Belleoftheboard
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2006
I spent a lot of time researching the Dis boards before we went on our whilrlwind 3 day trip, so maybe someone out there will find these tips I read about and tried useful. In no particular order:
1. After reading a million posts about Crocs I decided to buy a pair of the flip-flops. I am so glad I did! They were awesome--comfortable, light and stayed on really well. I am a very fast/hard walker so that can often lead to blisters. I wore the crocs on days 1 and 2 and gave myself a break on day 3 since I was starting to develop a few small blisters (which I think would have happened no matter what shoe I had on). I took the advice of somone else and made sure to wear them a few days before the trip to break in the part that goes in between the toes. I'm glad I did, because it was slightly uncomfortable at first.
2. On the packing boards everyone was talking about packing their clothes in baggies so I tried it. Here is what I loved about it: while searching the suitcase for something, I never ended up with a pile of unfolded, messed up clothes (because, frankly, I never unpack on a trip--I just live out of the suitcase). I just threw the bags around at will (great for a natural slob like me) and everything still stayed organized and easy to find.
3. I traveled with my DH, mom and 10 month old son. We stayed on property (Pop Century) and even though the transportation was free, at the last minute I got nervous and rented a car. I'm glad I did for 2 reasons: 1) DH and I had ADR's for Jilko's and The California Grill and getting there by bus would have been a nightmare, and the price of cabs would have practically paid for the rental 2) When my son was exhausted and dangerously close to melt-down, we could just zip home. The exception: on the advice of my "How to Do Disney" book, we took the bus instead of the car to the MK and it worked perfectly.
4. As DISers I know you all know this, but I can't stress it enough: GET THERE BEFORE THE PARK OPENS or as close to it as you can. It made all the difference for us in what and how much we got to see, since we were traveling with a 10 month old who had limits for how long he could go without a nap (not the kind of kid who will sleep much in the stroller, unfortunately)
5. To avoid lunch crowds, we got a box of doughnuts (covered on our dining plan as 1 snack) to eat for breakfast in our room. I also brought juice packs from home (I'd ice them first thing in the morning and in 15 minutes they'd be nice and cold). This saved time, plus we'd be hungry for lunch by 11am ish so we never encountered terrible lines.
6. If you have kids and want character pictures, consider doing it at Epcot. We found this by accident--it was MOBBED the day we were there and humid and 95 degrees to boot. Misery. We passed by a room (air conditioned!) where they had Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Chip & Dale, Goofy, and Pluto all in one place, so we quickly decided getting pictures done in air conditioning was a good idea. In a very short period of time we got our son's picture with all of them. Very easy and comfortable.
7. Someone suggested getting a stack of singles before leaving and putting it aside to use as tips. I don't know why I never thought of this before! Our trip was short and we had the dining plan, so I only brought $20 worth, but I used it to get a $2 cart at the airport (ripoff!!), to tip the skycap ($2 per bag), to tip the bus driver from the airport, etc. etc. It was nice knowing I always had change.
8. I put my son's cereals in little one baggie servings (which then were put in a larger ziploc) so I only had to carry one small baggie with me at a time.
9. I know this is a little over the top, but before we left I made up a brochure (using Microsoft publisher). In it I put all the 'touring plans' for the parks we were going to visit, our ADR numbers and times, directions to anywhere we were going to drive, and other information. This way, I could leave all books at home and just pack one light weight brochure in my pocket. Plus, it was fun to put together.
10. For parents doing the child swap: if you use it on Space Mountain, it's kind of a drag. The first parent goes on the ride, then the other parent gets to go, but they have to wait on the fastpass line--it's not like they get to 'cut' to the front or anything, so I don't see what you gain. This was the only ride we did the 'swap' on, but my DH and I agreed that we wouldn't have bothered if we had known we'd both have to wait in line 20 minutes each, by ourselves. Half the fun is sharing the anticipation of the ride with the person you're with.
