Wow! that's a great tip! I never would've thought to do that. We take a snapshot of our parking space sign so we don't forget where we parked and a snapshot of the kids so if we get separated they have a pic of them from that day in their clothes that they are wearing.
Another tip that has helped tons of people! If you are using the photopass system, be sure to take a picture of the back of your card with your digital camera. If the photopass gets lost, you can still look at the pictures that were on it by using that number.
Amen to that. Not making the kids ride something is sometimes a struggle for me. There are many things I really believe they will like if they will just try it, but I force myself (with great and painful difficulty) to hold back from "making" them do it. As far as we go is to suggest that each kid choose one thing that is outside of their "comfort zone" to try during the trip, just one thing that makes them nervous. Sometimes they end up loving it, and sometimes they don't. I think it helps that they get to choose it, rather than having us force something upon them.
I have heard horror stories of kids being dragged through entire lines screaming and crying. Is it really worth that for anybody (not least of which for the strangers around them in line)? I know someone whose child actually tried to climb out of a ride when it was already moving, after having screamed through the whole line.
Like you said, remember who the vacation is for.
That is a great tip. I would have never thought about doing that. My DS is 16 and if he got lost my DW and I would probably be tempted to leave him.
BWAHAHAHA, This is exactly what I was going to say! One time I was going through the turnstiles somewhere (I believe it was HM) and the one on the left was going really slow and the one on the right was cruising so I took my girlfriend by the hand and went to the right and got through the turnstiles at least 5 people ahead of the person who was immediately in front of me. Then once we were through there was room ALL the way up the right side almost to the door and the castmember was saying "Please fill all available space" so I walked allll the way up, as did the line of people who followed me and some lady started throwing a hissy fit yelling at all of us and the cast member saying we were cutting. It's not my fault that I followed the directions and she didn't.AMEN! Seriously, I'm so tired of people looking at me (or even complaining about me) skipping! All I'm doing is standing NEXT to you filling in the extra space.... we are all going the same place and I promise when we get into the stretching room, I'm not going to be next to you - I'll be standing by my red light hahaha
Also, the line to the left for POTC is actually a lot shorter (distance wise) than the right. I paced them both out. The line on the left enters the boats from the left whereas the line to the right has to go up and over the water and down the other side to get on the boats. So that "always pick the left line" definitely works in this case.
That is a great tip. I would have never thought about doing that. My DS is 16 and if he got lost my DW and I would probably be tempted to leave him.
Tip from an ex- CM...
Be humble. There are people at Disney from all walks of life. Some are millionaires, and some have been saving for years, and years, and years just to be able to come for a few days. Two stories I will never forget are... The Big Brothers, and Big Sisters from Toronto Canada, flew down with over a hundred disadvantaged children. They took an early morning flight, went to MK for the day, and then flew back at 11 PM at night. Those children were so sweet, and were so thankful to be there. The sponsers had been doing fundraisers for over a year for the trip. To me, it was just magical to see these kids faces that would otherwise never be able to go to Disney as a child. They were so thankful for just one day at Disney. Another late night I was chatting with this wonder guest. She told me that it was her dream to take her 8 children to Disney. She was from Alabama, they drove through the night to make it to MK for rope drop, stayed the whole day, and drove straight back to Alabama. She started crying, and told me she wished she could do more, but the one day trip cost her family over 1000 dollars, and that is all she could do. Just then her little boy walked up to her, gave her a hug, and said, "mommy, this has been the best day of my life, thank-you". It was so sweet!
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Thank you so much for sharing those stories. It truly brought tears to my eyes! We have been blessed with many WDW trips, thank you for that reminder...God Bless!
I once picked on a Disney security guy named Chip. I asked him where Dale was. He finished looking at my bag and said, "you need to come with me." I was shocked. But he walked me over to Dale. Pretty fun stuff.