diy mama

lifestyle blog sharing diy, family, travel, organization & disney tips

Shelly

by on Leave a Comment

Birthday Party Ideas During a Pandemic

10 Birthday party ideas during a pandemic that will keep their heart smiling even during these difficult times.

*This post contains affiliate links and I am an affiliate with Amazon. This means that if you click through and make a purchase I receive a small commission (at no cost to you). I only write and endorse products I personally use, love, and what I find helpful in being an awesome mom. For more details, Click here

Our daughter’s 7th birthday is a month away and we had planned to celebrate in the biggest way we know how…Walt Disney World. This trip had been planned for years and she felt very special that we chose to do it on her Birthday. We are not going to risk going to Disney right now so I have been researching ‘birthday party ideas during a pandemic’ like crazy. Here’s what I’ve found:

Virtual Birthday Party Ideas

By this time, some people are tired of using virtual technology to see their friends. They’re using virtual meetings at work, virtual happy hours with friends, Zoom meetings for school, and even virtual bingo with the grandparents. But, that may be the only way you’re able to see friends and family, so let’s make it fun!

Birthday party ideas during a pandemic

Dessert Party:

Set up a Zoom call with all your friends and family to share a treat together. Throw in some kind of challenge like ‘best dressed’ or ‘craziest Zoom background’ to help get your guests in the party spirit.

Movie Night:

Host a virtual movie night with Kast. Using Kast, you can have everyone pop some popcorn and snuggle in to watch a movie and have a live chat during the film. This free service streams movies from third-party providers. Find out more info on how it works here.

Game Night:

Games are one of the things we’re missing most right now. Thankfully there are a few different ways you can play games virtually. We’ve enjoyed playing Jackbox with friends for years at our home but did you know you can play it virtually too? Another fun one is MURAL where you can play different drawing games like Win, Lose or Draw, Hangman, and Pictionary.

At Home Birthday Party Ideas

There are lots of fun ways to make a birthday celebration extra special while you’re unable to have friends and family visit. A good theme can make a party great!

Disney Theme Night:

Knowing that we were going to miss our Disney vacation this year, I wrote Magic Kingdom Movie Marathon with Themed Treats. Having worked my college program in Fantasyland, I have a special place in my heart for the Magic Kingdom. I rounded up a list of the ride attractions that have a corresponding movie and found a treat that you can make with your family. Add in even more fun by bringing the mattress down and all the pillows and watching movies until you fall asleep.

Mystery Box:

If you have older kids of reading age you could get a mystery box sent. We played a game from Dispatch where you had to solve a mystery using the clues they sent you. It took a couple hours and we were really entertained the whole time. I haven’t played this board game version yet but it has good reviews on Amazon.

Quaren-tea party for Quarentine Birthday

Quaren-Tea Party

Have everyone dress up in your finest attire, jewels, and makeup. Break out the fine China you have been saving for a special occasion. Make little finger foods (or pick up from the grocery pick up). Enjoy some high tea with British accents and all! We love doing this. Getting ready is just as fun as the actual tea party! If you want to make a full day of the event, you could start with a special invitation waiting outside their door when they wake up. You can have a crown crafting sesh and practice walking with books on your head. Learn how to set a proper table for tea from a YouTube video or play Lookabout (a Victorian tea party game).

Art Party

There is so much you can do with an art-themed party. One of my favorites is having a Canvas and Cookies event. All you need is some paper, brushes, paint, and cookies. Find a painting tutorial (similar to this one) and have everyone paint a picture together.

Adventure Birthday Party Ideas

During a pandemic, it’s not a good idea to congregate in large crowds, but there are still places we can go safely to celebrate a loved one.

Camping

Most private campsites are too congested for me. The proximity of the RVs always seemed too close pre-RV. Fortunately, there are a few other options.

Camping birthday during quarentine

HipCamp:

HipCamp is a website similar to Airbnb where you can find more secluded camping. The sites are often on somebody’s farmland. With this site, you can see how many other sites are at their location and how many acres they’re spread over. Hipcamp also makes it easy to directly talk to the host so you can double-check to make sure your site is not going to be anywhere near another person.

Having a toddler, I wanted to be sure we weren’t constantly worried about her trying to make friends with our neighbor campers so we’ve booked a few places within 2 hours from our home.

