Packing for a Walt Disney World Trip

One of the questions I’ve been asked by friends and family a lot is now that I’m going to WDW, what do I pack?  That can sometimes be a very daunting thought.  I figured I’d spend a little time going over what we packed for a trip to the World. 

For the interest of organization, I will break this down into the different category lists that we use.  These categories are Clothes, Non-Clothes, Electronics, Park Items,

Clothes are the first and toughest.  Everyone of course has their own tastes, I'll try to be general.  When going from March to October its pretty consistent in the sunshine state…hot.  From October to April though it could be anything.  That’s why the 10-day forecast for Orlando before your trip is a must.  Even so you can get surprised.  A couple of years ago we went for a week in December.  The forecast for 30’s at night and 50’s in the day.  Well, the week started out that way but by the end of the week it shot up n the 70’s and we were swimming.  We were lucky we still packed swim sutis even though the forecast. You never know. 

The amount of things to pack can be an issue also.  If we stay 5 days or less, we can usually pack enough clothes to cover it.  Over 5 days you either have to pack more, which is tough as far as planes go or look for a washing machine.  All of the Disney Hotels have washing machines, some more than others.  Before you go, you can check a map for your hotel and see where all the washing machine rooms are.  In our experience it seems the are usually close to a pool area.  There is a great post by Erin over on the TouringPlans Blog about keeping your clothes clean.  It is her picture here. 

As far as what clothes to pack, that’s up to you, pack for the time of year and forecast.  In addition to what you would normally pack, two pairs of walking sneakers would be good to bring in case one pair gets wet.  (Shoe drying trick: stuff pages of a newspaper into the shoes/sneakers and leave them over-night.)  There are a couple of Table Service restaurants that have a dress code, make sure about where your ressies are.  In truth, with the exception of Victoria and Albert's, you can wear almost anything to WDW restaurants.  Bring hats, but not your most favorite hats.  I've lost a couple on rides over the years. 

Non-Clothes category is just what it sounds like.  These are the items we pack that don't fall into the other categories.  We always take extra ziploc bags, big and small.  They always come in handy.  We've experimented with food and have pretty much stopped taking things from home.  If we haev a car, we hit the Walmart ASAP to stock up on the room and park snacks/drinks.  If we did not have a vehicle, we might revist shipping a "Care Package" to ourselves.  We did it when we stayed at the Grand Floridian.  I sent the package and ha it arrive the day before we were to arrive.  It worked out very well.  There was about 3-4 lbs of snacks and light sticks and stuff for the parks. 

Electronics:  Wow, this is the most changed category over time you’ll find in this post today.  Even from 5 or 6 years ago we take a ton of electronic stuff now.  For the ride down or on the plane the kids take their Nintendo DS’s.  In place of the DVD player we have an Itouch and my Iphone.  The kids have their phones to use if we split up anywhere.  We also bring a computer.  With all of these devices you need to bring the chargers and any other accessories needed to work.  We have a separate bag, kind of a cross between a soft sided cooler and a small toolbox.  This is our Electronics bag.  This makes finding the right charger or adapter easier.  On top of these items, we also have the cameras.  A Point and shoot and water proof video camera and both sets of batteries and such.  Bring a utility strip.  It is a must.

Park Items.  As it says, things to take to the park.  If we’re flying this stuff gets packed anywhere there is room and then re-assembled at the hotel.  If we’re driving we’ll just pack everything in the bag we take into the park.  I've gone from basically carrying nothing in the parks up through college.  Once we went with the kids and were able to carry stuff in the stroller we kind of got greedy and took all sorts of things into the parks with us.  Now, we have one good knapsack or shoulder bag and a camera bag between the 3-4 of us.  If I go alone, it's only the camera bag.  When we go into the parks for a day, we take an aluminum water bottle, a couple of protein bars, an small umbrella and ponchos, first aid kit, small flashlight, lanyards and trading pins, autograpgh books and pens and any touring plans, Glide and Moleskin and any info for that day.  

So those are some of the things we pack to get to and survive a trip to WDW.  I'm sure I left off a couple of things, send us an email at WGTWDW@gmail.com and let us know what it is.

