@zizzabell523@sandbar517 I disagree about the ages and then being able to enjoy it, but we also live close to Disneyland and don’t have to pay much to get us all there. DS loves going and I would say starting around 2.5 was when he developed opinions about the ride he likes and would start making requests to go. We’ve had annual passes the last two years and really enjoy our family trips there.
My UO is apparently that I don't really have any opinions on Disney movies or theme parks. But, I also don't have small children. I do LOVE Universal! Mainly for the Harry Potter stuff, but I like the rest of it too. If I could afford to go every year I totally would. That would probably never be a practical use of a ton of money even if I had it though. Lol.
So, as for homeschooling, I can see maybe doing it for kindergarten, since they recently made it full day and I feel some kids wouldnt be ready to be away from mom for a full day 5 days a week that young. I sure hope mine is because I'm waaaayyy not qualified to teach!!!!!!
As for Disney World, I agree. Overpriced, hot, overcrowded. I had coworkers, one was like a 50 year old women who were OBSESSED with Disney World. They would plan their trips (they don't have little kids mind you) for months. It got old so fast, and hearing how much they were spending made me sick.
My UO: I can't think of one and I think I need a nap.
Oh, and the homeschooling thing. I agree that I don't think it'd work for most children or with most parents, and we could never afford to be a single-income household with either of our careers, so it's not an option for us either way. That said, I do live an area where it's difficult to find access to quality public elementary schools, as most of the best ones don't allow anyone from outside of their catchment, and there are no magnet elementary schools, only charters, which come with their own risks and controversy.
My wife is a public magnet high school teacher and some of her brightest, top students were home schooled until 9th grade. In their cases, it obviously was a better alternative to a low-quality neighborhood school. For us, we'll just have to make sure we're working with our child every day to supplement their most likely sub-par formal elementary education and balance out any shortcomings.
Disney tickets are pricey but we had flight and hotel for 3 nights/4 days for me and husband for 800$ Quick easy vacation for us. Definitely have to utilize the fast pass.
Are we all forgetting about Mulan? Yes, love story but she does it on her own until the end! And defies social norms, learns to fight, and gets others to follow her when they don't want to accept her leadership. My role model growing up.
Married: 12/19/15
BFP: 9/4/17 EDD: 5/16/18 DD born 5/10/18 Postpartum Complications
I went to Disneyland for the first time when I was 16, and from then until I had a toddler, I thought I’d wait a long time to take my own kids. That said, we are blessed that DD (3.5) is an AWESOME traveler, and seeing her experience things is so fun, even if she won’t remember them, so I would totally take her if it were feasible for us before baby. Now that I’m pg, we’ll likely wait till the little one is 3ish then go.
@onesmallcoconut I love Orange County! It's my favorite out of the housewives. This season is so good with the drama. The reunion should be a entertaining.
@tacosandvirginmargaritas SO good! I wasn't sure if I'd like Peggy but she's fantastic. Shannon is probably the craziest of them all. I have this week's episode on my PVR and I'm excited to watch. Shit always gets crazy when they travel together! Happy to find another fan here!!
Our plan is to homeschool for the first few years. I am a certified teacher, and because of my husband's career we will pretty much be moving every year which isn't great for continuity in education. I have zero interest in homeschooling past about fourth grade level and if at any point I feel like it's not in my child's best interest, I will absolutely send them to school-school.
The Bachelor/Bachelorette/Real Housewives are my guilty pleasures. I don't take them seriously, but I do enjoy watching them. One of my former mentor students is going to be on the upcoming season of The Bachelor. I love reading Reality Steve for spoilers and listening to his Podcast.
Disneyland/World as an adult is still really fun. I wouldn't say I am obsessed, but we had passed for awhile before we had kids and had a great time. And I love taking DS. We have bought passes for his birthday the last two years instead of doing gifts and it gives us fun all year long. We will probably wait to go to Disneyworld until this baby is older. At 3.5, DS is almost tall enough to go on all but a handful of rides at Disneyland/California Adventure. And when not pregnant, I love to try to fun drinks at CA Adventure.
I am definitely not for homeschooling. I think there are some parents who can do it really well if they have the resources, but as a whole, I don't care for the idea. My aunt did it for a long time with my cousin, who has autism, and I thought it was a terrible idea to keep him isolated from his peers. She was a credentialed teacher, so at least he had good instruction, but I think school is important for learning about how to interact with a diverse group of people in a variety of settings. I know as a teacher I am more sensitive to it, but sometimes it upsets me that I went to school for a long time to become highly-qualified in my profession and sometimes it stings to have people think that they can just teach because "it's easy."
