I am Amanda Bauner. On a normal episode, I say that I want to help you have the best time on your Disney travels, to the parks, resorts, cruises, and more. And I still do. But as of the date of this recording, March 14, 2020, things are far from normal in many ways. One major change is that Disney travels are mostly on hold due to the novel corona virus COVID-19. I say mostly on hold because, at Walt Disney World, the Disney resorts and Disney Springs remain open as of this date. Disneyland in California’s Downtown Disney remains open, but the Disney resorts will close March 16th.
So when Disney Travel isn’t an option – because of the extreme circumstances now, or because of money or lack of vacation time or other reasons… what are some ways that you can experience Disney magic at home? I’m going to share several suggestions with you, in the hopes that you find at least a few of them helpful to you. Several members of our Disney Travel for All community contributed their favorite ways to experience Disney magic at home.
I usually offer a magical mention in each episode, something to help make your Disney travels even better. Today, I am offering several magical mentions related to experiencing Disney magic at home, some which I’m sure you’re familiar with, and some that likely are new to you.
Disney Vacation Dreaming and Planning
- Plan your next Disney trip, even if it’s over a year away. Read other people’s trip reports. Make up touring plans at TouringPlans.com. Watch YouTube vlogs of people’s Disney parks vacations and Disney cruises.
- Make a Disney vacation savings plan for your next Disney trip. Create a fun Disney savings jar. If you have a family, come up with ways everyone can contribute to the savings jar.
- Watch and listen to general videos of the Disney parks and resorts. Here with the Magic and many others have beautiful videos on YouTube. Becky Fauskie shared that she also enjoys watching the park walk-throughs on YouTube, and she also enjoys watching or listening to the YouTube channels with land-specific music, like Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom.
- Speaking of YouTube, there are some great YouTube contributors of Disney news and much more. Here’s are some of my favorites and also some recommendations from the Disney Travel for All Community: DFBGuide (as in Disney Food Blog), BigFatPanda, DisLyfeofOurs, DSNY Newscast, Michael Kay, Inside the Magic, TPMvids, The Tim Tracker, Here with the Magic, and of course WDW Radio.
Disney Home Entertainment
Tony Stamatoplos suggested several of these.
- Listen to Disney music. I have Disney playlists on Spotify themed for each of the four WDW parks, a Disneyland playlist, a Disney cruise playlist, and a few obscure Disney playlists like one themed around the Grand Floridian Resort.
- Listen to Sorcerer Radio, it has different channels for different loops of park music, like the EPCOT entrance music loop, the Spaceship Earth attraction music, and much more.
- Carrie Zaray enjoys listening to attraction ride-through music and visualizing going through the attraction.
- If you haven’t already, subscribe to Disney+. There are Disney, Pixar, and Marvel movies, several Disney and Marvel TV shows, and some fun original series, like Imagineering, and the Mandalorian for Star Wars fans. And starting tomorrow, “Frozen 2” will be available to stream on Disney+!
- Listen to Disney podcasts! Some of my favorites (besides mine) are WDW Radio, DCL Podcast, and the Disney Dream Girls.
- Josh Fiedler suggests watching a Disney movie that you’ve never seen. You never know – it might end up being a favorite! My Disney movies that I’ve never seen, that I want to watch now, are Bolt and Meet the Robinsons. What are yours?
- Have a Disney movie marathon or a Disney pajama party. Let each person in the family select a movie. Or if you, like me, live by yourself, you get to select them all. Bonus points if you wear your favorite Disney attire!
- Becky Fauskie shared a new resource with me that I did not know existed – The Adventurers Club Web Comic. If you remember Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island, maybe you remember The Adventurer’s Club. This web comic is based on The Adventurers, and it looks like a lot of fun to read!
Disney Shopping
- Shop online for some new fun Disney clothes, accessories, games, etc.
- Buy some candles that smell like Disney scents! Check out Lisa DiNoto Glassner’s Core Memory Candles, and let the familiar scents take you back to your favorite Disney places.
- Watch Disney swap and Disney unboxing videos on YouTube, a big hit with Disney collectors. These videos may give you gift ideas, or you may see something you want to buy for yourself. Check out my friend Beth Hause’s fun and clever videos at The Collectionears Club on YouTube.
- Related to Disney shopping, Kelly Nighswonger shared that she typically wears something Disney everyday, whether it’s a pin, watch, necklace or earrings.
