Disney themed flight

[jojozep]

Q2. As a resort guest do we get access to the park and hour earlier every day or only certain days do you know?

Q3. My daughter is basically 1-2cm short of the 40inch mark - will CM's stop her on going on any of the rides that say 40inch?

Q4. Does anyone know if they still have guest participation in Parades, my son's Principal said she and her daughter were involved when they went last time but not sure how long ago that was?

Q5. Do you think we should take our own stroller? - mainly for the trip to and from Paradise Pier to the parks - as from what I can tell you can only hire strollers inside the Parks.

Q6. Are the resort pools heated? It seems like the forecast for that time of year is up to 19-20C so I'm planning for everyone to dress in layers but kids would swim if the water was warm enough.

Q7. My son is not really a daredevil so I'm not sure whether how to build his confidence with some of the bigger rides - start slow or chuck him in the deep end eg. Space Mountain and pray he loves it? (Which I think he will) Any advice?
Thanks very much in advance. Love your site - only makes me more excited to go!!! Jo

[mushu mama]

Welcome jojozep, wow... you are so lucky... any one of us here would give our eye teeth for such an opportunity. You and your family will have an amazing time I am sure. Not long to wait now....

Have traveled to Tokyo with kids around the same age, but because we traveled over at night and it was morning when we got there, we didn't have the jetlag thing to worry about. It will be overwhelming for them both, especially as the trip goes on and they are more and more tired. I only have a few tips I found helpful..... the most important thing I can say is take plenty of restful breaks - head into DCA ( if you are doing both parks) and let them run loose in the climbing frames and stuff near Grizzly River... that place is restful and not as noisy as the rest of the park. Eat often.... grumbly tummies don't like waiting for queues so keep them topped up as you see stuff that grabs you. Grumbly tummies lead to grumbly kids and then grumbly grown ups. Waiting for parades is a great time to catch up on some down time... get your spot early and snack....

As for your son... mine was 8 when he went, and he at that age wasn't remotely a daredevil... we went the 'tough love route' and kind of coerced him into going onto a ride that we thought he would ultimately love worried that he would regret not doing the rides when he got home ( Roger Rabbit - he adores cars) .... he is now 18 and WAY a daredevil, but he still comments on being thown in the deep end in Disneyland, and that particular part of the trip is not a happy memory. Ultimately, ask him at the time and take whatever he says as gospel - either way - and just content yourself with him enjoying the 'hairy' rides when he is older. And he will. He'll still soak up heaps of pixie dust

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head... hope that helps.

Lisa. */

[jojozep]

Thanks so much Lisa. I think you're spot on, I'm figuring that we just have to go by how they are feeling and play alot of it by ear and try not to worry if we don't cover everything. When I saw it's A Small World and Tom Sawyer etc were closed while we're there I actually thought good two less things to try and cover off - just have to do those next time!

[mushu mama]

jojozep, you dont' have to miss out on rides, just do the 'baby swap' . Its well used in all the Disney parks. Just join the queue ( or get your fast pass) and when you get to the ride, tell the attendant you want to do the baby swap, then one grown up stays with the kids while the other rides, then you are brought back into the ride to your family and the other grown up rides. that way you don't have to miss the things you really want to do. -/ it would be a shame to miss Space Moutain.

Lisa. */

[jojozep]

Can't leave without doing Space Mountain - I think that would be sacrilegious!! Thanks for the tip!

[KeithS]

Hi Jojozep - Welcome to our little corner of the Disney world - and congratulations - we love winners of competitions and you are a pretty big winner!

I can't believe how excited I am

That alone deserves a jumping Mickey -/

my family think I'm totally obsessed

Join the club - we are all in that boat...

Q1. can I buy an autograph book in Downtown Disney as we wont have access to the Park before this event?

Definitely - there is a large World of Disney store in Downtown Disney that you will spend HOURS in - and they have Autograph books.

The itinerary we have been given says Resort scavenger hunt Sunday pm

This sounds cool - wish I could join you on that!

As a resort guest do we get access to the park and hour earlier every day or only certain days do you know?

Disneyland does have early opening on certain days of the week (called magic mornings) for hotel guests and certain park hopper tickets - it isn't everyday of the week and it may also be seasonal. Magic mornings allow 1 hour early entry to Main Street, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland when I was there in September.

My daughter is basically 1-2cm short of the 40inch mark - will CM's stop her on going on any of the rides that say 40inch?

The height limits are designed for child safety - to prevent children slipping out of the ride vehicles. If the CM measures your daughter and she comes up short, she won't be allowed to ride. The CMs make a judgment call as to whether they'll measure or not, but I have seen them doing it on numerous occasions.

Does anyone know if they still have guest participation in Parades, my son's Principal said she and her daughter were involved when they went last time but not sure how long ago that was?

