Self made disney family traditions and where and how you enjoy them

[tsmith76]

Wondering if others have their own disney traditions

We've done a family trip now six times and I'm amazed at how much I enjoy the "simple" rides that I can do with my kids and the traditions we've come up with at varous parks and rides.

I never went to disney until I took my kids and to be honest I'm glad I didn't go as a teenager because I think I might have missed the "magic".

My wife and I love going all small world with all of our kids. The oldest is 9 and she still looks in amazement. Every year we take a picture of the blue hippo and put a date stamp on it. The kids even have an age for the hippo based on the year.

We got stuck on Maelstrom for 45 minutes and missed a meal reservation. My kids say we can only ride maelstrom 45 minutes after eating. But it's one of our favorite rides.

On the rocks in front of the norway entrance my 9 year old poses like ariel in the "part of your world" part of the song on the rocks and sings a line or two. We take a picture of it every year, we have six pictures now.

The first thing and the last thing my son wants to do at MK is try to pull the sword from the stone. We document every year.

At laugh factory my daughter texts the same joke every time. What's red, sits in a tree and says chirp-chirp? A talking apple. It's never been selected, but she's been boo twice.

Was wondering if anyone else had some self-invented traditions?

[kathiewe]

Our son's birthday is officially the week of Thanksgiving. This is one the worst weeks for a birthday as everyone is always traveling to visit family or having family travel to visit them.

When he was 2 we were invited to celebrate a week at Disney with friends, who suggested we celebrate his birthday while we were there. It was great!

Now, we plan our big Disney vacation the week after Thanksgiving, and pick a day that is his. We invite friends and family to visit us on Saturday, we spend the day at the parks, and then go to dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe where Mickey's baker makes a special cake just for him.

The best part though is that while we are away during the day, Mickey and his friends seek in our room and leave him a special birthday present. It’s always a great treat to see his smile when he sees what Mickey has left for him.

That's the big tradition but we have others --

-- AKL Conceirge level for our Christmas vacation

-- 2 date nights for us and kids night out for our DS. One of our dates is a fancy meal where we get dressed to the nines an the other is a play date where we go to a park and play on the rides.

-- Christmas Processional on either the first or last night

-- Crystal Palace as our last day lunch

-- First breakfast is a funnel cake from Sleepy Hollow

-- First dinner we meet up at DTD and then on to Boatwrights for dinner. This is actually a tribute to my childhood Disney vacations when we would head straight there after a non-stop trip from Syracuse.

[BBMouse]

After I thought about it, we have more than I realized. Here are a few:

*Picture on the marble bridge in front of Italy with the "Epcot Ball" in the background. First one was on our honeymoon, now 12 years later all five of us are in the shot.
*First day we eat Lunch at Hurricane Hanah's at SAB and the kids get their buckets for the week.
*Call my brother while on the Jungle Cruise (he hates the ride) and have my kids tell him "The Jungle Cruise is Great and Uncle E is lame." Conversely he calls me when is on and has his kids tell me that the ride and me are both lame. We do not vacation together so one never really knows when the call will come.
*Picture with our Disney Brick.
*I play the lobster pot game on the BW while everyone chants "Dad, Dad, Dad!" until I win everyone a cheap (quality that is) stuffed animal. Only cost me $40 to win 4 this year.
*Music in GB with pints while the kids run around the maze looking for lizards. One of those moments where everyone is truly happy about what we are doing.

[DVCKelly]

My husband and I always go to the Magic Kingdom as our first park. Also we must hit Downtown Disney for luch at Earl of Sandwich (I love those sandwiches).

[Simba's Mom]

We always go to Epcot to see Illuminations and one night we get food (DH gets the lamb platter, and I get the vegetarian platter) at Tangerine Cafe. We sit in the outdoor cafe part to the left and watch Illuminations from there. It may not be the best view, but it's comfortable and it's a tradition.

[Meaghanqt]

We go on Peter Pan first, this was my fathers first ride at Disney Land and when we went for the first time to Disney World (just before my 30th birthday) that is the ride he wanted to us to experience first.
We also go to the noodle bar at POR my husbands favorite, followed closely by another family favorite the beef noodle bowl at the quick service in China.
I also find a couple of hours to sit in Italy, soak up the sun, drink wine and people watch on every trip.

[dsnygrl]

Originally Posted by tsmith76

Wondering if others have their own disney traditions
Was wondering if anyone else had some self-invented traditions?

It's funny that you brought this up today. I was thinking the exact same thing as I unpacked my home's version of an "owner's locker" filled with our Disney stuff for our trip in a few weeks.
Our traditions include:
1) a family photo in front of Cinderella Castle with our "ears" on. We've done this since our first family trip, and we have them in Disney frames all around our house. I love looking at them, such great memories!
2) we try to plan one new experience from our Disney Bucket List of things we'd love to do on each trip. This trip we are doing the Fireworks Cruise from the Contemporary Resort. We are all excited about this!
3) we always spend our first day/evening at the MK. For us it just isn't a vacation at WDW until we get to the MK and get on HM, POTC, BTMRR and of course the fireworks!
4) we have one dress up dinner, usually at Cali Grill.
5) we have to have a Dole Pineapple Float on each night we are at the MK. We all love them, and we look forward to the refreshing snack at the end of each evening. We've been known to leave a park, just to go to MK for EMH to get a DPF.

[tsmith76]

5) we have to have a Dole Pineapple Float on each night we are at the MK. We all love them, and we look forward to the refreshing snack at the end of each evening. We've been known to leave a park, just to go to MK for EMH to get a DPF.[/quote]

We have the same MK tradition

I usually get a mickey coconut patty, both of my kids get a frozed dipped banana and my wife does the dole pineapple. It's usually our "last meal" at disney. We end each trip with fireworks at MK.

[mouse junkie]

Originally Posted by tsmith76

The first thing and the last thing my son wants to do at MK is try to pull the sword from the stone. We document every year.

What a great idea! DS is just old enough to do this now!

Originally Posted by dsnygrl

1)a family photo in front of Cinderella Castle with our "ears" on.
5) we have to have a Dole Pineapple Float on each night we are at the MK.

Us too!! I like to get a photo of the back of DS's head with his mouse ears on too!

We also purchase a Christmas ornament each time we go and scribe the date on it.

And DH makes Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes for one of our in-room breakfasts.

Looking forward to starting more traditions as the years go by!

[mrskzrooster]

We first went to the world together on our honeymoon. Stayed at the Poly but only did EPCOT. It had opened just a few months before so a trip to EPCOT is always necessary - a special moment in front of the big dancing water fountain and so on.
Since we started going with the kids we head to the Magic Kingdom, grab a dog a Casey’s the make sure Buzz has everything under control. Once the world is safe we do the park . . . .