Help - Park rules - what they don't tell you

[Tiger926]

Another tip is that gas is cheaper at the Hess stations on property than off! We are amazed at the amount of people who gas up right outside Downtown Disney on SR535, when the Hess station seconds down the street is .25-35 cheaper! We always rent a car, so my hubby and I really pay attention to gas prices. We stay at Saratoga being that we are DVC members, so gassing up is not only cheaper but very convenient!

Regarding Florida water - Another tip we found out is that some Disney restaurants (not all as many DIS people report on these boards) filter their h20. We have allergies and sensitivities, so we can't drink tap water, so we always notice the water right away. A lot of table service restaurants use filtered water which tastes great. Remember too, if you can't drink the water, you then can't use the ice as they use the same water to make the ice! We see lots of people in the parks forgetting about this and then complaining about the taste of the ice in their juice or pop.

Have a great vacation, Tiger

 

[kimis]

Something else you may not know. WDW will ship anything (except food) to your home or to someone elses' home very cheaply. We did this on our last trip. You have to save the reciepts to prove you bought the items there plus that is how they figure out how much you owe to ship it. We shipped a pretty good size box from our WDW resort to Kansas to my son's family for only $10.00. That was a huge bargain. Plus if you have the items shipped straight from the store to out of state you don't have to pay taxes. Of course this allows you to buy more since you don't have to carry it home. So you see it benefits us and WDW. Have fun!

 

[MEG&MINNIE]

Something else you may not know. WDW will ship anything (except food) to your home or to someone elses' home very cheaply. We did this on our last trip. You have to save the reciepts to prove you bought the items there plus that is how they figure out how much you owe to ship it. We shipped a pretty good size box from our WDW resort to Kansas to my son's family for only $10.00. That was a huge bargain. Plus if you have the items shipped straight from the store to out of state you don't have to pay taxes. Of course this allows you to buy more since you don't have to carry it home. So you see it benefits us and WDW. Have fun!

Great tip Who does all the packing ...the store @ your resort , the front desk or you (the buyer)??? I think this would would cut down a awful lot when trying to pack all your stuff to go home. THANKS !!!

 

[Syrreal]

They will send whatever you buy to your resort for free. That way you don't have to carry it around the parks.

They can only do this until 2 days before you leave because the item will get to your resort the day after you buy it. So, if you are leaving on Sunday, the last day you can do this is Friday.

 

[FlaNative]

so then after that i didn't wear a bikini top at any of the disney parks, so i dont wear one at epcot now

So on your August trip to epcot, I bet you're really going to surprise the CM when you take off your t-shirt.

 

[LuvN~Travel]

The last time we went we bought the WDW mister fans, and didn't take long to find out that we could refill them with ice and water from any of the stands that sold them. Sure helped! Though I don't know if they would let you with fans that were purchased outside the parks.
Kim

 

[kimbac3]

I've always had the impression that the first aid center would take the magic out of the trip. I know they don't have Minnie darting about in a nurses outfit, but Is it Dr. Office like?

What did they give him to wrap up in while being repaired? I'm wondering if something even more embarrasing were to happen if they'd have a solution for that or if it's a "too bad" situation.

First Aid put the magic BACK into our trip . DD7 got a very high fever on our last day. It was about 10am and we were in MGM. We had a full day of hopping planned for our last day. I could just tell by the look in her eyes that she had a fever. We were staying offsite (where my kid's tylenol was ) so I decided to check First Aid. They were wonderful with her! They took her temp.(103!) and gave her some motrin. She wasn't in the mood to drink or take the pills till the told her that the lemon power aide is Cinderella's favorite and that's the official drink of Princesses
They even gave me some pills to take with me for later. They were great and we were able to enjoy our last day!
Kimba

 

[PottersMom]

broadway girl vs. Hockeymommy- totally OT
I work in a huge bookstore in a very popular tourist destination/retirement area. We have a very uniue mix of bratty kids and old people- occaisionally I see kids wearing those "heely" shoes and my personal reaction is mixed- as in I can't decide if I should throttle the child wearing them or the parent who bought them first! be offended by my comments- I'm offended by the dang shoes! Any parent that would allow a child to wear them in any place where there are likely to be a lot of people is clearly not using common sense. It's not "hockey rink", its a theme park/school/grocerystore/bookstore- whatever. I can't tell you how many times I have had a kid whiz by me at top speed when I am trying to work, or worse nearly miss a little old lady with a walker! even after they have been told to stop- and I guarantee even your little angels may be tempted to try them out when your back is turned. Thats what kids do. THe only way to prevent them is to not give them the opportunity.

