How to Have the Most MAGICAL Day Ever!

Jared shares tips and tricks of what not to do so you can avoid common pitfalls and negative guest interactions in order for you and your family to have the most magical day ever at the theme parks!

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On this week's Episode of A Dryer Dose of Disney, Jared shares with us how to make sure your day is the most magical day ever and that it doesn't go off the rails. Welcome to this week's episode of a Dryer dose of Disney. I'm your host, Jared dryer. And today we are kicking off season number four with probably one of our biggest and most important episodes we've ever done, which is how to have the most magical day ever at any one of the parks. So whether you're going to Disney or universal. We want to give you the tips and tricks to make your day as enjoyable as possible, not just for you and your family, but for others as well. And so we're going to have a lot of fun with this today. Kicking off season number four, if you haven't listened to our other three seasons, yet those are all available wherever you're listening to this podcast. So whether that's out there on apple podcasts or Spotify, or if you're on the video version out there on YouTube. You can check it out there as well. So we encourage you to check out all those episodes, but this one is probably one of the most important episodes that you're going to listen to. And the reason is we're going to go through a top 10 list of things that we have seen others do mistakes in their day or ways that have caused them or their family to melt down or break down. And we want to prevent you and your family from having to do that. So we're going to give you the tips and tricks and because of that, we're actually going to have 10. I can do this all day tips of the day, which is what we've got on our shirt and that's our logo. And we're going to be talking about those throughout the dates. We go through each one of these tips and tricks. But before we do that, we want to tell you a little bit more about what's coming this season. Obviously, like we said, this is kicking off season number four. This is a huge episode for us because this one is really important. We do want everyone to listen to it. So listen to it all the way through, and we're going to give you some rules here. On feedback, because we want feedback on this episode. But then what we're also going to be doing in season four is we're taking our butterbeer episode. And our, how to go to Disney for free episode off of our Patreon page. And we're giving those to the general public here in the next couple of weeks, and we're going to replace those. With our biggest Disney secret yet. And I'm talking about a tip and trick that we did not want to give out, that we have talked a lot about whether or not we should put this into the podcast and over and over again, we've said, no, it's too good of a trick. We don't want to put it into the podcast, but we decided, Hey, why not? For our paid subscribers over at Patreon? Give them that ability to, get that tip and trick over there. We will be doing that here shortly. We're going to explain that on a future episode. But if you are not a subscriber, you can do that through Patreon and support the show. Or if you want to just subscribe just to get these in your inbox, that's totally free. And you can do that at YouTube or wherever you're listening to the podcast. Just click, pause, and go find that subscribe button. But our supporters over at Patreon are who keep this podcast going. So if there's any tips or tricks that are saved you time or money, and especially on this new one, that's coming, you're going to want it. So you're going to want to become a subscriber. She can get that. And it's such a good tip. We're not going to put it at our bottom tier. Do check out our Patreon page that down in the links below and you can get some more information there. And then, next on the list here is you guys can see, I am not filming in my normal location. If you're watching us on YouTube. I am filming at the Dryer Dose of Disney condo here in Orlando. This will probably be my last episode. I filmed here before we're back in Denver. Just because we're going to be leaving this next week to go back home. And, it's been a great time that we've been here in Orlando. In fact, if you're watching us on YouTube, you can probably see a little glow in my face. We were at the magic kingdom today. And if you are on our Facebook page, you can see, I have the sticker for being a galactic hero. I scored a perfect 9 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 on the buzz light year today and got my galactic hero sticker. And that's going to be an episode we're going to be releasing here shortly. So I'm going to tell you how you can get a perfect score on buzz light year, whether you're in California or you're out here in Orlando. That episode's also going to be coming, but we were in the parks today. We had a great time. We rode most of the rides by a little bit before two o'clock in the afternoon. And then just because we have our dogs here and whatnot, and it started to rain, we decided to come home and we may hit back into the parks, but I thought, Hey, let's get an episode recorded and get that done. So you can see, that yeah, we posted some stuff on Facebook today on our dryer dose at Disney page. And here we are recording an episode. Now these episodes, we do prerecord them. So this one will probably air sometime in September. But we do thank you for listening to the show. Nonetheless, but you can go check out our Facebook page and find some other cool content there as well. So let's dive into this episode today because this is the way that you and your family are going to have the most magical day ever. And these tips and tricks are going to work at both the Disney parks as well as the universal parks. And there are a couple of little specifics that we will call out as we go through here. Now as we go through this list. I'm going to tell you the top 10 things that we have seen people do that have ruined their day and not just their day. But they ruined other people's days. And so we're going to help you get through your day in, and we're going to tell you what not to do or what we've seen done poorly. And then I'll give you a tip and trick for the, I can do this all day tip for that one. And we'll tell you the right way to do it, or how to take advantage of the system to your benefit so that you and your family have a great day in the parks. Okay. Now, as we go through this, some of these could be more controversial. You may disagree with some of my opinions and some of my tips and tricks. And you may say, Hey, we've been planning our Disney vacation. It's all about me. You guys can all revolve around me in my universe and I'm going to do what I want. And yeah, you can do what you want. I'm just trying to give you a tip or trick because I've seen people literally melt down and lose it over doing some of these things and not just themselves, but maybe other people. And I can tell you that there's been multiple times that we've been in Disney parks when fights have started. And we're talking about the ones that make YouTube, that you will see online, maybe