Comments (7)

By Little Mummy, March 24, 2010 12:26 am

Last year I went on a VIP bloggers trip to Disneyworld, Florida. Here are the top tips for parents I picked up during the trip. Feel free to add your own in the comments….

Get Organised

1. Buy tickets in advance, it saves queuing when you get there, same applies for character breakfasts, which may sell out if you don’t book early.

2. Go with an itenerary, it will be invaluable, however basic.

3. Measure your child’s height before you go, that way you’ll know exactly which rides they can go on, you should incorporate this information into your itenerary.

4. Don’t try and do everything, pick parks and attractions that are ideal for the ages of the party and focus on them.

5. Utilise the free maps at the entrance to the parks and the tip boards located around the parks which will advise on wait times.

Getting Around & Beating the Queues

6. Do the opposite to everyonelse to avoid queues and crowds. Start at the back of the park or travel anti-clockwise, except at Epcot’s World Showcase where you should go clockwise!

7. If you can, avoid parks on a Saturday when they are busiest due to locals visiting.

8. Avoid Magic Kingdom on a Monday, most holidaymakers head there at the beginning of their break.

9. Use the complimentary Disney transportation network which includes the monorail, buses and boats.

10. Utilise the fastpass system, always have one valid fastpass at a time to ensure minimum waits.

11. Use the ‘Baby Switch’ service. Parents can take turns on a ride but only queue once. Just ask a cast member.

Health & Safety

13. Don’t forget hats, suncream and comfortable shoes, there’s a lot of walking to be done!

14. If you are staying for a couple of weeks, consider a ‘day on, day off’ routine to give everyone (especially young children) the chance to rest and recuperate. Happy kids = happy parents!

15. Use the baby centres located around the parks, they offer superb changing facilities and lovely rooms to breastfeed, feed toddlers or just take some time out.

Save Money

16. You can hire strollers at Disney World for $15 per day, however if you’re staying for a while a better option may be to pick up a cheap stroller at a nearby supermarket.

17. Pre-order Disney photopass to save $25 and receive free international shipping

18. Share a refillable cup with the whole family, a cup at Typhoon Lagoon is a little more than $10.

19. Take your own snacks to keep you going during the day.

20. Book your stay during a free Disney
Dining period.

21. Visit on your birthday and have your entrance free waived (take proof though!)

More Magic

22. Arrive very early to Magic Kingdom and you may just be asked to open the park! The lucky family gets to ride the train with all the Disney characters.

23. The first person to ask at Tinker Bell’s Treasure’s gets to wave a wand and wake Tinkerbell. They also get a certificate.

24. Sit in the last carriage of the Railroad train and you may get to be the guest conductor.

25. Do the Kidcot stops all around world showcase. Children get a mask to colour and a small symbol from each country to add to their mask, once complete they get a lovely certificate/picture.

26. Photo Pass Tip: Ask for the ‘Tinkerbell Shot’

Comments (2)

By Little Mummy, October 15, 2009 10:30 am

Big news, Disney have announced that they’ll be choosing a town to be twinned with, you’ve guessed it, Walt Disney World, Florida!

The competition is open and we’re expecting a fierce battle (well as fierce as it gets with anything Disney!). It’s up to us to put Scotland on the map, don’t you think it should be a Scottish town that is twinned with the most magical place on earth? The Americans are always telling us that their roots are in Scotland, we’re practically brothers all already, and rumour has it that Mickey Mouse himself has a little Scottish blood in him.

It’s only right that it’s a Scottish town that can proudly display a sign linking them with Disneyworld and one lucky family (the nominees) will be jetting all the way to Florida to attend a special ceremony marking the twinned town status of their homeplace.

Entries can be submitted via this website and you can use photos, poetry, video and any other ways you can think of to back up your claims that your town, city or village is the best ever.

Scotland….our time has come, forget the Battle of Bannockburn it’s history, becoming the twinned city of Disneyworld is here and now, we must battle hard to ensure that we rise above the rest and take this coveted title for ourselves!

Comments (7)

By Little Mummy, May 3, 2009 6:32 am

Can’t believe I’m only writing about arriving and already I’m on my final day, didn’t have chance to do as much blogging as I’d hoped but we did see a lot more of Disneyworld which was the whole point, I’ll probably spread my posts over the next few weeks, until I’m back again, roll on June 18th.

