*Tent on Wheels at DISNEY* The Bare Necessities: Tips and Tricks

RDB and I are no strangers to camping and being prepared for things like poison ivy (my nemesis), or traveling with our pup (missed him this trip!), even taking some time away from the campgrounds and cruising, we were prepared for just about anything, but going to Disney, to a set of theme parks for two weeks, that was new.  So I scoured the internet, talked with my vacation planner, Heather, asked friends and colleagues who had gone before, and came up with a list of things that would be 'should haves' for our first visit to Disney. 

Here are a few thoughts on what you might want to have with you when you head to the most Magical Place on Earth!

The most useful "must have" for any Disney trip is a really great vacation planner ;-) I am so grateful that I've known Heather since high school and that she is so passionate about planning amazing trips for her clients (and friends!).  She was incredible in everything from answering the (tons of) questions that I had before we booked, to making advanced dinning reservations on our behalf (OMG, y'all, Le Celleir!) and not just in advance, but while we were there and decided we wanted to have it a second time (which is unheard of! But she was able to snag us another reservation just the day before!)  The level of service by way of her communication is second to none!  Not only is she on the spot whenever you're in the park (I can't tell you how many times I texted her on our trip to ask a random question, or thank her for a suggestion she made that was spot on!) she also sends you off with an extensive pre-trip package of information the week before the trip, including a play-by-play touring plan of your trip via an Excel file (Heather, you are my spreadsheet-soul-sister!) I'm a planner at heart, but Heather? Her whole heart is planning!! 

Thank you Heather! You made our trip magical! 

Items for use in the parks:

I'll start with the most obvious thing: Mickey Ears.  You'll have every opportunity under the sun to pick some up while you're in the parks, but you'll pay top dollar Disney price for them. I found fun pairs on both Amazon and Etsy for reasonable prices.   The hard part is going to be to narrow the number of them you bring to the number of days you have in the park!

So, it's Florida and you'll be outside in the parks having fun and it. Will. Rain.  Which means you should consider packing ponchos for everyone in your group (or again, pay the Disney prices; though I saw theirs, and they are definitely a thicker, reusable plastic - but then you have to refold and carry around a wet poncho.  Your choice!) 

Along the same lines of rain and wetness, be sure to take extra socks and shoes.  We walked thru a solid 3-4 inches of water during the worst of the downpour after stepping off the boat from Fort Wilderness at the boat launches of Magic Kingdom. Took all night with fans pointed at our shoes to dry them out. And trust me, with as much walking as you'll do, you're going to want good, dry shoes. (I'm a HUGE fan of going to a dedicated runner's shoe store (like Fleet Feet) to get fitted for shoes.  RDB and I both purchased new shoes for this trip and were so very glad that we did!)

Along with having a great pair of shoes since you'll be doing so much walking, consider bringing more socks that you would normally need. There is definitely something magical about coming home for your mid day break and changing socks.  I'm a big fan of this brand. Trust me, with good shoes and new socks, your feet will thank you!

But even with the best shoes and new socks, you might still find yourself with a blister starting on your foot somewhere.  Moleskin to the rescue!  I had one sheet in my backpack for the parks, precut into 1" squares, and was grateful I had it when (after our almost 7 mile EPCOT day) I started to develop a blister on my heel.  By simply covering the spot with a square of moleskin I was able to enjoy the rest of the day and the blister never turned into something painful that would have put a damper on the trip.  And one final thought - a bottle of BioFreeze can be your best friend to rub down those tired toes (or other aches and pains) after a long day walking in the parks!

Disney has really brought the magic of technology into the experience that you can have in the parks.  When you purchase your tickets, you receive a digital copy of them in your My Disney Experience App, but can also (for a nominal fee) buy a set of Magic Bands. A few weeks before our trip I purchased the least expensive bands ($10 each) and they arrived in the box above.  But, knowing that RDB and I both already wear our AppleWatches on a regular basis, I also purchased a set of Magic Band puck holders. 

Since you use the Magic Band (or really, the puck inside that band) for entrance into the parks, tapping in for your Lightening Lanes if you use Genie+, and can link your credit card to it for purchases at Disney properties, this was a few dollars well spent.  And? The 'magic' in the Magic Bands lasts for years, so this is a purchase that you can benefit from on several trips!

Like I mentioned, you'll use those Magic Bands (pucks) to 'tap in' for your Genie+ and Individual Lightening Lane rides, if you choose to buy the service for your park days.  I won't go into all the various strategies for trying to get the most out of Genie+, but I will say that the 2-hour rule was not that big of a deal for us, I just booked our first LLs later in the day, then set a timer for park opening, and every two hours after that.  Being able to 'buy' that time we would have spent in lines was worth the $15/pp to us.  Also, I found that being flexible on where and what we wanted to ride helped, too, but it meant we were back and forth to different sides of the park sometimes (especially at EPCOT).  We bought it for our first park day in each park, except for Animal Kingdom, which we rope-dropped. 