even on the news. And we've been in the parks on those days. And it's terrible when it happens. Those people that get into fights, get kicked out of the park for the rest of their lives. They're never allowed to come back in. And you don't want to have that happen to you. And some of these things could trigger it. So we want to make sure that you're doing what's right for you and your family, as well as others, and that you're being respectful. And that's why we give you tips and tricks on how to make your date better. So we're going to have a lot of fun with this, but what we do want is we want those comments and feedback. So if you have comments or feedback, especially out there on YouTube, let us know on this top 10 list, which one you agree with the most, or even disagree with. And tell us why, but do call it out specifically so that we can start a dialogue there, or you can find us on Facebook and do it there as well. And that's a great place to interact with us directly at a Dryer Dose of Disney is through our Facebook page. So with that, we are going to get into number 10 on our list. And in fact, this number 10 item on our list. So we're going from low to top of least severe to probably more, the most severe as you get through your day. This number ten one on our list. This one, baffles me. It blows my mind every time that I see someone do it. And so I'm going to tell you not to do it. And then I'm going to tell you what you should do instead to take care of your family. But number 10 is I see people every single day, every single restaurant that we go into cutting in line to get free water. Now, if you don't know about Disney parks and universal parks, they will give you water for free. And it's usually in a cup with some ice. Anytime that you need it, so you don't have to buy bottled water, if you don't want to. We always recommend bringing in your own bottled water with you. The water in the parks doesn't always taste the best, especially if it's right after. Strange rainfall or something. You can get that sulfur smell in there. But we do recommend you want to hydrate. And don't dry-drate out there. So you need to make sure you're staying well hydrated while you're in the parks. And so you can get free water. At the restaurants. And so what we'll see happen in this it's blows my mind, how often this happens. Is people will be waiting in line to order food or to pick up their food. And somebody bypasses the line. They just walk up to the front of the counter. And asked for their free water. Now, I don't know if it's because it's free that people think why can just cut everybody in line. But you guys all know theme parks. The general rule of thumb at theme parks is you don't cut in line. So I'm going to tell you don't cut in line. There's a better way to do it here in just a moment. But I have seen people lose it when this happens, when they've been waiting a while. Especially if they've got a mobile order and the attendant is now taking care of somebody for free water versus getting their mobile order ready for them. People will lose it. So I'm telling you today, do not cut in line for free water. Okay. So the best thing that you can do is when you are ordering your food. So let's say you go in there to get food. When you're ordering your food and you get up to the front of the line and you're picking it up. Get two or three waters per person in your group. That's the best tip I can give you. The waters are a little bit smaller, so let's see. I have a group of four. You can say, I need 10 waters. They may look at you, but you've been in line. You've waited in line. You're not cutting anyone in line and they will give you the 10 different waters. And you can take them back with you to your seat. And you guys can drink as much water as you want then. Okay. If you're not waiting in line to get a food or drink item. Or you're not ordering food at that point in time. I will tell you that if you need to go get free water, you should wait in line. Just like everyone else. And I know that you're thinking it's free. I don't want to have to do that. And sometimes. Occasionally, they do have them up on the counter. And if you see one of those, then go ahead and just go grab it. But I'm telling you if you don't see it up there on the counter, just waiting for you. For you to get in front of everyone else in line says that you're entitled. And it says that you are better than them. And people get really mad when that happens. And I've seen people start arguments. I've seen people get very frustrated with that. So don't cut in line for free water. Basically just wait your turn and it will only take a minute or two and you'll be up there and get some. Number nine on my list is mobility carts. So mobility carts obviously are this great tool around Disney. You guys would have seen them. And you know what I'm talking about, these are the little hover round carts, that people that either have trouble standing or walking long distances. We'll use when they're in the parks and they are a great tool. And when you think about you're in the parks, you're going to be on your feet probably 10 to 12 hours during the day, at least. And you're going to do at least seven miles. We've done, parks where we're over 10 miles for the day. But for the general rule of thumb, we're doing at least seven miles when we're at a park day and you're going to be standing the whole time. So we know that there's a lot of people that they can't do, that they can't stand that long. They can't walk that far. And so the mobility carts are the best tool for them to get through the parks. So we love mobility carts. We think they are great. But when you're going through the park, you need to think about the park and the walkways as a highway. You've got 50 to 70,000 people in the park with you at any given point in time. And everybody's going in different directions at different times in different ways. And there's a lot of cross traffic, so it's A free for all out there on the highway. When you're driving your mobility cart, it's like taking a semi and taking it through the middle of rush hour. And if you're going down the middle lanes or something like that are taken up a lot of space. It just completely congests everything down and heaven forbid we get two or three mobility carts by each other, which I have seen. You will completely shut down a walkway to the point where even cast members will ask you to move off to the side. So our I can do this all day. Tip of the day on this one for mobility carts is first and foremost is if you need one, get one. Disney has them. You've got some other rental providers out there that have them. There's no point in standing and walking all day. If you can't do it. And we definitely want to encourage you to get one. And the parks are all very accommodating, whether you're at Disney or universal, they're going to take care of you. So please, if you need one, get one. But what we're saying is to make your day a little bit better, and to keep people from getting mad at you or yelling at you or making comments about you. When you're driving them, think of you're driving a semi and you want to be off to the right-hand side. So whichever way you're going, if you stick to the right, and