Post-Disney Tips

Note: I've had this post written for about two weeks now, but it took me until NOW to load all my photos. Lame right?

After successfully completely a Disney World trip with an almost 17-Month-Old with minimum melt downs, I thought I would compile a few tips we learned along the way. I may also include a few, okay a lot of photos.

{one} Pack smart, but light. Contradictory? The first day, we loaded down our back pack with anything and everything we might need. Well we didn't use half that crap and poor Steve's back was not thanking me. We all had one water bottle, but considering it was 50 degrees out, we didn't drink as much water as we thought. This would probably be a good idea for a summer trip, but leave them in the bottom of the stroller. Also, any food stand/quick service restaurant will give you a large cup of ice water for free. We brought little lemonade packets incase we wanted to turn it into lemonade, but the water tasted good most the time. We did, however, need the half a dozen of diapers, wipes, and snacks for Sadie. So load up that bag with all things toddler.

{two} I mentioned in my previous blog about packing that I bought trinkets for Sadie. Well, she is still pretty young and could care less about the toys I brought out. She was too amazed by all that was going on around her. The one toy that she liked was a light up one when it started to get dark out. However, that one was enough (and I had three).

{three} Pick the two rides you want to go on most and go there first. As soon as the park opens, go to the top ride you want to go on, and go there first. You will finish within 15 minutes and then go get in line for the second choice. We walked straight onto Dumbo at Magic Kingdom and The Safari at Animal Kingdom.

{four} Fast Pass- You get three Fast Passes at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom and they are all done electronically. Pick them early to get prime times. Then if you get to the ride and there is only a 20 minute or less wait, just wait in the line. You don't have to use your fast pass. You can go exchange it for something else later in the day. Epcot and Hollywood Studios are also on the FastPass system, but still work with the paper slips unless you have FastPass+.

{five} Stay on Property. We stayed at Shades of Green. While it is not an actually Disney hotel, as the DoD property, we got all the perks of a Disney hotel (for a lot cheaper)! It was so nice to just hop on the shuttle. We didn't drive our car the entire 4 days we were there. We also got to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours Disney offers.