Anyway we arrived at Orlando airport and proceeded to the dreaded check-in, last time I was here I was only seventeen and got a proper grilling from a surly man who must have been over six foot, well they don’t call me littlemummy for no reason, as you can imagine it was pretty intimidating. Completely different experience this time, I was pushed forward to go first by my fellow travellers (seasoned travellers, I might add) a young lady took my documents and asked about my business here in Orlando. I told her I was here for pleasure, after much digging on her part she found out that there were seven of us on a blogging trip to review Walt Disneyworld, she seemed very impressed and I stood being quizzed for about ten minutes on this strange thing I do, oh well, it’s better than being interrogated and asked if I’d been abducted by my boyfriend.

Orlando airport’s like a maze, in our frazzled state it took us a while to negotiate the escalators but we finally found our meeting point, and….there was no one there. My mind began to race, all those jokes about human trafficking came flooding back, oh dear, what have I done, am I destined for a life living at Orlando airport? Like Tom Hanks in Terminal.

Sarah our rep (that makes her sound a bit average, she’s actually Head of PR for UK for Disneyworld Florida and Paris, and a few other things which I can’t remember) met us and loaded us into a van, I might have panicked again here but she seemed nice enough and she has an upper class English accent, she surely doesn’t have a group of heroin addicts lurking around the corner ready to whisk me away to the nearest brothel. No, there are definitely signs for Disneyworld and I’m beginning to recognise things, maybe this magical trip is for real. Awesome! (ahem, well I have been in America for five days!)

We arrive at The Beach Club Resort which is a deluxe resort, that’s five star to you and I. I made this short video to give you an idea of what the rooms are like, I’m slightly hungover so kind of wishing I hadn’t done the running commentary, I hate my voice on these things, oh well, I’ll know for next time…

The Beach Club is located near the boardwalk area, if money were no issue I would definitely stay here again, out of the deluxe resorts I have seen during my stay (Grand Floridian, Yacht Club, Contemporary) I would definitely choose to come back here. It isn’t overly ‘Disney’ and it has a lovely airy holiday feel, the Grand Floridian was even more beautiful but could become a bit pretentious, although if I was getting married a honeymoon there would be amazing (photos of glass carriages coming).

Comments (6)

By Little Mummy, May 2, 2009 2:10 am

Virgin are actually partnering with Walt Disneyworld to bring us mummy bloggers over here so it seems only right to do a full review, arrrgh such a hardship!

I’m not sure how much extra it is to upgrade to premium economy, oh hang on, a good reviewer would check, back in a mo…ok, so it was a much bigger difference than expected;

Price Comparison

1 x Economy Adult Return Ticket Gatwick to Orlando = £398.70

for the same period

1 x Premium Economy Adult Return Ticket Gatwick to Orlando = £883.70

Okaaaay given what I know now, was it good? Yes. Would I pay to upgrade myself? No (well not unless I suddenly got seriously rich). Also don’t understand why Virgin use the term ‘Premium Economy’, to me paying more than 100% more is not economy, I think they need to find a description that better fits the product, also, is it just me or is premium economy not a bit of a contradiction in terms?

Anyway, it was very nice to be upgraded and we were definitely treated to a bit of luxury (something we’ve become accustomed to over the week). I boarded the flight and was shown to a seperate intermediate area between Upper Class and Economy. At first glance I can see that I’m being treated to extra leg room & comfy reclining chair. My seat holds a pillow, blanket & comfort pack. My side table holds a bottle of water and a menu, I love menus!

Barely a few minutes in and I’m being offered a glass of champagne, “excuse me, did you say champagne?”. I settle (haha) for a glass of kahlua and coke, I don’t usually drink, somehow my fellow travellers and rep find that difficult to believe, can’t think why? The air hostess offers me a hot towel, does she realise I haven’t done anything yet? I take it as if it were an every day occurrence, don’t want to look common.

I munch on my complementary pretzels and ponder what to have for lunch. I end up with garden salad, ravioli, this amazing Gu desert and cheese & biscuits (I wasn’t being fat, this was the standard meal). As if that wasn’t enough they came round with after dinner drinks, I had the largest Baileys ever. I’m slightly intoxicated now and worried they’ll send me back to economy for being drunk & disorderly.

Time to relax & recline, my goodness this chair is comfortable, I hope we’re upgraded on the way back!

Comments (5)

By Little Mummy, April 30, 2009 8:42 pm

Cynical Jane is one of the Disney 7 out here with me at the moment, she blogs under the guise of Diary of a Desperate Exmoor Woman. She’s claimed the title cynical Jane as she professes to hate theme parks, I have World Exclusive footage that will rock some of her fans to the core. Please enjoy this 30 second clip, Jane will appear in the last 10 seconds. Brace yourself people….

