[00:00:00] Dana: Before we jump in to our silly little trick summer, can you tell me a little bit more about your family in Disney World and like just kind of your, how your days look, your feeling that you’re going for, because I’ve been following you on Instagram for a while. I actually looked this morning and it was January, 2024.

[00:00:24] Dana: So like, we’re a little past two years, so I think I get a good idea of your vibe and your family. I know you have four kids, um, but I’d like to just know a little bit more of like their interests and like as a whole, how your family does Disney World.

[00:00:44] Summer: Well, thank you so much for having me, Dana. I have four kids. And they all are ride lovers, thrill seekers. That’s, they’re following in my footsteps. Well, I’m only a thrill seeker at Disney World. Honestly, I discovered that. Yeah, I am not at other theme parks

[00:01:04] Summer: just, just at Disney where I feel safe.

[00:01:07] Dana: Yes, exactly.

[00:01:09] Summer: Realize that, that’s what I love about Disney is I’m just craving that safety

[00:01:13] Summer: factor. Um, so when we are at Disney World, I have little four little ride lovers and we are, um, trying to create days that feel really intentional and thoughtful and like just stacking up small wind throughout the day. And that looks different depending on the park day, but it’s, it’s a lot of rides and. We love it that way.

[00:01:39] Summer: And 

[00:01:40] Dana: you’re out of the stroller phase, right?

[00:01:43] Summer: we are actually still hanging onto the stroller

[00:01:47] Summer: phase a little bit longer. Yes. Um, our youngest is not in a stroller at home, but she will need one at Disney. Mm-hmm.

[00:01:56] Dana: Mm-hmm. How old are the kids?

[00:01:58] Summer: I’ve got three that are in elementary school and then one junior hire. So like from.

[00:02:05] Summer: First grade.

[00:02:06] Summer: to eighth grade is our

[00:02:07] Summer: range. Yeah. 

[00:02:09] Dana: your daughter’s tall. I thought. I think, I thought she was older. She’s only in first grade. She’s little.

[00:02:15] Summer: she is. Only she it. She’s our tallest of all four. We keep a little like measuring chart on the wall

[00:02:22] Summer: and she is measuring taller than everybody else so

[00:02:24] Dana: I think each kid gets bigger you make them, because the same, like each kid has just gotten a little taller on the on the wall 

[00:02:32] Summer: right. I know. 

[00:02:33] Dana: Cruise might be, I mean, we’re short, but he might be the tallest of our short family.

[00:02:39] Summer: He might be,

[00:02:41] Dana: That’s so funny. So I had seen last year, like the end of last year, you had done a series of posting quote, silly little Disney tricks, or maybe it was silly little tricks for Disney.

[00:02:57] Dana: And I think maybe, I’m not right, it might have been like a little bit for Disney World and also cruises and other things. 

[00:03:05] Summer: Yes, 

[00:03:06] Dana: And I just got me thinking because there’s a lot of. Tips, like, I don’t like to share too many small tips and tricks because they do feel like a little silly in the sense of they’re not that big of a deal.

[00:03:24] Dana: Like it’s not worth even mentioning it, it, but like, if I’m with someone in the park, it’ll a hundred percent come up or it’s something that I’ll do. It’s just not worth like bombarding someone with. But if you like, take these little, even just like one silly little trick, or if someone comes back from Disney and they’re like, oh, I wish I had known, you know, I’m trying to think of like a quick example.

[00:03:50] Dana: Like I would, could keep, this is a silly little trick I’m about to say. Um, I could keep my receipt if something broke and they’d get me a new one or something like that, like a bubble wand or whatever. And sometimes you hear that and. As like someone like you and me who like want to people to have like the best trip, you’re like, ah, like I would’ve told you that.

[00:04:13] Dana: But there’s just like so many little silly tricks. So I thought it would be fun to go back and forth and share our silly little tricks for Disney World specifically and for everyone listening. When I approached Summer with this idea, we decided to not tell each other ahead of time. What our silly tricks we’re going to be.

[00:04:39] Dana: So we don’t really have much of an idea what the other person’s gonna say. Some of them might be duplicates, which I’m, I’m actually the most curious about. I almost have a feeling they’re not gonna be duplicates.

[00:04:53] Summer: I,

[00:04:54] Dana: Who knows? 

[00:04:55] Summer: I’m so curious. 

[00:04:57] Dana: I’m very curious too. Did you have a hard time like narrowing them down?

[00:05:00] Summer: Oh, I had the hardest time.

[00:05:02] Summer: My list was way too long and I had to keep moving things to the top and then back to the bottom, and

[00:05:07] Dana: Yeah, so we came up with at at a, as a total eight each. So I think we’ll just take turns going back and forth. You wanna just do like alphabetical order? Like I’ll go first. 

