[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: Welcome back to the Laid Rock Magic Way podcast. Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different and a little bit more chill because the topic is coming from you guys. I posted in my Instagram stories a little question box of just an ask me anything style question box where you can ask me anything.

[00:00:23] Dana Stanley: So obviously 99% of the questions are about Disney or Disney World, but it was not limited to that. And while I usually create a bit of an outline for my solo episodes, I didn’t really make one for this one. So it should be interesting and a little bit more casual. And we’re just gonna jump right in. I’m gonna read the handles as best I can, but this one was from @mismeliss.

[00:00:55] Dana Stanley: She asked three park days or park rest park. So I do think you can do three full park days as long as that third morning is a chill one. So this would be a good day for like Animal Kingdom because it’s just kind of an easier park, but I would not want a early morning. So again, animal kingdom, uh, a second park that maybe you’re revisiting, like maybe you’re doing Magic Kingdom twice.

[00:01:24] Dana Stanley: Obviously it depends a lot on the scenario. And I would definitely use multipass and/or single passes. And I would know that it wasn’t going to be like a super maximized lightning lane day. I just want you to not have an alarm set for that third day essentially. So let’s say you made your first lightning lane of the day at like 11:00 AM.

[00:01:48] Dana Stanley: I just don’t want you to set the alarm and you can get to the park whenever you want to. That being said, depending on the park scenario that you’re doing, you could also skip lightning lanes all together and do just like a chill second park day. So let’s say you did Magic Kingdom and then you did Epcot and then did like a second Magic Kingdom Day with no lightning lanes and you just kind of hit the low wait times, you meet some characters, maybe sit down for lunch.

[00:02:18] Dana Stanley: I just wouldn’t book a breakfast reservation or anything that you’d have to do in the morning because there’s something about that third morning where it just starts to hit you. Um, that’s why like if you have a week long vacation, I like park, park, rest, park, park, which is why she’s asking this. What do you only do if, what do you do if you only have three park days?

[00:02:39] Dana Stanley: I say go for it since it’s just a short trip, but that third morning, make it chill. Katrina Walker asked what to prioritize with toddlers when you only have two park hopper days. And really it comes down to not trying to do everything in those two days like, “Oh, we only have two days so I really have to like maximize our time.”

[00:03:03] Dana Stanley: I would think the opposite because you have toddlers. So don’t pack it all in. Really choose your three, two, ones, which as a reminder that’s three attractions, two experiences like meet a character, two experiences like take a picture in front of the castle or meet Mickey Mouse, and then one dining reservation that you’re really excited about, I would have that set up for both of the days and kind of forget about the rest.

[00:03:41] Dana Stanley: Hey, Main Street besties asked, “If you could only tell me one tip for a big family trip, what would it be? ” And I obviously, and she knows this too, like I have a lot to say when it comes to big family trips because we do them pretty often and if I only had to give, uh, one tip, um, I feel like it’s still gonna be two, but the first thing is to just over communicate.

[00:04:06] Dana Stanley: So people aren’t mind readers, right? And a lot of times we think things or we know things, we’re doing everything behind the scenes and we genuinely forget who we’ve told what or who we texted what and people also, maybe we did tell them and they don’t remember. So you can … So don’t be afraid to be like, “Hey, I know this is like gonna be a lot and I’m just being annoying.

[00:04:36] Dana Stanley: I just have to like get this out of my brain so that I know that I told you. ” The biggest things I think that people want to know about are the actual like timing of things. Like think if someone needed to know, “Hey, we’re rope dropping on this day, you’re gonna be up at like 6:30 because we, I wanna be at the park at 7:30 or whatever it may be or we have dinner at the castle or we have dinner at this nice restaurant and maybe your mom or your mother-in-law would like to know, you know, that she wants to dress up or things like that.

[00:05:21] Dana Stanley: Those are the things I find that come up a lot is like, “Oh, I wish I had known we were doing this. I would’ve X, Y, Z.” Or, “I didn’t know that we were going to be waking up so early on vacation or I didn’t know that we were gonna be staying up late on vacation.” Things like that of just heads up with the timing of things.

