WDW Trekker

One of the most fun things (yet costly) was joining the Disney Vacation Club back in 2004. Just shortly afterward, I began thinking that there ought to be a way to easily store personal items used only in Disney. Well, that idea finally showed up in 2007 with the introduction of Owner’s Locker. Owner’s Locker is a door-to-door storage service which delivers, upon your arrival, your very own personal storage container(s) which you fill up with all those items that you wish to leave in the Orlando area. When you depart, the container is picked up by Owner’s Locker and stored in their climate controlled warehouse until the next time.

I found this service while scouring web sites with Disney tips. When I saw it, I recall saying, “Hallelujah!” When I went to the web site to look it up and get some information, I saw that they offered a year’s trial. So, I tried it and now I am hooked and have graduated to a  SECOND locker. I keep kitchen, bath, and other critical items in the primary locker. With the restrictions that have been imposed lately by the airlines, having the locker there with all my stuff makes coming back and forth very easy.

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If going to Disney World and the surrounding attractions is at least a once a year trip, I would highly recommend checking it out and giving it a shot. If you need anything or have a question about the lockers, feel free to post a question on the forum or call Owner’s Locker directly. The phone is answered by the owners. (Can you imagine that?!)

If you are driving to Disney World or renting a car for any part of your trip, your resort stay includes a parking permit. This permit allows you to use your car to visit the parks and other attractions and not have to pay the daily lot fees.

When checking in at a Disney World Resort, the cast member will ask if you have your own car. If you acknowledge the fact that you do, you will receive a parking pass valid from the date of check-in until the day of departure. This pass should then be placed on the dashboard of your car on the driver’s side for the length of your stay. This will identification will do several things. First, it will identify you as a resort guest at any of the theme parks when you go through the gate. The cast members in yellow uniforms will see the pass and wave you on. Secondly, the pass acts as identification to security when you enter in and out of a Disney resort. They will still require you to show some form of identification that you are you either by your resort key or driver’s license. Thirdly, the pass will prove to security at the resort that you are a valid guest at that resort during the night.

So, for those who have to have their car with them, get your parking pass and have fun at Disney World!

Every resort at Disney now offers quick or counter service dining. One of the options when checking out is purchasing a souvenir mug for your stay. The benefit of these mugs is that you may refill them with coffee, soda or whatever beverage you wish that is available at the counter service restaurants. The mugs cost approximately $13.00 and generally break even in value if they are used several times a day for the length of your stay at the resort. The resort mugs can only be used at the resort in which you are staying.

The mugs work well if you’re dining options are going to include eating at quick serve restaurants during your stay. You will save big money over the course of your stay as you will not have to pay for daily coffee, milk, or whatever your choice of beverage is. If you’re at Disney World and using the quick service or Deluxe Dining plans, the mug is included in the price.

The fun part is at the end of your stay. The mug comes a souvenir of your stay at the resort and goes home with you. There are many uses for these mugs at home. Just use your imagination.

So, you’re all ready to hit the parks. That means you’ll need to purchase theme park tickets. As simple as this may sound, there are many options to ponder when purchasing your tickets. Disney has made their tickets modular rather than the old traditional set options.  So, here’s how they work.

1. Purchase a multi-day ticket. The more days you purchase the cheaper the daily admission fee becomes.
2. Choose your options. Once you have your basic ticket, you may choose to have several options added such as “No-Expiration”, “Park Hopper”, and “Water Park Fun & More”.

You’re probably asking yourself what are all these additional options? Here they are explained.

Multi-Day Ticket

Theme park tickets are available from single to mul ti-day. Whichever park validates the ticket for the day is where you will be allowed to enter and exit from for that day. You will not be able to access any other park for that day.

The benefit of purchasing a multi-day ticket is that the more days you purchase upfront, the cheaper the admission is per day. Therefore, if you’re going for a total of 5 days, purchase that many days on your ticket. You may always add extra days to your ticket within 14 days of activation of the ticket.

Park Hopper
The Park Hopper option allows you to visit more than one theme park in one day. A standard ticket only allows admission to a specific park. This option allows you to divide your day between parks. So, let’s say you go to the Magic Kingdom in the morning and then decide that you want to visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the afternoon and then Epcot that evening. With this option you can do that.

Water Park Fun and More
This one is pretty self explanatory. This option allows you to visit the two water parks throughout your stay and visit both in one day if you wish, visit Disney Quest (Disney’s indoor interactive themepark located at Downtown Disney on the Westside). If experiencing the water parks is not critical, leave this one off. Admission tickets can always be purchased.

No-Expiration
This option, although it comes with a $50 price tag, allows you to take advantage of buying the most days possible and then being able to utilize those extra days whenever. It could be later in in the year or in a few year. I personally purchase the most days I can and then add this option as it is cheaper to purchase multiple days at once than buying separate tickets each trip. (I usually make two trips a year to Disney World.) Without this option added, you could possibly buy a 7 day pass, use 4 and then loose the rest at the end of your stay.

