What are your top 3 tips?

[mvansear]

1. Moleskin (buy at walgreens in foot care section). Wishing we knew about it for first trip second trip 12 of 14 people said it saved their trip i.e. feet.

2. Rolling kids clothes, putting outfits in ziplock baggies.

3. Bring a roll of quarters and roll of pennies new ones from bank, my kids loved smashed pennies. They are one of 2 souvineers that have made it for years.

4. One more my kids love pin trading, order lot on ebay to get them started with pins to trade you can usually get them for about a buck a pin on ebay.

 

[mecllap]

1) Prepurchase the PhotoPass CD, and use the PhotoPass photogs a lot (for groups and individuals).

2) Comfortable shoes and clothes (no one cares much how you look, unless you're dressed offensively) -- cargo pants are great and cut down on what you have to carry other ways.

3) Don't freak out about the water tasting a little different; it's perfectly safe -- it's much easier to get the free ice water at many places in the parks, than haul around bottles.

4) During hot weather, have at least one spray bottle (but just spray people who want it, not your neighbors). My DGS stays hydrated by squirting water into his mouth, better than drinking from a bottle or cup, and the spray is refreshing.

5) Be prepared to spend a whole lot more than you thought you'd want/need to.

6) Patience, patience, patience (and kindness, kindness, kindness).


Oooops -- pretend I'm two people (and I could go on and on and on . . . . . ).

 

[Chevyscool]

~Bring an extra electrical outlet converter that gives you additional plugs (or a power strip) for everything you need to charge, like camera batteries, video recorders, cell phone chargers, computer, mp3 player, etc. There are never enough outlets in hotel rooms and you always need to charge something...having the extra outlets helps!

~Ziplock bags in EVERY size. I know it was mentioned for wet clothes at the parks, but we used ziplocks for everything including: snacks for the kids, leftovers at restaurants, keeping all those little items together (like Tylenol, Tide Stain Stick, Band-Aids, wipes, etc.) and stuff for the kids (like Disney Dollars, pennies/quarters for smashing, sunscreen, glow sticks, etc.). You can also use the bigger ones for keeping your camera(s), autograph books and such dry at the parks (when on wet rides) and you can pack dirty or soiled clothes in them for the trip home.

~Sharpie Retractable Markers for autograph books. Most of the characters have huge hands and those tiny pens that they sell in the gift shops are cute, but useless. With the Sharpies, the characters can really grip it, which makes for a better autograph. Plus with the retractable ones out now, you don't have to worry about loosing the marker top, or it coming loose and ruining items in the same bag as the marker.

Enjoy every moment of your trip, it goes fast and remember you CAN'T do it all, so DON'T try...savor each experience!

 

[mrstomrice]

Take advantage of the free ice water provided at most counter service areas...saves a lot of money!

Use the fast pass as often as possible. DOn't worry about the 1 hour window. As long as it is after the first time, it is good for the rest of the day, with the possible exception of shows (Little Mermaid in DHS)

Have a dole whip

 

[CanadianPaco]

1. Fast passes!
2. Body glide and bandages
3. Get used to walking long distances before to get to WDW!

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

I would skip Epcot this trip and go to Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom has a great playground in the Dinosaur area and the safari is great. If you boys love animals, they will love it. It also has Dinosaur (scary for some kids) and Everest! Epcot is wonderful and growing more kid friendly, but you're only there five days. If you do go to Epcot, Kidcot stops to make a mask in each country gives the kids something to do. Also, Kim Possible sounds cool (haven't done it yet.)

Make a general plan for each park: decide where you will start. For example, Magic Kingdom, start in Frontierland, then go to Fantasy, etc.

Make ADR (Advanced Dining Reservation) for any places where you really want to eat.

Always go LEFT.

Take a plastic bag to put your purse/backpack in for water rides.

If your place has a pool, understand that it might seem more interesting than the parks when the kids begin to wear down.

Read Unofficial Guide and Passporters and download dis podcasts (especially email shows) on your ipod to learn tons of other details.

Have fun. (I don't remember if you said three only... but three isn't enough!)

 

[ggeorgiagirl]

one day, we went to Magic Kingdom and did NOT RIDE A SINGLE RIDE! I am totally not joking! my son wanted to do every penny press in the entire park. i was completely spazzing out...but had to realize that the kids were having sooooo much fun just strolling through the park, seeing things that they had never noticed on previous trips! sooooo.....tip #1: go with the flow
tip#2: wait in line...even if the conductor says that its full...to ride in the front of the monorail tip#3 find tinkerbells bedroom in the tinkerbell shop (look in the peephole in the dresser drawer...and wait for a flash of light...she is toooo quick to see

must have a dole whip

 

[pezheadmeg]

1. Bring a surge protector. It'll make charging a lot easier.

2. Zip lock bags in your day bag. They're a savior for keeping the camera and the cell phone dry.

3. Sunscreen wipes. I did this for the first time last summer and it just made it so much easier to reapply during the day. I bough the individual wrapped ones, it was so worth the money for the box of 30.

 

[Chauvuma]

The first thing is to get to the parks early.. So much more fun going through the rides you'll want to experience without the long lines deflating some of the joy.. I said some...

The second is to control your urge to overplan and rush to maximize the experience. Try to always remember the fun aspect of what's happening during the day. When things get to be more of a chore than a joy (you'll easily recognize those people in the park).. bail for some time to get family fun back into the day (the resort / condo or water park) rather than the checklist of what you had hoped to accomplish.

Every park has great rides that fill early and good rides that fill not quite as early.. ask opinons.. for example at the MK we take the train almost every time to Splash Mountain, go there first, then Thunder Mountain Railorad, then Pirates maybe back to Splash and TMR. We get our faves in and plenty of riding early without the need to rush or wait in long lines. Then we may work back to Haunted Mansion etc...

