SproutMamaK
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Posts posted by SproutMamaK
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The Mine Train CAN be gotten on quickly if you get to the park at rope drop and go straight back and go on that first. Anything beyond that will be an issue, even in November, unless you mind waiting 90 minutes for a 2 minute ride.
I would still plan your fast passes.
Now that my kids are older, we use the single rider option for rides that offer it. It really helps.
Excellent, thank you for this. Hopefully if I can't convince them to do FastPasses, I can at least get them out the door to try this for the more popular rides and then they can try their luck with the rest of them.
Is there a list anywhere of rides that have a single rider option?
My kids are 12, 11, 8, 2, and (will be) just under a year. It's a pretty big range as far as ride planning goes, which makes things tricky; waiting in line for 2 hours with a 2 year old who won't even get to go on the ride does NOT a good time make.
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Okay, a couple specifics.
We're going on a two week trip. We have 8 day passes, including Park Hopper and waterpark. The first week (Tuesday - Tuesday) we'll be with my extended family. My extended family, for goodness knows what reason, does NOT want to plan ahead much. I think they want the flexibility of deciding whether to stay at the house, explore Orlando, or go to the parks every day. (The rest of the family only have 3 day passes.) I can come up with a rough plan for exploring each of the main parks with them, but I can't book any Fastpasses since they won't commit to dates. This is going to be in the first week of November, so I'm hoping the parks will be slow enough that the lines aren't TOO huge.The second week (Wednesday - Wednesday), it's just me, DH, and the kids. I'd like to plan ahead of time, including FastPasses. Since we're staying off-site, we can only book 30 days in advance, so we'll likely have problems getting the more popular rides anyway. (The only one we'd really care about is the mine cart, the boys don't care much about Frozen.)
So, with all that info... I keep hearing that Disney goes SO much smoother if you plan it out. How, exactly, do you plan it out? Do I get a map of the parks and plan which rides we'll be going on at approximately what times, where we stop for lunch, in accordance to where we were are in the park, etc? How do you plan effectively if you don't know how long the wait times will be? Is there something else I should be doing to plan? Any help is appreciated! I feel like I have to pick up the slack for the rest of the family on this, since they don't quite seem to get how crazy it may be. (They went when I was 3 and my parents are expecting things to be pretty much the same. Uh... I don't think it's quite the same anymore! lol) Also, any suggestions to make long wait times easier for the kids? I was thinking of packing them bags or backpacks with stuff they could do while waiting so they don't go stir-crazy. Is it possible for one parent to hold a spot in line for the whole family so they can run around playing the interactive games while one of us goes with them and one waits? Are there any other options to help with lines?
Any helpful info is appreciated!-
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Legoland on certain days is $12.50 for students and $25 per adult for homeschoolers! I bet your kids would love it.
Here is the calendar:
LOTS of early September dates.
Just know you do need to book 2 weeks in advance online but you don't have to pay until you go collect your tickets at the ticket booth. We booked but had to cancel last min. and weren't charged.
Thank you so much for posting this! We'd considered Legoland when we go down but there's no way we could have afforded it... with these prices, we can absolutely go for a day! :)
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As others said, there's not too much that can help; it's mostly just time. Aside from that, I agree that a week isn't long enough for meals. A month would be way better, and even then it's hard to get back up to making meals. Aside from that, a gift certificate to a local coffee or dessert place so she can get out and have some time and space away from home if she needs it. A standing invitation to go out with her if she needs someone to talk to. NOT avoiding the topic, but also not pushing it; let her bring it up, and if she wants to talk about it, she will. And oddly, don't try to make her feel better. Nothing will make this better, but having someone who is willing to accept your grief without trying to fix it is nice. Prepare ahead of time for how you'll respond if/when she starts crying. I think the appropriate response will be individual depending on the woman, but if you expect it ahead of time and are prepared to respond well, it'll make sure you don't run in to that awkward "oh crap she's crying what do I do now we both feel awkward" thing. ;)
But really... not much helps. Grief i something that takes time and lots of space to work through. She may push everyone away for a while, and that's okay. It's just what she needs to keep going. Keep offering help, bring meals, but try not to push too hard; when she's ready, she'll open up to those who she feels can be supportive and helpful.-
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So your health care system includes a gym membership for all citizens? :lol:
#demabsdoe
Yep.