The advantage to this modular system is that at any time you may add days or options. Why should there be limits to making your visit magical.

For those who want to  learn something while visiting the Walt Disney World Resort, consider taking a tour in one or more of the theme parks. Tours run daily and leave from the Guest Relations areas of each of the parks. The length of the tours vary from 1 hour to 7 hours long depending on the itinerary. Just note that whatever tour you take WILL require park entrance, so don’t forget your admission ticket the day of the tour.

Some tours are open to all ages while others have a minimum age. Some tours require that children be at least 16 years old and others allow those at age 5. It all depends on what you will be experiencing on the tour.

I have personally experienced every tour that is currently offered at Walt Disney World and have learned a great deal about the property and development of the Resort. There have been some tours that I enjoy retaking because each guide gives a new viewpoint. Some tours, such as Yuletide Fantasy, are only offered at certain times of the year like the holidays when the parks are all decorated.

Tours typically start out by the Guest Relations desk at each of the theme parks. It is recommended that you arrive at least 10 to 15 minutes before the departure time to check in and get settled. Some tours such as the new Wild Africa Trek, start out at al ternate locations in the park. So, be sure to ask the cast member where the tour will be originating if they don’t tell you.

Tours definitely break up the monotony of visiting the parks and going on rides. They take up a good part of the day and will definitely expose you to things that most likely have been invisible to you in the past.

One of the great ways to eat at while at Disney World is to take advantage of their various dining plan options. There is an option for just about every type of appetite and wallet that could exist. Plans are available for children (over age 3) and adults at respective prices

Here are the plans available.

Disney Dining Plan (Traditional)

This plan includes the following:

• 1 Table Service (You sit down and are served.)
• 1 Counter/Quick Service (Fast food style restaurants)
• 1 Snack (Popcorn, pretzel, ice cream, etc.)

Deluxe Dining Plan

• 3 Meals a day, either quick service or table
• 2 Snacks
• 1 Refillable Resort Mug

Quick Service Dining Plan

• 2 Quick Service meals per day
• 2 Snacks
• 1 Refillable Resort Mug

The way that the dining plans work is that for the number of nights you stay at one of the Disney Resorts, you are allotted a number of meals and snacks. How you use up this allotment is up to you; it’s flexible. However, if you do not use everything by the time you leave Disney, you loose it.

How you you pick which one works best for you? Consider the way you typically eat at home and when you go on vacation. The traditional plan assumes that you will have a counter service meal each day in one of the parks, followed by a snack somewhere in the day, and a traditional sit down meal at one of the many restaurants on property. The Deluxe Plan is for those who are more akin to sitting down for each meal and the Quick Service plan figures that you’ll have counter service for at least two meals a day with 2 snacks along the line. No matter which one you choose, you will be well fed considering it’s Disney.

Some restaurants require 2 sit down allowances rather than the one. In other words, you may need to surrender 2 days allowance for sit down table service in order to dine at certain upscale restaurants. So, when making your reservations, be aware of how many credits are required. Two of my favorite restaurants, “The Yachtsman Steakhouse at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and Le Celier at the Canada pavilion in Epcot require two table service credits.

After countless trips to Disney World at various times of the year, learning how to dress for the parks is crucial. In the course of a day, the temperatures (and humidity) will fluctuate. Generally it will be cooler in the morning, get warmer, and then possibly get cooler again towards evening.

In the late spring, summer, and early fall months, dressing for one type of weather is fairly straight forward. However, the thinking for the winter and early spring can be tricky as you may start with shorts in the morning and end up in pants by the evening with a sweatshirt. Packing for this time of the year is also nerve racking as one cannot really guess what to bring to Florida. Even following the weather forecast may not help you very much as Florida weather can be so unpredictable. So, my best suggestion is to bring a little of both just to be prepared. You can always rent a locker to store your extras.

During the warmer months, try to refrain from dark and heavy fabrics as they will attract the heat and make you miserable. Whites and cool colors will keep you most comfortable during the day. Also, be mindful of the possibility of your legs chafing due to perspiration and humidity. I will discuss surviving the heat in a future article.

The Winter months are the most challenging. The weather in central Florida is not predictable. The weather can change drastically from the morning to the evening and from day to day. The best advice is to pack 50/50, that is take clothes for warmer weather and cool weather. I know I have been victim to the weather and ended up wearing the same clothes day after day when I was only prepared for warm weather. We’ve also had to spend our share of money buying sweatshirts. When going into the park, dress in layers. In the morning you’ll need the sweatshirt and jeans and then later have the option to go to shorts and a t-shirt.  Hence, the lockers at the park can be a great option as you only pay once a day for locker rental. Rentals at the other parks are gratis after the first as long as you keep your receipt.

