Can I add a few things to my Disney advice from last time?
-After going twice in the fall, I absolutely insist that if you can pull it off, go when school is in session! The lines are SO MUCH BETTER and the weather is great! I told Josh it's like getting your trip half price because you get twice as much done!
-Get the dining plan! We have gone on a free dining plan week both times! It's amazing. We didn't keep an exact tally, but we "spent" about $900 on food this week, but it was all "free" to us! AMAZING and so much fun to go to fun dinners and get fun snacks whenever you want!
-Speaking of snacks, if you have the meal plan, use your "snack credits" for fun items like giant cinnamon rolls at The Main Street Bakery, Dole Pineapple Whip Floats in Magic Kingdom, French pastries in France, amazing cupcakes at the candy shop, frozen lemonades.... I could go on and on. Last time we wasted our credits on small items (drinks, fruit, yogurt); you can pay for these cheaper items out of pocket if you really need them. Use your credits to get the expensive, fun stuff!
-We totally broke one of my major pieces of advice from last time. I said to go back to your room every day for a nap for the kids. Our kids never once took a nap in the room this time. We only tried once. They napped on the go the whole week. I don't know which is better. We got more done, but my kids were pretty exhausted by the end of the week! So, I'm not sure on this one... may depend on the temperament of your kids. Luckily, we avoided any major meltdowns!
-Always carry a change of clothes for your kids. It would take a long time to go back to your room if something happened (and it did come in handy for us once)! Also, always carry ibuprofen, snacks, sippy cups, pacifier clip for baby, camera, and some sort of "fanny pack." I just clipped a change purse type thing to my belt loop. And wear good shoes!
-Get a Disney Photo Pass and always have them snap a picture with your camera as well. We didn't buy the photo package. We just used all the ones from our camera, and we always had someone to take our picture!
-If at all possible, DON"T STAND IN LINE! I'm always amazed at people waiting. If there is a wait, grab a fast pass and go to the next thing! Then go back and cut to the front! We really didn't stand in any lines...
-If you're staying on property, put requests in on the location of your room! We asked multiple times for a first level room. We luckily, just barely got one. There are 3 floors and no elevators. Carrying a double stroller, two children, and bags up and down those every time we came and went would have been VERY difficult!!! You can also request to be close to the main building for drinks, snacks, pool, etc.
-I'm convinced that the week before Thanksgiving is the best week you could go. The weather is good, the crowds are down, the Christmas lights are up (AMAZING!), and this year, there was free dining that week!
-Even though Hannah has only had about 2 potty accidents this year, I put her in pull-ups for the whole week just in case. She never needed them, but when we were in a shoulder to shoulder crowd holding our spot for the evening fireworks and she said she had to go potty, I was glad I could just say she'd have to wait. It would have taken half an hour to get to a restroom, and we would have lost our spot and probably missed the show. She didn't end up needing the pull-up, but it gave me peace of mind!
-In my opinion, one minor mistake that we made was going to Cinderella's castle for dinner on our last night. It sounded like a good idea in our heads, but everyone was pretty exhausted by the last night. It was still fun, but I think it would have been better earlier in the week.
-The biggest mistake we made was letting Hannah fall asleep in the stroller at the gate before departing for home. We had to wake her up and make her sit up, buckled in on the airplane. She was not happy. This was our only meltdown of the week, and it was not fun! Luckily, she eventually discovered the fun kids in the seat behind us, and it was smooth sailing from there!
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