Magical Blogorail Blue - Top Ten Tips For Enjoying Your Disney Vacation

Welcome to those of you joining me from Pursuing The Magic and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the fourth stop on our Magical Blogorail.

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Welcome aboard, everyone!  This month on the Magical Blogorail Blue Line we're focusing on our "Top Ten Tips", or suggestions if you'd rather, for enjoying your time in the various Disney Theme Parks around the country.  Having very little experience at Walt Disney World, we will of course be focusing mostly on our "home Park", the Disneyland Resort.  However, it's our hope that some of what we say here will translate well into any of the Parks.  We've also decided to break it up a bit and inject a little humor, so expect our list to maybe have some serious tips as well as some goofy ones, because that's just how we are.  And pardon our enthusiastic use of an exclamation point in almost tip; we just get excited sometimes.  With that said, let's roll them out!

The Days In The Park "Top Ten Tips For Enjoying Your Time In The Disney Parks"
#10.  Ride the classics first! - When you first hit The Parks, no doubt you'll already have a huge list of attractions and shows you have it in mind to ride.  If it's a repeat trip into one of the Disney Theme Parks, this might not be such a bad thing because more than likely you'll already have ridden or seen much of what they have to offer.  However, if it's your very first trip in, we encourage you to take it easy, and take it all in before you go flying around the place like Peter Pan over London.  Once you've gotten the lay of the land, and you're ready to begin riding attractions, do the classics first!  Disneyland Park is known for its classics, and many of them have been there since Disneyland opened and were worked on by Walt Disney himself, and any one of them easily makes our "must-do" list.  By yourself and looking for an attraction?  We'd suggest hitting Pirates of the Caribbean or The Haunted Mansion first.  Bringing along the kiddies (hopefully)?  Why not spend your first moments in The Park taking in Fantasyland?  It's stocked to the point of breaking with many child-friendly and classic rides such as Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and Casey Jr. Circus Train.  They say there's something for everyone at the Disneyland Resort, but there's just something about riding an attraction that's considered one of the "classics" that just can't be beat! 

#9.  Don't be afraid to take a break! - Getting tired at Disney Theme Parks is something that is ridiculously easy to do, especially if you are in for a full day of adventure and fun.  Make sure you're willing to take a break if necessary.  There are plenty of options for beating exhaustion, and on summer days, the combination of exhaustion and heat.  Why not find an indoor attraction where you can find some cool and shade and just take a load off your feet if necessary?  Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, Pirates of the Caribbean, or a ride on the Mark Twain Riverboat are some of our favorite things to do when we need a break.  Maybe time to get some shopping in?  We enjoy perusing shops in the middle of the day as well, and you'd be surprised how much slower they can be during the heat while everyone else in The Parks is running hither and thither all over the place.  Grab a bite at restaurant and replenish your energy with a snack and some shade?  If you're staying close by, you might even consider heading back to take a quick nap with the kiddies so you're all ready for the evening's festivities.  There are tons of options at your disposal, you just have to use them.  Nothing says you can't take a break, and it's usually going to be the smarter choice at some time during your trip.

#8.  Play the Hidden Mickey game! - One of our favorite things to do while we're at the Disneyland Resort is look for Hidden Mickeys!  These little suckers are a blast to look for and they're everywhere!  Very few attractions or spots inside The Parks don't have at least one, and it can definitely keep you occupied as you're walking, or standing, around to look and see if you can spot one.  All of the Disney Theme Parks sell books that will give you hints or locations as to where the Hidden Mickeys are, so we suggest keeping a copy of it with you as you go through The Parks so if you see one, you can confirm it.  See who can come up with the most spotted over the course of a trip and offer a prize at the end to the family winner.  Just don't let the competition lead you to in-fighting and brawling on Main Street, USA.  People can really get competitive about those things!  If you start to lose it a little bit, see Tip #9.