you stay along the side of the path over there, that gives other people plenty of room to get around you because those mobility carts are slow. So as you're moving along on a mobility cart, trust me. When I say the majority of people are going to be walking faster than you, and they're going to be trying to get around you. So if you pull over towards the side and come up the side, You're usually going to see less traffic and you're going to. Be out of the way and more people are going to be able to get around you when you do that. Totally make your day easier and don't have to deal with people making comments at you. If you're pulled over towards the side and going that way. Okay. Number eight on our list, is one that some people will probably disagree with me on. But I'm going to tell you that this is something that can ruin not only your day, it'll ruin everyone. Else's day. And especially if you get hurt, it'll ruin. Your day for the rest of the day. So you'll be out at that point. But this is running at rope drop. So everyone knows that if you get there early and you're ready for rope drop. A lot of times, depending on the park and depending on how open the park is, you're going to be able to get into a park that has no one into it. This has been awesome for us this summer, over at universal studios. They don't have early entry over there. So we're able to go in right at rope drop. And we're able to go straight to the rides that we want to do and never have a wait, which is really nice. All the cast members, whether you're at universal Disney, doesn't matter. They're all gonna tell you the same thing. Then when we open, please walk. Please do not run to the ride. It's still going to be there and if you're run, yeah, you may save yourself 10 people spaces in line. But it's not worth it. And the reason it's not worth it is I have seen people. Fall trip, knock other people over, trying to run through the crowd. And I can tell you that if somebody falls like that or gets hurt, Especially at Disney. They are going to shut down the whole area. You are not going to be able to leave. And they're going to require that medics come in and check everyone out. And that can take up to 30 minutes. We've seen it happen at Hollywood studios recently. It's going to take forever for you to get checked out and to make sure that everyone's okay before they let you go back into the park. And the person that went down that we saw at Hollywood studios, they carted them off with the medics. And then obviously that person's day was ruined and they weren't able to go and do the ride and the fun stuff that they wanted to. So you don't want to run at rope drop now. In addition to the safety concerns of it. You also have to look at the fact that you've got people that got there really early and they're at the front of rope drop and they are now walking though. It probably is pretty quick. They are walking quickly towards the ride. They want to go to with all the cast members around them saying not to run. If you come from the back of the crowd and go sprinting in front of everyone. That is the same to me as cutting in line. And it's not fair. People are going to get mad. People are going to say something. The cast members are going to say something and I've seen them yank people, out of line or take them in a different direction if they're not listening to the cast members. So it's not worth ruining your day. It's not worth. Having, other people get mad at you and having other people make comments because what's going to happen is you're going to have people that are going to start saying stuff to you. And then if you start talking back. Then it's just going to escalate and everyone's going to get in trouble. My, I can do this all day tip of the day on this one. Is it is okay to walk quickly and trust me when I say that when you walk quickly, there are people that walk at different paces, which we're going to talk about here in just a second. And you can walk around them quickly. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. And you can still probably get to the ride pretty quickly. But my tip of the day would be get there a little bit earlier, get to the front of rope, drop that way, no one's in front of you. You're going to be able to get to the ride. As quick as you can walk. And then I'll also give you an additional tip on this one, that if you're at a park, especially Hollywood studios, this one works really well. There, it works really well at islands of adventure for universal. Whichever ride. You're trying to get to, I want you to look at a map. And this is when you're waiting for rope drop. Look at a map and see, is there a shorter path to getting to that ride? Because sometimes the one that's intuitive or following the crowd. Isn't always the quickest. And in fact, I will say at Hollywood studios, if you're trying to get to rise of the resistance, first thing in the morning, At rope drop, there's about three or four different paths you can take to get over to that ride. And the one that we take, we know for a fact, a is the shortest. It is the quickest and nobody else takes it. And we don't understand why. And it's because it's not the widest path, if that makes sense. So everyone is going down the wide path and following the widest part of the pavement. We go down a side path and we pass half the crowd and we're usually the first ones to rise to the resistance. So trust me, when I say it's worth looking at the. Maps, you can get there quicker if you walk and you find a quick route to get there. Okay. Number seven. And this goes hand in hand with this is you need to be very aware. Of, your group size, your walking speed and how you guys are all moving through the park. Again, we talked about earlier, there's 50 to 70,000 people in the park at any point in time and it can be chaotic. So make sure your group is together. You don't want to lose kids. I've seen that happen a hundred times. Where parents are in a beeline, they're trying to get to the ride that they want to get to. And they usually have somebody younger. I'll say usually they're younger than seven or eight, that, that this happens to, but they get distracted. They see a character. They look off to the side and when they turn back forward, mom and dad are gone. And not only are they gone, but now the kids alone. And now you've got a kid that's upset trying to find their parents. Parents then that are freaking out when they turn around and realize that their kid's not there. In fact, we did see this happen to Hollywood studios just last weekend. We went there for Woody's Roundup rodeo, barbecue. And we saw a kid get separated from his family and he was in tears and of course they had security there within moments and they took great care of the kid. But then we saw mom and dad come back into the scene. And mom and dad were yelling and screaming at the kid who really probably didn't do anything wrong. It's mom and dad, weren't paying attention to where their kid was. And this was a little guy. This was, he was probably three or four. So I felt really bad in that case. So know who's in your group, be aware of your group and how quickly you guys are moving. And what I mean by all that is. If you're trying to take care of a grandma