Ideas needed for school carnival

[Kwit35]

Calling All Imagineers!
I work at a residential/nonprofit school for individuals with special needs. We are located outside of Philly. Each year we host a themed carnival which is intended to bring together our residents, their families and friends, and the community around us. We do not make any money off the event, but we still go all out to make it a great day for all. Next year we are planning a Disney themed carnival (gee, I don't know were they got that idea . I have already suggested recreating the castle out of plywood and paint, and covering our existing building. I did this once before when the theme was a taste of Philadelphia. I covered the front of the building with Independence Hall. It looked pretty cool and I know the castle will look great.
I thought we could have a Grim Grinning Ghost shooting gallery. I will make the hitchhiking ghosts out of plywood for the background and have grave stones that can be knocked over with balls. I will recreate several scenes from Small World for our hay ride.
Any other ideas? Is there anything that Disney would be willing to help with? We have had several characters at our school for Meet and Greets. Bear was there, and Mickey. I would love to get them again. Do they ever rent out old costumes? I would be willing to go through training if need be. Is there a warehouse or something where they keep old props or costumes?
Any ideas would be very helpful. The carnival is a year away, but I would like to start building props and games now. And I would also like time to contact Disney to ask for their help. My boss and I might actually come down for a long weekend, just to get ideas. I LOVE MY JOB! :sohappy:

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Wow! What a wonderful idea! I love all of the thoughts that you have so far.

The only other thing I might be able to suggest is working with the local Disney Store through their Voluntears program for some more help or ideas. That may be the only way to get a character there...I'm not sure though. How far from Philly are you? Maybe you could go to King of Prussia mall store and ask them for help. I know that they have a voluntears meeting every month so many Disney Stores from the area could get involved. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

TheDisneyGirl02

 

[KevinPage]

I highly doubt, make that almost certain Disney would not sell old character costumes. Just think about it, you would see every idiotic act imagineable on the news with people wearing those things. Not to mention they want you to only be able to see the characters at the parks.

Good luck though, sounds like you have alot of (fun) work ahead of you

 

[Kwit35]

Wow! What a wonderful idea! I love all of the thoughts that you have so far.

The only other thing I might be able to suggest is working with the local Disney Store through their Voluntears program for some more help or ideas. That may be the only way to get a character there...I'm not sure though. How far from Philly are you? Maybe you could go to King of Prussia mall store and ask them for help. I know that they have a voluntears meeting every month so many Disney Stores from the area could get involved. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

TheDisneyGirl02

OOOOhhhhhh! Great idea! We are, indeed, near the KOP mall. I will stop by this week and check it out. THANK YOU!!!

 

[Kwit35]

Still looking for ideas for games, rides, props, entertainment. My playgroup will be performing Alice in Wonderland to get the day started. But still looking for more ideas.

 

[WDWScottieBoy]

Um....a puppet show using Disney characters. A movie room showing different Disney movies for the children to relax at. You could try to do something with buckets of water and make a game out of it (using Fantasia as the theme). I don't know how or what you would make of it but I think you could come up with something really cool with that theme. Like, see who can go from one point to another and fill something up and whoever gets their cup filled first wins. Those are dumb ideas but something you could add upon to make work.

 

[Maria]

Something with Cirque du Soleil, a jugling contest maybe, a trampolin for kids, make up artist for boys and girls, a clown making balloon figures....etc.

 

[Kwit35]

These are the kinds of ideas I am looking for. Thank you. More, more, more!

 

[imagineer boy]

Maybe instead of the Haunted Mansion being a shooting gallery, you could make the hey ride have a Haunted Mansion theme instead like "The haunted hey ride" with people and props make to look like ghosts, madame leota, ect. IASW could be could be a doll shooting gallery :lol: ( j/k about the dolls ). WHy not some sort of throw ball into the cup and win a doll game for IASW? The shooting gallery could be based on Buzz Lightyear's space ranger spin instead. And maybe a trycicle obstical corse based off of space mountain? Those are a few of my ideas. More to come!

 

[Spoonfulofsugar]

Perhaps you could do something with Pirates since they have so popular lately. You could probably do face painting with Nemo or any character for that matter. I am not sure what is available, but my students love decorating sugar cookies. Maybe you could make Mickey cookies for them to paint with icing (once again, many characters, etc. could be used).