I wrote a full post on my thoughts about Disney's PhotoPass and Memory Maker service - you can find that over here.  Short story, it was definitely worth the money spent for us, I'm still sorting thru the hundreds of photos we have and loving them all! 

The last thing I bought specifically for our Disney trips was a Waterfly crossbody backpack.  We have several different backpacks at home, including a nice one I use when I travel with my laptops (one for blogging, one for work) but I didn't really want to be burdened with a full sized pack during our parks day, yet I knew we'd want something to carry around the necessities in.  So the crossbody Waterfly came highly recommended. I liked that we had multiple pockets,  the front flap with space to hold my ear headbands without them getting crushed, spaces for two water bottles, a key-keeper trap in the main pocket, and the over the shoulder strap that could be unhooked and rehooked to either side, making it convertible to your preferred shoulder (and easier to get off stepping onto a ride without having to but the straps over your head, often catching those Mickey Ears you're wearing!) It was a GREAT purchase. 

Items for the trip: 

It wouldn't be a Disney trip without fully immersing yourself in Disney decor - if you're staying at one of the hotel resorts, then you're already have that experience, but, much like door decorating on a cruise ship, it could be fun to add a little of your own.  I wrote up a post with links about how we decorated inside and outside the camper and our rented golf cart - you can read that over here. 

And you'll notice in that decor post that I talked about decorating the golf cart we rented, this was another item that I went back-and-forth on whether we should get it for our trip, and I'm so glad that we did! If you're staying at the campground at Fort Wilderness, having a golf cart to get around is perhaps not a must-have, but is certainly a fun splurge if you can budget it in! The campground has an internal bus system that will take you to the depots to catch a boat or bus to the parks, but its really nice to be able to get home from a long day in the park, jump on your golf cart, and head right back to your site.  It's also a lot of fun to have to play around on your non-park days. 

Definitely not a 'fun' thing about going to Disney World, but a useful item if you're traveling across by car - it was recommended in the Facebook camping pages I'd joined to stop in at the first Travel/Welcome center in Florida and get a Florida Toll Tag called the SunPass.  It was certainly worth it because it meant we didn't need to try to avoid the toll roads, and could simply let our GPS take us the most efficient routes to and from the Most Magical Place on Earth! 

I'm sure there are lots of other things I could list, but if I were going back to Disney again tomorrow, these are the "bare necessities" I'd want to have with me.  And though we aren't going back in the near future (boo!), we have reached out to Heather to look at another camping trip in the next two years!

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Be sure to check out our other posts from Tent On Wheels at DISNEY!  

*Tent on Wheels at DISNEY* “Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat?”

 

We couldn't go to Disney World and stay in our camper at Fort Wilderness without having a little decorative Pixie Dust around us (any excuse to decorate, y'all know me!) So, I dressed the camper and our site, and the golf cart (it's a thing, yall!); I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty, I've got whozits and whatzits galore! ;-)

Inside the Camper: Happy Birthday Banner and Mickey Door Hanger,  Removable Mickey Mouse Wall Stickers,  Minnie Ears Hat

Golf Cart: Command Clear Cord Clips,   LED Battery Powered Rope Lights,   Mickey Mouse Garland

Outside: Mickey and Minnie Castle Window Decal,  Tinkerbell Window Decal,  Happy Birthday Yard Sign

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Coming soon! Be sure to check out our other posts from Tent On Wheels at DISNEY!  

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like CAMP-mas!

 

Decorations hung by the, um, campsite with care - in hopes that St Nicholas would roast marshmallows with us there!  Really, though, everything is secured with Command Hooks or this crazy awesome tape.  

Happy Holidays and a very merry CAMPmas!

We Found a Keeper!

 

Ladies, find a man that will (literally) deal with your shit, and you've found yourself a keeper!

A Gift: Long Weekend, Long Post.

Yes, that is a South East Texas POP-UP Camper's Club banner beside a travel trailer.  Why? Because we Scouted this weekend, and because this all-inclusive Club doesn't discriminate by breed, creed, gender, religion, or what you go camping in! (Although, to be totally honest, we did join the club while we were still in a pop-up...)

RDB and I took a few extra days off to make the Labor Day weekend a little longer, and left late out of Houston after running errands, going to the gym, and dropping Diesel-Dog off at doggie day care (we wanted a bit of a vacation to celebrate RDB's birthday and Double D doesn't understand what 'sleeping in' means). Honestly, it was a little odd without him.

We're back (again!) to an old favorite - the Texas State Rail Road campground up in Rusk, TX.  (Remember how last year, RDB said he'd gladly spend his birthday here again?) M&D from the camping club beat us there and had already picked out one of the more secluded sights.  J/D had family in the area and weren't coming over until Saturday morning.  We made ourselves at home in site 10 and snuggled in for the night.

By the way - if you haven't picked up a dog-bone for your camper, you should do so. Our 30amp wasn't working, but the 50amp was - so the connector (which was still new in the package after all this time) finally came into good use.