They make us shovel our own driveways in the winter. #SameDifference
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True. I think they don't know that while he's nice enough looking, he's still just in the average range for Canadian men.
You REALLY want Katie to hop on that plane to Canada, don't you? ;) I feel like you're betraying us here, the sexy men were supposed to be a well-kept secret as a reward for getting through the winters!
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It's not under 70F here. Now, admittedly, I'm not *in* Canada, but I'm close enough I could walk to Canada. It's been in the 80s for the past few weeks, with only the occasional day in the high 70s.
Checked our forecast for the week, we're in the mid-30s this week, feeling like the low/mid-40s. :/ Time to go do some conversions, lol...
According to google's calculator, because I am too lazy to do my own darn math, this week we're sitting at around 92, with humidity feeling like 109. Not sure what temps are like in Florida right now, though I'm assuming they would be higher than that... but we're not exactly shovelling snow up here. ;)
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Just gonna add this to the "Meanwhile In Canada" heading... a woman sees a man on the street. Tall, bloody face, holding a gun. She actually approaches him to ask if he's okay [insert jaw drop here] and he refuses to answer. She calls the police.
... it was a mannequin of Arnold Schwarzenegger dressed like the Terminator, outside a video store. :lol:-
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One thing to consider. You can turn your 3 day pass in by the last day and get full credit for an annual pass. We did that and spaced our trips out to be almost a year later, but not having to pay again.
Current pass with block out dates is $260.
Wow, thank you so much for posting this! We're also going for 3 days (in November) and I had no idea this was an option. I highly doubt we'll make use of it, being from Canada, but... I could picture DH and I finding sitters for a weekend and taking a spontaneous trip down if we could find cheap flights. Oooooh now you've got me planning....
Edit: does anyone know if there's a similar option at Disney?
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Libertarians are known for being socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Libertarians take ideas from both sides and smoosh them together.
I wonder how exactly the opposite combo would go over in the US? Socially conservative, fiscally liberal with an emphasis on social programs. I can imagine the evangelical right getting strongly behind that, but they've been fed fiscally conservative propaganda mixed with religion for so long that I'm not sure the religious right as a whole could separate the two anymore. No offense to the right (since I'm generally a part of it); just trying to imagine how that sort of a party would go over with the people I know.
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HELL. NO. Trust your gut on this one, I cannot imagine how much damage something like that could do to those poor boys. How in the world does a PSYCHOLOGIST think doing that to ANY child, let alone kids with a history of trauma, is a good idea?! It hurts my heart to imagine that she's probably done this to traumatized children before, and what it may have done to them.
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Just want to make sure you know Charlotte is a long way from I-95--as in a good 2+ hours away (and if anyone is looking for that Great Wolf Lodge online, it's technically in Concord rather than Charlotte)
Ah, thank you! I remembered our path took us quite close to GWL, but turns out our route goes down I-77 and doesn't hook up with I-95 until closer to Charleston. In other words, OP, please ignore anything I have to say, apparently I can't keep a map in my head. ;)
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The US election has me wishing I could vote, and I'm Canadian. :lol: Neither are great options that I could get whole-heartedly behind, but one is in a "I really do not trust this person" kind of way, and the other is in a "It doesn't even matter that I'm not American because this person could literally blow up half the world" kind of way. I'll take misgivings over the apocalypse any day.
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We do, but mostly because we have a local store that sell very cheap, frozen, pre-chopped veggies. When I'm browning the meat I literally just reach into the freezer, grab a handful of onion, diced, mushrooms and peppers, a spoon of pre-diced garlic, and I'm done. They even have a pre-diced "omelette and seasoning mix" that's an even mix of onions, red and green peppers, mushroom, and chopped spinach. If I had to do all that myself, I probably wouldn't bother for a lazy pasta kind of dinner, but if I'm already cooking meat and I just have to dump a handful of stuff in it... that's the kind of cooking I can manage. ;)
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We're doing a similar trip later this year. We have kids that would go nuts being a vehicle like that, so we're planning to stop at Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte around dinner time. They'll get a couple hours in the waterpark, then head to the arcade and play some Magiquest, and be exhausted for the rest of the trip the next day.
