You can't do everything!
I know, every blog post you've ever read about Disney says this, but it's true. If you're like me, you like to have every second planned, have a rough idea of which rides you'll do what days, what times, when you'll eat, what time you have to be up and out of the hotel by, and exactly how long it will take you to walk to the bus stop at any given time.
Throw it all out the window.
In April of 2018, we had a seemingly perfect trip. I'm pretty sure we did everything we had on our list to do. We had every fast pass booked, every meal set, a list of characters to meet and when to meet them. By the end of the trip, our feet hurt, we were exhausted, and we said "never. again."
This trip, I planned for us to be in the parks either in the morning OR the afternoons/evenings. This gave us more time to either relax and enjoy the resort, go swimming, or we could stay later in the parks if we wanted to! This plan worked out much better with our group (Myself, Mike, Josiah whos almost 2, and my mom). We each got the relaxation we needed, but also got a LOT of park time.
We didn't do everything we wanted this trip. And that's okay. I had a list going into this trip of things I wanted to do. But being flexible and not sticking 100% to the plan worked out for us in the end. I specifically recall one morning we were going to get up and be at the parks by 8 am, do 3 fast passes (at minimum) and then be at a resort for brunch by 1145. When we woke up that morning at 830 and it was raining and cold, we threw all plans out the window and just went to brunch, and then a completely different park in the afternoon. It was the most memorable evening being some of the only people out since it was so cold and wet. But man was it fun!!
Pack Bags Appropriately!
One of the most frustrating parts of Disney is their bag checks. I will take that frustration any day since obviously the safety of every person is priority, but when people don't understand that every bag needs to be opened, every zipper checked, it can back up the lines. Typically, one of us would go through bag check with the stroller, while the other 2 went through the no bag line. This also helped because it took 2 extra bodies out of the line! Since we had the stroller, we tried to bring as little as possible, so we never brought a backpack in with us, rather just a few small bags in the stroller baske. We had this amazing Zipper Pouch Bag from Thirty One as our "diaper bag". It held diapers, wipes, a change of clothes for JP, a few snacks, and a few cars to keep him occupied if we needed them. It was the best purchase I made prior to this trip and I use this now when I'm out and about rather than lugging around a full bag! We also had a few ziplock gallon bags to hold his blanket, sweatshirts, and extra snacks. So we would just throw those bags on the table and then be on our way.
I also had a fanny pack. *cue the laughter*
I could do a whole blog post of why I loved having a fanny pack on this trip! I won't. But I could. Mike 100% made fun of me for wanting one, and then when I bought one, he was like "oh no, it's actually going to happen" haha! BUT, it meant that he didn't have to carry around items of mine OR have a backpack, so I don't think he complained THAT much.
In my pack I had:
-One Diaper
-Travel Wipes (We used these since we got them for free in a trial box)
-My Lactaid Pills (so I could have the amazing Mac and Cheese Tots)
-My card wallet (You can find it here)
-Reusable Straws (Find a 4 pack here)
-My phone or my lanyard with pins on it would go in while we were on rides.
I can't recommend fanny packs enough. It was great when Josiah would need a diaper change, I could just pull him out and go change it. Or having my Annual Pass right there ready to go rather than asking Mike to grab it from the backpack. Or having a safe place to put my phone rather than just in my pocket of my jeans on a roller coaster. It was SO worth it. In Disney, anything goes! And for me, what will ALWAYS go with us to Disney is my Fanny pack! Even on a trip when JP is older, I may still use it! (You can find my fanny pack here)
Pay Attention to EVERYTHING
Every detail. Pay attention. Watch what the weather forecast is going to be so you remember sun glasses from the room (since it was raining for 3 days and you didn't need them, then surprise, you're buying a $25 pair of sunglasses you don't need). Make sure you're in the right line for the right bus at the right time! Be self aware. Remember that there are other people around you and that when you and your family of 17 people decide to walk side by side down Main Street USA, and then all stop to take the same picture of the castle at the same time, there may be other people around you trying to walk.
If you have any sort of wheeled vehicle (stroller, wheel chair, electric scooter) PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS GOOD PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND WHERE YOU'RE GOING.
I can't emphasis this enough. I understand that Disney is a crowded place and that you're bound to accidentally run into someone with your stroller (or be run into by a stroller). But when you realize you've done this, maybe slow your walk a little bit instead of crowding people. It's kind of like with a traffic jam on the highway. When you see the car in front of you move, keep a little distance because they might have to slow down and stop again.
And again, I understand that there are people who need scooters at Disney who wouldn't normally use them in real life. That is 100% okay. But be aware of your surroundings. Watch where you're backing up, and don't feel entitled to push your way through a crowd of people. Thank you for coming to my ted talk on proper Disney behavior.
Interact with Cast Members!!!!!
Somme of the most memorable moments we've had at Disney haven't just been moments between myself and my family. They usually are involving a cast member! On our honeymoon, a cast member organized a group of high school kids to come make a heart shape around us for a photo. In 2018, a waitress at Be Our Guest brought my mom a card signed by the beast and Belle for her birthday which made my mom cry, which lead to a huge hug and lots of love from the waitress. This trip we met Rich at our hotel (shout out Rich at the French Quarter!). He helped us with what we were looking to do, but he made it so fun! What could have been a 2 minute interaction of just paying off our room balance turned into a 15 minute conversation, getting to look at the resorts giant book of Pins, learning things about Rich, and him showing us one of the coolest hidden gems of Disney! It was such a memorable interaction and one that makes us want to go back to the French Quarter time and time again!
So, those are just a few little things I wanted to share about our trip that weren't actual things about our trip! Catch us over at our Youtube Channel where we WILL be posting about our trip a lot, and probably doing a lot of Disney related cooking videos in the future!!!
XOXO
Amanda
