Please help us make this trip special!

[88Keys]

I would use caution with autograph books -- many have said that they are treasured memories and I certainly would not deny that. However, too many children and parents we have found locked into "quest mode" with the books -- so much so that a good part of the vacation was spent finding characters to the point that instead of interacting with the characters, the children just shove the book at the character. Also, since it is a quest, be prepared to spend hours a day in lines and the sometimes disppointment of missing certain characters, which is inevitable. For an expensive vacation, that may not always be a good use of time. I wouldn't say to not do it, but maybe set up guidelines with your childern if you do (5 autographs a day, no line over 2 minutes, etc.)

 

[Danemom]

Oh my gosh - I love the glitter idea!! Too bad my kids are 6 & 8 and BOYS! LOL Not sure they'd appreciate it. LOL My youngest is a girl, but not even 1, so that idea wil =have to wait - but I do love love love it!! (betcha can't tell LOL)

This could be adapted to any favorite character. Donald Duck could leave a few feathers, Buzz Lightyear could leave 'moonrocks', Pluto could leave a few dog biscuits, etc. Think of your boys favorite characters, be creative, and have fun with it!

We always had small surprises for the kids each morning but I never thought to tie them into a character. I love that idea!

 

[DisneyDotty]

Isn't it fun coming up with ways to add to the magic of WDW? How special this trip will be for you and your family!
I've had good results with these two:
1. Buy at least one set of matching shirts for the family. As others have mentioned, the disney shopping site online offers lots of great shirts that can be personalized. We had several day's worth of matching shirts and got lots of attention from CMs.
2. Get everyone a Guest of Honor badge upon arrival. They can be found at the Christmas store at DTD, and at a store in each of the parks (ask a CM). They cost about $6 each and are personalized free. We wore ours everyday and the kids loved having CMs address them by name. It was an extra special touch--even had a lot of guests think we were CMs.

Other things I do to make our trip extra special (and easy on the budget) were to buy Disney stuff at the local dollar store and take it down/hand it out during the trip. Also, bring glow sticks from the dollar store and get them out during parades at night. Also, think of questions to ask the characters--really helps to make a meaningful character interaction.
Have a great trip!

 

[loriandmatt]

For my family's first trip (before the days of disposable cameras), my parents borrowed small, inexpensive cameras (remember 110 film and Disc cameras?) from family & friends so each of us kids would have our own camera. We were given one roll of film for each day of the trip and told to take pictures of the things and moments we most wanted to remember.

have to say that i do this for them every trip and even for friends and relatives kids who are going. (cheap disposable cameras - not the borrow a real camera thing.....although, they have cheap real cameras that might be just as inexpensive and they would have them for long after the trip.) especially for their first trip. they always seem to love it, especially since the camera is all their own to take whatever pictures stike them as cool.

We also do the pressed pennies (and now pressed quarters) and bring along at least a roll of pennies and two rolls of quaters on each trip. son loves collecting these.

 

[Julylady]

I agree with the poster who warned about waiting in lines for autographs. My strongest memory with of my first trip with my oldest nieces five years ago was waiting in lines for autographs. It just took up gobs of time.

On my last trip with my youngest niece, we scheduled character meals at Chef Mickeys (first night) and Storybook in Norway (2nd to last day). If she saw an autograph line and wanted to wait, we told her that we had either already seen or would see the character at a breakfast. We still let her take a picture of the character with her own camera (usually with someone else's kids on it). We only made an exception if the line was less than two minutes long.

One idea for your daughter....my 4-year old niece absolutely loves wearing her two Disney Store Princess costumes (Belle and Cinderella) to the parks. She gets a lot of attention from the CMs and it makes her feel really special. I think they are still selling them on-line if this is the kind of thing your daughter might like.

Have fun planning!

Donna

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I was telling one of my friends about some of the great ideas people have posted here, and she gave me another one to pass on to you all!

