My Top 10 Disney World Tips!

So since being back all i can talk and think about it Disney now anyone that knows me personally will probably think that this is nothing unusual, well it isn't really however when your husband and 3 year old are doing the same you suddenly realize that the family has a little obsession.

when your husband is ordering Disney pins to stock pile so that "the kids" can trade next time we go or when E tells nursery or Nanny that "Mummy & Daddy have to go to work because they need pennies to take us back to Disney" That's probably the realization for me that the holiday was a HUGE success and that i need another full time job to fund our expensive love.

So I thought i would write up My Top 10 Disney Tips i know that there are loads of these posts circulating (trust me i read them all the obsession is real) but everyone has different hints and tips for you to be nosy and try out as not every family or trip is the same.

1. Stop. - it may seem like a really pointless thing to do but just stop breathe it all in enjoy the smells the sound close your eyes take it all in. make sure the kids do as well because this feeling that they have right now will stay with the forever. Disney has so many amazing little touches that you don't ever realize are there e.g the smell of the candy store on the corner of main street. This smell is like nothing else in the world it is amazing! You have worked so hard and saved every penny possible to make it to Disney now is your moment when you walk through those gates and you see that castle, just STOP look at your children's faces this is the moment that makes all those worries and fears disappear because their little faces say it all.
*and also i can always remember the smell of the toilets their air freshers are amazing!*

2. Take bottles of frozen water in to the parks. - this is probably one of the main things we have always done and i don't know how people don't do it if i'm honest. we will buy a multi pack of bottled water and then freeze them over night ready for the next day we will usually make sure there is 2 for each person, one for during the park and then one in a cool box in the car ready for after. Now what happens when it's empty you say, Do Not throw the bottle away! In Disney there a plenty of water fountains around you will see them everywhere and this is water that is good to drink so re fill your water bottle ITS FREE! a bottle of water in Disney can set you back $3 that's eating in to your spending money when you don't need to.

3. Autograph books - autograph books are amazing and the kids will love filling it as well as meeting all the characters and having something which they can show their friends when they get home as well. Now i did see a lot of people who had made their own ones which is a brilliant idea, however you then have to carry around a big heavy book all day and that Florida heat is something us Brits are not used to at all. I made ones for my girls but we decided that we would make them into scrap books later one and that way they can help with this as well. Every cast member that's with a character will have a bag this will contain loads of things but more importantly pieces of paper and plenty of colored pens that any stationery crazy person would love! Cast members are the most amazing people in this world some times you don't even have to talk to them and they will make you smile. So just ask them for a bit of paper and pen to get an autograph save all of these ( i would also write on the back the date and where you met them as well but i'm really anal like that) that way when you get home and are ready to put everything together you will have it there ready and easy to link all together as well. If not just your normal size autograph books that you can buy in Disney are the easiest ones to carry in Bum bag (fanny pack) these cost around £10 depending on which one and then you get pulled in to buying a pen as well which is again is eating into spending money.

4. Bum bag or Fanny pack - i always used to joke and laugh about my dad wearing one as a child however when you are the adult in the situation these are a god send! we didn't take one with us as we thought we knew best and that we wouldn't need one. WRONG. we ended up buying one from the Disney outlet shop for a few dollars yes it says 2016 but it really was a god send. probably our best buy for this holiday it wasn't too big it fit across the handles on the pushchair it could fit an autograph book in as well as a phone and money. If and when i did need to wear it, it wasn't uncomfortable or got in the way either.

5. Pushchair or stroller - this is a big one for me as Disney is a massive place and you don't realize how far you do actually walk. when you have two under 10 in the Florida heat on a full day in the parks this is exhausting. They are so tired but mummy  isn't ready to go back yet she has more to explore. ( i promise i'm not that mean well, ) Even if your child doesn't have one at home which ours don't Disney is a completely different ball game you will need one! these can be rented out but this is only in the parks and they are very expensive and they are per day hires as well. Walmart is a good place to pick these up for $15-$20 for a basic one which is all you will want if not take your own we didn't have to pay to take ours it just had to be in with our normal weight allowance. On long days where we stayed for fireworks as well even A who is 7 had a stroller and yes i am one of those parents who likes them to walk but she fell asleep and there is no way any of us could carry her as a dead weight who's snoring and sweating

6. Don't take everything to the park - this may sound obvious but some people would have bags and bags of stuff for a day in the park. You don't need it don't take it. you will have to get every bag checked at the park security as you enter the parks and they are very thorough so you will be there forever and holding up every one else. If it isn't essential don't take it you can always pop back to the hotel or where ever you are staying.