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Harnesses are good! Judgy MdJudgersons are bad. If it helps you get out of the house and active with the kids while keeping them safe, it's a good thing no matter what random people on the street think.
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Met at 18/24, married at 20/26, kids at 22/28. No regrets. I was immature, but time wouldn't have helped; the maturity I needed came from being married and living/experiencing adult life with my DH, so even if we'd waited longer it wouldn't have made a difference.
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They gave a FIVE and SEVEN year old a TWO HOUR TEST, while separated from their mother?! Holy cow. Aside from how they performed, that's just insane! About the only thing a five year old can do for two hours is sleep. Mine couldn't even focus on things they ENJOYED for more than half an hour at that age. If the rest of the school is like this, I think the writing's on the wall.
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Yes. My sister is one of my best friends, if not the person I'm closest to (aside from DH of course). My brother and I are close, but not "best friend" close.
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Just hoping you're holding up okay and that your eye doctor gave you the all clear to go be with your DH.
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I just want to know where people are finding houses that they can rent out for more than the cost of the mortgage! I mean... if renting costs more than buying, why rent? Up here renting is substantially less than buying, and usually done with the intent of saving up to buy. Maybe it's the location? Most rentals here are units in apartment buildings.
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Yes, it's normal. And healthy, although it feels devastating. Can I give you some advice? When these memories and bits of him strike you over the next few weeks, write them down in a special book. These little details are the things that make people feel real and human, and someday these little pieces of him will be so valuable for your children. They might not know or remember all these things themselves, but someday when they wonder about him, you can look and say "well here are some stories about what his life was like...." My Mom and Dad this for me about my grandmothers (they all passed either before I was born or when I was young), and I wish they'd done it for my grandfathers as well. And on the days when you or DH miss him and you feel lie you need a good cry, reading over these things and remembering them can be very cathartic.
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Aimee, I'm so sorry.
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I think frequenting strip clubs probably runs the social gamut, although men who are better off financially probably frequent different clubs than blue-collar men. There's money to be made and I'm sure there are ways to make even stripping feel classy and expensive.
If my husband went one, all hell would break loose. It would be a BIG FREAKING DEAL and divorce would not be off the table. Not because it's a one-off thing, but there's a history with sexual struggles that I am not willing to battle through with him again, and he is well aware of it. If he were at a bachelor party where one came out, he would leave (although anyone close enough to invite him would either not have a striper or know that he would leave when the stripper came out, so hopefully no offense would be taken).If my kids went to one, we'd have a serious conversation. We've already HAD the beginnings of such conversations with them, becaue it's time to start sooner rather than later with teaching them to see how society tries to tell men that women are a consumable product. I would not support someone under my roof who was taking the money they were saving by not paying rent and using it to go see strippers. Ie, if they did not agree to stop immediately they would be kicked out.
I'm sure some people see that as overly harsh but as the person who's had to bear the damage done by crap like that I have zero tolerance for it.-
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Yet another Disney thread: HOW do I plan my days?
in The Chat Board
Posted · Edited by SproutMamaK
Yes, my boys do have autism. My concern with disability passes is... does it apply for everyone? If my older two boys get passes for a particular time, does my younger boy have to wait in line while the older two are going around the rest of the park? Or does a disability pass apply to the whole group? Proving their autism shouldn't be an issue; we're got forms and certificates, etc, coming out of our ears. :p Plus, if they have to wait to talk to someone to "prove" it, it'll become fairly obvious. ;) I'm not too worried about the boys getting bored if they can walk around while they wait; they would LOVE the interactive games in the various parks, and they're the types to just watch and take it all in, as long as the scenery changes.
Touringplans and easywdw sound great! I think I'll use a combo of those; use particular parks on the days recommended by easywdw and the general order to rides, and then use touringplans to help us plan out things in more details. Of course, if we get a disability pass that may change our plans significantly.
Re: parent swap with kids that are too young to ride... do you need to sign up for that? Or is it just that they see you in line with young kids and let you trade off?
Stacey, I may PM you in a few days. I'm going to sort through all the websites and plans and try to wrap my head around all the info and then I'll get in touch when I have a clue what I'm talking about, lol. Right now I feel like I don't even now what questions to ask, there's just SO. MUCH. INFO.