Thoughts on the Disney experience

We are back home and settled in to do a mountain of laundry and such. Although we had a wonderful time, it is good to be home. I think we got home just in time, too, because Levi spiked a high temp last night and threw up in our bed. Welcome home!

The weather was absolutely perfect the whole time we were there. We couldn't have asked for anything better. One day was actually chilly but no rain. I hauled 3 dollar-store rain ponchos around all week for nothing, but if I didn't have them it would have poured every day. That's just the way our luck runs!

So here are a few things we learned on this trip. 

1) Number one priority is good, comfy shoes. We splurged on new tennis shoes before we went and they were exactly what we needed. I can't believe the number of people I saw in heels, etc. 

2) If you want to be able to ride the popular rides with minimal wait times, get the Fastpass. It allows you to reserve a window of time to ride and skip the long lines. Use the pass wisely, though, because once you use it you have to wait to use it again for a period of time. We would use the Fastpass, then spend the interim time riding the rides with short lines. 

3) Find out if the week you plan to go happens to be the yearly high school senior party week. Do NOT go that week unless you want to put up with 25,000 high-schoolers. We lucked out (we didn't know about this) and the teens were just arriving as we were leaving. One day of overlap with them was enough. At 3am some of them jumped in the hotel pool and threw a bunch of food into it, resulting in some kids getting sent home. 

4) Find out if the week you choose coincides with spring break on the east coast, or anyone's spring break for that matter. The parks are busier then. We thought spring break was over, but it wasn't too bad, just busier than we expected.

5) Pack snacks if you have small kids. Heck, pack snacks even if you don't have small kids. The food is expensive and was very hard to find. Plus the lines for food were often longer than the lines for rides. By the end of the week we were all sick of fast-food too. I wanted vegetables!! 

6) The sun is very intense even if it isn't hot out. Use sunscreen, wear hats, etc etc etc. We saw so many people who were fried and in misery. The worst, though, was a baby we saw who was beet red. Poor baby! His whole head was burned since he didn't have much hair. Even as fair as Levi is, we managed to keep him from getting burned. 

7) If you are a dark-skinned, plus-sized woman, do NOT wear super-tight, very thin white pants and bright yellow thong underwear. Trust me on this one. Don't do it. 

And now, some messages to the people we shared the parks with:

People, listen to the announcements, follow the rules, don't be stupid. There are reasons they tell you not to stick your head out of the car while it is moving. Then again, maybe this is selection of the fittest at work. Maybe the dummies who don't listen deserve to be knocked in the noggin a few times. 

People, if you are pushing a stroller thru the crowd and you very nearly run down a small child, say sorry. If you are pushing a stroller thru the crowd while racing against your spouse who is also pushing a stroller, and you very nearly run down a small child, be prepared for the small child's parents to attempt to show you exactly where that ^%#@$^& stroller belongs. (We didn't really show them, but we did think it!!) 

People, watch where you are walking. Do not stare at something off in the distance as you plow thru the masses of people. There is no way that is going to end nicely. Especially if someone who is racing strollers comes tearing thru. You are going to end up a$$ over tea kettle. 

I promise more photos tomorrow.