Single best Tip from these boards

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by frndofpooh
Okay, am I the only one that is going to mention the Bodyglide stuff for chafing?

Where do you get this? I have never "chafed", however, my mother might like this.

 

[frndofpooh]

You can buy it at sporting goods stores and it works wonderfully. There are also places on line that sell it - search this board under "chaffing" and I believe one of the posts has a link.

 

[LadyBears]

Originally posted by MELSMICE
Where do you get this? I have never "chafed", however, my mother might like this.

I picked one up at EMS in the mall.

bodyglide @ ems

My DH2B uses it sometimes when he runs. I have tried it myself & I LOVE it!!

My favorite tip - MistyMates!!

 

[Dee & Greg]

We take empty water bottles filled with Crystal Light, or powdered Gatorade.. fill up the bottles in the parks at drinking fountains...
I don't like FL water, so this makes it taste better!
Throw out the bottle when you're done. Pack one or two for each day. The empty space in your luggage can be filled with souvenirs!

 

[Laklia]

What great tips!

We're going in Easter 2005 - will the weather be very hot? very rainy? Any ideas?

We've got packamacs, and I presume we'll need suncream too

 

[TroubledStitch]

You can't beat ziplocks. What did western civilisation do before them.

Some things you can do with ziplocks:
- put left over food in them (especially good at buffet lines)
- put wet clothes (socks, swimwear etc) to keep the rest of your bag dry
- put your camera and other stuff that you want to keep dry inside a ziplock when you go on a water ride (not the same one that has the wet socks obviously)
- put foreign currency in (simpler than another wallet), or change for the pressed penny machines
- buy a big bag of snacks like Chex Mix or candy and fill small ziplocks with it to take in the parks (always handy when the blood sugar level drops)
- put medication like aspirin in it so you can drop them in your pack and still find them
- put ice in for an icepack to soothe brows or aching things
- as a disposable glove for dealing with icky things

Honestly we just stuff a handful of assorted sizes in our backpack because we know that they will be useful.

 

[TroubledStitch]

Oh another thing we do with ziplocks is that we pack toilletries in ziplocks so that when they (almost inevitably) explode in your suitcase there aren't all over everything.

Sorry, I am starting to foam at the mouth aren't I?

...mumble, mutter, ziplocks, I told 'em, mutter. mumble...

 

[Meliechick]

The best tip I have is taking a CamelBak. They are generally used by athletes but really came in handy. They come in all different shapes and sizes. It is a bladder that holds water/ice and has a tube for you to drink from that is in a insulated back pack. We fill the bladders full of ice before we leave the hotel and it melts throught the day keeping you cool and giving you something to drink. You don't even notice that you are wearing it. A CM working in Canada at Epcot said that it was the first time he saw people using them at the park and he was surprised that more people didn't do it.

 

[mog]

The best tip I got here (which I almost didn't use) was to go to Wal-Mart to the Pet Tag machine and get "dog tags" printed for my kids with our cell phone numbers on them. I did this thinking the whole time that it was really unnecessary because I am NOT going to lose my kids! I got some stretchy rubbery string at the craft store and made them necklaces. They wore them everytime we went to the parks. The first day at MK, I stopped on Main Street and showed them a CM and pointed out what the badge looked like. I told them if they got separated from us to find a CM at a food stand, working a ride or sweeping up the street and tell them they were lost and show them the tag with our cell phone numbers. I was still thinking how unnecessary this was - I was NOT going to lose my kids!
Well, we got separated from my 9 year old son at Animal Kingdom. I was so thankful that I had done all of that. He know exactly what to do. By the time we told a CM he was lost, he had already gone back to the closest ride and told them he was lost and showed them his tag. They reunited us within a very short time. I was VERY impressed with the way Disney handled this! He was very upset, but would have been so much worse if he hadn't been prepared and known what to do. The Disney security guy who brought him to us said he thought that tag idea was wonderful and he had never seen it before. So it had a happy ending and I learned that no matter how careful you are you can always get separated from your child so it never hurts to be prepared for it!!
Thank You to whoever posted that wonderful idea about the dog tags!!

 

[mog]

Oh, and here is a tip I didn't get from the boards but discovered for myself. We were there with a large group of family members. My mom had made little "goodie" baskets for each of us with little travel things, etc in a basket.
After taking all the things out and putting them away, I put the basket on the dresser in our room. Everytime we came in the room, all the "take to the park" items went in there - sunglasses, room keys, kids ID necklaces (see above post ), small battery fans, etc. When we were ready to go out again, we didn't have to search or worry that we'd forgotten anything, we all just grabbed all our stuff out of the basket and took off. It was very handy and relieved a lot of stress for me not having to keep track of 3 kids' things. The kids were well trained to leave everything in the basket and pick it up on the way out the door.

