What Disney Tip Are you really glad you listened to?

[willful]

DON'T DO Extra Magic hours at the Magic Kingdom!! Especially at night!!!!

LOL. That's ALWAYS a must do for Shannon and I. I ABSOLUTELY love MK evening EMHs. The MK is so much more magical at night. But I know what you're getting at...it can get very busy during the EMH. It does tail off crowd wise towards the end. You just gotta rest up for it especially for those summer 3am ones!

We love gettting to the parks for early EMH, regardless of the parks. You can get so much done in the 1st hour! It is perfect with 2 young ones who are up anyway! DH and I also are so excited, we can't wait to hit the parks!

Especially for AK! We've been able to do 5 rides on EE in that first hour. That was a BLAST of a morning!!! DHS evening EMHs are a bit tough at times as most people focus on ToT and RnRC. TSMM hasn't helped resolved this problem much. But EMHs RAWK!!!

I type out our rough itineraries, any notes of special things about the parks I want to remember and some of the restaurant menus onto 4x6 pieces of paper. I insert these into one of those cheap photo brag books you can get at Walmart. Long ago I paid $1 for them. You can even insert your own "cover photo" on some styles if you want. I've used this idea for my last three trips. Keeps everything handy including reservation numbers, the "cheat sheets" from TourGuideMike's website for each park, our touring plan, copies of our park passes and photopass and more.

Yup! This is another tip I've come to live by! Not so much for shorter trips. But longer trips, I do this as well. People give me either weird looks...or think I'm a genius. It's perfect to slip in a back pack or my cargo shorts. And all the info is right at hand. I have it broken down my day...and ADR's at a glance...park hours...etc.

Okay...I guess I should clairify something.....I miss typed when I alluded to the fact that EARLY EMH was a mistake....My husband and I NEVER went to the AM EMH....I see how this could work out for a lot of you. We just did the EMH PM and it was EXTRA crowded THAT night. I guess I am a little weary about the EMH PM since then. Just MY opinion

No worries. We're all entitled to our opinions. Plus not everything works for everyone. I think I love MK at night SO MUCH I'm willing to put up with the crowds. And I'll just not wait for something if it's too long. There's plenty to do IMHO at MK that we always find something fun to do and attractions with shorter waits. Gotta be flexible. And the key is to wait out the EMH as the crowds tend to thin out towards the end. Again to each their own. Some people like to get up early and hit the parks first thing...and others like to sleep in. Do what works for and makes your vacation fun!

 

[Simba22]

Everything I learned about WDW I learned from the DIS! I'm really glad that I took everyone's advice to make ADR's and to stay on-site!

Our first trip by ourselves in 2005 we stayed off-site and it was horrible. The hotel itself was nice enough but there was no DME, so we spent a good $100 on the cab alone and that was just for the ride to the hotel. The hotel offered a bus to take you to the parks but it departed the hotel once, at 8:30am and came back to hotel at 9pm - so there was no Wishes or Illuminations for us! Plus to get to DTD we had to take another cab...that was another $50 each way.

On our next trip, we learned our lesson and stayed at the ASMo, but we had no ADR's so we ended up eating chicken strips and pizza every day for a week.

 

[srwarden1928]

Go to rope drop. We did that every day. I firmly believe it helped immensely in our effort to see all the attractions.

 

[pipervali]

I'm subbing to this to read through closer to our trip, because I have a feeling half the things will fall out of my head by the time the end of September rolls around lol

 

[jennykay]

Go to rope drop. We did that every day. I firmly believe it helped immensely in our effort to see all the attractions.

A lot of people feel this is the only way to go. Not to start a big discussion on the right/wrong way to tour, but IMO, you'll do fine if you like to go a little later if you go during the off season. Especially true of a longer trip.

My best tip - remember you're on vacation! Listen to your body, take breaks, don't rush from one thing to another, enjoy the company of your family. Don't expect to see everything - there's just too much! (Believe me, I'm not saying don't plan - I'm a planaholic! Maybe I'm just saying be flexible when you get there!)

