Counting Down to Disney

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Orange.
Enjoy the ride as we share how we count down to our
Disney vacations.

I’ll be the first person to admit that we tend to get a little bit obsessive about our Disney countdowns!  None of the 10 or 20 day countdowns here – no way!  We count down for MONTHS! 

For our trip in 2009, we used the basic countdown chain.  It started out so long that it was draped around the room – literally!  I wish I had a picture to share.

The following year, I used a variation on the countdown chain, using one that someone on the DISboards had created and shared.  It had 120 days to countdown – each day with a different Disney character on it.  Very cute.

Countdown chains get old though.  For our last trip, I searched around for another idea and we created a countdown using a whiteboard and wipe-off markers.  You can see more about that countdown in this post at Your Highway in the Sky.

Recently, I found a countdown on Etsy, and thought I’d  try to recreate a similar one for our family.  So, I enlisted the help of my friend Beth (founder of the Magical Blogorail!)  She has one of those wonderful Cricut machines and kindly cut out a bunch of little Mickey head shapes for me (her kids picked out the colors – and they did such a great job!)  Here’s what we did with them:

We gathered up all those scrapbooking supplies – stickers and scrapbook papers – that have been in storage forever (because I never have the time or space to scrapbook anymore).  Gracie picked out her favorites.

 

I had a bunch of old picture frames in a box in the basement.  I found one in an 8x10” size.  We trimmed our favorite 12x12” scrapbook paper to fit the frame.  Then, I used the stickers that Gracie had chosen to write “days til we go to DISNEY” on the paper.  Because the stickers were kinda light and blended into the background, I used a black Sharpie marker to go around them and make them stand out a bit more.  Next time, I’d opt for brighter stickers in better colors (think red, black, blue, etc.)

In the meantime, Gracie used number stickers and placed them on the Mickey head cutouts. 

We bought some removable glue dots and have been using them to change out the numbers on our countdown.  Here is the finished product:

My mom says I’m crazy and gear up my kids for way too long before our trips.  But, I say you can’t start counting down too soon.  The countdown – and the planning – are half  the fun! 

How do YOU count down to your Disney trips? 

Thank you for joining me today.
Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is
Disney on Wheels.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail Loop should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:
 
1st Stop ~ Heidi’s Head (you are here)
2nd Stop ~ Disney on Wheels
3rd Stop ~ Return to Disney
4th Stop ~ Your Highway in the Sky
Final Stop ~ Focused on the Magic