Disney Family Night: The Lion King

One of the (many) things we're doing in preparation for our big trip to Disney World is to have a Disney Family Night about once a month until we leave . In short, we pick one of our favorite Disney movies and then create a themed night around it. It's a fun way to bridge the long wait!

Last weekend we celebrated The Lion King. (cue the music: "...it's the circle of liiiiife and it moves it us alllllll....") :D

Here's what we did:

While dinner was grilling, we listened to The Lion King soundtrack and looked through the contents of our Africa Continent Bag.

~photo taken by Mstr. James, Up and Coming Photographer~ :)

James and The Hubs also enjoyed a few rounds of "Find the Lion Cubs". They took turns hiding James' little stuffed animals around the house and went on "safaris" to find them. :)

For dinner I decorated the table with some straw mats and giant placemats shaped like leaves. I've had those leaf mats for YEARS (like, over 10!) and this is the first time they'd been used! I also created little cards for each food item.

Here's what was on our menu:
:: Savannah Salad (mixed greens with various veggies)
:: Zazu's Chicken Legs (grilled drumsticks)
:: Pride Rock Potatoes (roasted rosemary potatoes)
:: Broccoli Tree of Life (steamed broccoli)
:: Timon's Grubs Under A Log (aka ants on a log... you know - celery, peanut butter, and raisins. I turned the celery over to give it the "under a log" effect. :D)
:: For dessert: Rafiki's Banana Pudding (instant pudding with a few animal crackers on top)
:: To drink: Jungle Juice (I used this recipe from Disney World's Animal Kingdom Lodge - YUM.)

Since our menu was so large, I only made a little of everything. And we still had left overs. (Score! No cooking for me the next day!)

After dinner we had a look through the Africa pages in our favorite Children's Encyclopedia.

Then we watched the movie. And what a good one it is, too. I created a game for us to play while we watched: I selected and printed out various memorable quotes which we all had to listen for. If one of us heard a quote, we'd "steal" the crown from the last person who heard a quote. It was fun and a neat way to really listen to the movie and the message.

Here's my favorite quote:

Ah yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see, you can either run from it or learn from it. ~Rafiki

At the end of each Disney night, James randomly selects the next theme from a basket. Coming up: Toy Story!

Click here to see our other Disney nights - there are more to come!

~Thank you for your comments!~