Top Tips for Disneyland with Little Ones

By Tiffany Rudd

Since this was our first trip to Disneyland with our kids, we learned a lot about how to make the most of it. We talked to lots of friends who had been before, searched the internet for tips, and learned a lot along the way. I'm excited to share my best tips with you! Oh, and if you have older kids, you should definitely check out Deborah's top tips for Disneyland with Teens.

#1 Build the Excitement. Since our kids had never been to Disneyland before, we really wanted to make it all as exciting as possible. We started our countdown 10 days before (see that post and print your own countdown here), and made the most of those 10 days. We let our older kids look at maps online and plan what things they wanted to do first, we made lists with our 2 year old of all the princesses she would meet and what she wanted to say to them, and our 1 year old even slept with a small stuffed Mickey. We were all super excited to say the least!

#2 Invite Grandpa & Grandma. I realize this may not be possible for everyone, but if it is at all possible for you, I highly recommend it! My parents came with us and having them there made it even more enjoyable. They were great to take the toddlers on younger rides while my husband and I went with the bigger kids on the rides with height restrictions, they stood in line for fast passes while we rode other rides, and most importantly, they are part of all of those fantastic memories.  

#3 Skip the early entrance. If your kids are early risers, this doesn't apply to you, but since my kids normally get up at 8:00, getting into the park early wasn't a great option for us. We talked about it beforehand and realized that waking the kids up early and dealing with meltdowns throughout the day just wasn't worth it, even for shorter lines. 

#4 Choose your first activities wisely. We started each day with one or two things we wanted to make sure to do first, so that we didn't run out of time and miss them. You can often catch shorter lines on these things first thing in the morning too. We were able to see the princesses in just a few minutes on our first day by heading right over there. 

#5 Plan around your kids' favorites. For our girls, stopping to see all the princesses was a must and for our 7 year old, Jedi Training was the, "coolest thing ever!" We talked beforehand about having a positive attitude about each other's favorites and making them a priority. The girls cheered while Cameron fought Darth Maul and, even though he may not admit it, Cameron had fun meeting the princesses too. All of these things took time away from what my husband and I may have chosen to do, but I'm so glad we did them.

#6 Plan a fun way to preserve memories. There are so many ways to do this. I know some people collect pins or magnets from their Disneyland trips or keep signature books. This time we decided to have the characters sign photo mats. We are going to add a favorite picture from our trip and display them in the kids' rooms to remember our fun vacation.

It was seriously impressive to watch some of the characters sign while in costume!

#7 Put a clear limit on spending. As part of our 10 day countdown, each of the kids were given a Disney gift card to use to buy toys/souvenirs. I bought the gift cards at Target with my REDcard, which meant I got them for 5% off (every little bit of savings helps), and it was great to have a preset limit on spending. They knew that when the money on the card was gone, they were done shopping. They each chose carefully to get what they really wanted with this money, and we did't have to deal with them asking for "just one more thing." 

#8 Take advantage of PhotoPass. All over the park there are photographers ready to capture your memories. I generally choose to pass on things like this that cost extra money, but in this case I'm so glad we didn't. We left our nice camera at home and didn't worry about it getting stollen or broken. We took a few photos on our phones, but most of the time we just handed over our PhotoPass card and let the professionals handle it. It cost us $70 to download all the photos they took (well over 100 photos) and I felt like it was well worth it. We never could have captured moments like the one above between Anniston and Ariel while also enjoying the moment, pushing two strollers, and wrestling with a 1 yr old. 

#9 Take single strollers. We debated beforehand whether to take a double stroller or two single strollers, and I'm so glad we decided to take two. They were so much easier to get on and off the shuttle we took from the hotel to the park, easier to maneuver around the park, and made it possible for us to split up occasionally. The older kids even took a turn or two in a stroller to rest their feet. 

#10 Don't sweat the small stuff. Vacations with little ones means the occasional tantrum or grumpy moment, missed naps, and adjusting plans based on their needs. It won't always be perfect, but most of the best memories aren't. My mom made these super cute Minnie Mouse dresses for the girls and I was so excited to get a picture of the two of them with her. Of course, Anniston screamed like crazy and wouldn't get within 10 feet of her. So, we don't have a picture of her with Minnie, but we do have the memories of her reaction and how immediately afterward she talked on and on about how much she LOVED Minnie Mouse. :)

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Top Tips for Doing Disneyland with Teens

By Deborah Rowley

As Tiffany mentioned in her fun Countdown to Disneyland post, we just took our families to the Happiest Place on Earth. Here are my top tips for doing the Magic Kingdom and California Adventures with teens. Tiff will then weigh in with her top tips for younger children.

#1 Don't miss the parades or the shows. It would be easy to miss a parade or a show assuming that they are too juvenile for teenage children. But my kids LOVE Fantasmic and the World of Color and wouldn't miss Aladdin and the Disneyland fireworks show even though they have seen each of these productions several times. This year we loved both parades as well as the new show Mickey and the Magical Map at the Fantasyland Theater. Nobody puts on a show like Disney.

#2 Don't forget the Kiddy Rides. Let each child pick a nostalgic favorite with one rule: no one can complain. We encouraged each child to choose a few favorite kiddie rides that they wanted to visit for old times sake. We enjoyed Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride among others. The kids loved trying to remember which rides were their favorite when they were small and we all enjoyed re-experiencing these classics since no one could complain.

