How to prepare your Kids for their First Disney World Vacation

In December, my parents announced that they were taking my family to Disney World in October. It would be my kids first trip to Disney. My oldest was 8 at the time and the twins were 6. They were excited but they really did not understand what to expect. They kept making comparisons to Six Flags which seemed silly but what could they compare it to? Not much compares to the Disney World experience so it was time to introduce them to all to the Disney magic.

First, I went onto the Walt Disney World vacation planning site and selected customized maps. Here I chose all of my favorite attractions to be highlighted on the maps. I made one for each park – the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Disney will send you the set of customized maps once every 6 months. Of course, having three kids I needed three sets. So, I repeated this at my parent’s house and at my in-laws. A couple of weeks later all three sets arrived and I was ready to give them to the kids. The maps are beautiful – written on thick parchment paper they resemble old fashioned treasure maps. The kids went wild over them. They each sat down pouring over the maps and asking what each of the rides were that I had marked. Also included was a map of the whole Disney World complex. They were finally beginning to comprehend how big the whole place was.

I had also ordered from the Disney World website a current Disney World Vacation Planning DVD. As a family, we all sat down to watch it. And not for the vacation planning information – that was done already. But now the kids could put the pictures and sights to the names they had seen on the maps. Certain parts were watched a couple of times and now they were really starting to feel the magic and the excitement.

Next, I bought Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World for Kids – basically a travel book aimed at kids for them to read. I started by reading aloud from it before bed to all three kids. They really liked all the descriptions of the rides. It rated them by fun factors and scariness and gave any height restrictions. Soon, my oldest took over the book reading it every night before bed. He even did a book report for school on it. By the time we left for vacation, he had everything he wanted to see memorized. (He still won’t give up that book.)

As the summer progressed, I dug out all the old Disney cds that I had played for them when they were little. We would listen to them in the car and the kids would have to guess which movie the song was from and who was singing. It was a great way to get familiar with all the classic characters. We also started re-watching all the Disney movies. My oldest is still disappointed that I can’t find a copy of Song of the South to watch.

The last thing I did was order matching Disney t-shirts for everybody. The kids had heard all about the Disney trip that my extended family had taken when I was in high school. 20 people all wearing the same red shirts. This time I found matching Mickey & Minnie Mouse t-shirts for everyone. Armed with autograph books, pens, maps and all that information in their heads they were ready to meet Mickey Mouse. And I knew all the prep time was worth it, when we walked on to Main Street for the first time and R.J. said, “Lets go left to Adventure Land.”

Jennifer Webster
jennifer@pixievacations.com
847-909-4575

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