What sounded like a great tip...but wasn't!

The cake thing: We got an awesome cake for my son for his birthday on our first night there. It was delicious and expensive (but no more expensive than I would have paid here in Philly for the same type of cake). Anyway, naturally, we wanted to take it back to the room. We did, shoved it in the mini fridge at the WL.

Guess what, we had nothing to eat it with all week? Finally we started taking some forks from the food court. We were like savages digging into this cake -- we each had a "section" but we didn't want to waste it.

We did end up throwing about half out and it broke my heart but we were just full and when we came in from the parks, too tired to eat.

If I was to do it again, I'd get fancy cupcakes for everyone or just do the piece of cake with dinner.

OMG, we had the same cake experience on our first trip (except we were staying in a villa, so we did have the supplies to eat it!). The cake was super expensive, and we nibbled at it all week, but in the end, it was a big waste of money. We did get cupcakes the two following years instead (fall break falls on my daughter's birthday, so she's a lucky kid to have spent three birthdays at Disney!) and those were a bigger hit. The Contempo Cafe at the Contemporary has some awesome cupcakes...made in the same bakery as our super expensive cake! Lessons learned...
 
So much good advice. I'm sure that this trip is going to be an adventure...and a learning experience...and lots of fun. It will just be different than the last time that my husband and I went to the parks (before kids) when I carried a camera, a room key and lip gloss! :)
 
We started going when DS was 4.

We never did a stroller.

We "trained" for the trip and each subsequent one by doing a ton of walking and building up to a few miles at a time.

With a baby, you probably still want the stroller, but don't assume you'll need it forever.
 
We also did not like the before park opening breakfast. It was too early to eat a big meal and we felt rushed to finish before the park opened. Did it once, never again. We do much better with a small breakfast on the go and then an early lunch after a few hours of touring.

Breaks - I've been chuckling a little because so many people seem to consider "break" and "nap" the same thing and for us they never have been.
Not once did we ever go back to the hotel room to try to get the kids to nap when they were little. If they were in need of sleep mid-day, we put them in the stroller and walked them until the fell asleep and then we continued touring while they snoozed.
A break, on the other hand, is completely different. It is not trying to force a little one to sleep. It is a way to rejuvenate the adults and/ or kids in your group when Disney fatigue sets in. Breaks might be an afternoon at the pool, or a ride around the monorail, or making leis in the lobby of the Poly, or sipping a cocktail at a pool bar/ lounge, or building with legos at DTD, or Hula Hooping at Pioneer Hall or just watching Stacey for a while.... Breaks are fun and are often some of the best memories of our trips!
 

These are just us- different things work for different people:

1. The afternoon break- When DD was 2, I was convinced by everything I read on here that we absolutely had to leave the park for a break in the room, so we dragged a kicking screaming 2 year old out of MK on the first day of her first WDW trip. This resulted in nothing but a VERY angry toddler who refused to nap for 2 or 3 hours and mostly stood behind the curtain in the room and sulked because she was too mad at us to even look at us. We finally gave up after a few hours and went back to MK and she got a huge smile on her face and climbed into her stroller and went to sleep for about an hour. After that it was parks pretty much open to close and stroller naps for her. She had no problem going to sleep in the stroller when she was tired, and DH and I would use that time to take turns riding the thrill rides- works out well for EE, RNRC and TT that all have single rider lines (or at least it did before FP+- not sure how bad that has impacted the single rider lines). That worked for us for the next several trips until the stroller was history. At age 6, she was going the entire day from open to close without a break in the parks just fine. We just aren't break people.

We had a very similar experience on DD's first trip. We planned on returning to our resort each afternoon, right after lunch for nap but it was such a hassle (we didn't rent a car that time and were dependent on the buses) and she almost never slept once we got back anyway. She would be tired and throw a fit because we were trying to force it and eventually we'd give up and go back to the park and she would fall asleep in the car or in the stroller once we got there. After a couple of days we gave up and let her take stroller naps which worked out fine for her. We'd just find a quiet-ish place to hang out while she slept and maybe do a little browsing in the shops. When we brought DS the first time we just went with it and let him sleep in the stroller as well and would do ride swaps with DD. Obviously naps in a quiet room are ideal but sometimes it's actually more beneficial to just abandon what you thought you needed to do and follow your child's lead.
 