[00:05:20] Summer: Yes. I think

[00:05:21] Summer: you should

[00:05:21] Summer: go first. Dana. 

[00:05:22] Dana: Or should it be like, guess guest first? I don’t 

[00:05:25] Summer: No, no, no. You go first.

[00:05:27] Dana: Okay, perfect. So my first. Silly little trick is when you are mobile ordering from like any quick service spot in Disney World, you place your order, like you put it in the cart, place your order, and then you have a time window.

[00:05:44] Dana: So when you quote, get there, there’s a little button during your time window that will turn purple and you say, I’m here. And then they start making your food. And it drives me crazy because some places you get there, you say, I’m here, and it could be 15, 20 minutes before you get your food. Looking at like cosmic rays or something like that.

[00:06:07] Dana: Other places are super fast that aren’t busy, which are usually not the places that I’m eating to be. You know, the good places are gonna have more people, so it takes more time. So what I like to do, my silly little trick is. Tap that button. When I’m pushing the stroller on the way to get my food, it won’t illuminate if you’re like too far away.

[00:06:32] Dana: Um, so once I’m able to hit it, I, I will hit it. And if my food is waiting there, even like a minute too long, I will deal. I’ll, I’ll take the risk

[00:06:44] Summer: Yes.

[00:06:45] Dana: and just hit the button ahead of time. You agree? 

[00:06:48] Summer: that. I.

[00:06:48] Summer: agree. I love that one. That’s so good.

[00:06:52] Dana: Okay. What’s your first one? 

[00:06:54] Summer: My first silly little trick is to pretend like it’s the nineties and grab a paper map. On your

[00:07:02] Summer: way into the park,

[00:07:03] Summer: it’s, it’s like a quick souvenir right off the bat. And there’s something about having a map in your hand that makes kids feel instantly like invested

[00:07:14] Dana: They’re like in charge.

[00:07:16] Summer: My girls especially, they each like to have their own map and they have their sharpies

[00:07:21] Summer: because they’re gonna, you know, because they’re gonna get character signatures or

[00:07:24] Summer: something. So they’re standing in line, like putting little hearts by things on the map or crossing things off that we’ve done. It’s just really fun.

[00:07:33] Dana: You know what’s funny is I don’t know why I don’t get a paper map. I feel like it’s by accident. Like I just don’t even think about it. We just,

[00:07:42] Summer: We just walk right by them.

[00:07:44] Summer: yeah. 

[00:07:45] Dana: Yeah. I know. I need to, because my girls would very much be in the, in that same boat of like sitting in the stroller and like looking at the map and,

[00:07:54] Summer: Yes,

[00:07:55] Dana: and that’s what we did as kids too.

[00:07:57] Summer: I know. It’s so nostalgic.

[00:08:00] Dana: Yeah. I love that. That’s a really good one. Okay, next up for me again. I, I feel like all of them, I’m like, this is silly. And I’m like, no, that’s, that’s the point. But it’s to when you’re getting ready in the morning to get yourself completely ready before you move on to like getting the kids ready.

[00:08:21] Summer: Oh, that is so good.

[00:08:23] Dana: And I mean, like, not dressed, not like hair and makeup, but like your deodorant.

[00:08:29] Dana: Grab your sunglasses, put on your magic band, put on your rings and your earrings, and like the little blister bandaid that you need behind your heel, 

[00:08:38] Summer: Oh, you’re gonna need that? Mm-hmm.

[00:08:40] Dana: perfume, like everything, because something happens if you get like a little bit ready and then you start getting the kids ready. It, it like adds on like the five minutes that you would’ve taken before.

[00:08:55] Dana: It takes like 20 minutes if you wait until later. 

[00:08:58] Summer: It’s so true. It 

[00:08:59] Dana: I don’t know what happens. It’s like some weird time warp and I’m kind of, my mom was the same way. Like she like if we were having company or something, she would want everything ready. And then so like guests would come, like I would come over and she’s like upstairs taking a shower and I’m like, mom, like the house looks great and it smells like the food smells wonderful, but like we wanna be with you.

[00:09:23] Dana: And it’s kind of the same, the same thing, like I have to make myself. Get 

[00:09:28] Summer: Yeah. and finish all the way. Yeah. 

[00:09:31] Dana: So even if you have to wake up like just a little bit before and like I’ve done my makeup in the dark

[00:09:36] Summer: Yeah.

[00:09:37] Summer: Mm-hmm. 

[00:09:37] Dana: feel before the kids like are all crazy and ready and excited. And then once, ’cause once they get dressed too, they wanna like go.

[00:09:47] Summer: Yes. 

[00:09:47] Dana: I own like, I like them getting ready, like last like shoes on in the stroller. We’re out the door.

[00:09:54] Summer: That’s so wise. I’m guilty of the halfway getting ready and then switching over to

[00:09:59] Summer: kids and it, it never works. So

[00:10:02] Dana: feels smarter, but for some reason it never works.

