My favorite posts on this thread were from people who got back and said what worked for them and what didn't. So here goes:
What worked:
-#1 LOVED hint I picked up here... packing big rubbermaid boxes instead of suitcases... we packed one underbed box (about 18" by 36") per adult and one shared one for my little girls (5 and 8). We packed one empty box just in case, and didn't need it. We also took 3 deep boxes (about 18x18x24ish) with our food, our sundries, and our "swag". Everthing fit just right and so neatly in the way-back area of our minivan, leaving room for our cooler in the third-row seat and the stow-and-goes empty for the busy boxes and snuggies and and and... and we'll be using this for every trip anywhere from now on...
#2 best hint, the one about the free ice water... we did this A LOT... we did this for lunch the first day, five cups of ice water at Pecos Bill, totally free, huge, tasted fine, that's $15 I didn't have to spend on drinks! It was about a kajillion degrees there last week, and with all that free ice water, not a single person got dehydrated. Later got some ice water that tasted funky at a drink stand, and added one of those flavor packets y'all told me about... DH LOVED it, and he HATES all things "cheap". Nobody looked at us funny or gave us any attitude at all, and I passed the advice on to another family at MK who was trying to figure out if they could afford to buy a bottle of water... they were so happy!
-The pennies and quarters for the penny press machines in the m&m's tube. This was fantastic. Those machines are EVERYWHERE, and $.51 cents in the penny machine here and there distracted DDs from many, many more expensive souvenirs.
- The granny fanny pack... ugly but SO practical. I may have to actually get a decent one for the future...
- ziplock baggies. It was raining cats and dogs last week. We had spare outfits in ziplocks, the autograph books in ziplocks, and, guess what? My cellphone is a perfect fit in the snack-sized bags and the touch-screen still worked just fine through the plastic. It was awesome not having to worry about my phone getting ruined in the downpour!
- A lanyard with a badge holder on it. It held all our tickets and fastpasses and photopass where I could get to them easily, and the plastic kept the fastpasses plenty dry, nothing fell out (some people report problems, but I guess I got lucky with a good little plastic holder thingie)
-We ate breakfast every day at our condo, but who likes to cook on vacation? In addition to dry cereal, etc, I made up mickey-shaped pancakes, crown-shaped french-toast, pre-cooked bacon, muffins, even carved scrapple and pressed sausage into mickey shapes and brought it all pre-cooked and frozen... we brought one of those flat electric skillets along for our eggs, and the rest of it just went into the microwave as needed. It was no trouble at all, and it probably saved us hundreds (but more importantly HOURS) on eating out for breakfast every day.
-A little first aid bag to take with us into the parks. Our bag was a wrist-purse filled with snack-size ziplocks... I went through tylenol and motrin like candy the whole time, and we used a fair number of band-aids, too. DH used one piece of moleskin the first day, and I used two more to patch up a foreigner in line whose heels were a raw, red mess.
- And a double stroller for a five and eight year old. DD8 is special-needs, and we used the stoller as a wheelchair (ie-we could bring it through the lines). Even if we hadn't been able to take it in the lines, it was great for hanging the bags and things on, and the girls did much better in the parks because they could take a break whenever they needed to. We saved $31/day by pulling out our old twin stroller for one last hurrah, and when the trip was over, we tossed it, leaving more room in the car for other things. (And I cried, because it was the official proof that my babies are not "babies" any more...)
What we didn't use/what didn't work so well:
- All those extra glow bracelets. My little girl had dozens and wanted to give them away, but people looked at us like we were insane. (which we are, but still...)
- The cheap dollar store ponchos... I packed 8 and still ended up buying ponchos at the parks. The cheap ones are really only good for single-use, and the rain was so off-and-on we went through them all in two days. Also, both the cheap ones and the park ones are not very long, so your legs still get wet. I'd say a best bet would be to buy something long and sturdy from some place like walmart in the camping/fishing section, save your receipt, and if you end up not needing it, you can always just return it. FYI, the ponchos were $7/kids, $8/adults in the parks, just so you can benchmark whether it's worth it for you to pack your own.
Something new I saw while I was there:
In a very practical ARK (act of random kindness), someone left a little pile of pennies on top of one of the penny presses at Pizza Planet in DHS. Think about it, the giver lightened his/her pockets of 10 or 15 pennies, and the person who wants to press a penny but only has "silver" in their pockets can use them. I imagine it was probably a foreigner who knew they would be unable to exchange loose pennies back to their native currency very easily.
Hope this helps!
Anyway, here is something that has been a lifesaver for me- especially when traveling with a little one:
They look great and I want to try them out.
. Wet Ones have come in handy too. A sudden nose bleed because of the heat, sticky hands, sweaty faces.....just so many uses.