Walt Disney World Face Characters

The last time we were in Walt Disney World I was very impressed with how the Face Character Cast Members presented themselves.  For those that don’t know, there are two type of Disney dress up characters that walk around the parks or resorts.  The first type is the most famous and they are the characters that wear a full head mask to portray their character.  They're known as "Fur" Characters.  The Fab 5 are perfect examples of this type of character.  Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto.  They have made some great progress in the last couple of years and now Mickey and a couple of select characters can actually talk.  And by talk I mean that now their mask mouth, eyes, and other parts of their face move.  It is very impressive to watch.

The other type of Disney Character, the one I am referring to here is the Face Character.  So called because they wear no mask and present their own faces as that of he character they are playing.  Some examples of this are Peter Pan and Alice and all of the princesses and their princes and so many others.  These cast members that play the face roles are for the most part, established actors and actresses. 

I’ve seen how these cast members interact with the kids and it’s always great, happy and true to the character.  It’s not until you see these characters with an older child or an adult to see some real creativity.  First off, it is my understanding that they go through a very thorough training course.  After that they work on learning all about the character they are to play.  They go through this for about 3-4 weeks and then must pass a test.  We’ve been to many character meals and have full autograph books from various trips to the parks, but the character experience that prompted this post was meeting the girl pirate from the last Pirates movie.  She was doing a meet and greet in Adventureland last year and Hope wanted and autograph.  While waiting in line we got to watch the absolute grilling of this poor girl by the guy in front of us.  He was asking about her family, about her and Jack and a lot of things that was probably not taught in the information classes I mentioned above.  But to her credit, she answered every question he asked with what I thought were probably the right answers.  It all made sense.  And I actually learned something about her character. 

With the addition of the informal meet and greet areas in the parks, it's even easier to see your favorites.  In Epcot there is the Character Spot near the fountain.  For DHS you have the Magic of Disney Animation building.  In the Animal Kingdom it's Camp Minnie Mickey and in the Magic Kingdom there will be the New Princess area in the old Snow White attraction and Mickey and friends are at the Townsquare Theatre.

There is actually another type of Walt Disney World Character cast member and I call then the Atmosphere Characters.  Examples of these really good actors and actresses street performers would be the World Showcase Performers at Epcot, the Streetmosphere people in DHS and Main Street characters such as the Mayor and Fire Chief.

There are many, many, many videos on YouTube showing Disney Characters and they are fun to watch.  Some of my favorites are the Evil step-sisters of Cinderella, their a hoot.  Peter Pan is a really fun character to watch as well as his friend Tinker Bell.  The Mad Hatter another character that I’ve seen a lot of.  There are plenty out there.  I’d be interested to hear what characters you look for at the Disney Parks.

 Ask them any question you had about that character and you might get lucky.  There are certain things to say to any of the characters to get a rise out of them:

• Ask a princess where her prince is
• Ask Eeyore if he still has a tail
• Ask Donald Duck if he has been controlling his temper
• Tell Donald that you are # 1
• Ask Cruella how the coat is coming
• Scratch behind Pluto's ear and see what happens
• Ask Dale what is the difference between a chipmunk and a squirrel
• Ask Chip or Dale how to tell the difference between the two chipmunks
• Ask Mary Poppins to say hello to Burt for you
• Ask Pooh if he's had too much honey
• Say Aloha to Lilo
• Tell the Mad-Hatter its your Un-Birthday

Don't forget you don't need kids to interact with the characters.  Also, if you have any other things to say to the characters, leave a comment below or email us a wgtwdw@gmail.com

The "WGTWDW" Podcast Show # 18

On this weeks show we spin that great Wheel of Attractions yet again. We then try out a new game for the show and then talk about the new Pixar movie Brave...It was Really Good!

We also reach out to our listeners to help us with audio recordings at the parks. If your going, let us know before hand at WGTWDW@gmail.com and I'll set you up with a good smart phone voice recorder. 

