Thursday's Tip

Today's tip (or, rather, group of tips) are for parents of small children. Although my husband and I are very grateful to be beyond the days of toting diaper bags and pushing strollers, we remember well the strategies one must employ to navigate Walt Disney World with a toddler. Here are a few of my favorite stroller-related tips:

• Even if you don't regularly use a stroller, most children will need one at least part of the day up to around the age of 4 or 5. My eldest daughter was still hopping in little sister's stroller when she was 7 (good thing she's skinny).


• While the WDW strollers are very comfortable and easy to push, they are rather expensive to rent--around $15/day for a single and $31/day for a double, last time I checked. If you're driving, bringing your own lightweight stroller is a no-brainer. Even if you fly, it might be worth bringing yours from home. There are also several companies that rent strollers for the length of your stay, with pricing considerably lower than WDW offers. And if transportation is available, a trip to the local Wal-Mart or Target could yield an umbrella-style stroller for around $20-$30. Again, the price of a taxi might ultimately be worth it for the length of your stay. As a fun "pay it forward" move, you could offer your new stroller to an arriving family  with little ones on your departure.


• Always put an identifying item on your stroller. With rental strollers, it's easy to confuse yours with someone else's--especially when the "stroller fairies" keep moving those little beauties around the stroller parking area. But even with non-rentals, there will likely be another family nearby that has the same model as yours, so anything you can do to obviously identify yours will be helpful. We typically tied a colorful scarf or bandana on ours.


• Never leave valuables in your stroller unattended. (Do I really need to tell you this?)


• Look for designated stroller parking areas and use them. Don't think that you can park it anywhere and expect to find it when you return. Let me assure you that it WILL be moved--probably within 2 minutes--to a designated area. As I mentioned, the "stroller fairies" mean business.


• Your stroller usage will vary among Parks. You may not need it at all in the Magic Kingdom if you have a bit older preschoolers. We find that in Fantasyland especially it is more trouble to go back and forth to the parking area than it is to simply forego the stroller. But you will undoubtedly need it in Epcot, as most attractions are spread out on more acreage.


• If you choose to rent a Disney stroller, hold on to your receipt. If you Park Hop,  simply turn in your stroller at one Park and show your receipt at the next to receive your stroller.


• Take a cheap plastic poncho as a rain cover for your stroller. If there's even a hint of a chance of shower, put the poncho over the stroller before you get in that 60-minute queue, just in case. Trust me on this...you will thank me.

And my youngest daughter's favorite tip comes in handy for those of us who no longer take along a stroller but still have kiddos that tire out at the end of the night: After the fireworks, it is perfectly acceptable to snag an abandoned rental stroller (there will be dozens) and give your child a ride back to the front entrance. Not only do her little legs get a break, but you're helping Disney by returning the stroller to the rental area. Win/win!

 

Disney News

There have been several Disney-related stories in the news recently, so rather than regurgitating what other people already explained so well, I thought I'd share a few links here so you can read the original stories. Click below and enjoy!

• Despite previously saying he wouldn't, J.J. Abrams has apparently reconsidered and will, in fact, direct the new Star Wars movie. Very exciting news for this LOST fan!


• Disney's new MyMagic+ has caused some privacy concerns with a Massachusetts Congressman. Bob Iger responds.


• Aladdin is headed to Broadway!


• George Clooney will star in Tomorrowland, written by Damon Lindelof (another LOSTie!) and Jeff Jensen. The subject matter and plot are still a bit of a mystery.

Those are the major updates for now. Will be interesting to see how each of these stories continues to unfold.

ABC News Nightline Merger Between Disney and ABC

Hidden Mickey Monday

We've been knee-deep in home improvement projects since we moved into our "new-to-us" home. While trolling a website, looking for electrical outlets/switches/etc., my husband found this Hidden Mickey:



 

Disney Amenities at Home

I got a much-overdue haircut yesterday. (Stick with me...there really is a Disney connection.) And each time I go to this lovely salon where I'm offered a beverage (I had Starbucks coffee) and given a complimentary chair massage with your choice of oil (I always go for the blue one), I am somehow transported to the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. It's not the exceptional customer care--although it is exceptional at both locations! It's the fragrance. The aroma. The scent of...well, I don't exactly know. The salon uses Aveda products, but the Grand Floridian stocks spa products from H2O. Still, there's a particular scent that must be in both, and that scent has the power to transport me to paradise.

