You are here: Home / Archives for Christina
Apr 29, 2013

Surviving Disney World Part 2: Tips For At The Parks

By ·

Surviving Disney World Part 2: Tips For At The Parks

It’s been two months since we returned from our Disney World vacation, and I’m just now getting around to part two of my guide. However, it’s also been two months and we’re still talking about all of the wonderful memories we have from our trip, so you could say it’s still fresh in my mind.

I covered all of my tips for planning your Disney vacation in Part 1, and now I wanted to share my tips for when you finally arrive at Walt Disney World. These are what worked for us – your family may have a totally different way of doing things, and that’s perfectly fine. But if you don’t even know where to start, some of these tips might work for you.

Map out your “must do” list in advance.

Walking into Magic Kingdom is overwhelming. There are people everywhere, and after you walk through Main Street to the castle, you’re presented with the ultimate Choose Your Own Adventure. The castle is the center point for all paths leading to each area of the park. You’ll see amazing sights off in the distance of each, and if you didn’t put a plan in place, your first family argument will also begin here.

Take some time before the trip, or even the night before you visit each park, to discuss as a family which rides and attractions are the “can’t miss” ones. For my family, we each named one or two rides we absolutely wanted to ride in each park. Then we used that list as a starting point to make sure everyone left the parks each night feeling like they got to do all of the things they really wanted to do. We also compared our list to a few guides that showed us which rides had the longest lines to prioritize which ones we needed to get to before the lines got long.

Added tip: The My Disney Experience app for iPhone lets you make reservations, check ride wait times, and has a map to show you where you are in the park. But use carefully – the GPS drains your battery quickly.

If you’re staying at the resort, take advantage of the Magic Hours.

This is a huge perk of staying at one of the Disney resorts: each day, one or two of the parks has “Magic Hours” only for resort guests. Some offer early mornings, where those with resort passes can enter the park an hour earlier than everyone else. Other times they have late Magic Hours, where the park remains open an extra hour for resort guests. (They can’t officially kick out those who aren’t resort guests, but once the Magic Hours start, you have to show your resort pass to get on any ride.)

The lines are SO much shorter during Magic Hours. We wanted to go to Enchanted Tales with Belle on our first day in Magic Kingdom, but the lines were impossibly long. (Over an hour and a half.) At the end of the week, we went back to Magic Kingdom on the day they opened an hour early for resort guests. We got in right when the park opened, went straight back to Enchanted Tales with Belle, and were a part of the first performance with no waiting. It wasn’t even as crowded as they usually make each performance, so both girls had the chance to play good roles in the story.

Enchanted Tales with BelleMira got to be Chip, Cordy was Philipe.

After that, we still had 40 minutes left in the Magic Hour, so we rode Dumbo with only a five minute wait and Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid with no wait. The Magic Hours are definitely worth it.

Use the Fast Pass system.

One of the smartest ideas Disney World ever implemented is the Fast Pass system. Here’s how it works: say you want to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the wait is currently one hour. If you don’t want that wait, you can go to the Fast Pass kiosks near the entrance to the ride, insert your park ticket (or resort pass) and it will return your park ticket and spit out a Fast Pass ticket with a return time, usually an hour later or more in the day. The return time is an hour long window, so you don’t need to be back at a precise time.

At that point, you can go shop, ride another ride with a shorter wait, or do whatever you want. When your Fast Pass time window opens, you go back to the ride’s entrance, find the Fast Pass entrance, hand the cast member your Fast Pass ticket, and then bypass the long line. There may still be a short wait, but it’s usually no more than five or ten minutes at most.

This system works very, very well, and many rides offer Fast Pass. Some of the character meet-and-greets have the Fast Pass system, too. Best of all, this is a FREE service available to any park guest. It’s genius – you spend more of your day seeing the parks and less time waiting in line.

There are a few things you need to be aware of, though. First, you can’t run to each ride and collect all of your Fast Passes at the start of the day. You can usually only have one or two at a time – your Fast Pass ticket will tell you when you’re eligible to get a pass for another ride. If your Fast Pass doesn’t have you returning until much later in the day, you’re usually allowed to get another Fast Pass within an hour or so.

Second, there are only a limited number of Fast Pass tickets each day. When one time window fills up, it rolls over to the next time window. So if a lot of park guests are trying to get Fast Pass tickets for Toy Story Midway Mania! in Hollywood Studios, it’s possible they’ll be out of Fast Passes for the day by lunchtime, and then your only choice is to wait in the long line.

And that’s not just any example: Toy Story Midway Mania! routinely is out of Fast Passes by midday. Same goes for Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid in Magic Kingdom and Soarin’ in Epcot.