 

[vellamint]

Something else you may not know. WDW will ship anything (except food) to your home or to someone elses' home very cheaply. We did this on our last trip. You have to save the reciepts to prove you bought the items there plus that is how they figure out how much you owe to ship it. We shipped a pretty good size box from our WDW resort to Kansas to my son's family for only $10.00. That was a huge bargain. Plus if you have the items shipped straight from the store to out of state you don't have to pay taxes. Of course this allows you to buy more since you don't have to carry it home. So you see it benefits us and WDW. Have fun!

So you are saying that, if at the end of our trip, if I realize that we have purchased too much stuff to fit in our luggage - lol - I can have Disney ship our stuff home for us? How is this done...at any resort gift shop? DTD stores? I bring the stuff and the receipts for them and they will ship them for us?

Thanks!!

 

[Hockeymommy]

broadway girl vs. Hockeymommy- totally OT
I work in a huge bookstore in a very popular tourist destination/retirement area. We have a very uniue mix of bratty kids and old people- occaisionally I see kids wearing those "heely" shoes and my personal reaction is mixed- as in I can't decide if I should throttle the child wearing them or the parent who bought them first! be offended by my comments- I'm offended by the dang shoes! Any parent that would allow a child to wear them in any place where there are likely to be a lot of people is clearly not using common sense. It's not "hockey rink", its a theme park/school/grocerystore/bookstore- whatever. I can't tell you how many times I have had a kid whiz by me at top speed when I am trying to work, or worse nearly miss a little old lady with a walker! even after they have been told to stop- and I guarantee even your little angels may be tempted to try them out when your back is turned. Thats what kids do. THe only way to prevent them is to not give them the opportunity.

I have to say that I am sooooo sick of the comments on this thread about the heely shoes I can hardly stand it!!!! You people act as if we are giving our kids guns or something . I'm truely sorry that other people can't, don't or won't have their childern behave the way they should whether it be in shoes or on wheels. I've seen my share of rotten kids, and guess what they are all wearing shoes while throwing fits on main street USA. I can see how it would be annoying to watch kids rolll over old ladies in walkers. However, it is really sad that you seem to lump all heely wearing children into the category of "brats". At this point I have half a mind to let my kids take their heelys to WDW and roll all day long just to show you that some people really do have a handle on their kids. Heck while I'm at it I might just pool hop, refill my CBR mug at Poly after I use my childs dining credits for an adult meal.

 

[seven dwarfs]

How do you wear these type shoes with so many people in the park? Seems a little dangerous to me. It is hard enough to walk there as it is, let alone wear heelys.

I have been run over by a child wearing these shows in WDW with the Mom close behind. It is sad that one person has to ruin it for others.

I think the shoes are neat but just not needed in Disney. I know if I had a pair it would temp me to abuse them! LOL

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

OP-

Some other things like the water tip might be found on the budget board- I know I've read creative things like buying a bun separately ( I can't remember the price offhand) etc.

Re: shipping- If you ship something home, you don't pay tax on it. The break even point is somewhere around 120-160, but take into consideration that it's packed away safely and you won't have to worry about overweight charges on luggage, too. And best of all, if something breaks in shipping, Disney will send you a replacement. One of my blown glass ornaments broke and I faxed my receipt over to Disney and received a brand new one. They usually make you send the damaged item back, but in my case, they didn't- maybe because of shattered glass. Now I ship almost all of what I buy back home! Only things I wanted to use on the trip (sweater, etc.) and chocolates did I have to fit in my luggage.

I sent two big figurines, a box of souvenirs and two boxes of discounted (30% off!) Christmas decorations back home in December.

Re: tips- As a former CM, I can vouch that those in non tipped positions (obviously waitstaff, etc. can accept tips) are supposed to deny a tip three times sincerely before they can accept a tip. They are then required to report it to their manager. In some cases, the est. value is taken from their paycheck. A few times people attempted to tip me. I always refused. One time, however, a family that I had met up with during my shifts a few times, stopped by to visit me on their last day and brought me a shirt and a card and a picture. I reported that to my manager since it was a gift bought esp. for me- not cash. So, if there's a CM in a non tipped position that you want to acknowledge, you could consider a little something like that.

Every store (even small ones) has sample sizes of advil, tylenol, pepto bismol, etc. if you're ever in need.

Every CM knows the CHIP hotline. If you have a question, or want to know when to see a particular character, any CM can get to a phone and find out for you where you can go.

If I think of anything else along these lines, I'll let you know.

