Top Ten Tuesday: Disney Tips!


As our trip gets closer, I have Disney on the brain! So today I bring you my top ten Disney tips. Without further ado…

1. Find a good guide book. My standard is The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2009 . I bought this book when we went in 2007 and bought the updated version when we started planning this year’s trip. It has great advice on where to eat, where to stay (even down to the preferred rooms at each resort), and what to do. It contains an entire section on traveling with young children, and has height requirements and level of potential scariness listed for each ride. The touring plans are the most valuable part of this book to me, though… for example, we can’t wait to use the “Dumbo-or-Die in a Day Touring Plan for Young Children” again. The plans detail exactly in what order to explore the park to make the most out of the day, and really do save a lot of time and hassle.

2. Read message boards. I can’t stress this enough. Whatever your Disney question is, you can find the answer on the various message boards. My stand-by is DIS Boards, but I know several Disney fanatics who swear by both PassPorter and AllEars.Net. Something to point out about AllEars.Net is the dining information – they have menus for each and every restaurant in all of Disney World, and I’ve found them to be very useful when planning our trips. Another amazing resource is the Disney Moms Panel. The 20 moms on the panel were chosen by Disney from a pool of 20,000 applicants, and they know everything there is to know about Disney. I’m friends with two of them, and believe me, they cannot be stumped. I’ve tried. The search feature on that site is something I’ve found particularly helpful, and is something that is lacking in the other message boards that I’ve mentioned. The Panel is a wonderful resources for planning any Disney trip, but especially one in which children are involved!

3. Consider staying on-site. I’ve done it both ways and I know there are pros and cons to both, but I am really a proponent of staying on Disney property. Disney does a great job of providing resorts of varying themes (there really is something for everyone!) and that span from the very luxurious to the very affordable. I’ve stayed at the Polynesian and the Beach Club resorts, which are deluxe, and they are absolutely amazing. The pools, the grounds, the rooms – amazing. When we went as a family in 2007, we stayed at Pop Century, a value resort, and we couldn’t have been happier. The value resorts start at $79 a night – really that is just hard to beat. They’re fun and a wonderful place for the family to stay. As I found out in May, All-Star Sports, another value resort, has family suites that sleep up to six people, so larger families can make their stay more affordable as well. In any case, staying on-site has so many benefits. First of all, since they’re Disney property you know they’ll be done right – they’re clean, well-decorated, and the service is great. Secondly, staying on-site means you can take advantage of a number of Disney programs that I think are wonderful, including the Disney Dining Plan (see tip #4), the Magical Express (Disney’s transportation service – not only do they bring you and your family to the resort, they handle all your luggage so you don’t have to!) and Extra Magic Hours – each day, one park is open an hour before opening or up to four hours after closing just for resort guests. This can be a huge advantage in terms of crowds and wait times!

4. Also consider the Disney Dining Plan. As I pointed out above, this program is one of the benefits of staying on Disney property. The dining plan has two options – one that includes one table service meal, one counter service meal and one snack per person per night of your stay, and one that includes three table service meals per day (that seems a bit much to me!). We did the first option the last time we went and we are doing it again this year, and I love it. To me, the best part is that we know exactly how much our trip is going to cost and we have it paid for in advance, which takes away the worry about how much we’re spending while we’re there. We can order whatever entree and dessert we want without being concerned about the price. I also think the plan is a good value – I did the math the last time and we saved a significant amount of money.

5. Watch for specials. We actually weren’t planning to go to Disney this year – we thought we’d wait until Sammy is older – but this spring they had a deal that we just couldn’t pass up. They ran a buy-four-nights/days-get-three-free special. So for our seven-night/eight-day trip, we’re only paying for four nights and five days of accommodations and park tickets. Right now they’re running another amazing special – free dining. Yes, you read that right – the Disney Dining Plan is free! You can find all the details about this plan on the Disney website here, and also keep an eye on MouseSavers to find about saving money on everything Disney.

6. Buy some peace of mind from Tottoos.org. I wrote a whole post about them here, but basically they’re high-quality, temporary tattoos that have messages that will keep your kids safe. I just ordered another set that say “To reach my parents, call {my cell phone number}”. The last time we went, I can’t tell you how many moms stopped and asked me where I found such a thing!