I had always thought the Disney varieties of these H2O products were exclusive to the Resorts. On our one and only stay at the Grand Floridian, I was careful to tuck these complimentary shampoos, conditioners, etc. away in my suitcase each evening and await fresh, new complimentary bottles each day. I have rationed these tiny bottles, using them mostly when I'm traveling, but occasionally breaking them out when I need a mental or emotional boost. They are THAT powerful...at least for me. But it seems that perhaps I won't need to be so stingy with them...because I do believe they may actually be the same products sold under the regular H2O label and packaging. For the record, the shampoo is the Sea Marine Revitalizing variety. Here's what I found:



I haven't purchased any yet (they are a little pricey for this bargain chick), but if anyone wanted to get me a gift...well, Valentine's Day is coming up! (I put these sort of things in here to see if my husband ever actually reads my posts...turns out he usually doesn't.) Still, when my tiny bottles run dry, at least I know where to find more. I might just pour it into the tiny bottles and pretend I'm still on vacation at the Grand Floridian. It takes a bit of imagination, but it almost works.

Friday Photo

I can't take credit for this cute idea--it came from Pinterest. (I don't use Pinterest, as I'm quite convinced I would spend every waking minute trolling it--but I pilfer from friends who use it!) I'm thinking of making a simplified version this weekend--just chocolate, as I'm not a fan of red icing, and I don't have the bow mold, so it will be Mickey instead of Minnie. But the Minnie version here sure is cute!



 

Thursday's Tip

If you're a parent of young children, you're probably used to lugging around tons of extra stuff. One of the happiest days of my adult life was when I could stop bringing along the diaper bag on every outing--ahhhh, freedom! And it seems with each passing year, the backpack we take into the Disney Parks gets a little lighter too. No more diapers and, sadly, our girls are almost over wearing costumes to the Parks too (sniff). But when you're forced to lug around everything a family of four needs for a full day at Disney, you get really good at packing efficiently. So here are a few of my favorite packing strategies for a bag to take into the Parks. Keep in mind, this isn't about what to pack (I've addressed that in previous posts) but really about how to pack.

• We love using a clear backpack. It might sound risky--everyone can see what you've packed!--but we think the convenience outweighs the risk. We are generally waved right through security with a glance. And when we need an item, it's so much easier to spot and retrieve. Obviously, we don't pack cash or credit cards in the backpack.


• If you are taking Disney Princess costumes, the fabrics are quite forgiving...which means you can cram them into a gallon-sized zip bag when your little princesses get hot or tired of wearing them.


• If you like taking quarters and shiny pennies for the pressed penny machines, the tubes that miniature M&M's come in are great for holding those.


• A good way to keep various cards in order--park tickets, room keys (if separate from tickets), Fastpasses, credit cards, etc.--is using a wallet-sized photo holder. Stick each card in the plastic sleeve, just like you would a photo, and it's easy to find exactly what you're looking for when you need it.


• And, finally, my secret weapon for packing just about everything is zipper bags. We put our cameras, autograph books, and anything else that might be damaged by water in them. This helps not only in the event of a pop-up shower (quite common in Florida), but also when you encounter the "wet seat" on Kali River Rapids or Splash Mountain.

Disney Unveils Newest "Dream Portrait"

I'm a huge fan of the Annie Leibovitz series of Disney Dream Portraits, which puts celebrities in classic Disney character roles in settings of epic fairytale proportions. Disney just unveiled the latest in the series on the Official Disney Parks blog, and it might just be the favorite of tween girls everywhere. Depicting the ever-popular lead character from Tangled, Rapunzel, is the multiple-Grammy-winning artist Taylor Swift. It's quite stunning--in a good way. See it for yourself here.