10 Activities and Ideas to Countdown to Disney Vacations

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You’ve booked your family’s Disney World, Disneyland, or Disney Cruise Line vacation! Now what? How will you pass the coming weeks and months before your magical adventure? There are so many fun ways to countdown to Disney vacations! You can get the whole family involved to build excitement for your visit.

Take a Virtual Disney Vacation

We recently wrote a whole list of ideas about how you can take a virtual Disney vacation. Some kids like to be prepared to know what to expect so you can watch YouTube videos. We also love making Disney Parks treats at home when we can’t visit the parks in person.

Have a Very Merry Unbirthday Party or Tea Party

Start by watching “Alice in Wonderland” and then celebrate your un-birthday! Set the scene and decorate your table with these colorful flowers. For dessert, make these Cheshire Cat cupcakes or a Cheshire Cat cake roll. A fun activity for the kids is to make their own talking doorknob.

While you’re on the “Alice in Wonderland” theme, you can have a tea party! You can make your own edible tea cups out of ice cream cones. Disney Family even has a mad tea party mousse recipe. The kids can even make and decorate their own tea pots with this template.

Make and Decorate Mickey Cookies

What better way to get some quality time than to bake cookies? You can bake and decorate Disney cookies while you countdown to Disney! Get as creative as you can.

You can find an inexpensive five pack of Mickey Mouse cookie cutters or this 11 piece set including Mickey heads, glove, and more. Don’t forget fun sprinkles like these red, white and black Mickey sprinkles or these pink, purple and green Mickey sprinkles.

Make a Countdown Chain

A countdown chain can be both a fun visual for the kids as you count down the days until your vacation and a great activity to keep them busy! Depending on how early you begin your countdown to Disney, you can count down the number of weeks to go or the number of days to go. Or, make a combination of both! We have a PDF version of the countdown chain that you can print at the bottom.

Have a Disney Movie Marathon

There are so many attractions and shows inspired by Disney movies. Make some time to catch up on any you may have missed. Disney+ has a great selection or you can always order some relatively inexpensively from Amazon.

We recommend the animated classics for Magic Kingdom, Frozen for Epcot, Toy Story and the Star Wars trilogies for Hollywood Studios, and Avatar for Animal Kingdom, just to name a few.

Coloring Books

If you have little ones, you can pick up Disney coloring books from your local dollar store. They can color pictures of their favorite characters that they hope to meet during your vacation. We also love Crayola Color Wonder Mess Free Coloring for little ones, even to occupy them on the airplane.

For adults, there are some amazing Disney coloring books! Some of our favorites include Art of Coloring: Disney Animals, Art of Coloring: Disney Villains, Disney Dreams Collection from Thomas Kinkade Studios, Art of Coloring: Disney Princess, Art of Coloring: Mickey & Minnie and Art of Coloring: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

You can even sign up for a FREE Disney World coloring book to get started ASAP here.

Read a Disney Themed Book Series

Kingdom Keepers

From TheKingdomKeepers.com, “In this fantastical thriller, five young teens tapped as models for theme park “guides” find themselves pitted against Disney villains and witches that threaten both the future of Walt Disney World and the stability of the world outside its walls. Using a cutting-edge technology called DHI–which stands for both Disney Host Interactive and Daylight Hologram Imaging–Finn Whitman, an Orlando teen, and four other kids are transformed into hologram projections that guide guests through the park. The new technology turns out, however, to have unexpected effects that are both thrilling and scary. Soon Finn finds himself transported in his DHI form into the Magic Kingdom at night. Is it real? Is he dreaming? Finn’s confusion only increases when he encounters Wayne, an elderly Imagineer who tells him that the park is in grave danger. Led by the scheming witch, Maleficent, a mysterious group of characters called the Overtakers is plotting to destroy Disney’s beloved realm, and maybe more. This gripping high-tech tale will thrill every kid who has ever dreamed of sneaking into Walt Disney World after hours and wondered what happens at night, when the park is closed.”

You can start with the Kingdom Keepers Boxed Set which includes the first three books of the series. This is perfect for older kids to read on their own or mom and dad to read together with younger ones.

A Twisted Tale

For adult readers, you could try the “A Twisted Tale” series. This series will “reintroduce fans to their favorite worlds and stories – with game-changing twists that have readers feverishly turning pages to follow their heroes and heroines into all-new adventures.”

We recommend starting with A Twisted Tale Collection: A Boxed Set of three books.

Make Mickey or Minnie Ears

The Disney Family site has a ton of fun DIY projects to make your own pair of ears. For most of these, you’ll just need some felt, a headband, scissors, and glue. Some of our favorite projects include traditional Mickey and Minnie ears, Stitch ears, Yoda ears, and Marie ears.

Or, if you just want to decorate the ears, you can order a set of plain ears and add ribbons, sequins, and more. This will really help you show off your unique Disney style!

Host a Pirate Dinner

Prepare to ride Pirates of the Caribbean with a pirate night celebration. If you want to look the part, check out this Jack Sparrow Dress Up Kit or make your own eye patches.

For dessert, you can make cookies decorated with these skull and sword stencils. Or, make these adorable baby croc cupcakes.

If you are planning a surprise trip and looking for a big reveal, this would be a great way to do it! You can end the night with a treasure hunt. You can even print these Pirates of the Caribbean clue cards and map to add to the fun!

Planning Books

It can be fun to get the whole family involved in planning your Disney World vacation. You can read together about which attractions you just can’t miss. It can help to get the kids involved so you know their interests and “must do’s.” We recommend Birnbaum’s 2021 Walt Disney World: The Official Vacation Guide or The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2021.

We think you’ll also love the behind the scenes look at how Disney creates magic for guests in Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making More Magic Real.

Bonus: We also love playing Disney music at home and in the car while we countdown to Disney! There are some great (free) Disney stations on Pandora or you can order a CD, like the Disney Theme Park Classics or the Walt Disney World Official Album.

How do you plan to countdown to Disney?

Print your own DIY countdown to Disney vacations chain here:

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