and grandpa and your group, and maybe they're walking. With a cane or they need some kind of assistance or they're on a mobility scooter. Make sure you guys are staying together, moving at each other's pace. You don't want to leave anyone behind that just separates your group and that makes it no fun for anyone. And you want to have a great day there. So keep your group together. But part of this also means that be aware that if you are moving slow, Just like we said, with the mobility carts, pull over towards the right. Because you're going to have people that are moving quick through these parks and it there's nothing worse than when you come up on a major artery of the park. And there's a group of 10 or 15 people that are shopping at Walmart and they're walking really slow and you can't get around them. It's frustrating. And then you hear, you start hearing other people make comments. And they're like, get out of the way, speed up or move to the side. And then people start, jabbing back and it escalates really quick. So you don't want to do that. So definitely be mindful of the speed of your group and how large it is. And a couple of best practices. We've already talked about getting over towards the side. But the best practice I can give you is never, ever walk in a horizontal straight line, which means never, ever walk shoulder to shoulder with your group. If your group, even if your group is three people like ours is, with a couple, you can probably get away with it, but three or more. I never walk shoulder to shoulder. You take up too much room across the sidewalk and there are people, like I said, at different paces. So for us, we walk very quickly through the parks. We like to move through the parks. And for us, if we were walking three shoulder to shoulder, we would never get through the parks because there's too many slower groups out there. Likewise, the slower groups. If you're walking through, you're more shoulder to shoulder, other people can't get around. You. So your absolute best practice is to walk single file. That way you're always seeing the group. The people that are part of your group in front of you or behind you, that you're all together. And basically you're going to snake your way through the parks, and then you can walk at whatever speed you want, because you're not taking up the same kind of room and people won't get stuck behind you. Be very mindful of that as you're going through. I walk at the pace of your group. And we've got another tip coming up. That's going to talk a little bit more about this, but walk at the pace of your group. That way you guys stay together, you don't lose anyone. You get a chance to share those magical memories with your family and friends. And then a thing that we see happen quite a bit is, people are walking and they're admiring some of the really cool imagery or architecture within the parks. And that's totally awesome because I love it all too. Especially the castles in those centerpieces within the park. But while they're walking, they're looking up to the side and taking their time and really slowing down and that's fine. You can totally do that. Just pull over to the side, that way other people can walk around to you and you can sit and stare all you want. But when you're walking in front of people, then all of a sudden you could have a stroller run into you from behind or a mobility cart, run into you from behind, and now you're hurt or they're hurt, or their kid's crying. Your kid's crying. Somebody is upset and it's all just because we weren't being mindful of our presence and our surrounding areas around us. Just pull over towards the side, admire what you want to admire and then keep going for your day. Number six, this one's controversial. People are gonna, either really disagree with this one, or really agree with this one. And I'm very passionate about this one as well. But I'm going to say that this happens and I've seen people. Lose it. People explode when this happens. So please. Keep your group safe and don't don't start anything that's going to cause a problem. But that is when you're in these really long queues or there's a really long wait time and you've got lightning lane, kudos to you. You just had a chance to cut maybe a really long line and, take, what could have been an hour long, wait, and get it down into just a couple of minutes. That's a big win for you and your family. Don't brag about it. And what I mean by that is there's a lot of times that you're in the queue and the queues pass along where the standard queue is. And obviously you've got people that have been waiting there a long time. This actually happens more often than you can think. And there's a lot of times that those people in the standard queue have been waiting maybe 30, 45 minutes. And especially if they're getting towards the front of the line and what I hear, and this happens almost every single day. That we go to the parks is you'll be close to the front. And because we never buy lightning lane. And I'll explain why here in just a moment. But we'll get close to the front of the queue and then you hear somebody walk by and say, man, those people are stupid that they didn't buy lightning lane. Or thank God. I didn't have to wait in that line. Those people don't know what they're doing. All of a sudden, you have somebody who's been waiting a long time and they see you moving through the line quickly. And then they hear something like that and boom, their heads explode and then they yell at you. And then the whole thing starts and I've seen people get very upset in the park. I will tell you for us personally, We today, we were just at magic kingdom. We wrote almost every single ride we wanted to ride. The longest wait we had was about 25, maybe inching into 30 minutes or so most of the lines we waited in were less than 10 minutes. And it's because we have found a way to get through the parks pretty quickly and had all the rights we want without having to wait in line. If you want to know those tips and tricks, listen to our other episodes. We do talk quite a bit about them. But what we've realized is the average usage of lightning lane. So when you have lightning lane, you've paid for it. The average number of rides that people get with lightning lane. Is two. And that may surprise you. You may think, oh, no we're good. We'll get five or six. And if you do fantastic. But what happens is, as a lot of people don't understand how it works or they want to get a very specific ride and they can't get it till noon, and then they don't go in and get another lightening lane during the day. And they end up not using them. But like I said, and I read it online. You can go check it out there online as well. Is that the average person who does genie plus only uses two lighting lanes during their day? So we look at it as if we're not waiting in lines for more than 30 minutes. And, you're only going to use two in a day. That's going to save us an hour tops. So it's not worth it for us because if we did it every time, That'd be about another 45, maybe 60 bucks. Every time we go and we go to the parks a lot. So for us, it's totally not worth it. If you're curious if lightning lane genie plus and the express pass at universal are worth