by Character Diva
Disney Diva Disclaimer: I received free products from Walt Disney World Resort and MomSelect including the celebration kit you can see in the video below in order to host the Disney Kids Preschool Playdate. While I did receive these materials for free, the opinions expressed here are 100% my own.
When I found out that the Walt Disney World Resort and MomSelect had chosen Tips from the Disney Divas & Devos for one of their upcoming #DisneyKids Preschool Playdates, I was elated. And my kids were beyond thrilled with the contents… particularly the Sofia the First suitcase they included. (Check out the video to see us open our box contents… and my kids try to run off with the suitcase.)
This year’s theme had to do with Disney World, which is great, because while I honestly do believe that any age is a great age to take a Disney vacation, you have that extra magic when they’re preschoolers. And because Walt Disney World has four parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom), I wanted to highlight some of the attractions and activities that makes your vacation even more magical for preschoolers.
Now as I’m sure you know, Disney has all kinds of wonderful experiences for your children at the various theme parks. Whether it’s the new Jedi Training Academy, meeting some of your favorite characters around the World Showcase, going on a jungle trek, watching the Festival of Fantasy Parade, or even taking a ride on Peter Pan’s Flight, there is no shortage of possible “must do’s” to emphasize. And while it was definitely a hard choice, I think I picked a few winners.
Now I can’t imagine going to Disney without taking a TON of pictures. I seriously take over 1,000 every time I go. So what Disney party would be complete without our own version of Memory Maker*?
Because I had told our guests to come show off their #Disneyside by dressing in costume or wearing clothes featuring Disney characters, I wanted to provide them an opportunity to strut their stuff and get well, “goofy”. In addition to a large collection of Disney hats and paraphernalia from former trips, we had props from former Disney-themed birthday parties, so I fortunately had some ideas of what I could use, including these great FREE Disney templates found here.
I also wanted to include some of our favorite attractions from the Magic Kingdom as photo props. And because both my husband and children have been talking about the monorail non-stop since our last Disneyland vacation and it is unanimously on their “Must Do” list for our next trip, I knew that making a monorail was something that I needed to do.
Once everyone had arrived and finished taking their pictures, we moved on to a couple games. The first was a game with a picture of each park, that I laminated with my laminator to make a little sturdier. Disney Diva Tip: I highly recommend laminating the Disney Side games… not only does it make them sturdier, but then you can show your #DisneySide and keep playing them all year long! And I LOVE my Scotch Thermal Laminator… I use it for EVERYTHING! It is amazing!! I then forced recruited the kids’ parents to hold a sign representing each park. I also put some of our stuffed animals with characters you might see at the park next to the grown up, just to another visual. From there, the kids had to walk around the four parks while I had another parent play some music. When the music stopped, all of the kids had to run to one of the four parks. I then called the name of the park, and anyone standing next to that sign was eliminated while the other kids were safe to walk around as the game resumed. This kept going until we were done to one person.
It was then time to move on to our Animal Kingdom event. As I’m sure you know, The Lion Guard is one of Disney Junior’s latest shows, but what you might not know, is that Animal Kingdom has a scavenger hunt where you can search for Kion and all of the other members of the Lion Guard. Because it is the Lion Guard’s job to protect the animals of the Pridelands from the hyenas, and Ono’s talent is having the keenest of sight, I wanted to have Ono be a key element. In our preschool playdate box, I was given a bag of animals that represent the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction. I then scattered these animals, and told the kids it was their job to be like Ono and find all of the animals. I also told them to look out for hyenas, since Janja was lurking about.
After all that running around, we moved on to Epcot and its activity. Now I know a lot of people have the misconception that there is almost nothing for preschoolers to do at Epcot, particularly at the World Showcase. That just isn’t the case! In addition to meeting characters that represent stories from the different countries, there is also something known as Kidcot where you are able to get some help from Mickey’s very good friend and teddy bear, Duffy. Or to read some of our suggestions for experiencing Epcot with young children, click here.