[00:10:05] Summer: yeah. Okay. My next silly little trick is that the magic carpets of Aladdin is actually a nighttime ride.

[00:10:17] Dana: Oh, hot take.

[00:10:18] Summer: Yes, yes. This silly. A little trick is a, is a truth

[00:10:22] Summer: or a hot take. This is like a tier two or tier three ride during the day.

[00:10:27] Summer: But the vibes are so different at night with the lights and the views of the castle lit up and even the camel spitting water at you just feels more fun and playful at night.

[00:10:40] Summer: My boys who are upper elementary age, they. Got so silly on this ride last time, like they just seem so happy. Like we have the best memories now of this little ride that is just kind of a boring ride,

[00:10:56] Summer: but 

[00:10:56] Dana: You know what’s funny is I don’t really go to adventure land at night.

[00:11:00] Summer: Oh, yes, I know.

[00:11:02] Dana: Like I don’t, like not on purpose. I just feel like we usually end up like kind of in tomorrow land, sometimes fantasy land, but very rarely adventure land.

[00:11:15] Summer: Yeah, I know

[00:11:16] Dana: And also the line is so hot. 

[00:11:19] Summer: Mm-hmm. 

[00:11:20] Dana: if it’s a only a five, 10 minute wait, it is like straight sun.

[00:11:24] Dana: So the nighttime seems like a nice 

[00:11:27] Summer: that that area is way more enjoyable at night and like any of those lower, lower, tier outdoor rides.

[00:11:35] Dana: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:37] Summer: them after fireworks really elevates them. There’s something about it.

[00:11:41] Dana: Okay. I can’t wait until Crew is just a little bit older so I can really, I love the nighttime 

[00:11:47] Summer: Oh, 

[00:11:48] Dana: it’s just hard when they’re little.

[00:11:49] Summer: it is? Yep. I know

[00:11:51] Summer: it’s a season. Yep. 

[00:11:52] Dana: I’m almost there. I know. Okay. My next one. Oh, ’cause I kind of went out order. Okay. My next one is very um. I’m gonna geek out a little bit 

[00:12:05] Summer: Okay. 

[00:12:05] Dana: and I’m just gonna let, I’m just gonna let myself, so

[00:12:08] Summer: go for it.

[00:12:10] Dana: this is for an animal kingdom avatar, flight of passage, the ride that you want to really aim for, like the center of the screen,

[00:12:21] Summer: Yes.

[00:12:22] Dana: you can be a little bit.

[00:12:24] Dana: Annoying and ask for a certain spot. Like it very kindly, you can ask a cast member if you could sit in a certain seat just like you would do 

[00:12:35] Summer: Yeah. 

[00:12:36] Dana: front row or anything like that. Because, and I’m only, I’m not like a real stickler for where I ride on things. I just kind of hope I get things.

[00:12:48] Dana: If it happens, it happens. But with this one, we’ve done it like every single way in every single seat, and it just makes such a huge difference. Like if I’m going with somebody and they’ve never gotten on Flight of Passage, which I love, like, I think it’s, I’m, I’m tied between Flight of Passage being my favorite and Guardians being my favorite,

[00:13:09] Summer: Me too.

[00:13:10] Dana: it’s really hard.

[00:13:11] Dana: Flight of Passage was like, you know, it’s older. So it was my first favorite, my first top.

[00:13:19] Summer: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:20] Dana: But, so if no one has, or anyone listening who hasn’t been on it, it is a, it’s kind of like you’re on like a motorcycle seat, um, that moves, but you are all in a row. So if like someone knows, like Sorin, I’m trying to think if.

[00:13:43] Dana: I don’t know if you haven’t been on Flight of Passage, maybe you haven’t been on Soren, so it doesn’t really help. But there’s a very big screen, a very large screen in front of you that spans like three rows of these motorcycles. But if you are all the way on the left bike or banshee, however you wanna say it, or all the way on the right, you can kind of see like the doming of the screen.

[00:14:07] Summer: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:08] Dana: if you have motion sickness, this can make it way worse. And it just kind of distorts the feeling of like being really immersed and like, and you want to feel like I like cry on that ride. Like it is just such a like, exciting, happy, joyful ride. 

[00:14:24] Summer: it is. It is joyful. 

[00:14:26] Dana: it is so. If you really wanna get like the creme de la creme experience, you would want to be like smack dab in the middle.

[00:14:35] Dana: So there’s 16 bikes total. This is where I’m getting nerdy. So straight in the middle is gonna be like 7, 8, 9, if I’m, if I’m thinking of that. Right. The only caveat is it’s kind of like two rooms, so like they have one through eight and then a wall, and then nine through. 16. So it kind of gets a little hard if you’re like a group of four or like in your case, a group of six.

