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CEDAR HILLS — There was Splash Mountain on one street and Star Wars droids on another. The fun continued with a Mad Hatter tea party, a Jungle Cruise, and a journey on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
Disneyland might be temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that didn’t stop one Utah community from bringing “The Happiest Place on Earth” to them.
On Monday night, Cedar Hills was filled with a bit of magic as neighbors on eight different streets decorated their homes to look like the famed park. There was Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and more ready to be explored. In all, around 35 homes participated in creating the mini-version of the park.
“It was so fun because everyone got to get out and still social distance, but see our neighbors that we haven't seen in so long and just walk around the neighborhood,” said Aimee Augustus, who helped organize the neighborhood-wide activity.
In the evening, the Cedar Hills neighborhood is often filled with families walking together. It’s always been the case, but in the time of social distancing those walks felt even more significant. One resident thought of a way to make them more enjoyable for the kids.
A few weeks ago, Heidi Spann came up with the idea of doing a neighborhood zoo where families could put pictures of animals in their windows to provide kids with some extra fun as they strolled around the community.
The kids had fun doing it — so, she thought, why not try something a little bit bigger? The idea to replicate Disneyland was born.
Her neighbors took it and ran with it — and then some
Using a community Facebook group, each of the eight streets in the community was assigned a different area of the park — Main Street USA, New Orleans Square, Tomorrowland, etc. — and then each house on the street was given an attraction from that area.
The thought was it would be much like the zoo — residents would put up pictures of the attractions in their window to give kids something to look at. But when things started to get set up, Augustus and the rest of the neighborhood were in for a treat.
“I was shocked. I was really shocked, “ she said.
One neighbor had designed a full Mad Hatter Tea Party with props, characters, and had decorations hanging from a tree. The neighbors assigned to the Alien Pizza Planet went to the trouble of not only making their home look like the restaurant, but also ordering pizza to pass out. And the Indiana Jones Adventure replica even posted the wait time for the ride (it was 155 minutes — a sure sign they were going for accuracy).
Each house also featured hidden Mickey Mouses that kids could look for and find.
On Sunday night, as Augustus and her family were decorating their home, they started to peek around at the neighbors to see what they were doing. Soon, they were adding and designing more for their own display.
“It was great to just see everyone got creative,” Augustus said. “I had one mom tell me that she just needed an outlet this week, that she just needed a project to do, and this was it.”
The community organized a magical hour on Monday where the fun exhibits wouldn’t just be seen but experienced. In that hour, there was music playing and neighbors handing out treats (in a socially distanced fashion), as the neighborhood tried their best to look like a mini-version of the beloved park.
Augustus guessed that around 50-60 families made their way through the neighborhood.
“Some people took it kind of to an extreme and some people just did what they could do and it was all great,” she said. “It was fun. It was something to do and we got to see everybody else and still social distance. It was just nice to have something to do at this time when everything is getting canceled.”
