Void a Melt Down at Disney

Avoid a melt down with your toddler / child

When going to a theme park with a toddler or small child, you must plan the day around them. Today I thought I would share some tips with you that I have used to make our theme park adventures go smooth. These tips are not 100% melt down proof, but they can really help prevent one from happening.

1) Go to the parks during the time of day your child is going to be in a good mood and wanting to ride the rides. 

Our first trip with our daughter I planned early morning character meals. When I say early morning I mean we were in the park eating and done eating before the park before rope drop. This was wonderful the first couple of days. But towards the end of the week you could tell my daughter needed more sleep. 

2) Ride the rides your child wants to ride first.  

After many meltdowns it dawned on me that my child needed to set her own pace on trying different rides. So if that meant we would ride Dumbo, Magic Carpet ride and the Tea Cups over and over then that was what we were going to to.

3) If your child does not want to ride something do not force them. Always give them an out for a ride. 

I have a nervous little one. To get her to ride the barnstormer we had to give her a little nudge. As we stood in line she wanted to leave ever once in while, but I tried to keep the topic off the ride and onto train sitting at the station.  When we got to the top we asked her if she really wanted to ride and she said yes, if only she could be the line leader. So we set off to ride in the first seat with our hands in the air the entire time. After that little nudge she was ready to ride Splash Mountain and Soarin.

4) Set a spending budget for your child

Stress to your child that they only have so much money to spend for souvenirs and once it is gone it is gone.

5). Take a break thru out the day for naps and swimming. 

6) If your child wears a costume bring another change of clothes.
 It gets very hot in those beautiful dresses.

I hope you can take these tips on vacation and helps prevent a melt down. Please let me know if you have any tips. I love comments. 

Have a Wonderful Disney Vacation. 

 

Disney Dining Plan yes or no?

                                   Should you or should you not go with the Dining Plan?

This is the question I ask myself before every trip. I debate on this up until a few weeks before our trip has to be paid in full. Most family's like the dining plan for the peace of mind knowing that all meals are already paid for in advance.

Disney offers 3 dining plans that can be placed on your Magic Your Way Pass

1. Quick Service -2 quick service meals and 1 snack per night of staying on property and 1 refillable mug
2. Plus Dining - 1 quick service meal, 1 table service meal, 1 snack per night of staying on property and 1 refillable mug
3. Deluxe Dining - 3 meals a day (They can either be quick service or table service), 2 snacks per night of staying on property and 1 refillable mug

This can be very confusing to most people. Sometimes I feel like I need a Disney Doctor Degree  to understand most things related to a Disney Vacation. I wished they made those degrees....LOL.

So if this is confusing hopefully I can help you understand it better.

Lets say one person is going on a trip for 3 days and 2 nights. Below you will see how many credits that person will receive when they check in for the meal plan they picked.

Quick Service - 4 quick meals and 2 snacks

Plus Dining - 2 table services, 2 counter services 2 snacks

Deluxe - 6 meals (can be either quick, counter or table)

Now lets say we have 2 people going on same type of trip, 3 days and 2 nights their dining credits would like this.

Quick Service - 8 quick meals and 4 snacks

Plus Dining - 4 table services, 4 counter services 4 snacks

Deluxe - 12 meals (can either be quick, counter or table)

Now the fun thing about deciding on how many credits you are going to need is deciding on where you want to eat. Go the the Disney website and search thru the menus and the restaurants.  If you plan on doing any signature meals or Cinderella Castle those type of meals take 2 table service credits per person. The big thing to remember is that you can make dining reservations 180 day out.

                  

Budget

The First Steps of  Planning a Disney Vacation

Budget

Planning a Disney Vacation can be very overwhelming. Some people go thru travel agents, travel websites and some people go directly thru Disney’s travel agents. First and foremost before booking your vacation a budget needs to be set. A Disney vacation can be very expensive if you don’t set a budget. You can add food, airline tickets, rental car, lodging, tickets and souvenirs to your budget. Setting a budget will set the tone for the type of lodging, ticket perks and how many days / nights for your vacation. 

Some families give the greatest amount of their budget for lodging, other families activities and so on. However you plan your budget remember it is your vacation and it is your magical memories being made.
You will find below a chart that I use to start building my vacation. Please note we this is for driving.


Item                                                                                                  Money Allotted
_______________________________________________________________________________
Gas                                                                                      _________________________
Car Rental                                                                            _________________________ 
Hotel on the way down to Florida                                         _________________________
Hotel first night when we arrive in Orlando                            _________________________   
Supper the first night in Orlando                                            _________________________  
Breakfast  2nd day in Orlando                                              _________________________  
Hotel on Disney Property                                                     _________________________  
Tips (Dining and Mouse Keeping)                                         _________________________  
Park Tickets                                                                         _________________________
Dining for the week (Dining Plan)                                         _________________________  Souvenirs                                                                             _________________________
Last official night in Orlando (off property hotel)                    _________________________ 
Breakfast for the morning going home                                    _________________________ 
Hotel (just incase we decided to break the 
driving up within 2 days)                                                      __________________________

                                                                 Grand Total:      __________________________



As you can see we drive and we usually break our driving up between two days. This is easier for our family. The reason why we do not stay on Disney property for the first night we get into Orlando, is that we usually get into Orlando so late that is not worth the money and the benefits of staying on property that night. I usually try to get a hotel near Downtown Disney so we can have supper there and able to stretch our legs a little bit. We usually stay in a Disney Deluxe hotel from Sunday - Friday, then due to the rates going up for the weekend and I am never ready to go home on Friday, we stay in another hotel close to Disney. On our last day we check out f our Disney hotel, load the car, go for a character meal then go to one of the parks all day and then around 5pm we go to our new hotel. This works for our family and it has saved me several hundreds of dollars not staying on Disney property for the weekend rates.
I would love to hear about your budget list.