Get a PhotoPass right when you walk into your first Disney park.

You know when you go to an amusement park and they have photographers mobbing the entrance, all trying to get one photo of you at the park and then hope you’ll buy that single photo (in multiple sizes and a photo keychain) on the way out? Well, this is one case where you really DO want to let them take your photo. And then immediately ask the photographer for a PhotoPass.

Chances are, your kids are going to want photos with characters, and you’ll want photos of them in front of the castle, or the tree in Animal Kingdom, etc. But for once, YOU can be in the photos, too, thanks to the PhotoPass. It’s a card with a barcode and retrieval code on the back. Whenever a Disney photographer takes your photo, you hand them your PhotoPass, they scan the barcode, and the photos are now assigned to that card’s account.

One card is good for your entire Disney stay, so you’ll have all of your Disney photos in one place online. Then, when you get home you can log on to the PhotoPass site, enter the code on the back of the card, and view all of your photos. The site has editing options, including adding special effects to your photos:

 Sharing a laugh with TianaMira loved twirling for Tiana.

It’s easy to order prints or photo products from the site. Or just purchase the rights to all of the photos. (Hint: it’s a flat fee for buying all of your photos. If you think you’re going to do this option, make sure you REALLY load up on photos at the parks!)

Unlike most parks, Disney parks have photographers throughout the parks. Many of the characters have an official photographer with them, Enchanted Tales with Belle uses a PhotoPass photographer, and they’re also stationed around most popular photo spots. Mira participated in Jedi Training at Hollywood Studios and there was a PhotoPass photographer who took photos for all of the parents. Without her, we wouldn’t have had this great shot:

Mira vs Darth Vader at Hollywood StudiosMira takes on Darth Vader, guided by her Jedi Master

Certain spots can also allow the photographer to add in “surprises” – we had no idea why the photographer was asking Cordy to do this pose until we viewed the image at home:

Sebastian magically appeared!Wow! Hello, Sebastian!

I’m a huge fan of the PhotoPass, and it was awesome to actually be in my family photos for once.

One final tip: if you have a smartphone, take a photo of the back of your PhotoPass right when you get it. That way, if you lose the card, you’ll still have access to the code so you don’t lose the photos you already have.

Take advantage of “special event” buttons.

If you want to feel like a rock star, visit any guest services and pick up any “special events” buttons that apply to your family. In our case, Aaron and I wore “Happy Anniversary” buttons and Cordy and Mira wore “1st Visit” buttons. They also have buttons for birthdays, special celebrations, family reunions, and many other situations. Cast members will go out of their way to wish you well with these buttons, and sometimes offer up a little surprise, too.

In Hollywood Studios, one of the cast members in a shop gave Aaron and I chocolate-covered marshmallows when she saw our buttons. The kids were each given a pin from a pin trading board when another cast member saw it was their first visit. Even guys in business suits (I can only imagine that they work in Disney management or something) stopped to talk to the girls and ask how they were enjoying their first visit to Disney. It was very sweet and made our trip even more special.

Tip: want a really personal experience? Write you kid’s name on his/her button, and the cast members will call out to them by name as if they’re old friends.

Consider a park hopper pass.

There is a lot to do in every Disney park. But despite all of the planning, you may find that one day just isn’t working out as planned, either due to weather or sore feet in a large park, or because the kids just aren’t feeling the international mood at Epcot and would rather spend some time in the Pixar area of Hollywood Studios. With a park hopper pass, it’s not a big deal. It’s a small additional cost to your park tickets, but with the park hopper option you can visit multiple parks in the same day.

This is useful if you can only get a character dining reservation on a day when you didn’t plan to be in that park. For us, it was useful on the day when we went to Animal Kingdom. It was only open until 5pm that day, and my mom was taking the kids for part of the day. So we spent the morning there, and then Aaron and I went to Epcot for a bit, then met up with friends at Hollywood Studios, and then ended our night under the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. We didn’t plan to hit all four parks – it just worked out that way, and we were thankful to have the park hopper passes!

I think that covers most of the big topics for visiting Disney. I still want to point out some of the best rides and attractions, as well as tips for smoothly sailing through Disney World with a special needs child, but that will have to wait for another post.

Filed Under: travel ·


Apr 23, 2013

Daughters Aren’t Always Hair Models

By ·

For the past two weeks, I’ve noticed Cordy putting her hair in her mouth. This practice drives me crazy and I’ve asked her to stop as soon as I see her do it. A few times I’ve threatened to have her hair cut super short so it won’t reach her mouth. Of course, this is an empty threat – she’s grown to love shorter hair, and I’ve become fond of fewer screaming fits over combing her hair.

