Nancy for Disney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2008
- Messages
- 1,114
We just got back last week and I thought I would share the tips I am glad I a listened to:
1. We had water shipped from Cosco. This was the best tip of all. It was only $8. I ordered it on a Monday and it was there when we got there on Friday. It was great knowing we had the water available.
2. Ponchos. I brought 2 cheap $1 store ponchos for everyone. I was glad I had them. I also think the lady that was carrying an infant in the pooring rain tryint to get out Fantasmic was also glad I had a spare since I gave her one.
3. The over the door shoe holder. There would have been no other good way to store all of our tiny supplies. We had 5 people in a room at POR. The only thing was that the hooks didn't fit over the bathroom door. I had to put it on the clothes rod. If you can find one that goes on a closet rod get one of those. It worked just as well though.
4. Having all my laundry supplies ready to go. I had a bag w/ my quarters, dry degerent, and dryer sheets. While my family slept in after an EMH I just grabbed our laundry and went. I didn't use a laundry bag to keep our dirty laundry in though. I just threw everything into an empty suitcase as it begame dirty. I was then able to wheel it to the laundry room.
5. Photopass share. Thank you to the DISer that came up with the Aug photopass share. I can't wait for my pictures. I would have never spent $100 for it but I am glad I was able to get the pictures.
6. Arriving at the parks early, taking a break and then going back. This was the best tip of all. On all but 2 of our 7 days of going to the parks we got there at opening. The lines were short and we were able to go on many rides. My kids were able to ride EE 7 times thanks to getting there early, getting a FP and use of child swap. I also knew that our only hope of riding TSM was to get to HS at opening. I had originally planned our HS as a sleep in day. I must say that while I liked the ride. It wasn't worth all the effort it took to be able to ride it. People were in a 2 hr line when we used our FP. Those people are crazy!
Some of the things I did that I wish I didn't:
1. Stay at a moderate resort so we could use the nicer pool and the ferry to DTD. We only went to the pool with the water slide once. I kept asking my kids if they wanted to go the pool with the slide and they said they liked the quiet pool better.
We only took the ferry to DTD once. It rained on our way back so we had to take the bus. We really could have used the extra space at the family suites at All Stars even though I think it would have cost us $300 more.
2. Getting the DDP. I have mixed feelings on this. I am glad we did it at least once. I am not sure that I would do it again. I would really have to crunch some numbers before making that decision. It doesn't sound like a lot of food but it is. We ended up with 4 unused CS credits. On our last couple of days were were strongly encouraging our kids to get snacks. It was nice that we were able to do that though. Normally we are always telling them no. We also ended up throwing away a lot of the CS desserts. I think it is sinful when there are starving people in this world that we throw out perfectly good food. By the way, I brought breakfast food so we ate breakfast in our room. I brought way too much of that too. We aren't big breakfast eaters anyway.
3. Bringing the single serving kool aid was more trouble that it was worth. DD7 tried making her own and would spill the powder. What a mess.
While my kids like kool aid and liked having it. They were getting plenty of sugar in other things. They really needed just plain water.
4. Carrying misting fans. I think I only used the misting fan a couple of times. Everyone says how miserable Aug is. Yes there were some hot moments but there would have been hot moments in the midwest too. Most of the rides are indoors. If they aren't there are plenty of fans in the line to keep you cool. The only line that looked absolutly miserable was BTMRR. They do have you in that line like a bunch of hot, rotting sardines. Fortunately, I had a FP.
5. Autograph books. I don't think if I had mentioned them to my kids they would have known or cared about them. I spent hours downloading clip art and printing cards. I did print someone's passport pages from the Creative DISigns thread. Those were nice. They did have some cool autograph books at the gift stores that on one page there was room for a signature and on the other page there was a place to insert a picture. They were $10. I would have spent the $10 on one of those as I think it would have been a nice keepsake. There would have been no fumbling around for the autograph page then.
That is it for now. If I think of anything else I will add it. Overall we had an absolutely wonderful trip. Possibly the best vacation I ever had. I hope to go back to WDW again. Right now it looks like that won't be until 2010.
