some ideas from a seasoned (American) traveller

[sjd]

Please note, I am not an expert. Just a mom and a avid traveller. I have been to Disney 7 times and on the Disney Cruise, as well.
My flights, of course are not as long as yours. But some of my lay-overs have been long.
Here in the U.S. we have 'Dollar Stores'. They sell cheap toys. A nice idea is to buy a handful of this stuff and dole it out every one or two hours to the kids. They are getting a new toy and don't seem to mind that is is 'junk' and you don't mind if they lose it. And you don't go broke.
Get your child their own seat on the plane. Babies too. Take the car seat (if FAA approved). It sends the child the message that 'we are in a vehicle' and that they need to stay seated. If you are flying coach, they won't fit rear-facing, but you can install forward. (face it - if you crash, it won't matter what way it was in!)

Rent a car at least the same size as the one at home. Saving a little money to get a smaller car, isn't worth cramming in hot, tired, 'he's touching me' tots.

Do you have Wal-Marts in the U.K.? Great place for stuff you forgot. And wait until you get their to buy most of the diapers. Our generic, store brands work every bit as well as the brand names.
For little ones, bring your own formula. Our requirements are different than yours. Our baby food is probably the same. How different can 'mashed carrots and water' be. We wait until we are at our destination to buy that stuff.

Take your own water into the parks. Refill the bottle. They sell neat straps to 'wear' the water. Disney and Universal have drinking fountains EVERYWHERE. And the ones at Disney are surprising cool. Pop (soft-drinks, soda) is VERY expensive in all the parks.

Consider driving West to Tampa Bay/Clearwater area. The beaches are fabulous and Busch Gardens, Tampa is as beautiful a park as Walt Disney World and is a cross between Animal Kingdom and Epcot.

If you don't have long lay-overs in airports, consider waiting until you get to Florida to buy strollers. You can get a cheap stroller at Wal-mart. Umbrella strollers run around $10.00 Disney strollers are fun, and recently updated (2000) but large and clunky. Some people prefer to bring a wagon (buy at Kmart, Walmart) for toddlers. Not as cheap, but you can load it full. Maybe you can ship it home, too.

Birnbaum's guide to Walt Disney World is the only official guide and I swear by it. I have been using it to orchestrate my trips since 1994 and I still buy the new one each time we go. They annually update it and their advice on times of day to visit attractions is right on the money. They have never done me wrong (no I don't work for them).

I hope I can help even one person. I LOVE central Florida and think it is wonderful so many UKers are travlling so far to see this beautiful area. I hope your vacations are splendid.

Universal is fun if you are movie buffs (American movies, mind you) and Islands of Adventure is truly only for ride-fans. The rides are rough and wooly. Not much for youngsters. Busch Gardens is a nice place for the whole family. Toddlers are often bored-stiff at EPCOT. MGM is a nice cross between Universal and Magic Kingdom. More child friendly than Universal, but not many rides. A lot of fun shows.

I hope you love your time in the US.

Love Stacy
Mother to Nigel and Stewart.

[janny]

Welcome Stacey and thank you for your tips.Yes we do have Wal -Mart over here they have taken over a company called Asda and the U S influence is begining to show.Like you all the owners on this site love Florida and will talk about it 'till the cows come home.

[Daniel Ramsey]

Here is some advice I want to pass along, my wife though ambulatory suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and walking long distances really makes her suffer, we have found that renting a motorized wheelchair or scamps as they are sometimes called makes a big difference. They often have racks that you can keep loose items in, they can go almost everywhere except certain rides.Last time at WDW they rent fo $35 a day. My wife even has the 4 year old on her lap when she gets tired. Another benefit not to take undue advantage of is that you can very well literally pass all those standing in line and enter many shows by the handicapped entrance. My wife is legally handicapped but I have actually seen teenagers on these abusing the system, especially at Disneyland.

Now maybe some people like Orlando water but I refuse to drink or carry it, instead we bring enough "Powerade" in the small bottles with the little drinking nipple on it, it easily fits in my cargo pants, you can buy the same stuff in the parks slightly higher than at the stores, it has glucose and sodium which the body needs to stay properly hydrated. If you are fairskinned I strongly suggest sunblock, wear loose comfortable light colored clothes and good BROKE-IN walking shoes or athletic type of shoes, never wear new shoes unless you can bear the pain, get polypropylene or wicking socks so your feet stay drier, new socks with cushioned soles are best.
Another piece of advice and anybody can do it their own way but I found out real quick that in the parking lots about 95% of the cars are all alike, lots of rentals, same colors. So I made a little flag with some wire on it and attached it to the radio antannae, makes finding the car a whole lot easier.
I always check the weather forecast either on the local TV or on the internet, be prepared to bring a lightweight poncho, they are sold everywhere, fold up to fit in a pocket even.
If you have smaller children make up an idendity tag they can wear, put important information like where you are staying and or cell phone/villa numbers, if possible get a cell phone, I buy mine outright and get a national calling rate, that way I can either call my wife who may be lost:Din another part of the park or I can call/recieve back home 5200 miles away in Alaska. I know it works because we were eating in a resturant at MGM when my stepdaughter called from back home to say the water froze at home, it was only -25 there[:0].
I have bought with mixed results the very small FRS trancievers, they work fair but have little range, last I saw they can be bought two for $50USD at Wal-Mart.