Cordy has hair that many people would pay a high price for. It’s super-fine in texture, and her mane is super-thick. There’s so much hair that it takes effort to part it, then keep parting it, and then push even more hair out of the way to finally find her scalp. You could say she’s got the Rapunzel effect with hair follicles instead of length, and it easily tangles.

It’s not fair that a child with such amazing hair would also have such amazing sensory issues related to her head. I had to distract her and secretly trim her hair until she was six. Years of hair combing still haven’t made her accustomed to it and she still fights against the comb.

I miss this hairI miss all that hair from when she was little – but I don’t miss combing it.

I’d love her to have gorgeous, long locks of hair that we could style and put in ponytails or curl, but I know it’s unlikely to happen. For both our sakes, I will take her to the stylist right before summer to take more length off to get us through the warm, humid summer. She hates having it cut, but she hates having longer hair combed even more.

Mira, on the other hand, does not have her sister’s hair issues. Her hair is also fine, but there’s not nearly as much of it. And her head isn’t as sensitive. She loves to play dress up, loves hair clips, and loves to look pretty. She can be my little hair model then, right?

Nope. Turns out, this kid LOVES having short hair. She thinks it’s cute.

Cute short hairOK, she’s right. It is super cute.

When I asked her today if she’d let her hair grow out so we can put it in ponytails and braid and curl it, she agreed at first, then later came to me and said, “Mommy? I don’t think I want longer hair. My hair is too cute when it’s short! But I’ll help style your hair, OK?”

Ummm…I don’t know if I feel so comfortable with that.

I’ve had long hair for most of my adult life. (With one very bad period of short hair.) Despite having long hair, I’m not very skilled at doing anything with it. That’s part of the reason I love longer hair – it doesn’t need a lot of styling, and the basic ponytail requires little effort.

If I can’t play with my daughters’ hair, maybe it’s time for me to learn how to do more with my own hair. This video is where I’m starting: learning to put hot rollers in my hair. Maybe I should let Mira watch it, too? She’d be great at handing me the pins for the rollers.

Other bloggers are choosing their favorite hairstyle tutorial videos and asking for your opinions on which you love most. Each week, BlogHer is giving away prizes to 3 lucky winners: one grand prize viewer will receive a $250 Visa gift card and two more folks will each receive a $100 Visa gift card! Visit the Prizes and Promotions page on BlogHer.com for more info!

Hair Sweepstakes Official Rules.

Filed Under: Cordy, Mira, sponsored · Tagged: ,


Apr 22, 2013

When Your Big Sister Has Autism

By ·

It was an evening like any other Saturday evening. Cordy and Mira were both tired after a long day. They ate dinner and then got into their usual argument over which movie they’d like to watch that night. Aaron tried to be clever and asked them to each tell him (in secret) which five movies they most wanted to watch, hoping that there would be a couple they’d have in common.

There were none in common, of course. Which led to more arguing. Mira finally sighed that The Lion King (on Cordy’s list) was close enough to The Lion King 1 1/2 (on Mira’s list), and agreed to Cordy’s choice. But she threw in her oft-repeated complaint that it isn’t fair that Cordy won’t compromise, and how she always has to do what Cordy wants to do.

The peak of Mira’s frustration came at bedtime, though. While I was turning on Mira’s bedroom light, I heard them arguing in the bathroom. Mira puts her own toothpaste on her toothbrush, and if Aaron or I aren’t in the bathroom, she does it for Cordy, too. This time, I could hear Mira telling Cordy, “I’m not doing it for you, Cordy. You’re eight and I’m only five. Here, you can put your own toothpaste on.” I knew this could end badly, so I started towards the bathroom.

Cordy immediately went into her unhappy whine and starting shrieking at Mira, demanding that Mira stop being a mean sister and ordering Mira to put the toothpaste on her toothbrush. Mira held firm and yelled back, “No, Cordy! You’re older than me – if I can do it, you can put on your own toothpaste!” She then tried to force Cordy to take the toothpaste container.

Aaron came in at this point, hearing the commotion and already at his wits end with the bickering from the two of them. On first glance, I’m sure it looked like Mira was taunting her sister. He turned to Mira and angrily asked her why she was upsetting Cordy by shoving the toothpaste at her.

I watched as Mira held her ground, equally furious and ready to defend herself. Without hesitation, she looked up to meet Aaron’s gaze with a hard stare of her own, tears forming in her eyes, and exclaimed, “Because she’s eight years old! She’s old enough to do it herself!” I could hear the exasperation in her voice.

