The Magic is Real!

            I think everyone’s childhood dream is to go to Disney World. When I was growing up, there was never money for such an adventure, but the dream still never faded. When I was 18, my mother won a poetry contest and was asked to come to Disney World for a poetry conference to read her work. Imagine my excitement when I found out I would get to tag along. I have fantastic memories of that trip with the most prominent being my tear-filled meeting with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee (I love the movie Peter Pan).

            Cut to over 10 years later and I now have to 2 little girls of my own…and with that comes a mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc. My husband and I made the joint decision after my first daughter was born that I would be a stay-at-home mom. Sacrificing that second income was a difficult decision, but the best thing for our child(ren). My husband is a very simple man, so lavish vacations have never been and probably will never be on the agenda, so when I proposed the Disney World idea, I was shot down about 100 times. Eventually, I convinced him that if I could pay at least 75% of the trip on my own (with my “allowance”), then he would pay the rest. That was in February 2015 and I immediately started planning for a September 2016 trip (our plans changed drastically). 

            After the girls would go to sleep every night, I would spend 30 minutes researching on Pinterest or one of my favorite Disney World sites, WDWPrepSchool.com. The amount of information you have to digest is ENORMOUS and patience will be your best friend. I had planned what I thought was going to be the best trip ever, all there was left to do was save money and wait.

            In late July, my husband found out that he would be having a 2 week work trip in Cape Canaveral, FL. Upon realizing that was only an hour or so away from Orlando, I begged and pleaded to my husband to allow myself and the girls to tag along on his business trip and give us a chance to “scope” out Disney World and learn a thing or two. He agreed, hesitantly. I purchased my tickets with my money (3 days worth) and my husband paid for his tickets (2 days worth). We made our Fast Pass+ reservations and I quickly organized a daily plan even though I had such short notice. The week before his business trip was actually a pre-planned trip to Nags Head with my husband’s family. We left for Florida, by vehicle, from Nags Head with a 12 hour drive ahead of us with an almost 3 year old and 14 month old in the car (absolutely, positively the worst car ride ever with two girls who took turns crying the entire trip).

            I by no means know everything about Disney World, but I am probably the most type A, obsessively anal person on this planet, so I have studied WDW a lot…probably too much. I can tell you where bathrooms are and which ones are the cleanest. Unfortunately, I am not the most eloquent speaker (or writer) though, so I actually find it difficult to put all of my thoughts about WDW into a perfect package of info. With that being said, my best bet at teaching anyone anything about WDW is to just do bullet points with ideas, opinions or facts that I’m aware of. That also makes it easier for me to add information. So that’s what this post will be; a completely unorganized collection of information about WDW. If you have anything to add or any questions, feel free to comment.

Walt Disney World opinions, facts and ideas by Erin Hanes

• ·         Bring bottled water, lots of it. Do not listen to fools who tell you to drink the free water. Florida tap water tastes like urine. Period.
• ·         Purchase the Memory Maker if you are going for longer than a weekend. We only stayed 3 days and we had 300 photos on our Memory Maker. If we purchased each one individually after our trip (at $15 a pop), it would have cost us $4500 (more than our entire trip). For $150, you can have quality photos of your family (with everyone in the picture).
• Hotels - if you have the money, splurge. You earned it and you can spend it how you like, but is it really worth it to spend $300-$600 a night on a hotel that you're literally only going to be in to sleep? My opinion is no. If you plan on being in the parks all day, as most do, you do not need a fancy hotel. Value resorts have just as much to offer and obviously, they are much cheaper than moderate and deluxe resorts. 
• Other hotel opinions: 1) Schedule a wake up call and put the speaker phone on. Mickey (or another character) will advise you to get your hind parts in gear and get to the parks. Kids will love it! 2) Most resorts have free movie nights by the pool - definitely a fun nighttime activity. 3) The only difference between pools at moderate resorts and value resorts are slides (moderate has them, value does not). Unless you spend a lot of time at the pool, another reason to just go with value resorts. Also, be aware that in FL you can swim in any season. It is absolutely feasible to take a dip in December or January. 4) Planning on purchasing souvenirs in the parks, but don't want to carry them around with you all day or worry about them getting broken? Let the cast member ringing you up know where you're staying and they can send your items to your hotel to be picked up before you leave. They are usually available by the next day. 

