1. If you are breast feeding and not bringing the babies, bring your breast pump. It takes so long to get to the park, and once you are there you will not want to leave. I made the mistake of thinking I would just pop back to the hotel and pump. Instead I found myself sucking only own breast and squeezing it dry over a toilet. I’m not sure which was worse, doing that or, later in the day, standing in the family bathroom traumatizing our kids as they watched Adam help relieve myself with his mouth. “Gross! Adam is drinking the baby’s milk!” and “Papa is a baby.” were some of the comments from the kids.

2. You make a better blocker than a follower. When the park got really busy, I tended to walk behind Adam and the stroller while he slugged through the throngs of people. But I figured out if I walked first, or to the side depending on where the traffic was coming from, it opened up a small space that made it easier for Adam to open wider and maneuver into.

3. Fast passes. Use them. I think a lot of people are confused about them. They are free. Once you get one, the fast pass you receive will tell you when you can get another one. So, instead of waiting for 90 minutes for the Peter Pan ride, you can go do a less busy ride or get something to eat. You come back at the designated time and barely wait at all. This made the park a lot more enjoyable. Often I would go pick up a fast pass while the kids and Adam were waiting for another ride.

4, Three days is enough for the Magic Kingdom. We were able to see everything and do all the kids favorites rides again a few times as well. We got the park hopper and spent a morning at Hollywood Studios and still covered everything.

5. Character meals. I thought this would be a waste of time. I thought Jack is shy he might not like it. It’s so expensive I didn’t want to risk it. But Adam reasoned that we were paying half the price of a character lunch for crap fast food in the park so a nice buffet and characters was worth it. And it was! I knew Ben would love it, but even Jack as up dancing and hugging the characters. When he got back to the hotel the first thing he did was show Angelica the pictures of the lunch. It was one of the times when Adam and I realized that Jack is still just a kid. Because he’s our oldest kid sometimes we forget.

6. Bring or rent a stroller. I think we walked 10 miles each day in that park. We only brought one stroller and by the afternoon both boys were fighting over it. Adam ended up carrying one or the other quite a bit.