When she took her kids to DL for the first time, she bought each of them a Disney kids size backpack. She also bought (but didn't tell the kids) Disney stuff: coloring books, small picture books, twisty straws, little toys, stickers, etc. and some other misc. things like colored pencils and little race cars. Each day she would put a new selection of stuff in their backpacks and the kids were told not to look in the bags until they were in a longish line. Then in the line the kids could each pick something out to play with while they were waiting. She said it helped keep her kids excited even when they were standing in line, waiting for a show, or waiting for their food. The oldest did peek in the bags when she thought no one was looking, but the youngest was very forceful about keeping to the rules and would rat out his sister!

 

[disney-super-mom]

You can order a special welcome to WDW gift basket from www.disneyflorist.com and have it delivered to your room. They're a little pricey, but what gourmet gift basket isn't?

I like their "Unique Designs", so click on that (it's at the very top on the left) and see if something strikes your fancy. I especially like the Disney Family Treat Tote and the Mickey and Friends toy grouping. Sooooooo cute!

Hope you all have a wonderful and magical time there!

 

[Tinky Winks]

Wow! I never thought that there would be so many great ideas. I like the idea about the body glitter...My daughter will FLIP! She loves Tinkerbell.

The idea about putting something in the room is great, too. I will have to keep my eyes out for little things from the dollar store and Disney store. It will help cut down on the "gimmies" in the park, I suspect...

Thank you for the advice on autographs. The LAST thing I want to be doing is chasing down characters. I had no idea that the wait to see them could be so long. Once I thought about it, it made sense though. I have reservations for Character Breakfasts and Dinners while we are there so I hope that that will help.

You are all so creative and have great "little" suggestions - also love the "fairydust glitter" at the park!

 

[THE HAT]

for ds the best thing he loved (besides autographs and pressed pennies) was having some disposable cameras of his own. we made sure we had one for each day for him. (bought a bulk pack of them at sam's club) he loved taking pictures of whatever he wanted to. mostly ducks and not the donald one either. sort of odd but .

i always give him a disposable camera for the last day of school too, and then half way through the summer we get it developed. great way to break the summer hum drums. (ds would like summer vacation to be a week long then back to school as i said before )

oh and if you do the cameras, and are flying remember to put them in your carry on, or the checked luggage machines will ruin the film......lost a whole roll of ducks this way...oops.

 

[Leah and Emily's mom]

A trip to Disney is special especially the 1st trip. There is so much magic in the park that as a parent you don't have to plan the magic, it just happens. I think for our family just praying about the trip and not having the idea that you will see it all and do it all is the best approach. You can't plan the pixie dust it just happens. I would suggest allowing your children to wear a costume to the character dinners or in the park. The CM's were always HELLO PRINCESS - HOW ARE YOU SLEEPING BEAUTY-- my 3 year old who dresses at church and walmart in her costumes was just thrilled to have the extra attention. Enjoy your trip. The weather should be great!

 

[jorodopo]

When you said cutting down the gimmies at the park it reminded me of how we deal with that. My DS9 and DS6 are wonderful boys as long as they are not near each other. When they are too close for too long (like in lines) things never go well. So what we started about two trips ago was a point system. It is totally arbitrary and the power is all in the parents. We start off with 5 points each in the am. As the day rolls along if they are doing well we will suddenly announce that they have 8 or 9 pts. Or if they have issues we are suddenly at 2 points, etc. If they have 10 pts at bedtime then they get $5 to spend at the parks the next day. (it started out at $2/day but as they got older we upped it). Sometimes they save and sometimes they waste it (buy candy ). We've only had one day when one didn't get their "allowence". The gimmies become non-existent cause we just tell them to buy it if they want it. We have made loans in the case of expensive presents but then they work it off when we get home. To ward off nagging about "how many pts do I have?" we have an auto -2 pts if they ask more than once and hour.

Here's to a trip with NO GIMMIES!!!!

 

[MAGGIED]

My son is 12 ( 13 later this month) and he loves doing the pressed pennies as well. Get yourself one of the mini M&M containers and then put in layers the 2 quarter and one penny needed to make the pressed penny - make sure the penny is shining - it works better. The little container holds them pefectly and you won't be searching around in your bag for change.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Visit some of the resorts if possible-pool hop.

By all means, visit some of the resorts, they're all unique and some are beautiful!

But just a heads-up...pool hopping is NOT allowed, except by DVC owners, and not at all pools. They do check IDs at pools.