I believe that the "Celebrate - A Street Party" is returning to Disneyland in January - there is some limited interaction with guests for this semi-parade (it is really a moving show rather than like the big parades of recent years). It is high energy and lots of fun though, so don't be put off by the lack of big floats - I quite liked it. They often pull kids out of the crowd to dance with them etc. As it is not a traditional parade, there is no Grand Marshall Family at the moment.

I can't answer the heated pool, stroller or daredevil questions - those are beyond my knowledge and experience, but I'm sure someone else around here can add their opinions!

Hope this helps somewhat! Can't wait to hear all about your experiences when you return!

[jojozep]

Thanks so much for the welcome and answers Keith, very much appreciated. I am still working on the itinerary and will check out the magic mornings to save some time queueing - unfortunately my kids aren't very patient... take after me! I reckon I can almost taste that first Mickey on Stick!!
One of the tricky things will be trying to get the kids to sleep on the plane (leaves at 9pm) when we will be travelling with a whole plane of extremely excited families, it's going to be mad! Lucky I have a stack of Disney games/ books etc from entering the other competition where you had to purchase to win - I was determined to get a seat on that plane!

The Disney PhotoPass sounds good too, not sure if anyone has used it? Will be good to try and get some shots with all of us in them for a change.

[mushu mama]

The photo pass is awesome. Not sure I can describe this right but here goes..... Just go into the camera shop on Main St and purchase your 'package' and they will give you a card that you hand to any of the official photo pass photographers scattered all over the parks when they take your picture. There is no limit to how many so ask for a few shots at a time if there is not line up for them. These photos are kept on file under your number which you can retrieve/view at anytime at the camera shop ( or online I understand, if you have a laptop with you). I only went in just before I went home and was pressed for time, but next time I will drop in periodically to see the photos, have some enhanced with special effects ( which I think you can only do onsite) and then when you are ready to go home, they put them on a disc for you to take home. You can also order them online for a limited time as well, but I'm not sure you can have the effects added offsite. I really wish I'd had time to add more of the official stuff to my photos,they can also put Disney borders, character icons, and some shots even have Tink sitting in your hands.

Take every opportunity to get these shots cos they are considerably better than handing your own camera to a perfect stranger to get you whole party in the shot. I found this to be a fantastic keepsake, despite having taken literally thousands of photos of my own.

One last thing, I understand you can prepurchase the packages before you leave home which is a time saver, but because the exchange rate at the time was about 97c in the dollar, it was actually cheaper for me to buy it in DL itself. That was my experience anyway.

did I miss anything guys?

Lisa.

[KeithS]

did I miss anything guys?

You can actually purchase the packages after your holiday too - as well as add fancy borders etc to your photos from their online site.

But as Lisa said TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN! Make sure you pick up a Photopass card either from Main Street photo shop, or from any Photopass Photographer (they'll just hand them out to you). They are free, so don't worry about paying upfront. Then everytime you see a photopass person, get your photo taken - just remember to hand the photopass card to the photographer, otherwise you'll end up with a pocket of them

You can then review and purchase whatever photos you like at the photo shop - we usually get a small number because they print them beautifully and put them in nice folders. But when you get home, you can go online, add as many borders as you like, crop, zoom, enhance to your hearts delight, then get all your Photopass photos (the originals plus all edited ones you've created - you could do 50 versions of the one photo if you like!) sent to you on a CDROM in JPG format. It is a flat cost for the CD - and for this reason, I say go crazy with Photopass and then order the CD when you get home

[mushu mama]

thanks Keith, I wasn't sure I was remembering it all exactly, although, I think when I was there they told me I could only add the borders etc when I was onsite.... so that is great to be able to do that at leisure from home cos it does eat into your time in the park if you are a rabid scrapper like me. I remember a friend on the Disney scrappers forum that I frequent telling me before I went away last time, to do it onsite for more choices... but that was 18 months ago so it sounds like it is much more streamlined now.

Either way, so worth it.

Lisa. -/

[Mel]

Hi Jojozep and Welcome!!! Congrats on the win - it's such an awesome prize

You and your family are going to have a fantastic time. I've been planning to take my kids to WDW when the eldest is 7 and the youngest is three since before my eldest was conceived because I think that will be such a magical age to take them I should point out that at the moment my eldest is only two and the youngest doesn't exist

As for the stroller question.. I'm taking my boys to Tokyo in May and I'm planning on making my soon to be three year old walk an awful lot. We're taking our stroller, but that will be mainly for our almost one year old. Ben loves to walk, although he does so at a slow pace. We're going to take our time and just let him go for most of the trip. If we need to hire another stroller in the parks we will, but we're happy to go at his pace so we're hoping we can just do with the one stroller. We did DreamWorld and Seaworld in November with just the one stroller and did fine. It should be even easier in Tokyo as we're staying close by so we can head back to our room for rests, and hopefully Jared will be walking by then so he'll be out running around a bit too.

