Originally Posted By joeysmommy Wow! $400 and $500 per person! I guess I shouldn't complain about the cost of airfare. I suggested driving to my husband but he said "no way!" We live in the SF Bay Area so it's about a 6-7 hr drive (depending on how fast you drive and how many potty breaks). Since we have to get to the airport 2 hours before our flight, get our luggage, wait for the shuttle etc. it's about the same amount of time. We'll leave our house for the airport around 4:30am and finally get to DL around 10 am. How are your little ones with that much driving? We drive to Lake Tahoe a few times a year and that 4 hour drive is about their maximum. We're lucky if they nap for 1 hour.
Originally Posted By mamacita joeysmommy- they are Dash pajamas not pins but I have found really inexpensive tradable pins on ebay.
Originally Posted By joeysmommy mamacita-sorry, just reread your post. My eyes wanted it to say pins. I've got trading pins on the brain right now.
Originally Posted By BoyStory Oh my goodness, let's see I have 5 boys ages 1 1/2 -12..... I sometimes pack little surpises for them too- without having to pay DL prices. I echo what a pp said about the $ store. I can often find light-up toys like flashing balls and glowing neclaces for night time. I've also found solid chocolate Mickey's at the $-store, which also proved to be a great suprise treat. Disney toothbrushes are a nice touch too. Wal*Mart (aka "the Evil Empire" also sells "Cars" fruit (gummy) candy and once- several years ago-I found Mickey lolly-pops there. For larger items to pack as "Disney souvineers", I often shop the Disney Character Wherehouses that come to the B.A.- though I have yet to be impressed with thier prices/stock lately. I can say none of my boys really "expect" anything extra on our trips b/c we typcially do Disney on a budget- but the little suprises are FUN for mom to buy for ahead of time and are always appreciated by the boys.
Originally Posted By ImTinkerbellsfan The cars are Chevron cars so you can get them at the Park and at any Chevron. But I think Disneyland has some exclusive ones that are not available at the Chevron gas stations.
Originally Posted By markedward <They are both, not very adventursome, lets say> oneroberta, if your boys aren't very adventurous, you'll need to keep a very open mind about what they do at Disneyland. In my experience, the Fantasyland dark rides are not the big hit with kids that adults expect them to be. The outdoor kids' attractions are a lot less intimidating for little ones than the dark rides. I'm liking the ideas for little something specials.
Originally Posted By fidoprincess markedward is right! You need to be very flexible but one of the nicest things about DL, is that the adults can ride anything with their kids. Some places, just the kids can ride on the "kiddie" rides but we found at DL, the kids are more likely to be brave and ride something because mom and dad are on it with them. Pick and choose carefully your first few attractions like maybe Casey Jr Train and Dumbo and work your way up to Alice and Peter Pan. Trust them when they say no! My dd who is 6 now did not want to ride Pirates but had been on it many times before so I didn't really believe her and we ended up waiting in line, walking into the boat and walking right off-lol while dad and ds went. That was a first but you can always do stroller pass if one child wants to go or even if just the adults want to go on something so you are not missing out. As for tink toys, yep this will be my 11th year doing it-lol! I have a boy and a girl so here are some of my tink tips for boys; play sets-there are so so many now, little plastic characters like pirates, nemo etc that you can find everywhere from the Disney Store to Kmart. They play with them, set up the scenes and really have fun in the morning while you are showering and dressing. We also do "themes": first night-pjs and a stuffed animal to match, next day some snacks and maybe a stitch shirt to do Lilo and Stitch Breakfast, seeing pooh and getting pictures, get a pooh shirt, pooh beanie and a pooh lollipop, on our late nights, give dollar store glow stuff, they love these because you can make all different configurations with the different pieces and connector like funny big glasses. There is a long big black pack that is the best, has 2 necklaces and 3 bracelets. The short packs are not as good. Depending on your budget and the time of year, we have also done the Disney monopoly and trivia games. Not cheap but on off season when the park closes early, they love to play these in the evening. The Disney store often has decks of cards too. I also have found great deals on clothes at the Disney Store too. When we go in the winter, tink always brings a sweatshirt and sometimes matching sweatspants for the cold eves, hat, scarf and gloves! I paid $2.99 for the hat scarf and gloves and was thrilled plus they are good for more then just DL. In the long run, the stuffed animals and the clothes are what last long after the trips! Yes, they have even gotten raincoats from tink and as long as it is paired with a lollipop, it is great! I have to say though never bring a tv as a gift-lol! Esp. a big one as the bellhop is not thrilled to "sneak" up a tv on his cart! Hard to hide on the trip and a pitb! But tink has also given a scooter with helmet and dd rode it all up and down the hall at the DLH and had the best time ever! Great to practice on carpet and didn't make any noise at all! It folded up so was easy to transport. On the last night, tink always brings a new Disney DVD to watch on the car ride home. (Costco is great for these!) Some snacks tink gives are usually individual packages of teddy grahams, pretzles, Mickey lollipops from the Disney store, sometimes they even have "push up kind" which are great because they close up into a small box and can be saved until after the ride if started in line. Tink is really getting frugal too giving them prepackages cereal in the little bowls they can eat in the morning while playing with their new toys-lol. They don't get that junky cereal at home so it is a treat to them!
