[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: I saw someone say the other day that when they were researching for Disney World, they felt, quote, lost, slashed, ripped in different directions by opinions online. And I think this has happened to all of us. When we start Googling Disney World Tips, or maybe we go on Pinterest or. We scroll a Facebook group or even just like texting our friends, it ends up being this like tug of war of advice.

[00:00:28] Dana Stanley: And unfortunately some of it is really good advice, but it could be one of two things. One, it worked for their family in particular, or two, it’s outdated. It’s outdated advice. And then if it’s not in that bucket. And if it’s not in that bucket of advice, it’s usually just advice that was never good to begin with.

[00:00:51] Dana Stanley: So what got me thinking about the advice I have seen that I wish I could just straight up delete off the internet forever. The things that maybe things that sound helpful but could actually make your trip more stressful in the end or more expensive. Or keep you from missing out on something that I think maybe you would like

[00:01:15] Dana Stanley: if you’re new here. Hi, I’m Dana and I teach families how to plan for Disney World, the laid back magic way, which basically means a balance of still getting everything you want out of the trip. But without feeling really stressed out before, during, and after the vacation. So let’s get into the first piece of advice that I would love to delete completely off the internet, which is don’t skip meet and greets and I’m sorry, but yes you can.

[00:01:49] Dana Stanley: You can skip character meet and greets, or. You can skip character meet and greets or meeting or seeing any character in any situation. My friend actually just posted a video the other day about her daughter. I think she was like 18 months old, was terrified of characters. So she has like photos of, I mean, she’s adorable, but she’s hysterical, crying next to the characters and honestly, I relate to that because my kids.

[00:02:18] Dana Stanley: Had no interest in characters until really, like last year when they were four and eight,

[00:02:25] Dana Stanley: they had no interest in getting line for a character, even if it was a character that they liked at home, but they were fairly okay with character. Dining. So these are dining experiences where the characters come to your table, come to you, so you don’t have to seek them out, and those can get expensive.

[00:02:45] Dana Stanley: But if you are just not sure how your kid’s going to react, I think I would start off with. A character dining versus seeking out a lot of characters. That puts like more pressure on the actual interaction versus a dining experience. They can just be like sitting in their chair and like eating mac and cheese and it’s not that big of a deal.

[00:03:06] Dana Stanley: Now, a second tip to the and a second. A second tip I have for your kids and characters is to maybe start off with a more like cuddly character, a less intense character. My favorite is Winnie the Pooh. I think he’s like the perfect character to start off with ’cause he’s just a really big stuffed animal.

[00:03:29] Dana Stanley: Like Mickey is super friendly, and I wouldn’t say intimidating, but it’s just not as much of like a cuddly, innocent, stuffed animal like poo or piglet.

[00:03:42] Dana Stanley: But if you have this like gut feeling from maybe a personal experience or maybe how you were as a kid, like I didn’t like characters as a kid, so I didn’t wanna project that on my daughter, my oldest especially, but I could just tell, I could just tell she felt the same way as me, so I never pushed it. If you feel like that, don’t feel bad about.

[00:04:04] Dana Stanley: Skipping certain interactions or character meals altogether. And something to keep in mind too is if you booked a character meal towards the end of your trip because you kind of just wanna see how they react to characters from afar. Or in a parade, you can cancel up to two hours ahead of time with the majority of, for the majority of reservations.

[00:04:27] Dana Stanley: So maybe it would be better to put it towards the end of the trip if you’re not very sure. But yeah, just remember that not every family needs to spend a lot of time collecting autographs when your kids would just rather be doing something else, like riding rides or sitting for a show. Anything else? I.

[00:04:45] Dana Stanley: I hear the next one constantly, and that is wait until the kids are older. And this is really where the tug of war happens because then people start debating on the best age. I recently said for first timers with a lot of disclaimers that four was a great age, but that I also enjoyed trips with each of my kids at every age, and I want to remind you that.

[00:05:12] Dana Stanley: If you hear or read someone say that an age was a really hard, or B, really easy, your kid could be completely opposite of that. Like, I have three kids and they’re all completely different from each other of hard versus easy or chill versus not chill.

