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      Photography

      Simple Tips For Editing Snow Photos On Your…

      December 13, 2018

      Photography

      I Wrote A Photography eBook And This Is…

      December 6, 2018

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      Creative Lighting Ideas To Help You Take Great…

      November 27, 2018

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      Learn How To Take And Edit Photos On…

      November 19, 2018

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      The Answer To Last Minute Holiday Gifting For…

      December 19, 2018

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      I Was Never A Barbie Girl Until Now

      October 1, 2018

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      Finally! Jeans For My Jean-Averse Kids!

      August 22, 2018

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disney tips

Disney Regrets
ParenthoodSchool Age DaysToddlersTravel

Disney Regrets

by Jill November 3, 2015
written by Jill

We just got back from a week-long trip to Disney World, and I must start this post by saying IT WAS SUPER FUN.

Seriously, even though I literally feel like I’m recovering from a marathon now. (I’ve run two. I know this feeling.)

Instead of blogging all about how lovely it was (it was!), which I will get to soon, I thought I’d start by telling you about what I regret about the trip so maybe you can avoid the same mistakes… or so I’ll remember to avoid them the next time we go. Oh yes, there will be a next time.

We didn’t have a stroller seat for every kid butt. We brought our Maclaren Quest, and we rented a single from Orlando Stroller Rentals, thinking that Kendall (7) and Leyna (4) could take turns walking. HAHAHAHAHAHAHANOPE. Finally, on the very last day, we rented a double from the park and the angels sang and hit us upside the head for waiting so long.

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We went back to the hotel too much and broke up our day too much. I wish we would have made meal reservations at the parks we planned to stay at all day. We thought we’d be smart to hit a park up in the morning, head back for naps, then get back to the parks in the evening. Most of our dinners were in parks we weren’t in during the day.

A photo posted by Jill Krause (@babyrabies) on Oct 30, 2015 at 9:35pm PDT

This plan works for a lot of people, but what wound up happening for us was the big kids were restless at the hotel in the afternoon and didn’t want to take naps. And we ate up at least 2 hours in travel time to and from the resort. The last two days we simply stayed in the parks all day, but took our time. We didn’t have to rush around to cram everything in. We let the kids rest, play, ate slow meals. And Lowell napped in the stroller.
 
We started our days too late. The first few days, we thought we were doing good to get to the parks by 9:30 or 10. Then on the 4th day I had an early breakfast reservation with Leyna at Be Our Guest, and we got in to the park before it opened to the public. Simply awesome. I do not enjoy early wakeups, but I do not enjoy crowds and lines even more. Next time, I really want to make as many breakfast reservations before parks open as possible. IMG_7800

 
We forgot our ponchos. We caught the tail end of Hurricane Patricia the 3rd day we were there, and it was pretty miserable walking around soaking wet. We thought we were only supposed to get sprinkled on! Nope. Torrential downpour. Never stepping foot in Disney again without ponchos. IMG_7802

 
I thought Leyna would wear her princess dress all day. The day we had breakfast at Be Our Guest, Leyna got fancied up in her princess dress and jewelry. I’d seen little girls walking around the parks all day in their dresses, and thought Leyna would want to do the same. An hour after we finished our meal I was in Sir Mickeys spending way too much money on a shirt and shorts for her because she was miserable in her princess attire. IMG_7576

 
We took our toddler to the Not So Scary Halloween Party. I worked super hard to get tickets to this party. They weren’t cheap, but we’d heard from so many people that it was such a special experience. I really wanted the kids to go. We dressed up as a family, and we brought my dad and step-mom with us. (They were on the trip with us, along with my mom, step-brother, sister, brother, and sister in law- crazy, right?! So fun.) IMG_7505 Lowell, the 2 year old, had a good time, but I think he would have had just as much fun staying behind with the other family members, and we would have been able to focus more on Kendall and Leyna. Not to mention this was the night we learned just how VERY, very scared Lowell is of fireworks.

 
We stayed too far from Magic Kingdom. Our resort- Art of Animation- was really wonderful. Please don’t get me wrong. We loved it. But, IF we could do it again, and IF we could afford to stay at a hotel on the monorail, we would. The buses are super convenient, but there are long waits for them sometimes, and many times they are super packed. You could wind up standing, holding a stroller, and a baby for 30 minutes… on your way home after a 12 hour day. The monorail would take us to both Magic Kingdom and Epcot, which are the two parks we spent the majority of our time in and ate almost all our meals in.  

