disney post-mortem

The trip to Disney World was a bit of a learning experience for my sister, brother-in-law and me. We learned:

1. Buy the damned tickets online before you go - you will save at least 15% doing so.
2. If the child hasn't been to an amusement park yet, or fears the new, take them to Six Flags first. Otherwise, he's gonna bail out of line every time you think you've talked him into trying one of the tamer attractions.
3. Bring granola bars, crackers, etc... Disney marks up food a good bit.
4. Rent a stroller for kids six and under. They will be far less whiny. We didn't figure this out till the last day. Still kicking ourselves for that.
5. It will always be warmer or cooler than you expected. Plan to shell out a few dollars for a t-shirt or a sweatshirt. Also plan to have to shop all over the damn place for one that doesn't have Goofy or Dopey on the front.
6. EPCOT is the best. Especially if you like to broaden your cultural horizons by buying an adult beverage at each pavillion. It makes pushing that stroller a little less burdensome.
7. The savanna view at the Animal Kingdom Lodge can be funny. We had an ankole bull in full rut right outside our window. And we got to listen to him bellow all night long. The funniest part was having my sister point out the animal's special "udders" in front of my nephew.

On the last evening, I asked my sister what her favorite parts of the trip were:
1. Having extremely sore feet, she jumped into the double-wide stroller with the nephew. He put up with it for about 10 minutes and then told her she was embarrassing him.
2. The bellowing bull outside our hotel deck.
3. My nephew's daily meltdowns - especially during the Muppet show attraction at MGM studios. (To be fair, just about every other kid we say had similar meltdowns - sensory overload or something.)

She has a twisted sense of humor too.