Reflections from Walt Disney World

So...we did it.  We went to Disney World!

It was a crazy, fun, exciting, stressful, amazing and memorable experience!  We won't forget it and are so thankful to Grandma for the Christmas gift of going there.  We got a few comments about how brave we were (or "God bless you!" remarks) because we took five children to WDW, but we had Grandma with us so it really was an adult to child ratio of 1:1.6, which isn't bad.  Plus, the kids are really good kids, so it wasn't like we were dealing with fits and tantrums and rampant disobedience.

After 6 days of Florida sunshine and no housework, schoolwork, or work-work, my mind is reeling.  I've got loads of memories I want to record, lists forming in my head of the things I suddenly only have 20-some days to get done before Christmas, and I also just want to sit back and sleep or veg out in front of the television.

So, here's part 1 of who knows how many follow ups I may have regarding our trip to Disney.e  And here are all the pictures in one chunk since I'm too busy/lazy to sort through it.  It's enough to put in on the blog, right?  :-)

Katie's Disney tips:

-DON'T listen when they strongly suggest that you really should make meal reservations when you have the meal plan.  We had one day when we ended up eating when we weren't hungry just because we had reservations and didn't want to pay for cancelling late.  Not cool.  It was like purgatorial gluttony.  (Although it was still great food, in great atmospheres and with great company.  And we had a LOT of good laughs about it.  You know, "Hey, it's been two hours since we've stuffed ourselves...where's our next reservation?!")
Instead, pick a couple of meal experiences that you want to have, and then make those reservations after you've planned out your days.  If you don't have the park hopper option, then you will be limited about where you can eat because you can't go to one park and then leave it to eat dinner at another park.

-When you make plans to go somewhere, double check that you have and are getting the correct information.  Paul and I had a date at a Mediterranean restaurant that was not at our resort but within the Disney World area.  We were given instructions on what transportation to take to get there, and how much time we needed, but found out after part one of our recommended transportation course that we had to go through a park to get to the restaurant, or be 30 minutes late by taking transportation that was different than we were originally instructed.  We couldn't get through the park because we had already visited a different one that day.  Therefore, our date took on an interesting turn that included a phone call to our resort's front desk, waiting in guest relations line, LOTS of literal running through a park, and arriving 10 minutes later than planned at our restaurant, sweating from exertion.  Of course, it didn't end there...turns out I was incorrect about our date time and we got there early!  Getting back to our resort was another crazy tale of running and convincing park security that we needed to go through the park again after hours.  Fortunately, they didn't feel the need to search our leftover box.  :-)

-Underpacking is bad, but overpacking is awkward, too.  But I'd still rather be overpacked and come home with way more diapers than I thought I'd be bringing back.  At least we didn't have to buy any at a ridiculous cost.

-Bring one or two reusable containers with you.  Inevitably, at least one person in the family won't be able to finish their snack or meal.  At Paul's recommendation, we did this and it saved a lot of food (and our sanity) when James or one of us needed a little fuel between mealtimes.

-Pack a few plastic grocery bags and extra 1 quart ziplock bags.  Dirty diapers really stink in enclosed areas, like hotel rooms.  And if your kids are suddenly eating lots of fresh fruit as you can easily find in Florida, said diapers can potentially stink up an entire hotel hallway.  Bring a bag and wrap, wrap, wrap!  The ziplock bags are just good for anything - bringing home extra shampoo, storing extra snacks that have had their original packaging mutilated by kids who struggle opening plastic bags of grapes, or in case someone needs to upchuck from a ride or morning sickness.  (Just throwing that in there for fun - no one was sick and no one is pregnant!  ha!)

-Bring a grandma.  Really.  It is so amazing to have that additional help when you need to keep your group together, take some but not all to the bathroom, and to take pictures when your arms are full with a wiggly child and you wouldn't otherwise be able to capture that moment.  Seriously, I have the best mother in law, ever.  And her helpfulness is just part of what makes her great.

-Meet up with your kids' uncle. They will have the time of their lives and you'll get an inkling that maybe he's never had quite so much fun being loved by littles.  You'll notice just how good of a father he could be some day and it will be really neat to see that side of him (for such a long duration) for the first time.

