5 Tips for Disney Success

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Disney
Disney!

 

We made the pilgrimage and all I can say is nothing can fully prepare you for your first visit. I have never paid so much for a  boot camp style vacation in my life!!! [quote]We are not the regimented people a Disney trip requires. [/quote] We don’t get to the park at rope drop aka..being at the park 45 min early for when they drop the entrance barricade and you haul your stroller to the best rides. We are more the rush and hope to get there by 11am and get to the busses after it’s all closed up.

Based off our time at Disney, here is my take.

By no means am I a Disney expert…but more of a hindsight novice! I left that to my beloved Disney Travel Goddess Angela Wilson ([email protected]). Anyone that will answer my freak out 2am line queue questions is top notch in my (highly decorated) Disney book!

IMG_2981Dining plan I’m still torn on if it’s worth it. Yes, it’s nice to go on vacation thinking all my food is paid for in advance. But, it’s another planning task that you need backup and a backup for the backup for your Table Service credits. {Table service meals are the sit down and are served establishments vs. Quick Service where you order and receive your food at the counter.}

All of our table service meals for a family of 5 (our 2 yr. old was free so we only had to pay for 4) cost about $160 before tip and lasted 1-2 hours. We lucked into a few places we could walk up to for less than a 20 min wait.  But also dealt with a lot of no reservation = no table. The character buffets are nice and relaxed with good food!  Had we not HAD to use up those credits, we probably would have done max 2 Table Service.
Hind Sight: My plan of easy breakfast in the room, quick service lunch and table service dinner with a famous Disney snack at a park was a bust.  You can easily split a huge majority of the quick service meals. IF, we ever do Disney again, I would have split a few Quick breakfast meals between us each morning and the same for lunch.
My fave places to eat…Raglan Road is a blast and food is DIVINE! Sleepy Hollow…spicy sweet chicken on a waffle sandwich/taco…you’re welcome. And Germany’s mac and cheese makes you want to slap your momma good!

Princess DressesBuy them ahead of time! I have 2 reasons for this. First, the dresses we bought from Kate and LuLu’s AMAZEBALLS Etsy shop, my kids can wear anytime. They are 4U7A7990bwmnot too costume-ish and super adorbs! Second, the savings. This was pointed out to me by my 8 year old at the Bippity Boppity Boutique when she said just get the cheapest package since we have our outfits. Point taken wise little grasshopper. It saved me about $150! www.etsy.com/shop/kateandlulus

Disney App– OH MY LORD!!! [typography font=”Capriola” size=”24″ size_format=”px”]The Disney My Experience App is the most amazing thing in the World!![/typography] The map location ability is so spot on, while we were on the carousel I checked to see where a restroom was.  The pointer was going in circles as we rotated on the ride. You can see pretty accurate wait times for each ride. It lists all your FastPass and reservation times. And, my favorite, auto loads all your PhotoPass photos!!!

PhotoPass If there is anything I’m glad I spent money on at Disney, it’s the PhotoPass! It was the same price as a sit down meal that gave us all the photos from our rides, photos from character meets, around the park, everything! It freed me so much to not worry about schlepping my good camera AND I’M IN ALL THE PHOTOS!!!

Ponchos We snagged $1 ponchos for everyone and kept them in the stroller. They were huge adult size, so I did splurge at an Orlando Walmart and get kids size re-usable Mickey Mouse ponchos for $4 each. They came in SO handy!

SO, my friends there you go! Those are the 5 things I can pass to you in hopes of making Disney a little easier!  What are your Disney Tips?!? Happy Travels!

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Beth
Hi! I’m Beth Phillips lead photographer and owner of Beth Phillips Photography (www.bethphillipsphotography.com), mom to 3 and Dayton native. Well, both a native and a transplant. My husband and I grew up in Centerville (Go Elks!) and spent many years going coast to coast with his Navy career. This past May I graduated from Wright State with a degree in Fine Art, Photography. My true photography passions are births, new moms and capturing the grace and beauty of dancers.Favorite things to do around Dayton…Dragon’s Games & the splash yard at The Greene. :: Favorite things about motherhood :: Aside from snuggels, cuddels and smiles, I LOVE the pure joy and excitement kids have about the simplest things. Getting to photograph their daily tasks. And of course, bedtime!