[WVWISEGUY]

It has taken me over a week to do my whole trip reports, and I just finished all of them.

Overall, we had a great trip and cannot wait until our next one. PI have been to WDW 10 times, and I believe this was the most enjoyable trip of all. Part of the reason for this is because of all of the helpful tips and suggestions from all of you here at DC . I want to thank all of you for sharing experiences and suggestions for making others trips better.

Suggestions I have for anyone making a trip to WDW:
If you are taking children, decide when planning who the trip is for, yourself or the children. This is not meant as a slam, but it does make a difference. If your goal is for your children to enjoy themselves, it is a different plan than focusing on you. This was my goal from teh beginning and I had to remind my DW of this a few times at the start of our trip. We use to be the park commandos before children and this time we went slower, partially thanks to my leg injury (May have been God's way of slowing us down). We did not wear ourselves or the sons out and this made the trip more enjoyable.

If taking small children, let them help plan the day. We would always get a park map the night before and let the DSs, especially the 6 yr old, help us plan the next day and to be sure we hit all of the rides they wanted to do.

We took a small flashlight like the kind on a key ring and showed our 3 yr old how to hold it close to him on dark rides so that he did not bother anyone. This helped hom feel secure if he got a little scared, and it worked great. We had it clipped to his shorts so he could pull it out when he needed to.

A month before we left, I ordered the guest of honor badges for the sons and they arrived with a postcard from Mickey saying he was looking forward to their visit. We pu a piece of paper on the backside of the badges with their full name, our name, and where we were staying. We trained both sons to look for a CM if lost and show them the piece of paper. Luckily they never had to use this, but they were prepared. Also, several CMs would call them by name when getting on rides and several o the characters personalizd the autographs.

FP, FP, FP, FP. FP...saved waiting in long lines with small children:D

PS, PS, PS, PS...saved waiting in line to eat with small children:D

The Poly and staff of the Poly were great, and we are now spoiled.

The best meals that the family enjoyed were at Chef Mickeys (which was a great way to start our WDW vacation), LTT, CRT, and Rose and Crown.

Fantasmic Dinner ackage at H&V worked great for us because we only had to sit waiting for the show about 40 minutes instaed of 90 minutes, which with our children woukld have been a true nightmare And even though our seats were to the right of the center, we could still see the show and experience it fine. In fact by being on the side, we were able to make a quick getaway and make it to the buses before the crowds.

Early Entry was good to get on the rides before the crowds were let in, but once the general public comes in, get out early. We found that crowds got bad in most cases on EE days around 11:30, so we left.

Also, we felt like we had escaped from the real world during our trip. We did not turn the TV on except for a few minutes for the sons to watch Disney Channel or Toon Disney and to watch the Disney info channel. We watched no news and did not know what was going on except at WDW.

Finally, take time to enjoy the little things in the parks. Like I said we had been there several times before, but found several small things to enjoy this trip. Don't get ina rush and become tired and irritable because this takes away from the magic . I lost count of all the families who were arguing and fighting with each other and their children at the parks, and a lot of it was cause by being tired and hot, and trying to rush. ENJOY THE MAGIC THAT IS AT WDW SO THAT YOU CAN BUILD GREAT MEMORIES.

Again Thanks to all of you here at DC for helping to make my families trip the best ever!!!

[_landry]

Tell me about the guest of honor badges. Sounds like something I'd like for my kids and our trip in December.

[DisneyAnne]

You have many words of wisdom WVWISEGUY. Thanks for sharing them with us. (I loved the flashlight idea!)

It sounds as though you got everything possibly manageable out of your trip. I have thoroughly enjoyed your trip reports. I hope you plan to continue to be a part of DC.

So, when's the next trip ;)

[jmouse]

Great suggestions! Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

[WVWISEGUY]

Tell me about the guest of honor badges. Sounds like something I'd like for my kids and our trip in December.

I ordered them from gifts of a lifetime at http://www.giftsofalifetime.com/

Just click on personal shopper when at the web page. I also ordered the postcard from them at the same time to be sent by Mickey.

You can also buy them at WDW, I think in Downtown Disney and mayber somewhere else. My 6 yr old has an uncommon name, Josiah, so I ordered them to save time. as a little more to order by internet, but not that much difference, plus I figure we can keep them and use in the future.

[neen626]

Jeff, those are really great tips!! I will definately remember them for our next visit.

Of course now you threw a monkey wrench in my plans with all your wonderful talk about the Poly!!!
HMMM might have to reconsider where we are going to stay :p