-Don't bother with individual water bottles.  Get 2 bottles of water and refill and reuse as a family water bottle.  You live with each other and share germs and immunities.  Toting around more than 2 bottles is silly, especially when you have to carry all your valuables with you (unless you are renting lockers, which we didn't because we are cheap thrifty), and the bottles that water comes from are easy to replace.

-Hydrate (and limit the chocolate milk)!  You are all running and walking around all day.  Order water with the majority of your meals, especially for the kids.  And don't let the kids drink all their chocolate milk before they get their food.  They won't have room at mealtime and then will be hungry later (but this can be worked with if you brought your reusable container, noted above).

-Get the Fastpass.  Better yet, get your kids' uncle to run to pick up fastpasses and plan around the ride times you get with them.  It's awesome.  And, if you can, go the week after Thanksgiving.  Starting with the Monday after Thanksgiving, the parks were busy but not at all like I remember when I was there at 15 (also during the "slow" time) a week or two closer to Christmas.  I think we hit the perfect time for a visit.  Between the timing of our visit and fastpass, I don't think we waited in any lines for more than 20-25 minutes - and that length of a wait was rare.

-Before you go, decide what your vacation priorities are.  It's okay if you have to change them as you experience your trip, but have a plan to start with.  We were pretty content with how we used our days, but the choices we made (emphasizing experiencing many rides and making the most of our opportunities at the parks, rather than highlighting pool time and relaxing) left us (the grownups) wiped out every day.  For us it was not unexpected, but if you aren't prepared for it, you'd probably hate your vacation.  More than anything, we wanted the kids to have a memorable time and, not knowing if we'll have the opportunity to go again, we planned to do as much as we could without wearing them out.

-Have a plan to keep people together.  We didn't have a problem with getting separated, although there were a few times when we couldn't see one of the kids for a few brief heart-shaking moments.  But we did have two experiences finding lost children.  In one case, we passed the little girl on to a Disney cast member.  She was suddenly at our stroller, hanging out with us.  A cute little blonde thing, she looked like one of us, and I think it surprised the Disney person that she didn't belong to us.  When I asked, "Where is your mommy?" her eyes got big and she started to go "Huh-huh-huh" with big panicky breaths.  Fortunately, it was easy to calm her down (maybe too easy; I think we could have gotten her to come with us willingly for quite a while had we wanted to be creepy kid-snatchers - and we don't!) but it was hard to leave her, even in the hands of a Disney employee trained in such a situation.  I pray for her and her family every time I think of her.
The other girl we found hadn't strayed too far from her grandparents.  We heard and saw them calling her a few moments after we saw her stroll by us, all by her happy little self.  It was good to be able to reunite them.
In another related instance we were in a large enclosed play area that was so large and uniquely constructed that you really couldn't keep an eye on your kiddos at all times, especially if you had more than one.  We witnessed one frantic mom calling our for her son all around the play area two full rounds.  When she found him, she left the area in tears from the fright and panic of the experience.

-Wear good shoes.  We probably walked (half of the time we speed-walked) 6 miles a day.  The kids, too, except for the two littlest.  Paul and Uncle Steve and I took turns giving shoulder rides (the guys) and piggybacks (me), so the older three kids didn't have to do all the walking on their own, but they still carried their own weight (and sometimes even one of the two packs I brought with us into the parks).  One pair of broken-in running or tennis shoes worked fine for us.  We didn't go to any waterparks or get soaked on the wet rides (thank you, Uncle Steve, for acquiring the garbage bags we used as ponchos for the Kali rafting ride), so we didn't need spare pairs in case the others got drenched.
With this in mind, know that Disney could be a great place to start working on your weight-loss/fitness goals.  I certainly would have lost a few pounds if I wasn't eating so much and so often!

