How do you countdown to Disney with your kids and when do you start?

[Chelley00]

Oooh oooh ooooh, I LOVE that! How did you make that????

The idea came from ChrisLei here on the DIS. Here is the link to her journal and the instructions are in there somewhere She used Home Depot Mickey heads on hers, we don't have a Home Depot nearby so I improvisedhttp://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1500946&page=2

We just used a large piece of heavy duty cardboard we cut from a box and folded it in half to make a V shape. Then I used a hole punch to make the holes for the key ring clips. I printed off the numbers on cardstock and used a square punch to punch them out, then put a little Mickey head sticker on each one. The kids helped me decorate the front, my husband ended up adhering a picture frame stand to the back to help it stand up better.

 

[cmul04]

We always cut our paper chain strips out of park maps, sometimes it's obvious what it is and sometiems it's obsure. We pull one off each morning and try to guess what park it's from. We start just a few days more than 100 so that going to double digits is a big deal. Then we forget sometimes and get to take off large chunks. Always fun. It's really long at first and we string it across the bookshelf, the mantel, the entertainment center, sometimes the Christmas tree... fun to watch it shrink. Oh, one time we hung it down the banister.

We did suprise them once for a Disney cruise for Christmas and it was only 2 weeks notice. WE had fun planning it for a year, but the kids didn't know. I don't know, we did it because it was their gift, but I think there's so much fun in the anticipation. (And hearing us save and when it's paid for, etc.)

 

[drummer1616]

as soon as we book the trip,either 11 months or 7 months,and we use the countdown ticker on DVC home page

 

[drummer1616]

We always cut our paper chain strips out of park maps, sometimes it's obvious what it is and sometiems it's obsure. We pull one off each morning and try to guess what park it's from. We start just a few days more than 100 so that going to double digits is a big deal. Then we forget sometimes and get to take off large chunks. Always fun. It's really long at first and we string it across the bookshelf, the mantel, the entertainment center, sometimes the Christmas tree... fun to watch it shrink. Oh, one time we hung it down the banister.

We did suprise them once for a Disney cruise for Christmas and it was only 2 weeks notice. WE had fun planning it for a year, but the kids didn't know. I don't know, we did it because it was their gift, but I think there's so much fun in the anticipation. (And hearing us save and when it's paid for, etc.)

Our last trip was made in secret with our cousins out of state and we never told the kids either family was going. We arranged a time at Hollywood Studios for fantasmic dinner,where both families would merge together in line at the same time unannounced.THE KIDS FLIPPED OUT!!! At one point our kids said, ``That kid over there looks just like,,,,,,`` and I said ``Look again``

 

[longneckthree]

easy double digits.
I have 4 girls between 6 - 14. Last year was our first trip. They took a poster board and each drew something, then I wrote "DAYS TO DISNEY",
we got mickey head paint chips and wrote numbers on them. Every morning they augue over who's turn it is to take one number down and put up a new one.
This Year they started all by themselves.
Only 92 days to go!!!!
Maggie

 

[jenjen61]

We do a calendar that counts us down backward too. We draw up a grid -7 days across- and write the numbers on each square. As the days go by, we all take turns marking them off. We glue the paper calendar to a larger, bright color foam core board, which is decorated all around the calendar with either photos from past trips, or pictures of different Disney characters or rides. The year is always big at the top, and at the end (after we mark off that last day) there's a Ft. Wilderness logo of some sort since that's part of our adventure. This year we are decorating it with pictures of rides that our 7 year old wants to do for the first time. He's always been too small or too afraid to ride anything that's more of a thrill ride. But this year he has a few that he's excited to try....like Test Track, Dinosaur, Splash Mountain and a few others.
A while back we actually had a little countdown calendar inside our kitchen cabinet that started at 840 days. It was just done on graph paper, and it took quite a while to write all those tiny little numbers in! When we got to around 100, we made a big, fancy artsy one. But the 840 day countdown helped us all remember that we would eventually get there again!