[00:15:05] Dana: You kind of have to like, I don’t know how much it matters, but like I’ve been in cases where I’m riding on flight of passage with people that haven’t been on it, and I’ll like, I’ll take the worst seat and get them just more in the middle. So just a little. Silly little trick is if like maybe your kids are going for the first time or your mom scoot them as much to the middle or like that wall as you can.

[00:15:34] Summer: Could not agree more. That’s really good.

[00:15:37] Summer: I love that. Um, my next silly little trick is when you’re looking for a spot to watch the fireworks, and I’m thinking right. The hub area in front of

[00:15:52] Summer: the castle to scope out a spot right behind a railing so that your kids can nestle right up next to it and no grownups are gonna come squeeze in and block their view. We have had our best fireworks experience with a railing right in front. We just look for the railings now because that was the, we did have to claim a spot somewhat early to make this happen,

[00:16:20] Dana: What would you say? Like 30, 45 minutes?

[00:16:24] Summer: I honestly think, yeah, 45, at least the nights that we have done it, we were, we had like, we done so much that day and felt so good that we were ready to like have a little Casey’s corner picnic like we brought our corn dogs over.

[00:16:40] Summer: Had a little doll whip and we were just ready to hang out. So if you’re at that point, you gotta get that spot by the railing right behind the railing

[00:16:51] Dana: Then that’s smart. And if someone hasn’t done that before, like because the railing kind of works because past the railing is gonna be like a walkway and they have to keep the walkways clear. If there was like an emergency or like people who don’t care about the fireworks need to be able to leave. Or go to a different land so no one can park their booty in front of your kid if it’s in front of a railing.

[00:17:17] Dana: ’cause that’s most likely a walkway.

[00:17:20] Summer: Yes. And even that little, um, area with the mickey and mini statues that rail the railing around that is perfect.

[00:17:33] Dana: Oh yeah. Because then you have like, it’s like shrubbery.

[00:17:36] Summer: Yes.

[00:17:37] Summer: Mm-hmm. Shrubbery that does not block the view, but just creates a nice little, um, barrier. And you feel like you have your own little spot to camp out?

[00:17:47] Dana: Yeah, no, that’s really smart. And that actually works for the dessert parties too. Um, I don’t, I don’t get like super, like there’s people that get to the dessert parties, they get to the Plaza Garden early, like they’re saving a spot for the spot that has been saved. 

[00:18:06] Summer: Yeah. 

[00:18:07] Dana: but yeah, I don’t go too, I don’t go too crazy.

[00:18:11] Dana: But we have had just accidentally ended up, um, like kind of alongside a railing. They do like handicap right in the front, but just being near a railing, you don’t feel so like cramped 

[00:18:24] Summer: Yeah. 

[00:18:25] Dana: one, no one can like, I mean people are generally nice,

[00:18:28] Summer: Yes.

[00:18:29] Dana: I will say, but every once in a while.

[00:18:32] Summer: Yeah.

[00:18:33] Dana: Alright, my next one is.

[00:18:36] Dana: A security getting into the park. Silly little trick, which I actually don’t think this is silly. I think this is a big deal because it can really, like when I don’t do it, I get, or, okay, let me just do the silly little trick and then it’ll make sense. So when you’re going through security, and I actually thought you weren’t doing strollers anymore, so you probably do this.

[00:19:03] Dana: All the time. But if you have a bag with metal in it, they have everyone go. They all the bags have to go through a metal detector, but strollers don’t have to because obviously they would go off. So if you have a camera and your Stanley Thermos and your sunglass case and your portable chargers, which you probably have all of those in your backpack, and you go through the metal detectors, it goes boop.

[00:19:31] Dana: And you get sent to a different line where you have to wait for a cast member to physically look through the bag, 

[00:19:39] Summer: Right? 

[00:19:40] Dana: super great and safe and wonderful, and that’s great that they do that. But when you have a stroller, since that is not going through the metal detector, if you let your metal items.

[00:19:57] Dana: Be visible in the stroller. So like, take your Stanley bottle and put it like in the little cup holder, throw your camera under the, the boot. Anything metal that the cast member can very easily see. They are going to check all that when they’re checking the stroller. So they might have you put like the little sunshades down.

[00:20:17] Dana: They’ll, you know, crinkle, you know, I always have like a bunch of. Random sweaters and things under the boot and they’ll check that, but, but they don’t mind the things being like loose in the stroller. So what I will do is, like I said, all of that stuff goes in the stroller. So the bag is metal free. You just want nothing metal in the bag, husband.

[00:20:40] Dana: Or you can now take that bag through the metal detectors. There’s no beep, and you just. They just walk through and then whoever has the stroller just walks through And it pro, I mean there’s times where it seriously probably saves you like 30 minutes, especially like in the morning when it’s really busy or people getting into Magic Kingdom.