it, we do have episodes on that and we encourage you. Go listen to those episodes. Cause we do talk you through which people it is good for and which people it is not a, for us, it is not good. And we are not going to spend the extra money. So remember though, when you're going through these queues. The lightning lane obviously moves a lot quicker and they take a higher ratio of lightning lane than they do standard queue more often than not. Now, some rides are one-to-one where you're going, separate directions. I've seen that on pirates of the Caribbean, where lightning lane goes, their way, that standard queue goes to the other. And they're pretty even. But I've seen rides like rise of the resistance where if it gets backed up, they will do 10 to one where they're taking 10 lightning lane to one standard queue. So lightning lane may move a hundred people and the standard queue, may only move 10. And when that happens. The standard queue people get very frustrated and very vocal about it because they've been waiting longer than their posted time. They weren't planning on this wait. They see lots of people going and then to have somebody walk by and say, thank God I didn't have to wait over there. Or those people must be stupid is enough to send somebody over to the edge. So don't be rude. Just be grateful. You got a chance to skip the line and keep going. So here's the, I can do this all day tip of the day and you're probably thinking. What kind of tip, can you give us on this? And actually I've got a really good one that I'm guessing most of you won't do. But it's a way to change somebody's day. And that is if you're doing lightning lane and especially if you're the kind of person that you're really good at it. So let's say you're good. You're getting four or five during your day, or even more, especially over at magic kingdom because there are more available there. But let's say you're doing four or five during your day, or you're doing express pass and you're getting to the front of every single line at universal. And it's working really well for you. What you can do is if you notice that the general queue is really long. Okay. And by really long, I'm saying more than 30 minutes. If it's 20 minutes or less, somewhere in that ballpark. Don't worry about it, but if it's a really long queue, And you're getting up to the front where they start to merge the lines. If you get to that merged spot and it only took you three or four minutes to get there. What I encourage you to do is make someone else's day magical. And what I mean by that is when you get to the cast member and they're counting you through say, Hey, we don't mind if we wait a minute or two, if you want to take 10 of those standard queue people. And wow. You'd completely not only blow the cast members mind. You'd blow everyone's mind on the other side. And it may cost you one minute of waiting and you just cut a 30, 60 minute line. You would make their day, As magical as your day just was, and they would be forever grateful. So like I said, I'm guessing most of you won't do that, but I would say that is a way to, pass it on. Kinda like the pay for the next order in line type of thing that they do at Starbucks or some of the other things. Is to really make someone else's day magical just by saying, I don't mind if I wait a minute, go ahead and take some of them through. And, help them get through. So we're about halfway through the list. We're going into number five and this one kind of ties into something we said just a few minutes ago, and that is, don't stop in the middle of a walkway. To decide where am I going next? We see this a lot when you're walking and all of a sudden, the traffic flows moving really well. Everyone's getting to where they want to go. And all of a sudden everything comes to a dead stop and everyone's trying to get around a group. That is standing there with their apps out or their maps out. And they're trying to figure out where they want to go. For that family it's painful because they don't know where to go. They don't know what's up next in their day. They don't know. Where their family is going to go, what they want to do. Maybe they're hungry. You don't know how many times, even myself included. We have seen people, hangry. They are hungry and they're angry just because that's hot and they want to eat and they just need to sit down for a minute. And it's a really bad thing to do is to stop in the middle of traffic because then everyone's tensions just go through the roof and they're trying to figure out where do we go? And they feel pressure and whatnot. So I've got a couple of tips on this one for you that will make your day easier and make your family stay easier as well as everyone around you. And that is, when you're walking and you guys don't know where to go. A, you can pull over to the side. We said that earlier with the walking in a large group, move towards the side. That way people can get around you. But number two, and this is my number one tip on this. And we've talked about this on a lot of other episodes. Is when you're in line in a queue. Let's say like today we were at magic kingdom, let's say you're in haunted, mansion's queue. And you're getting up closer to the front, about where you're going to go into the elevators. And then you're going to go into the pre-show. That's the perfect time. Pull up the app. See what's the ride times are that are out there and know that in about five or 10 minutes, you're going to be done with this ride and think about where do we want to go next? What's that next ride we're going to go to, look at those. Wait times, decide then. So that way, when you come off the ride, you can start walking in that direction. And the family already knows where they're going to go. They get your kids get excited about that next ride. They start thinking in anticipation for the next cool thing they're going to do. They're going to enjoy themselves more than when you walk a few hundred yards and stop and say, okay, now, where do we go next? For, especially the little kids that feels confusing, they feel like we don't know what we're doing or where we're going to go. So decide before you get there. If somebody is getting hungry. I will tell you all day long. My one of my top tips all day long is do your mobile order. So if you're in line and he know where you want to go next, or you maybe have a food, you want to go get, pull it up, see if you can do a mobile order, get it all ready. You can set your window of arrival, especially if you're close to the front of the queue. And he know that this ride is going to be done in about 10 minutes. You can set that out at 15, 20, 30 minutes from now, and you can do your order, get it all ready to go. And that way, when you come off the ride, you can walk straight to the restaurant, say I'm here on your mobile app and you're going to get that food right away. So that's a really great way to, keep that hungry and that hangry piece away from your family. And keep them going throughout your day. So don't stop in the middle of a walkway, keep going and plan all those things out before it's time. This next, one's a funny one. And I'm going to make fun of some people here. I'm going to clown on you guys a little bit and you