By Guest Blogger Linda Scruggs - Lynbrook
With a lot of research, some prior travel-planning experience, and the right frame of mind, I planned our first vacation as a family of 4. There is so much info online pertaining to traveling to Disney, it is almost too much and I weeded through many sites. I kept coming across a lot of general tips such as, "take breaks during the heat of the day". In an attempt to save another mom some time, I have consolidated our Disney World vacation experience into very specific details along with some recommendations and raves.
I call it flexible planning. The flexibility we had built into our vacation plans, and the subsequent enjoyable we were able to have, was directly related to the planning I had done in advance. The reason we had the luxury of being flexible, is because our meals were planned in advance. We never had to worry where we were going to eat or if we'd have to wait, and we timed all our reservations so that the kids wouldn't be starving. We didn't want an attack of the "hunger crankies" as my 4-year-old calls it.
We had the Disney dining plan which I recommend particularly if you plan on doing a lot of character meals. Actually, I just recommend it in general (see my meal-related tips below). The character meals are costly, and we felt it was well worth the $ for the dining plan. Even if it wasn't worth the money, it was definitely easier which made it worth it.
Here are my very specific tips broken down into categories:
General Planning Tips:
*Disney Dining Plan: Go online/call as soon as you book a vacation and make reservations. You can always cancel so make as many reservations as you can, even if you know you may change it. If there is even the slightest chance you may ask Grandma or someone else to come along, make sure you overestimate how many people will be dining. You are taking a big chance if you show up at Cinderella's Royal Table with 5 and your reservation is for 4.
*Make your reservations a little earlier than you normally eat. We were successful in avoiding most meltdowns due to hunger by scheduling our meals 15-30 minutes prior to our usual meal times.
*Go in the winter. This is probably my #1 tip. I had only ever been to Florida in July or August and now I realize, I was crazy. Going in February/March is WONDERFUL. The crowds are not bad at all and it's not too hot!
*Research which rides have Fast Pass and use it if/when possible. We had fast passes for Toy Story Mania that we decided not to use, so I offered them to a family who happened to be walking by. They hugged me. Seriously.
*Get a Photo Pass from one of the photographers as soon as you arrive and get lots of pics taken. Incidentally, if you plan on buying the Photo Pass cd, purchase it in advance, and it will be cheaper. For more info see: http://www.disneyphotopass.
*Definitely stay at Magic Kingdom late one night to see the Fireworks but make sure you see the light projection show onto Cinderella's castle (it's just before the fireworks). It was awesome (I think even better than the fireworks).
Check back next week for Linda's tips on Disney Character Meals and Rental Information.
Linda is a Lynbrook mom to a 4-year-old and 10-month old, and a fertility/women's health RN. She blogs at www.MOMtility.com, and offers personalized birth consulting/fertility coaching in our area, for women dealing with fertility issues all the way through to high-risk pregnancies. To learn more or to reach Linda and see how she may be able to help you, head over to www.MOMtility.com or
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