Add me to the list of people who don't believe in homeschooling! TBH I don't really believe in private elementary school's either. But, I live in an area with good public schools. My cousins went to private schools and had to grow up for 9 years with the same 30 students in their class. It doesn't help their social skills to be exposed to such a limited number of students, and if you child has any issues with kids in their class they will not have the opportunity to meet more kids and make new friends. Plus, at least in our area, public schools pay the teachers better than private, so they end up with the most qualified teachers.
Re Disney: I think it's weird when adults are obsessed with princesses and stuff. We went this summer (this baby is a Disney baby). Girls were 6 and almost 4. They loved the characters. The rest was mostly overwhelming. Every parent was yelling at their kids. My kids were confused about what was real and what wasn't. And it's all just singing puppets. I've also heard the cruises are awesome though. I know people who go to Disney world twice a year. Flights + tickets + good/hotel is at least $3000. If I had the vacation time plus money for that no one I'd keep going to a fake place.
PLUS, it's creepy AF. There are no mosquitoes in the parks. It's a freaking swamp in Florida! There are also no Florida birds in animal kingdom. How do they keep them out?
PSA for those who go: ADHD and anxiety let's you get a disability pass. That's why we went. Thanks to DD1 the only time we waited for a ride was when it broke down while we were in line.
@zizzabell523, is riggering a real term? How did your parents work on it? DD2 does something similar when she's excited or overtired. Other kids don't seem to notice, though she's had teachers who have raised it with us. I worry for when other kids do notice.
We love Disneyland. I'm not obsessed with the characters but I love the rides and experience. Yes lines suck but that's why there are fast passes.
We took DD when she was just over 2 and she loved it. She still talks about it. I know she won't remember it when she gets older but the joy on her face while we were there and whenever she talks about it is all worth it. And why we are going there as a baby moon in February.
We're annual pass holders for Disney world. My parents met working at Disney so it's definitely in my blood lol. My SO was anti Disney until he went with J for the first time. Watching his fave light up on the rides, and how mesmerized he was watching the parades was amazing. He's 19 months now, and we were going every two weeks for a while. He would point to which ride he wanted to go on, and he claps and sings along with It's a Small World
This is probably a dumb question, but what are fast passes? Is it a pass to "cut" in line? I'm assuming you pay extra for this? If so, my UO is I think that is quite unfair. My family grew up without a ton of money. We saved money all year (sometimes 2) to go on a vacation and I feel confident that we wouldn't have been able to afford to get the extra passes. As an adult, my husband and I haven't been on vacation in several years. We are working really hard to pay off student loans, which is our choice, of course. When we do go on vacation, we aren't able to spend a great deal of money. Why should a family be able to ride something sooner because that family has more money than mine? I don't know... Maybe I just don't understand how they work.
@mileswithmyles, I think you have a point about the ages. At 3.5 I'm sure my girls would love it right now. Just for us, specifically, living in PA, a trip to either FL or CA will be a big expense. Air fare and hotel, along with park passes, etc. Since it will more than likely be a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us, I'd rather just go when all the kids are old enough to remember it. @JNCPro3130 I think that's a really good point about the fast passes, too. Besides the fact that it creates more economic based inequality, once everyone starts buying the fast passes, those lines will end up being just as long! I don't want to get too involved on the homeschooling issue because I know one of our members was having a really rough day because of the reaction her in-laws were giving her, so I don't want to continue to make her feel worse. That being said, I absolutely agree that it's only the "better" option for a very small number of people, usually what PP said about not having access to good quality schools. My sister homeschooled all four of her kids, and I do admit they're a little....strange, socially awkward, whatever you want to call it. But I honestly think that's as much of a product of who their parents are as it is their lacking social interaction on a daily basis with kids their own ages.
Me, 35 Hubs, 32 Married June 2012 BFP June 2013- blighted ovum, D&C Aug 2013 BFP Oct 2013- twins! A&H born May 2014 BFP Aug 2017- EDD 5/8/17
@JNCPro3130 @sandbar517 The Fast Passes aren’t extra at Disneyland. I can’t speak to Disneyworld. They are included in your park ticket. Only certain rides have them and they are typically the most popular rides. You go to the ride and insert your ticket and they give a return time (ex. Between 10:00 and 11:00). You come back during your return window and wait in a shortened segment of the line. You can hold one Fast Pass at a time. If your return time is more than two hours after you obtained your Fast Pass, you can get another one after 2 hours. For example, I get a Fast Pass for Space Mountain at 9am but my return time isn’t until 12pm. I can get another Fast Pass for a ride at 11am. What we usually do is get a Fast Pass for a ride, then wait in lines for rides that don’t have them, and then use our Fast Pass.
