What Disney Tip Are you really glad you listened to?

[ZoZo]

Originally Posted by mapleleafmom

fast food gets old fast...and to make the most of our waiting time, we had bags with carrots and celery...nuts, dry cereal, granola bars, none of it really heavy, an apple for dd..pretzles.

I bring "Jif to Go" peanut butter from home. They're small "tubs" of peanut butter you can pair with apple slices or celery sticks (from CS restaurants and resort food court). Makes a healthy snack! I also bring raisins from home, and when combined with celery /peanut butter, you can make "ants on a log!" (from my summer camp days!)

[ksuskin]

Tip from TA. With unused snack or meal credits, ask them to pack up snacks/meals to take with you as you leave. Can eat at the airport or in the car. Prolongs the magic too!

[8lovesmickey]

This may be a repeat, but it's a great idea to take a picture of your ticket/ passport on your phone in case you lose it.

[MrsMommaRN]

My 10 year old is so picky about food. We have chosen to to the DDP on our upcoming vacation, to prepare my pickey eater, I have gone to various sites to collect the menus of restaurants on the DD Plan and have printed them. I have them in my planning binder so he can flip through them at any time.

[DiSZYme]

The might sound a little lame, and maybe not the most applicable now that fall is here, but the best tip I read was along the lines of "It's going to be hotter than you can imagine. Be prepared for the fact that you're not prepared for how hot it's going to be".

We're from Portland, OR. It's pretty mild (and frequently overcast and rainy) here. Knowing that it was going to be worse than I could be prepared for even if I thought I WAS prepairing for it, somehow really helped.

Everytime we'd walk outside and get smacked in the face with the relentless heat, everytime we'd have little rivers of sweat running down our faces and backs, every time I still felt muggy for 15 minutes after I'd entered a very air conditioned building...I'd think "They were right, I was not prepared for this".

And I think me staying calm (at least externally) about the heat helped my family not get as stressed as they would have about it.

Also, of course, I was prepared to know I'd need to take care of us through the heat so it wouldn't effect our trip. We drank water constantly. We took lots of breaks. We wore hats and even long sleeves (super light weight) some days and sought out the shadier paths when crosser the parks.

[jennykay]

Originally Posted by DiSZYme

The might sound a little lame, and maybe not the most applicable now that fall is here, but the best tip I read was along the lines of "It's going to be hotter than you can imagine. Be prepared for the fact that you're not prepared for how hot it's going to be".

We're from Portland, OR. It's pretty mild (and frequently overcast and rainy) here. Knowing that it was going to be worse than I could be prepared for even if I thought I WAS prepairing for it, somehow really helped.

Everytime we'd walk outside and get smacked in the face with the relentless heat, everytime we'd have little rivers of sweat running down our faces and backs, every time I still felt muggy for 15 minutes after I'd entered a very air conditioned building...I'd think "They were right, I was not prepared for this".

And I think me staying calm (at least externally) about the heat helped my family not get as stressed as they would have about it.

Also, of course, I was prepared to know I'd need to take care of us through the heat so it wouldn't effect our trip. We drank water constantly. We took lots of breaks. We wore hats and even long sleeves (super light weight) some days and sought out the shadier paths when crosser the parks.

Yep, it still applies in the fall. Hotter than you expect for September and October, and very humid. We live in the south (TN) so we are used to heat and humidity, but Orlando is a whole nother level of hot. Not to mention that you're walking around on pavement all day, which just makes you hotter. We will still plan on swimming in late October, while our friends will be wearing jackets and watching the leaves change in TN.

[tinktinktink]

I'm here now and it's hot! I made the mistake of not drinking enough yesterday so I felt dehydrated.

[tinktinktink]

I have been taking ibuprofen regularly this week while here. I think it really helps with the amount of walking you do here.

[Belle4311]

One of the best tips I got was that not all tips will apply to you, so don't get overwhelmed with thinking you need to follow all of them to have a great trip! Really think about your family and what your needs are.

For my DH and I, we found that for a young couple with no children, the following tips worked for us:

PACKING:
- We bring water bottles from home, fill with ice at the hotel, refill with ice at CS throughout the day. It's FREE! And believe me: drink, drink, drink. Even when it's cooler outside, you will get dehydrated. Drink water all day.

-I ship a box of mostly-used toiletries, first aid items, and our breakfast bars ahead of time. We do not check luggage....period. And bonus, because it was all mostly-used, we used them up on the trip and toss everything away, so almost nothing comes home with us!

-We bring a First Aid kit with: ibprofen, BlisterStick, moleskin, bandaids, Neosporin, sunscreen, feminine liners, antibac, and chapstick in a small ziploc bag in our backpack. It has saved us time and again. Moleskin and BlisterStick will save your feet. Seriously.