• ·         Dining plan – I’ll pass. A grand, WDW wanted a thousand dollars to feed my family. My daughters barely eat anything and the last thing I want to do when it is 100 degrees outside is stuff my face with a greasy cheeseburger. Pack your meals! Eat breakfast before you leave the hotel. Have lunch at the hotel when you take your midday break (see below) and have dinner when you return at night. Pack lots of snacks for your time in the parks. You’ll save yourself A THOUSAND DOLLARS! – We ate at HS (Hollywood Studios) twice and MK (Magic Kingdom) once. We also purchased 4 snacks from MK. That ran us about $100. I’m not sure how Disney thinks people can eat $1,000 worth of food in a week. Unless you have teenagers who eat everything within a quarter mile, I do not recommend the dining plan. If you choose to buy food in the parks, split meals since they are large.
• Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs): If you are staying for an entire week, you are going to want a day off from the parks. Disney Springs is the perfect place to go to keep that Disney spirit alive on your trip while taking a much needed "vacation" from the hustle and bustle of the theme parks. Lots of shopping, activities and dining options. May I suggest you do not miss the Lego Store?! Giant Disney characters made of Legos (perfect photo ops) and a ton of purchasing options of Legos of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. 

• ·         Take a midday break. Avoid temper tantrums, bad attitudes and heat exhaustion. We went the last week of September and it was still 90 degrees outside. Little kids are not meant to go from sun up till sun down with a smile of their faces…and neither are adults. Arrive to the parks first thing when they open to avoid crowds (people like to sleep in on vacation). Head back to your hotel around 1pm for a nap or just some down time and then head back to the parks around 5pm when everyone is leaving the park for dinner. **If you are staying off site, I do not suggest this (see below).

• ·         We stayed off site because we didn’t have a choice (free hotel in Cape Canaveral). Driving to Orlando and back to Cape Canaveral cost us $14 a day in tolls and another $20 a day for parking at WDW. That’s $100 we could have saved if we were on site (parking is free if you are staying on site). Additionally, staying on site makes it much easier to have that afternoon break.
• ·         Carry a backpack – sunscreen, food, water, wallet, phone(s), cameras, maps, autograph book and Sharpie (easier for characters to hold rather than a skinny pen), wipes, diapers (if needed), umbrella or ponchos (it rains lightly almost every day and this is the best time for short lines as people may leave when it rains), towel(s), change of clothes for children, swimsuits, flip flops to change into for water rides, bubbles/glow sticks/games to entertain children while waiting in line, etc.  THIS LIST COULD BE LONGER OR SHORTER DEPENDING ON THE PERSON(S), BUT EITHER WAY, A BACKPACK WILL BE NEEDED.

• ·         Be aware of rides that your child is not tall enough for to prevent a meltdown at the parks. This might seem obvious, but I saw kids crying because they were too short for this ride or that. Measure your kid(s) before your trip and advise them on which rides they are able to ride. Additionally, your child may be tall enough, but the content of the ride may not be age appropriate. Anyone can ride the Haunted Mansion (no height restrictions), but do you really think that is necessary for your 2 year old? I think not. Other rides are questionable as well, such as It’s a Bug Life show at AK (Animal Kingdom) and The Great Movie Ride at HS.
• ·         Purchase autograph book, toys, ears, shirts, souvenirs, light up gadgets, etc. before your trip (i.e. not at the parks). WDW wants your money (DUH!), so try and save some of it by purchasing those items beforehand. You can keep these in your bag and give them to your children when they are behaving well. It’s a great idea for keeping them on their best behavior and they will have no idea that it didn’t come from the parks. Another idea is to give your child a preloaded gift card. If they want to purchase anything other than food, they have to use their card and once it’s empty, that’s it. This is great for older kids and teaching them about the value of money and also about saving. They might realize they aren’t able to purchase something they really want because they spent their amount too quickly. 