I agree on the nap thing as what everyone has said. Though, we still may give it a try on our upcoming trip, we're going to watch our kids' cues. When we went two years ago, girls were 2 years and 3 months. The 2 yo would show signs of being ready for a nap, so we'd book it to get out of the park and get back to our off site room. Problem was, she'd pass out hard in the car and we couldn't transfer her to the room. So we ended up driving around for a while, which worked, but it was tough on us too since we were also exhausted. (We met up with family from the east coast, while we were on pacific time, and all of the activities were planned early in the morning- it was painful)

The other thing that did not work for us was ridged planing and trying to anticipate what her favorite things would be. Her favorite ride ended up being the parking lot tram, seriously. Once we gave up on sticking with our extended family that had big kids, then gave up on going from thing to thing to "fit it all in," our trip became exponential more enjoyable. I'll never forget the moment we gave up. We were in tomorrow land, map out and trying to figure out where to go next. Then I needed to sit. DD was having so much fun just dancing around to the music, looking at the flowers, and walking on the cool benches, that we realized we didn't need anything else. Just enjoy the time.
 
I have to laugh when I read some of the packing lists posted on here. I have traveled a fair amount, and even with kids, I can't imagine needing some of the stuff people bring, like the shoe holders, pop up hampers, flashlights, door decorations, etc. I must be a travel minimalist, because we bring clothes, toiletries, and personal items (cameras, phones, purse/bag, etc.) and that is about it. And we've never felt like we missed out! And as my DH always tells me, they have Walmart in Orlando just like at home, so if we forget something, it's no biggie.
 
When our family went, there were ten of us; seven adults and three kids. One day when I had a few minutes, I took business cards and put every adult's cell phone number on each one. I made special ones for the two older kids, with "Pop", "Grandmomma", etc. My grandson was sixish, and he told his mom later that it made him feel so much better to have that card in his pocket "just in case". They never got out of somebody's sight, but it is so easy to lose sight of a short person in crowds. He knew that if he got separated, all he had to do was hand that card to a CM and he would be reunited with family.
 
When our family went, there were ten of us; seven adults and three kids. One day when I had a few minutes, I took business cards and put every adult's cell phone number on each one. I made special ones for the two older kids, with "Pop", "Grandmomma", etc. My grandson was sixish, and he told his mom later that it made him feel so much better to have that card in his pocket "just in case". They never got out of somebody's sight, but it is so easy to lose sight of a short person in crowds. He knew that if he got separated, all he had to do was hand that card to a CM and he would be reunited with family.

Yes, at 7 and 9, my daughter had a wrist band with the number tucked inside because most of her clothes didn't have pockets. Last trip she had a lanyard with a purse on the end and kept my cell number in there.

On the trip when she was 9, we did get separated. We were leaving a store and I realized I had to turn and go another way because of the stroller so I told her to wait for me out there. For some reason ( I can't remember now) she ran back in as I came out and I missed her. We probably repeated that a couple of times looking for each other. At any rate, when I found her, she was handing a CM the paper with my number on it. The CM was very complimentary of how calm dd was and she too said she wasn't scared because she had the number. Knowing she had it had kept me calm as well.

Reminds me I need to order a shoe tag or something for my 4 year-old. Going to have him walk more this trip.
 
I never pack extra hangers. They will bring more to your room if you call down and ask. I also don't pack a hamper, as a garbage bag will do the trick.

I agree too that the dollar store ponchos are a waste of space. They almost rip when you look at them wrong, they are so flimsy! I re-pack Disney ones purchased on previous trips. I even still have yellow Pocahontas ponchos from years ago that are in tip top shape.
 
Just depends on your family :) Dollar store ponchos worked just fine for us, I loved having the pop up hamper and it takes up NO room in your bag anyways so why not?

For us,
*Bring $ store glow necklaces for fireworks so they aren't asking for glow toys. I bought and packed them, then realized, "hey, we aren't coming back to our room today and these won't fit into my park bag unless I bend them, meaning they might not even be glowing by night..."

*everyone always lists all these things you *need* for the parks. I hated feeling like a pack mule carrying a bunch of stuff around. You need far less than people will tell you on here.
 
OMG yes the glow necklaces. I bought them last trip and we did not even open them except one that I hung on our stroller for the MNSSHP.

For us taking a break in the parks works a lot better than going back to the room. With a toddler and tween it's such a production to get back to the room that by the time we get there we just want to stay. Last trip we spent a couple hours just hanging out on a random bench in World Showcase resting and people watching. That was fun.

I am definitely bringing a pop up hamper for next trip though. Last time we stored all the dirty clothes in a suitcase and it was less convenient than I expected.
 
The nap/break back at the room has never worked for us.

About hampers, we bring some food from home in cloth grocery bags. Those work fine for dirty clothes. Pillow cases also work well. I've used the one right off the bed before. Since it gets thrown in the wash with the clothes, it's easy to put it right back on when we're done.
 
I'll go back and read the whole thread in a bit but.... We let DS nap in our big stroller, yes is in a pain on the bus, but so worth it in the park and on the way back to the room. We packed a small cooler with snacks and that helped ward of the hungry crabbies. The best thing we did was put the camera and phones in a small camera bag and leave the backpack of diapes, etc in the stroller. No one will steal your diapers or crackers ( expect the chunky squirrels in Epcot). Then we would just grab the camera bag and dash into several rides. Make sure the stroller is covered if you plan on leaving it sit for awhile anywhere. Pop up showers happen all the time.
 