Another major key factor is your footwear. There is a lot of walking on a daily basis in Disney, so you want to have comfortable shoes. Personally, I like a good walking shoe with socks although there are also sandals and flip-flops with decent support on the market.

Of course, we would NOT want to forget the hat. There are thousands of different hats being worn throughout Disney Parks around the world. So, sport one of your own. Just make sure that it covers the parts of your head that get burned. If you forget to pack one, finding one is surely not a problem in Disney.

What is the right age to bring young kids to Disney World for the first time? This is a question which can be discussed over and over, but if we consider developmental psychology, there is a proper time. Just because you have kids, doesn’t mean they should go immediately within the first year of their life.

Kids begin to develop a sense of time and memory just after the age of 3. Therefore, anything the child experiences before that age, may or may not be remembered. Therefore, if you’re hoping to begin to create memories for them, think about bringing them after age 4 when there is a sense of memory.

There are many moments at Disney that will want to be remembered by your kids for the rest of their lives. So, make it worth their while and expose them to their favorite characters and movies when they can associate them. Some things may need to be delayed just because of where they are in their lives.

The best time of the day for kids to experience the parks is during the day when they are at their best. I would not push them to stay up until the park closes. There’s nothing like a cranky child at the end of the day and if their is crankiness neither you nor them is having a good time. So, even though you may have done that marathon in the past, for the next few years I would tailor your plans to your kids’ schedule. After all, they will eventually see everything at some point anyway. It doesn’t all have to be in one trip at the very beginning.

I remember personally going to the Magic Kingdom when I was 5. It was a great time. But, once we left the park to go back to the Contemporary Resort for dinner, that was it until the next day. If we did anything after dinner it was play a game or something in the arcade and then went to bed. Later on as I got older I got to stay up to see the night time parades and fireworks. Would I do the same thing again? Absolutely!

Over the years that I have been going to Disney World, people have asked, “Don’t you get tired of going?” I say never as something is always changing and your perspective changes as you visit at different points in your life. I will be writing individual articles on how each period in your life creates a unique Disney experience, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I will summarize why it is good to experience Disney World at various ages.

Some who have never visited say that they will wait till they have kids as they, like many, have the misconception that Disney World is just for kids. That is just not the case. I feel that it is important in one’s life to see Disney at each stage of one’s life as it allows you to experience the parks and the whole vacation kingdom in different lights.

If you’ve never been and you are an adult, I say go before you have children. Experience for yourself what you’ve missed either by yourself with with a significant other. Like being a teenager, you can partake in activities that you will not be able to indulge in once you’ve entered into parenthood. Not to  menti0n that kids will take away from seeing things in a young adult way.

Now….the moment you’ve been waiting for, Disney World with kids. This time will be most unique as you will experience things through the eyes of your kids as they grow. The way they will see Disney and the Characters at age 5 or six will be different at age 10 just as it will be completely different for them as teenagers. Of course, as parents, you will also be transcending ways of experiencing the parks yourself. You’ll be somewhere between the experience of with kids and the days of without kids.

Finally, there are the days of being Disney vacationers as empty nesters and seniors. Although you’ll still feel like a kid yourself, your abilities to be able to see and do everything may and will change. So this point in your life could be looked at as a celebration, more alone time, and then coming with your grown kids and their young children.

So, is Disney just for kids? The question is “At what stage of “kid” are you?” and how you approach it.

A day at one of Disney’s Theme parks can be lots of fun. But in the course of that day, you will most likely need various things. Depending on who is traveling with you and their needs, the contents of that day bag which for most usually consists of a tote bag, waist pack, and/or backpack should contain some or all of the following items:

• Water park tickets
• Drivers license/ID for each adult
• Cash/credit card
• Waterproof camera
• Cell phones
• Walkie talkies
• Neck lanyard for room key/tickets
• Sunglasses w/straps
• Water bottle w/strap
• Collapsible cooler
• Snacks
• Bathing suits
• Beach towels
• Earplugs
• Plastic pool cups w/top & straw
• Beach bag
• Books/magazines
• Mister fan & extra batteries
• Pain medicine
• Sunscreen
• Lip balm w/sunscreen
• Insect repellant
• Kleenex
• Antibacterial hand gel
• Wet wipes
• Hats/visors/sweatbands/bandannas
• Swim diapers
• Waterproof watch
• Waterproof case
• Water shoes/flip flops
• Large zip-top bags for wet clothes
• Dry change of clothes for kids
• Kids ID tags

I highly recommend that you rent a large locker at the entrance of the water parks to store your items as it will be inconvenient for you to go on rides with your day bag. You have access to your locker the entire time while at the park. Also, if you keep the receipt for your locker rental, you may go to another park (water or theme) that day and get a locker there free of charge.