#3 Do meet and greet the characters. One of my favorite memories is seeing my 18 year old compare hair notes with Merida of Brave fame. They both have wild, unruly hair and it was so cute to see them together! We had even more fun watching our teens talking to the characters than we did when they were little when they seemed to scream and bury their heads in our necks more than carry on a conversation.

#4 Do establish financial parameters beforehand. Our kids knew that we would pay for all of their meals and an ice cream treat in the middle of the day. Otherwise, they were on their own for any snacks and/or souvenirs. This made for an enjoyable trip for Mom and Dad as we watched our kids agonize over purchases made with their own hard-earned money while never getting nagged to open our own wallets.

#5 Do take cheesy photos. My niece Shayla taught me this tip. When we went with Shayla to Disneyland three years ago, she insisted on stopping at all the funny photo stops and taking pictures. I love to look back at her and her cousins in front of the wishing well, trying to pull the sword out of the stone or riding in a cartoon car. Fun family photos made the BEST souvenirs of any trip to Disneyland.

#6 Do eat unique foods in unique places. I have heard complaints about the food at Disneyland and it can be overpriced and tasteless. This time we tried something different. We committed to not eat anything in Disneyland that we could eat at fast food places at home. So no burgers, pizza, or fried chicken. Instead, try some foods unique to Disneyland. For example: Enjoy eating Monte Cristo sandwiches while watching the Pirate Boats go by in the Blue Bayou. Or stop at the Cozy Cone Motel in Radiator Springs. We tried both the chili and the chicken verde in edible bread "cones" that were delicious. We also loved the Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. And we couldn't resist the famous hand-dipped corn dogs from the Little Red Wagon on Main Street. They were amazing!

#7 Do spend plenty of time in Radiator Springs. Cars Land is absolutely incredible. Even if you don't have a Cars movie fan in the family, you must spend time in this fantastic place. I am still in awe of how the magicians at Disney made this movie come to life. Yes, the traffic light is actually slower every third blink!

#8 Try something different each trip. A few years ago we went to see Cherished Moments with Mr. Lincoln and were amazed at how realistic this animatronic marvel really is. This time around we took the Sourdough Bread Tour on Paradise Pier and watched the Asimo Robot Demonstration in the Innoventions building. Both were fantastic and worth our time.

#9 Take Advantage of Line Time. My oldest daughter packed a funny pack of storytelling cards in the bag she carried around Disneyland. Whenever we were stuck in an extra long line, she would pull it out and we were soon laughing hysterically over the storyline someone in the family had created. Before we knew it, we were at the end of the line and jumping onto the ride. It would be easy to let your teenagers pull out their cell phones and use line time to do your own thing on Pinterest, but line time was some of the best bonding time for us as a family. We also played words games, guessing games and memory games to pass the time. During one wait, we quoted Disney movie lines for each other to guess. In another line, we compiled our list of the Top Ten Disney movies of all time. Even though I don't like lines, it was fun to wait with my kids!

#10 Enjoy every moment. Our days of going to Disneyland with our kids are numbered. We don't have to imagine the future any more. Our kids really have grown up too soon! It is wonderful that we share a love of Disneyland together. And before too long, we will be sharing that love with our grandchildren!



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Disneyland Surprise 10 Day Countdown

By Tiffany Rudd

When we finally decided to take our kids to Disneyland for the first time, I wanted it to be a big deal. I wanted to milk the experience for all the excitement and fun I possibly could. I also, REALLY didn't want to hear "how much longer?" for a month before hand. :)

So, I decided to surprise the kids by telling them 10 days before we left. Just enough time to enjoy the excitement and anticipating, not so long that it became tainted with the difficulty of waiting SO long for something so fun. 

I created this fun 10 gift countdown and it turned our 4 day vacation into a 2 week long party! I would highly recommend it if you have a Disneyland vacation coming up. I'll tell you all about the gifts I included and your can print the tags for free by clicking on the photos below.

Here are the gifts all wrapped, tagged, and ready to go. You'll notice that I included numbers for the older kids and the correlating amount of Mickey Mouse pictures on each for my 2 year old. 

Of course you can use any 10 gifts you want. Most of mine came from clearance deals I kept my eyes out for since we scheduled our trip. Many of them were also things I would have purchased for the trip anyway, so really no extra cost. Here is what mine were...

10. The giant box full of all the gifts plus a big bunch of balloons and the first sign. This was how we revealed the fun surprise!

9. Mickey Mouse drawstring bags for holding car snacks.

8. New movies for watching in the car during the long drive.

7. Travel games.

6. Character notebook and pencil packs.

5. Disney giftcards I bought at Target. I got these with my redcard for 5% off and they were a great way to give each child a spending limit once in the park.

4. Minnie Mouse Dresses my mom made for the girls and Mickey t-shirts for the boys.

3. Photo mats and sharpie markers - for the characters to sign.

2. Reusable sticker pads for the car.

1. Car snacks.

The SURPRISE in photos...

 Reading the note...

 The reaction...

 There was actual jumping up and down...

 And awesome surprised faces...

SO INCREDIBLY FUN!

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