Tips about Kids and Polynesian

If you have young children and are going to a late parade or fireworks, bring a pair of pajamas with you. Or, if you are going back to your hotel beforehand, you can change there. Have the kids put on their pajamas before the parade. Most kids (mine anyway) fall asleep before we return to the hotel. This way, you can just put the kids into bed and not have to worry about waking them up to change into sleepwear. It has saved me from many nights of "I've had my 'nap', now I want to play!" -Michele

My husband and I are big postcard senders. Not only do we send them to family and friends, but love to have them sent to us! We have a postcard collection up on the wall in our TV room like a border. They wrap around almost three times! We started sending our almost 3-year-old daughter a postcard about our trips even if she is with us. During my last little bit of shopping I found an Alice, Mad Hatter, and White Rabbit in a Tea Cup ride postcard to send to our daughter. I wrote on it what a wonderful time we had with her, that this was her favorite ride, and a few other trip memories. I sent it out on our last day and when she received it, she went bananas! It was like reliving the whole trip! - Jane

EPCOT - Get a Kids' Guide to Epcot. It's a small, square, blue booklet, found near the turnstiles or at Guest Relations. There's a place for the child to write his/her name, date of trip, and a list of the people they traveled with. For each ride/attraction, the booklet describes in a sentence or two what to expect at the attraction. There's a small box next to each attraction listing, so that kids can put a checkmark when they visited an attraction. Or, they could use these boxes to check off what they wish to see.

EPCOT - Get a Kids' Guide to Epcot. It's a small, square, blue booklet, found near the turnstiles or at Guest Relations. There's a place for the child to write his/her name, date of trip, and a list of the people they traveled with. For each ride/attraction, the booklet describes in a sentence or two what to expect at the attraction. There's a small box next to each attraction listing, so that kids can put a checkmark when they visited an attraction. Or, they could use these boxes to check off what they wish to see.

My kids are always begging me to buy them those giant hats at WDW. You know which ones I mean -- the Goofy, Dwarf, Donald Duck, Sorcerer Mickey, etc. hats. Well, whenever we go, we only budget $10 per park/per child for a souvenir. Not to mention, I just can't see buying that hat just so it can sit and collect dust at home or wait for "Silly Hat Day" at school to be worn again. So, I came up with a definite $$-less solution to the problem. I take a picture of my kids in their "silly" hats. They have the memory of the hat for always and the hat doesn't come home with us. Problem solved. - Jen

Costco has an amazing backpack by Baby Innovations for around $25 that was fabulous. It has a zippered thermal side pocket that accommodated 4 juice boxes and a removable lunch container (thermal) that held a few more juice boxes, sandwiches and fruit snacks. It was well worth it, especially if you have kids who are young and/or picky eaters. - Lisa Cappabianca

I was reading in your toddler section about explaining to kids about "big" Mickey and wanted to share our trick. My husband and I are taking our children ages 4 and 1, and our niece age 3 to Disney World in January. To make sure they know what to expect when they see a "big" Mickey we've been attending our local bookstores monthly character story time where a "big" sized character is present each month. This has allowed the kids to see first hand what to expect. We are also planning a visit a regional amusement park for a day as a dry run of sorts to prepare for our week at Disney. - Laura Hulse

Our family loves WDW and between trips we really miss it. One way to bring back the fun is to play the Disney game during mealtime or car rides. Each person takes a turn giving one or two clues and the others must guess what the ride, hotel, place, character meal or activity for which the clues are related. For instance, I might say, "This place has a big dinosaur." The others might guess the dinosaur ride at Epcot or the dinosaur ride at AK. But the answer I was thinking about is the toy dinosaur at the All Star Movies. It's a great game that all can play and have fun. I've been stumped a few times by my 9 and 6 year old girls. - Kenna Washington

POLYNESIAN RESORT - Watching Fireworks from Polynesian - The view is wonderful; the fireworks will appear right above Cinderella Castle. I'd recommend starting at the pool, and working your way along the beach toward the Contemporary until you find a comfortable spot with a good view of the castle. The music is piped through the speakers along the path, but it's not very loud so if you want to hear it, find a spot near a speaker. No need to go early, unless you want to be sure to get a beach chair or a hammock. We find that beach towels on the sand work just fine too, and there are always plenty of great spots left at fireworks time. At the end of January, when we were there, the beach was actually deserted for the fireworks. Last May, it was a little more crowded but still no trouble finding a spot. - Joyce Ruppert

We always make sure we have a small or travel size magna doodle in our backpack. The kids can use it to draw a picture, play hangman, tic-tac-toe, anything of that nature. PLUS we always brought it out on the table at character meals & usually at least one character at each meal would sign it, doodle on it or ask my son a question on it. It is more interactive & versatile than a hand held game & it doesn't beep or make noise 🙂 - Missy

I always take a few of the bubble bottles with me. Then, when I'm in a long line or waiting for a parade or fireworks, I just start blowing bubbles. All of the little kids (and some of the big ones too!) are delighted to chase and pop the bubbles or just watch them drift by. It's so funny to hear the comments from guests who don't see me blowing the bubbles - they just think it's more Disney "magic." - Kymberli Oakes

My dh and I have used this idea on our past two trips with our young children (ages 5 and 2 at our last trip last week) We thought it was a sensible "duh" until we had tons of people tell us what a great idea it was. We even had several cast members comment on our "brilliant" idea.

If you are travelling with young children that sometimes would prefer to walk than ride in a stroller all day, tie bells to their shoes. You will be able to keep up with them and if they do get seperated from you, their jingling will alert you to where they are. We had bells tied on two or our children our last trip and used different bells on each of their shoes. Because of all the noise at Disney you don't really notice the constant jingling until it stops or you need to hear it! - Michelle

If you are traveling with a young girl, around 5, buy a Princess Hat! My niece got one on her last trip and the Cast Members made such a fuss over her. She wore it every day, in every park, and someone commented every day. The CM's asked if she was a princess. The taxi boat CM said to "stand aside, we have royalty coming on board." Goofy even bowed down and worshiped her. It really made her feel very special during the trip. - Holly

Have a special hat for everyone for each day at Walt Disney World. I have tried to relate it to the park where we will be visiting on each day. For instance animal print ears for Animal Kingdom day, international themes for Epcot days, fun pinwheels for Hollywood Studio days, and of course all things Mickey for Magic Kingdom days. Not only is this fun but it is a great way to keep track of your group. You know exactly what to look for when trying to spot your family. For night time visits to the parks choose something that will light up and keep them the same for all which will distinguish your family above everyone else in the dark. Be sure and take hats off during attractions so they don't bother or interfere with other guests.

Consider purchasing a clear backpack for your child. We got one for our granddaughter and packed it with a change of clothes for her and other necessities for the day. The security guards at the airport and Walt Disney World loved it. They just had to look and then sent us on our way. - Peggy