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| My survival kit! |
The minute the Magical Express drops us off at our hotel my husband and I are headed to the park so fast that there's a trail of smoke (or in my case pixie dust) behind our heels. We literally only go up to the room after checking in for the sole purpose of making sure the key card works. Since the Magical Express doesn't deliver your luggage until a good 3 hours after you've arrived it's always a good idea to have a backpack full of essentials with you when you get there so your first day at the park can go off without a hitch, because it really sucks when you get to the park on the first day and you're all excited and like "WOOOO Disney World! OMGZ there's Mickey!" and then you realize you forgot your camera, ya know?
So here is a list of things I like to bring on the plane with me and Homeland Security hasn't seen fit to take away yet:
- Digital camera: because if I were forced to use one of the disposables they sell there I would probably just lay down in the middle of Main Street and refuse to get up until someone went to Best Buy and got me something that I could figure out.
- Video camcorder: because you never know when an awesome parade is right around the corner! (Actually you will because you will be in Frontierland and want to get to Tomorrowland and there will be 30,000 people in your way refusing to let you cross the street and using their strollers as weapons, then you will get to the curb and there will be 10 dancers and Pinocchio in your way and ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS GET TO THE CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS!)
- A copy of The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: which is available here. I also have this on my Nook. I use little post it notes to mark the pages that talk about things I want to see or do so I don't leave anything out, and also because I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and love post-it notes. I read it on the plane, and on the Magical Express if they aren't playing the welcome movie. We bring it to the park and I read it over the chicken nuggets. I've learned a lot of cool things from this book that always make me sound like I know more about Disney World than I actually do.
- My mouse ears: because everyone that x-rays my bag needs to know I'm going to Disney World! My custom ears don't make it on the flight because I have an irrational fear that they will be stained or torn or ripped, so an old battered pair of sequined headband ears that I got on my honeymoon gets thrown in the bag. Sometimes I wear them mid-flight. No big deal.
- Hand Sanitizer: so far as long as you put it in a little plastic bag and it's one of the tiny ones you can get at Target for $1.00, Homeland Security keeps their panties unbunched. I don't want to think about how many people have touched the poles on the monorail, and having this stuff there really helps with that.
- A snack: They don't let you bring food through security, but we pick up some granola bars at the airport snack shop right before we get on the plane. Yes, they're like $15.00 and they've been there for Walt-knows-how-long, but they will hold us off on the 45 minute ride on the Magical Express, and prevent us from using a snack credit from our dining plan on a couple of picked over croissants in the quick service dining hall.
- A Water bottle: I refuse to pay $4.00 for an Aquafina. In fact I usually refuse to pay $1.75 for one. Florida water is a swampy acquired taste, but it's a lot easier on the pocket book. Apparently it's the law that any quick service dining place has to give you a cup of ice water if you ask for it, so I would also use that to your advantage. Not that this will make it any less swampy, but at least the swampy ick water will be icy cold.
- Ibuprofen: Because we don't have kids with us (although I'm sure ibuprofen is even more recommended if you do) my husband and I pull 16 hour days at the park, and when you're sprinting across Animal Kingdom at full speed to make sure you're in line for the Kilimanjaro Safari, or ducking and dodging people to get across Magic Kingdom during the parades, your feet tend to get sore and tired. Extra strength Excedrin becomes my BFF very quickly.
- Band-Aids: I don't care how comfortable and sensible your shoes may seem, the concrete at Disney World is an unforgiving bitch. Every time we're there I manage to get blisters on my feet that could possibly be mistaken for an extra toe. A good supply of heavy duty waterproof Band Aids is at least a start in the war against ugly Hobbit feet.
- Every credit card I have ever applied for and received: because you never know when they're going to stop you at the gate and say "Hey the Cinderella Castle suite is on special tonight for only $500 would you be interested in spending the night?" and you're like "Ohmygod YES, give me 5 of them!". (This never happens but WHAT.IF.IT.DID?)
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| Homeland Security's reaction to Disney pins |
- My Pal Mickey: I have performed a vivisection on him before and his insides look suspect at best, and probably entirely worrisome when put through a Homeland Security scanner. Since the people working those machines look like they have never been to Disney World before, I think it's best to leave him in my suitcase instead of being detained for fives hours in a screaming, crying ball that can't articulate anything other than "I need my Mickey because he tells me what animals are on the Tree of Liffffeeeeee!!!" (Also I'd like to avoid being institutionalized).
- Disney Pins: I can't seem to get a straight answer when it comes to bringing your pins on the flight with you. Some people say they have, others have had them taken away. So I leave them in my luggage and just trade like a mad woman the next day to make up for lost time. I carry approximately 40 at a time and if you've ever seen a Disney pin you know they are no real threat. Unless of course I busted in to the cockpit and started screaming at the Captain "Disneyland Paris NOW or Figment here is going to show you what's up!!!" (He would have a most inconvenient boo-boo for like a week after that, right on the pointer finger that he types with!)
- My personalized Ears: As I said before, I have an irrational fear that my personalized ears will be harmed in some way (I literally have nightmares about this), so they get to WDW via my luggage and I sport them for the rest of the trip. Going without them for a day is a whole lot easier than having something disastrous and catastrophic happen to them on the way there and then never getting to wear them again, ya dig?
