Growing up, my family wasn't considered a typically Disney Family. As young kids, my sister and I had a few Disney themed birthdays but we were not Disney fanatics. Actually, many of the Disney movies scared me with their villains. In 6th grade, we went to Disney World in Orlando for an extended fall break. We had a great time staying on property and at that time I wasn't scared of the fast roller coasters. Pictured below is one of the few photos we have left from that trip that I pasted into a scrapbook pages 20 years ago!
Disney didn't become an important aspect of my life until my honeymoon. I wanted our honeymoon to be special, but at that time in our life, I thought going to Disney World would be cheaper than going to Europe. My husband, Daniel, had just finished college. I picked our wedding date, so on our honeymoon, I would be somewhere when I turned 23-years old. That is mid-June, so the temperatures were very hot, so we only spent a few hours a day at a park. But I was smart by making multiple dining reservations prior to our arrival. My favorite dining experience was eating at the castle in the Magic Kingdom with the Princesses.
10 days after arriving home from our honeymoon, we moved to Orange, California so Daniel could attend grad school at Chapman University. Our apartment complex was 3-miles away from the Disneyland entrance. So getting annual passes was a must! We spent the 4th of July watching fireworks. Throughout the next three years, we went on multiple occasions. Sometime we would park in the free lot at Downtown Disney, ride a few rides, then go home! A Disney lifestyle has became apart of our relationship! We have been to Disney World multiple times since our honeymoon, including on my 30th Birthday!
Having a Disney Themed Park inspired weekend, based on our favorite memories seemed like a no brainer! My sister actually has a Disney inspired kitchen, so I was able to borrow a few of her dishes and her Mickey Waffle Maker! I still had Disney wine glasses from a wedding gift!
To make the theme a little more in-depth, I wore my new favorite Disney tee with my rose gold Mickey Ears. We realized later in the weekend that we were wearing similar clothes as when we went to Disneyland the previous fall! I had my husband photoshop us into the fall's background (left), us now is on the right!
Food
If we're in a park during lunchtime, we would most likely get hot dogs from Casey's Corner. Seems, simple, but Disney always goes a step above. Daniel loved that they put Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon Bits. I stuck to the classics of a Chili Cheese Dog, paired with a bag of apple slices. So why would we break tradition for this experience?
Dinner on Saturday night was another tradition for us. Many times before waiting to see California Adventure's World of Color Show we would share a plate of Spaghetti & Meatballs because that food stall also had draft Peroni beer.
Music
Disney Music is easy to find. For this weekend our main background music was the Walt Disney World Official Album. I also had compiled a playlist on Amazon Music of Classic Disney songs. This really helped put us into the park mindset. Every time a Pirates Life came on we talked about how we wished we were back on that ride. The music transported us to relive some of our favorite Disney Park memories.
Activities
To keep in the theme of Disney, I borrowed my sister's Monopoly Disney Edition. We ended up playing 5-games over the entire weekend while trying to come up with the best strategy. By the 3rd game, we added our own rules. If you were in jail, you couldn't collect rent from the other players and you weren't allowed to buy cottages and/or castles. Our favorite made-up rule was we add a timer every 30-minutes, where we would each get a $1,000 stimulus! It helped me be able to gain the entire board for the win!
Listening to the theme song of many of the major rides, we thought we go a step further and start watching the rides in full screen on our large tv. But we didn't stop there, we put our sitting bench up towards the tv to really get the feel of the ride. Since Daniel, has a film degree I made him record our reaction to the end of Splash Mountain. Watch the below clip, stay tuned until the end for my surprised reaction!
Movie or TV Show
Obviously, there are a lot of Disney Movies that you can choose from. Disney+ subscription would be great for this weekend. We used it to watch the Live Action Lady and the Tramp. It was such a good movie, with many of the same scenes from the animated version.
If you are a Disney fan, I definitely think a Disney Weekend theme is a great way to start and can be enjoyed by all the members of your home! I'm excited to do another Disney inspired weekend in the future!
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