As you know, we head to Disney World every January for JustaBXgirl’s birthday. Some years, we are lucky enough to do more than one trip to get our Disney Fix. This year we did Disney World and Disneyland Paris but I would be lying if I didn’t say that we were missing the pixie dust already. While we still have a few months before we will be celebrating with Mickey, Minnie and the rest of our Disney friends, our friends at Disney recently sent us a little pixie dust to share with our friends at home. We were selected to host a #NowMoreThanEver Disney themed play date as a way to share so much of the new fun happening at the parks with our friends locally. You can check out our IGTV unboxing video to see what was in our playdate box.
We are always up to host a party so we just had to decide where and when to hold the festivities. JustaBXgirl and I also love being outside and discovering beautiful locations not far from home. Since we couldn’t transport our friends to Disney World we decided to host our playdate near Belvedere Castle in Central Park. The Castle has recently been renovated and is back to being open to the public. A few months ago, while it was still under construction, Karina and I walked by it scouting a location for a JustAPlayDate event and found this magical little spot with grass and fairy benches almost directly underneath the castle. I just knew this would be the perfect spot for this play date. Now before I get more into the playdate let me take a moment to tell you my number one rule for vacationing at Disney…DO NOT MAKE PLANS!!! This probably goes against everything you have ever read about visiting Disney but it works for us. There is always so much to do at the parks that whenever I truly try to play I get overwhelmed and filled with anxiety which in turn makes the experience less fun for both me and JustaBXgirl. We know more or less what we want to do. We always know more or less what we want to do and see but we give ourselves the freedom to know it is if everything doesn’t get done. And the best part is since we don’t necessarily have anywhere specific at the parks to be we always manage to find something new. Yes, even after six trips to Magic Kingdom we still find new stuff every time.
That’s kind of the lesson that I took away from our Disney Princess playdate. I envisioned a day of mini Disney Princesses frolicking through the grass under the visage of Belvedere Castle. It just so happens that it didn’t quite happen that way. The date scheduled for our playdate happened to be one of the hottest days of the summer. Heat advisories, canceled concerts and the weatherman telling people to stay inside did not scare us. Sadly, it did keep a few of our friends from joining us. The area that I had envisioned being the perfect backdrop was not to be. The grass was dried out and there were no smooth areas for us to set-up. That didn’t stop our little princesses from enjoying the castle. They were excited to climb up the steps and kept giggling together going on about being in a real castle.
Once they got their full of scenic Central Park views we found a playground within Central Park that had sprinklers and a shaded area to set up our festivities. It ended up being the perfect place to celebrate with friends. Speaking of celebrating, have you seen Mickey and Minnie’s Surprise Celebration costumes? We loved seeing them on display during our last visit. Sadly we didn’t get a picture together with them in the fabulous attire but you have until September 30, 2019, to check them out and get your own shot. Our princesses decided that they would celebrate in their Disney t-shirts for the first half of the party, then changed in order to get wet in the sprinklers and finally ended the party decked out for a ball in their own Jakks Pacific Disney costumes.
The girls were invited to bring along their Disney Princess dolls, JustaBXgirl and I discussed which of hers she should bring. At first, she considered bringing a few of them but told me that she worried she would have too much fun with her friends and might lose some. On the day of the playdate, she decided to bring Rapunzel so that they could be #TWINSIES! Once the girls finished playing in the sprinklers they decorated Minnie ears, did some coloring and found us a place to hang the pinata!
We even found a few chipmunks, birds, and squirrels in the park. If you’re looking for some fun animals at the Disney Parks check out the Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is one of our favorite places to visit and we got to see the Festival of the Lion King live. It was so beautiful! And with the release of the live-action movie your little might not confuse little Simba with Kion! And don’t forget to catch the Hakuna Matata Time Dance Party happening on Discovery Island daily.
And just like when we get back to our hotel after a day of fun exploring all the magic that Disney holds my baby came home from exhausted from all of the fun she had with her friends. She was happy to curl up in bed with another special friend sent to us from our friends at Pillow Pets.
While we were sent a box of goodies, please don’t think you can’t host your own playdate with less. All of our guests already had princess costumes of their own, as I’m sure you’re princess does. We had yummy treats from Popped Passion, which I highly recommend you try yourself but remember that kids are happy with some goldfish and lemonade. I found the coloring sheets online and the decorations can be found at your local favorites.
