Category Archives: Personal

Our Disney World holiday visit and tips for parent & kids visiting Disney World > Part 2

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This is a continuation of Part 1: “Our amazing trip to Disney World and a few tips and hints for your next visit – Part 1” post published December 26th, 2009.

Meal Time at Disney World

It was difficult for the 5 of us to agree on a time and place in the Disney World park to eat a meal so I’m glad I brought a large bag of snacks and granola bars (choose some healthy high calorie snacks) to keep their energy up. I think that helped keep my 10 and 3 year old from getting cranky and tired as so many other kids clearly and unfortunately were.

Plan your day at Disney World

  • Take 5-10 minutes when you arrive at Disney World to sit down on a bench with your family and plan out the rides that everyone wants to go in and if there are rides that both of yor kids can’t go on due to height restrictions then plan which parent or adult will go with with child (or kids) on each ride . That way there is no confusion once you reach a ride that you find all of your kids can’t go on.
  • Get Fast Passes. Fast Passes are free, but not all rides offer Fast Passes. “Its a Small World” doesn’t offer Fast Passes so be ready to wait in line.  If there is a parade Scheduled for the day you are visiting Disney World. During the parades at Disney World, lines for popular rides like “Space Mountain” are shorter because a lot of people are watching the parade.
  • Be prepared for moments of crankiness.  Expect your kids to get cranky. Being around so many people can be overwhelming I say the least. Kids can’t reason and accept the fact that they have to wait in line so be prepared to keep calm yourself. Download a couple of exciting new iPhone games (if you have one) that your kids can play while in line to help pass the time quicker.
  • Expect to buy each child one toy. Explain that it’s best to but toys at the end of your day at Disney World so THEY (your kids) don’t have to carry their toy around the while time.
  • Adults may want to wear a backpack not a handbag.  Your shoulders will be very strained with a few hours of walking and standing and you can expect to get sore.

General ride tip:

  • Whenever my 3 year old looked or acted line she was getting frightened on a ride (Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin for example) during dark moments I would point out how I thought the ride was so fun. When we went through outer space during Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin I told her in a very cheery voice that we got to go in space. She was OK then.
  • When she looked like she was getting overwhelmed/green on the Tea Cup ride I slowed our Tea Cup down and had her look down. This only lasted for a moment then she was ready to spin again.

Even though we arrived at Disney World at 9:30, we didn’t get to ride as many rides as we hoped.   Disney World is extremely busy during school breaks, even winter break.  The crowds can be a bit overwhelming especially for kids.  Read my tips on what to bring which will help during these overwhelming times.  The perfect weather more than made up for the crowds though.   I would recommend that everyone go during the holidays at least once to see Disney World beautifully decorated with Christmas Trees, Nutcrackers, and Cinderella’s brightly lit castle.

Did I leave any tips out? Share them with our readers in the comments area below. Thanks!

Part 1 > Read Part 1 of my ‘Disney World holiday trip’ series here

Helpful Disney World official website links:

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Our amazing trip to Disney World + a few tips and hints for your next visit – Part 1

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As I mentioned in my last post, my 10 year old, 3 year old, sister, Dad, and step-mom went to Disney World last week. I had not been to Disney World during the holiday season and wasn’t sure what to expect, but going during the holidays was the point. We wanted to see the decorations and Christmas parades. We even rode a few rides!

My favorite Disney World rides:

“It’s a Small World”

– It’s a Small World is great for all ages, no scary or dark moments at all. Madelyn LOVED “It’s a Small World”. The wait was minimal, we kept moving until we boarded the ride.

“Carousel of Progress”

– Despite having been on the Carousel of Progress ride many many times over the years, it never gets old even though the changes are minimal every time I go. I loved for my 10 year old son to see the way people lived in the 19th century as well as potential living situations in te future. He actually wanted to go on the “Carousel of Progress” more than once.

“Mad Tea Party”

– Mad Tea Party is one that I don’t think I rode as a child because I was fearful of getting sick. I rode Mad Tea Party when we took my then 3 year old to Disney World and didn’t throw up so I did it again this time with my 3 year old daughter and she loved it!

