Disfans

This is a great idea, a friend of mine just sent me. A temporary tattoo for your child, with your cell phone number pre-printed on it. If your child becomes lost at Disneyland, he or she has your cell phone number on their arm, so when the child is found you can be contacted immediately. Safety Tat
Personally, I think this is a fantastic idea even for an older child. I thought my school aged children knew my cell phone number, because we had practiced it over and over, and I thought they had it memorized. I found out differently, to my surprise.

My then 12 year old daughter went on a field trip with her girl scout troop to the movies. Their leader made a decision to go to a different theater, with a different movie time. The leader couldn’t find my cell number in her phone, and my daughter couldn’t tell her what the number was. My daughter was safely under the supervision of an adult this time, but what if she had gotten separated from her group? She wouldn’t have been able to call me even if she could have found a phone, because she didn’t remember the number I thought she had memorized. This temporary tattoo would have helped.

My daughter is now old enough to carry a small cell phone in her purse when she goes out, with my number programmed in. My son, however, is an active 9 year old and while I still recite my cell phone number for him to memorize, I’m getting the temporary tattoos for outings.

I love that they have included some for special needs kids, who may not be able to speak, have autism or food allergies. As the mother of a special needs child I appreciate this aspect of this product immensely. This kind of information is essential in an emergency, difficult to obtain from a child in an emergency situation, and even more critical if you are separated from your child when the emergency occurs.

If you have already tried this product, please leave a comment and tell me what you think. I’ll be giving it a try the next time I’m bound for Disney, and I’ll let you know my thoughts as well.

Alright, I got the kids back to school, and many other pressing matters have been taken care of. So I may now report on our trip to Disneyland.

We were very excited about the trip, this last minute vacation was just what we needed to escape the Texas heat and relax before the flurry of activity that awaited us when we returned. I tried to put school supplies, book lists, and shopping for school clothes out of my mind.

I had chosen an early morning flight on Frontier Airlines, with a stop in Denver, rather than the more expensive, non-stop late morning flight on American Airlines. I reasoned that the 2 kids I was taking on this trip, are seasoned fliers, and are able to carry their own backpacks and march through an airport with only a little guidance and supervision from me. My husband had volunteered to drive us to the airport, even though the early flight time had us all up at 4:30am.

The kids were excited, and ready to go, springing out of bed, and grabbing their stuff. Ha! Just kidding. They grumbled and fussed a bit, but they were excited about Disneyland and once awake, were easy enough to pursuade to the car.

We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and my kids were really easy going about checking our bags, and going through security. They know how to peel off their shoes and put their stuff into a gray security tray, and march through the metal detectors, and gather all their stuff again, in what I must say is a record of speed and coordination for them. I have never seen my kids get ready to go with this level of speed, when the starting point is home, and the end target is school.

Our experience with Frontier Airlines was great. The kids loved that they got to have FREE headphones, and they got to watch TV… on the plane. The novelty of watching whatever they wanted on DirectTV programing on the plane, or the map, or the weather channel entertained them all the way to Denver. We hardly noticed the same old cattle car atmosphere, because we could watch our own individual TVs.

For a short flight, such as this was, into Denver, we did not get a meal, and since we left very, very early indeed, we had not procured any provisions at the airport. The kids didn’t understand why the TSA banned liquids in the carry on luggage and why that meant we had no food or beverages with us. Frontier did provide a beverage and a granola bar. Our stopover in Denver was a very brief, 10 minutes, during which we had to virtually sprint across the airport to the next terminal, passing by a very fragrant, and appetizing food court. I didn’t want to take the time to stand in a McDonalds line when I didn’t know where our gate was, so I dragged the kids past all the wonderful food smells to stand in line at our gate.

Once at the gate, it was pretty apparent that we weren’t going to be boarding in the next 30 seconds or even the next 5 minutes, so we darted into a newstand to acquire some small consumables. On board Frontier once again, the children were content to munch on their snacks and watch TV. May the deity of your choice bless the person who came up with this idea, because the whining of a bored child is a curse on an entire airplane. My kids not only didn’t whine for the entire 2 flight trip to Southern California, and they are champion whiners, my friends… I was also able to block the incessant whining of smaller children who were too young to enjoy Direct TV programming (or perhaps their parent was too cheap to pay the $5, who knows?) For $15, I was able to entertain myself and 2 children for 2 hours, and they got free cheap headphones. I used my iPod headphones with zero trouble, but we liked the Frontier cheap headphones for the kids, because they are so cheap, you can bend them to fit a small person’s head if necessary.