7. Queues - now as Brits we are good at queuing however the Disney ques aren't like a queue for the bus or primark over here. They are a military operation. Take the security bag checks at the entrance to all parks, there is usually a guy pointing you in a direction of the queues that are shorter listen to him as he is very helpful and does know what he is talking about he isn't just talking into the microphone because he wants to. Have your bags all open all zippers open and ready for them to look in this is another thing that will help them get through it all faster like i said before there is always the one guy with a double pushchair a cool bag three changing bags and his bum bag, and none of them are open don't stand behind him in a queue. Usually it is the furthest queues that are shorter as people are oblivious and lazy. With the ride queues they will often cut them off and let other people through as a Brit this infuriates us, Don't say anything as usually this is due to them being fast passers or some times it can be due to a disability so before you do the Brit thing and moan that you have been queuing for ages, there is always a reason behind it.

8. Fast passes - this comes nicely on to fastpasses, these are the most amazing thing ever! This is the only thing i would recommend trying to plan not fully as i am not a fan of planning every second of you holiday but i would highly recommend trying to get fast passes for the more popular rides e.g Frozen or Snow White's mine train. You can book these 30 days in advance i think it is earlier when you are staying on Disney property possibly 60 days so use this take full advantage!! You can book 3 at any time once you have used these 3 you can then book another 1 and once you have used that one and then you can book another and so forth. i would recommend using the 3 in the morning and then assess what you want to do in the afternoon/evening. The 3 fastpasses must all be in the same park as well.

9. Take photos - again probably another obvious one, but take the posing photos take a picture where you are all pulling a face you are in Disney no one cares if you look a fool. Use your photopass photographers that are all around the parks these are usually cast members with HUGE cameras if you aren't sure stop them and ask them to take your photo. failing that some times they may just take it for you, Hey your in Disney every one is Famous right?

10. Enjoy it - Love every second take hundreds of photos capturing every second even if it is them asleep or walking or even eating you will look back and picture it where you were what it smelt like how warm it was you will be able to re live it. If your child wants you to pull a face in a photo or race them to the castle, do it!. Sing along to all the songs (I know that you all know the words), dance along down main street, wave at everyone in the parade, hug all the characters because are 100% real!!

If you have any other tips or hints please comment them and i may do another blog of all the good ones people have suggested, as i love other peoples hints and tips.

As i say these are the big ones that i thought were good from our trip so i hope these help you. Remember to never loose sight that it was all started by a mouse.

A few pics that sum it all up. :)

 

&& of course the mouse him self

 

MICKEY!! 

 

Long flight with younger children

How to survive a long flight with young children, Do not drink until you forget you have them this may cause you to be chucked off the flight before you even get on it.

So yes a 9 1/2 flight with any child is enough to drive any sane person to want to drink until their heart content however it isn't that bad really.

Make sure your child is aware that it will be a very long time.

- for example the week before we flew we said " this time next week we will just be getting on the plane" we did this all through out the day to show that when we are on the plane it will be a very long day then in the evening when we sat down to eat our dinner the oldest turned and asked what we would be doing this time next week and we told her that " we would just be getting there" but we would still need to do lots of things before we even get out of the airport and we talked about all the things we had to do. That way when we got there she knew and she was excited to be telling us what we had to do next.

Don't bother with big bags or pull along cases

- on long flights with children they want to spread out take their shoes off and relax if they have a larger bag or suitcase this isn't as easy to put out of the way or get stuff out of. you dont have to be up with the latest trend with the snazzy bags with all the mods cons just stick with a character backpack for a few quid from Primark.

Make sure they are comfy

- don't put your child in trendy or stylish clothes make sure that they are comfy on an over night flight or a flight where you arrive late at night take a set of pajamas and let them get changed into them as then they can just fall asleep when they get there. and do not forget a jumper as it can get so very cold all the way up there.

Seats

-  don't bother about trying to get a seat near the toilet as kids like to be able to get up and stretch their legs get a seat at the back away from the toilets let them walk. They are on a huge plane miles in the sky and they can walk around in the plane!! it's so exciting for them. Also they can be a bit smelly on a long flight and people like to queue for these toilets as well so they will stand next to you being nosy or knock you while you are eating.

Snack Packs

- on our flight we were able to buy a kids snack box this was just a small box with a few different snack and a drawing page with some crayons in as well for a few pounds it was worth it as this i managed to drag out for a while as well as she kept forgetting about it as well.