guys can do it back to me. Because we do have a podcast, we do have a Facebook page. We do not have an Instagram. But, there is nothing funnier in the parks than watching the Instagrammers. Cause we all know who you are. Trying to take their perfect picture and look perfect for their photo. And I will say I have seen some amazing photos from the parks. I've seen some really cool Instagrams out there. I've seen some really cool. Types of photography and shots. And if you guys really want to see one of the best ones I've ever seen. You need to go check out. My buddy, his name is Brad street. He's got an Instagram under Brad S T and he does photos at Disney land. So he does some really cool nighttime pictures and stuff. So go check out his Instagram. But we love those Instagram photos. We take photos ourselves when we're in the park. But here's something that's, could ruin your day and maybe someone else's and that is don't Instagram next to the photo pass people. It blows my mind how often we see this. And what it is, especially at magic kingdom. That's the best place to describe this is everybody wants that iconic photo, whether you're coming up main street or you're in the central circle there in front of the castle. Everybody wants that iconic photo of them with the castle behind them. Okay. I totally get it. That's what photo passes, there for, if you are not a paid customer, PhotoPass, that's totally okay. And you can do your own photo or have your friend take your own photo. Just don't do it right where the PhotoPass people are because they usually have a line of people waiting to do PhotoPass and if you get in the way and you're doing your Instagram stuff, What's going to happen is the people that are waiting are going to get mad. The PhotoPass person's going to stop and they're going to wait for you to leave. And because it's Disney, they're not going to say anything. And now everyone's just staring at you wondering. Do you not realize that you've got 50 other people around here trying to take their picture with PhotoPass and we paid and now you're cutting. So it's like the free water thing. Like why are you cutting for free water? It feels like that. So people get very upset over that. What I will recommend. And in fact, I can make your Instagram photos better through this. Is though you want that iconic photo right there in the middle in front of the castle. Don't take it there.. Go off to the side of the circle and I'm talking all the way off the street around the circle. There are lots of really cool trees and shrubs and not very many people there. And what you can do is you can get one of these angled shots, have your friend get down on a knee and take a shot. Upwards towards you with the castle in your background, but then you could have a tree coming over the top of you or maybe a Bush to the side and the tree. Is small enough, it's not going to obstruct the castle view. But then you're going to get some shrubbery or some, live plants in the shot as well. And you're going to have fewer people. In the shot. So that way you're not going to have the people in your background, staring at the camera or anything like that, like photo pass will have. So you're going to get a better photo by going off to the side. And then you're not disrupting anyone's PhotoPass now. I'm going to give you an additional, I can do this all day tip, and that is, this is a free tip for me to you. If you're doing a silly pose now don't get me wrong. I see. The people all the time, they just put their hands up, whatever that's fine. Or maybe they're going to hold the castle in their hand. That's fine. But I'm talking about the people that like want to sit on a wall. And lay back, there some swimsuit model or something like that, or they're the people that want to, put their booty in the shot or something like that. We are 100% laughing at you. Because that's something that's not appropriate in a family friendly park like that, and you're not that cool. So I will tell you if you're going to do Instagram, do something good. Do something cute. Do it off to the side. Don't do it around PhotoPass and trust me, when I say you'll get a better picture off to the side with nobody in your background than you would in front of the PhotoPass people. And we all want that iconic shot. If you want to go pay for PhotoPass and do it there. Number three, and this one will start a fight. And I've seen it. So know, don't do this number three, because this then your, you and your family are out of the park. You're going to ruin your entire day. You're not going to be able to keep going and everyone's going to be upset. So don't ever do this. Is, I see a lot of times, especially at rope drop. People that will have a large group. And they will send their number one track runner to run to that ride as fast as they can while the rest of the family goes and gets a ice cream. They go to the bathroom. They go park a stroller and then by the time that they're done and ready, now they come to join you in the queue and you're 300 yards up ahead in the queue. In fact, Disney is so upset over this and now Universal's getting there as well. They have now started to put signs up at their big rides that say, you're not allowed to enter the queue without your full party. And if you don't have your full party, so let's say you bypass it. When your party gets there, the cast members won't let them in. So they will then pull you back out of line and you're going to have to back up and now you're going to lose all the spots anyway. Trust me when I say this is a bad thing to do, this will really make people mad. And when your family is trying to navigate their way through the ride, though, you may be the sprinter. You may not have to suffer. They are. And they will be humiliated, especially grandma on her mobility cart. As she's trying to get her mobility cart around people to catch you in the flight of passage line. Because you took off in a run and you got up to the front of the line and now she's trying to catch up with you. That's why they have the signs up. You're going to make everyone mad. If you do this. And then, like I said, I've seen it cause issues and then people get yanked out of the park. So you, what you want to do is, and here's the tip on this one is save grandma, the humility, save your kid that needs to go to the bathroom, the humility of having to navigate through the line and find you. Wait with him. Okay. I know that sounds simple, but what ends up happening is you get frustrated because you want to be at the front of the line and you don't want to have to wait in a longer line. I get it. But trust me when I say your family will have a better day in the park. If you wait for them and you get in line together and nobody has to do that. Versus if you run and sprint ahead, and then they have to come work their way through line to catch you. This happens a lot at rise of the resistance at flight of passage. At seven dwarfs mine train. So basically your big rides, at each park is where this is going to happen. Haggard's motorbike over at universal studios, Velocicoaster. And then at Epcot. Usually test track. Cause guardians isn't set up for that yet. Guardian's is still on virtual queue. As we're recording this, maybe