[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: You know what? No one, including myself, wants to admit that we spend the majority of our expensive, long awaited family vacation. Glued to our phones. But the second you get to Disney World, it’s like everything lives inside the app. Checking wait times the map, booking your lightning lanes, ordering food, checking the weather.

[00:00:19] Dana Stanley: It’s exhausting and it makes me a little sad. And while this might seem like something that is just the nature of the beast, something that we can’t help today, I am walking through seven ways. To actually help stay off your phone on a Disney trip. Not completely off the phone because don’t get me wrong, the, my Disney Experience app is very, very important.

[00:00:39] Dana Stanley: But even just using one of these seven things I know will reduce the amount of time spent on your phone. Because unfortunately the truth is the more you’re on your phone, the less you’re seeing your kids and spending time with your family. That sounds dramatic, but I’ve personally felt it. I think we all have.

[00:00:55] Dana Stanley: This episode is about simple, realistic swaps that will help keep you present and in the moment and let you enjoy your trip while still making your plans work. Hello and welcome to the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. I’m your host, Dana Stanley, creator of Laid Back Magic. As a mom of three, I know how tough it can be to find time to plan a Disney World trip.

[00:01:16] Dana Stanley: That doesn’t leave you feeling stressed or overwhelmed. That’s why I’m here to help moms like you create Disney vacations that feel even better than they look on paper here. We’re not chasing perfection, but creating our next favorite memories. So whether you’re brand new to Disney or looking to go deeper into the details.

[00:01:33] Dana Stanley: This podcast is your go-to for simple tips, mindset shifts, real life trip recaps, and expert insights to make your trip magical and manageable. New episodes drop every Monday, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment. Okay, let’s dive in. All right. I can’t wait to talk about this specifically because it’s something that I think a lot of us feel, most of us feel, but don’t always say out loud and it’s how hard it can be.

[00:02:01] Dana Stanley: To feel fully present on a Disney trip when everything is connected to your phone, the park maps, dining reservations, ride bookings, photos, it’s all on your phone, and the more time you spend on it. The more stuff you miss, you’re distracted. If you’re anything like me, it’s hard to just do the task at hand when you open your phone.

[00:02:28] Dana Stanley: I feel like we could be on our phones less if we were just like, oh, I’m gonna take a picture, put my phone away, or I’m gonna check the time and put my phone away. But what happens is you get these little alerts of, oh, so and so emailed me. You know what? I forgot to message them back. Let me just, boop, boop, or Let me check Instagram real quick.

[00:02:47] Dana Stanley: And then you end up scrolling. So even these times that you have to be on your phone, that might take like 10 seconds, ends up just being longer, and then you’re doing it so many times throughout the day. And then thinking about how we look to our kids on the other side of that, when they just want our attention.

[00:03:05] Dana Stanley: You know, it stinks. So I want to try some things that will make this easier. Seven practical, doable things you can try, whether you just try one or all seven to cut down how often you’re reaching for your phone in the first place. Some of these things I’ve started implementing into our own trips. Kind of by accident and ended up, oh, you know what?

[00:03:29] Dana Stanley: This is actually really helpful, or some things that I need to be better at, and then other things that I just want to try in the future. One of the things that definitely falls into the by accident category is to use a film camera instead of your phone. So I started bringing a 35 millimeter film camera, sometimes like my fancy one, because I was taking photographs for my guide.

[00:03:53] Dana Stanley: But then I grabbed just like a lightweight cheapy one from Amazon, and I found that I really like bringing this, and the kids love it too. So the one that I have is actually a half frame one, which means instead of the normal 36 exposures, you’re actually getting 72. So it lasts longer, and I don’t feel bad when my kids kind of grab the camera and are taking like.

[00:04:19] Dana Stanley: You know, seven crooked photos of their foot or something. But more than that, it keeps me from pulling out my phone just to like grab a quick shot because when I do that, I end up checking a text or I’m editing it, or I’m looking at photos from yesterday, and then I’m looking at the next ride and then I’m scrolling and it’s.

[00:04:40] Dana Stanley: Like this one photo just opened an entire rabbit hole, but with film, I can’t get distracted. There’s no screen, there’s nothing. I just take the photo and move on, and I actually love waiting to see how the pictures turn out later, and it adds kind of like this. Anticipation for the kids of like, they don’t get the instant gratification of seeing the photo.

[00:05:04] Dana Stanley: And another perk is that film loves Bright Sun and Disney World does not have always the best lighting in Bright Sun with your phone camera. So I’ll make sure to have my film camera on me for. Like just daytime, outdoor shots. And then I’ll have my phone to cover anything indoors, obviously, or if it’s dark or if I wanna take a video, obviously.

[00:05:28] Dana Stanley: And then I just like the look of film because it already looks like it has a filter. Like we’re buying filters to make it look like film and we could just use film. So yeah, I’ll link everything in the show notes. I don’t think you have to overcomplicate. The actual film camera, like even just a disposable film camera, would accomplish the same thing.