Originally Posted By oneroberta WOW!!! You guys are amazing!!! What great ideas... I have 166 more days and I am outta control!!! I have 176 open bids on ebay trying to win pins for trading, for my boys, I also got them matching Mickey & Pluto jammies and buzz light year jammies (one is shorts one is long pants)... Them I got winnie the pooh and princess aqua doodle mats ( my boys like princesses too) I also got them all the Disney cars diecast... I am so excited over all the fun ideas youve posted... fidoprincess> You crack me up a TV, A scooter.... great idea for the push pops. I was looking for one of those plug n play Disney video games. My boys dont have video games so this will be a treat.... ANYWAYS KEEP THE IDEAS COMING!!!!
Originally Posted By oneroberta markedward> You are so right.. I am traveling alone with my 2 boys and i know that the DL I know and love will be very different..But I have waited my entire life to bring my children to DL and I cant wait to see the magic thru thier eyes .. Thier idea of fun will be throwing money into snow whites wishing well... We may only go on the trains and small world and I'm okay with that... I know there is so much to see and I know that they tire easily..that is why we have a 5 day PH for 7 days at the Hotel... I just want happy boys ...our trip doesnt need to be productive, nor busy, just happy.... I hope I remember all this when I'm there...
Originally Posted By joeysmommy oneroberta- where did you get the plug in video games?? Do DLH have the audio video plug to use them? Great idea! They can do that while I get ready in the a.m. I agree with you, it's going to be hard to not do DL the way you are used to. I also have been looking soo forward to taking my kids to DL ever since I was a kid!
Originally Posted By atinkfan Joeysmommy, We have those plug in video games too. I've seen them at Target, Kmart and Wal-Mart for between $15 - $20. They are typically over in the toy section, not with the other electronic video games, like the Gameboys, X-Box, etc. They are great! I love them because it's a joystick control with buttons and it has 2 cables that you plug into the audio and video input of the TV. So it's its own game all in one and you can take it anywhere! Most newer TV's have them on the front of the TV's. Sometimes we have had to plug it into a DVD player or VCR and then with the remote you switch the line input (from either the TV, DVD, or the "other" line which is what you want for this). In fact, oneroberta, thank you for mentioning that. I'm going to stick ours in as I'm packing for our trip this weekend! I would not have thought to bring them!!!!
Originally Posted By atinkfan ^^^ I forgot to mention that they are called Plug N Play video games. They are a great starter system for younger kids before you make the high dollar committment to Playstation or X-Box or whatever.
Originally Posted By mamacita fidoprincess, I love the idea of themed days. I am going to have to copy that!
Originally Posted By fidoprincess mamacita, after doing this for more than 10 years, usually 2 trips per year, I had to get creative-lol. Some of the stuff gets old after a while too which is why I tend to get more and more clothing as the years go by. They love getting a new Disney shirt to wear that day as long as it is paired with a lollipop or some other treat. We usually have some type of "daily plan" so it is fairly easy to set up the themes. One year when ds was younger, we knew the day we planned to ride Soaring so the night before he got flying toys. You don't always have to stick to Disney toys if you can plan out a little. We always make PS for dining, so that really makes it easy-pirate stuff for the day we do BB for example. If I didn't mention this before, I pack all the tink gifts in one suitcase and keep it in the closet. Each night after they are asleep, I get it out and set it up really cute so it is the first thing they see when they wake up! Then the empty suitcase brings home the dirty clothes! One other tip, around 6-7 years old, ds started noticing the stuffed animals said "Disney Store" so we told the kids that Tink can shop anywhere she wants, she can fly all around and pick the best of everything, even the lego store or the book store! Books are great if your child is a reader esp. if your trip is longer and there is time. Our last trip in June, DS got a book every night. He actually took them into the park to read waiting in line!! Much better than a toy IMHO but he is older too.
