Next year I plan to go to Disneyworld, as it is a significant year for our family. For my birthday, I decided to have a Disney day at home.
I got up, wore a Disney t-shirt, Mickey ears, and my magicband. I tried using canned cinnamon buns to make a Mickey shape, but they puffed in baking (delicious and extravagant anyway).
I turned on Disney+ and watched The Imagineering Story. I love hearing about how their teams overcame struggles and created wonderful things. Disney+ obviously has a lot of content for this theme, from the classic movies, fireworks shows and behind the scenes shows like Inside Pixar and A Day at Disney. They even have a show to put on in the background that is just watching the sun rise at different parks set to music (sort of like a tv Yule log, which they also have) for a full hour. Check out Zenimation and Dory’s Reef Cam too. If you don’t have the service, there’s plenty of other ways to get a Disney themed show- borrow videos from your library, watch tours on YouTube, look for travel shows on Amazon Prime or Netflix.
Speaking of the Library, I also checked out Creativity Inc, Walt Disney World Hacks, and The Disney Way.
I spent a lot of the day going through old pictures from trips to make a video slideshow, from one picture of me from the seventies in a weird metal stroller ( I only have my parents word it was at Disney, since there is nothing in the picture but us and palm trees!) to my most recent trip with my friends in 2018. The slideshow runs almost 12 minutes even with cutting a lot of pictures. I might do another one and focus on the places ( this one focused on the memories and family). There are some silly things that get me misty, like seeing my daughter standing next to a giant can of Playdoh first as a tiny girl, then with my tiny son, and finally with them together looking so grown up. During our honeymoon, it didn’t occur to us to have pictures of us together, we only have one because a stranger offered to take one. Perhaps we were burned out by all the staged wedding pictures. I love the picture of my husband joyfully pointing to a garbage can.
My husband braved the mall and got me a Walt Disney face mask. I plan on going to the Disney Store and Boxlunch when I am fully vaccinated ( soon!)
We made Dole whip from their official recipe, which is actually vegan, unlike the ice cream version I have seen on a lot of copy-cat recipes. That is also a fun thing for home Disney, making all the food. I am not a huge baker or cook. I wanted to make pretzels from my Disney cookbook, but never got around to it. I made cupcakes from a cake mix, made a simple chocolate frosting, and put on Mickey ears with Oreo cookies, perfect lazy birthday treat! We also got Mickey ice cream bars, but had them later, since the Dole whip was plenty. I put a glowing ice cube in my ginger ale, which made it fancy to me ( is it just me?), and had chicken samosas for dinner (like a tasting plate at the food festival).
I finished the day by watching fireworks, followed by Snow White. It wasn’t the same as being there (my feet didn’t hurt!) but all in all, a lovely birthday.