[00:05:47] Dana Stanley: But I will link the half frame one that I really like. One of those little things that seems silly until you do it over and over and over, and realize how often you’re unlocking your phone for it just to scan into a lightning lane. Or into the park is to use a magic band or an actual key to the world card to scan into anything.

[00:06:12] Dana Stanley: So as a quick refresher, there are three ways to quote scan in your phone, which is called Magic Mobile, and it’s essentially like a digital card, like how you would scan into a flight with your Apple wallet. Kind of the same thing. Or a magic band, which you could wear on your wrist. And then the third option is a physical card, like a plastic card that Disney calls key to the world.

[00:06:36] Dana Stanley: You can pick that up at the front desk of your resort as long as it’s a Disney owned resort. Or guest relations at the parks or Disney Springs. And when you have one of these, like a magic band or a card, you can just tap and go. So it saves you from opening your phone, which if you have a big family now everyone’s looking to you to like swipe in with your phone and then it turns into five other things you didn’t mean to check.

[00:07:02] Dana Stanley: It can get annoying really quick. We always use magic bands because we go to Disney often. We can reuse them, so it’s worth the cost. It is an added thing, but like everything you’re paying kind of for the convenience. I really do like having a magic band and keeping my hands free. That being said, my mother-in-law actually prefers the key to the world card, so just having that and it’s free, it’s included.

[00:07:27] Dana Stanley: That being said, if you didn’t want to buy a magic band, my next pick would be the key to the World card. Because it’s free. So maybe one person is in charge of handling all the cards. You can lose it, which is a bummer. I have friends that buy little lanyards for the kids with pockets on the bottom that you can slip the card into, but then you’re buying something again.

[00:07:49] Dana Stanley: So you have to kind of weigh those pros and cons. But either of these options are going to solve the problem of using your phone to scan into lightning lanes. Scan into the parks using either of these options. The magic band or the key to the World Card is going to solve that using your phone issue. My third tip technically uses your phone, but it’s in the most efficient way that you could use it.

[00:08:18] Dana Stanley: So if you’re not familiar. There’s an app called Standby Skipper, and it lets you input the rides you want lightning lanes for, and it books them for you automatically as the day goes on. So when you’re using Lightning Lane Multipass, when you’re walking into the park, you already have three pre-booked, but when you scan into your first one, now you can start booking more.

[00:08:38] Dana Stanley: And to get the most out of Multipass, you should be booking as many as possible. But what happens is you scan into a ride and then you end up like sitting on small world on your phone, completely missing everything, and it’s because you’re focused on booking the next ride. And we have recently had a rule where no phones allowed on a ride.

[00:08:59] Dana Stanley: I rarely take videos. My husband will yell at me if he sees me with the app open when we’re on a ride. Like phone’s in your pocket. Can’t do it. So what happens with standby skipper? Is, yes, you have to open your phone to input what you want next, and then it will book it for you. But you can do it during like your downtime.

[00:09:19] Dana Stanley: So let’s say you’re on the bus to Magic Kingdom, you could input two or three rides that you want queued up for when you actually get into the park. So it’s a bus ride, you know, you’re not missing much. It’s a lot better to be doing that than fiddling on your phone and refreshing, which is another thing that it takes care of is if you’re familiar with Multipass and a lot of things that I teach is.

[00:09:43] Dana Stanley: You know, getting those hard to get lightning leads and getting as most as possible, I do think that’s important, but you have to refresh and be on your phone a lot and pulling down and checking it, and it’s very, very annoying. Standby Skipper is essentially doing that for you behind the scenes so you don’t have to do it.

[00:09:59] Dana Stanley: I’ve been using it since it came out and I love it. I have not used lightning lanes. Since without it, you’ll just get a little notification when your next ride is booked and for the return time, and it can even show on your lock screen, so you’re not even actually opening your phone to know that if you’ve ever tried to manage the app manually, especially having kids with you, you know how quickly it eats up your attention.

[00:10:24] Dana Stanley: So this frees that up for a really reasonable price compared to splurging for something like Premier Pass. So you can be in the moment. While you’re making the most of your day, I know that if this is the only thing you tried on this whole list, this alone would drastically reduce your screen time. All right, this next one is really old school and honestly, I have not done this yet, but it’s like on my list for my next trip, and that’s to just wear a watch.

[00:10:51] Dana Stanley: Not an Apple watch either. ’cause I feel like that will just have its own problems of like checking things. If you already have one, fine, but just an old school watch to tell the time, because I’ve found that most of the times when I’m pulling up my phone, it’s just the check the time. And I mean, I have three kids, so like maybe this isn’t an issue for most people.