[00:05:43] Dana Stanley: The second tip, which I know you only asked for one, is just to kind of like prepare to have your feelings hurt a little bit. Like at some point you are going to feel a little bit let down or like you let down someone. You planned for this thing that you secretly knew maybe somebody would like and they don’t feel well and they say, “You know what?

[00:06:06] Dana Stanley: I’m actually gonna just go back to the room.” They don’t know that you had this like secret thing in your mind of knowing that they were gonna love the desserts, whatever it may be.

[00:06:22] Dana Stanley: And at some point that’s gonna happen. It, just whether it’s for a ride or an experience, it’s things outside of your control completely, but at some point your feelings are gonna get a little hurt and that’s totally normal and expected because it is literally impossible to make everything perfect, not only for a small group, but for a big group as well.

[00:06:49] Dana Stanley: I haven’t done a podcast episode specifically about like big groups, but I do have an episode which you’ve, I’m sure listened to before, but I’m gonna link it in the show notes in case you need a refresher or someone hasn’t listened to it, just about like setting expectations for the trip that still apply here.

[00:07:13] Dana Stanley: In the same line of thinking, Arielle Otero asked, “When you travel with other families, do you send out an itinerary?” I, I don’t send my Google sheet with my behind the scenes of my mind, um, because that’s that’s like very vulnerable for me actually. But what I will do is I’ll create a simplified version, um, just like the Spark Notes version in like my iPhone notes, like Apple Notes, and I’ll just share that with the family.

[00:07:49] Dana Stanley: You could also do a shared calendar, um, like a Google calendar and just add everyone, and I just let them know the basics. So like it’d be like Sunday, Magic Kingdom, uh, lunch at Jungle Navco, and that’s pretty much it. Um, if there’s fireworks, I’ll write fireworks, if there’s an early morning or some type of, um, like a fireworks dessert party or a character breakfast, just mainly the dining and then like any special notes and the park that we’re visiting.

[00:08:28] Dana Stanley: The over communication that I mentioned before doesn’t necessarily mean to show them like every single hourly plan that you have going on or like a color coded spreadsheet like I have. It’s more of, you know, communicating with them of, uh, you know, “We want to do this. Someone in the family also mentioned this.

[00:08:52] Dana Stanley: I’m trying to balance all of this. Don’t feel like you have to go. Don’t feel like, you know, if you guys want to go by the pool, you can do that. Um, I would love to do this nice thing for so- and-so’s celebration and I plan on getting dressed up just so you know. ” Like thing, things like that is what I mean by over communicating, not necessarily sending over, overwhelming information.

[00:09:18] Dana Stanley: Marissa Lakomta maybe. Um, these handles, I don’t know why I’m trying to say these, I’m doing my best. Asked strategy for adding character dining to a park day with a midday break. So if you have a park day and you have a midday break planned, like you want to go back for a nap time or the pool, I love a lunch reservation.

[00:09:41] Dana Stanley: Breakfast is really hard in this scenario. Um, if you are going between, you know, May and October, I would definitely lean towards lunch because it’s just the perfect sweet spot to get out of the heat and kind of relax before maybe doing a couple rides and going back. Whereas breakfast, that’s kind of eating up like the good hours of the park time.

[00:10:08] Dana Stanley: Um, I love breakfast reservations if it’s a chill morning, maybe it’s like a second Magic Kingdom Day, but I’ve been really liking the, I’ve been really liking the lunch character dining lately. That being said, you could also do dinner and do something when you come back from the park. It just depends on if it’s in the park or at a resort, kind of is a little nuanced with my answer, but I’m gonna lean towards lunch.

[00:10:50] Dana Stanley: Sarah JG51 asked how to strategize Lightning Lannes for new rides, Big Thunder, Muppets, et cetera. I just have a very simple answer and that’s that you want to grab them first. So obviously the strategy really comes in of how to grab these because the lightning lanes will be selling out quicker than the other rides.

[00:11:14] Dana Stanley: So it’s good that you’re already thinking about this. Number one is that you’re going to want to stay on property if you can, because you’re going to have first dibs on those lightning lanes. Second thing is if you can put those park days for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios towards the end of your trip, you’ll have an even better chance of getting these.

