Granny Hacks Disney

They call me GG for Grandma Gail. You can call me Gail.
I recently vacationed with my son and his family in Disney World. I had been there once with a flock of pathologists (I know. Another story. Another time), but this was my first time there with kids, ever. We took two girls, ages 8 and 10. There were three of us adults. We outnumbered them. This is good.
Now because this was the first time, there is a lot to learn. Most of it is experiential trial-and-error. I am sharing with you what we learned so you don’t have to repeat the same mistakes.
Some things are essential
· Sunscreen.
· Comfortable shoes. More than one pair.
· Enough clothes so that you have clean ones for every day. You will sweat. A lot.
· Disposable ponchos for downpours.
· Hats with brims.
How should I plan my day?
I don’t know about you, but 4–5 hours was all we could handle in a Disney Park on any given day. We stayed on Disney property. It took us four of our five days to figure out that it worked best to spend the morning or late afternoon in the pool or arcade at our resort — or even in our rooms. That made for great family bonding time and we had much more fun and lots less pressure when we got to the parks.
What about Meltdowns?
There will be meltdowns. Kid meltdowns. Adult meltdowns. Hangry meltdowns. Disappointed meltdowns. Tired meltdowns. Expect them. Include them.
How do I use this damn meal plan?
We purchased a meal plan for all five of us. It included a sit-down meal, a quick-served meal (usually cafeteria style) and two snacks per person per day. The nicer sit-down meals will use up TWO of your sit-down meal credits.
GG recommends that you pay actual money for breakfast. It will be your least expensive meal of the day.
It is worth noting that a Starbucks drink can be used as a snack. That may be good news. Or not.
The food sucks
You are correct. Most of the food at Disney will successfully keep you alive. Most of it is not very good. Much of it is fried. Or it’s very sweet or very salty. Yes, you can get salads, but salads at every meal get old -fast. Some of the best food is at Epcot: notable Japan, France and Morocco. Give up any notion of having great food. You mostly won’t have it. It’s not what you are there for.
Meal Reservations
You may have already discovered that you can make meal reservations in advance. What you might not know is that after walking around the parks for hours and hours, you might want to go back to your room and relax or take a shower and then you don’t want to go back to the park. So you get on your handy-dandy Disney app to cancel your reservation, only to find out that if you don’t cancel at least 24-hours in advance, you may get stuck with a penalty that you have to pay.
If you call one of the AMAZING Disney staff (they provide the number on your app when you learn you can’t cancel 2 hour ahead), they will turn themselves inside out to find ways for you to avoid the cancelation fee and find you something that works better for you. Your new BFFs.
Fast Pass Saves Hours
In the distant past, Disney had loooong lines for popular rides and attractions that could only be circumvented by
1) Hiring a Disney Tour Guide to the tune of $4–500 per HOUR (yes, you read that right) or
2) Have a disabled person in a wheelchair with your party.
You can book up to three Fast Passes per person per day. Use those for cool stuff like Soarin’ (be sure to do Soarin’!) or Space Mountain or the Rock and Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith or Kilimanjaro Safari. Now here is the deal. When you have used up those three Fast Passes each day, you can book new ones. Such a deal.
My Phone Keeps Dying!
Pay attention to GG now.
You may find you have heavy use of your phone throughout your stay.
You will need your phone to keep in touch with other members of your party throughout the day. They will go on different rides. They will go to the bathroom. They will want to know where you are.
In addition, you will be using the Disney app to find out what the wait is when you haven’t booked a Fast Pass for a ride you want to do.
Your phone will run out of juice.
At the gift shop closest to the entrance of each of the Disney World parks you will find a brown vending machine that dispenses portable rechargers. For $30 you can buy a recharger that, at the end and/or beginning of each day you can deposit it back into the vending machine and that amazing machine will provide you with a new, fresh charger. There is no additional cost for each new charger.
The bottom line here is to have a great time. Take things as they come. Let them go. Love the people you are with.