On this show we really discovered one very important fact.  Using 15-30 seconds of carnival music to intro the Wheel of Attractions...Good.  Using it for a background loop for more than one minute...Very Very Bad.  It will not happen again.  For those that don't know our Wheel of Attractions has been with us for the last 16 or so shows.  For those that read these side-notes, you'll be the only ones to know that we might not really have a huge carnival wheel mounted in the office which we spin each show.  For the record, to "backup" the wheel, we use an online randomizer and just as we get to the 16 second mark on the wheel spin noise, I hit enter and the randomizer tells us what we are going to talk about.  So we are talking cold on whatever comes up.  It's great watching the kids hear the name of the attraction and then focus in on the what, where, and our experiences with it and then talk it out.

20DQ

We tried something new this week in the on the air, Hope named game, 20DQ.  This is the classic 20 questions with Disney Parks, Movies or Characters instead of Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral.  We did three rounds this week with each taking a turn.  If we do this again, we'll only do one per show.  Unless it's guessed quickly.  The idea to try this on the show came from my friends over at the Be Our Guest Podcast Forums.  There is a group of us that regularly play a game of Guess Where this Picture Is Taken.  Once in a while I'll bring the kids in to consult and we thought since people like playing that game, maybe we can do one for those listeners not on the computer out there.  A quick mind exercise.  So if you like this.  Email us and let us know.  WGTWDW@Gmail.com I think my over-under for saying the email address on the show was around 10.  Trying to push it, can you tell?

Quinn's turn at 20DQ was the perfect lead in to the Pixar Movie Brave.  We saw this the day after release and had a great time.  Lesley was there with us.  The movie was great.  As I said on the show it took all of about 10 seconds for me to say, "WOW!"   The animation was breathless.  I've had time to think about it and my thinking on the movie was great in all regards except for story.  Not sure if they spent enough time on the triplets and other minor things. 

• Pixar Short at the beginning was the best so far, La Luna.
• Stay to the very end, after the credits.  It's worth it.
• Keep your eyes peeled for the Pixar items found in all movies. Witches House
• Music was really good as you can hear on the show.

I bought that single right away, not sure about the whole album yet.  We will see this again.  Make sure you see it, it was worth it.

Thanks for listening and supporting the show.  Don't forget to email the show your thoughts, ideas or questions for the show to WGTWDW@Gmail.com (that's 11).

The WGTWDW Podcast # 17

On this weeks show we touch base on a couple different things.  We first bring you into the kitchen to discuss a couple of update announcements in the parks.  We talk about The Legend of Jack Sparrow and the new Fastpass twist from a couple of weeks ago. 

We then spin the Wheel of Attractions and get the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway.  We talk about this attraction and try to make sense of it.  Next, we review the American Adventure's ending video and see how many if any of the famous people shown that Hope and Quinn might know. I did say it was a busy show.  We then say goodbye to Snow White's Scary Adventure with mixed feelings.  We then finish up with a sound clip taken from the Chapeau Hat Shoppe on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom.   So listen to the show this week and let us know what YOU think.  Email us at WGTWDW@gmail.com.  The show can be downloaded here on Podbean or we can also be found on Itunes.

Youtube Gold: Walt Disney Resort Walk Around Video

While fully immersed in a Game of "Where Was This Picture Taken?" over at the Be Our Guest Podcast Forums, I came across this series of videos on Youtube.  If your from the BOGP forums, skip to the next paragraph.  Thanks :-)

One of my main tools for helping confirm where I've seen a picture are the Walt Disney World videos uploaded to Youtube by the UndercoverTourist guys.  You might know them from a post I did earlier this year as the Ticket people, well it seems they have some great video skills.  They've got some great videos of almost every attraction a location in the parks.  Their walkthroughs of the Epcot Countries are very complete and actually relaxing.



When your feeling homesick for Walt Disney World, check out Undercover Tourist on Youtube and get your fix.

Lost Sunglasses...Found!