A friend or relative’s property:

Think about some of the people you know. Maybe you have a friend that has a lot of land that wouldn’t mind you setting up primitive camp for a weekend. The key to camping is to get away from all the distractions of home. You may be used to having a pool and paid activities for the kids when you camp but there are lots of ways to camp with kids. Camping without all the amenities maybe your favorite!

Backyard Campout

Set up your tent or popup at your house! Get all the typical camp foods and s’mores to roast over the campfire (or grill if that’s what you have)! A change of scenery is the goal here, so make it as elaborate of a campout as you want. Don’t have a spot in your yard? Set it up inside or even build an indoor fort. There are tons of ways to camp!

Having a birthday during a pandemic isn’t what we’re used to. We can’t have our friends over for a sleepover or meet up at the roller rink. We can still make it special and have fun though! I’d love to know what you’ve done to celebrate with a loved one!

Posts Related to Birthday Party Ideas During a Pandemic

Fun Things To Do Over Quarantine

Fun Things To Do Over Quarantine

Sophie’s Dinosaur Birthday Party

Sophie’s Dinosaur Birthday Party

Pin it for later

by on 2 Comments

Back to School | Why We’re Homeschooling

I want to preface this post by saying that whatever decision you are making for your family in regard to school during a pandemic is your choice. No one knows your kids like you and you’re the best one to make this decision. This post is my opinion on why we’re homeschooling with the BookShark curriculum for the 2020 school year.

I am working with BookShark on a series throughout the year. They graciously gifted me half of Sophia’s curriculum in exchange for my honest words on their program. The reason I’m working with them is that we enjoyed the BookShark curriculum so much when we homeschooled in 2018. We’re really excited to see what their Level B entails!

Homeschool with BookShark

Homeschooling VS Virtual Learning

In our district, the choices for schooling were to do virtual learning until (at least) Labor Day, put your child in a private school, homeschool or unschool (that is what I’m calling schooling with no set curriculum while allowing your child to learn through curiosity and play). For a number of reasons surrounding the pandemic, we were not comfortable having our child go into a building for school.

Thankfully, we’d already homeschooled for a year when Lilly was born.
As a history of Sophia’s schooling:
-she started in Montessori at age 18months
-moved to a Montessori/Emilia Reggio style learning at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis (pre-K)
-one year of homeschooling with BookShark (pre-K)
-one year in public school (Kindergarten).
At the time, each of these schools was perfect. I love something different about each one and she flourished in each location.

Why We’re Homeschooling

When we did BookShark for pre-K, both my daughter and I had a great year of schooling. She had fun, enjoyed learning, and really liked the flexibility. I loved not having any prep (aside from the supplemental schooling I chose to add), the free day on Fridays for adventures, and how well BookShark outlined everything in the instructor’s guide so I always felt confident in what I was doing as her guide.

secular homeschool cirriculum

Why BookShark?

There will be six posts in this series so I will go further in-depth about what I like about BookShark, how we organize our homeschool materials, what our schedule looks like, and more. Right now I just want to overview our love for BookShark from our previous year of homeschooling and our excitement for the school year ahead.

When I started researching I felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of homeschooling curriculums. I quickly realized that I needed to have priorities that were most important. For our family, those were:
1. A secular curriculum
2. A 4-day program (to leave time for adventures)
3. Very little prep

Narrowing those priorities down made my search much easier. Not only did BookShark fit each of these descriptions, but they are also literacy-based and had additional hands-on options. For Sophia’s 1st grade school year she will be in Level B where she will study history (with an added hands-on element), geography, science (including physiology, animals, meteorology, electricity, and biology), language arts, math, and handwriting.

Why Does Bookshark Use Levels Instead of Grades?

I really enjoyed that BookShark chose to differentiate with levels rather than grade numbers. Their levels have a suggested age range so you know where to start looking. For example, 1st grade could be level A or B because they’re designed for ages 6-8. My favorite thing about homeschooling is the ability to make sure my child is mastering a subject before moving on.

Growing up, I often got left behind in math because I did not understand. It was always so difficult to catch up because I hadn’t mastered the basic foundation. People learn at all different rates. They should be taught at the rate they need to feel confident and curious in their education.

