days because I never.
44:56
Gotten It's so great because you don't the mental load that we
45:00
carry already to like deal with all the daily things for our
45:02
family and then like the holidays feels like we just
45:05
we're like here here's like 50 more things to think about and
45:09
you're like okay it's great. That's wonderful.
45:13
We got to it. It's great.
45:14
But eventually I found that the more of those things that I put
45:18
on my plate something else falls off of it.
45:20
You know like my brain like my Dick grew up my my daughter's
45:23
dance clothes that we forgot today.
45:24
I was like Oh well that's because I was thinking about elf
45:26
on the shelves. Some people are say having a
45:32
discussion over here about how would you put the Mickey's on
45:36
the wall. Do you have a a specific method?
45:39
They were talking glue dots or double sided tape.
45:41
What's your? What's your method of attaching
45:43
the nice? I roll my tape old school and
45:46
just throw them up on the wall. OK, but that I know painter's
45:51
tape. Yeah, some, I think, yeah, like
45:53
masking tape or painter's tape usually.
45:56
Let's hop into our Ask the Moms question for this evening.
45:59
So for those of you who don't know, we end all of our podcast
46:02
episodes with our Ask the Moms segment where we take a question
46:05
from our Mom St. community and it could be on topic from what
46:09
we've talked about in the episode, could be something
46:11
totally off topic and Disney related.
46:14
But we try to answer questions that come from you all, so that
46:18
way we can help you with your trips.
46:21
And the question that we have for this week is what is the
46:25
best park? Disney World Park I believe is
46:29
what they're talking, but we could also talk about Disneyland
46:31
too in this for a 5 year old boy.
46:38
That's that's tough because it really depends on what they're
46:41
into. You know, Like if they love
46:44
animals, like Animal Kingdom might be your best bet.
46:49
Yeah, I probably wouldn't lean towards Epcot and Hollywood
46:54
Studios. I'd probably say those are the
46:56
least likely. Unless.
46:58
They're Star. Wars.
46:59
Fans, Yeah, I'll say, unless they're Star Wars and Toy Story.
47:03
And they're. Tall enough?
47:04
Yes. Those those are key.
47:06
Then I would then I would put Hollywood Studios in that mix,
47:10
but I really think Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom are probably
47:14
your my top two that I would debate between for that age
47:18
range when it comes to Disney World.
47:21
Yeah, I think Magic Kingdom in general is like good for like
47:25
all ages there. There's something for everybody
47:28
there between Tomorrowland and Adventureland and Frontierland.
47:31
And you've got, you've got a lot of things.
47:33
So even though like Fantasyland tends tends to lean a little
47:37
bit. More towards the girls that.
47:38
Mean Mine Train through or not mine?
47:40
Well, that's the disturi one. No 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Not Mine
47:44
Train Through Nature's Wonderland.
47:45
That's bringing It Back to Disneyland 7 Dwarfs Mine Train
47:49
is pretty much good for everybody if they're tall enough
47:51
for it. And that's got a.
47:52
Lower height requirement. It's only 58 inches, so like
47:56
your five year typical 5 year olds are, are most likely going
47:59
to be tall enough for that. Yeah, but there's also, you
48:02
know, you've got the teacups and you got driving.
48:05
As long as they're, well, they're tall enough to be your
48:07
companion probably by 5 S for the Tomorrowland Speedway.
48:12
So there's a there's a lot of things in Magic Kingdom that you
48:15
can do. Also, I'm going to advocate for
48:18
Tom Sawyer Island. I feel like not enough people go
48:21
there. I was like everybody's like, oh,
48:23
I've never been over there. I was like 4 kids in particular.
48:27
It's like heaven. So much fun.
48:29
It's like a literal caves and forts and pirate ships and all
48:33
kinds of cool stuff that you can explore.
48:36
So I always advocate going over there.
48:38
If you can find time with your kids, there's usually barrel
48:42
bridges. They took it out recently and I
48:44
was like, I think they're just going to bring it back later
48:46
because it was gone, but yeah. Yeah, I would agree.
48:50
I think Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is just so good
48:54
for all ages. All, you know, I just feel like
48:57
it's just such an overall good park to hit a little bit of
49:01
everyone. So yeah, I would definitely
49:03
agree with what you said. And yeah, I think Hollywood
49:06
Studios is a good option again if Toy Story and Star Wars are
49:11
their thing. And I would almost say like both
49:13
of them, I don't know that I would necessarily make the trip
49:17
to Hollywood Studios if they only want to see just Toy Story
49:22
or just Star Wars. I mean, if they were on your
49:26
trip, massive Star Wars fan, right?
49:28
And they just wanted to be in Batu all day like then make that
49:31
dream come true. But if they if they have more
49:35
variety of likes Magic Kingdom's your best bet.
49:38
If they love animals at all, Animal Kingdom is a wonderful
49:42
option. There's lots and lots and lots
49:45
of animals for them to see. Their really great place to go
49:48
for that. Yeah, absolutely.
49:50
So it really just depends. Moral of the story, it really
49:54
depends on what your kid likes and that's why some of these
49:56
questions are so hard that we get without, you know, getting
49:59
more info or getting more details from from them.
50:02
You know, we we do our best to answer, but it's always going to
50:04
be heavily dependent on the likes and dislikes of your group
50:08
when you're traveling. Yeah, you know your kiddo.
50:10
So find the things that they like the most and go towards the
50:14
park that might have those things.