Ratatouille. Trust me when I say you make everybody in line mad. You make the cast members, mad and the cast members are now to the point because they have the signs, they will hold your family back and say they can't join you in line. So my tip of the day, Stick together. Make it a family event, somebody needs to go to the bathroom. It's okay. Take five minutes and go to the bathroom. And that five minutes, maybe a hundred people got in line ahead of you and know that most of these rides can handle about a hundred people a minute on average, sometimes more. And if that's the case, you're only. A minute behind what you would have been. Let me take you to my number two. Item on the list here. And this one is probably going to be the one. Most of you are going to disagree with the most. And I expect to get the most comments on this one. But I really am saying this to save you. I am not saying this to save me. And I'll explain why here in just a second. And that is, taking your strollers into the stores. Yes, we all want to be in AC, including your kid who's in the stroller. Totally get it. Everybody wants to be in AC. And you want to go shop. You want to walk with your family through the stores and see all the cool merchandise. And yes, it impacts others when you have a stroller and a tight space. But let me tell you that this will impact you. More than it. Does anyone else? And the reason why is once you walk in a store with a stroller, Everyone views you as slow and in the way. And they will do everything they can to move around. You. Which means every time you start walking over by some clothing items or some toys or whatever, you're going to have people walking around you and walking in front of you and stopping. And they'll look at what they want to, but they're going to cut you off. And this is where I've seen the most adults lose their mind and it's always the one pushing the stroller. So if you're the stroller pusher, I will tell you do not take it into a store. Think about it like a ride. When you go on a ride, every time you go on a ride and you're going to park the stroller outside somewhere, and you're going to pick up your kid and take them in on a ride. That's how the store should be as well. Park it off to the side, especially on main street, if you're over in magic kingdom or, if you're at a store at one of the other parks, park it off to the side, pick up your kid, walk in there. Like you would on any other ride. That'll keep it out of the way and that'll keep you from losing your mind when people are cutting you off. As you walk through the store. Now I totally get it. There's times, especially in the early afternoons or late afternoons where your kid may be tired. Maybe they fallen asleep. In that case, then what I would say is one parents should take the stroller and wait outside or get into a shaded area and wait, and then you guys should swap. So as soon as the one parent gets through, then you guys can swap and the parent can go in there with the other kids or whatnot. When you're in there and like I said, this is for you. It's not for others. I have seen people trying to negotiate their stroller through these stores. And every time they go to take a step, like two people walk in front of them. And they stop and now they can't make a step. And so now they're trying to back up and they can't back up because somebody is behind them. And so they're forced to wait and they lose their mind like they want to scream. When you have a stroller and a shop, you are no longer mobile. And at that point, you will lose your mind. So I will tell you. The best thing that you can do is keep that out of the store, treat it like a ride carry your kid in there with you, and do your shopping and have a great time as a family, find the souvenirs that you all want, but keep that stroller outside. It'll make your day a lot easier. It'll make your family a lot happier. And hopefully you don't have to wake up your kid to do it. If you do, like I said, take the shifts. But it will make everybody a lot happier in your group then when you're trying to get through the store and you can't, imagine, and this is where we normally see it. Is you can't move. Your stuck because people are cutting you off. And your kid. So let's say you have multiple kids and your older kid is now taken off through the store. They're in a different part of the store and you can't get to them. Or your spouse's over there with them and you can't get to them. That's becomes very frustrating, very quick for a lot of people and I've seen people lose it and just melt down. Keep the strollers out of the shops. I think that just makes everyone's life a little bit easier. The last tip. This is my number one tip. So this is number one on the list for a big reason. And it's because we see this every single day. We see this every single time we go. At a Disney park or a universal park. And we see people in tears over this, we see people lose their mind. Not only the family it's happening too, but other people lose their mind. And it's just not fun for anyone and everyone becomes uncomfortable. Everyone's getting stares, everyone's getting comments and it's just a nightmare. And it's not line cutting. Cause we already talked about that. That's the Cardinal sin you don't ever want to line cut. We gave you some good examples of when not to do it . But this is even potentially worse. And that is when you go to the parks, especially if it's your first day at the parks. Your park tickets need to be ready. And the reason is these are long lines to get into the parks. And if your tickets aren't ready, you end up getting to the front of the turnstile and then your line completely shuts down for sometimes up words of 10 minutes. For them to figure out what's going on with your tickets, why your tickets aren't working and it's a big mess. And a lot of people say, How do I know if my tickets are going to work or not? And that's the tips I want to give you. Today's I want to teach you how to make sure your tickets are ready to go. So this does not happen to you. Think about it, you and your family are in line to go into the parks. And you're already there. You've already been through the traffic, maybe how to ride a tram. Maybe you had to get to the park somehow or walk on the walkways. And now you're ready to go in. Everyone's excited and you get to the front and it beeps and it doesn't let you in. And now they've got a call over the manager and they've got to figure it all out and your kids don't understand and they can't get in. And then he turned around and you've got 80 people behind you in line. Give me a death stare. And they're like, get out of line because you don't know what you're doing. And there's a funny comedian named John Pinette and he talks about that. Get out of line. So now you feel bad, your kids don't know what's going on. And then sometimes it, like I said, it takes a long time for them to rectify the situation, which just makes everyone more upset. And then you feel more pressure and it's just a bad news situation all the way around. So there's a way to avoid it. What I want to talk about is when you're going to the parks. We're going to talk Disney and universal. What your tickets should look like? And how do