[00:21:03] Dana: I think that’s like always put everything metal in the stroller.

[00:21:07] Summer: Yes. I love that one. It’s, we have used that trick of yours before. I feel like you told me to do that before one of my trips.

[00:21:18] Dana: It’s, it’s like it saves you so much time, and there have been times where our bag doesn’t have metal in it, and it just kind of gets accidentally flagged, which I’m, I always ask like, as they’re checking a bag, I’m like, what flagged this? And, and they’re like, nothing like, sorry. Like sometimes when there’s a lot of people, like, we just make mistakes, whatever.

[00:21:38] Dana: And me and Colton are looking at each other like, no, not the bag check. we just, 

[00:21:44] Summer: I. 

[00:21:44] Dana: because you just wanna, you just wanna get in. You don’t 

[00:21:46] Summer: I know, I know. And it feels like such a, like you put all this effort into planning how to avoid the bag check.

[00:21:55] Summer: So then when it happens, it’s like, oh man. 

[00:21:58] Dana: I know.

[00:22:00] Summer: Um, my next silly little trick is to start thinking about lunch at like 10:30 AM

[00:22:10] Dana: Mm-hmm.

[00:22:11] Summer: even, even with mobile ordering, which you should definitely do.

[00:22:15] Dana: Mm-hmm.

[00:22:16] Summer: It’s such a game changer to eat at off peak times, just in terms of finding a table and feeling like your meal experience is so much more calm and enjoyable. I’m thinking of places like Pecos Spills, tall

[00:22:30] Summer: Tale Inn and Cafe, like we’re ready to eat earlier at Disney

[00:22:36] Summer: anyway, for lunch. 

[00:22:37] Dana: at like 11, 11 30?

[00:22:40] Summer: I, yeah, I

[00:22:41] Summer: would say we’re. Yeah, definitely by 11, I think we’re,

[00:22:48] Summer: we’re thinking about lunch, but even so if you’re in line for a ride or something and it’s getting to be about 10 30, like start making your lunch plan and it’s gonna be so worth it to head into a restaurant when it’s not noon.

[00:23:03] Dana: Yeah,

[00:23:04] Summer: It’s so nice.

[00:23:05] Dana: that’s like for, honestly, you really shouldn’t eat at noon unless you have a lunch reservation. Like if you’re going. Mobile order, quick service, um, or not even mobile order, like, uh, Laina and Epcot. We know that we cannot go there at 12. We have to go at like 11 or two.

[00:23:24] Summer: Yeah. Two. Mm-hmm.

[00:23:25] Dana: Yeah, there’s like no in between because everyone else wants to eat lunch at noon, believe it or not.

[00:23:32] Summer: I know. Imagine that.

[00:23:33] Dana: Imagine that. Okay, my next one is. To, I’m just thinking about the fireworks and now that we’re talking about that, um, is to pack some glow sticks. It is just the best for little kids. And not even like, bring a lot of glow sticks. Like bring like a hundred, like the a hundred pack from Amazon. Throw them in your bag because any, I mean, really if you’re waiting for anything at night.

[00:24:02] Dana: Your kids can like hand them out and then they make other little friends and it keeps everybody busy for like a very long time. So waiting for fireworks, waiting in line, waiting for food, getting ice cream,

[00:24:18] Summer: absolutely.

[00:24:18] Dana: throwing out. Even my husband was like very into it. Like he doesn’t ask me anything about what I’m packing except glow sticks.

[00:24:24] Dana: We’ll be like on the plane. He’s like, did you remember the glow sticks? I’m like, yes. He probably like, he probably likes them just as much.

[00:24:32] Summer: Oh, the glow sticks was on my, it didn’t make it into my top six, but that was on my list too.

[00:24:38] Summer: I, 

[00:24:39] Dana: Well, and,

[00:24:40] Summer: feel good.

[00:24:41] Dana: and they expire. Just so everyone knows, if you have old glow sticks from like Halloween or something, 

[00:24:47] Summer: Ooh. 

[00:24:48] Dana: get fresh ones because I have brought those like dollar store ones that were like sitting in the basement. They expire 

[00:24:56] Summer: Oh no. Oh, no. 

[00:24:58] Dana: not work. So get some freshies for the trip.

[00:25:02] Summer: that is, I did not realize that. So I’m, I’m noting that for

[00:25:05] Dana: Okay.

[00:25:07] Summer: Um, my next silly little trick is to use the contemporary resort for a midday break. During your Magic Kingdom Day, it’s just a short stroll away. There’s Steakhouse 71 there for a relaxing meal, the monorails passing through.

