Lessons From Disney

OK, I realize that I said I was going to post this almost a week ago.  I was hoping to put some pictures of our trip in this post.  However, my husband has been in the midst of cleaning off and backing up our hard drive and other computery stuff, so I'll have to add them later.

One thing that being a teacher's kid and now a parent is that I see teachable moments everywhere.  Of course, most people are referring to opportunities to teach their children when they say this, but there are plenty of things that we grown-ups can learn, too.  As we get farther into this adventure called parenting, I'm thinking that we should take note of the things we learn so that we can avoid or better handle similar situations in the future.

Last week, we went to Florida to visit my family.  While there, we took our son Josh, who is now four, to Disney World for the first time.  We chose this year for 2 reasons; 1. He is a little more mature this year to handle things like waiting in line (and had some practice at a local theme park over the summer) and 2. Next year we will have a baby to carry around.

Last year, we had taken him to SeaWorld.  We decided to start there because it is more spectator focused (shows and exhibits) and less ride focused.  At three years old, having places to stop and sit and watch something interesting kept him rested enough that he lasted the whole day.  He also wanted to stay and spend the night ;)  Even with SeaWorld, which is not quite as overwhelming and extravagant as Disney, we did not make it to everything he wanted to see in one day.  Luckily, our tickets were part of a special and we were able to come back the next day for free.  The drawback was that we had to drive 2 hours each way to my aunt's house in between since a second day was not in our original plans.

Taking what we learned from SeaWorld and applying it this year helped.  We went ahead and planned for 2 days, knowing that Disney is even bigger with even more stuff than SeaWorld.  Thanks to some of my Disney Fanatic friends, I went online and found a discounted package to stay at one of the Disney resorts.  It really was no more than staying at a regular hotel (we stayed at the All-Star Movies resort for $82).  All of the Disney resorts include free transportation to any of their parks.  Bonus 1: their transportation takes you almost right to the gate- no having to walk miles and search for your car at the end of a long day.  Bonus 2: we didn't feel like we had to squeeze everything into one day, so we were more relaxed weren't rushing our little man from one thing to the next.

As I planned our trip, I saw a couple of interesting things on Disney's website.

Fast Pass
Some of the more popular rides have kiosks for a "Fast Pass".  Your stick your ticket into the kiosk and it gives you a ticket with a one hour time block during which you can come back and skip at least part of the line.  You can only have one fast pass at a time, so we recommend picking one or two favorites or the ones with the longest wait times.  Then you can spend the time until you can use your pass going on some of the rides with shorter lines.  We even went on one of the rides we had a pass for while we waited for our time.

Rider Swap
Some of the rides have an option called Rider Swap.  This is for parents who have one child big enough for a ride and one who isn't.  One parent can wait in line with the child going on the ride, then the second parent can go on the ride with him without waiting in line again.  We will definitely be making use of this the next time we go.


There were some things that we did not find out about on the Disney website:

1.  You can bring your own food and drinks!  We saw many parents breaking out their non-Disney food to snack on with their kids.
2.  You can take the monorail to Downtown Disney which is outside of the parks and has cheaper food prices while still in the Disney theme.
3.  If you get a package with a hotel stay and park visit, you have to go to the hotel to get your park ticket! I was lucky I called their customer service line for something else or we would not have known!


 A few things we learned while there:

1.  If you have a young or rambunctious child, there are two freeplay areas where they can get out some of their energy- there is a playground for kids 5 and under in Toon Town and Tom Sawyer's Island in Frontier Land.  We didn't figure out that these were needed until day 2.  Even though the rides are fun, they are very structured: stand in line here, now sit here and do this.  Young kids (and boys of any age) need some free time to run and explore with no limitations.
2.  Riding the train around the park is a great way to get a kid to rest who is tired but doesn't want a nap.  You can ride it around as many times as you want.  It takes about 20 minutes to circle the park.
3.  Be selective about waiting in line to see characters.  We skipped any that were too long in favor of spending our time doing fun stuff.  We did not get to see Buzz Lightyear, one of Josh's favorites (the line was over an hour) but we saw all of his other favorites- we happened upon Donald and Goofy in unadvertised places with short lines and took advantage.  He even got some extra time with Goofy and relished the moment.
4.  When selecting a souvenir, make sure you think about how you're going to get it home, especially if you are flying!


Most of all, remember to enjoy the moment!
Your kids will not be this young and exuberant for long.  Go at THEIR pace.  Remember that you are there to have fun and this is THEIR time.  Don't worry if they don't get to see everything.  They won't even know it's there unless you tell them.  Just relax and have fun- take some breaks if they need it.  If spending time enjoying your kids is the focus rather than doing everything in the park, you will have a much more enjoyable time.