A photo posted by Jill Krause (@babyrabies) on Oct 25, 2015 at 12:00pm PDT

 

We tried to do too much. We should have treated it more like a marathon than a sprint. I wish we would have slowed down and let the kids dictate most of our day instead of rushing them from one place to the next. It made it super stressful and caused many meltdowns. I think in the beginning we treated this like a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and that put a ton of pressure on us to get everything done. By the last couple days we realized we would likely come back again, and there was no need to cram it all in.

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I didn’t take enough pictures with my nice camera. Ugh… I don’t know if this really belongs here because it was freeing at the time to give up toting my camera around after day one (and very few snaps because it was just downright inconvenient with 3 kids to watch). But looking back, and comparing the few pictures I managed to get with my DSLR to my phone snaps and the park pictures, I’m just a little sad I didn’t take more myself with the fancy camera. That said, I could have done that and I’d be writing about how I regretted lugging my camera everywhere with me this time.

(I got great pictures at Disney World last time, but I also only had one kid to keep up with then.)

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I’ll be back soon with a few more things that we did right this time at Disney. In the meantime, be sure to check out my last round of Disney Tips & Tricks. 

DisneyRegrets

November 3, 2015 10 comments
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What I Would & Wouldn’t Do Again At Disney World
PhotographyReviewsSchool Age DaysTravel

What I Would & Wouldn’t Do Again At Disney World

by Jill June 1, 2014
written by Jill

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Lessons learned for me going forward because yes, I definitely want to go back. Soon!

Here are some things I would do again:

  • Schedule our nice meal for late in the day- We had dinner reservations at 8:50 at the Crystal Palace where we got to have a relaxing dinner after a lonnnnnng day, and were visited by Winnie The Pooh and friends. We could see the Electric Parade outside our window as we ate, and the Wishes fireworks started up just as we were leaving. I’ve also heard great things about starting with a character breakfast because you can get into the park early, but I don’t know if we would have been able to keep Kendall’s curiosity and excitement levels down long enough to enjoy something like that first thing in the day.

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  • Skip fireworks and parades for extra ride time- I mentioned in my previous post that we didn’t go out of our way to get good seats or even see most of the parades. Our walk from the Crystal Palace to Space Mountain during the Wishes fireworks actually gave us amazing views of the show, putting us nearly right under Tinkerbell as she flew away from the castle. At one point, we stopped in a clearing next to a roped off area where people paid extra money for great views during the show! By the time we got to Space Mountain, Kendall had seen plenty of fireworks and there was zero line to get on the ride.
  • Book another character meal- In general, we were pretty happy with the character meal experience. It’s costly (over $100 for 2 adults, 1 child), but it was a wonderful, relaxing change of pace. We got great pictures, and the food was really wonderful. Next time, I think we’ll go for Cinderella’s Royal Table.
  • Use one Fast Pass for character meeting of choice- We used one Fast Pass to meet Mickey. I really, really wanted to get just one picture with Mickey. It’s not even something Kendall wanted to do, but something I know he’ll look back on in 20 years and be glad we have… I think? The thing is, the lines for character meetings seemed pretty long, and there wasn’t much at the end of that long line that would thrill a 6 year old boy, you know? So I’m glad we were able to just walk up and get pictures with Mickey, then leave 15 minutes later. It was a “Humor me, kid” kind of thing. And bless his heart, he did his best. Mickey asked us to fly like Peter Pan. Kendall gives no craps about Peter Pan. It was a little awkward for all of us.

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  • Rent a stroller- My mom and I kept saying over and over, “Thank God for this stroller.” It was helpful for more than just toting a sometimes cranky 6 year old around in. We used it to keep our drinks and phones handy in the console bar. We kept stuff in the basket below. And we were able to move much quicker through the park to make Fast Pass times with Kendall in it. Renting was such a lovely luxury. Orlando Stroller Rentals dropped it off at our Disney Resort and picked it up there, too. It was clean, it was comfortable, it was easy to fold, and I didn’t have to take it on or off an airplane.
  • Pre-buy souvenirs and Disney Pins to trade– you can read more about all of that in my Inexpensive Souvenirs That Rock post.
  • Use time in line for rides to re-apply sunscreen– This is a benefit to keeping sunscreen in the bag you’ll keep with you at all times. You can read more about how we packed what we packed in this post.
  • Build in time to enjoy our resort- We stayed at Coronado Springs, and they had a fantastic pool and outdoor area. I’m so glad we took some time to enjoy it 2 of the days we were there. It’s entirely possible to have an amazing time without even having tickets to a park for a day.

