Adventures at Disney - Part 1

As a disclaimer, my husband and I  have been visiting Walt Disney World regularly for about 9 years now. Him and I have had a connection with those theme parks long before we started visiting with our own kids. It was one of our happy places, and pretty convenient at being only an hour away.

For just about the past 3 years we have been visiting Disney World with our boys. First with just Dax (2.5 years now) and now also with Cade (6 months).

Now we usually plan a long weekend visit in early December, usually 3 or 4 nights before the 17th, since you could see the parks in their Christmas glory but without the holiday crowds. (Conveniently, that was usually just before our Seasonal Passes, now Silver Pass, would black out, because who wants to visit when the Parks are jam packed with people anyway?!) This year, however, we decided to take our long trip in September. Our passes are expiring in early October and we've decided to take a short hiatus from Disney.

Now you're probably wondering why would two Disney World lovers like us would decide to forgo renewing our passes. I promise you this decision was not taken lightly, and it's been debated a few times, especially because of the recent decline in attendance that the Orlando theme parks have been seeing recently. There are two primary reasons for us deciding to not renew our passes this year:

1. Dax is now at an age (and height) where it's going to be awhile before he can ride anything new. 
2. Walt Disney World is in the process of building quite a few new attractions in late 2017 and throughout 2018, including Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land in Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Pandora (the World of Avatar) at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We figured that even though we LOVE riding Peter Pan's Flight and Pirate's of the Caribbean every time we visit, it might be nice to wait until there's something new before we drop another $1,000 on annual passes. 

For this trip, we stayed at the Wyndham Vacation Club, Bonnet Creek for 3 nights/4 days in a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom suite. For the first night it was just us and the boys. My In-Laws joined us for the rest of the trip, but the 1,200 sq feet suite gave us plenty of room to spread out. (Another disclaimer; until this year we have always stayed on Disney property. We liked the extra "Disney" feel you get from the theming of their resorts, the convenience of the WDW Transportation System, and as Passholders, we could usually get a decent rate. We transitioned this year to staying off-property because the WDW had priced us out of what we were willing to pay for a hotel room.) You might not get the "Disney Atmosphere" staying at the Wyndham, but it's still a beautiful resort, and Bonnet Creek is smack dab in the center of Walt Disney World. At $210/night for a 2 Bed/2 Bath Suite, and an equitable 2 BR Suite on Disney Property running us about $650/night, it really was a no brainer for us. I'll gladly trade off the Disney World Buses for having to jam 6 people and a Baby Jogger Stroller into our Ford Explorer every day for a $400/night savings!

Now, I've lived in Florida my whole life and still can't stand the Summer heat. But even as hot as it was that weekend, we still always walk to and from the park entrance instead of hitching a ride on the parking lot tram. With 2 kids, a double stroller, diaper bag, camera bag, and whatever other unnecessary items Dax makes us bring with us into the parks (this time the list included his compass, sword, pirate bandanna and hat, spyglass, and stuffed yellow Labrador Retriever from Toys R Us), breaking it all down and packing onto the tram for a 2 minute ride is impractical. We've realized that we can usually make it to the entrance before or at the same time as that tram would have, and with a couple hundred extra steps under our belt! We proved this when my husband's parents decided to ride while we walked it. I'm pretty sure they thought we were nuts, but we arrived at the same time. They didn't take the tram after that. Consider this tip when leaving the parks for the night as well. While it sounds fun to wait in a 5-tram deep line with 2 very grumpy lovely children at the end of a long day, to us it's much less stressful to walk the short distance and get to our car quickly.

Because it was so hot, we loaded our diaper bag full of water bottles each day, but we quickly learned that those weren't lasting very long with 4 adults and a toddler trying to stay hydrated. One great thing to keep in mind is that all of the Disney parks provide FREE cups of ice water at refreshment stands that serve fountain drinks. Disney and free in the same sentence?? Yep! My father-in-law was pretty amazed that we had found something that Disney was willing to give away for free. I'm pretty sure he asked for a free cup of water any time we passed by a location selling drinks!