Why we're homeschooling with BookShark 2020

This school year we will definitely need some time to adjust to our new schedules. After a summer of simple 1 hr/day homeschooling, we will both need to adjust to the amount of time we’re focusing on school work. But that’s the great thing about homeschooling. It’s so flexible. There are 36 weeks. We are welcome to spread that out over 52 weeks if we need it. And that’s ok. Whatever your choice is for schooling this year, just remember, it’s ok to slow down.

I would love to know what you’re doing in the way of school for your children this year. I’m happy to answer any questions about our experience of homeschooling and what our school year ahead will look like!

Click the pink button below to request a catalog to learn more about their programs:

BookShark Catalog

Back to School for 2020 and why we're chosing to homeschool with BookShark.

Similar Posts to Back to School | Why We’re Homeschooling:

Homeschool Field Trips Around Indianapolis

Homeschool Field Trips Around Indianapolis

Homeschool Organization for First Time Homeschoolers

Homeschool Organization for First Time Homeschoolers

by on 2 Comments

Fun Things To Do Over Quarantine

There are so many fun things to do over quarantine with your family, it’s getting overwhelming. When people say they’re bored, I’m thinking it has more to do with motivation than boredom. Even if we didn’t have kids to attend to, without all of the extra free classes, lessons, tours, concerts etc., we’d still not be bored!

Our family has adjusted to the lockdown orders easily. My husband is a major introvert and because of this quarantine, he’s had plenty of time to re-charge alone giving him a ton of extra motivation to clean the garage and basement! Tasks that haven’t been done in years!

I was already staying home to work part-time and be with our toddler. We had to slightly adjust our schedule with no library music classes or swim lessons but otherwise, life is the same. Thankfully I’d taught our kindergartener at home last year so eLearning has been easy for both of us to adjust to.

I’m telling you this to give you a sense of where our heads are at. We’re doing well. We’re able to take on the challenge of some of these new programs and offerings that businesses are providing. If you are stressed out from homeschooling multiple older children, working at home (or out of the home), and the 100 other things that are making life difficult right now, please don’t feel the need to try a new hobby. Just focus on you and what works best for you right now.

Fun Things To Do Over Quarantine

Games

We’ve been playing a lot more games. Virtual games, board games, and even escape room type games. Here are some of our favorite games to play as a family and as a couple.

Stardew Valley- I know a lot of people are playing Animal Crossing these days but my husband got me hooked on Stardew Valley. We play it on the Nintendo Switch and hook it up to our TV so we can all play together. I’m not a big gamer but with Sims and Stardew Valley I could play it all day without stopping and continue to dream about it when I go to bed. I love it!

Dispatch Game to do over quarantine
Dispatch by Breakout

Breakout Game- We were contacted by Dispatch to see if we wanted to try out an at-home escape room type game. We were up for trying and after playing the first box for 5 minutes were completely hooked. Dispatch is a mystery-in-a-box adventure that tests your detective skills with a series of physical and virtual clues.

We played The Cat’s Eye which was a two-box series. Once you complete one box, you’ll be sent next. Each box took us 1-1.5 hours to solve so it was a really fun date night after we put the girls to bed! There is one series with 7 boxes we really want to try! The storyline and puzzles were really awesome but we were most impressed with the quality of the props. Everything was so well thought out and looked authentic (like a real newspaper, a magnifying glass or a blacklight to read secret messages.)

Board Games- Our favorite games to play as a family or as a couple are Blokus, Ticket to Ride (including the kid’s version), Rummikub, Yahtzee, Carcassone, Jenga, Forbidden Island, and Qwirkle.

Jackbox– Jackbox Games are becoming very popular right now as a way to play games with people virtually. We used to play this game at our house when we’d have friends over and now we’re playing it over video chat so we can still see our friends. There are lots of types of games from Pictionary type games to trivia games. I like how they have instructions on how how to set up a virtual game with friends as well as how to use their games for homeschool lessons on their homepage.

Screen Time

There has been an abundance of Broadway performances, basement concerts, educational programming, and more all dumped online very quickly. It was awesome to see so many people pour their talents online for us to consume for free. I’d realized it was becoming overwhelming and I felt like It was a job to keep up with everything we wanted to be able to watch/do. The things that we like coming back to the most are:

Books read by our friends- We really enjoy reading books as a family and Sophia is doing an awesome job of reading picture books now. Sometimes, though, we like to hear stories from other people. That’s when we started watching my best friend Emily read books on YouTube. Her an a teacher friend read books every day so their students can have a chance to hear a story and relax.