Activity packs

- now i am not on about the ones you buy in a shop or the endless magazines, and it isn't as hard as it sounds. I had some plain white envelopes in the drawer ( you know the ones you put dinner money in ) i printed off different activity sheets for each of them obviously only ones that i knew they could do, i then labelled up the envelopes for a different step of our journey e.g open at the airport, open when the seat belt light comes on. in each envelope i put a couple of colouring sheets & suitable others sheets, word searches, spot the difference. I also made our own eye spy as well for the wait to get on the plane as some time this can take a while so this kept them occupied.

Small toys or action figures

- we filled the smallest ones bag with her little toys she loves playing with these she had princesses and Peppa pig ones these kept her quiet for a little while at least most the time it was lining them up and drawing round them but it was simple and cheap.

Headphones

- make a big deal over them choosing a set of head phones so that they can have their own ones and this will save you money on the flight as well as on our flight the headphones were £3 each which is a lot if you have more than one that needs them.

Snacks

- again a big must even for the bigger kids. especially for take off and landing kids still don't understand how to un pop their ears and most kids will find this distressing and sometimes it can hurt them the best thing i found was lollipops i had loads left over from our party but you can buy the chubba chubb ones in a multi pack and they are all different flavors as well which again is great if you have fussy kids that don't like the same thing. I would also recommend letting them choose a drink in one of the shops within the airport before you board as well and also get extra bottles of water this usually works out cheaper it isn't as cheap as taking Aldi bottled water but you wont get them past security so i wouldn't bother.

Entertainment packs

- so on our flight we were in economy this meant that you each got about 4 films 4-6 tv programme's and some songs on the tv. which as an adult or older child is fine as you can take a book to read or word searches to kill some of the time, however when you are a small child trapped in one seat and you can't run around and ask the man if you can have a go at steering the plane, this is not ok. They don't seem to like this at all. You could up grade to the premium entertainment pack for £5 but again if there are a few of you that want to do this it will add up. You could also do it for one seat and then when one of them falls asleep do a swap over in the chairs if you only wanted to pay for one. I would also recommend downloading a few different apps and shows on to you tablet. Our favorites are: Cbeebies,  Disney Life and the BBC iplayer most of these when you download them are only valid for 30 days so make sure that you do this within those days other wise you will only have them there and not back. Also the Disney Life app does a 30 day free trial which is a good tip to remember.

Priority boarding

- with certain airlines you can book priority board this is you fast pass through check in if you are travelling with children then i would highly recommend doing this. Standing in queues for long times is exhausting and very hard for adults and children especially young children if there is a shortcut and a way around this then i would take it. This is at a charge though.

Just remember yes you have spent all this time planning and saving for this trip to be the most amazing and magical experience of their lives. This is all new and daunting to them and they are also Extremely excited as well. After all this is all about them right (that's what everyone kept telling me any way). Keep them involved and talk to them explain what is happening and what they are going to do next because walking through a metal detector on your own is very scary even more so if they pick you randomly to go into a different machine. Their holiday starts the minute you wake up to leave your house don't let that magic and excitement disappear.

I would also say about letting them eat what they want on the flight personally i hate plane food so i wouldn't tell my kids that they had to eat it because i wouldn't we all talked about all the food we could have when we got there however the kids meals were lovely and the smelt amazing.

These are just some of the things i could think of that i thought may help others if you know or think of any more please comment so that we can help other parents out as we have to stick together other wise they will smell your fear.

Up date.

Hello to any one who still reads my ramblings.

So i thought i would do a quick up date post as it has been a while and i want to get back in to the habit of writing again.

The past few months since my last post has been crazy!! 

and not just your average crazy either.

In the past 6 months we have;
had Christmas, all had birthdays, completed my probation at work and become permanent, lost weight, put weight back on ( hides face ),another majorettes season 2 regional's nationals and a mini nationals saw the troupe win 239 awards, seen the new year in, got very drunk, had a party, got very drunk (there may be a bit of a pattern here but i'm not too sure what that pattern is yet), we have been to Disney World and we got Married! "can you hear the bells"

So when i said the past 6 months were crazy they literally were, so in  a nut shell that's what has been happening InDeWilde. Or should i now say Up****Creek :D

I will be at some point uploading a blog post on a few tips with travelling on a long flight with children as well as a Disney World post because lets be honest i can't not write one.

Hoping people are still keeping up to date and i am back now i promise.

Much Love
The New Mrs Creek :) x