 

[janloz]

1. Talk to Cast Members. Whether waiting in line or just walking around, they are wonderful and a wealth of knowledge.

2. Since you are staying off site, remember if you buy anything in the parks that you can have it sent to package pick up at park entrance/exit so you don't have to carry it around all day. For those staying on property, they will sent free of charge to your hotel. A real back saver.

3. If you are doing Photopass, ask CM if they have the character extras in each park. Here is a link that shows all of the ones currently available. http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disneysphotopass/ We did quite a few and the kids LOVE them.

Have a great trip!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

1) Remember that Faspasses don't expire until the end of the park day. You can always use them late, but never early.

2) You will be at WDW during the free dining promotion and the restaurants will be full and will not be taking up any walk ups, so if you are planning on any kind of sit-down meal, you MUST have your advance dining reservations in place before you leave.

3) I would ditch SeaWorld before I would ditch AK, just my opinion, though.

 

[billybobblockhead]

I think this will be my 3rd post on this thread. We had some 32 ounce water bottles that my wife had been given from work for various promotions. We filled them with ice the night before and let it melt, then refilled them with ice the next morning. Pretty cold drinking water that lasted most of the day (2 bottles for 4 people). We really cut our water cost down a bunch by doing that. Now, you do need a backpack (or a pack of some kind) to carry it in, but with us, we always have that so it isn't an issue.

 

[mvansear]

1) Remember that Faspasses don't expire until the end of the park day. You can always use them late, but never early.

2) You will be at WDW during the free dining promotion and the restaurants will be full and will not be taking up any walk ups, so if you are planning on any kind of sit-down meal, you MUST have your advance dining reservations in place before you leave.

3) I would ditch SeaWorld before I would ditch AK, just my opinion, though.

Wow I did not know that about the fastpass, how cool!!! I agree with the ditch opinion

 

[btwitkin]

A snack and a bench or some free grass make a nice place to relaxQUOTE]


Where exactly can you get this "free" grass. I didn't think that kind of stuff was done on Disney property

 

[fredgirls]

There are some great tips here. I'm not as experienced as some of these contributors and probably don't have 3 new tips to add. I do want to say though,

Be realistic about how it's going to be.

Before my first trip with children I had this vision in my mind about how magical it was all going to be. Don't get me wrong, it WAS magical and we had an amazing trip, but the kids still cry and whine and often lose it very quickly. My kids were very calm relaxed kids but being at Disney is so stimulating. You know how they are after a party? Well times that by 100!
This trip I now know we need to take afternoon breaks and not rush around. And of course this time I'm not expecting them to be so happy to be there that they won't complain or fight.
Have a great trip and stay relaxed!

 

[maidenfairy]

1. Bring plenty of patience and kindness. Both make the day more enjoyable and go a long way.

2. Get to the parks early. Less people and not as hot.

3. Let your children wear their swimsuits to the parks. If there is water children will get soaked.

 

[dizmom2mwjk]

1. I know your boys are 5 & 7, but when my kids were 7, they still got tired of walking by 11 am, and 90% of the whining stopped when we put them in a stroller...(we have 4 kids) so I advise bringing a stroller (we had a double, and it was a godsend). Even if you just park it for the first 1/2 of the day and use it during the second half, when the kids are tired...it can also be used to cart around the backpack/poncho/extra clothes/etc...I know Disney rents them, but we figured out that we could buy one for the cost of renting for 5 days at Disney, and the hassle of standing in the lines, etc...we would rather just have our own...

2. We bring an old tablecloth or towels to mark our space during the parades or fireworks...it gives us a clean area to sit and stops people (somewhat) from crowding out our spots during the shows/parades. We also use this time to have a snack and drink.

3. Be prepared with a touring plan (such as the Unofficial Guide to DisneyWorld) but tweak it for your family...The guide will give you height restrictions so you can eliminate certain rides or divide and conquer(we had one kid who was very short for her age and couldn't ride any of the rough rides until she was 8, even in heels, even though her twin could when he was 6) , or use the fright factors/descriptions to eliminate what rides your family will not like...and allow flexibility as well. We get alot more in if we don't stand around and say "what should we do next" after every ride and argue for 10 minutes only to go to the next ride and find out it has a 70 min. wait... I found that following the plans (with flexibility...we can always say "hey, this ride has no line...let's go here!" and then head back to the touring plan when that ride is done) eliminates the arguing and in the end, saves us the time...we always have an IDEA of where we are headed.

4. I also put my cell phone number in my kids' pockets so that if we become separated, they can give it to a cast member to call me...I learned this the hard way...

I use alot of the other tips as well...Character breakfasts (before the parks open), the door hanging shoe racks, names on the autograph books, the retracting sharpie markers, the plug in extenders, the extra batteries in your backpack, the ziploc baggies in all sizes (I keep a wet washcloth with icecubes in mine for cooling off, washing hands, wiping faces, etc), the frozen water bottles, bring your own snacks in, take tons of pictures, use the photopass, ponchos they are all great ideas...it is alot to take in, but well worth it in the end!

 

[dahall]

I love this thread! We will be there about the same time

Bring a lite jacket, you can sit on it, use it as a pillow, and of course for warmth if chilly in the early am and evening.

Watch the look on your families face when they first see the castle in the magic kingdom. A favorite of mine

Eat a mickey ice cream

OH and, you can find some cute Disney things online, or at the dollar store before you go. Bring them with you and surprise you kids and save yourself a bit of money.

ENJOY,BREATH,SMILE, LOVE,PLAN,MAGIC,JOY,FUN,FAMILY

 

[Josaytre]

This is the best thread guys thank you so much for sharing your great ideas

I don't have much experience so any good tip is welcome.

Have a great magical day.