[Amirah]

I have the Birnbaum's 2003 Official Disney book too and I agree that it is awesome. I've been planning and researching my trip to WDW since November with it. Good job Birnbaum's!

Dollar Stores are neat, huh? I find myself overspending when I go into them.

I heard Tampa was nice as well as Palm Beach. Do you guys ever get tired of Disney? I have friends who are totally out of it and are starting to vacation as far away from Florida as possible. :D I've never been.

[Daniel Ramsey]

After 12 straight days of Mickey Mouse I felt like changing careers and becoming a rodent exterminator!:D
That was two years ago and our first family visit from Alaska to Orlando, we visited Disney only because it was so big and two weeks was our alotted time, now this upcoming january I have booked 4 weeks for Orlando, more time to rest, more time to be diverse and see the other parks, unfortunately my wife is married to her job while mine is seasonal so she is even saying there may be a chance she may not get vacation time at all because she must use her time before the end of the year and even getting two weeks off was a struggle as she is a fast food resturant store manager.

No problemo for me, more time to share with my son :) and he doesn't see me much when I do work cause my season normally is 6 days a week with 10-12 hour days. My priority must see sights are Sea World, Disney and other water parks, Universal and hopefully a day at Kennedy Space Center. We didn't have time for these other places.

I think Disney parks are of higher quality, usually are cleaner though they have not had any major changes in years except the upcoming Mission:Space at EPCOT.

[steph_goodrum]

Daniel
Kepp a look out for the Sea world fun passes if they do them next year. I must sound like a broken record to those that have been here for a while.:D
This years pass is $49.95 + tax online and it gives unlimited admission till the end of the year, when you consider the gate price of 1 day is $48.95 (although they have always given you a 2nd day free in the years we've been going) you can see what good value it is and means you can spend a couple of hours at a time rather than the whole day, (you have to pay for parking ).
I'm not sure how old your son is but he may like the Vans skate park at the top of International Drive www.vans.com/skateboard
You sound like you might like the Outdoor World store not too far from there as well, lots of hunting/fishing/shooting/camping supplies etc.

[Daniel Ramsey]

My son will be 10 in january, he is not much into sports and neither am I, we love the sci-fi stuff like Star Wars, he is terrified of the big rollercoasters but I think for a surprise birthday present I'm gonna try and get the NASA tour. He is totally into the space shuttle. Its almost becoming a problem that my wife may not be allowed to take time off to join us, my dad never had time from his work to spend liesure time with me when I was young so I hope this means a lot to my boy. He is my only son and probably the only child I will have as wife says no more, health issues you know.
Me I have always been the adventurer, have traveled all over the USA working all kinds of interesting exciting jobs, its a good possibility I may seek work at Disney as some form of engineer or maintenance position, was actually offered a position two years ago to work on the steam locomotives, I know all about them as train collecting is my hobby plus I have 30 years background repairing heavy equipment. Only problem was is the low pay scale at Disney, people there for 5 years employment make a minimal wage that is less than a fast food worker here in Alaska. Course a specialty trade is different and I have many, one being a seasoned concrete mixer driver, they are always in demand and here in Alaska make over $26 an hour.Part of my job is hiring and teaching drivers, its a very demanding job in Alaska, especially when its -20 in the winter and we drive the trucks on the ice roads, sometimes many construction jopbs go well into the winter, concrete is pumped into heated buildings in winter usually.

I guess I'm rambling:) just a slow morning on my other discussion boards.

[steph_goodrum]

With the amount of construction work going on in Florida Daniel you could probably make a decent living down there. Who knows the sun might help your wifes health problems. :)
If oyu do go on your own and fancy a break I think there might be some sort of day camp for your son at Nasa, I'm sure I've seen it somewhere, a shortened version of space camp. I'm sure he'll love it anyway. My brother would spend his whole holiday at Kennedy if he could, he's a nuclear physicist and works in the space science dept at one of our local universities , so consequently has quite a lot of contact with Nasa and Esa on research projects as they have one of the few gas guns and accelerators which are available in the country. We're waiting for next March when the Cassini module reaches Saturn, it seems almost incredible but we went to Florida to watch its' launch in 1997 (October), it should be or may have recently orbited Saturns moon Titan. What is staggering is that the prediction is that having taken 7 years to reach Saturn that the batteries will last for about 15 minutes to send back data.
I'll see if I can find any of the other details for you. Pretty quiet here too as you can tell.