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Here are some things I might not do again:

  • Not study the maps enough- We wandered around way more than we should have. I made the mistake of not studying the park map much before we got there. I wish I would have come up with a basic plan of attack, even just planning our Fast Passes in a way that made sense and didn’t have us criss-crossing all over. I wanted to be flexible and follow my son’s lead, but we spend a lot of time looking for things.
  • Purchase Memory Maker for a trip shorter than 3 or 4 days- I give a full review of Memory Maker in my Disney Photography Tips post. The short of it is it wasn’t worth it for only 2 days, especially since I had my DSLR with me, and the cast member photographers will take pictures with your camera if you ask them.
  • Pass up the dining plan- After looking at how much we spent on food at the parks, and how much the Disney Dining Plan costs, I think we’d be wise to take advantage of it next time.
  • Forget my external phone charger-  I burned through battery on my iPhone super fast, but I had a plan for that. I bought an external, portable iPhone charger… which I left in the hotel. AGH! On one hand, it helped me stay present in the moment, but on the other it made getting separated from my mom a little scary.
  • Ride rides like It’s A Small World or Peter Pan’s Flight instead of thrill rides- We began the day with low-key rides like these because I wasn’t sure how well my 6 year old would handle roller coasters. I think he yawned his way through Peter Pan’s Flight, and It’s A Small World bored him as much as it creeped me out. Then I took him on Splash Mountain and everything changed. One little taste of the thrill and he was hooked. It was all coasters, all day from that point. I wish we would have done more.

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That does it for my Disney Tips Series! Here are the other 4 posts in the series, in case you missed them (or forgot to pin them).

PackingForDisneyWorld

Tips For Packing For Disney World 

InexpensiveDisneySovenirs

Inexpensive Disney Souvenirs That Rock

BeyondThePrincessesDisneyTips
Tips For A Disney Experience Beyond Princesses

ComeHomeWithGreatDisneyPics

How To Get Great Pictures At Disney World 

 

June 1, 2014 10 comments
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Tips For Packing For Disney World
ReviewsSchool Age DaysTravel

Tips For Packing For Disney World

by Jill June 1, 2014
written by Jill

PackingForDisneyWorld

I probably stressed more about packing for this trip than any other trip I’ve taken. I’m glad I put a little thought into it, considering my usual approach is to throw things together 2 hours before we’re supposed to leave for the airport.

Here are some items I’m glad I brought with us:

Glow stick bracelets (more about those in this post)
Disney trading pins and lanyard (more in this post)
Mickey bandaids and moleskin (for festive blisters and such) – Don’t forget to precut the moleskin!
Refillable water bottles
Temporary tattoos that I could write my phone number on for Kendall to wear
External, portable charger for my iPhone
Breakfast bars and fruit snacks
Goddess Garden continuos spray sunscreen
Hand sanitizer
Chapstick
Baby wipes
Sunglasses for me, ball cap for Kendall
COMFORTABLE, broken in tennis shoes
A roomy backpack + a large tote bag

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Packing for the park 

We didn’t bring our own stroller. Instead, my mom rented one from Orlando Stroller Rentals. I can’t say enough great things about them. I am SO GLAD we had a stroller, even for our 6 year old. I almost feel like it’s worth having a stroller no matter how old everyone is just to have something to tote your stuff around in.

Since our time was limited, we planned to spend the entire day at the park. This meant we had to bring a lot with us. What wound up working for us was putting everything of value and everything we would need to access frequently in a large backpack- camera, chargers, snacks, sunscreen, etc. We took this bag everywhere with us, even on rides.

When I didn’t have my DSLR around my neck, I kept it in a padded cube in the middle pocket of the backpack.

We kept everything else in a large tote bag in the basket of the stroller. This included a change of clothes for Kendall, extra socks, even saline solution and an extra pair of contacts. Just in case. Dividing it up this way helped lighten the backpack, and if someone did run off with our stroller while we were on a ride, they wouldn’t get anything we’d miss too much. Next time I’ll be sure to bring a tote bag I don’t care very much about instead of my Feed Projects bag. I would have been sad if someone got off with that.

Getting souvenirs home

One cool thing about staying at a Disney property is you can have anything you purchase at the park sent back to your hotel, as long as you’re able to pick it up after 1 the next day (so not something you can take advantage of if you’re flying out early the next morning). Buy whatever you want, no matter how big or valuable without worrying about toting it around with you all day. You can also have them ship it directly to your house.

If you don’t have enough room in your bags, you might have to have them ship some stuff home. So just in case, pack something like a large duffel bag that you can easily fold and fit into your suitcase on the way there. Even if you have to pay for an extra checked bag, you’ll likely spend less on that than shipping souvenirs home.

4 down, one more post to come in my Disney Tips Series!
Get Great Pictures At Disney World
Beyond The Princesses At Magic Kingdom
Inexpensive Disney Souvenirs That Rock

 

June 1, 2014 3 comments
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