For those of you who don’t know the backstory about Duffy the Bear, Mickey was a sea captain and was feeling very homesick. So Minnie, being the thoughtful mouse that she is, decided to make Mickey a stuffed animal to take along on all of his adventures, and whenever he got homesick, he would have a friend. Mickey of course loved Duffy, and took him everywhere, taking pictures all along the way from all the places they visited.
And now in Duffy’s honor, Epcot has “Kidcot” where the kids can decorate a Duffy the Bear stick puppet as well as create passports and collect stamps as they make their way around the World Showcase. So for our shout out to Epcot, we read the story about Duffy the Bear (with naturally our Duffy sitting next to us) and then the kids got to take a break to color, glue, and decorate their Duffy stick puppets.
After our Epcot stop, it was time for some more moving around! One of my favorite things about experiencing a Disney theme park with preschoolers is watching them sing, dance, and interact with the characters and things around them. And one of our favorite shows (not to mention a great place to take a break in an air-conditioned setting) is the Disney Junior Live! show. Located in Hollywood Studios in Florida (or California Adventure in California), the Disney Junior Live! show focuses combines Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Sofia the First. So for our Hollywood Studios activity, it seemed what better way to introduce the park and one of our favorite attractions than with characters from Disney Junior? Just perfect for our preschoolers!
A couple of years ago, we threw my daughter a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed birthday party for her 3rd birthday. And me being the packrat nostalgic person that I am, kept one of the main highlights from the party- Toodles. My husband had originally designed the back of Toodles to focus on elements of our Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party, but for this time, I wanted to stay a little more true to the park version.
For those of you not familiar with the park version of the Disney Junior Live show, the basic storyline is that its Minnie’s birthday and Mickey and his friends are trying to work on her party details. Along the way, they need help, and Toodles shows them Mousekatools representing Jake, Sofia, and Doc McStuffins. You then see a change of scenery as whichever featured character comes out to teach you a lesson. All the while there are lots of singing, dancing, doubloon collecting, bubbles, and puppetry throughout the show and trust me…. If you’re going to Disney, it’s a MUST SEE for preschoolers (and a great way to get out of the heat and relax).
Okay. So back to our party. I wanted to focus on each of the above mentioned characters, which was perfect, since Toodles has four Mousekatools. The first idea that came to me had to do with Jake and the Neverland Pirates. As a former kindergarten teacher, I was trying to think of what games would be perfect for my preschoolers… something fun and engaging, something that got them moving around, and something that would be simple to learn. While I first thought of a treasure hunt (what pirate wouldn’t enjoy that?) it was too similar to my Animal Kingdom game, so I scrapped that idea. But that was okay, because I LOVED my next idea: Tick-Tock Croc! (aka Duck, Duck, Goose).
I really wanted to tie in Tick-Tock Croc, and thought it would be perfect to have him chase Hook around. I decided who ever was “it” would be Hook, and have to use one hand to carry a hook and tap the rest of the kids in the circle, while saying, “Tick, Tock…” whenever Hook decided to say Croc, whoever he tagged had to stand up and chase Hook around in a circle, all the while opening and closing his arms like a crocodile snapping his jaws.
For the Sofia the First, I really wanted to focus on Sofia’s amulet. Since Sofia’s amulet has the power to summon Disney princesses (and other characters like Olaf), I thought it would be great if we played a game where we rubbed Sofia’s amulet to see which Disney character would appear. Walt Disney World Resort was kind enough to include a “Character Charades” game featuring different characters your family may meet around the parks. I thought it would be fun to have the kids pick which character to be, and then have the kids try and guess who came through the amulet.
For the Doc McStuffins activity, I thought it would be fun to show our crafty side as well, which was great, because in addition to all of the fun Disney stuff in our preschool playdate box, we also received some Tulip’s Puffy Paint and Liquid Fusion Glue from I Love to Create. With these tools in mind, I turned the kids loose on showing off their #Disneyside and they went to town working on their “Big Book of Boo Boo’s”.