7. Surprise your kids. One of the things I look forward to most about our trip is surprising Kate with little presents. When we went two years ago, “Tinkerbell” left her presents while we were gone at the parks, and she still talks about that part of our trip! I bought little things before we left like sunglasses and light-up toys and necklaces, and each day left them on her bed as we were heading out to the park. I can’t wait to do it again this year! When I was at Disney in May, I learned that they now have in-room celebrations, where they’ll do this for you. “Mickey” visited my room while I was out during that trip, and I truly can’t describe what a wonderful surprise it was! Dawn from Mom to My Six Pack posted pictures of what our rooms looked like after Mickey’s visit here.

8. Find an extensive packing list. It’s hard to think of all the things you just might need. Fortunately, someone out there has already done thinking for you. I use this list, but if you google “Disney packing lists” or something like that, you’ll find many more. Obviously they have to be modified to suit your family, but these are a great start.

9. Pack in Zip Lock bags. I know that sounds weird, but this is a tip I picked up from one of the message boards, and it really works! Pack each complete outfit for your kids in a gallon bag – shorts, shirt, underwear, socks, hair bows, everything. That way when you’re getting ready in the morning, all you have to do is grab a bag and your kid is good to go. This also helps when Dad is helping the kids get dressed! It makes it so you don’t have to remember what goes with what, etc. It’s really a time saver, and the bags come in handy for wet swimsuits, snacks, or whatever during your trip.

10. Order food from Garden Grocer. We’ve used this service twice now and I just placed our order for our upcoming trip. It’s fantastic. I’ve ordered cereal, fruit, pop, bottled water, snacks, and even diapers and wipes – all of which will be waiting for us at our resort when we arrive! Here’s a tip inside this tip – you can take food and drinks into the park with you. You don’t even have to hide them under the diapers, you’re allowed to – Disney doesn’t care. Erin from the Moms Panel said it, so it must be true. The prices are pretty reasonable and there’s a $12 delivery fee, but the money saved from buying everything in the park more than makes up for that. There are other companies who provide this service as well so you might search around, but Garden Grocer is the only one I’ve personally used, and I have had great experiences every time.

So there you have it! My top ten Disney tips.

But now I must know… what are yours??

*****
For more Top Ten Tuesday fun, visit my fellow Magical Mom OH Amanda!

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I’m Baaa-ack!

And it was AMAZING.

Magical, even.

I was invited to attend a mom blogger mixer at Disney World last weekend, and it was SO COOL. I cannot even begin to describe the awesomeness that was this weekend, but I’m going to give it a shot.

After kissing my babies goodbye (and calling my sister to politely remind her to pick me up, ahem. Love you, Annie), I headed out for the Dayton airport. I immediately noticed how much more people-watching I’m able to do when I don’t have to pay attention to what weird thing my kids are licking doing, and let me tell there are some weirdos in airports. My first subject of observation was a pleasant-looking middle-aged couple who were apparently not taking any chances on the swine flu and were sporting their surgical masks. The man, though, kept lifting his up to take a sip of coffee, so I’m not sure how well his preventative measures were working for him.

Anyway, after a very uneventful flight (during which I read the whole blissful time), we landed safely in Orlando. I headed down to the Disney Welcome Center and immediately boarded the Magical Express, which is Disney’s fleet of charter buses.

The Magical Express service is one of the many, many benefits to staying on Disney property. We first used it when we went to Disney two years ago, and it was great. After checking our bags in Dayton, we didn’t see them again until we entered our hotel room, where they were waiting for us. Same deal on the way home. The Magical Express also means you don’t have to rent a car, which is a huge savings. The best part? It’s free when you book a Magic Your Way trip.

As I was boarding the Magical Express, I saw two women in line in front of me. Since we were the only three women as far as the eye could see without a kid or ten two underfoot, I figured they were probably on the blogger trip, so I introduced myself. It turns out that they, Margaret and Amber, were the representatives from the Disney Moms Panel, sent to be our resident experts. I made the most of our time together on the bus by quizzing them on every question I had about traveling to Disney with a family, and they couldn’t be stumped. They had great advice for me, and continued to have the answers to every question any of us had for the rest of the weekend.

When we arrived at our hotel, Margaret and Amber graciously invited me to tag along with them to the Magic Kingdom, where they were intent on getting a Dole Whip!

We rode a few rides and then headed back to the resort to get ready to meet our group.

Oh, the resort. We stayed at Disney’s Beach Club Resort, and it was so wonderful. It makes me sad to think about how great it was, because I wish I was there right now, sitting by the pool! Anyway, our group met in the lobby, and I was a little nervous so I was glad to see a familiar face – Andrea from MommySnacks. As the rest of the women came down, we all introduced ourselves and my nervousness vanished – it was such a friendly group of crazy bloggers! Our group – brought together by Maria Bailey from BSM Media – was made up of Lisa from Crazy Adventures in Parenting and her seven-month-old Grayson, Christine from From Dates to Diapers, Megan from Velveteen Mind, Amanda from Oh Amanda and her seven-month-old Asa, Marsha from Sweatpants Mom, Lindsay from Surburban Turmoil, and Beth from I Should Be Folding Laundry.