[00:11:39] Dana Stanley: The third thing is to grab my Lightning Lane toolkit, which has tips in there on how to get those quickly and read the data ahead of time so that you can plan for how these rides are selling out. Abby every day asked, “Is Premier Pass worth it with an eight year old who loves big rides and an eight month old and want to limit the

[00:12:09] Dana Stanley: lines?” So assuming, so if I answer this assuming that we don’t have an endless budget, I am usually in the camp of skipping Premier Pass and just putting in a little bit more extra work because I personally am confident that I can and will get the lightning lanes that I want using multipass and also grabbing single passes.

[00:12:36] Dana Stanley: And this is at like around like the 10th of the cost.

[00:12:46] Dana Stanley: It also depends on the park. Magic Kingdom, I could argue that it’s worth it. Again, I’m not going to say that I personally would purchase that, um, never say never, but I just, I haven’t felt robbed of my lightning lanes using Lightning Lane Multipass. I have never been like, “Ugh, I couldn’t get a lightning lane for that.

[00:13:13] Dana Stanley: That being said, I do understand that it does take a lot more work and a lot more mental load and it’s all up to you. So it really comes down to the budget and how much that is worth of like freeing up your mind and being able to just walk up and scan. I totally get the appeal. I also don’t love that you can’t park hop.

[00:13:39] Dana Stanley: I think if it followed you wherever you went, I would be a lot more into it, especially because we usually have park hoppers when we visit. I’m still in the camp of a little bit more work for multipass and single pass for a lot less money.

[00:14:02] Dana Stanley: Simplifying Disney asked if you could only pick one, the villain show versus Little Mermaid at Hollywood Studios, taking a seven year old. This is hard, um, because it really depends. I like both, um, but because you’re saying it’s a seven year old, um, and I don’t know, you know, boy, girl, or what their interests are, and I think both would be wonderful, but if you had to pick or you only had time for one, for that age in particular, I am leaning towards the villain show.

[00:14:36] Dana Stanley: My, my daughter, my oldest daughter, who … When did she see that? I think she was eight turning nine, and then I had a five year old. I’m try- I, I’d have to look at the dates of when they watched that, but they both loved it, like absolutely loved it and still talk about it, so I’m leaning a little bit more towards the villain show.

[00:14:59] Dana Stanley: It’s really fun.

[00:15:14] Dana Stanley: I am gonna botch this handle. I think it’s like Meg Stivers, 15, maybe. Asked fave about … Asked favorite about Boardwalk Resort, good with kids. So I’m gonna link a few resources about the boardwalk in particular, because there’s so much that I could say about what I love about the boardwalk, and good with kids is

[00:15:39] Dana Stanley: Anything good for me is good for the kids, in my opinion. So the fact that we can walk or take the boat to Epcot or Hollywood Studios and have just kind of the nightlife and being in the action at the boardwalk, uh, I love the feeling of the boardwalk, I love the … Um, I like everything about it, but it really does come down to the location.

[00:16:01] Dana Stanley: The only thing that people … The only thing that I could think of to bring up about maybe not being good with kids is if you’re visiting during the rainy season, there’s nowhere really to get a proper meal without going outside. So like if it’s downpouring, it can be a little difficult to just easily grab breakfast or grab some pizza without going outside and getting rained on.

[00:16:31] Dana Stanley: If you are not visiting during like a very rainy season or that doesn’t sound like it bothers you, or you have a very helpful, willing husband that will go grab food and bring it back to the room for you, then that’s not a big deal. The beach club and the yacht club next door have, um, more easy food options.

[00:16:53] Dana Stanley: I just like the actual theming and feeling of the boardwalk more than there, and it’s usually a little bit cheaper. Um, people really love the beach and yacht club pool called Storm Along Bay, which has a sand bottom pool. People go crazy for that. I don’t particularly care, and depending on the ages of my kids, I actually dislike that pool.

[00:17:22] Dana Stanley: The boardwalk pool, I think, is really fun. There’s a slide, um, but it is not, you know, themed as much as something like Storm Along Bay.

[00:17:35] Dana Stanley: That being said, if you are thinking about Boardwalk, definitely look into the Boardwalk like pool renovation next year because from mid-January to April, I believe, 2027, the main pool with the slide, and there’s like this little, um, playground next to the baby pool, that is going to be closed for refurbishment.