Anyway, those are just a few tips I thought came in handy. Have a great trip and have fun!
1. After reading a million posts about Crocs I decided to buy a pair of the flip-flops. I am so glad I did! They were awesome--comfortable, light and stayed on really well. I am a very fast/hard walker so that can often lead to blisters. I wore the crocs on days 1 and 2 and gave myself a break on day 3 since I was starting to develop a few small blisters (which I think would have happened no matter what shoe I had on). I took the advice of somone else and made sure to wear them a few days before the trip to break in the part that goes in between the toes. I'm glad I did, because it was slightly uncomfortable at first.
2. On the packing boards everyone was talking about packing their clothes in baggies so I tried it. Here is what I loved about it: while searching the suitcase for something, I never ended up with a pile of unfolded, messed up clothes (because, frankly, I never unpack on a trip--I just live out of the suitcase). I just threw the bags around at will (great for a natural slob like me) and everything still stayed organized and easy to find.
3. I traveled with my DH, mom and 10 month old son. We stayed on property (Pop Century) and even though the transportation was free, at the last minute I got nervous and rented a car. I'm glad I did for 2 reasons: 1) DH and I had ADR's for Jilko's and The California Grill and getting there by bus would have been a nightmare, and the price of cabs would have practically paid for the rental 2) When my son was exhausted and dangerously close to melt-down, we could just zip home. The exception: on the advice of my "How to Do Disney" book, we took the bus instead of the car to the MK and it worked perfectly.
4. As DISers I know you all know this, but I can't stress it enough: GET THERE BEFORE THE PARK OPENS or as close to it as you can. It made all the difference for us in what and how much we got to see, since we were traveling with a 10 month old who had limits for how long he could go without a nap (not the kind of kid who will sleep much in the stroller, unfortunately)
5. To avoid lunch crowds, we got a box of doughnuts (covered on our dining plan as 1 snack) to eat for breakfast in our room. I also brought juice packs from home (I'd ice them first thing in the morning and in 15 minutes they'd be nice and cold). This saved time, plus we'd be hungry for lunch by 11am ish so we never encountered terrible lines.
6. If you have kids and want character pictures, consider doing it at Epcot. We found this by accident--it was MOBBED the day we were there and humid and 95 degrees to boot. Misery. We passed by a room (air conditioned!) where they had Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Chip & Dale, Goofy, and Pluto all in one place, so we quickly decided getting pictures done in air conditioning was a good idea. In a very short period of time we got our son's picture with all of them. Very easy and comfortable.
7. Someone suggested getting a stack of singles before leaving and putting it aside to use as tips. I don't know why I never thought of this before! Our trip was short and we had the dining plan, so I only brought $20 worth, but I used it to get a $2 cart at the airport (ripoff!!), to tip the skycap ($2 per bag), to tip the bus driver from the airport, etc. etc. It was nice knowing I always had change.
8. I put my son's cereals in little one baggie servings (which then were put in a larger ziploc) so I only had to carry one small baggie with me at a time.
9. I know this is a little over the top, but before we left I made up a brochure (using Microsoft publisher). In it I put all the 'touring plans' for the parks we were going to visit, our ADR numbers and times, directions to anywhere we were going to drive, and other information. This way, I could leave all books at home and just pack one light weight brochure in my pocket. Plus, it was fun to put together.
10. For parents doing the child swap: if you use it on Space Mountain, it's kind of a drag. The first parent goes on the ride, then the other parent gets to go, but they have to wait on the fastpass line--it's not like they get to 'cut' to the front or anything, so I don't see what you gain. This was the only ride we did the 'swap' on, but my DH and I agreed that we wouldn't have bothered if we had known we'd both have to wait in line 20 minutes each, by ourselves. Half the fun is sharing the anticipation of the ride with the person you're with.
Anyway, those are just a few tips I thought came in handy. Have a great trip and have fun!
and it's just me and the hubby 
so I look for this to be a relaxing vacation.