We headed to the first of many events our wonderful hosts, Leanne and Laura from Disney’s social media team (a job doing social media for Disney? Boggles my mind.) put together for us. It was a wine and cheese reception on the roof, overlooking the most beautiful pool I’ve ever seen.
(Picture taken by Lisa)

After that, we walked over to Epcot (that’s how close the Beach Club is to the action!), where Laura handed us the first of our many FastPasses. (FastPasses are tickets you can get at the most popular rides and attractions at each of the parks. They give you an assigned window of time during which you can come back to that ride and essentially go to the front of the line. Andy and I used them very strategically during our last trip, and they really saved us tons of time waiting in line.) We went to ride Soarin’, one of my very favorite rides at Disney. After that, we walked back to France, where we talked like old friends, ate a fantastic dinner drank lots of wine. At least I did. But I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one!

Another one of my very favorite Disney experiences is Illuminations, which is the end-of-the-night show at Epcot Center. I have so many good memories of that show from our previous Disney trips, and that night was no exception. Well, one exception – it was about a thousand times cooler because a Cast Member with a light saber led the way for our group, parting the crowds like water, to a private area right on the water. They had prepared a coffee bar, a bar bar (you can imagine that that’s where I was), and a buffet of amazing desserts.
(Picture taken by Lisa)

During this time, I had the most amazing conversation with Beth and Andrea. I won’t go into the details, but I just feel I have to mention it, because truly it was one of the most meaningful parts of the trip for me. Even if it made Andrea a little nervous, lol.

After the show, we went to put another FastPass to use at Test Track, and then made the trek back to our hotel. Being the genius I am, I had worn high heels on this adventure, and by the time I made it back to my room, my feet were a mess. In fact, unless blood stains come into style, I won’t be wearing those shoes again. Good thing there was copious wine to dull the pain.

What I found when I got back to my hotel room was one of the absolute highlights of the trip. “Mickey” had visited my room! The first thing I noticed were the Mylar balloons (how Sammy would have loved those!).. and everywhere I looked I saw something else. There was a picture frame with a message written to me by Mickey, a popcorn tub with Mickey-shaped rice krispy treats, a huge stuffed animal Mickey with an autograph book and pen (the first page already signed by the Mouse himself!), a banner on the wall, a blanket embroidered with my name, a picture album, a book about Hidden Mickeys, even Mickey’s footprints on the floor.

It was truly magical, and I cannot wait to do it for my kids when we go in August.(Surprises like this are one of ways you can customize your trip, whether you’re celebrating a birthday, a first trip, or just the fact that you’re at Disney!) In fact, I’m totally going to decorate my kids’ rooms when they’re sleeping the night before their birthdays (or Christmas, or the first day of school, or anything!) from here on out. It was just such a fantastic surprise.

To be continued….

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2008: A Year in Review

2008 was a great year for Emily and I and Mommin’ It Up! Em had a baby, I got my eyebrows waxed, and we launched our review blog! In case you missed any of it, I picked out a favorite post from each month of 2008…I hope you’ll join my trip down memory lane and read them all. Happy New Year everyone! We love and appreciate all of you!

January: I scare the meter reader and deal with mystery turd #1

February: Emily has a good laugh at my expense. Or lack of expense.

March: Emily and I hit the brand-new IKEA store in our area. And ALMOST buy the correct items!

April: Emily pops out baby Sammy, and more importantly, I don’t have to wait any longer to know if it’s a boy or a girl. GEEZ.

May: A kid on Kate’s t-ball team makes the best blog fodder. EVAH.

June: Emily smokes crack, and is therefore a much more fun mommy than I am.

July: Mystery Turd 2: Electric Boogaloo! Nancy Drew tries to solve the case.

August: An old lady pisses Emily off. Watch out, Grandma!

September: We got a hurricane in Ohio. It was WEIRD. And windy.

October: I FINALLY wean Sophie at 23 months. Oy.

November: Emily and Oprah are like twinsies. And also 83-year-old ladies are smart.

December: My lady business is perfect. (According to my OB-GYN. I’m just sayin’.)

I had way too much fun putting this together. I must say Emily and I crack me up! So…at least that’s one of us…I hope you all reminisce with me and have a laugh too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let’s make 2009 a great one!

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