Mo Willems- We are huge Mo Willems fans. We loved his exhibit at The Children’s Museum, have his books and the Piggie and Gerald stuffed animals. Soph’s grandparents took her to see the play and Lilly is now reciting the books for us over dinner! We were so excited to see that he shares a lunchtime doodle from his studio and talks about his books. We just can’t get enough of him!

Art For Kids Hub- Another favorite for both Sophia and myself is Art For Kids Hub. We both want to improve our drawing but neither likes practicing from a book. Art For Kids Hub is a father and his kids drawing something together. You see both the father’s art alongside the child as they teach you had to draw. There are many levels of drawing so you could learn how to draw an ice cream cone or how to shade a cool dragon.

The Children’s Museum At Home- The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is one of our very favorite places to visit. We love learning through hands-on experience in their exhibits. They’ve been amazing at keeping TONS of content up for us at their At Home series. They have everything from crafts to storytime to virtual chats with experts. Our favorite things to watch are their science experiments.

Conner Prairie
Conner Prairie

Conner Prairie- Conner Prairie is our very favorite place to visit around Indy. We can go for an entire day or just a half-hour if we want. We love going to see the new baby animals, playing at the treehouse and chatting with our friends in Prairie town. Spring is our favorite time to visit because there are new baby animals being born weekly. We’re sad to be missing their programs right now as well as their summer camp.

Thankfully they’ve been creating tons of content sharing what’s been going on on their grounds as well as some cool information on how prairie life would have looked. Their Conner Prairie At Home program shares videos on crafts, cooking, history, and animals.

Libby- The library was another weekly place we’d visit to pick up new books, join a class, or dance with Mr. Daniel. With them closed, we were unable to get our hands on some of the early reader chapter books Sophia was just beginning to take interest in. Thankfully Libby had us covered with TONS of free books online.

Harry Potter Readings- My favorite weekly treat are the Harry Potter readings on the Wizarding World At Home app. I’ve read all of the Harry Potters multiple times, saw all the movies the night they released, and have been a big fan of the series for a long time. Nothing is more special than Daniel Radcliff reading the first chapter from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Each new reader is so amazing and I just love listening to them read the chapters.

I would love to know what things you’ve been doing at home that have made you smile or have brought your family together. There is so much to be grateful for and I hope that you and your family are doing well. We’re in this together.

Related posts to Fun Things To Do Over Quarantine

Pin it for later

by on 2 Comments

Magic Kingdom Movie Marathon with Themed Treats

As we’re all stuck inside during this time of the pandemic, my daughter and I wanted to experience some Disney magic from our family room. We’re still hoping to visit the parks in October but in the meantime, we wanted to have some fun with a Magic Kingdom Movie Marathon!

I pulled out our Magic Kingdom map (because…of course, I have one) and we went through each land to see which rides had a movie associated with it. It was fun going through the map and having her remember various aspects of the rides.

She is only 6 so even though she’s been on some of the rides 3 times, she has a hard time remembering them. Thankfully, there are tons of ride videos on YouTube so we were able to watch the rides and star the ones she wants to go on during our next trip!

With Disney+ having SO many of their movies available, almost every one of these movies listed is on that platform. My suggestion is to preview a few of the older movies if you haven’t watched them since you were a child. They now have warnings at the beginnings of select movies on Disney+ for their racist undertones. I’m happy they’ve kept the movies available so we can talk to our children about these issues.

Let’s take a virtual walk through the Magic Kingdom and see what magic we can find!

Magic Kingdom Movie Marathon

Photos courtesy of the links provided below.

Tomorrowland

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin


There is a lot of content to watch to go along with this galactic space battle ride! Toystory 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all on Disney+ but my suggestion is Toystory 4. Forky cracks our family up. We also love the shorts on Disney+ like Partysaurus Rex and Forky Asks a Question. Because of our love for Forky, we chose these super easy Forky cupcakes by Cupcake Diaries.

Monster’s, Inc. Laugh Floor

I’ve never been to the Magic Kingdom without going in for a laugh at Monster’s, Inc. Laugh Floor. Sully and Mike crack me up and I love both Monster’s, Inc. and Monster’s University. These colorful dipped pretzels from Food Folks and Fun are a great treat to make with all ages of kids. You can’t mess them up!

