Disneyland Theme Party - Backyard Disneyland

Disneyland themed party...(toddler and up)    I have never heard of anyone doing this for a theme but I thought it would be fun. 

First of all, the invitations were a copy of a real admission ticket and I just changed the information indicate the information about birthday party.  Next, I had to design the "rides".  My disneyland had Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Tiki Room, Space Mountain and Autopia.  I also had a mad hatter hat shop, a princess shop and minnie's sweet shop.  

First, I got ahold of 3 10'diameter inflatable pools, next, I put those outdoor canopies over each ride, then I had an inflatable pirate pool boat for the pirate ride, and I had 2 inflatable pool boats (that had kid motors at amazon.com, similar to the motorized wave runner or bumper boats that you buy everywhere).  I made 5 pirates by stuffing clothes with stuffing, and heads were out of styrofoam, I used squishy eyeballs (they have them at party stores but you see them everywhere around halloween), I used the teeth that are for kids at halloween to make them look like a vampire.  I used yarn for the hair, beard, and mustache.  I spray painted any junk I had lying around gold and put it in the pirates treasure box. 

I put a bunch of pirate coins at the bottom of the pool  to add to the effect.  I enclosed the ride with black tarps. I had a cd that I got from Walmart that had the "real" disneyland music and I placed the pirate song at that ride. After each ride they went on I gave them a pirate coin to use to buy stuff at the store at the end of the party.  Small world, I enclosed with blue tarps around the pool. 

I used vases upside down(bodies) and styrofoam balls for heads.  I used rugs to look like panchos, I used old jeans to make overalls, a hula skirt to make a hawaiian girl.  I put all the kids on lazy susans and taped a piece of string to them and as the kids were in the ride, the small world music was going, I would pull the strings to make the dolls move.  I had a cowgirl and cowboy, a spanish girl and spanish boy, an asian doll, a european doll, and a hawaiian girl and a hawaiin boy on a surf board but really was a mini skate board.  I had a sign with Welcome in those languages on it. 

Next, Space Mountain, a canopy covered in black with glow stars all around.  We had a fan in here because it was hot.  I had a ball that I put glow paint on at the top of the canopy and it looked like earth.  I also had a black light.  The ride was a little go cart ( like a power wheels vehicle) and we let the kids make 6 circles in the space mountain.  The jungle cruise, I had a pool and a motorized boat. The canopy was covered with green tarps.  Around the edges of the pool were plants that had died so I sprayed painted them green and had 2 paper mache animals hidden inside.  I had a croc, and a hippo. 

The elephant was a jumbo ball that I sprayed painted with primer, made the ears out of poster board (spray painted those too) then I had a grey hose that I bought from walmart for 5 bucks and I made a nose for the elephant but I cut a hole in it so that the water would squirt outward in addition to squirting up.  My 2 year old daughter loved sticking her hand in the water that was coming from the elephant ( I had the tarzan music going).   Tiki room was about 9 straw beach mats, and a couple of fake birds and the tiki music room going.  The object was to go into the room and jump on the two mattresses that I placed green outdoor carpet over and just move to the beat.  The kids loved it.   Last but not least, Autopia, it was a race track made out of tape on drive way. 

There was a castle I made from a refrig box (painted pink) and had 2 cement forms to make the castle columns and poster boards to make the peaks).  I set that in the middle of the autopia.  I also got 2 air walker balloons (one minnie and one mickey) they were 4 ft + tall but they were at Disneyland for the show.  I made a mini kitchen outside, I brought my microwave out and cooked on personal pizza with 2 bagel bite pizzas and made a mickey shaped head for the kids.  For the cake, I just put a wind up train on it with a disneyland castle sticker in the background.  For ice cream, I put a scoop of ice cream on a plate and added 2 mini oreo cookies for the mickey ears. 

After everyone ate and everyone went on the rides (one ride at a time, and one person at a time) they got to go shopping and buy, with their pirate coins what they wanted from the store.  I had all kinds of hats, (police, fireman, beach, peterpan, top hats, derby hats) but all hats I cut  out foam circles and put them on as Mickey ears on all the hats.     The kids had a blast and ranged from ages 2-9