After a truly wonderful trip to Disney World with my family, I have a lot of tips to impart, but I think you’ll appreciate my last one the best:

How To Win At Disney World

• I can’t speak to all kids, but my kids at seven and four turning five definitely benefited from having a stroller to crash in.  And frankly, so did we.  My kids are no slouches, they can spend hours traipsing through a city, a forest or our backyard.  But consider the amount of miles you are going to cover every single day in a multi-day trip to Disney (we did 8+ nearly every day).  Your children will get tired.  And you’ll get tired of hearing them complain.  And tired of holding the bags you brought with you.  Bring a stroller.  You’ll thank me.  It’s also harder to hear them complain from inside a stroller.
• If you have two kids, buy/borrow/beg to use a Baby Jogger City Mini stroller (like this one).  We’ve tried other double strollers, but this one made transitions between trams, trains and boats ridiculously amazing.  Seriously – game changer.  Thanks, Gwenn!!
• One thing I was kicking myself for not bringing was a mommy clip.  Particularly with quick transfers with a stroller, you clip bags/water bottles/water spraying fans on them and you have easy access.  It was stressful dropping stuff as we scrambled to get on a tram.  And the Disney popcorn bucket (get it, it’s a $10 investment, but then $2 a refill, and we had about 15 refills).  It would have been clutch to clip the popcorn bucket between the kids on the stroller to reduce fist fights over who got to hold the bucket.
• My favorite way to keep my phone, money, cards with me was using a wristlet purse.  I don’t even think about it, it is always attached to my wrist and is easy to bring on rides or wherever you need to go.  My wristlet was a bridesmaid gift from a friend a long time ago and is my go-to purse for vacations on the go.  It has saved me many a drunk night – I mean sleep deprived night.
• Book your fast passes in advance!!  If you aren’t sure what to book, download the Disney World app, look at what rides, today, have long wait times.  Those are probably the rides you’ll want to ride on.  Book those as fast passes.  And when you end up forever scarring your child because you took them on Splash Mountain because you had a fast pass, blame it on your husband.
• Let go of expectations.  Let go of dreams/visions.  Too many people are walking around grumpy or angry (and at times, that was me).  Remember the amazing place you are at and let the children lead, when appropriate.  It is an amazing place with the chance for wonderful experiences, many of them spontaneous, unplanned, when you’ve “let go” to experience them.
• Don’t go for your child’s birthday.  Just this morning, my newly turned five year old said, “for my next birthday I want to go to Chuckie Cheese instead of Disney World.  There’s lots of fun rides at Chuckie Cheese and not much fun at Disney World.”

Do you have any tips to share about going to Disney World?  Share by commenting below or continue the conversation on the Bleeping Motherhood Facebook page.

BTW – It took about two minutes of me reminding her all the fun she had for her to realize what a ridiculous statement that was.  Bleeping Motherhood!!