We always take 3 pop up laundry baskets that fit neatly beside and sometimes under the sinks at POP or All Star Resorts. They fold long and flat and fit perfectly in the bottom of our large suitcase. We also take a small pocket shoe organizer for toiletries. It's much smaller than the regular shoe organizers and hangs over the lip where the extra pillows and blankets are stashed. I believe I found it at Dollar Tree. We try to save extra money by taking our regular toiletries instead of buying trial size ones and they store easily in the pockets. We also bought Coleman ponchos from Walmart to take with us. They are compact and easy to carry. If you have small children you might want to pick up a Disney nightlight from Dollar Tree as well. If you have older kids pack a power strip in your suitcase for electronics. We also take a drying rack with us for bathing suits and beach towels. I hate using the cord in the tub! I'm short and it's hard to reach and there's never enough room to hang everything!
Hope these tips help!:thumbsup2
 
For our family, Park Hoppers!

I did a lot of research before our first trip and it seemed like everyone insisted you NEEDED to park hop! You can't see it all otherwise! You'll miss things! You have to do morning here and night there. You'll need it for ADRs. Etc., etc., etc.

So we spent the $200+ and got them. NEVER USED THEM ONCE! One park a day is more than enough for our family. If we take a break, we go back to the same park. We make our ADRs for the park we have planned for that day or a nearby resort. For us, it actually took away a ton of stress. This is where we are today, period. We'll find plenty to do and when we're done it's the pool or DTD. No worry about getting here, there, and everywhere. No decisions about where to go next. Just easy for us.

We've gone four times now and haven't wasted one more penny on park hoppers! And my best suggestion to EVERYONE is if you're not 100% sure you'll use them, at least wait until you get there. You can always upgrade and it doesn't cost any more. I still kick myself over that wasted money!



I agree. We used park hoppers on our first trip. It was a 10 day trip and we used them here and there. We used them on our second trip, a 6 day trip with free dining. We used them to have a few dinners at epcot... We did not buy them for our 5 day trip that starts on Wednesday, because I didn't see the need. I would probably get them for a 7+ day trip... but maybe not.
 
Best tip was to send a box in advance. Filled with non perishable items; big shampoo, snacks, zip lock bags, etc. It was in our room when we arrived.
 
The other thing that did not work for us was ridged planing and trying to anticipate what her favorite things would be. Her favorite ride ended up being the parking lot tram, seriously. Once we gave up on sticking with our extended family that had big kids, then gave up on going from thing to thing to "fit it all in," our trip became exponential more enjoyable. I'll never forget the moment we gave up. We were in tomorrow land, map out and trying to figure out where to go next. Then I needed to sit. DD was having so much fun just dancing around to the music, looking at the flowers, and walking on the cool benches, that we realized we didn't need anything else. Just enjoy the time.

Isn't THAT the truth?! We watched all the videos, read the reviews, thought we had it all figured out. Stuff we assumed we'd love, often not so much. Stuff we thought we would probably skip ended up being some of our favorites. Even parks we thought we'd run out of time in we ran out of stuff to do. And the one where we thought we'd run out of stuff to do, we ran out of time instead :rotfl2:
 
Being at the park for rope drop - not so great unless you are a family of early risers or you don't mind grumpy spouses!

Brining power cords, hampers, organizers, fill in the blank - I'm going to Disneyworld, not the wilderness. I've never once missed having these things or suddenly needed them. I have packed my bag for the trip home wondering "why did I think I would want this"?

DDP - not for us. If you eat a lot, do a lot of buffets, or don't mind limited suggestions (no, onion rings are not a side at flame tree barbecue) maybe it would work for you. We had it once "free" and thought it was a pain in the butt.
 
Being at the park for rope drop - not so great unless you are a family of early risers or you don't mind grumpy spouses!

Brining power cords, hampers, organizers, fill in the blank - I'm going to Disneyworld, not the wilderness. I've never once missed having these things or suddenly needed them. I have packed my bag for the trip home wondering "why did I think I would want this"?

DDP - not for us. If you eat a lot, do a lot of buffets, or don't mind limited suggestions (no, onion rings are not a side at flame tree barbecue) maybe it would work for you. We had it once "free" and thought it was a pain in the butt.

I know I'm not going to the wilderness! :rolleyes1 I wouldn't take any of those things if I was! I'm glad you don't feel you need those things, but please don't put done those of us that do! It's been a while since I was on DISBoards and I can't believe how rude the comments have become!:confused: I thought the point of the all the threads were to ask questions and help a fellow Disney fanatic out, not put them down!
 





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