With temperatures in the low 90s and head index in the lower 100s, Dax and Cade got pretty hot being in the stroller and baby carrier throughout the day. I also wore Cade in my Ergo quite a bit since I found it easier to wait in lines and ride attractions without having a squirmy wiggly baby flapping around in my arms. A portable clip-on fan is a must-have to help try to keep the little ones cool in such extreme temps (I'm sure Cade would thank me if he could). After testing out one of those small, foam blade fans and not being impressed as the lack of air flow, we ultimately purchased this one from Sky Genius on Amazon for $22.99. Simply put, it is AMAZING, and here's what I like about it: 

1. It has a rechargeable lithium ion battery instead of running off of AA Batteries, meaning more power, longer battery life between charges, and a seemingly fast charge time
2. It has sturdier blades for better air output 
3. It has a turn wheel for varying speeds, allowing for anything between an ultra-strong gale force cooling winds to a still very decent, battery-saving lower speed
4. While it doesn't have a flex arm as most others, the entire fan rotates 360 degrees on a focal point. You can point it in any direction you choose

We used this fan on a single charge almost constantly for 3 days before it finally died on the morning of day 4. I would even hold it up to the baby if I had been wearing him in the carrier for a long period of time, and I may have held it up to my own face a few times here and there. (BTW, a 5 minute charge in our car got us an extra 15 minutes out of it on our final day.) We got a few comments about how well our fan worked compared to others.

Happy and cool with his Sky Genius fan.

Another good buy that has become a theme park staple for us was this continuous mister bottle from Arctic Cove, which my hubby bought on impulse for $12.99 at his favorite store, The Home Depot. It doesn't require any batteries to operate, just pump the handle a few times to build up pressure and with flip the switch for continuous cool mist. I like it better than those spray bottles they sell in the Parks for $25. It's very easy to control the mist and is great for a quick cool down and to distract a toddler if he starts getting cranky. 

Pump mister aka: life saver/toddler distractor

Now if you don't know, I am a breastfeeding mama, so I'm always looking for "cool", shady spots to nurse Cade. All of the Disney Parks have Baby Care Centers equipped with nursing and changing areas, microwaves, high chairs, etc., but they aren't always convenient to get to, especially when I have to hydrate and feed by baby every 2.5 minutes 2-3 hours. Some of my favorite spots include: 

• MK: On the brick wall outside of the Mad Tea Party in Fantasyland
• MK: On a rocking chair on the wooden boardwalk in Frontierland
• Epcot: Picnic Tables in the World Showcase between The Outpost and Germany
• DHS: Just outside of the exit of The Great Movie Ride
• AK: Nowhere. This park has no shade. It's just deathly hot here.

Nursing outside is another time that the Sky Genius fan comes in handy. I use a nursing cover to nurse my baby 90% of the time, and since I'd really rather not suffocate him while trying to do what is comfortable for me. I would set my fan up on a chair or on the ground next to me, put the end of my cover over it, and BAM--instant cool down for my baby while he nurses. 

I don't just nurse outside though. On rides that I chose not to go on, I will wait in the exit area (usually a store, because...Disney...) and try to find a quite corner to nurse my baby. Usually I end up sitting on the floor, but who cares! I appreciate A/C when I can get it! There are benches in the exit area of Rockin' Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios, so I used the spot while waiting for my husband and his parents to get off of the ride.

I also don't always wait to be off of an attraction to nurse. Throughout my time of visiting Disney World while nursing 2 different babies, I found that some of the lengthy rides and shows make great, cool nursing spots. Just to name a few:

• MK: PhilharMagic (3D show), "It's a Small World", Haunted Mansion, WEDway People Mover, Pirates of the Caribbean (AFTER the drop!)
• Epcot: Spaceship Earth, Ellen's Energy Adventure, Living with the Land 
• AK: Any of the live shows (Lion King, Nemo), It's Tough to be a Bug 
• DHS: Great Movie Ride

When is your favorite time of year for visiting theme parks? Follow along for part 2 which will include our experience with "baby swap", dining, fireworks, and the parade!