What to take in the parks

[Mnchknbrat1982]

Should I take my passporter guide book into the park or not? Trying to decide because one bag it will fit in the other smaller bag it will not.

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

The only guide I use is the one that Disney has at the entrance.

[Bringonthemouse!]

The only guide I use is the one that Disney has at the entrance.


Agreed!
Everything you will need to know will be in the guide that Disney provides and they don't take up any space or add additional weight. Just make note of a few tips from Passporter if you feel the need, but I definately don't think you need to lug the book around the parks.

PS. Make sure to grab a few extra guides, they make great keepsakes!

[disneymom2000]

I use my passporter for planning and keeping notes. When I have everything set up for each day, a make a small notecard with all the important info I will need for that day (ADR numbers, definate attractions to see, services, and necessary phone numbers) and then I laminate the cards just prior to going. I then put them into the corresponding page/day. Then I can just carry that small card into the park instead of something bulky.

[4277]

I'm glad to hear someone else makes up notecards. I did this for our last trip. I put all the adrs on with confirmation numbers, the time of park opening & closing, times of parades and a few notes for our itinerary. I had each day figured out. Everyone in our party had a good laugh when they first saw my notecards and thought I was a little too organized but everyone turned to me when asking "what time is our dinner ressie", where are we going tomorrow?" etc. Turns out it was a very good idea.

[DDuck66]

We use our Passporter book either early in the morning or the night before to refresh our plans for the next day. It also reminds us to check for special attractions, hidden Mickeys etc that we might normally overlook.

[Iluvpooh]

With all the other stuff, you have to carry around in a day, the bags start to get heavy by dinner time. Get a small notebook and transfer anything you might need. Then fill in your passporter that night. Notecards are also a good idea, but I always manage to loose mine.:secret:

[Goes4FastPass]

I wouldn't haul it from home even.

[Disneytrotters]

We always leave our Passporter in our room. But, I make up a small spiral notebook, that will fit into a pocket or small bag, with all of the information that we need. I include all of our confirmation times/numbers, what we want to accomplish in each venue, and even what items I want to look for in the shops. I found a small ballpoint pen that had a "keyring" loop attached, so that slips very easily onto the spiral notebook binding. I also have pages that I have made to keep track of our DDP points as well as any $ spent. This has proven to be a very handy thing to have with us. We have forgotten to do far less things than normal. :blush:

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We create a "cheat sheet" for the vacation, with all of the ADR times and conf#'s, as well as anything else we need to know while on the go.

We take as little as possible into the parks, "stuff" just seems to be way heavier at Disney, and we love not having to worry about a big bag, whose turn is it to carry, etc.

[k_reile]

take it to the hotel...make out a game plan...but I would not take it to the park...it will feel really heavy by the end of the day!

[#1donaldfan]

We don't like having our day so planned out.....work is planned out....vacations should be doing whatever, whenever, however it comes.....take it as a reference at night......once you hit the park, just have fun.

[laward32]

We need the info from it, but I wouldn't take it to the park with us. I will probably look it over in the morning before we head out, but this trip I am trying not to have every single moment planned out, with a couple of exceptions. I will put my conf # for our rezzies on something and keep in my bag. The parks have all the other information I might need.:mickey:
35 days and counting until I am in the World!!!

[LoriMistress]

I have a PP book, but my main tool for planning is TGM. So, I will bring my PP with me, just not into the parks.

[Iluvpooh]

We need the info from it, but I wouldn't take it to the park with us. I will probably look it over in the morning before we head out, but this trip I am trying not to have every single moment planned out, with a couple of exceptions. I will put my conf # for our rezzies on something and keep in my bag. The parks have all the other information I might need.:mickey:
35 days and counting until I am in the World!!!


If you are leaving in 35 days, I'll see you there.

36 days for us!!

[pixiesmimi]

I always research and plan things out, too ahead of time. My family says I'm OCD. LOL I actually got an accordian folder this time and put our reservations and a lot of the things I had printed out, Mousekeeping envelopes, etc. in it. I would review things the night before and make a cheat sheet for shopping lists and ressies,etc. to put in my bag but don't carry the book with me. I learned several years ago how heavy the bag gets after a while and how tired I get carrying it. Each year it gets to be a challenge to see how much more I can pare down for the park days. :) But I like the index card idea. I made a list of the smashed penny places to look for on our last day this time and lost it somewhere in the park and just had to wing it from memory. :blush: I didn't want to look like it was too planned out by carrying a sheet or book around with me looking for things. You want to be spontaneous, but you don't want to miss things. That is why we go two days to each park, to catch the things we missed the first day.:mickey:

[tinksmom02]

I always research and plan things out, too ahead of time. My family says I'm OCD. LOL I actually got an accordian folder this time and put our reservations and a lot of the things I had printed out, Mousekeeping envelopes, etc. in it. I would review things the night before and make a cheat sheet for shopping lists and ressies,etc. to put in my bag but don't carry the book with me. I learned several years ago how heavy the bag gets after a while and how tired I get carrying it. Each year it gets to be a challenge to see how much more I can pare down for the park days. :)

Same here, I got an accordian folder in the $ aisle of Target...I printed off daily planner pages from passporter for my adrs and must-sees, and I have touring plans, too, confirmations, souvenears wish list, etc.