Photos courtesy of the links provided below.

Fantasyland

Cinderella Castle & Prince Charming Royal Carousel

There are two Cinderella themed attractions at the Magic Kingdom. Cinderella’s Castle and Prince Charming Regal Carrousel! There are also two really awesome versions of Cinderella!

The original 1950’s animated version as well as the newer live-action version that came out in 2015. We chose these sweet magic wand rice crispy treats by Mom Endeavors to have for our Cinderella marathon.

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

Dumbo is one of Disney’s movies I just CAN’T watch. I have yet to see the live-action version because the animated version makes me cry too much. That being said, I LOVE the ride! I think it’s so fun that they added the playground for the wait queue.

Crafting Chicks made a fun circus-inspired munchy snack that we thought would go great with a Dumbo marathon. Just don’t forget the tissues!

Mad Tea Party

I’m very partial to this ride. It was my favorite ride as a child visiting the parks. It was also the ride I worked while in the College Program. I go on it at least 3 times when it’s daylight and a few more once it’s dark. Can’t get enough of this spinny ride!

I also really enjoy both the animated and live-action versions of Alice in Wonderland. I think the book is phenomenal and the movies bring that whimsy to life beautifully. Magical Treats recreated a park favorite Cheshire Cat Tails that we can’t wait to try!

Enchanted Tales with Belle

Fun Fact: Jeffrey and I were selected to go view Enchanted Tales with Belle early before it opened because we were being friendly with a cast member. IMO, talking to cast members is an attraction in itself at WDW. You learn SO much about the parks and their jobs (and often get perks because of it!)

I couldn’t do this post without sharing a doup of The Grey Stuff from Be Our Guest Restaurant. Mama Cheaps has an exact copy of what you can find at the restaurant. Again, both Beauty and the Beast the animated original and live-action versions are wonderful.

Photos courtesy of the links provided below.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was another ride attraction I worked while in Disney and I can still hear the loading area speech by Tigger. This was my favorite ride to work because I could talk with the guests if I filled the line queue quickly. Talking with guests was my favorite part of working at Disney. For our snack, we wanted to try a snack mix by Jamonkey that would be right up Pooh’s alley.

Peter Pan’s Flight

Peter Pan’s Flight is one of those rides that always has a MASSIVE line. I know a lot of people like their interactive queue but I’ve never ridden it without an FP+? I am really excited to make this Neverland pirate map pizza by Alison’s Wonderland Recipes though! The 1953 movie Peter Pan is a classic but I also have been liking the Tinkerbell movies on Disney+. This shocked me because I’m not a huge fan of the character in the original movie.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Here is something that will blow your mind. SDMT (Seven Dwarfs Mine Train) is the ONLY attraction in all of Disney World that I’ve never done.

I’ve never been able to get a FP+ and never wanted to wait in line so I have YET to ride one of MK’s most popular rides! I should also give a shout out to Snow White’s Scary Adventure (RIP) because it was the other ride I worked during my program. It was super scary riding it alone at night when we were closing it down though…

For our Snow White movie night we’re going to try our hand at these candied apples we found on Olivia’s Cuisine. I’ve never had a candied apple so maybe 2020 is my year to check both of these things off my bucket list.

Under the Sea

Although this is a ride I can go without visiting, I do like meeting Ariel in her grotto when we visit MK. She seems to spend extra time with kids and I think her grotto is a cool backdrop for the photos! The Little Mermaid was my favorite movie growing up and up until Tangled, Ariel was my favorite Disney Princess.

I loved her adventurous spirit and the music in the movie. Sophia thought this mermaid bark by Momdot was beautiful so we’re going to make our first bark and watch The Little Mermaid together.

Photos courtesy of the links provided below.

Liberty Square

Haunted Mansion

I can remember going to The Haunted Mansion as a kid and being terrified but still going on each visit. It’s a staple for us when we visit but I can’t say the same for The Haunted Mansion movie. I think that ride has such a great story and they could make a better movie around that attraction. Until they make that new movie though, you can make these adorable ghost cookies by Fun365.

Frontierland

Tom Sawyer Island

Just thinking about Tom and Huck and visiting Tom Sawyer Island makes me nostalgic. We LOVE visiting Tom Sawyer Island to get away from the stimulation. Playing checkers or exploring through the trees on the bouncy bridge is a great way to take a mental breather.