Originally Posted By imwithGoofy I have been doing this with my daughter since she first went when she was 6 months old. She is now a teenager. She loves her "Mickey" gifts. I still have to do the trinker shopping for this trip. Nowdays, I too have to get creative. I typically get her some kind of glowing necklace, pins for trading, Mickey jewelry of some kind, etc. Things a teenager would get into. And yes, she still gets a new plush to cuddle with at night...some things little girls NEVER grow out of! The other fun thing we do as a family...is that one day we ALL (hubby included) wear matching outfits. We just keep it simple for hubby to get him to go along with it. This year's outfit will be Levis and matching red Mickey Mouse logo polo shirts to take a family photo in. Although, even though she is a teen, she still does the Mommie & Me matching outfits the rest of the trip with me! LOL..I have to say I love it! My daughter and I are extremely close and I know she is too old for this, but she says she still likes to do it (yeah, because her friends aren't there) and I'll take it while I can! I got a couple of really cute matching items from the outlet part of disneyshopping.com. Great deals! Just another suggestion for family bonding!
Originally Posted By DlandDug Saw this title and couldn't understand why a discussion of puberty was in trip planning... My bad. I love taking friends and their kids into Disneyland for their first trip. All the suggestions here are so good. Here are a couple I have done. Mouse Ear hats with names already embroidered. This, of course, requires getting over to the Park first, or setting up with someone to get them ahead of time. I greeted a family at the airport with them. Customized cards for pin lanyards. There is a clip at the end of the pin lanyard. I printed out cards with each child's first name, and the dates of the trip. I put those in hard cards (from the card collectors shop), punched a hole and connected them to the clip. (You could also include a folded card with the child's full name, address, and your cell phone number, for identification.) Disneyland has a lot of free stickers and brochures. Write to City Hall and explain what you are doing. They could send stickers for "My First Visit," "Honorary Citizen," or the Fire Station or Security. You can also request signed photos of Mickey and the gang, with messages from them saying how excited they are for the kids visit. (The cast members at City Hall are very thoughtful and helpful.) I do recommend those Chevron cars, since they look just like the ones on the attraction. Make sure, though, to get the Disneyland exclusive designs (Dusty, Sparky and Suzy). They should be available at reasonable cost at eBay, as I don't believe Chevron still carries those designs. A really simple and cheap project is a customized Disneyland sticker book. Just go on line, print out photos from Disneyland on sticker paper and cut them out. The kids can stick them into a notebook to create their own "pictures" of Disneyland. They would also get familiar with places they will see on the trip. Incidently-- any thought of having a mini-meet while you're here? If some of th LP Mommys came along, you could possibly get one day to sneak onto some of the more "intense" Disneyland experiences. Just a thought...
Originally Posted By mickeynewe I would love to meet with others while we're down there! >>> If some of the LP Mommys came along, you could possibly get one day to sneak onto some of the more "intense" Disneyland experiences. <<< Another thing we did when our daughter was little, we would just ask her to try it "once" and if she didn't like it, she wouldn't have to go on it again the WHOLE trip...PLUS, she could have any treat in the park (typically, the Mickey Mouse jawbreakers were her favorite)...yes, we weren't against bribing! She got smart one year...and we came home with a LOT of jawbreakers...the little sneak! *laughs*
Originally Posted By atinkfan DlandDug, >>>Saw this title and couldn't understand why a discussion of puberty was in trip planning... My bad.<<< Too funny!!!!! My family and I are headed down there on Friday night and will hit the park running on Sat. am. Where and when do LP'ers meet? I'll try to stop by and say hi when I'm there.
Originally Posted By mickeynewe Another fun thing to do if you are going when the holiday decorations are up is to decorate a small tree in your room. We did this last year and it was so much fun! I didn't want to pay the Disney Resort price, so I just bought a small artificial tree at Target along with Disney ornaments and we spent one night just decorating our tree after the park closed. We even hung Christmas lights. So fun to do and it really gets you in the holiday spirit of things!
Originally Posted By oneroberta I found some great bargains today... I found CARS pez dispensers at the Dollar Tree Store, and CARS Sports bottles with a strap at Walmart for 4.97.. I got a great journal that I am turning into a autograph book at Target in their $1 section it is black and white w/blk dots with a red bow, reminds me of Mickey or Minnie.... and I have offically gone over the deep end with pin buying on ebay... As of right now I have won 47 bids.... and I cant stop... I also bought a another new Memory card for my digital camera, that way I can take over 1000 pictues....woo-hoo