I stepped in at that point and tried to calm everyone down, reminding Mira that just because someone is older doesn’t mean they can do everything better than someone who is younger. We all have things we’re good at and things that require help from others. That did little to help soothe her sense of injustice as she cried while brushing her teeth, then continued crying as I gently tucked her into bed and wiped away some of the tears.

I understand her frustration. It has to be terribly confusing at times to be the little sister of someone with autism. Cordy was told about her autism a little over a year ago, when we explained what it meant in regards to how her brain works. Mira was told about it shortly after, and because of her age we’ve kept our descriptions simple for her. Cordy has autism, which means her brain works differently than most people. It means she’s really good at some things, but that she can also have a lot of trouble with things that many people might find easy.

Mira knows that Cordy often has limited patience for playing with others and when she does play it’s often only on her own terms. And while Cordy can teach Mira all about Skylanders and Pokemon, she’s not a typical big sister when it comes to serving as a role model for school, social behaviors and personal care. And she’s brilliant with reading, but refuses to help Mira learn to read.

Mira will likely learn to tie her shoes before Cordy. She can already work a button and zipper on her pants while Cordy remains in elastic waistband pants. Mira learned to buckle her seatbelt first. And while Mira eagerly anticipates each lesson in how to be independent and does her part to help the family with chores, any new task we ask of Cordy involves resistance and the need to do it in baby steps to gradually increase her comfort with this additional task added to her routine.

So in order to make things go smoothly and get more done, we do occasionally ask Mira to go above and beyond in helping out. She’s asked to help with the toothpaste when we’re busy. She opens food containers and packages for Cordy at times. She zips Cordy’s coat.

I know she tries to understand, but it doesn’t always make sense to her. Conventional wisdom says that her older sister should be able to do the same tasks she can do and more. And she feels like Cordy gets special treatment sometimes and is jealous of it. Mira does more chores, and even though she’s rewarded for her extra help, she still knows it’s not equal treatment. (Which I suppose is a good lesson for life, although hard on the spirit at five years old.) Mira doesn’t know it, but she benefits from having Cordy as a big sister – she’s awesome at accepting people no matter how different they seem, always doing her best to befriend anyone.

However, Mira is too young to realize just how important she is to Cordy. Being super-ultra-mega social, Mira provides constant social skills practice for Cordy. Mira doesn’t hesitate to tell Cordy when she’s being rude or make suggestions on how she should respond in a particular situation. (Whether Cordy listens or not is another matter.) She forces Cordy to cope with another kid in her territory all the time, meaning she has to share any decision on our daily activities. Like going out of the house, or sharing the computer, or watching TV, which doesn’t always end in arguments. Mira runs into Cordy’s wall of inflexibility all the time, but that doesn’t keep her from giving up. She continues to throw herself against that wall with the unending determination of a child, hoping that someday she’ll chip away at it and Cordy will do something new for Mira.

I’m an only child, so I’ve never understood the relationship between siblings. I know that siblings often fight, but they just as often share a fierce love and devotion for each other. I have no doubt that these two love each other, even with the fighting. Mira feels like an only child sometimes, Cordy feels like Mira is the stereotypical “bothersome little sister” sometimes, and then at other times the two of them are inseparable.

They really do like each other sometimes.Proof: they do get along now and then.

For now, I wipe away the tears as I again explain to Mira why Cordy needs her help, and then do what I can to make sure Mira feels important to us as well. Her frustration and feelings of injustice are sure to come back again – repeatedly. I can only hope that as she grows, her understanding of Cordy’s differences, her compassion and her generosity will continue to grow with her.

Filed Under: Autism, Cordy, Mira, sisterhood ·


Apr 18, 2013

My Goal To Be Healthier: Week 1 Results

By ·

At the beginning of the month, I declared that I needed to clean up my diet. I spent most of spring break finishing out as much of the junk food we had in the house. Those Thin Mints were soooooo good. And then on April 7, I said goodbye to my Coke Zero and chocolates (with an especially emotional parting from my Nutella), farewell to bread and snack crackers, and plunged headfirst into eating as clean as possible for the next week or two.

Clean eating, for me, means no soda, no artificial sweeteners, limited sugar, and limited processed foods. Lots of fruit and vegetables, nuts, lean meats and eggs, beans, and smaller amounts of rice and dairy. Along with water to drink, I’m also having one coffee or tea each day. It’s not exactly Paleo, but it seemed like a good idea to help me detox from the foods I’m most addicted to.

So how’s it going so far? I’ve made it a week and half now without any soda, sweets, or heavily processed foods. The most processed thing I’ve eaten so far was the tortilla strips on a McDonald’s salad.