50:15
That's a recommendation. Yeah, so Kate, if you were
50:18
thinking Disneyland, so like Disneyland versus DCA for a 5
50:22
year old boy, that's. Hard.
50:25
That's tough. Only because of Cars Land and
50:28
Avengers Campus, you know? So if they really are into Cars
50:32
and Pixar and Marvel, then DCA. But Disneyland has 29
50:41
attractions and you're going to find lots of things for them to
50:45
do over there as well. So honestly, it really depends
50:48
on what they're into, if they like more of the classic Disney
50:51
movies and things that are that would be available in
50:54
Tomorrowland and whatnot. But they also do have Galaxy's
50:58
edge over in Disneyland, right? So if they're Star Wars fan, So
51:02
it really would depend I think either you could find wonderful
51:05
things to do. They also in DCA, they also have
51:08
the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which is so fun for kids.
51:11
Like we spent so much time there when my kids were little,
51:15
basically a big playground, so and there's stuff for all ages
51:19
there too. There's stuff, there's like
51:21
little slides for little little kids and then there's bigger
51:23
stuff for bigger kids. So it doesn't really matter what
51:26
age kit your kids are, Take them to Redwood Creek Challenge
51:29
Trail. Now Disneyland also has
51:32
Toontown, so that's something to consider.
51:34
That's usually pretty big with the younger kiddos because
51:38
there's lots of you can go to Mickey and Minnie's house and
51:40
Goofy's. Goofy's house is really fun for
51:43
that age, so I mean, it really just depends on what they're
51:47
into. I think you could go to either
51:48
park and have a wonderful time so.
51:51
I think this just goes to show how smart the Imagineers and
51:56
creators of these parks are, because they have really, truly
52:00
created so many different spaces that are good for all ages that
52:04
basically anywhere you go, Disney World, Disneyland,
52:08
you're, you're going to be able to find something for almost any
52:11
age. Yeah, I mean even like we we
52:13
didn't throw Epcot in the mix there, but I would say they've
52:16
got kid cot there. So if your kid likes to explore
52:19
other cultures or they like to color because they give them
52:22
little coloring things each one or collect things because you
52:25
can get cards all the way around the world.
52:27
So kid cots really fun and they have Figment over there and if
52:31
they're tall enough and they're not scared of heights, Soren is
52:33
great, you know, So there's lots of really and it's educational.
52:37
I think parents like it because it's educational, but it's
52:41
really fun it there's even fun stuff for kids there and that's
52:44
like not always been considered a traditional like kids park, I
52:47
would say. Yeah, and it's like one of my
52:50
kids favorites. They were so sad that we didn't
52:52
make it to Epcot. Our last trip was very we didn't
52:56
go into the parks as often as we typically do.
52:58
And my son was like, Are you sure we can't go to Epcot?
53:01
I really want to go to Epcot. And I was like, I'm sorry, we
53:05
will go again soon. Yeah.
53:08
And then they have, you know, Remy and Ratatouille and what's
53:11
out there too. So that's also kind of brought
53:13
the age down a little bit for that edition.
53:16
My Sons is, I mean, he loves the Guardian's cosmic, cosmic
53:20
rewind. So that's like his favorite.
53:23
And then my daughter is like the frozen ride is there.
53:25
And I'm like, I know where. I know where it is.
53:29
I know. And I we will go again suit.
53:31
I promise. That's heartbreaking.
53:33
That's so hard. But they got to do lots of cool
53:35
things, so. You know, and they were happy.
53:38
And while we were there, they didn't say a word about being
53:41
sad about anything. So I I knew it was just one of
53:44
those things and I just kept having to tell him like sorry
53:46
kiddo, it's just not in the budget and it's not in the
53:49
schedule this go around. So they were like.
53:56
Oh goodness. Well, I think that's everything
53:59
on our list. We did all the things, yes.
54:03
Yeah. So again, thank you for those of
54:04
you who have submitted questions for our Ask the Mom segment.
54:07
If you've got questions that you would like to be answered on a
54:10
future Ask the moms, please send them our way.
54:13
You can find us on our Discord like we've talked about the
54:16
Walrus Carp Pocket Fam Discord. You can find us on Tiktok on
54:20
Instagram, on Facebook. You can e-mail us if that is
54:23
your favorite method of communication.
54:26
Mom St. usa@gmail.com all of those are perfect.
54:29
So if you've got questions. Please send them our way.
54:32
We are more than happy to answer them.
54:34
Yeah, absolutely. It's so fun answering these
54:36
questions because it's a little bit different than whatever
54:39
topic we have for the week. So we get to kind of jump into
54:42
trip planning and whatnot, so. So true.
54:45
The good news is for you and I, Kate, is that we only have one
54:47
more podcast that we have to record before Christmas.
54:51
We'll see how how we deal with that one.
54:53
We'll be good we're. Going to have to write out word
54:55
for word everything that we need to say.
54:58
Yes, yes, that that Google Doc will be 15 pages long, but it'll
55:02
be a great episode. Well, thank you everybody, for
55:05
for all of your comments and for adding to the conversation,
55:08
adding to some suggestions of your own and stories of what
55:12
you've done with your family. We really aren't anything
55:14
without our Mom St. community, and we really love you guys so,
55:17
so much. So thank you for being with us
55:20
tonight, and we're looking forward to the next time on Mom
55:23
St. USA Yes.
55:25
Thank you guys. Everyone have a great night.
55:28
Hey, guys. Bye.