 

[invelvetshoes]

Is BodyGlide sold in stores? And what areas of the body do you recommend it for? Thanks!! Disney bound: 9/17-24

 

[mog]

We bought our body glide at a store that sells supplies for runners or joggers. I used it mostly on my feet, so my Teva sandals wouldn't rub when wearing them all day. It worked great. My son used it on his neck so the strap from his water bottle wouldn't rub his neck.

 

[as90043]

!. Moleskin, matches, sewing kit. This is for blisters. Yes I got a
doozy of a blister from being at MK from 8am - 1am. I could barely walk the last three days of our trip, but was determined nothing would keep me down. I was however stupid enough to leave my insurance card in my big wallet at home...ended up paying $134
to urgent care for an ace bandage. (O.K. this was my first trip to the World, know better next time!!)

2. Must have water mister w/ neckstrap; bandana to dip in icewater if going in summer months.

3. DO NOT PACK DIRTY CLOTHES IF ON A FLIGHT HOME, they weigh more.

4. Empty duffle bag, backpack, etc. for all the stuff you swear you're not going to buy.

5. Backup camera and batteries.

All of these things I had to learn the hard way, which ended costing me about $250 extra that I could have used elsewhere!!!

 

[dbail2]

Do not pack any film in your checked baggage. It will be ruined by their new x-ray machines. Put it in your carry on.. I saw people digging it out right before they handed over their luggage in the airport.

 

[pjlla]

My "tip of the week"... not learned here, but from experience. Before retiring each evening I replenish all four fanny packs so that they are ready the next morning. I clean out any trash or souvenirs that we want keep, refill the pressed penny tubes, make sure the autograph books/pens are ready, sunglasses, lip balm, snack, money, park hoppers, cameras, tissues, hand wipes, Shout wipes, rental car keys, hotel room keys, comb, sunscreen. Make sure they are zipped up and on the table waiting to be grabbed in the morning. The mornings are always such a rush-rush affair for us, trying to get to the parks early. If I tried to do this in the morning I would either forget something or we would be LATE! In the morning I just throw a juice box in the kids bags and we are ready!

And while I am on the subject.... antibacterial hand wipes and Shout wipes.... two great inventions. I kept a small travel pack of the hand wipes in my fanny pack each day. We used almost a whole pack every day. (Great for wiping hands before eating a Mickey bar or popcorn!). And the Shout wipes saved several outfits and keep you from looking like a slob in the photos for the rest of the day! Two or three individually wrapped ones in a pack each day.

ON A SLIGHT DIFFERENT SUBJECT.... I am only mentioning this because I care, but be careful about commenting on taking away food from buffets in your purse (be it in a ziploc or a napkin). Buffets are meant to be eaten while you are there ONLY. I know we all occassionally take more than we can eat and we HATE to waste, but others may read this as an intentional "stealing" from the buffet. And I am certainly not trying to be "holier than thou" on this... heaven knows I am far from perfect. But there are others here who will not hesitate to FLAME you if you admit to this small indiscretion. However, taking away food you have ordered and paid for at a plated meal or counter service is different. Just a friendly warning........................P

 

[bubba's mom]

i learned: brita bottles, moleskin, we used plain 5x7 scrapbook album for autograph book with fat pen (bigger is better for characters), mister fan, ALWAYS have a FP, use EE and get to dumbo in fantasyland FIRST, have a plan of attack, ask to ride in front of the monorail, GoH badges, many sizes of ziploc bags, take more film than you think you could possibly use (we were at disney for 2 days and i shot 18 rolls!!) we carried some snaks to help defray food cost, took rain ponchos that we didn't even open because of the other tip of eating a late lunch/early dinner about 3:30-4:00ish. seems like it rained each day at that time--the time we had planned to eat!! i learned so many things here, i can't even recall all of them...but, it was a successfull trip..largely in part to DIS boards.....DIS forever!!
ps-i also learned to wear the lime!!

 

[chi-mom]

After reading through this thread I was reminded of our last trip home from WDW. I had given each of the kids the mini M&M containers to hold pennies for pressing. My daughter had refilled hers with change and put it in her carry-on. She was stopped by security and we emptied practically her whole bag until we realized it was that container that looked suspicious on the x-ray. Just a word of caution!!


:

 

[bubba's mom]

Originally posted by chi-mom
I had given each of the kids the mini M&M containers to hold pennies for pressing. My daughter had refilled hers with change and put it in her carry-on. She was stopped by security and we emptied practically her whole bag until we realized it was that container that looked suspicious on the x-ray.
:

we used empty film containers.....and on the lid wrote if they were pennies or quarters. maybe the size of the film container didn't look as suspicious as the M&M tube

 

[PooohBear]

Great tips !!!!! One thing though....what is Moleskin and what is it used for ?!

 

[pjlla]

It comes from the band aid/foot care section of the Health and Beauty Aids dept. You put it on your feet to prevent/cover blisters. Kind of like a cushiony thing.................P