- I never do laundry. For many families with kids and a ton of stuff to pack, I can understand why this is valuable. But, for 2 people, I feel like it's a waste of my precious vacation time. I'd rather just bring what I need.

-I've been to Disney 7 times and I have yet to have the need for all those extra things people bring: over the door hangers, fans, misters, neck wraps, laungry baskets, etc. I'm not saying those things aren't useful for some people, but again...consider the needs of YOUR family.


PARK STUFF:
- I plan only my ADRs (maybe a few events like MVMCP or CP depending on the season) and let the rest be Disney magic. I don't plan ahead to get to the rope drop - we'll make that decision the night before. I make a list of the CS places we might be interested in eating lunch and decide when we're actually hungry. We plan on see everything we can, but at a more relaxed pace. We can't enjoy our vacation if we're racing through it. On that note, we RARELY make use of Fast Passes. We go during less crowded times and so it's never been an issue for us. We waited an hour for Soarin' once, but it had literally JUST opened. We find that racing around the parks to get FP and making an effort to get back to the ride at a specific time wastes just as much time as waiting in lines and is infinitely more stressful.

- Regarding DDP, on our last trip we found it was too much food for us. We're not snackers & we don't eat big meals. We ate breakfast in the room, used QS for lunch & TS for dinner. We ended up using snack credits on treats in DTD and we took them home. We never ate our lunch time desserts, either. We felt guilty for wasting food and DH wasn't happy that he couldn't get an app/salad instead of dessert. Also, we never tried any delicious snacks because we were so worried about being hungry for our CS/TS! We thought that we wouldn't get the plan again, but it was free our next time around and it is totally convenient, so we took it. But, this time around, we're going to only have our TS planned and otherwise, we'll eat snacks when we want or CS when we want. We're not going to worry about wasting anything or not getting our money's worth. It was free and we want to enjoy it. Bottom line, it's a great value and convenient, but if you're going to worry about getting every penny out of it or not enjoy the things you want to try, you're probably better off paying OOP.

-Part of the fun of Disney is meeting characters. But, you simply don't have the time to meet them all AND do all the rides, etc. So, each time we go, we make a list of the few must-sees and would-like to sees. We plan around the must-sees and everything else is left to chance. I also keep my must-sees list short: Pooh, Belle, Rapunzel, and Duffy (me) and Donald (DH).

GENERAL ENJOYMENT:
- I'm a HUGE planner. I tend to plan everything to death. However, I make a rule for myself that I'm allowed to plan like crazy up until the day before the trip. Day 1 of the trip and I let it all go. I trust that my planning has helped all it can and that everything will work out. I am able to enjoy my vacation and just let the little things go.

Happy planning, everyone!!

[Robindianne]

Very good advice and tips Emily.

[jennykay]

Originally Posted by Belle4311

One of the best tips I got was that not all tips will apply to you, so don't get overwhelmed with thinking you need to follow all of them to have a great trip! Really think about your family and what your needs are.

YES!! Such good advice! :

[disneydad78]

great thread!

[lucifie]

Originally Posted by earthfaries

Go to Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom as early as possible on your MK day. The pictures you get inside the park with no crowds that early in the morning are worth it!

Also, head to the back of the park and don't start doing the things in the front. Always good tips

We have 8:05 ADRs one day. Do they have Photopass photographers around at that hour? I would love to get some family photos in front of the castle without the crowds. If not, maybe we can find a nice stranger willing to do it.

[lucifie]

Originally Posted by satnin

When we went to Disney with a 1-year old a million years ago, a friend of mine gave me the best advice: take a roll of masking tape in your suitcase. When we got to the room, I was able to cover the outlets with a stip of tape, and I taped the dresser drawers shut so his little fingers wouldn't get caught in the drawers (because I knew he'd be trying to open and close them a zillion times). Even now, I take a roll of masking tape because I still find so many uses for it. It was a great baby-proofing solution for a hotel room!


Satnin

I've been a mom for 9 years and had never heard this before. Love it!

[lucifie]

Originally Posted by krystal276

or you're a light sleeper, invest in an inexpensive ($25 or less) white noise machine (I found ours a couple years ago for $19.99 at Target). The walls are paper thin and you can hear your neighbors' toilets flush as well as people passing outside your door talking or rolling luggage. Running the white noise machine while sleeping really cut down on the amount of times I woke up because of impolite neighbors. It especially helped DS2 who still takes naps each day.

You can also get white noise apps. I have a nice one on my Kindle Fire and it was free.