• Strollers - Yes, this is an obvious suggestion, but my opinion on them differs from most posts about WDW. Most people will tell you to bring the easy fold-up umbrella stroller, I disagree. WDW is the last place you want to be when nap time strikes and your child is in an uncomfortable, tiny, not well-covered umbrella stroller. I say bring the stroller your child is most comfortable with and in. For us, that was our huge double stroller with 4 cup holders, a basket underneath, compartments for our phone(s) and a tray for each child to hold their snacks, toys, games, etc. 
• Use your time wisely by doing the opposite of what the crowds are doing - everyone is lining up on Main Street for the parade? Go ride some rides, the lines will be shorter. Most crowds move towards the right, head left for everything (i.e. security, ride lines, ordering food, etc.). Additionally, humans are creatures of habit. When you think about lunch time, you think noon...well everyone else is thinking it too. Have lunch at 11am or 1pm. At noon when everyone is piling on top of each other to get a meal, you can be riding coasters with shorter lines. Same goes for dinner, avoid restaurants between 5pm and 6pm. 

• Are you a picky eater? Your spouse? Your kids? Research menus for all the parks beforehand. You should map out stops for food/snacks into your timeline just like your touring plans for rides. You do not want to be stuck with a starving bunch and then realize the food options within the next 100 yards of you (in any direction) are "ethnic" and your kids only eat fries and chicken nuggets. **This applies mostly at Epcot, but can be true for the other parks as well. 
• RESEARCH CROWD CALENDARS - seriously! If you have to go during spring break, summer or winter break, I totally understand, but if you're taking a once in a lifetime WDW trip, take your kids out of school for a week. Anything you spend 2k+ on is a big deal and you'll want to have a GREAT trip if you're spending that kind of money. Waiting in line for 3 hours to ride Splash Mountain does not sound like a great trip to me. Even with the best touring plans, you cannot avoid the massive crowds that are at WDW during a nationwide break from school (spring break, summer, winter break). 
• Character breaks - Most of the lines for characters are outside, meaning you can see the characters as they are meeting with people. Keep in mind that they take a lot of breaks, sometimes every 5 minutes. Jessie and Woody in Frontierland were literally 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off for the entire hour they were meeting. This can be extremely irritating as you have to explain to your child every 5 minutes why Jessie and Woody are taking a break, but will be right back. I understand those costumes are hot and they have to pee or drink water, but in 5 minutes they only meet with about two groups or families. We were lucky enough to be the second to last group to see them before they exited for a few hours. We had a similar situation waiting to meet the White Rabbit and Alice and unfortunately, after waiting almost 45 minutes, we were not able to meet with them. ** Wanna meet Mickey and friends without waiting several hours? Sign up for a Disney Chase Visa credit card. Flash that bad boy at Innoventions West at Epcot from 1pm-7pm and you will not only get to meet them, but you'll be given a free 5x7 photo. The line will be very short so I personally believe signing up for the card just for the experience might be worth it. If you are not a fan of credit cards (like our family), you can just cut it up right after the photo is taken. 

 We are currently planning our trip for December 2016, so I'll be adding more to this post now through the beginning on next year as I think of more relevant info. So be sure to come back and check this post out again!

By far the best princess we met! Tiana definitely gave our meeting lots of extra magic.

For Toy Story fans:

"the claw" and the dynamite!

Unfortunately, the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground is shutting down. It was a FANTASTIC place for kids to run off some steam. I think it's a poor decision to close it, but Toy Story Land will be opening in that area in a few years and I am definitely looking forward to that. 

Leaving WDW,
they seem way
to happy to go.
Their hot and
sweaty dad was
excited to leave.
He's not a
Disney fan.