[Daniel Ramsey]

Atually a person with MS can develope worsening symptons in direct sunlight, my wife wears a hat at the parks, plus side of living in Alaska is even though we may get 20+ hours of daylight in the summer its not an intense sunlight because of our latitude, not easy to get sunburnt here though it can happen on or near the water.

Well I am 46, been to a lot of places, done many different jobs, still healthy in most respects and used to working in harsh arctic conditions. Only places I hated though were hot humid parts of the country so unless I was working at night or inside getting a job in Florida would have to be specific, more of a retirement type of job, I want to stay busy and have an interesting job while not stressing myself, I noticed a lot of retirement aged workers or cast members as they are reffered as to at WDW. Just have to go and see, its a future plan to live in Alaska say from may to oct. and snowbird to Fla in the remaining months. I'm still too young and not that prosperous to totally retire yet:)

[steph_goodrum]

I didn't realise it was ms your wife suffers from , I know the heat can aggravate it, my friend had to move home from South Africa as it was too much for her there. As you say Snowbirding would be ideal then for you, maybe you could get a seasonal job over the winter holiday with disney to keep the dollars coming in while you were there.

[Daniel Ramsey]

Its really more of having a job of interest instead of being a worker drone. I could never just sit around growing old, fishing, playing golf, would drive me insane. In my off season in Alaska while at home for about 3-4 months in the winter I keep myself busy, I build models of tanks, motorcycles, planes or trains, one year I designed an efficient and compact LED flashlight and sold hundreds over the internet, I even sold some to the UK. I am a fabricator and a mechanical genius:D so I crave exciting jobs of a challenging nature. Like what I am currently doing in Alaska I have been designing a concrete batching plant, we could buy a complete plant but the costs would triple just shipping it up here, so we pretty much build from scratch. So I must set up older worn equipment like 480 volt 125 horsepower electric motors with all the wiring, motor controls and integrate this into modern computer controlled systems. Just in the last couple of days I am having to rebuild some 60 year old equipment that makes concrete block, and yesterday one of our bigger bucket loaders had a disatrous event just after I completely rebuilt the huge engine, the owners son overrevved the engine and it appears to have broken a connection rod or cylinder liner, now I am taking it out again to see what the damage is, working in Alaska is a real challenge in so many ways, often we must rebuild over and over the same equipment, parts are expensive or hard to find.

The type of work I really crave is problematic designing or engineering, I fixed problems and got a sound dampening wall made from recycled ground up tires used along our highways years ago at one job, often I move on only because I get bored. Only interest of working in Orlando would be if I could be on a team building new rides or attractions, looks like it would be a good challenge.

[steph_goodrum]

Well you've got nothing to lose by asking them Daniel, especially as you could work on designs at home and discuss them online instead of relocating permanently. Maybe if you come up with an idea they might consider it, I'm sure they must pay their full time designers quite well to keep up the challenge of something innovative, and may look for outside inspiration. Even better for them if you can recycle some of the existing rides to keep cost down.:)

[Daniel Ramsey]

I have been doing that very thing, making suggestions to Disney for years! There is numerous discussion boards of Disney news, trip planning, rumors and even imagineering. I will post some links if anybody is interested.

[steph_goodrum]

thanks Daniel
You've got us sussed pretty well haven't you, if it's to do with Florida, Disney etc, we're always interested, I'm going to have a read of some of those later.

[Daniel Ramsey]

I have many other Disney and Orlando related websites of information that I have used over the years, keeps me abreast of planning a family travel event efficiently, in searching the trip reports I found information that gave us better advantage of enjoying our stay such as Orlando Villas, it was posted with positive reviews and so I decided to book a villa. Also changed our plans when events such of after 9/11 allowed me to book a 3bd. villa for $66 a night and recieve an extra complimetary ticket from the airlines.
Often the official Disney website limits the information sent out as their goal is to get the guests (us) to stay at their resort and eat at their resturants. And I saved money in other areas like instead of paying for a 14 day Park Hopper it was cheaper to buy the Annual Pass, which if you were to visit again in Orlando whithin a year its still good.
Also you can get better ideas of current and future closures of rides, when they are open and even the best time of the day or week to enjoy them. Here is a few more links for info.