My travel tips for this leg of the journey:

• Have your child carry their own backpack, appropriate to the size of your child. They can carry a stuffed animal, small blanket, and travel pillow, and small toys for the plane. Snacks are also a good idea, but with increased security, no beverages.
• Tell your child what to expect at the security checkpoint.  Have them wearing easy to remove shoes, that they can pull on and off themselves.  If they can put their own bag and shoes into that bin themselves and slide it to the conveyor belt, its that much easier for you. Remember you will have to take your camera, phone, computer, and other electronic equipment out of your bag, while taking off your shoes and finding bins for all those items.  If your child can manage his/her own items its so much easier to handle. Even more so on the other side, if they can put on their own shoes and grab their own bag while you are wrangling everything else, its so helpful.
• Bring cheap headphones or grab some freebies from the airline.  If you fly Frontier, you get free headphones for watching TV.  On other airlines, the headphones are still entertaining for the children to listen to music on the plane.  Cheaper headphones are easier to bend and make fit on a smaller child’s head.

So what is a Disneyland bound traveler to do when their budget is small.. and travel packages are waaaay too expensive? That’s the question I asked myself after I finished breathing into a paper bag. I freaked out a little, pondered… fiddled and tweaked the packages online, and moped and fretted. After I was done, I shook myself, got a grip and went back to work.

I consulted my trusty copy of “The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2006″ ..

I took some of their advice, and checked with AAA, Costco, and Expedia. I changed my flight, and I changed my hotel, and I saved a lot of money.
Normally, when traveling with the entire family, we will choose, for the sake of convenience, a non-stop flight. With 3 kids and a wheelchair, and various paraphenalia required for our Special Needs child, its so much easier to travel if we don’t have to deplane, and find another plane, etc. You can imagine the hassle we avoid by paying the higher price for a non-stop flight.

This time, it will just be me and 2 able bodied children, ages 12 and 8. They aren’t toddlers anymore, and can manage quite well with minimal assistance from me, so a stop in Denver won’t kill us. These kids have traveled quite a bit, so they know they will have to tote their own backpacks, and they’ve experienced the joys of Airport security and air travel before.

So instead of flying on the pricier American Airlines, non-stop round trip, we’ll be going on Frontier Airlines, and making a stop in Denver. The plane also leaves bright and early, Thursday morning, at 6:50am. My husband is not so happy to drive us to the airport at 4AM, but he did volunteer.

In addition, I skipped the pricier hotels, and went for a 2 star hotel, that I haven’t stayed at before, The Comfort Inn, Maingate, in Anaheim. They offered a Kids Suite, with 2 bathrooms, and include Continental Breakfast. My kids love to partake of a hotel breakfast, so we’ll check it out.

With an economy car from Hertz, the total package cost $1409.63. Thats right… I’m under my budget, by $90.37. Yes, its a 2 star hotel, we’re making a pitstop in Denver, and I haven’t bought my Disney tickets yet… but I’m happy.

I really, really, really wanted to stay at Paradise Pier. I love staying at Disney hotels. HOWEVER. The only room available, was a standard room, for which I would be paying a premium price. If this was a trip just for me, I’d be fine and happy. Picture me in a room with two arguing kids, hot and sweaty from Disneyland, and nowhere to go. All there is in the room, is a bathroom and 2 beds. That’s no fun. I’m not one of those people who goes to bed early on vacation. I like to sit up and watch tv or read and relax, and with 2 kids with me, I often have one of them go to sleep first, and send the other in after that first child is sleeping. In a one room, two bed situation.. its lights out for everyone at the same time. None of us would have been happy with that, and I sure don’t want to pay extra money for it.

Right now, I’m happy with the room I chose. Its a Kid Suite, with a bunk bed, and two bathrooms, microwave and refrigerator. I have not stayed at this hotel before, but I don’t mind trying a new place, so I can tell y’all about it. I’ll write about some of my other favorite places in another post.

So here are my money saving tips for this post.

1. If you don’t mind changing planes, do it. Non-stop flights are more expensive, you pay for the luxury of flying straight through to your destination. Also, early morning flights are less often chosen by travelers, and airlines will give a better price for them.

You should keep in mind, however, who you are traveling with. Young children and toddlers, and special needs children and adults will not do as well on a 1 or 2 stop flight. Don’t torture yourself and your fellow passengers, opt for a nonstop flight, you will be glad you did. I’ll also try to schedule flights for young children, when they are more likely to nap. If you have a way to upgrade to First Class, by all means go for it. The extra space is so worth it when you are traveling with children.

2. There are sooo many hotels to choose from. Shop around and find one with a price and comfort level you are happy with. Don’t settle for a Standard Double room at Disney, when you can find a much nicer room for less money, less than a block from the park. One of the main differences between Disneyland and Disney World, is that there are many more hotels that are “offsite” to choose from, and competition is a good thing. There are many different price ranges, and different rooms and accommodations to suit any need. It just takes a little legwork to find the best deal.

3. When you have tons of time to plan, check with Costco and see what travel plans they offer.

4. Automobile Club (AAA) can get you discounted hotel room rates, and upgrades and discounts on rental cars.

Now, I have to pack.. our flight leaves in the morning.