“Dumbo The Flying Elephant”

– Dumbo The Flying Elephant was so fun! The wait was longer than I would have hoped but it was worth it. The ride is short, it seemed like about 3-4 minutes but that was probably just long enough for Madelyn. She enjoyed controlling how high we went and when. She got a kick out of that.

“Jungle Cruise”

– The Jungle Cruise is great for all ages. It is a boat ride with a humorous ‘tour guide’ during which you go through the jungle and see elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes, and alligators.

My recommendations for your next or first trip to Disney World:

  • Bring lots of hand sanitizer. It seems impossible for kids if any age to keep their hands off if the rails and then out them in their nose or mouth (fun!).
  • Bring bottled water. You’ve got to keep hydrated!
  • Bring your own stroller. You can rent a stroller at Disney World for $13 a day (price when we went) but their stroller didn’t seem to have any storage room below the seat or any type of cushioning. They might have had cup holders for the adults but I’m not sure.
  • Bring snacks.

General “What to bring” tips:

  • Bring sunscreen even in the winter.
  • Bring bottled water.
  • Bring sun hats.
  • Bring ponchos.
  • Extra clothes or babies and toddlers. Put the extra clothes in a Ziploc bag and squeeze all of the air out of the bag to make the it really small for easy storage in your backpack.
  • Bring wipes to clean up sticky spills on clothes and hands.

Even though we arrived at Disney World at 9:30, we didn’t get to ride as many rides as we hoped.   I would like to be able to go for a couple of days next time we go to Disney World and staying in a Disney Resort would be convenient and appreciated by everyone in your family I’m sure.. so I recommend doing that if you can. 
Disney World is extremely busy during school breaks, even winter break.  The crowds were a bit overwhelming at times.  The perfect weather more than made up for the crowds though.   I would recommend that everyone go during the holidays at least once to see Disney World beautifully decorated with Christmas Trees, Nutcrackers, and Cinderella’s brightly lit castle.

Did I leave any tips out? Share them with our readers in the comments area below. Thanks!

Part 2 > Meal time at Disney World, ride tips, helpful official Disney World website links

Visit the Disney World Magic Kingdom website to learn more about the park, get prices, buy tickets, and more.

Alicia

I was not compensated in any way for this post.

I took a whole week off! Back to life now

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I realized a few minutes ago that it’s Saturday which means that I took a whole week off of work, a first in many years. Even while on vacation I usually have my laptop with me, answer emails, write posts on The Mommy Insider and my other site Atlanta Moms, and I have even been known to take phone calls while on vacation. It felt really good to not do any of the above while in Florida last week.

Exactly one week ago the kids and I and my sister drove to Orlando to visit and celebrate Christmas with my Dad and step-mom. We had an incredible time. Between ice skating and an amazing trip to Disney World we relaxed at their house which has a beautiful lake small enough that we swim in (no alligators) during our Spring and Summer visits.

Today I am going to extend my vacation a little bit by spending time cleaning out my car and I am going to go through the kids gifts so I can actually see what they got. Not to mention cleaning, laundry, etc.

Then when things settle down later in the afternoon (am I kidding myself?), I am going to transfer all of my files and programs from my MacBook White to my new MacBook Pro that I haven’t use since I got it from my Dad Tuesday! Talk about torture! It’s so pretty and shiny and I am a total geek so not using a brand new super duper laptop is extremely difficult for me.

Have a great weekend and I’m going to put some photographs of our Orlando vacation up soon so subscribe to my (almost) daily RSS feed or weekly newsletter to be notified when I update the site.

Alicia

The Santa Bribe.. Happening now and not working

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I feel bad that I am in the process (I’m laying in her bed as I type this on my iphone) of bribing my 3 year old to take a nap by saying that Santa brings gifts to sweet girls not naughty girls. I didn’t do that with my now 10 year old when he was 3 years old. I didn’t have to.

I feel bad because I know she’s going to get gifts no matter what. I guess I didn’t lie though. ‘Santa’ prefers to bring gifts to sweet kids rather than naughty kids.

Sigh.. she just sat up in bed and with the cutest voice said “Mommy, I don’t know how to sleep”.

Wish me luck!

UPDATE: She’s asleep on my chest now.

– Alicia