-Bring your own stroller.  You can't take their strollers out of each park, and their strollers don't have underneath storage - just a few pockets in the back.  Plus, you pay to rent those and they don't recline for sleeping babies.  Also, you have to wait in line to get a stroller after you've already waited in line at the bus, at the bag check point, and in the ticket line.  Don't give yourself another line.  And there is no guarantee that they won't rent all the strollers before you get there.  We loved having our double stroller with us.  We only saw one like it a few times.  And even though you leave the strollers unattended in the stroller parking areas when you are on rides, in some lines, or eating in restaurants, you take your valuables with you (duh) and no one bothers your stroller unless it needs to be moved over a few inches to accommodate another stroller that needs parking.

-If you don't like having personal information on file, bring your ID and forgo the fingerprint scanning at the ticket line.  It's officially called "biometric confirmation" but it basically means that your fingerprint is scanned and kept on file for 30 days.  Not sure why they keep it for 30 days, but they do.  As we aren't people who like to give personal information when it's not necessary and we don't want to convey to our children that we should be comfortable submitting to such stuff, we did not do this commonly accepted ticket holder ID check as you enter the park each time.  They don't say it on their website or anything, but it is against the law to force someone to use their fingerprint (unless you are being arrested).  With that fact in mind, Disney doesn't bother you if you use your photo ID to confirm that you are the ticket holder noted on your ticket.  They just confirm your identity to the name on your ticket and let you through.  And it really doesn't take any more time than the finger scanning, which I've heard can have some problems if you don't have your finger lined up just right.

-Princess dresses.  They are everywhere.  Little girls dressed as princesses, usually Disney princesses.  Some you could tell were extra-nice and had been bought in the parks.  DON'T do that.  They run from $45-$65!!  Bring one from home if you want your little girl to be a princess - the $20 Walmart variety is just as pretty as the expensive park ones.  Or, better yet, have a unique pretty dress for your little princess to wear.  I liked seeing those the best.  They stood out and were still lovely.  One girl wore a pink flower girl dress and I thought it was the most beautiful.
Oh, and if you do dress up your princess, make sure the dress is one she can walk in.  I spotted one girl walking into the park with a dress she had to hold up in order to not trip over it.  I'm guessing they ended up with a clothing change, a ripped dress, and/or a very frustrating jaunt about the park.  We didn't do any dress-packing.  My girls like dress up a lot, but they aren't all about being princesses.  They were perfectly content wearing jeans or shorts and tshirts.  They were cool and comfortable.
Another thought about the princess thing...Disney castmembers will often call your girls "Princess" - probably all the time if they are dressed like one.  It's super cute and I think the girls love it.  But it seems to me like the combination of dressing like princesses and getting called "Princess" all day while enjoying hours of sensory overload likely contributed to my sightings of many "princesses" throwing tantrums near the end of the day.  Know your kids and their limits and, even though Disney is all about magic, make sure you don't get too wrapped up in it.

-Airplane pressurization messes with straw-using water bottles.  In our first flight, James' kid's camelbak water bottle held milk and when I flipped the mouthpiece up for him, milk sprayed all over on the other side of the aisle.  Fortunately, it was my own family that got sprayed.  I promised to remember that on the return trip but it didn't work out.  Instead, the water that was in his water bottle flew into the air and showered down on those around and in front of me, including one man whose wife and son left our part of the plane to go to the back to escape James' 30 minutes of crying.  He was not pleased, but the other two "victims" laughed it off.  All I could say way, "Oh, I am so sorry.  It's just water.  I'm sorry."  Of course, that was the last "straw" in my teething baby on a plane experience and I started to silently cry.  Fortunately, most of the people around were very understanding and even helpful.  And James eventually stopped crying and we made it through the flight with smiles from the both of us.

-If you are going to Disney, make sure you take a direct flight.  This was one of the factors that influenced our decision to go.  We knew we didn't want to rent a car and have to take carseats with us, so staying at Disney was perfect in that regard.  But even having to endure one layover with five children and all of our luggage (we prefer not to check baggage if we can help it) and diaper bags and backpack was really a daunting idea.  When an airline came to our city that provided direct flights to Orlando, it was like a sign saying "Now is the time.  Go on that trip!"

And we did.  And it was awesome.  Thank you, Grandma!

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