[00:18:05] Dana Stanley: No one ever went on that playground because it was too hot, to be honest, but the worst part is that the pool bar is also going to be under refurbishment. And that being said, I am visiting the boardwalk while these are closed, and I’m not sure how I’m going to feel about it. I’m pretty upset about the pool bar.

[00:18:28] Dana Stanley: So unless you’re like a die hard, um, boardwalk fan like me, if you’re looking between those dates, I would definitely be looking at more like beach or yacht club, for sure.

[00:18:47] Dana Stanley: Sorry, that was a little bit more information than you asked for, but I had to say it just while I was thinking about it. Chloe Paige asked, “Would you ever consider buying DVC?” So we are DVC members, um, and we share the points with our family. That being said, we do not have enough points to go as often as we go.

[00:19:11] Dana Stanley: So we have considered buying more points so that we can go more often using those points, but when we were looking into it and the pricing of things, we are not leaning that direction. Um, we are just as happy renting DVC points on the trips that we don’t have our own points. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m going to leave a couple resources in the show notes so that you even know what the heck she’s talking about, but long story short, DVC stands for Disney Vacation Club, and that’s essentially just Disney World’s timeshare.

[00:19:51] Dana Stanley: So yes, we are members, no, we are not getting more points.

[00:20:01] Dana Stanley: S Mores 35 asked for DVC rental, which is what I was just talking about, “Do you have to be flexible with dates or can you usually get what you want? ” I don’t have a problem getting what I want, if it’s between that seven to 11 month mark, and it depends a lot on the resort too. So there’s two different things you can do when you’re renting DVC points.

[00:20:29] Dana Stanley: The first one is you are putting in a request and asking, let’s say it’s DVC rental store, which is like essentially a marketplace for points. You are putting in a request and saying, “Hey, can you find me a member with points at this resort for these dates, for this room type?” And they’ll kind of play matchmaker behind the scenes and they book the room for you and you are renting that member’s points to stay there.

[00:21:02] Dana Stanley: If you’re looking at like beach club in the summer or Grand Floridian around Christmas time or a specific room type,

[00:21:14] Dana Stanley: you have a much better chance getting what you want if you put in that request like 11 months and a week out, right? Because as soon as that 11 month out mark happens, they can start looking.

[00:21:36] Dana Stanley: Second best option is between seven and 11 months out to put in a request. So the other way to stay using rented points is by buying a reservation that someone has already booked. So a member booked a room and now they can’t stay there. Maybe they decided to go somewhere else or a family member got sick, whatever life happens, and now they want to sell this booking to you.

[00:22:06] Dana Stanley: In that case, it really does pay to be flexible because the stars can align. If I just want to go to Disney World at the boardwalk in September and I go to the confirmed reservations, that’s what they’re called, I can just see one with kind of around the dates that I want, or maybe it’s like five nights, which is what I want and I can just buy it and it’s guaranteed and I don’t have to go through the whole request process.

[00:22:35] Dana Stanley: And honestly, I’ve done both. I usually do a confirmed reservation because I tend to wait until last minute to book our trips, ironically, and all of the rooms are booked that I want. So it’s really nice to have those confirmed reservations when nothing’s available because you know that you can just go ahead and buy that.

[00:23:00] Dana Stanley: Bailey A. Bell asked bucket list Disney resorts. So when I think like bucket list, right, I think of the nicest, most expensive deluxe resorts. So I kind of don’t necessarily have a bucket list resort. Um, I do have, I’d say like a baby bucket list resort trip booked, which is at the Grand Floridian this summer.

[00:23:30] Dana Stanley: Um, that is one of the places that I feel like I have stayed there, but I haven’t actually stayed there and really want to stay there. So I can kind of cross that off my list. That being said, I would love to do maybe certain room types at places, um, that would be considered bucket list. I’d love to stay club level, at the boardwalk, for example.

[00:23:55] Dana Stanley: I think it depends too on like who I imagine going with. Like I almost have like bucket list trips. Like I would love to stay at the Grand Californian and Disneyland with my side of the family. I would love, love, love to stay at a Copper Creek cabin with a particular set of friends that love like camping and woodsy things.

