5. PHEW! Keep it Simple

It’s tempting to overcomplicate a Disney Parks vacation. Every parent delights at the idea of surprising their children with a character meal or dazzling them with their first viewing of World of Color. But remember that everything is amplified at the parks, and you might not need all that glitz and glamour to leave an impression. Countless dinner reservations and packed itineraries won’t mesh well with maintaining schedules as described in number three, above, so keep it simple.

6. DING! Know Your Way

Disney Parks are not passive experiences. Especially with MyMagic+ at Walt Disney World, the days of meandering around a park and seeing what looks like fun are over, for better or worse. You owe it to yourself to know your way around the parks and to understand the systems at play. Most Disney Parks have intuitive layouts and towering park icons that can help you know where you’re going. While you don’t need an intimate knowledge of the nooks and crannies, save time and frustration by knowing important routes and landmarks.

Depending on which resort you visit, take advantage of Fastpass or Fastpass+ (the latter of which requires pre-booking through Disney’s My Disney Experience smart phone app or website). Even at the more laidback Disneyland Resort, learn a little about crowd patterns and where to obtain Fastpasses for the shows each morning. Knowledge is your best friend when touring Disney Parks with kids, and if you falter and lose confidence in which way you’re walking, the complaints will begin 

7. SHHH! Keep it Quiet

We get it. High prices. Lots of walking. Long waits. Crowded pathways. These are not the features Disney promised in all the brochures and websites. But the second you complain out loud, you’ve thrown dry kindling into a fire that’s been trying to burn in your children all day long.

Everyone knows you’re walking a lot. At a typical day at a single Disney Park, you may walk nine miles or more. You should do everything you can to prepare yourself and your kids for that experience (walk around the zoo, the neighborhood, or a local science museum for practice) but once you’re at Disney, there’s no turning back.

Even giving your partner a simple, “Man, it’s crowded!” can start an avalanche of complaints from kids. If you dare mention “We’ve sure been walking a lot,” you’re likely to end up with children suddenly aware of how badly their feet hurt, crying loudly about it. And that’s no fun for anyone. So be ready for the crowds and prices and walking, and flip any negativity around. Play games to count the Mouse Ears you see, or look for Hidden Mickeys in line. That will inspire a much brighter attitude for all.

8. SNAP! Keep the Camera Put Away

Remember the days when everyone bought disposable cameras to bring with them to Disney Parks? In some ways, those days were better. Back then, you had 26 chances to capture important moments, and once those were gone, they were gone forever. Today, the HD camera in everyone’s pocket is a tempting tool. But consider: taking hundreds and hundreds of photos of your child every day is really not preserving your Disney vacation; it's distracting from it.

A) Do not watch your entire vacation through the lens of a camera. If you do, you’ll miss real, three-dimensional moments in favor of capturing a blurry image on a screen that you’ll likely never look at again. It’s a waste of your time to focus more on taking photos of your child than exploring with her. Sure, capture her first time meeting Mickey, or her reaction to seeing Cinderella Castle! Capture her smiles and laughs and favorite rides. But don't forget to leave the phone in your hotel room most days and just let the moments happen. 

B) Only take pictures of people. Don't take photos of the rides. Instead, be there. Seriously. Skilled photographers have photographed every single ride at every Disney Park infinitely. There is just no reason to bust out your camera on Pirates of the Caribbean and take photographs of it, because there are millions of photos of it already on Google that are many times better than the photographs your phone can take. If one day your child asks about Pirates, the photos online will be much better references than the ones you might take on your phone, and the light of your phone being out on a ride is distracting to your kids and riders around you. Keep the phone put away and "be there..." That is, let yourself be absorbed into the ride and enjoy the experience of it rather than trying to take pictures of it.

C) Never for any reason take a flash photograph aboard a ride or during a show. Disney rides are designed to be viewed under theatrical lighting. You should never take a photo of a ride anyway because it’s a silly thing to do when every inch of every ride has already been professionally photographed (see B, above), but taking a flash picture will only give you a hazy, washed out image that does not capture the ride experience, and the constant flash ruins the ride for everyone around you. We’ve all been on Ariel’s Undersea Adventure and seen the clamshell next to us flash every five or six seconds. Flash photographs ruin your night vision, result in hazy images, and take you, your child, and all the riders around you out of "the moment" and it's just no fun that way.

D) Don’t bring a selfie stick. 

Conclusion

There was a time when amusement parks were either for teenage thrill-seekers or very, very small children. Disney Parks changed everything - the Disney Parks were meant to be places where parents and children could have fun together. That's still true today, and kids of all ages can build incredible memories at Disney Parks. Just be sure to consider some of things we've said here when planning your own trip... Despite what the brochures make it look like, a day at Disney World is long, hot, crowded, and overwhelming for kids, so make sure they (and you) are prepared!