you know if they're ready? Okay. So number one, when you're going to a Disney park, if you've never been there. In Orlando, they have the gold stanchions with the Mickey head on them. And the only things that are going to work are things with radio frequencies in them. So this is for example, your magic bands, aplastic park ticket. So not a paper ticket, a plastic park ticket. Your apple phone or your apple watch or an Android phone. Or an Android watch. If you've got it into your mobile wallet there, those will all work for you. What doesn't work and this is the one that we see. Okay. Let me walk you through this. When you buy your tickets. If you go into the, my Disney experience app and you look at my tickets and passes and you see these barcodes for every single person in your family. Those don't work. Okay. The very first time you use them. They will allow you to take them up to the turnstile. And then what they'll do is they'll scan them and they'll give you a plastic card in place of those. But that's what takes about five minutes for them to get the cards to link for you to do it. And then you're still gonna have to scan it. So though you see a barcode on your phone, those tickets do not work and will not get you into the parks. Okay. My tip of the day for Disney. Is when you're going to a Disney park and you've bought your tickets online and you're ready to go. Now, if you're on resort, chances are, as they've already sent you plastic cards or your room keys, or maybe even magic bands. Those should all work. You should be fine there. If they didn't. You can go to guest services at your hotel and they, and just to say, I want to make sure my tickets are ready to go so that when I get there, I don't have any problem getting it. And they will double check everything and say, yeah, you're all ready to go use this one. And you're fine. So I'd recommend going there if you're offsite. Okay. And we've talked about that on our hotel episode, where to stay, we've got our own condo. We rent this out. A lot of people stay here. If you're staying at our condo, you're staying. Offsite hotel. We recommend go to Disney Springs on the day that you arrived before you go to any parks. And they have a ticket center there as well as they have guest services. And you can go to either one and ask the same question. Just want to make sure I'm all set up properly and ready to go. Now let's say you have a mobile device, an apple watch, apple phone, or an Android phone or an Android watch. You can add your ticket to your mobile device through your. My Disney experience app. That's really easy to do. There's videos online to do this. Basically, you're going to go in there and just add it to your magic mobile, and it's all going to be added in there. Ready to go. But remember, that's only for you. If you have kids, they each have to have their own device and they each have to have their own version of the app. And if they're not over 13, they can't get the Disney app. So that's going to be impossible for them. So they're going to need a plastic card or magic band to get in. Like I said, go to the ticket center, go to the guest services at Disney Springs. Or if you're an Anaheim go to downtown Disney and they will take care of you and they will make sure that you are ready to go to the park on your first day now, after your first day, obviously you had to get in the first day. Now you have your plastic card. It's easier the rest of the time, because that card will work for you, your entire visit. So we encourage you go take care of that before you get to the park. Okay. If you can't and now you're at the park. So let's say, we got in at 10 o'clock last night. We got straight to the hotel and now I, and we're staying off-site. So now it's first thing in the morning. We want to go to the parks. All the parks have a ticket kiosk out in front. Now that is what the exception of magic kingdom. And that's because magic kingdom goes through the ticket and transportation center. So it does in front of the monorail, just not at the actual castle part of the park. Go to the ticket booth and they will also take care of you there. They can get you the plastic cards. They can do all that for you. If you're at Disney Springs, new by a magic band, those are easy to link on your, my Disney experience app. So you can go through there and do that. And then that'll work for you on your entire visit. So that's how you do Disney. When you go to universal, Universal's a little bit different than Disney. When you buy your tickets, you can print them at home, which is what we see most people do is they print them and then they bring a full eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper that has their bar code on it. That will work just fine. So if you want to print at home, do that. Or you can get a ticket printed at the ticket window, which is a physical paper copy with a barcode on it. Or if you're an annual pass holder, they will give you a card similar to what Disney does that would work for you. Or if you're doing it through the universal app. I'm not sure if this is for all ticket holders or just annual pass holders. You can get a QR code on there. So know that if you buy tickets online for universal and they send them to your email for you to print or use at the parks. My understanding is those barcodes do not work. You have to physically print out the ticket in a paper form for it to work that way. So again, We will be at the universal parks. Everyone's trying to get in and people don't have their tickets ready. They can't get scanned in and it just slows everything down. And then, like I said, there, their family starts to freak out a little bit. Always number one tip of the day. Is when you're going to the parks, make sure before your first day. You've got your tickets ready? You know that your tickets will work. And if you don't ask somebody at the park before you go. And they will take care of you. They will make sure you're ready to go. Just do not get in line thinking everything's going to be fine. Cause I have a barcode on my phone. It's going to work it. Doesn't. And then you're going to mess up a mess up your line, and then your whole family is going to feel embarrassed and then they're not going to know what to do. With that those are our top 10 list to make your day, the most magical day ever again. We do want those comments and feedback. Let me know if you disagree. Tell me. Let's start a discussion. And in fact, the best place to find us is on Facebook. And we can talk about it there. We do have our butterbeer episode coming up. We've got our, how to go to Disney for almost free episode coming up. I said earlier in the broadcast, we're going to be doing a buzz light year episode where we're talking about how to max out your score. And like I said, we've got the biggest tip and trick coming to Patreon. So you're going to want to go out there and check it out. When that one gets loaded so that we can get our biggest Disney secret ticket, the front of every single line. Potentially not every time, but potentially, with that tip and trick, that's going to be out there for you. So we hope you have a very magical week as you're planning your next vacation. And we'll talk to you next time. Bye. Bye.