#7.  Use the Disney FASTPASS system! - We know a lot of people are all over the place about the FASTPASS system, love or loathe (as we hear all the time from people we're passing in the Standby lines as we walk by with our FASTPASS tickets), but we're big proponents of them and just like American Express (well, sort of), we don't leave the Parks without (using) them.  Basically, the FASTPASS premise is quite simple.  It allows you to get a ticket (with your Park admission ticket) for one of the more popular attractions inside The Parks, such as Space Mountain and Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, skip the waiting in line, and come back later during an allotted time to ride.  You're allowed to obtain another one for another attraction (or the same if you really want to ride again) every couple of hours throughout the day; your FASTPASS tells you when you are eligible to attain another.  We suggest picking the attraction you want to ride the most that has a FASTPASS option, and grab one as quickly as you can during the day, then as the day goes on, grab one every chance you get for the other attractions you most want to ride.  See where we're going here?  As the day goes on, you could conceivably ride all of the most popular attractions in The Parks without standing in line for a single one.  We think it's a great way to get more attractions in, and if The Parks have implemented something for your benefit, why not use it to the fullest you can?  It's also worth noting that if you miss the "time window" you're supposed to be back during to ride, no worries!  You can ride it anytime after you'd like.  We don't like to abuse this often, but we've never been turned away by a Cast Member so it's a good little nugget to file away.  You can find out more information about FASTPASSES, and the attractions that have them, on the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort websites.  

#6.  Keep them peepers open! - We really can't stress this enough, and in some ways it goes along with our Hidden Mickey tip (and is good training for it), make sure you allow yourself to slow down and take it all in.  We seem to be almost hard-wired to lose ourselves whenever we get inside a Disney Theme Park to want to run around all commando-style, but when we do that we miss out on so much.  If we're willing to slow down, relax, and let our eyes wonder, there's so much to see all around us!  The Disney Imagineers and those charged with designing our favorite Parks in the world have put in a lot of effort and countless hours to make everything inside The Parks more than just a shell.  If you slow down and look, there's no telling what you might see.  Disney Legends names on windows all up and down Main Street, USA.  Hidden characters in windows and on store shelves.  The possibilities are endless, but if you're walking right by things, and not taking the time to look, it's guaranteed you won't see them, and we can guarantee you, you will miss out.

#5.  Wear comfortable shoes! - We read this recently on another blog and had never really taken it to heart before.  We've always been ones to just wear our "skate shoes" (DC or Vans, anyone?), or heck, even flip-flops from time to time for that matter and walk around all day in those things.  Then we'd get home at night and wonder why we were so exhausted and our feet hurt so bad.  After spending an entire day at the Disneyland Resort recently though, and wearing a good pair of running shoes the entire time, we're now firm believers in this tip.  Wearing comfortable, supportive, and good quality running or walking shoes at The Park makes all the difference in the world.  Even standing in line becomes less of a nuisance, and believe us, just standing in some lines for an hour or so will really wear on you.  Your feet start to hurt, you start to shift back and forth from foot to foot to try and gain some relief, and before you know it, you're in constant movement (even in line) and tiring yourself out.  It shows, and it can affect your health in The Park, your mood, and lead to some serious discontent.  If you're going to be on your feet for the majority of the day (and at the Disney Parks, you will), do yourself and everyone around you a favor and wear shoes that will you make as comfortable as they can.  Your feet (and those around you) will thank you for it.

#4.  For Heaven's sake, eat The Whip! - And no, we don't mean Indiana Jones' whip, which makes perfect sense since Indiana Jones Adventure is an attraction at The Resort.  And incidentally, we recommend riding it if you get the chance; it's tons o'fun.  We're talking about quite possibly the most popular dessert item served at any of the Disney Parks (both The Land and The World), the Dole Whip, or our favorite, the Dole Whip Float.  At Disneyland, the Dole Whip is sold at the Tiki Juice Bar adjacent to Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room in Adventureland.  It's a scoop of pineapple flavored soft-serve in a cup, and it is absolutely scrumptious!  You can get just the scoop of soft-serve, or go whole-hog like us (and who wouldn't?) and get the float, which is the scoop of pineapple soft-serve served up on a bed of pineapple juice.  We highly recommend this for anyone going to the Disneyland Resort who has not had one before, and it's something we indulge in almost every time we go out.  They're great, eat one!  Unless of course, you are allergic to pineapple in which case we say avoid these at all costs.  Should you choose to ignore this last and eat one anyway, we urge to seek immediate medical attention at any of the First Aid stations around Disneyland Resort.