Disneyland did just add a “Max Pass” that is $10 extra per ticket per day. It allows you to get Fast Passes through their app so you don’t have to walk to the ride to obtain them. We haven’t tried that yet. You don’t get to hold more Passes with it, you jus let don’t have to walk across the park to get them.
Six Flags and Universal charge an insane amount of money for their version of this feature. They’re wristbands and over $100/ticket most of the time.
@sandbar517 I get what you mean. We wouldn’t do Disneyworld until our kids are older because of the expense of getting there and staying at a hotel. But for us, Disneyland is only 60-90 minutes away depending on traffic, so we often just go for the day and come home.
@mileswithmyles Thanks for the info! I've heard of people getting the fast passes but they never really explained what they were. We'll definitely need to do some research before going. @nanifrog I also know of a few adults near me that go to Disneyland/world at least once a year (as an actual , and I always wonder how in the world they can afford that!! Crazy!
Me, 35 Hubs, 32 Married June 2012 BFP June 2013- blighted ovum, D&C Aug 2013 BFP Oct 2013- twins! A&H born May 2014 BFP Aug 2017- EDD 5/8/17
@mileswithmyles, Gotcha! That makes sense. As long as the fast pass is handled like Disneyland, that sounds reasonable and fair! Are you saying that Six Flags and Universal have the same system, but you have to pay more for those tickets? If so, that's ridiculous and I would avoid going just for that reason.
@JNCPro3130 Universal definitely has passes that let you jump the line a bit, but they usually come automatically with your hotel as long as you stay at one of the park hotels. They don't work on any of the popular rides anyway though, so I didn't find them to be much of an advantage or annoyance to anyone who didn't have one.
I am too lazy to tag people right now… Sorry… when you set up a vacation at Disney World you are eligible to book a reservation at a restaurant 180 days out from your vacation. If you are staying at a resort on property you can book a fast pass up to 60 days out from the day that you'll be going. if you are an annual passholder you can book a fast pass up to 30 days out. The fast pass does not allow you to "cut the line." It actually gives you access to a shorter line so sometimes that means you can just walk right on but most of the time it means you'll be waiting about 15 minutes instead of over an hour. When you book a fast pass through the app if you've already purchased your tickets before you get there you can do this up to 30 days out you can only book up to three fast passes at that time. Every park except for magic kingdom has tiered attractions so you can only choose one premium attraction ahead of time and two regular attractions. The way they determine what is premium and what is regular is a little wonky to me but i'm sure it made sense when they did it. Once you have used all three fast passes that you have pre-booked you can make another fast pass as many times as you want throughout the day. Once it's used, you could make a new one.
A typical day at Magic Kingdom for me going with J by ourselves we get there about 1030 when we'll get into the park around 1045 I will have a fast pass booked from 1045 to 1145 or just 11 to noon and then I'll have another fast pass from noon to one and another fast pass from 1 to 2. We'll normally take a break from riding rides at that point, get some food and I'll book another fast pass while we're doing that. In between our fast pass rides because it does not take a full hour to do those things we will ride some of the rides that have a 20 or even a 30 minute wait.
@nanifrog That's just what my parents called it. If it's an actual "condition" I don't know the name of it. I don't think we did any testing for it either, although now that I'm an adult I wonder if I'm on the autistic scale and it's sort of my "twitch" or if it's something associated with ADHD, especially since I do have some trouble with staying focused. I don't remember how they got me to calm it down when I was really little, but I do remember when I was around 8 or 9 my mom whispering "hands" to me when she would catch me doing it and I'd either cross my arms or put my hands in my pockets. Maybe you can give her something to hold or keep her hands busy when you know there's going to be excitement coming up?
My nephew (who is possibly on the autistic scale) had a hard time for a few years of pulling out his hair. They gave him toys to hold whenever they were empty and that helped.
Re: UO 10/26
As for Disney World, I agree. Overpriced, hot, overcrowded. I had coworkers, one was like a 50 year old women who were OBSESSED with Disney World. They would plan their trips (they don't have little kids mind you) for months. It got old so fast, and hearing how much they were spending made me sick.