1. We had water shipped from Cosco. This was the best tip of all. It was only $8. I ordered it on a Monday and it was there when we got there on Friday. It was great knowing we had the water available.
2. Ponchos. I brought 2 cheap $1 store ponchos for everyone. I was glad I had them. I also think the lady that was carrying an infant in the pooring rain tryint to get out Fantasmic was also glad I had a spare since I gave her one.
3. The over the door shoe holder. There would have been no other good way to store all of our tiny supplies. We had 5 people in a room at POR. The only thing was that the hooks didn't fit over the bathroom door. I had to put it on the clothes rod. If you can find one that goes on a closet rod get one of those. It worked just as well though.
4. Having all my laundry supplies ready to go. I had a bag w/ my quarters, dry degerent, and dryer sheets. While my family slept in after an EMH I just grabbed our laundry and went. I didn't use a laundry bag to keep our dirty laundry in though. I just threw everything into an empty suitcase as it begame dirty. I was then able to wheel it to the laundry room.
5. Photopass share. Thank you to the DISer that came up with the Aug photopass share. I can't wait for my pictures. I would have never spent $100 for it but I am glad I was able to get the pictures.
6. Arriving at the parks early, taking a break and then going back. This was the best tip of all. On all but 2 of our 7 days of going to the parks we got there at opening. The lines were short and we were able to go on many rides. My kids were able to ride EE 7 times thanks to getting there early, getting a FP and use of child swap. I also knew that our only hope of riding TSM was to get to HS at opening. I had originally planned our HS as a sleep in day. I must say that while I liked the ride. It wasn't worth all the effort it took to be able to ride it. People were in a 2 hr line when we used our FP. Those people are crazy!
Some of the things I did that I wish I didn't:
1. Stay at a moderate resort so we could use the nicer pool and the ferry to DTD. We only went to the pool with the water slide once. I kept asking my kids if they wanted to go the pool with the slide and they said they liked the quiet pool better.
We only took the ferry to DTD once. It rained on our way back so we had to take the bus. We really could have used the extra space at the family suites at All Stars even though I think it would have cost us $300 more. 2. Getting the DDP. I have mixed feelings on this. I am glad we did it at least once. I am not sure that I would do it again. I would really have to crunch some numbers before making that decision. It doesn't sound like a lot of food but it is. We ended up with 4 unused CS credits. On our last couple of days were were strongly encouraging our kids to get snacks. It was nice that we were able to do that though. Normally we are always telling them no. We also ended up throwing away a lot of the CS desserts. I think it is sinful when there are starving people in this world that we throw out perfectly good food. By the way, I brought breakfast food so we ate breakfast in our room. I brought way too much of that too. We aren't big breakfast eaters anyway.
3. Bringing the single serving kool aid was more trouble that it was worth. DD7 tried making her own and would spill the powder. What a mess.
While my kids like kool aid and liked having it. They were getting plenty of sugar in other things. They really needed just plain water. 4. Carrying misting fans. I think I only used the misting fan a couple of times. Everyone says how miserable Aug is. Yes there were some hot moments but there would have been hot moments in the midwest too. Most of the rides are indoors. If they aren't there are plenty of fans in the line to keep you cool. The only line that looked absolutly miserable was BTMRR. They do have you in that line like a bunch of hot, rotting sardines. Fortunately, I had a FP.
5. Autograph books. I don't think if I had mentioned them to my kids they would have known or cared about them. I spent hours downloading clip art and printing cards. I did print someone's passport pages from the Creative DISigns thread. Those were nice. They did have some cool autograph books at the gift stores that on one page there was room for a signature and on the other page there was a place to insert a picture. They were $10. I would have spent the $10 on one of those as I think it would have been a nice keepsake. There would have been no fumbling around for the autograph page then.
That is it for now. If I think of anything else I will add it. Overall we had an absolutely wonderful trip. Possibly the best vacation I ever had. I hope to go back to WDW again. Right now it looks like that won't be until 2010.
.............