[00:05:34] Dana Stanley: So just something to keep in mind that it doesn’t really matter what other people say is easy. And one of the arguments that comes up is usually, well, they’re not going to remember it. I’m not gonna spend all this money for my kid to not remember it. But you’d be surprised how many memories, you’d be surprised, like how memories work when there are so many photos like now with our iPhones and stuff, and the reminders that pop up on your phone and screensavers just.

[00:06:02] Dana Stanley: The digital age that we live in versus when we were kids, of how long that memory can hold even when they’re really little. But beyond that, you are creating memories as a family and as a mom, as adults, which I think is equally as important.

[00:06:21] Dana Stanley: So now that we’ve deleted that, the next one I wanna delete is to skip Animal Kingdom. And this is like a hard pass for me for a lot of reasons, and I’m shocked that a lot of people are still saying this. Animal kingdom, when people haven’t been to animal kingdom. I always think it’s like rumors are fake, but people really do think that it’s like a zoo and you shouldn’t go, or it’s this not really a park.

[00:06:48] Dana Stanley: It’s more of a Disney Springs, like an area, but it is the fourth park of Disney World, and I think it’s one of the most relaxing, beautiful parks. I could just walk around and look at the plants all day. Maybe that’s just me, but it’s usually less crowded. The Lightning Lane Multipass system there is the cheapest for all of the parks.

[00:07:10] Dana Stanley: And really a lot of times you can just skip it altogether. And it is true that there aren’t a lot of rides for the little tinies to ride. But if you’re going like a full Disney World vacation, let’s say you’re like, you’re going for a week, I would almost treat Animal Kingdom as like a park maybe in the middle of the vacation for a chill day.

[00:07:32] Dana Stanley: Like you don’t have to. Rush and there’s not like a ton to do versus something like Magic Kingdom, which can really wear you out. I would only skip Animal Kingdom if I was pressed for time. Like obviously if you only have a three day vacation or a two day vacation, maybe you genuinely have to cross it off the list.

[00:07:52] Dana Stanley: But I would rather you take it off the list for that reason than because you had a preconceived notion about the park. I absolutely love Animal Kingdom. I think it has the best food out of any of the parks. It has my favorite ride, avatar, flight of passage, and you don’t have to be there all day to do everything, which is what I love about it.

[00:08:15] Dana Stanley: Going on to the next one is to bring an autograph book. And this isn’t terrible advice, like sure it’s okay and fine and nice to bring an autograph book if especially your kids are into characters. But I don’t think it’s something that you have to panic over and. But I don’t think it’s something you have to panic over and make sure you need to go out and run and buy one for each kid.

[00:08:41] Dana Stanley: Like I just looked online and they’re $15 each at Target. I actually think that’s crazy because you know it’s just gonna end up sitting in a drawer and you could also use. Like any old notebook, like you really just need paper. You could literally staple some pieces of paper together. We use little mini sketchbooks that we always have, and the kids can doodle in it.

[00:09:05] Dana Stanley: It’s like multipurpose. They can sign it and then the kids can draw around it. And we actually look at it a lot because it’s in like their little art drawer. So just use your own discretion here of if you really need like a dedicated autograph book for each kid. And the next one makes sense. It’s usually a link to a poncho pack on Amazon.

[00:09:30] Dana Stanley: It’s five ponchos for a dollar or something like that. And I know you’ve heard it rains a lot in Disney. Be prepared for the rain, and that is completely true. And you wanna pack light, I get it. But before you buy a pack of these ponchos, I, before you buy a pack of these ponchos, I heard someone the other day.

[00:09:52] Dana Stanley: Say that when you buy cheap, you buy again. So just keep that in mind. If you’re going to be in Disney with a rainy season, the summer hurricane season, and you’re wearing these like every day because it’s going to be raining probably a lot after you wear this one poncho for a little bit, you’re probably just gonna end up throwing it in the garbage, like when you get to your resort, and then the next time it rains, you’re opening another one.

[00:10:18] Dana Stanley: Or they’re ripping or they’re uncomfortable.

[00:10:21] Dana Stanley: So I’m not like against ponchos as like a jacket type. I actually think they’re great. The problem is like this really thin plastic material. It’s like saran wrap. It’s awful. So if you can find those thicker, more like sustainable ponchos that even from Amazon. That’s great, but ones that you can use again and again, but my goodness, everyone recommends those like really flimsy, like dollar store packs of ponchos and blah.

