Traditions?

[disneygirlie11]

What some traditions you do with your family at WDW? This will be our first trip with kids so I want to do some things that we can continue every trip. We already do Disney ornaments every year. Thanks !

[luvkatiebug]

You have to do a count down calendar at home before you leave. We are at 150 days right now, and I promised my girls we would start our countdown at 100 days.
We also buy an ornament every trip and I usually get several little things to put in our shadowbox at home.
Once we get there, we don't have that many traditions except meeting as many characters as we can and getting the passports at Epcot. My girls love Epcot so we spend a good bit of time there. Enjoy!

[buzznwoodysmom]

We have a tradition to do the same thing on our first day/night in wdw. After checking in, usually early to mid morning, we enjoy our resort for the rest of the day. We go to 6pm mass at a nearby church, then it's Ohana for dinner, followed by Wishes from the poly beach and a spin around the monorail loop.

I try to take the same picture of my boys, walking down main street USA toward the castle, arms around each other. It's amazing how they have grown since that first pic.

Our last stop before the drive home is always the poly. We take one last trip on the monorail. We also always throw coins into the fountain in the poly lobby on our way out, wishing to return again shortly. We do this on every single trip!

[ANG]

We buy an ornament, a tshirt for each of us, and a new pin for each.

We eat breakfast at Chef MIckey's on the last morning before we leave for home.

We also buy older pins in bulk off ebay and bring them to trade.

[T-Belle]

We also buy an ornament. And we always have breakfast at Kona Cafe to kick off our trip. We may order different things but we always toast our trip with a Mimosa (for me) and Wasabi Bloody Mary's!

[Tinksalot]

Tradition for our family is to start our Disney vacation at the Magic Kingdom the first day.

[BeccaO]

We always buy an ornament with the year on it and we ALWAYS go the Magic Kingdom first and make Pirates of the Caribbean our very first ride!!!!

[PETE FROM NYC]

DW usually gets a year marked Christmas ornament.
I used to get a skull from POTC til she put her foot down.

[Janmac]

We have various traditions that we don't always do every trip. We have certain restaurants that are must dos but if we miss them, it's still a good trip. Some traditions are location specific, like if we are staying at a MK resort, we must watch the Electric Boat Parade as much as possible.

One thing I think we have not missed in maybe 20 years is trying to pull the sword out of the stone near the Carrousel in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom. Even as teens, the kids in our extended family have to try to pull the sword. The photos are so fun, with the kids growing up, and how hard they try to pull.

We miss the ceremony they used to have and hopefully the stone and sword will continue to occupy that little piece of walkway.

So . . . pick some photo place - there are bunches everywhere - and start a photo tradition there. One good one, and easy to get to, is the totem pole outside the store at Wilderness Lodge. But there are lots of places - the speeder at Disney Hollywood Studios, almost anywhere along World Showcase Lagoon at Epcot, especially with Spaceship Earth in the background, maybe one of the dinosaurs along the Cretaceous Trail at Animal Kingdom.

Jan

[Tink#64]

We have a few traditions, mostly on arrival day! And some years I've tried to shake things up a bit & my kids have always replied - "But we always..." So we always arrive midday & spend part of that day at DTD, shopping & dining. We too always purchase the personalized Christmas ornament! We also like to ask someone to take a family photo of us in the winter themed statue setting just outide of the Christmas shop - this is great for Christmas cards! We also take a picture of our DS's in front of the Loch Ness monster in the lake there! It's so neat to look back & see them in the same exact setting, over the years & see how they've grown! After DTD we always enjoy some pool time on our first night, unpack & settle in for a good night's rest before our first park day!

Beyond that, it's mostly about we always visit the parks in the same order, we always eat here or there, I always get at least one new antenna topper! We always take midday breaks & go back to resort for some pool time & usually eat dinner poolside before heading back to the parks for the evening. And we always make the MK our first & last day parks, this has been tradition since our 2nd trip. We do have a few other photo op places that we always take pics, but that's about it.

