As I am sure many parents are, I have been following the Disney blog religiously and recreating as much of the Disney magic as I can at home. Although EV is a little too young to be following the Animators tutorials (this is absolutely awesome by the way), there have been numerous other things, like watching the fireworks, the new parade in Disneyland and countless other videos and activities that we have either been watching or saving so that we can space things out and create "events" around them.
I am officially back on the Pinterest all day every day train. If you haven't used Pinterest to look up virtual tours of zoos/aquariums, museums, and historical landmarks (oh my) are you even self-isolating, right?! THIS blog's comprehensive virtual list is EVERYTHING!! There are so many cool virtual tours going on right now. Our favorites lately have been the live cams for the aquariums, which we like to have on while we eat dinner (Coral Reef Restaurant anyone?!). There are even a lot of virtual tours of the Walt Disney theme parks if you have been unable to visit them or if you just need a taste of that Disney magic that you are missing. There are even virtual Disney rides! Obviously nowhere near as thrilling, but still a ton of fun to experience with the kiddos (especially if they are not at that height requirement just yet).
Finding innovative ways to "Disne-fy" our self isolating life has been something that the Hubs and I have enjoyed tremendously (okay more me than him, but he enjoys the fruits of my labor I promise), which brings us to this next bit. Early on in self-isolation we designated a grocery shopper and that was Hubs...we have been shopping only at two stores, Sam's and Target and that is it! I am the one who makes a list every week or two with items we either need, run out of, or yeast...seriously?! Still no yeast?! Anyhooter, I digress...
Hubs went to Sam's for 'essentials'....ESSENTIALS...and apparently he felt this qualified...
Granted it is for ages 3-8 and for those under 120lbs which I qualify for, so I was not opposed to this essential at all..in fact, it quickly became the most essential of essentials and occupies EV for HOURS until it knocks her out for a nap (mama too). Basically, this slide has become a nanny and we are saving a fortune...I swear I am getting to the whole point of this..
A week before the 'essentials', the Disney Blog released the DIY Disney Cruise Stateroom Decorations (this is one of my most favorite things to do on the cruise) that you can print out at home and put on doors thus recreating a Disney Cruise Stateroom door. If you have never seen what this looks like or have no idea what I am talking about, HERE you go (I apologize for the rabbit hole it will bring you down, but it is awesome)! I thought this was the cutest idea, so between the stateroom decor and this new monstrosity trumping our backyard, it was a no-brainer to recreate a Disney Cruise Day.
I made sure to print out the "decorations" the day before (I used cardstock) and put tape on the back so all EV was doing was sticking them to the door. A lot can be said for the valuable lesson I learned regarding having all the crafts ready to go rather then EV waiting on me to gather everything and get it ready. She is much more apt to have an attention span and is a lot more excited to participate in the activity.
As per ush... I actually had Summer items that we had bought during the Disney Store Summer sale the previous year that I hadn't given EV (I have said it before, but saving things as been instrumental during this pandemic), such as; a Fancy Nancy straw tote, Fancy Nancy sunglasses, a Summer Minnie cup with swirly straw (this was actually from the JunkfoodXTarget collaboration from years ago and I had never taken it out) and a bathing suit from Lilly Pulitzer that I bought during the After Party Sale which she has finally grown into. I also took out our big floppy hats that we always bring on the cruise as I thought it would be cute to recreate some of the pictures.
I have several Disney cooking tools and appliances, including a bread press that does Minnie and Mickey shapes (I bought a bunch of these at the Character Warehouse for $2.99!!!). If one is going to recreate a Disney Cruise day, one must also recreate the amazing kid friendly lunches and nothing says Disney Cruise to EV like grilled cheese sammiches ala Minnie style. EV's absolute favorite days on the cruise were the ones that involved the pool and afternoon grilled cheese's with naps to follow (who can argue with her really?!).
We actually have "cruise esque chairs" that we set up with Disney Cruise towels that we happened to have...again from the Character Warehouse and we took out all of the inflatable pools and floats to recreate the Nemo Splash area and the regular pool with slide. The only thing missing was the afternoon character meet and greets, but Hubs was having none of that....sheesh you ask for one Pluto costume and the guy thinks you have gone mad...it was for the kids...obvi ;)
*because what cruise would be complete without afternoon cocktails
As it got darker, we set up the movie screen so that we could do outdoor Disney movies on the "Lido deck" (complete with Disney blankets and snacks). We originally had planned to do a themed dinner like it would have been on the cruise and decorate the outside and dress up ourselves, but honestly, we were exhausted! We opted for ordering out (kinda like room service right?!) and just watched Clone Wars outside ('Ahsoka Show').
Is it OK that I am becoming competitive with myself in creating these Disney theme days?!
And just because I think you need some Disney Cruise lifestyle sass in your lives....
*you can actually see here how small and flat the slide gets so it barely takes up any room in the garage where it is stored (I do put it into a storage tube so that I do not have to worry about it getting dirty or lizards getting at it...welcome to Florida).
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