I have a passporter, and was planning on bringing it, just to reference at night and in the am in the hotel room, but now I'm (pretty) sure I'm not taking it with me at all.

[DisneyKim22]

Thanks for the notecard idea! With 4 different households going on this next trip, those will come in handy as I am sure we will split up now and then. If I give a set to, say, each female, then there is no excuse for anyone to be late to dinner or lunch, or whatever.

I do not bring any of the travel guides in with me. I usually have a small piece of paper in my bag - which almost always gets accidentally tossed or left behind. Now I have a use for the laminator that's collecting dust in our office.

[LoriMistress]

I'm thinking of carrying a thin light binder/folder to carry my notes/reservations/etc. On our last trip in 2003 at WDW, I had printed all of our notes/stragities/back up plans/etc. out and it was around 15 pages. (I know, a lot.) This time, I have even more notes and I'm condensing them as much as possible. I want to lighten my paper size, because I really don't want to carry a novel around. I don't want to stick out of looking like a stereotypical tourist. At least I want to pretend I'm cool. :secret: I'm very OCD with planning our Disney trips. But DH doesn't mind. Because he has been to MK once, and has been to DLR several times before I came into his life. ;)And after we our honeymoon to WDW (our first Disney vacation together--which I planned btw), we had the best vacation ever! He thanked me for the work I put into planning our trip. He knows that I can be comando at times when hitting the parks, but in the end, DH agrees with that we have ridden numerous rides with barely any wait, and we're able to eat at the must-do's restaurants with no issue.

[Marker]

doing research before I get there is great fun, but once I'm there it's time to relax and have fun.

I like to be educated as much as possible going in, but once there I certainly do not want to be over regimented, or too tightly scheduled. Part of the fun is letting the day unfold before you.

[Mickey 101]

I carry a small spiral notebook, too, that I list all of our reservations including flight info, 800 numbers, car rental info, confirmation numbers for resort ressie, ADR's, park hours, etc. I'm also the one you see around the parks jotting down noteworthy things about our day. It's very small in size and I just clip a pen to the spiral end. Without it, one day blends into another and then one trip blends into the next. I really love reading back on previous trips from time to time. I'm not good about making out trip reports, but it would be helpful for that, too!

[RAIDER]

The disney park entrance guide on the day is all you need:thumbsup:

[snowflakegirl]

I use my passporter for planning and keeping notes. When I have everything set up for each day, a make a small notecard with all the important info I will need for that day (ADR numbers, definate attractions to see, services, and necessary phone numbers) and then I laminate the cards just prior to going. I then put them into the corresponding page/day. Then I can just carry that small card into the park instead of something bulky.

I do this too, minus the laminating (something to consider for my next trip, though). I love my passporter, and probably wouldn't plan a trip without one, because I enjoy reading the notes they have on each park/attraction/etc, and I love the pages/pockets in the back to write down all the important information. I did bring it with me into the park the first year I used one to plan ... I found it too bulky and didn't end up taking it out at all except to look up ADRs when necessary. By the end of the trip I wasn't brining it into the parks at all. I like the notecard and regular old Disney map. (Besides, I burn so easilly that I absolutely HAVE to have sunscreen in my bag, so between a bottle of sunscreen, the passporter and other essentials I felt like I was carrying around a carryon for airtravel, not something easy for the parks.)

[huzzah4]

We put all of the information we need (itinerary ADR's, park hours, EMH's, parade times, tips, etc) into a spreadsheet and download them onto my Palm. In addition, we will print out a couple of copies so that we have a hard copy on hand. I also have a guide on the palm that has the locations of, descriptions of, and directions to all of the restrooms in the parks as well as menus and prices for all of the restaurants. It also allow us make notes and keep an accounting of how much we spend and where rather than trying to sort out the piles of receipts when we return home.

Yes, I know I am a complete geek.

[DizNee143]

no way...no reason to lug that thing with you all day!!
grab a park map when you get to each park and go with that...

i dont know how some of you people plan so much!..i could do that too..but it would all go out the window as soon as i entered the parks...just go with the flow..its more fun..who wants to be on a "schedule" while on vacation, anyway? :mickey:

[goofysbabe]

I always take my books with me, but end up leaving them at the hotel. Guess by the time I get there I feel like I've done enough research and planned enough. I have bought a hidden mickeys book which I did plan to take with me and I kept forgetting - maybe on the next trip.

[dumbo ears]

I actually use the unoficial guide.

[mainemajor]

I wouldn't haul it from home even.

Bingo!

[crltkcagle]

i would only used the guide at the entrance just be sure to haul along those poncho's. LOL:D