Okay, so I just said the opposite of what srwarden said, but what I mean is to each his own. Do what works for your family!

have fun!!!

 

[erynsmom]

Go to rope drop. We did that every day. I firmly believe it helped immensely in our effort to see all the attractions.

What is rope drop? Is it just when the park opens? Silly question...I know.

 

[HappyCamperToo]

What is rope drop? Is it just when the park opens? Silly question...I know.

Yep.

I agree--get there when it opens. Crowds build quickly. If you start your day early, you'll also be ready to eat earlier and with luck miss the worst of the dining crowds, too.

 

[MaryPop888]

I can't believe I finally finished reading through this thread! Thanks to all for the wonderful advice. I haven't been to The World in over 10 years, but I'll be sure to post any of my own tips when I get back from our honeymoon. I'm really counting down the days now!

 

[mrsgrumpybear]

Best piece of advice that I got was to bring your own poncho and have it with you at all times...EVEN if they say it's not going to rain. You never know. We found out the hard way last year . A really good piece of advice that I got from my brother was to start walking. I know it sounds wierd but he said that you do an OBSCENE amount of walking in all of the parks. He wanted us to be ready. Really glad that I followed that one.

make sure that you put each poncho in there own zip lock bag because if you do use it you can put your wet poncho back in the bag without anything else in your bag wet.

 

[mrsgrumpybear]

At walmart i went to the machine that makes dog tags. I made one for each of my kids with there names, my cell phone number, and my husbands cell phone number.and put it on a necklace and they wore them just in case we got seperated.

 

[bgsnmky]

At walmart i went to the machine that makes dog tags. I made one for each of my kids with there names, my cell phone number, and my husbands cell phone number.and put it on a necklace and they wore them just in case we got seperated.

This was a really good one!

 

[mrsgrumpybear]

thanks, i let my girls pick out the one they wanted.i thaught that if they picked there own one out they would be more likely to wear it. now they wear them when we go to amusment parks,fairs,and anyother events that we are going to that has alot of people there.

 

[tgrace3]

Subscribing to post. Thanks everyone for providing the great tips!!!

 

[hkeller27]

At walmart i went to the machine that makes dog tags. I made one for each of my kids with there names, my cell phone number, and my husbands cell phone number.and put it on a necklace and they wore them just in case we got seperated.

I also really like this idea, however, my kids are little (1 and 3) and I don't quite trust them (or a bad stranger for that matter) to keep the jewelry on them and use it appropriately. SO....I found this product called SafteyTat. It's a temporaray tattoo that is personalized with your cell phone number. You can put it on your child and then simply replace when it starts to wash off. To be fair, I have also seen people do this with a piece of masking tape and marker on the back of the child's shirt. For me though, I'd rather spend a little more and get these which I know will stay on much better than masking tape. I haven't personally used them yet as I just recently learned about them but am 100% ordering for my upcoming trip!

PS - thanks for all the marvelous tips here, this is awesome!

 

[erynsmom]

I found a label company that makes bands like the ones you would get at an all-inclusive resort. They are resistant to water, sunscreen, perspiration and chlorine. They also include space for the childs name, contact phone number and any other info necessary. I got 30 bands for $21. I am sure they will come in handy for Disney and other trips.

It is a Canadian company, but I thought I would include the link anyways.

http://www.mabel.ca/mabel.php?n=my 411 wristbands

 

[patches07]

I always pack about 10 extra clothes hangers as there just aren't enough.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I tie red curling ribbons to the handles of my luggage to tell mine apart from all the others that look like mine. Also saves on having to look at every luggage tag that goes by to see if that is my piece of luggage.

 

[67tink40]

Wow, what a wonderful bit of advice I read somewhere!!! Take a cheap over the door shoe organizer to keep all of your toiletries and things in. We stayed at Pop so counter space was vey limitted. The shoe organizer wouildn't fit over the bathroom door, so we hung it on the clothes rod to thr right of the sink. It worked like a dream.

 

[dopey67]

This has been fantastic I have been way to many times and still got a lot of great ideas... Thanks

 

[Dizzy over Disney]

These ideas are fabulous!