Walt Disney World With Kids (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [38]
There’s always plenty to do at Downtown Disney: shopping, movies, Cirque du Soleil, and DisneyQuest. But be forewarned—DisneyQuest is especially swamped when the weather turns bad.
Remember, a rainy morning doesn’t necessarily mean a rainy day. Weather conditions can change rapidly in Orlando, and if it clears up later in the day the parks will be less crowded than usual. If you see a storm approaching, duck into a show or indoor attraction and give it some time. You may walk out to find sunny skies.
“My advice is to pray for rain,” wrote a father of two from Pennsylvania. “We were standing in a long line for Dumbo, and it began to shower. Everyone left, but we just went into a nearby shop and it stopped raining after just a couple of minutes. When we emerged, Fantasyland was practically empty, and we got on Dumbo with no wait at all.”
Lost Kids
Obviously, your best bet is not to get separated in the first place. Savvy families set up prearranged meeting places.
If you do get separated and your kids are too young to understand the idea of a meeting place, act fast. Disney employees are well briefed about what to do if they encounter a lost child, so the odds are good that if your preschooler has been wandering around on his own for more than a couple of minutes, he’s been intercepted by a Disney cast member. The cast member has been trained to walk around the area with the child for about 10 minutes and, if they don’t find you, take the child to the Baby Care Center in that park. So if you’ve been wandering around looking for longer than 10 minutes, flag down the nearest person you see wearing a Disney name tag, and ask them to call Baby Care and see if the child has been reported found. You can also make things easier if you wear colorful clothing and explain to any child old enough to remember that “Mom is wearing a bright blue shirt today.” This increases the chances the cast member will be able to spot you in the crowd.
Insider’s Secret
Where and when are kids most apt to get lost? During character signings, in play areas, and just after parades. Everyone designates Cinderella Castle or Spaceship Earth as a meeting spot, which is one of the reasons these places are always mobbed. Plan to catch up with your crowd in a more out-of-the-way locale.
The one glitch in the system is that lost kids are often so interested in what’s going on around them that they aren’t crying and they don’t look lost, and, thus, no Disney employee intercepts them. Explain to your kids that if they get separated from you to approach the nearest person wearing a Disney name tag. That person can call in the child’s name to Baby Care and, assuming you’ve also called in to report the child as missing, the attendant can tell you where your child is.
Insider’s Secret
Stop by Disney’s Guest Relations in the morning and get a tag where you can put your cell phone number on the inside of your child’s clothing.
In real emergencies—when the child is very young or disabled, or when you’re afraid she’s been nabbed—bulletins are put out among employees. So if you lose a child, don’t spend a half hour frantically searching on your own. Contact the nearest Disney employee and let the system take it from there.
Parking
When it comes to a day at Disney, by far the most common problem is forgetting where you parked. Be sure to write down your row number (or take a picture of it with your phone) as you leave your car in the morning. Pluto 36 seems easy to remember at first, but you may not be able to retrieve that information 14 brain-numbing hours later. Failing this, if you tell a parking attendant the approximate time you arrived, he or she can tell you the general section in which you’re parked.
Auto Breakdowns
As the tram drops people off at the end of the day, security vehicles are parked at the end of rows in anticipation of the fact some unlucky family is going to return