Ben will also be just off a bit in the height department for a few attractions when we go too. We're just going to go with the flow there too. I'd love him to do BTMRR but if he's a bit short, he'll just have to wait a few years. There are so many attractions with no height restrictions that we're not worried about how many rides he will/won't be able to do.

With your flights, you might get lucky and have the kids crash. Do you know about anything they have planned on board? It's a long flight so I'm sure they'll try to encourage at least a FEW hours' sleep for everybody.

I'm so excited for you and your family!!!!

[sandie]

My daughter is basically 1-2cm short of the 40inch mark - will CM's stop her on going on any of the rides that say 40inch?

Ok girls win so much easier here than boys - try a high ponytail - that and thick sneakers will do the trick. I agree the heights are for safety but 1cm isn't going to matter - also practise getting her to stand up tall and straight!

Your flight is an awesome time! Get them on the plane, let them play and eat until midnight your time, put their jammies on them and let them crash! Still works on my kids - 11 and 13! Also a small dose of polarimine works wonders - (on scared Dads too!)

Sandie

[jojozep]

Thanks so much for all your enthusiasm and great advice! I'm feeling a bit more relaxed about it all already

Sandie I actually bought some Rescue Remedy Sleep and also Phenergen at the chemist this afternoon I assume that this is similar to Polarimine? Love the tip about changing into PJs ( Disney themed of course!!) and I have their sleep music on their ipods too so fingers crossed that will do the trick.

So one more question ..if I may... in terms of where and how to spend our time in the two parks, should we just divide them up into blocks and concentrate on 1/2 park each day roughly? Factoring in magic mornings for early jump on Nemo and Peter Pan and I'm thinking head to Fantasy Land first thing on day 1 ?
I see that things like the Jedi training,Aladdin musical, Playhouse Disney are only on certain days / times so trying to add them in to the schedule but don't want to be too rigid, especially with afternoons if we need to factor in some nap time.

I need to play with RideMax a bit more and get my head around FastPass but I'm not so keen to do alot of zigzagging around if possible. Anyway, I guess like you said Mel, we need to go with the flow a bit but I would like to have a bit of an idea of where we're going now so I can feel like we have a rough plan to follow each day. How does anyone ever do it all in 3 days or less???

Well, I know we will have the time of our lives regardless. Bring on Jan 21!! -/

[mushu mama]

I don't go to parks with a plan... I just arrive and head where ever the whim takes me but clearly you are a 'planner' so....

* one suggestion about how to tackle both parks is check out all the things on offer, not just the rides, but shows, parades and places to eat etc before you go. Like all of them... then prioritize ( not by park, but by #1 being the thing you could not leave Disneyland/DCA without doing and work down) the whole lot. Print out a map of both parks off the net. use a marker to write the numbers or just 'must see' dots onto on the map. You'll quickly see what you can do all in the same area, saving you zig zag time, and you won't be so likely to miss things that you HAVE to do. there are lots of 'lesser' things that I coudn't visit Disneyland without doing... eg: the penny arcade, The Christmas deco shop and having a caramel toffee apple. For some its the pineapple Dole whip ( right Keith?) and I could happily forgo the Tiki Room, a spin on the Mark Twain and ( hold your breath) the Haunted Mansion. Work out what means the most and work your way around those things.

* another suggestion is shop as you go... don't kid yourself that you can come back later... you will exhaust yourself trying to get back to places you think you saw something you have to have. you won't find the same merchandise in every store, in fact, a lot have stuff you won't see elsewhere. eg: Star wars stuff in Tomorrowland; Princess stuff around the Castle. If you love it, buy it then and there.

* and about the sedatives for the plane.... my BFF is leaving Wednesday for DL/ Vegas. Her doctor also recommended the Phenergan for her kids as they don't like to fly. A little tip, test it out before you go to see what effect it has on them. She was worried about having hysterical kids at take off so did as was suggested and was surprised how different each kids response was to it. Its definitely going to help get past a difficult part of their journey.

* use the fast passes at every opportunity ( unless wait time is close to a day ) it will save you hours of time waiting. Zig Zagging park to park would be tough with kids in tow, but around the one park would be doable. You may well have a chunk of time where you can cover a lot of ground and then turn up in time to ride without wasting so much time waiting.

* you won't do it all in three days... I had 12 days and still didn't manage it. I've traveled Disney with and without kids, 'with' will be slower (and you will see EVERY toilet block in both parks,) so just make memories, don't worry about what is left for next time.


Hope that helps. Ask all the questions you want, we all want you guys to have a magic time.

Lisa. */

[churros]

My advice: if anyone in the family is hungry - feed them, if they are thirsty - give them a drink and if they are tired - take them back to the hotel for a nap. There are plenty of people walking the park miserable because they ignore basic biology and the endurance of children (and parents). It is much better to have quality time in the park and not see and do it all. I can guarantee that after this visit you will go back!