As a huge JTT fan, Tom and Huck was one of my favorite movies as a tween. We recently re-watched it and it’s still pretty cute. Even cuter though is this dirt worm mix we found by Fake Ginger. Can’t wait to pair the two for a movie night!

Photos courtesy of the links provided below.

Adventureland

Jungle Cruise

Jungle Cruise is coming out in July 2020 and looks pretty cute. I’ve got high hopes for it as it is attached to such an iconic ride. This is another ride I can’t visit without going on. For this movie, we’re going to make our first freak shake before heading out to the theaters! My Name is Snickerdoodle did a great job on her shake with this Disney themed challenge.

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin

I’m usually more focused on getting my Dole Whip when I go to this area but Soph loves riding The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Aladdin is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies and I think they did a pretty good job on the live-action version that came out in 2019. For this movie, Sophia can make this jello dessert by Suburban Wife City Life all on her own.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Just thinking about this ride puts smells of my childhood in my head! Did you know they make candles of the water in this ride?! I think all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are great and the music is even better! We’re not to the age where we can watch this for our Magic Kingdom movie marathon but my husband and I can still make this pirate popcorn munch by my friend Kimberly at A Night Owl.

Swiss Family Treehouse

Last, and possibly least? Swiss Family Treehouse. This is an attraction that I remember going on as a kid and have tried a few times walking through on my own or with my family and it just hasn’t stood the test of time. I’m also not a fan of the movie Swiss Family Robinson BUT I wanted to include every movie that has a corresponding attraction so here it is.

Although I don’t love the attraction or the movie, these pineapple coconut squares by An Italian in My Kitchen are what I’d most be looking forward to making! You can’t go wrong with pineapple and coconut!

I wish I could have you all over for a Magic Kingdom movie marathon and chat about our memories of these rides. I have so many separate memories of these attractions and experiencing them with different people. It’s fun to reminisce about the impact these rides have had while making these treats.

Tell me, what rides are your favorites? Which movies have you watched 100 times?

Related Posts to Magic Kingdom Movie Marathon with Themed Treats

Inside Out Cake
Inside Out Memory Orb Cake

Pin it for later:

by on 1 Comment

Bare Minimum of What You Need to Plan Before Going to Disney World

Right now it is 7 months out from our family trip to Disney World. This will be our first trip with both girls and Lilly’s first trip to see The Mouse. To some, it seems incredibly early to start planning a trip. But when you do Disney, the earlier, the better. I’m going to narrow down the bare minimum of what you need to plan before going to Disney World.

Growing up, we had a Disney Binder which held maps and schedules and all kinds of information for our week-long trip to Disney World. Now, everything can be done online. There have been two times in my life that I have gone to Disney without a plan. Once, when my husband surprised me with a trip. And when I went on my solo trip in October.

I’m not saying you can’t have a magical time at Disney World without having a plan but there are some things that will improve the magic if you take care of them before your visit.

Here are the 9 Essential Steps before going on your next WDW trip (in the order I recommend).

Book Your Resort

Booking your resort should be the first thing you do when planning your vacation. Even if the hotel is not a priority on your list. The resorts fill up fast. Go into your booking with a couple in mind within your budget.

For example, you might be able to find a room with no special view at a DVC rental at Boardwalk that is the same price as a standard room at Art of Animation. With the DVC rental, you could have the bonus of a kitchenette and nicer furnishings. With DVC rentals you can book 11 months out for the ‘home resort’ and 7 months out for all others. Ali has a great post on the basics of renting a DVC room.

What to plan before going on your next Disney World vacation
Disney’s Boardwalk Resort
What to plan before going on your next Disney World vacation
Disney’s Boardwalk Resort

Pick out magic bands (if staying on-site)

When booking a resort stay on Disney property you’re automatically gifted a free Magic Band which acts as your room key and holds all the information for your trip. Previously, you were given a choice of colors but now they’ve offered the option of upgrading to a specialty Magic Band. These specialty bands are only $10 as opposed to the (up to) $30 price tag in the parks.

When I went on my solo trip I did not stay on property and forgot to bring my Magic Band from a previous trip. I was given an admission card but was annoyed with getting it out for each FP+ ride. I bought an adorable It’s a Small World Magic Band that was $25 in the Animal Kingdom.