[00:25:26] Summer: So that’s like built in entertainment for little kids. And if you go up to the upper floors, there are these open, airy spaces with couches that feel like lounges, and it’s the perfect spot to just chill for a little bit before you head back to the park and. If you, it’s perfect. If you don’t have time for a full, we’re gonna go back to our resort and

[00:25:49] Summer: take a nap, or we’re gonna do the pool at our resort today.

[00:25:52] Summer: If you just need a little bit of a, get out of the park for a while and just be chill. Um, the contemporary resort is so perfect for that.

[00:26:02] Dana: Especially if you’re staying like at a resort that’s further away.

[00:26:07] Summer: Yes.

[00:26:08] Dana: Sometimes that doesn’t make sense. Like I, I obviously have made it known that I love a midday break, but if you are staying off property or maybe a value resort that’s hard to get to, it might not be worth it. Remember, you can always just leave and come back to the park.

[00:26:24] Dana: You don’t have to like scan in and stay there. No, no, no.

[00:26:28] Summer: No,

[00:26:29] Summer: it makes a big difference. No. 

[00:26:32] Dana: So my next one is funny ’cause it’s kind of like the same, it’s uh, it’s not the same, but just those, um, little pockets of chill things. And that is to, for us moms to get a glass of champagne and Epcot because it is a little hidden.

[00:26:54] Dana: Even though I know where it is, sometimes I get like turned around in France and I’m like, where is the champagne? So there is a champagne bar, um, what’s it called? It’s like Lavin de France, but it’s in the gift shop of France. So not on the Remy’s side, but towards like more the front of the park, but still in France.

[00:27:19] Dana: And they have, I know, I know you pronounce it. Vo, but I say vo, you can get like, um, you know, like a cheaper, like a cheaper champagne to Vu, to Dom Perignon. They have champagne flights. I think they have rose like a sparkling rose. I might be making that up. But it is a wonderful little hidden gem of a champagne and you get a little plastic champagne flute.

[00:27:51] Dana: But it still feels a little fancy and you can walk around with it and yeah, it’s just great.

[00:27:57] Summer: That is a good small win right there.

[00:27:59] Summer: And small wins are the big wins, really.

[00:28:02] Dana: I know.

[00:28:04] Summer: Um, my next silly little trick is to pair a little ride. With a big ride. And by that I mean if my husband’s gonna take the big kids on Tron, I’m Not gonna stand around.

[00:28:19] Summer: with our youngest who isn’t tall enough yet and make her wait. We’re gonna get our rider switch set up and then we’re gonna go over, me and my little one are gonna ride the people mover. And these split up are kind of part of our family’s Disney rhythm now. And they feel like little like dates almost to

[00:28:39] Dana: Yeah.

[00:28:40] Summer: And I love that. And I also love that Rider Switch is giving one of our bigger kids a bonus ride on like one of their favorite rides.

[00:28:48] Summer: So it’s a win for everyone. It takes time to do it. Like to go back and do the rider switch, but

[00:28:54] Summer: it’s worth it. It’s

[00:28:56] Summer: really 

[00:28:56] Dana: Can you explain like how that works with Rider Switch? How someone can come back? Yeah.

[00:29:01] Summer: Yes. So first, you’re all, everyone in your party is gonna go up and find the cast member at the entrance. At the start of the ride line and

[00:29:10] Summer: they’re,

[00:29:10] Summer: gonna have like a tablet with them and

[00:29:13] Summer: they’re, you just tell them, we would like to do rider switch. And they’re gonna ask you, okay, who’s riding first? And they’ll get, they get to join.

[00:29:21] Summer: You probably have a lightning. We would, we would probably have a lightning lane for whatever ride it is.

[00:29:25] Summer: So they’re gonna get to go in the lightning lane, um, queue. And then we are gonna get set up on our magic band that we have now a rider switch pass so we can, after. Grant, my husband has done the ride with our bigger kids. Then when they’re done, we’ll swap and now I get to take one of our bigger kids again on the ride and

[00:29:47] Dana: And then you don’t have to ride alone ’cause it’s like so lame for him to get to have a, a kid with them and then you’re like by yourself.

[00:29:55] Summer: Exactly. I love that Disney does this, so both parents are getting that magical experience riding it with your kids, and then nobody’s having To wait.

[00:30:05] Summer: The way

[00:30:06] Summer: in the line again.

[00:30:08] Dana: Yeah. But sometimes people think like, like I’ve even been asked, is there like a designated like waiting area for Rider switch? And I’m like, no. Like go somewhere, go do something. That’s usually when I do like. The diaper changing and the bathroom breaks. Like I almost try to get like the logistics out of the way.

[00:30:25] Dana: Like 

[00:30:26] Summer: Okay. That’s a good way to use that time. Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

[00:30:46] Dana: kids, you need like that kind of like one-on-one time with each kid.

