To describe our growing up in the lowcountry of South Carolina, I would have to take you to the marsh on a spring day, flush the great blue heron from its silent occupation, scatter marsh hens as we sink to our knees in mud, open an oyster with a pocketknife and feed it to you from the shell and say, 'There. That taste. That's the taste of my childhood.' - Pat Conroy

January 21, 2014

Disney Tips



While planning out our Disney trip I have relied on reviews, blogs, and online tips to ensure that we have the very best time during our stay. However, none of these are quite as good as your own past experiences, if you have been before.

We ventured to Disney last March for a long weekend and here are some tips that I have learned and will use towards this trip!

Rent The Stroller!

Disney offers stroller rentals for something like $10 for the day. The strollers are not only large enough for your child, but for all the possessions you will inquire throughout the day. (i.e. water bottles, souvenirs, balloons) They maneuver throughout the parks perfectly and are well worth the money spent not having to load your stroller on and off the trams to and from the parks. The only negative about the stroller is the fact that there are a sea of them parked while you are waiting to ride the rides. So when you come out it's like finding a needle in a stroller hay stack! That's where my vibrant pink scarf comes in! I wear a scarf in the park, and as soon as we rent the stroller, I tie that scarf right onto the handle. Voila, I can notice our stroller as soon as we get off  the ride.

Pack a Bag!

I have never been one to take a back pack into a park, ever. Last year our lesson was learned and we actually went out and bought a back pack the first night of our trip to use the rest of the weekend. Nothing big, nothing fancy, and hell no, not a fanny pack, a small back pack! Daily we stored three bottled waters, one small bag of Cheeto's, an apple, and wet wipes. Bottled water at the gas station is $1 verses the Disney price of $5. Snacks were a great time consumer for Cadence during those long wait times and wet wipes are always necessary when you have a little one! I also stored one credit card for purchases and our camera.

Character Dining is a Must!

Waiting two hours in line to take a quick picture with Cinderella is not ideal for our family. We want to make sure that our time is devoted towards the rides, not meeting characters, which is why character dining is so important to us. When you purchase the Disney Dining Plan, you get character dining for free. You do not have to purchase the dining plan to enjoy character dining, however I do strongly suggest it. Instead of waiting in line at the parks to meet and greet your favorite character, they come up to you while you eat to sign autographs, take pictures, and even have one on one personal conversations. Score! With the recent Disney movie, Frozen, being so popular, the average wait time to meet Queen Elsa and Princess Anna is 6 hours! I could not and would not waste half of our day waiting in line to meet them when they can come up to us while we eat...character dining is worth it's weight in gold, for lack of better words!

Stay on Property!

I cannot stress enough the benefit of staying on Disney property! Don't worry if you don't have the money to spend $700 per night on the Grand Floridian, Disney has options to fit every budget. Starting at Value, to Moderate, to Deluxe. They also offer camp sites and villas. If you stay on Disney property and purchase a dining package they give you a keepsake resort mug upon arrival that you can refill at any time, for free, at your resort. You have access to the extra park hours (so if Magic Kingdom is open 3 hours later that night, you have access to it to where others staying off property do not). You get to park for free at the theme parks, or you can choose to take Disney transportation at no extra charge too. Your choice. There truly are so many advantages to staying on property!

Face the Facts!
(You're not going to do it all or see it all)

For some people (like me!) this is a hard pill to swallow. I am the type of person who likes to do it all and see it all, and unless you live in Orlando and can go to Disney any time you want to, it's impossible! Disney is always adding something new, whether it be a resort, theme park, ride or restaurant. We are staying for a full 6 days and 6 nights. Will we see every theme park while we are there? Absolutely. Will we get to do every thing in those theme parks? Hell no! There are so many dining options that we want to do, rides we want to ride, shows we want to see, and still be able to enjoy ourselves. Truth is, we can still have a blast, enjoy ourselves, relax without seeing it all. You have to let go of the mindset that you're going to go and do everything, because you're not. I recently spoke with a fellow blogger who goes to Disney annually with her family, and they stay for 14 days and still do not do or see everything, but that's why you plan Disney trips as often as you can. It's an excuse to go back and visit and do it all over again and see something new each time. What we did, as a family, Cadence included, was sit down and explain to her what character dining had which characters. We let her choose her top 5 and we designated the 6th day for our choice at a nice restaurant in Orlando. We also designated one day out of our six there, as an open day to do with what we want. Relax in the resort pool, explore Orlando, go putt-putting, and go to a water park. We're going to be going non-stop the whole time, so this day gives us an opportunity to wind down and reflect on our time there.

Get the Park Hopper Option!

If you are staying on site at a Disney property, pay the extra money and purchase the Park Hopper option. This way you can enjoy those extra park hours at any park you want. This also gives you the opportunity to eat wherever you want. Let's say you love Cinderella's Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom, but are in Epcot that day. With the Park Hopper option you can take the monorail straight to Magic Kingdom to eat, without that option, you wouldn't be allowed to enter Magic Kingdom. We made the mistake last year of being cheap and not purchasing the option. We went to Epcot and although we enjoyed Epcot thoroughly we sure wish we would have been able to go to Magic Kingdom to watch the parade one last time before leaving. This year if we want to go watch it daily we now have that option :)

Don't be Lazy, Take Pictures!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to stop at every turn and snap a picture, but don't get caught up in ride times, show times and dinner times to forget to do so. When we went last year we had a blast and those are memories we will cherish for our entire lives, but I think we have only 10 pictures total from the trip. I was so upset after leaving that we didn't take more. I'm not going to make that mistake again this year.

Don't forget about Resort Dining!

Some of the best dining at Disney are in their resorts. Cinderella's Royal Dinner in 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian, Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort, Character Breakfast in Cape May Café at Disney's Beach & Yacht Club...I could name more! Character dining is not only at the theme parks, but a lot of the resorts offer them as well (like the ones stated above). This also gives you the opportunity to check out other Disney properties for future stays!

Plan in Advance!

Disney is much like a cruise. Once you book a vacation you can put down a $200 deposit and pay a little at a time, as long as your trip is paid off 45 days prior to arrival. I love this! We pay a little at a time throughout the year, and in no time our entire trip is paid off, dining included! You also want to plan in advance to ensure you can get dinner reservations at their most popular restaurants. Places like Cinderella's Royal Table, Be Our Guest and Chef Mickey's book up to 180 days in advance, so make sure you book those reservations as soon as you can!

Let them have the Stuffed Animal!

Each day of our trip we let Cadence choose one item to purchase. We always go into a gift shop and let her choose one thing she'd like to buy (within reason). Last year she wanted a hand painted portrait of Belle for $600, obviously we didn't get her that! :)

Most of the time children are geared towards stuffed animals. If your children are anything like my daughter that's what there going to go for, and it's perfectly okay! If Cadence comes home with 6 new stuffed animals, then the more the merrier. 

This is something we love to do for her, because she looks forward to doing it every day.

This is also where another perk of staying on property comes in to play. Last year she chose a huge Belle doll. It would have fit in the stroller just fine, but would have been a hassle to tug along on every ride with us, and let's face it, I wasn't about to leave a $30 toy alone in the stroller for people with sticky hands to take off. At no cost what-so-ever they will take your toy to your resort for you, this way when you get back from the park late that night, that toy will be right there waiting!


Enjoy the time spent with family!




1 comment

  1. Love this! Reading these makes me want to go back to disney ASAP!! xx

    ReplyDelete

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