Friday morning we slept in(!), enjoyed our coffee and breakfast, lazed around the camper for a bit, then took a trip into Palestine (to have lunch at Giovanni's. Again!)  We made a stop off at the Walmart - one set of my outside rope lights had died on our past trip, so we picked up another - and we spent a little time in downtown Palestine.  I had researched a quaint little shop called the Texas Art Depot before we left: they were supposed to be a Thomas Kincaid gallery (I think we saw one print) and had several different local artisans. We thought the metal works were really neat and ended up buying one for my Dallas Bro.  

See the red-headed poker player at the bottom? Yep, that's my Bro.

Back at the campsite, we spent some time talking with M&D.  They had gone to the Caddo Mounds  Historical Site that morning, and were planning on riding the train on Saturday once J/D got in.  Since RDB and I have ridden the trains twice, we opted to spend this trip sight-seeing (and eating... a quick side note: I packed only 3 main meals (just dinners, no lunches) because we always come home with food. 4 nights, 3 dinners this trip, and somehow we still came home with food uncooked?!)  We finished up chatting with them and walked back to our site just as the sky opened up and it down-poured on us.  Good thing I bought Despicable Me for RDB's birthday....

The sunset Friday night after the rain was just glorious. I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

I don't think the steam and diesel trains in the campground will ever grow old to me.  There's just something so magical about the type of travel we used to do - and hearing the train whistle totally delights me.  I spent a good bit of time after the rain Friday evening walking the tracks and taking photos of the empty station (you can see them in my Flickr feed - link at the bottom).  I ventured out Saturday morning to wave to the other SETPUCCers who were going for a ride on the #7 Diesel that morning. M&D said they had known about the trains up in Rusk for decades, but had never made the time to actually go and ride.  It's for that very reason I'm glad we Scouted this trip!

While they were off on their rail adventure, RDB and I drove down to the Caddo Mounds State Historical Site.  We've driven past the mounds nearly every trip up to Rusk, but had not taken the time to go walk the site.  The museum is currently under construction and will reopen partially  in October ("When the politicians are available.") and will be fully completed in December.  Rachel, the education coordinator, was extremely knowledgeable and gracious enough to lend us the keys to the golf cart ("It is August, after all!") so that we could ride around, rather than walk the mile trail between the mounds.  I really do look forward to going back once the new museum is open and spending a bit more time there learning about this ancient culture.

Once we all made it in from our respective 'rides,' we debated a bit about dinner.  Tradition has it on SETPUCC trips, that there's a potluck on Saturday night.  With just 3 families attending this weekend a potluck seemed a bit over the top.  So, on M&D's recommendation (aka, TripAdvisor research) we jumped in the truck and went back out to Palestine for dinner at Little Mexico.  (J/D stayed in... which in hind-sight, was the better choice!)  The place was packed, but the service was severely lacking. And the food? Ehn.  I think we'd have done better going back to Giovanni's (again!) which happened to be literally right next door! (I think I've figured out why I keep coming home with extra food....)

Saturday night we planned to go for an Owl Prowl after we got back in from dinner.  RDB and I got back to the camper, unlocked the door, grabbed our trash and as I took it to the dumpster, he closed our gray tank.  I got distracted chasing a frog as he made it back around to the front door.

"Look what I caught!" I said, motioning to the frog.

"Look what I can't open." RDB said, tugging on the camper door.

(Somehow, magically, our door had re-locked itself and we were stuck outside.)

I said: "No problem! I have a spare key in the truck - I just need the truck keys, but they're..."

"...in the camper?" RDB said.

"Maybe we could use a screwdriver to pry it open? I have a tool set, but it's..."

"...in the camper?"

"We could.... call AAA? I've got a membership! I just need my phone, and it's..."

"...in the camper."

About that time, D and D showed up and joined us in pondering how we managed to get ourselves locked out of our camper (it felt like the old "Who's on First" routine all over again.)  Thankfully, M had a tool set back in his pop-up and after trying a multitude of non-violent attempts to pick the lock, RDB decided "force" was the only means necessary, and skillfully broke the lock. I say skillfully, because he only broke what was necessary to get the handle to open - the door still latched, and the deadbolt still locked... but it will eventually need to be replaced.  You know, I had a locksmith back in Raleigh tell me a story once about Gremlins....

Speaking of Gremlins, we did some Geocaching on Sunday (Gremlin, Garmin. Get it?)  We found four, but didn't do much searching beyond that.  When your Hubby says, "I'm getting itchy just looking at that one," you know you've gone about far enough.

Found our tiniest Geocache ever, and our first TravelBug.  I'd say four was plenty!

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the campsite (and watching Despicable Me 2 when it started raining again).  I cooked coconut crusted chicken for lunch, and though it was good, I'll never do it again - frying stuff, even lightly, in the camper leaves a fried-fast-food-restaurant smell that even Febreeze had a hard time getting out.  After lunch, once the rain cleared, we took another walk around the lake.

Life is sweet to us right now.  We really enjoy our camping, our friends, our life together.  It's hard to imagine that only a year ago next week, RDB proposed.  It may be his birthday today, but I feel like I'm the one waking up each morning to a gift.


For more camping photos, go here.