[00:30:51] Summer: Right. It’s actually, it actually works out so well, and it’s really sweet and so I’m, I’m gonna be a little bit sad when Rider, when our rider switch days are done,

[00:31:02] Dana: Yeah. Well, at least you can sit, you can rotate who you sit next to.

[00:31:06] Summer: right. That’s right. Now we can’t finally all sit together on a ride. That will

[00:31:10] Summer: be fun too. 

[00:31:11] Dana: I can’t wait. That seems like that’s like never gonna happen. And I know that it is and it’s kind of sad.

[00:31:16] Summer: I know the

[00:31:18] Dana: and happy.

[00:31:19] Summer: It is.

[00:31:20] Dana: I know. So that was our sixth tips. Was that your sixth?

[00:31:27] Summer: That was my, wow. I kind of went out of order, so now I’m just making sure. What did I, I skipped

[00:31:33] Summer: over one. Oh, okay.

[00:31:35] Summer: There was one that I didn’t share, but we can save that for

[00:31:40] Dana: Well, I, so I was thinking what if we do kind of just like, ’cause none of them overlapped, so should we just share the rest of them? Kind of like rapid fire? 

[00:31:47] Summer: How many do you have

[00:31:48] Summer: left?

[00:31:49] Dana: Great question. Uh, two. I have two left

[00:31:53] Summer: Okay. Yes.

[00:31:54] Dana: went first. Okay. 

[00:31:55] Summer: Okay. Yeah.

[00:31:56] Summer: I have two also.

[00:31:58] Dana: Oh, perfect. Let’s do it. 

[00:32:00] Summer: Is that the right count for me then? Will I be?

[00:32:03] Summer: Yes, 

[00:32:04] Dana: I think so.

[00:32:05] Summer: okay. Perfect.

[00:32:06] Dana: Girl, don’t ask me about math. I all I know is I have two 

[00:32:11] Summer: Okay. 

[00:32:12] Dana: Um, okay, so again, this one’s very silly, but I feel like everyone has these, and I know like with magic bands, a lot of the concern is them falling off of little kids’ wrists. Mine actually pop off all the time. I do really like magic bands, but I think because I have a toddler who I’m always holding, it pops off like a lot.

[00:32:35] Dana: Like my husband’s looking at me like, so I got those cute little Amazon rubber like reinforcers that, um, they go around both of the bands, so it kind of squishes them together so it can’t pop off.

[00:32:50] Summer: Yes.

[00:32:51] Dana: I love those. They’re very cute. I kind of prefer my Jerry rigged version, which is the clear little like ponytail, rubber bands 

[00:33:02] Summer: Oh yes. 

[00:33:03] Dana: every mom already has somewhere.

[00:33:05] Summer: For bubble braids,

[00:33:06] Summer: those little ones. Okay. 

[00:33:08] Dana: the little clear elastics, you probably have them sitting in the bottom of like a makeup drawer and you only need one. So if you can find one and save yourself the money, but you just fish that through, you know, one side of the band, put it on and then kind of like wrap it tight around. Does that make sense?

[00:33:27] Summer: That’s genius.

[00:33:28] Dana: But I feel like I do that for belts, I do it for that. And then I bought the. You know, the reinforced ones are cute ’cause you can kind of match them to the band. Um, but yeah, I kind of prefer that. I feel like they’re more like secure. So again, silly little trick.

[00:33:45] Summer: But it’s important. My silly little trick is. To re-enroll your big kids into stroller life. We

[00:33:56] Summer: kind of touched on this. already, those five to eight year olds who aren’t using a stroller at home anymore, they are back in for the Disney World trip

[00:34:07] Dana: Guess what? You’re back 

[00:34:09] Summer: you’re back in the club. It keeps your kids so fresh and it gives you like a home base to work out of, which is so grounding during a park day.

[00:34:19] Summer: So we’re on the team of like

[00:34:22] Summer: Disney

[00:34:23] Summer: with a stroller for as

[00:34:24] Summer: long as we can. 

[00:34:25] Dana: can. Yeah. I remember when before we had kids, we were going to Disney, uh, with my niece. She’s in college now, so if you wanna picture like the time difference, I was like very much did not have kids. And she was little and she was getting older and older and we were all like, no. Like she, where are we gonna put our sweatshirts?

[00:34:46] Dana: If she doesn’t have a stroller, and thankfully, I, I had a baby just in time for when, when she grew out of the stroller. ’cause we were like, well no, what are we gonna do?

[00:34:56] Summer: It does feel like, what are we gonna do at this

[00:34:58] Summer: point? Honestly? 

[00:35:00] Dana: I totally agree. And it’s a good reminder that just because your kid, like your daughter, just because they don’t use a stroller at home, because people even think like honestly, most kids could probably walk in the park, I think, because like let’s say an 8-year-old or a 7-year-old, I think they could walk from ride to ride.