On the OT subject of skates: Those rolling shoes are not permitted in any of the stores in my town due to kids knocking over store displays, as well as liability issues. One thing to consider before choosing to break the rule against rolling shoes is that if your child gets hurt because he/she is rolling around, Disney is not liable in any way due to the fact that they are against the rules. In addition, if someone else is injured, he/she could sue the parent of the child for negligence resulting in injury.

 

[plutolovr]

Just another statement about Heelys. My daughter is currently a CM at DTD and she said they're not allowed there either. She has to ask that they remove the wheels from the shoes. She said though that usually the parents/kids aren't aware that they're not allowed and she hasn't had any problems with anyone when told they couldn't use them.

 

[Step]

Well last year when my family and I were at Disney World none of the places prevented backpacks from being brought in. We had one backpack in which we packed snacks and those little single serving tea/lemonade mixes (to use in the bottled water). Funny thing is we never really ate the snacks as we found McDonalds fry stands .

We also heard about the ice and ice water rule. If I recall they wouldn't fill up one of our sports bottles but did give us the ice water in a cup. Which we then poured into the sports bottle.

They generally do that for sanitation reasons. You wouldn't want them touching hundreds of bottles a day to the water tap by accident, lol.

 

[cleocat30]

The strap bottle holders that are $3.?or so are well worth it. They will hold a water bottle you can keep refilling with the ice cups. They are easy to wear and not a bother. Well worth the money. We did the ice all the time. They were really nice about it.
They will send whatever you buy to your resort for free. That way you don't have to carry it around the parks.

Where can I buy strap water bottles?

Thanks!

 

[btmfdr]

I have to say that I am sooooo sick of the comments on this thread about the heely shoes I can hardly stand it!!!! You people act as if we are giving our kids guns or something .

I have to say I really am offended by your snide remarks! First and foremost my children are NOT brats due to the fact that they use guns. Secondly, you should not assume that most parents don't care if their children follow rules or not. The three of my kids have guns, they love them! As with all of their things they come with rules which must be followed at all times or they will have a consequence. I not only care that my children follow my rules but also the rules of anyone else they are with or anywhere else we go. Kids will be kids, have you heard that one before? For them it's all a learning curve at this point, you know learn as you go. By the tone of your post I would venture a guess that you don't have any guns, either that or you don't like the ones you have.

See how these things get started, as an advocate for guns and their safe use please leave them out of it....

 

[MEG&MINNIE]

Where can I buy strap water bottles?

Thanks!

I think at many of the same little stands that sell water and soda throughout all of the parks. They are great as they keep your hands free. I also think you can buy generic water bottle holders at Oriental Trading.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

My Ds is a special needs child. Ds is 16 and in diapers. The wonderful people at the first aid stations let us stop in and use one of the rooms to change him and get him all cleaned up. They also let us use one of the rooms at the Baby Changing Stations. We have visited them once when DS cut his foot (something got inside his sandal)They cleaned the cut, put cream on it and wrapped it. They even gave me gauze and tape for later on. They are the greatest people!! I also love the Baby Changing Stations!

 

[gabbygrennell]

My tip...
Use the baby changing stations... even if you have to go a tad bit out of your way!
1- They are air conditioned.... makes for a much happier baby/toddler
2- Your other kids are there with you, no fear of them walking out the door while your changing baby
3- This is a great place for nursing moms! My dd was no longer nursing on our last trip, but we did use them for changing her etc... I saw several moms nursing in there. JMHO but I would rather nurse there in the AC where it was quiet so baby wouldnt be sweating to death, and distracted by everything around us!
4-Still a great place for moms who are bottle feeding! Same reasons as above!
5-I think I recall that they had high chairs in there, if baby needs to eat some baby food... I think but cant be sure!
Ok, i that's it!


Oh no, one more tip!
Our kids each have their own fanny pack... they kept autograph books, pens etc in them. And snacks.
The snacks we thought were such a great idea, cuz if they got the munchies while in line, they could get them right out problem solved right... yeah, till they took out a package of smashed goldfish crackers!
This time we will pack snacks, just nothing that smashes easily! And obviously no chocolate! Even m&ms melt in your fanny pack! haha!

 

[goofydiz]

We just returned a few days ago. All the comments about "First Aid" giving tylenol or helping in other situations stuck in my head. When my daughter got a blister from her shoes, we brought her to First Aid. They were so awesome. They gave her these Band-Aids especially for her situation. Enough to last everyday of our trip.

Thanks! If I hadn't read about First Aid on the DIS - I would have wasted time going back to our resort to get the BandAids I forgot to pack in my bag!