[00:24:20] Dana Stanley: I’m kind of craving like a cozy, not cold, I know it’s never like cold in Florida, but like a cold-ish Disney trip at Wilderness Lodge or like a cabin would be so fun with those particular friends, I think it would be really fun. ‘Cause we usually do more like the spring to fall trips that are warmer and the whole trip kind of leans more tropical.

[00:24:47] Dana Stanley: So I kind of have like a bucket list trip in my mind of like a cozy Disney world trip or club level would be really fun. Club level anywhere, honestly, which hopefully one day. In the same line of thinking, Anne Norris asked, “Have you stayed at Wilderness Lodge?” Haven’t heard it mentioned staying in May. I love May and Disney World, so I’m jealous of that.

[00:25:11] Dana Stanley: I haven’t stayed at Wilderness Lodge yet,

[00:25:19] Dana Stanley: but maybe my husband is listening and he’s buying the whole like cozy wilderness lodge vibes in a cooler month, and maybe he’ll jump on board. I’ll report back. Making magic with Murray ask Disneyland or Disney Cruise Line, two adults, one baby, a three year old, cost and functionality for littles? This one’s hard.

[00:25:44] Dana Stanley: Um, there’s pluses and minuses to those ages of a baby and a three year old for either of those. So like for me, when I think about Disneyland, I really would love my son to be able to ride Radiator Springs racers and he’s not quite tall enough. So that is when I’m timing a Disneyland trip is when we can all ride mostly everything.

[00:26:11] Dana Stanley: So depending on your three year old, like I would be measuring the three year old and seeing how many things they could potentially ride or, you know, if it’s a year away, you’ll have to guess a little bit how much they could potentially ride. And then the thing about the baby on the cruise line is they’re not able to go to the kids clubs yet.

[00:26:35] Dana Stanley: That’s something that I am thinking about as well. You could still have them go to, I think they call it like a nursery, which I believe you have to book ahead of time. Um, so the one year old is a little bit harder on the cruise line and I wanna say, I feel like I’m gonna, I’ll look this up and I’ll only put this in here if I’m right.

[00:26:57] Dana Stanley: But I think they have to be potty trained to be in the pools. So you couldn’t do like a swim diaper and have the baby in the pool if I’m, if I’m correct. That being said, Disney Cruise Line has been having tons of promos and really good prices. I feel like you can’t go wrong with either. I would kind of have it in my head of like, I’m gonna do both eventually, um, and just which one do I wanna do first for the best price and the most convenient to where I live?

[00:27:31] Dana Stanley: Emma is Scott asked, “We did Walt Disney World this year, return next time or do Disney World.” I think she means Disneyland. Three kids ages four through nine located Midwest. So you’re smack dab in the middle, it sounds like. So they did Disney World this year. Should they go back or do Disneyland? But your kids, it sounds like four through nine can ride anything.

[00:27:58] Dana Stanley: So man, this is a tough one. I would say if you are going during like Halloween or you’re going for Christmas, I would lean a little bit more towards Disneyland if you’re like into the holidays because they have a lot more just things going on at Disneyland. Disney World has a lot of stuff. I just think Disney World is so big.

[00:28:22] Dana Stanley: It’s like they have a lot of activities spread over such a large area, you feel it like less intensely than Disneyland. It’s like so much more condensed and like juicy in Disneyland. So if you’re going during the holidays and you like the holidays, that’s where I would lean. Bailey asked any plans to do Disneyland or Disney cruise anytime soon?

[00:28:53] Dana Stanley: Um, short answer is no. I’m like, define soon. I am definitely gonna be going back to Disneyland and I definitely want to try a Disney cruise at some point. We have a lot, a lot going on behind the scenes for our immediate family and extended family and projects that we have going on and my main focus is Disney World and we also like traveling to other places.

[00:29:25] Dana Stanley: So I just, it’s very hard to time these things and,

[00:29:34] Dana Stanley: and I know a lot of you relate of trying to balance like having solo trips just us versus having trips with the in- laws and my side of the family and friends. It’s, it’s hard. So nothing set in stone, but definitely someday.