Comments (2)

By Little Mummy, April 22, 2009 4:50 am

I’ve been asked that quite a bit over the last few days. Along with;

Do you need a travel companion?
Can I come in your suitcase?
Do they need any extras?

and the most popular line…

“I’m going to start blogging”

So how do you land an all expenses paid trip to Walt Disneyworld Orlando?

Well first you need to have a blog and secondly (for this trip anyway) you needed to belong to Think Parents.

And that’s it.

What are you waiting for?

Comments (5)

By Little Mummy, April 17, 2009 11:56 am

The shock of the trip has settled a little, I can believe it’s happening now. The excitement is still coming in waves, but I’m a worrier so those waves are interspersed with worries, like missing my daughter and husband, I realise this sounds a bit wet but I’ll be away for a week when you include the travelling and I know it’s going to be really HARD. On a less dramatic level there are a number of smaller worries, how much money to take?, what clothes to take, purchasing new clothes, organising childcare or specifically who’ll be dropping who off and when…you know all the little bits. Then there’s the silly worries, my thighs looking big in my cozzy and what if nobody likes me, silly I know, there are seven people going at least one will like me

The plans for the trip have shifted up a gear too, we have an itenerary, which will be followed by a more detailed itenerary shortly (the itenerary looks amazing). The flights are booked and I know that I’m flying to Gatwick a week on Monday, I’ll be catching my zzzz’s at the Gatwick Hilton before flying out to Orlando on Tuesday morning.

With so much going on I figured the best thing to do today was eradicate the smaller worries (no, I haven’t had liposuction on my thighs) I headed for the shops, I’ve managed to get everything I need plus I’ve borrowed some stuff, so I’m more relaxed now. I already have dollars in the house as, by some strange coincidence, we are off on a family holiday to Orlando in June! So my plan is to ‘borrow’ (steal) some of my money for that trip in the hopes of replacing it at a later date.

I’ve begun to prepare Erin for my trip, she’s three and only been away from me for 36 hours before, so it’s a pretty big deal. I’ve basically said that Mickey Mouse has been on the phone and needs to see me before we go on holiday. Mickey needs to find out what things Erin likes and he wants to show me stuff that Erin would like. Oh, and he also has a special gift for Erin that I need to collect

I thought it was pretty ingenious, she nodded and agreed and got excited about the gift but I’m not really sure that it sunk in, I guess the reality won’t kick in until I go. I just keep telling myself that she isn’t going to an orphanage for a week, far from it, she has two days with each of the grannies and three days with Dad, and I know she’ll get spoiled, but she’s still my baby, but at least she’s getting to go in 8 weeks, and it’ll be good for her (to be away from me)….won’t it?

Comments (9)

By Little Mummy, April 15, 2009 4:56 pm

Just before our trip to Pitlochry I received an email with the title ‘A Bit of a Random Question’, the email was from a PR company… I receive emails like this fairly regularly, I’ve been lucky enough to receive freebies like books and cosmetics and have even been invited to a cartoon launch and a film premier (unfortunately I was unable to attend either) I love getting these sort of emails they are the bloggers perk, and who doesn’t love receiving freebies?

Anyway, I open the email and am astonished to find that the offer this time was for an all expenses paid trip to Disney. I try to absorb the words on the screen, Disney. all expenses paid, review, press…nope it’s just not sinking in. I dash outside barefoot to my husband who was changing a car tyre…

Me: “You’ll never guess what”

Him: (worried look)

Me: “Don’t worry you’ll never guess anyway. I’ve been offered an all expenses paid trip to Disney”

Him: “What, Disneyland Paris?”

Me: “Oh. Eh” (I dash inside)

Me: “No, Disney in Orlando. Ha, can you believe it”

Him: “Eh. Not Really. Are you gonna go?”

A more sensible discussion ensued, and my husband practically insisted I go, not sure whether to be slightly alarmed at this, but to be honest I hardly took much convincing!

Since then there have been a few emails back and forth and seven British parent bloggers have been confirmed for the trip at the end of this month. Our trip will involve reviewing Walt Disneyworld Resort via our blogs, this will include an account of the trip, photos, videos and some useful info on visiting Walt Disneyworld with the kids. We are awaiting the Disney rep getting in touch and our full itinery, we have a rough idea what’s instore for us but I’ll save that for another post