It is now $7.50 on ShopDisney.

Buy Park Tickets

Disney often has ticket discounts when you buy them in a package. Right now they’re running a promotion for a 4-Day ticket at $89/day (a huge savings from the normal base ticket). Other options for buying your park tickets: Costco or Undercover Tourist. Undercover Tourist is Disney affiliated. Disney knows that they’re selling their tickets at a discounted price so you don’t need to worry something shady might happen.

What to plan before going on your next Disney World vacation
Solo Trip at Magic Kingdom
What to plan before going on your next Disney World vacation
Batuu at Galaxy’s Edge, Hollywood Studios

Create an account and link everything on MDE

MDE stands for My Disney Experience and is an app in your app store. In MDE you can do all of your planning from dining reservations to FP+ and lots more. Once you’ve created an account, it’ll be your account for every future trip. You link your confirmation numbers for everything within the app and it keeps track of everything.

Study the Once Upon a Planner Insiders Guide

Aside from going to the parks daily while I worked there for a semester, I have been to WDW 11 times. I’m knowledgable on the parks, the food, the transportation etc. but am always searching for a way to save time and money. The Insiders Guide on Once Upon a Planner has been the most bang for my buck 10 times over. The hacks guide tells you how to get lost of FP+ after your initial 3 that you book before your trip. There is so much info on the site from Planning Guides to cost analysis posts and tips on saving money.

When I went on my solo trip, I scored 18 FP+ in one day. I’m not guaranteeing you can get that many but a lot of people have gotten way more than that! I HIGHLY recommend taking a look at their site if you want to maximize your ride time at the parks. You can use my affiliate code if you’d like to help support our next trip to Disney.

schedule Magical Express

Once you book your flight you can schedule a Magical Express reservation. Link your flight in the My Disney Experience portal and make sure to click how many bags you’ll be checking. The Magical Express takes you on a bus from the airport to your resort and they also take care of your luggage. It will magically be sitting in your room when your room is available!

Brown Derby at Hollywood Studios
What to plan before going on your next Disney World vacation
Flying Fish at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort

Plan Your Dining EXperiences

180 days out from your trip you’re allowed to start booking for sit down restaurants. They call these reservations ADRs or advanced dining reservations. If you have no clue where to start, you could ask a Travel Agent to help make a good decision on where/when to eat for your family. Otherwise, I suggest looking into Disney Food Blog Guide or WDW Radio to hear about all the wonderful options at the Walt Disney World Resort (includes the parks, Disney Springs and the resorts).

30 or 60 day FP+ booking

When you book a stay at a Disney resort you are allowed to book FP+ passes 60 days prior to your vacation. When staying off-site you’re allowed 30 days prior. If you have a strong opinion on rides, I definitely recommend waking up and ready to book these as soon as the window opens (7am).

TIP: Start with your final park day of your trip. You’ll be more likely to score the ones you want because other people start with the beginning of their trip.

Book any extras: dessert party, tours, after hours, bippity boppity Boutique

Your final step, after planning for all the others is to book your extras. In my case, I knew I wanted to go to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party while we’re there in October. The ticket prices are lower right now since the dates were just released so I bought those ASAP. I have yet to buy my park tickets or flight because I’m waiting to see if there’s a better deal. In some cases, you can book your extras as soon as you have your dates set (I usually base this on when my room reservations are set).

You can check this post from Disney Tourist Blog to see some of the different options Disney offers for extra magical experiences. These are just opinions. You can go to Disney’s site to get the full details.

I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with everything there is to do before your next trip to Walt Disney World. In reality, you only need to book a flight or set aside time from work to take your vacation. You could have a lovely trip without any planning. You WILL wait in lots of lines and be frustrated that you can’t eat at certain places. If you want to save some time and money, use these steps as the bare minimum of what you need to plan before going to Disney World.

Let me know in the comments when your next trip is! What do you get most stressed about when planning for your trip?

Related Posts to Bare Minimum of What You Need to Plan Before Going to Disney World.

Disney Park Tips
https://diymamablog.com/disney-park-tips/
Surviving Disney World with a Toddler
https://diymamablog.com/surviving-disney-world-with-a-toddler/

Pin it for later:

What to plan before going on your next Disney World vacation
Google+