[00:11:14] Dana Stanley: But I’m always like, where’s my phone? Is it in this pocket? Is in that pocket? I can never remember where it is if it’s like in the stroller on the bottom of the top. And I’ve found that, I ask my husband a lot what time it is because like I’ll be in the middle of doing something else with the kids and I’m like, what time is it?

[00:11:31] Dana Stanley: Like, I just wanna know. I. And it’s like the classic like time for you to buy a watch. So I think I’m just gonna get something like a cheap, semi stylish functional watch for our next trip, and that alone is gonna save me so many times of yanking out my phone. Now, number five, I am not anti mobile order at all.

[00:11:53] Dana Stanley: I actually love it in 99% of cases, but when you’re trying to stay off your phone, relying on mobile order for every meal and snacks can start to feel just like a lot. There’s a lot of places around me locally that are going like full self checkout and I completely get that, but there’s something kind of nice about.

[00:12:16] Dana Stanley: Being able to like talk to someone and ask different questions and like modifications with a human versus always being on the app. So what I’ve been doing is usually breakfast in the room or at the resort, and then I’ll mobile order for lunch. Then we’ll do a sit down dinner reservation. Or maybe those last two could be swapped.

[00:12:38] Dana Stanley: But I think mobile ordering everything, it almost takes more time sometimes than, it depends on the length of the line. But if I see a short, quick service line, I. I will just sometimes hop in line ’cause I feel like it’s faster to just tell someone what I want than be on the app. ’cause you have to choose everyone’s drinks and their sides and I don’t know, maybe I’m just old, but not relying on that for every meal I think is great.

[00:13:06] Dana Stanley: Number six, I could talk about forever, but I’ll try not to. And that is to just write down your plans on paper. And there’s something about writing things down, and I know there’s like studies on this of like, you’re X percent more likely to complete something or remember something when it’s written down.

[00:13:26] Dana Stanley: And I feel the same way with stuff in Disney of just remembering things like your three pre-booked lightning lanes, the park hours, what time early entry starts, maybe just the first ride you’re doing. And then your dining reservation times. I feel like just writing that out makes me feel so much more prepared and calm.

[00:13:51] Dana Stanley: I remember it better and it’s kind of like locked in, so I don’t even have to actually reference the paper that much, or my phone especially. But beyond that, it gives you a plan to refer to if you have to, that isn’t tied to your phone. So like what if your phone dies? Or you lose your phone, or if the app crashes or you lose service or forget your charger or just you wanna unplug for a little bit, you still know what’s going on, like what time is dinner?

[00:14:22] Dana Stanley: Okay, I have that. What time is our Lightning for Mickey and Mini’s? Okay, I have that. And you’ll be shocked how often you don’t have to open the app to check your reservations if you even have just a simple, I mean, I have like a pretty planner that I use, but it could really just be a piece of paper that you can sketch down those things is what I would focus on.

[00:14:43] Dana Stanley: The pre-booked stuff and when the park opens. That’s pretty much it in that same line of thinking. It leads me to my last tip, which is to grab a paper map when you get to the park. They still have them. They’re at the front of all the four parks, and you’d be surprised how nice it is to unfold a paper map and look at where you are and where you’re going next, what’s nearby.

[00:15:07] Dana Stanley: You can hand it off to your kid. It keeps them occupied. They love looking at the maps, and then you don’t have to be pulling out your phone and zooming in and clicking around and looking at where everything is to get where you wanna go. It also just makes you more aware of where you are. Like when you have a paper map in front of you and it’s fun, you’re not like head down in your phone, you know, bumping into people, like you’re just more aware.

[00:15:33] Dana Stanley: I think you’re noticing things and that’s kind of the whole point of being there, right? I feel like you don’t have to do all seven of these things. Obviously. Even just picking one or two will shift how present you feel on your trip. I really do think it’ll make a difference. So I’ll link everything I mentioned in the show notes.

[00:15:52] Dana Stanley: I know there wasn’t much. Maybe just the camera. I use standby, skipper. Any other little tools? And if you try one of these, tell me. I’d love to hear what worked for you. If you find like a really cute, lightweight watch, also let me know, because I’m planning on implementing even more of this stuff on our next trip because I’ve felt the difference when I’m not on my phone much, I notice more.

[00:16:15] Dana Stanley: I remember more, and I feel like I’m just generally. Not as stressed out and my kids, they always seem a little calmer when I’m actually paying attention to them. I hope this was helpful and I will talk to you next week. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Laid Back Magic Way podcast.

[00:16:33] Dana Stanley: If you enjoyed today’s episode and it was helpful for you. It would mean the world to me if you’d write a quick review, your reviews, help more moms like you find the show, and I read every single one of them. Seriously. Thank you in advance. You can find me on Instagram at somewhere worthwhile, and I’d love to hear from you there.

[00:16:50] Dana Stanley: DM me if you have any questions about this episode or what you’d like to see in feature ones. Until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I’ll see you next time.