Any other DISNEY tips?

List them here

Is Sept weather iffy with hurricane season?

Message edited 2/26/2011 5:26:57 PM.

Re: Any other DISNEY tips?

DD#1's 1st trip she was 15 months. We went 9/27-10/5. Weather was REALLY hot and humid. 90s most days. Only one really cool evening where we were cold (60s) most nights were very pleasant 70s. We didn't have any rain all week.

- What characters does your DD like the most.

If she likes princesses - my girls enjoyed on our last trip (DD#1 was almost 3 and DD#2 turned 1 on the trip) the Princess Storybook dinner at Akershus - in Norway (EPCOT) you get a family picture with a princess (we had belle they rotate though) and we had snow white, ariel, aurora and cinderella. Great way to see princesses without the long lines.

EPCOT is a great place to see characters - they have a meet and greet with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto (go early or when the line dies down) in future world.

We saw Mulan in china, Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco, Belle and the beast (next to france), Aurora and Marie from Aristocats in France, Snow White in Germany, Pooh and Tigger, Mary poppins and Alice in England, Tiana in the America Pavillion.

You can look at the sheet and see when they are supposed to arrive - we were able to be at several of the locations before the lines started so we didn't waste time on the lines (the characters come in with a cast member and they will usually grab a child to walk to the spot and then form a line. If you ask a cast member where they come out or where they do their meetings you can usually be the 1st or 2nd in line.)

Baby care centers are good places to get things IF you forget them (baby or kid suntan lotion, Children's tylenol or Children's motrin, Pedialyte, etc. B.c you never know when you are in the parks and need something.

Decorate your stroller - it is SO much easier to spot a maclaren or city mini in the sea of them if yours is the one with the bright colored string or balloon, or pins etc. Cast members sometimes move strollers around and you come back to 50-100 strollers in one small space it helps if yours stands out. We had several parents both trips tell us they wished they had done that when they saw ours (I just used bright colored balloon ribbon and curled some on the handles and added a free 1st trip and birthday button they gave us in the parks.

If you are interested you can pre order their photopass CD - it is usually about $99- versus when you come home ($149). Then you have them take all the photos you can (they take them when you come into the park, at various locations (near certain landmarks or spots) at character meet and greets. We usually get about 300 photos. They charge you $14.95 for 1 5x7. You can put them all on your CD and then you get the rights and take it anywhere to print for MUCH cheaper. Not a good deal if you only want say 10 photos - but the more you take the better. Nice to have some family shots so you don't have to ask others to take them or you to be left out of the photo.

Re: Any other DISNEY tips?

Also - you can ship down a package of non perishables (great to do if you are bringing diapers, wipes etc that you don't want to bring home - save on extra baggage charged). You can ship a medium uhaul box down with Fedex for about $18 (ground).

Gardengrocer.com - like peapod will deliver to your hotel. If you aren't there they will leave them with bell services who will keep your items cold until you request them. Great for bottled water, juice boxes, yogurt, milk, breakfast, and snacks.

Re: Any other DISNEY tips?

WOW Christine, Thank you so much!!!!

Re: Any other DISNEY tips?

We just got back last night from California and DisneyLAND....so I guess I wouldn't be much help.

But - we did not take a stroller with us since DD will not use it anymore. We rented one at Disney instead ($15 for the day) and she loved it, it was a life-saver for us.

Also IMO when they are done, they are done. Don't push your kid to stay longer or do more than they are able. Leave while everyone is still happy!!

ETA - we had breakfast with the characters which was a great start to the day. And we put the balloons from the breakfast on the stroller....easy to find!

Message edited 2/26/2011 6:43:15 PM.

Re: Any other DISNEY tips?

have fun and don't stress!!!!

universal stroller covers incase it looks like you might get rain. we went last feb and it rained a lot, 3-4 of our 6 days. the covers were great, kept the kids dry and the strollers dry while we went on rides

Re: Any other DISNEY tips?

We took DS in September '08 when he was six months old. The weather was awesome... a little hot, but not unbearable. We got lucky and had no issues with rain. I don't have much advice, but something interesting occurred to me while we were there. I realized that I had NEVER seen the electric light parade. My parents brought me to Disney several times from the time I was 4 until about 10. We would get there when the park opened and I guess we would leave before the parade. After experiencing the madness... I realized why they did this. I never knew what I was missing, made it back to the condo we stayed at (or eventually to my grandparents' house) at a reasonable hour, and I still had an amazing time. At first, I thought... how creul! But, again, after I experienced the madness and crowds as the parade started and then the mad rush to leave the park I thought... how genius!

Hope you have a great time!