My feelings over the past week and a half have swung back and forth. The first seven days went a little something like this:

Day 1: Hahaha, this is fun! We’re going to be healthy! We’ve got this covered!

Day 2: What the hell do I eat for breakfast? Or lunch for that matter?

Day 3: It’s 8pm, I really, really, really, really, really want something sweet to snack on. An apple, while sweet, does not sound exciting.

Day 4: I fought off the chocolate cravings yesterday! Go me! I’ll celebrate by…baking some eggs.

Day 5: If I have to eat another salad…wait, Chipotle is mostly real food, right?

Day 6: Uh-oh, we’re out of dried fruit and nut mix. Everybody panic! Costco run, stat!

Day 7: I’m barely sleeping at night, and yet I’m feeling OK during the day. That’s odd. Hey, pass the almonds, would ya?

There’s no way I can tell you that it’s been a breeze. If you don’t like to cook from scratch, it can be difficult to find enough food to eat on this plan. We’ve had dinners of grilled chicken and veggies, chicken tikka masala with rice, and grass-fed organic steak one lucky night. Hard boiled eggs (baked, actually – the Pinterest idea really works!) and nuts have been good protein for lunches. Fresh and dried fruit help curb my sweets cravings. Carrots with hummus is a great snack.

Yum!

These? Are awesome.

But I am getting a little tired of the same foods mixed up and rearranged over and over. And it’s not cheap, either. We buy a lot of our food from Costco, which does help in price, but our food bill has increased over the past week. Nuts are expensive. I’m looking forward to summer when we can count on farmer’s markets for local fruits and veggies.

Overall, I have to admit that I’m feeling pretty good. It’s easier to wake up in the morning, even when I stay up late working. I’m not feeling the wild energy swings throughout the day. (I do still feel the mid-afternoon slump, which is usually when I reach for the coffee or tea.)

At first I was worried that eating calorie-dense, higher-fat foods would result in gaining weight. Instead, I’m finding my hunger isn’t as strong as it used to be. I don’t even feel like eating large meals now – I prefer to graze throughout the day.

Best of all? I’m down two pounds, and more importantly, my belly looks slimmer.

I’m really proud of myself for sticking to this so far. Yes, it’s been only a week and a half, but that can feel like a long time when it comes to food. I’d like to keep to this strict level of eating clean for at least another week, then gradually expand my diet again, still trying to keep limits on the sugar and processed junk.

Next up is to get back to working out regularly. Yesterday I laced up my new running shoes and broke them in for a 30 minute run/walk (mostly walk, really). I wasn’t excited to work out, and I felt like my heart was going to break out of my chest and run away afterward, but I did it. My dayglo shoes probably played a part to get me moving:

Asics tapped into my 80's memories

Blinded by the light!

I’m hoping this will all become habit so we can be a healthier family. Aaron is eating the same foods with me, and is far ahead of me in getting back into running. And our ultimate success of the week: Cordy and Mira will both eat grilled chicken and broccoli now.

Anyone else trying to make any healthy changes right now? Please share how it’s going for you, or what you’re planning to do!

Filed Under: Fitness, food, healthy living, running, Uncategorized ·


Apr 14, 2013

Ta-Da! The New Site!

By ·

Well, here it is! This is the new site, and hopefully some of you are seeing it. It was quite a weekend of transitioning everything over, and I’m not so sure I’m done yet. I followed the guides and everything worked perfectly in the switch, until I then temporarily (or so I thought) disabled the custom domain from my Blogger account.

When I was ready to re-enable the custom domain on my old blog, so that anyone searching for any posts there would automatically be redirected to the new site, Google decided that it no longer believed that the domain was mine.

error

This red text plagued me all weekend.

Hours of trying all of their help docs to change custom fields in my DNS manager and repeated attempts to verify the domain and set it up, and nothing changed. I re-set the nameservers back, tried everything out there in source guides, and Google refused to verify the custom domain again.

(If you are non-techie and don’t follow a thing I’ve said so far, I’ll cut to the chase: I only made things worse.)

I finally gave up and decided I’d just post a “hey, I’ve moved” style post on the old blog and continue forward with everything here. I changed it all back…and then the www. version of my site decided it didn’t want to work. And Feedburner refused to switch my feed for me. I’m still working on these issues.

I no longer feel as mighty about making the switch on my own.

But here it is. I finally (FINALLY!) made the jump to WordPress. And it’s still very much a work-in-progress, so please excuse the changes you’ll continue seeing over the next few weeks. I’m not totally happy with the look (I never am, let’s be honest) and there are still some layout changes I need to figure out how to do.

So, what do you think?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Filed Under: geek paradise ·