Finally rounding out the Mouskatools, was of course, our Mystery Mouskatool… which was in this case, was a magnifying glass. As many of you know, there are hidden Mickey’s all over Disney, so a Disney World themed party wouldn’t seem complete without looking for Hidden Mickey’s (which were conveniently located in or around the food.)
After all of our fun, it was time to move on to eating! Continuing with our Disney theme, we had Mickey Mouse Clubhouse sandwiches, Chip & Dale’s Chips, a lion-inspired veggie platter that my kids decided was Mufasa, Mickey Mouse cupcakes, Minnie’s Pink Polka Dot Punch (complete with giant marshmallows for polka dots), and Jake’s Pirate Drink (A&W Root Beer). And since nothing goes better with a cupcake than a glass of milk, we also had milk or Nesquik chocolate milk (thanks to the Nesquik included in our kit) to help us finish off our meal. The Nesquik was definitely the highlight for my 3 year old son; He had been eyeing it in our box all week.
While the kids were munching along, we talked about how when you go on vacation, it’s always good to have books to read while you’re in the car or on a plane. Our playdate box included a scratch and sniff book, “My Very, Very Smelly Breath” which teaches about the importance of brushing your pet’s teeth. My 4 ½ year old daughter LOVES this book, and has asked me to read it to her several times since we received it, and she never gets tired of smelling all of the different scents in the book.
Another big help from the playdate box was the Glad sandwich bags. And apparently, Glad wanted to show their #Disneyside too, because all of them had Frozen characters on them!! How cute is that? I loved it…. And it may have been my personal favorite in the box. They’re just so adorable! And in additon to our snacks, I love being able to store the game pieces, craft items, and other stuff for the party in them… it definitely made things A LOT easier for me to keep everything organized and keep our party flowing when all I had to do was reach for a bag full of game pieces or other supplies.
And then it was time to say goodbye to all our company, which of course meant it was time to bring out our party bags: We had drawstring bags with the words “Watch Disney Junior” and “Disney World Resort” written on them. Inside was a luggage tag for you to write down your information if it gets lost. We also added the reversible Jake and the Neverland Pirates/Sofia the First headbands, a Disney Junior themed puppet to make either Jake, Sofia or Doc McStuffins, a map of Disney World highlighting all of the attractions perfect for preschoolers, a Lion Guard poster, Lion Guard tattoos, a Disney Junior Mini Play Pack focusing on either Jake, Sofia, or Doc McStuffins (those weren’t included in our kit), and we used more of the Glad sandwich bags to add Pirate’s Bounty (aka Chex Mix) with a Hidden Mickey’s inside (Regular Oreos & Mini Oreos).
Overall, we had a great time… when asked their favorite part of the day, most said reading the books, one said eating, and one said taking pictures. But as you can tell, we had a great time. We hope you enjoyed watching our #DisneyKids share their #DisneySide, and we hope you have a great time planning your next Disney party or vacation!
A big thanks to Walt Disney World Resort and MomSelect for partnering with Tips from the Disney Divas & Devos, and allowing us to participate in their preschool playdate and sending us free products. And if any of you are ready to plan your next Disney Vacation, we recommend speaking to Patricia Payne from All For Dreams Travel for a free quote.
Interested in hosting your own DisneySide Celebration? Click here for more information on games, recipes, and crafts for any type of party, or here if you’re wanting to host your own preschool playdate. If you’re looking for more ideas about planning a Disney trip with preschoolers, check out Walt Disney World Resort’s information here. You can also download coloring sheets, Disney Side Bingo, or the Disney Side Matching Game.
Disney Diva Disclaimer: I received free products from Walt Disney World Resort and MomSelect including the celebration kit you can see in the video below in order to host the Disney Kids Preschool Playdate. While I did receive these materials for free, the opinions expressed here are 100% my own.
*Disneyland hasn’t made the switch to Memory Maker yet, but still uses Fastpass +. For more information about Fastpass +, click here.
