First Trip to Disneyland: The 14 Day Countdown

Alina’s First Trip to Disneyland

Our big girl turned 4 years old last week and we celebrated in a big way! Her first trip to Disneyland was to celebrate her birthday and it was everything I had hoped and planned it to be. While it wasn’t a surprise for her, my sister and I came up with a Disneyland Birthday 14 Day Countdown to get Alina excited about her birthday adventure.

For the 14 days (2 weeks) before we left, upon waking up, I would help Alina read the card for each day. My sister did an adorable job at creating little poems for each day, helping to introduce Alina to the various sections within the park, classic characters she didn’t know and safety rules (I added that day, of course 🙂 )

Disneyland Birthday Countdown

The countdown is easy to make. On construction board, attach blank greeting cards in a line, customizing to fit the area that you want. You could also add more days, making it a month long countdown if you wanted. The letters were made using the Cricut and the flags would attached to wooden dowels that you can find at Walmart or any craft store.

Each day on her Disneyland Countdown had an activity associated with it. Some of those days she even had a surprise waiting to be opened. I love that my sister didn’t go over board with the gifts though, since this year I wanted Alina’s birthday to be about the experience and not the presents.

Our First Trip to Disneyland! Countdown Activities

To give you an idea of what we did, here are some of our favorite countdown activities that Alina completed after reading that day’s card: introduction of several characters accompanied with either a coloring page or movie to watch (most movies we own and 1 was gifted from Alina’s Auntie), a hand written letter from Minnie and Mickey wishing Alina a happy 4th birthday (from my sister), Disneyland map according to a preschooler (link coming soon), Disney pajamas for the night before our trip, this aaa-dorable It’s a Small World book, her first set of Minnie ears to go with her Minnie outfit, how to stay safe at Disneyland printable (links coming soon), tickets to Goofy’s Kitchen, and the list goes on.

Alina is still a little girl, so she wasn’t sure what to expect on her first trip to Disneyland. I didn’t want her to get overwhelmed or freak out, so this countdown was a great way to introduce her to some of our favorite things at the park before we left for the happiest place on Earth.

I can’t wait to share all the wonderful details of Alina’s 4th birthday! It certainly helped to have spent some time talking about our first trip to Disneyland before actually taking our sensitive girl… some of those rides were too much for her.

But all in all it was a great experience and one I hope our little girl will remember for a long time!

To see more of our first trip to Disneyland, check out…

Theme Park Safety for Little Ones: Free “I’m Lost” Printable

Free Minnie Mouse Gift Tag Printable: Disneyland Birthday at Preschool