#3.  Stay hydrated! -It may seem like such a simple thing, but you'd be amazed at how infrequently we pay attention to this ourselves; but we never fail to notice the consequences.  It's pure and simple human biology, people!  The body needs fluids to function and for energy.  Activity, and especially activity combined with heat and massive amounts of sweat (let's all say "bleh!" together), lead to a loss of fluids and loss of energy.  And the longer you go without hydrating, the worse it gets.  Do you really want to be cramping up while you're in line for Space Mountain?  Neither do the people around you.  We typically will buy a soda early in the day, and then spend the rest of the day filling it with water which we walk around with and drink out of.  It's an excellent way to keep fluids inside.  There are also tons of water fountains throughout Disneyland Park, many of them in line queues for the attractions, and around almost every restroom we can think of.  The point is, there's simply no reason to let your body begin to break down on itself.  Hydrate, and hydrate often, and do everything you can to keep fresh for as long as you can.  Your body will thank you for it.

#2.  Take TONS of pictures!  Don't think yourself photogenic?  Just roll with it! - It's all about the memories!  Let's be honest here, we don't really fancy ourselves the most photogenic people in the world.  In fact, Chad avoids the camera like it's the bubonic plague, and Mark avoids it unless he's trying to jump into other people's pictures.  But, we've learned over the last few months just how important taking pictures often, and allowing yourself to be in them, often is.  Since we started blogging we've taken countless pictures and spent countless hours looking at them over and over and reliving the memories.  It's important not only for you to loosen up a bit, but for your family to have treasured memories of everyone who was there.  In Chad's case, so his kids weren't asking, "Where's Dad?", for the rest of their lives.  Wanna ease your way into it?  Do what we did and start out with character pictures!  Nothing's more fun than tracking down Mickey Mouse and stealing the spotlight with the greatest varmint on earth.  And once you've begun enjoying character pictures, it just makes it that much easier to enjoy photographs of all kinds.  Take loads of pictures, and be in as many of them as you can.  Enough said.

#1.  Just enjoy the magic. - All is for naught if you're not willing to enjoy yourself.  Yes, it will most likely be crowded when you're at Disneyland.  Yes, there will most likely be lines to wait in.  Yes, there will be screaming kids to deal with, and not just in your own family!  But it's not known as the 'Happiest Place on Earth' for no reason.  The potential is there to create some very magical moments that can remain with you forever, if you're willing to let them.  We see and hear it all the time; people upset, cranky, and irritated taking it out on each other and everyone around them, and it's just a shame really.  Hopefully some of our tips will help you maybe avoid this yourself, and allow you to enjoy the magic to its fullest.  Because after all, when you're at a Disney Theme Park, isn't that really why you're there?

Of course, we wrote these tips from our perspective, and everyone may have entirely different situations from us, so your mileage may vary.  But we've tried to include enough general tips that they can be applied to almost anyone's situation; at least, that was our goal.  We hope we've been successful.

Oh, and looking for pictures to go along with our tips?  Just click on any of the tips that are highlighted for a gallery of photos highlighting each!

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Thank you for joining me today.  Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail is The CanaDisney Blog.

Thank you for joining Magical Blogorail Blue this month. We will be back September 9th with an all new theme. Keep checking in with our blogs in between loops to keep up to date with our Disney info, photos and stories. If you are looking for more Disney magic, you can make your way over to The Magical Blogorail website to see all our members and their blogs, as well as all our previous loops.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:
1st Stop ~ Cooking with Mickey
2nd Stop ~ Meet the Magic
3rd Stop ~ Pursuing the Magic
4th Stop ~ Days in the Park
5th Stop ~ The CanaDisney Blog
Final Stop ~ Disney Babies Blog