My family and I just recently returned from our 9 day surprise Disney vacation and in case you were wondering, yes, we’re exhausted, but it was an epic trip. I have two children: Lily (9) and Anakin (2). This is a decent size age gap so while there, my wife and I noticed things that we had not noticed on our previous 3 trips. We started to refer to these as our “duh, why didn’t we think of that before” moments. In order to help my fellow Disney fan dads, I decided to put together a short list in hopes that you will have fewer “duh” moments on your trip.
1) Use A Suitcase As A Step Stool In Your Resort Room.
My 2 year old is so tall that we got a lot of questionable looks when we entered the park with his infant ticket (the kid was big enough to go on splash mountain and tower of terror). Despite his height he still was not tall enough to reach the sink in our room to brush his teeth or wash his hands. I can’t imagine we are the only people who have encountered this and it was getting to be a pain to have to hold him up every time he needed to use the sink. Then, I had a stroke of genius; since my wife had overpacked (as usual) I used one of the very full suitcases as a step stool. Worked like a charm. You would think that Disney would offer small step stools in their rooms since a lot of families have small children but until they do a suitcase works great.
2) Buy Your Kid A Watch
This is especially true if you have booked FastPasses or have dinner reservations and you have a 9 year old that asks you what time it is every 5 minutes because she doesn’t want to miss meeting her favorite Disney characters. After about 2 days of incessant, “What time is it?” I broke down and went into a store and spent $31 on a Mickey Mouse watch. You might think that seems expensive for a watch, but when you are able to be the one to constantly ask your kid what time it is you will see that is quite possibly the best $31 ever spent. Of course since this was a “duh” moment for us you can avoid it by buying a less expensive watch before your trip.
3) Bring Mickey Mouse Band-Aids
Seems simple enough and a little silly but these came in handy. Kids (especially giant 2 year olds) get hurt and those boo boos hurt a little less when you’re in the most magical place on earth and you whip out a Mickey Mouse bandage. Granted there are first aid stations at the parks but they are never close to where you actually get hurt. My wife (remember I said she’s an overpacker) had me carry around a small travel first aid kit in our backpack so we were prepared for such an event. Sure enough my 2 year old got hurt and he barely had time to get upset before he realized Mickey was going to make it better.
4) Buy Matted Art To Be Signed By Characters
This is something we started a couple trips back and it is one of our favorite traditions now. The kids always have their autograph books out ready to be signed and that is fun for them but I wanted to join in the fun. Since an autograph book generally becomes useless once you get home, my wife and I came up with the idea of getting an inexpensive print from the Disney Art on Main Street Shop and having the characters sign the mat around the edge. One year Snow White even kissed near her signature and left her mark on it. If you have the room you can save money by buying the mat before you go and putting your own picture in but no matter what you do you have an awesome display piece after.
5) Bring A Cell Phone Battery Bank
I don’t know how I didn’t know that these even existed but they are amazing. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to find an outlet while in line for something (I saw someone plug in while waiting to see Anna and Elsa, talk about a good time to charge). There are some places to charge at the park but to be able to charge up a device in your room that can then charge your cell phone while on the go is beyond helpful. Think about it, your phone is not just your phone. At Disney you’re always using My Disney Experience which can quickly drain your battery. Not only that, but your phone is typically your camera to catch all those wonderful moments and you don’t want your battery to die right when Tinker Bell kisses your 2 year old on the cheek.
Bonus Tip
If you must buy your kids balloons, do it at the END of the day. I learned this the hard way and kept being reminded every time my kid’s giant light up balloons bashed me and everyone around me in the head repeatedly.
