Dad Guide to WDW – The Blog

Mrs. Mom is special. (She’d have to be to stay around me all the time.) Since this is Mom’s Day, I thought it would only be fitting to celebrate Mrs. Mom and share some of the “Pearls of Wisdom” that she shares with me every day.

We'll be staying in Bay Lake Towers - Photo by Don Sullivan

This is gonna be good …

Mrs. Mom hasn’t always been excited about our Dad’s Walt Disney World vacation obsession. But through the years, I’ve converted her. (It took a cold and rainy week in Branson to finally cure her.)

One thing you have to know about Mrs. Mom is she is a creature of habit. New and different makes Mrs. Mom uncomfortable. So when I started talking about what I wanted to accomplish during what we now call Dad and Mrs. Mom’s Disney Palooza 2012, Mrs. Mom sometimes balked. She actually started calling the trip the New and Different vacation because we were doing so many new and different things from our previous trips. For example we are trying 13 new restaurants on the Palooza. New and Different.

Mrs. Mom’s Pearls -

Dad is the creative one in the family, Mrs. Mom is the practical one, which works pretty well (at least when Dad will listen to Mrs. Mom). Being the practical one, Mom is full of practical pearls that keep us on track. Here are some of her favorite pearls of wisdom.

• Bring 2 pairs of shoes – yes, Mrs. Mom brings 2 identical pairs of tennis shoes (no she isn’t a shoe hound) on our Disney World vacations. They came in real handy the time it rained for 40 days and 40 nights (it was really only 3 days) while we were at Walt Disney World. She was the only one in the family that had dry feet for almost a week.
• Fresh socks in the afternoon – Mrs. Mom is big on keeping feet happy. Happy feet are the base of a happy trip. Our backpack will have a fresh pair of socks (or we will go back to the hotel and change)  to freshen up our feet in the afternoons.
• Traditions – Mrs. Mom is big on traditions. Some of our traditions include, eating at ‘Ohana, Casey’s Corner, Teppan Edo and lots of others. Traditions are a good thing. It’s sometimes a difficult thing when traditions get changed. For example, one of our traditions was getting a pineapple for dessert at ‘Ohana. A few years ago, Disney added the Banana Bread Pudding with ice cream and carmel rum sauce. We were leery, in fact we asked for just pineapple but were talked in to trying the other. Needless to say a new tradition has begun.
• Brush your teeth – like I said, Mrs. Mom is practical. We will carry travel toothbrushes and toothpaste into the parks and brush out teeth after meals.

Mrs. Mom’s Questions -

Whenever Dad starts talking Disney, Mrs. Mom sometimes has some questions. Every trip she has lots of questions. Sometimes these questions are meant to make me think about some silly idea I have, but usually she just wants to know something. Here are some of the questions Mrs. Mom has had for the Palooza.

• Are there hair dryers and refrigerators in the Pop Century, Coronado Springs and Bay Lake Towers? Yes both are in all 3 hotels. Disney has for years had hair dryers in all their hotels (although it’s a closely held secret). Over the last few years, Disney has been adding mini-refrigerators to all the hotel rooms even at the Pop Century.
• How about on the Disney Dream? Yep on the Dream too.
• I have a friend that is disabled. Is there a special pass that will get them some help? – Dad answered this question this week for Margaret. But just like Mrs. Mom, she’s always looking to help others.
• Where can we get you some Diet Dr. Peppers? Again, Mrs. Mom thinks of others. We’ll call Garden Grocers and have them delivered to the room. Thank you!

Mrs. Mom’s Fanny Pack

What’s in Mom’s Fanny Pack? Mrs. Mom carries a Magical Fanny Pack with all kinds of stuff that might come in handy during the day. (Dad carries the backpack that has mundane things like cameras and stuff.)  Her Fanny Pack is really cool. If we need something, we just ask Mom and out of the Magic Fanny Pack it pops. Here is what’s it -

• Medicines including Tylenol
• Bandaid’s and blister remedies
• Tickets – Mrs. Mom is the keeper of the tickets including FASTPASSes
• Blistex
• Sunglasses/string – when the sun goes down the Fanny Pack holds sunglasses and glasses strings
• Breath mints
• Anything else we might need (it’s magic, whatever we need is always in there)

Mrs. Mom is special. She is practical. She takes care of us. Whenever we need something she is there and she has what we need. She’s amazing.

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