[00:35:21] Dana: sit down. ’cause there’s a lot of like sitting down and whatever, but people don’t think about the walk from leaving the park to the bus and then the bus stop to your room. I mean, it is miles and it is not fun. Like there’s nothing entertaining them. They’re not like, like it’s different when you’re in the park and you’re like, oh my gosh, churro.

[00:35:43] Dana: And like, oh my gosh, it’s Mickey. Like they’re not even noticing that they’re walking. But when you’re going home. No, 

[00:35:49] Summer: You’re gonna feel it. 

[00:35:50] Dana: gonna feel it. So better to have it and like, not need it than the other way around.

[00:35:55] Summer: Yeah.

[00:35:56] Dana: Um, my last one, okay, this one really is silly, but we do it all the time and it is if you have little kids who still take a bath and you’re at your resort room, I mean, we do this everywhere.

[00:36:12] Dana: Airbnbs, any type of hotel I. You know, I’m not going to pack bath toys, but when you’re giving a kid a bath, you’re like, what are they gonna play with? I will use the little plastic cups that come with like free in the room 

[00:36:29] Summer: I’ve done that too. 

[00:36:31] Dana: I bet you every mom has like actually done this of, or like the styrofoam, coffee cups, whatever comes free and is not breakable.

[00:36:41] Summer: exactly. 

[00:36:42] Dana: will. Like, just, um, what’s the word I’m looking for? I’ll like scrounge around the whole room and be like, oh, plop this in, plop this in, plop this in. 

[00:36:52] Summer: There you go. 

[00:36:53] Dana: also great for the pool too. If they need little cups, little plastic cups to play with. Keep some entertained for hours.

[00:37:01] Summer: Yes, that is perfect.

[00:37:04] Dana: That’s a very like nineties mom 

[00:37:06] Summer: Oh, we love a nineties mom.

[00:37:08] Dana: love a nineties mom.

[00:37:10] Summer: Um,

[00:37:12] Summer: my last cellular trick is to order, uh, have. Hard boiled eggs or cheese or trail mix, something with protein in your room so that you can eat some protein. This goes hand in hand with the recent episode that you just

[00:37:30] Summer: did. 

[00:37:31] Dana: I was just thinking the same thing, the balancing blood sugar. Yes.

[00:37:34] Summer: yes, I need protein in the morning or else I feel gross. So I like to have some of those options and I just haven’t found a protein bar that I love, so taking recommendations for that. But. Hard boiled eggs or cheese or something before you head to the park, because then you can just grab it and go,

[00:37:55] Dana: I just recently discovered that my 9-year-old really, really, really likes hard boiled eggs. Like I knew she liked them, but I bought like that Costco pack of like hard boiled eggs because. Fun fact, I cannot peel a hard boiled egg. I’ve tried every TikTok 

[00:38:12] Summer: mm-hmm. 

[00:38:13] Dana: If anybody wants me to try something else, I guess I will.

[00:38:16] Dana: But I hate, I hate making hard boiled eggs and I, I love them like egg salad. I will never make, ’cause I can’t make the eggs for it. But she saw them and was like, salivating, like, oh my gosh, can I have one of those? And I’m like, girl. Yes, you can eat as many hard boiled. I’m like, do you want these in your lunch at school?

[00:38:38] Dana: Are you gonna be teased? I don’t know. We’ll find out. But 

[00:38:41] Summer: it’s worth a try. 

[00:38:42] Dana: but I, I said that to my husband. I was like, remind me to Instacart hard-boiled eggs to the room, which is another silly little trick as you can just Instacart whatever you want to your Disney resort. That’s 

[00:38:56] Summer: that’s right. And hard boiled eggs should be on that list.

[00:38:59] Summer: I 

[00:38:59] Dana: hard spoiled, hard boiled eggs are gonna be on the list. so funny. All right, awesome. Thank you so much for doing this with me. This was 

[00:39:10] Summer: for having me, Dana. This was so fun. Do you think the stroller one should be replaced with something littler? That actually is a little more of a trick because the stroller thing is so general. I know.

[00:39:24] Summer: It, it makes, okay.

[00:39:26] Summer: It does 

[00:39:27] Dana: remember because ’cause people don’t bring strollers a lot.

[00:39:31] Summer: I know.

[00:39:32] Dana: And then they end up like renting them from the front of the park and we don’t want that. So that’s totally fine. 

[00:39:37] Summer: Okay. 

[00:39:37] Dana: I’m gonna ask you, where can everyone find you?

[00:39:42] Summer: You can find me on Instagram. My handle is at summer. Makes magic. Um,

[00:39:49] Summer: That’s where 

[00:39:50] Dana: where I’m 

[00:39:51] Summer: I am active the most, like every day

[00:39:53] Summer: pretty much. So I

[00:39:54] Summer: will see you over there.

[00:39:57] Dana: And I will have that linked in the show notes too.