[etibbetts]

We buy a new ornament and beach towel every trip. We also try to take pictures in the same spot. One of our favorites is the indian (now on Main Street). We have a great picture of my dad with my sister and I from 1984 and it was so fun to recreate it with my Dad and nephew and niece on our last few trips.

[minnie-mouse]

How old are your kids? We always let our DDs 6&9 pick out new charms each trip for the their Disney charm bracelets. Also, they get new pins for their lanyard. We always like to start our trip off at the same place, MK, of course.

[SandmanGStefani24]

my traditions are more "grown up" traditions, but some are good for everyone...here are the biggies

`im not a pin trader, but i like to get one unique pin each year to keep.

`i always eat at Tokyo Dining every trip. It's usually a light meal, or snack, but I never have to worry about ADR, and just walk up.

`mickey ear ice cream

`i like to sit and have a drink or two at the poolside bars at the resorts. I love to see who sits next to me, and i always like chatting with people i don't know. i always meet the coolest people doing so.

`i ride Spaceship Earth multiple times before leaving, but I like to do the second/third/ect times in a different language. Sometimes it's a language i speak, sometimes not so much. It's just fun.

[disneygirlie11]

Thanks for all of the replies! My son will be 2 months away from 3 & my daughter will be 18 months. I love the idea of taking the same picture every year! Also, I do the charm bracelet for myself, so ill definitely start that for my daughter. Thank you for all the great ideas!!!

[c&d]

On the first night at VWL we always eat at Trail's End and on the final night we eat at Artist Point.

Although your children are still young, we always spend one night in the arcade playing games as a family. I even won the top prize in the stacker game once.

[BigRedDad]

My father passed away a little after my DD's first trip. She and my dad had so much fun on the trip together and we have so many good memories. Every time we go now, DD will draw and write a card for her grandpa. We buy a balloon on Main Street, tie the card to it, she gives it a kiss, and lets it go to grandpa in Heaven.

Its a sad start to the happiness, but it reminds her of how special that trip was.

[DonaldDuckUSA]

Funny you should bring this up.

My dad passed away two years ago, but we used to do a lot of Disney together. I'm trying to recall a few of our traditions, but mostly we did what we could and when it was the best time, so we changed a lot of plans around each trip. We did eat a the hibachi restaurant in Japan a lot. We tried to fit it in every trip.

Now that he is gone, DBF and I are trying to build a life together and so we're starting to create our traditions.

We make it a point to go to the food and wine festival every year, despite whats going on in work. It's a little difficult because he works in politics and I work in elections so September/November are REALLY busy times for us.

Each year we alternate the "starting direction." We head towards Canada one year, and then towards Mexico the the other. That way we don't miss out on the "end" stuff each time because we're full. We also try to eat at Prime Time every visit.

[DonaldDuckUSA]

My father passed away a little after my DD's first trip. She and my dad had so much fun on the trip together and we have so many good memories. Every time we go now, DD will draw and write a card for her grandpa. We buy a balloon on Main Street, tie the card to it, she gives it a kiss, and lets it go to grandpa in Heaven.

Its a sad start to the happiness, but it reminds her of how special that trip was.

Aw, that is really really nice. Really nice.

[AllDisney]

Our very first trip to WDW was when our daughter was 3 1/2. As the years passed we made it a tradition of seeing Fantasmic the first and last nights of our trip.

Cut backs have impacted the show being every night so now we work around the show and still make sure we see it twice while at WDW. Hopefully, it will be the first or last night

[Dream'nDisney]

We usually get checked in to the resort and then head to DTD (since we don't usually have a park ticket for our arrival day) and get a personalized ornament made. Another tradition is going to our favorite restaurants. During our planning, each family member gets to pick one favorite restaurant to make reservations. We also have pictures taken in the same place (i.e. in front of the castle). It is fun to see how the children have grown. In our first picture, I am holding our 17 mo. old son. Now he's 6'1" and towers over me!