Disney Home Decor
- I collect magnets from each Disney resort when I stay there. I also collect the festival pass holder magnets, and Disney cruise line magnets. They are on a couple of boards in my home office. I also have a cute Minnie Mouse pin board in my home office. You can create a Disney display board with anything you’ve collected on your trips – magnets, pins, park maps, character autographs, and more. I have a Pinterest board with Disney display board ideas.
- This one is a bit of a longer project, but a fun one. Choose one room for a Disney-themed makeover. My home office is kind of Disney-themed, but I am about to go all out with the theming. I’ve created a Pinterest board with ideas, and I’m starting to plan how I want to organize it, what I want on the walls, what colors I want, all that fun stuff.
- This last one may seem a bit off the wall to you, but hey – we are in some strange times, so I figured, why not suggest this. Christmas is my favorite time of year. If you love Christmas like I do, and you need a lift, get out your Christmas tree again! Who cares if it’s March! Decorate it with only Disney stuff! Get creative – use construction paper, fabric, and drawings. I have a ton of MagicBands, and I link them all together like garland and put them on my Disney tree. Make ornaments following online instructions. You can print out photos of your favorite characters if you want to really go deep and make it a tree themed after your favorite characters or favorite Disney movie. Or make a spring Disney tree, it doesn’t have to be a Christmas tree.
Disney Food and Drinks
- Look up some of your favorite recipes from Disney restaurants, and make them. I did a quick search and found recipes for Dole Whips and Ohana’s noodles. Yum!
- Get creative and try to make your own Mickey pancakes and other Mickey-shaped food, like rice krispie treats.
- Enjoy your drink of choice out of Disney mugs, cups, and glassware. Carrie Zaray shared that she has a massive Disney Parks mug collection, and every time she drinks coffee out of one of those mugs, it reminds her of a different trip when she purchased each mug. I have another friend who has a massive Disney mug collection as well, I’m sure he can relate! I have a few Disney tumblers that I enjoy using, especially my Disney cruise ones.
Relive and Preserve your Disney Memories
- Dalia Nolan likes to reminisce by looking at cruise photos and past WDW and Disneyland trip photos. Dalia wanted me to mention that she also keeps looking at the baseball cap that she and her husband, Tom, won at Bingo, and she reminisces about how much fun Bingo and trivia were on our New Orleans cruise.
- Organize your Disney photos! If you’re like me, you have a ton of digital photos and videos dating back several years, from many Disney vacations, that need to be organized. This is a great time to organize them all. Here are a few ideas on how to organize your digital photos.
- Go one step further and create a slide show with your photos. Set it to your favorite Disney music, then use AirPlay or another method to display the slide show on your TV and watch with your loved ones.
- Make a scrapbook of your last Disney vacation! I have scrapbooked on and off since 1998. I have several Disney scrapbooks, some complete and some not. This is a great time to make those scrapbooks, either paper ones or digital ones. Often, we take so many great photos on these Disney vacations. We post some online, then the photos just stay on our phones or saved in a cloud. Put them somewhere that you can look at them often and remember what a magical time you had! Look online for tons of Disney stickers and other embellishments to order for paper scrapbooks. Or upload your Disney photos to a website like Shutterfly and create albums to order. You could also print some of your favorite photos and frame them or make a collage to hang on your wall. If you need some Disney scrapbook inspiration, I have a lot of it on Pinterest.
Disney Indoor and Outdoor Activities
- Kelly Nighswonger shared that she loves to put together her Disney jigsaw puzzles! Great idea, Kelly! I looked on Amazon, and there are several Disney puzzles on there, and elsewhere to purchase.
- You could also make a Disney game night and create your own Pictionary with a Disney theme. Many board games also have a Disney edition, like Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, and even Clue.
- If you live somewhere warmer, like Florida right now, go swimming and play Marco Polo, only change the names to your favorite character names – maybe Dory Nemo, or Goofy Pluto.
- Frozen Freeze Tag with Warm Hugs – I love this family-friendly idea from getaway today.com. Pick one person to be Elsa and one person to be Olaf. Everyone else is a runner. You will need a few cans of silly string. “Elsa” chases the other players and tries to freeze them with the silly string, which represents her power. If Elsa hits a person with the silly string, then they are frozen, and they have to wait in that position until Olaf comes and gives them a warm hug. Then they are un-frozen and can keep running and playing the game. The game continues until either Elsa has frozen all of the players, or until her power (her string) runs out. Then if you have more silly string, and you still have energy, switch roles and play again.