[00:10:52] Dana Stanley: Something else I want to delete is, next thing I wanna delete is the advice that it’s cheaper to book a vacation package through Disney. And I think we are just all. So when you’re booking Disney, there’s a few different ways you can go about it, but you’ll see if you’re on Disney’s website and you’re booking a resort, you’ll see the option to do a resort only room or a resort and ticket package.

[00:11:22] Dana Stanley: And there are few reasons you might wanna do the package, like a lower deposit or maybe a travel agent is booking it for you, but the advice that it’s cheaper. Is not only not true, it could actually be more expensive overall because you could go down different routes instead of booking a package. I think we’re just kind of all psychologically brainwashed to think that two things together bundled saves you money because usually that’s the case.

[00:11:54] Dana Stanley: Even like the park tickets, the difference between a four day park ticket and a five day park ticket. Is not much, and then it gets cheaper for six days and cheaper for seven days. But it’s not the case with the resort and the ticket. They’re just literally putting them together and you’re buying them at the same time.

[00:12:14] Dana Stanley: So just something to keep in mind if you want to just explore getting your room through renting DVC points, which is just the deluxe resorts, or buy your tickets from an authorized third party. Just there could be other ways to save you a little bit of money that’s not through a package.

[00:12:35] Dana Stanley: The next piece of advice is funny because it’s both like, it’s to get a magic band or to not get a magic band. This one is hard because I really can’t put. A hard and fast rule on this one because it really depends. I personally love having a magic band because I can open my resort room with it, but if you’re not at a Disney resort room, you can’t do that.

[00:13:03] Dana Stanley: I like being able to have my hands full and just lift my wrist. Same thing for getting into the park and lightning lanes. But it’s also not like a mandatory thing. It’s not going to change your experience that much. It’s not going to change your experience that much if you don’t have one. Now, I will say if you think that you are going to be going to Disney World once a year, maybe you’re going this year and next year.

[00:13:32] Dana Stanley: I think it’s great. I think because you can reuse it, it’s worth it. But if you’re going this year and like never intend to come back. Ever, which fair warning that could change. Then you could certainly just use your phone and I have more and more members just using their actual key to the world card, which just using their actual key to the world ticket card.

[00:13:57] Dana Stanley: And like for the kids, they just slip them into little lanyards and that’s a lot cheaper than buying magic bands for all the kids.

[00:14:04] Dana Stanley: The next one kind of drives me crazy. And that’s to not take a midday break. Like the advice of, no, don’t take one. That’s a bad idea. I don’t understand. There are a few exceptions to my role of taking a midday break, and that would be like if you’re staying off property and it takes you. A collective 45 minutes each way to get back to your resort to take a break.

[00:14:32] Dana Stanley: Or maybe you’re not staying in the park all day, you are leaving at six because Magic Kingdom closes early. There’s a lot of different scenarios that I could think of, but something I want you to keep in mind is the people that say don’t take a midday break, usually, not all the time, but they may not be in the parks as long as you.

[00:14:53] Dana Stanley: Yeah, like maybe they don’t have access to early entry, so they’re not getting into the park as early as you, or maybe they don’t have deluxe hours at night, or maybe they don’t have a party ticket like you bought or whatever you’re doing. So when you see that, don’t take a midday break. Advice. I mean, they might not even have kids.

[00:15:14] Dana Stanley: I would just get a little bit more information before writing that idea off.

[00:15:21] Dana Stanley: Next step is the advice is that the best resort for a toddler is based on the theming. And I’m just here to say that. Yeah, like toddlers don’t care about a theme. They just don’t. And when you’re talking about like my little 2-year-old, my son. Versus me who’s a whole grown woman and my husband spending our adult money.

[00:15:45] Dana Stanley: I think the best resort for a toddler is the one that is easiest for me. Like I really just feel that way. I’m thinking when I’m picking a resort, I’m thinking, can we walk around places and not get on a bus or a car for a few things? Is the room going to be big enough that I can put his crib? Somewhere like even in the bathroom or in a closet and get a good nap time in.