These are just a few off the top of my head, but if I think of more, I will post them. Good luck, and have fun!

 

[Nicole]

What about making a sit-in photo opportunity to look like a Dumbo car? Or a teacup? We had a 50s sock hop for my kids' school several years ago and one of the most popular activities was getting to have your photo taken wearing a leather jacket sitting on a (very nice) Harley.

 

[imagineer boy]

Perhaps you could do something with Pirates since they have so popular lately. You could probably do face painting

There's a thought. Maybe there could be a Pirate face painting booth. Face painting that can make them look like cursed pirates from the move.

 

[Maria]

You mentionned something about It´s a small world... what about having like "Kidcots" where they make flags for different countries? Or paper flowers like the ones for hawaiian luaus? (I know I made several of both while I worked at the kidcot in the Mexican Pavillion)...

 

[TTA Traveller]

Maybe a dunk the villain tank? Or Pie the villain stand? :lol:

 

[cloudboy]

First – ears. Get some cheap headbands and cut out some ears out of cardboard or plastic, and glue them to the bands. I don’t know how many people you have, or whether they would tolerate something on their head, but for those who would enjoy it…

Dime toss games are really easy to make. Get a flat piece of plywood and paint it bright color (like Yellow). Then get a stencil of Mickey, and paint Mickeys on the board in a contrasting color. How big and how many depend upon how tough you want to make the game. For something even simpler get a bunch of Mickey cups, and they can toss ping pong balls or dimes or whatever into them.

Sound is a huge factor, so make sure you are playing Disney music. It even helps if you have something themed that you play music to that theme there.

If you check around, you may be able to find someone who has a ride or two (I’m talking moon bounces or those little trains that they can set up). See if someone can help you out there. There are also places that rent costumes (look under balloons).

This is in no way Disney themed, but one of our biggest games was a turtle race (Yes, I know this is totally un PC). We would catch a few turtles in the nearby pond, and then for the game, it was done in a round booth. Along the edges were little boxes filled with grass, all numbered. Players would get paddle with a number (anything that they can make a racket with, and paint a number on it), and then they would try to coax the turtle into that box. The turtles were placed in the center, and everyone would make a racket with the paddles. If you have someone who is a ham this is most fun game you have ever seen!

Have a parade, but have the kids make up their own parade. If they have something like bikes or something they could decorate those – otherwise they get to dress up. You can even get those light sticks (look around on the net – a number of places sell them in tubes) and they can have a nighttime parade.

Sorry I can’t come up with anything else right now. I will add more if I think of something.

 

[Not For Sale]

The real challenge is how do you get the feel of Disney when you are non-profit? :drevil: :lookaroun

 

[cloudboy]

you could have a game based on Nemo. Find a bunch of colorful floating fish at the toy store - the soft plastic kind work well. The hot glue magnets to them. Get some dowels, and tie a string on the end, and from it hang another magnet. Fill the pool with water and the kids can go fishing for Nemo. If you can find someone who has those plants with the long, pointed leaves that look like seaweed, even better.

 

[Kwit35]

Wow, Wow, Wow! Love these ideas.
We always do face painting, that is a must.
We usually rent activities like moon bounce and super slide. We found a moonbounce that looks like a pirate ship, so that will be there.
I love the fishing idea. Cookie idea. We will probably get 20-30 ears at Disney, and give them away as prizes, but I really like the idea of the kids making their own ears. I really like the picture booth idea. We have done that in the past, then make the pictures into buttons that the kids can wear. I forsee a lot of painting in my future (Dumbo, Space Mountain coaster car, Tea Cup...).
I will be using alot of these ideas, Thank You So Much!!!

 

[Kwit35]

Okay, we are in full planning mode for our carnival. My school is actually sending myself and one other woman down to Disney to get ideas for theming, food, activities, rides... We are trying to get into the Backstage Magic Tour. So, has anyone been on this tour? It is worth it? ...and, Does anyone else have ideas for our little carnival. This is one of the biggest events at our school, so we go all out. We try to break even, we never make money on this event. This event is just a great day for our residents and thier families.