Are you doing a family trip to Disney this year? Seems like everyone I know has Disney fever. I guess it must be the age of my children and their respective friends. Part of my boys Christmas this year was a trip to Disney from my mom. There were 8 of us total. We had ages 89 to 1 in our group.
I started planning out my shirt schedule back at Thanksgiving!
Everyone was going to have shirts! and you were going to wear them. Amazingly my 7 year old, Reece, didn't argue with it. 1. because he knew there were no other shirts in the suitcase and 2. he secretly still likes to wear them. Just not around his school friends.
For the first day we had shirts for our meeting with Mickey. If your name is on your shirt, all of the cast members call you by name everywhere you go! I think it's in the employee handbook or something. It was so funny to walk in to Mickeys dressing room and see the look on my boys face when he called them by name. "Hi Reece! I'm so glad you came to visit me today."
They both had forgotten their names were on the front of their shirts! Day one was Mickey with Shorts and Minnie with skirt for the girls.
Day two, we hopped over to Hollywood and did some character meetings and took in a few of the shows. Hollywood was great for a break and not as crowded but there is not a lot for the 5-7yo crowd. Unless you want to get in the Toy Story ride line over and over and over again. Seriously, that is an awesome ride. You have to make it a Fast Pass choice!
Day 3 we got up super early and left Baby Emma with Mom and Dave. We wanted to try and get in some park time with just us and the boys before the lines got super long. We hit the ground hard and were in line for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Pirates of the Caribbean before the gates even opened. This days shirt was Mickey feet and Minnie feet on red.
Everyone loved our shirts and with the crowds getting heavier that day, it was really easy to spot these in the crowd.
Moral of our Disney story......
1. Use a planner to get your stuff booked. Deborah Forsythe at http://www.thetravelagencyinc.com/
Or Sarah Moskey at I'm Your Fairy Godmother
2. Get matching shirts. Really! Its one of the only places that I think family shirts are appropriate.
3. Have your childs name on the shirt. Everyone will call him by his name and he will feel like a rockstar!
4. Don't overplan but make a plan. It's important to tackle Disney with a purpose. Go in early, get on the train at the front and go to the back of the park. Start at the back of the park where you can hop on three rides back to back.
5. Have a Magical Time! It truly is a Magical Place and I hope that we can experience it again when Emma can do more than sleep through it.