[00:16:12] Dana Stanley: Does this resort have easy food options available for us to like grab a pizza at night when we’re super tired? Does this resort have places for my toddler to run around? Because even,

[00:16:25] Dana Stanley: because even the. More like stuffy resorts with the least amount of Disney theming. I promise a toddler is going to have so much fun no matter what they’re doing. They don’t know that there are other resorts with a certain theme. Yes, I can think of a few cute things that my kids or my toddler would like in a resort, but number one priority for me is always going to be how easy does this resort make our trip?

[00:16:55] Dana Stanley: The next advice I understand why people say this and that’s don’t rely on crowd calendars. I do think that crowd calendars aren’t gospel by any means. I feel like they did work more in the years past, but we still have data. We still have people collecting data. We have historic data and. Ticket prices and ticket purchases and wait times and all of the things.

[00:17:23] Dana Stanley: So I really still like crowd calendars for like ballpark planning.

[00:17:29] Dana Stanley: Like there are certain weeks, like during school breaks that are obviously going to be more crowded and the crowd calendars are not going to be wrong in that case. So to just say, oh, crowd calendars are all a lie. Or they’re trying to manipulate the crowds or what, these aren’t crowd calendars from Disney.

[00:17:49] Dana Stanley: So all of that advice is just untrue. The next advice is more opinion, I think, and that is just, you have to book Chef Mickey’s. You have to eat there. And I have said this many times on the podcast. I actually said this to a member today because this is just. Old school. It’s just, I don’t know why. It’s just people, they just book Chef Mickey’s, they recommend Chef Mickey’s.

[00:18:15] Dana Stanley: I don’t know why that it hasn’t gone out of style yet anytime soon. But because I actually think the restaurant itself is out of style. So if you’re wanting like the full Mickey experience. I would book breakfast at Topos, which is a little harder to get because it’s only breakfast. So unless like this very specific scenario of A, you have this like nostalgia for Chef Mickey’s, maybe you went there as a kid B, you’re staying at the contemporary.

[00:18:48] Dana Stanley: So you’re literally just like walking down to Chef Mickey’s or see. You really, really want slash need to see Mickey specifically at dinner, just like all such specific scenarios, then no, you do not need to eat at Chef Mickey’s. I feel like it’s loud, it’s rushed. There’s just better ways to meet Mickey if that’s number one for you.

[00:19:13] Dana Stanley: I actually rated all of the character dining in Disney World, which I will link in the show notes if you haven’t listened to that already.

[00:19:21] Dana Stanley: To wrap up, the last two pieces of advice that I would happily delete is to get memory maker and I, because I feel that. Unless you are doing a ton of character meet and greets all day, or you are just like a photo obsessed person, it’s not always worth it.

[00:19:45] Dana Stanley: I believe the last time I looked it was $185 to add on memory maker, which is essentially when you go to Disney, there are sections of, there are locations with what’s called photo pass, and there are photographers there that can take pictures of you with a professional camera, and they’re all included.

[00:20:11] Dana Stanley: In your account when you get memory maker, you can download them, have them forever.

[00:20:15] Dana Stanley: It also includes your ride photos. But something to keep in mind is that when you buy Lightning Lane Multipass for the day, your ride photos are included. So you know the frozen ever after ride in Epcot or Pirates of the Caribbean. I have hysterical photos of my kids on Pirates of the Caribbean. Those are included.

[00:20:35] Dana Stanley: In your multipass, which is usually what we’re buying. We are not like huge photo people. I like to have them. I love when we go on our big family trips when it’s like 11 of us. I would definitely get memory maker or have one of us get memory maker. Because I want that big family castle picture. But if it’s just us, and especially depending on my kids’ ages, if I don’t think they’re going to even sit for a photo or they’re not into characters, I don’t think you necessarily have to get it for every trip.

[00:21:09] Dana Stanley: It’s very dependent on the family.

[00:21:11] Dana Stanley: And my last and favorite one that has no asterisk or any debate that should be deleted is to use Genie Plus, or That Genie Plus is worth it simply because it’s gone. Genie Plus is not exist anymore. So if you see that and any of your research, just mentally delete it and move on.

[00:21:34] Dana Stanley: Yeah, not all of this Disney advice deserves to live forever online, and sometimes the best trips come from just ignoring advice to be honest and just ignoring what everyone else says and focusing on what your family actually wants to do. Thanks for listening, and I will see you next week.