I wanted to pass on a recent experience from our last trip.  We were at Magic Kingdom and onto the first ride of the day, Space Mountain.  As we were just leaving the SM building, Lesley, the wife, realized that she forgot her sunglasses on the ride.  She had left them in the little pocket they have inside the rocket car.  We told the Cast Member at the entrance and she called in to her co-workers.  The report was "No Problem"  they'll go through the rockets as they cycle through and to stop back in an hour.  Well, we stopped back and no luck.  There was a different CM who did not know about our issue so we asked him to radio to the other part of the crew, as the first CM did to see if they had found them.  No luck.  We did get the stop back in an hour spiel, but we stopped back about three hours later but no luck.   
A long time ago we had lost a phone.  The story we got was that every hour any lost items are then sent to the Guest Relations desk at the front of each park.  At the end of the day all items are brought to the lost and found office located over at the T&T center.  That time we were staying at the Poly so we double lucked out.  They found the phone and it was close enough to walk to get it. 
So with that in mind we stopped at Guest Service before leaving the Magic Kingdom that night.  Lesley left a very specific description with an address and we left.  We were driving out first thing the next morning so we had basically written these sun glasses off.  Did I mention that they were prescription and designer?  Of course, right?  Can't we for once lose the pair of sunglasses that we got at the dollar store?
A couple of weeks after we got home, look at the letter that came with the lost Sunglasses.

And people ask why we go back to WDW, this is one of many reasons.  You can count on the above and beyond from all of their staff.  Thanks Bob, and all others involved with getting the sunglasses back to us.

The "WGTWDW" Podcast Show #16

For our 16^th show we once again spin the wheel of Attractions.  The wheel on this episode stopped on Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.   We all agree that this was a great attraction.  The kids spill that I was once “That Guy!” and we throw out some ideas about freshening up the show down the road with the release of Monsters Inc. 2. 

Backside of BTMR

We then take a nice leisurely ride on the Liberty Belle in the Magic Kingdom.  This was our first time and with most things we do for the first time at WDW we were kicking ourselves for not doing it sooner.  We have the complete audio recording from our ride for your listening pleasure.  Did you ever notice that any audio that comes out of WDW always has a crying baby?  Well we’ve got ours.  We also got to watch and listen to a whistle duel between the train and the riverboat as we were passing the second Indian village.  Also listen for the breathing of the riverboat.  At some parts of the audio it’s very loud.  Headphones are suggested.

We then announce the winner of our contest from Show # 15.  Nathan S. answered the question: Who was the mother of Huey, Louie and Dewey?  The answer was Della.  Nathan was lucky enough to have the right answer and been picked out of the hat.  His Figment party pin is on it’s way to him.  Thanks to all who entered the contest.

Looks like Boston

The Whistle Battle Foe

Please write in and tell us what you think of the show, offer suggestions or just say hi.

See you next Show.  Kungaloosh!!!

The "WGTWDW" Podcast Show # 15

Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom Cards

On this weeks show we spent some more time talking about our recent trip to WDW.  We discuss the really fun time we had playing the new game Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.  This is the new Kim Possible like game that is over in the Magic Kingdom.  We then talk about some of the time we spent at Innoventions, the exhibit/attraction area that is located right past Spaceship Earth at Epcot.  I then ask thekids a surprise question that they did not have time to prep for.  "What do you think of the new Tiki Room?"  We then close up with a new contest.  The end date for this one will be March 20th, at 11:59 pm, WDW time.  "What is the name of Huey, Lewie, and Dewey's mother?"  Email the answer to WGTWDW@Gmail.com.  We will pick randomly for all correct answers.  And sadly we give a tribute to Robert Sherman, one half of the Sherman Brothers duo, who passed away the other day.  All of our music on this show, including our opening was written by the Sherman Brothers.  The quote I used on the show was totally appropriate:
"The Song has Ended, but the Melody goes on" 

The "We're Going to Walt Disney World" Podcast Show # 14

On this weeks show the Kids take over and give a synopsis of our recent WDW trip.  They go over what we did in general each day and talk about some of the high-lights.  The trip was great and as you can see from my last post, a cross over interest fest in that Eli Manning was there after the Giants win.  We had great weatehr and a great time.  Also, on this weeks show, com along on Mission Space with us.  Don't worry, we went on the Green side.

Don't forget to tell us what you think of the show.  Email us at WGTWDW@gmail.com