My UO: I can't think of one and I think I need a nap.
My wife is a public magnet high school teacher and some of her brightest, top students were home schooled until 9th grade. In their cases, it obviously was a better alternative to a low-quality neighborhood school. For us, we'll just have to make sure we're working with our child every day to supplement their most likely sub-par formal elementary education and balance out any shortcomings.
Married: 12/19/15
BFP: 9/4/17
EDD: 5/16/18
DD born 5/10/18
Postpartum Complications
BFP: 10/1/19
EDD: 6/12/20
Happy to find another fan here!!
Married: 8/22/15
BFP #1: 8/22/17 | DS: 4/20/18
BFP #2: 7/14/19 | EDD: 3/18/20
The Bachelor/Bachelorette/Real Housewives are my guilty pleasures. I don't take them seriously, but I do enjoy watching them. One of my former mentor students is going to be on the upcoming season of The Bachelor. I love reading Reality Steve for spoilers and listening to his Podcast.
Disneyland/World as an adult is still really fun. I wouldn't say I am obsessed, but we had passed for awhile before we had kids and had a great time. And I love taking DS. We have bought passes for his birthday the last two years instead of doing gifts and it gives us fun all year long. We will probably wait to go to Disneyworld until this baby is older. At 3.5, DS is almost tall enough to go on all but a handful of rides at Disneyland/California Adventure. And when not pregnant, I love to try to fun drinks at CA Adventure.
I am definitely not for homeschooling. I think there are some parents who can do it really well if they have the resources, but as a whole, I don't care for the idea. My aunt did it for a long time with my cousin, who has autism, and I thought it was a terrible idea to keep him isolated from his peers. She was a credentialed teacher, so at least he had good instruction, but I think school is important for learning about how to interact with a diverse group of people in a variety of settings. I know as a teacher I am more sensitive to it, but sometimes it upsets me that I went to school for a long time to become highly-qualified in my profession and sometimes it stings to have people think that they can just teach because "it's easy."
PLUS, it's creepy AF. There are no mosquitoes in the parks. It's a freaking swamp in Florida! There are also no Florida birds in animal kingdom. How do they keep them out?
PSA for those who go: ADHD and anxiety let's you get a disability pass. That's why we went. Thanks to DD1 the only time we waited for a ride was when it broke down while we were in line.
We took DD when she was just over 2 and she loved it. She still talks about it. I know she won't remember it when she gets older but the joy on her face while we were there and whenever she talks about it is all worth it. And why we are going there as a baby moon in February.
@JNCPro3130 I think that's a really good point about the fast passes, too. Besides the fact that it creates more economic based inequality, once everyone starts buying the fast passes, those lines will end up being just as long!
I don't want to get too involved on the homeschooling issue because I know one of our members was having a really rough day because of the reaction her in-laws were giving her, so I don't want to continue to make her feel worse. That being said, I absolutely agree that it's only the "better" option for a very small number of people, usually what PP said about not having access to good quality schools. My sister homeschooled all four of her kids, and I do admit they're a little....strange, socially awkward, whatever you want to call it. But I honestly think that's as much of a product of who their parents are as it is their lacking social interaction on a daily basis with kids their own ages.
Married June 2012
BFP June 2013- blighted ovum, D&C Aug 2013
BFP Oct 2013- twins! A&H born May 2014
BFP Aug 2017- EDD 5/8/17
@sandbar517
The Fast Passes aren’t extra at Disneyland. I can’t speak to Disneyworld. They are included in your park ticket. Only certain rides have them and they are typically the most popular rides. You go to the ride and insert your ticket and they give a return time (ex. Between 10:00 and 11:00). You come back during your return window and wait in a shortened segment of the line. You can hold one Fast Pass at a time. If your return time is more than two hours after you obtained your Fast Pass, you can get another one after 2 hours. For example, I get a Fast Pass for Space Mountain at 9am but my return time isn’t until 12pm. I can get another Fast Pass for a ride at 11am. What we usually do is get a Fast Pass for a ride, then wait in lines for rides that don’t have them, and then use our Fast Pass.
Disneyland did just add a “Max Pass” that is $10 extra per ticket per day. It allows you to get Fast Passes through their app so you don’t have to walk to the ride to obtain them. We haven’t tried that yet. You don’t get to hold more Passes with it, you jus let don’t have to walk across the park to get them.
Six Flags and Universal charge an insane amount of money for their version of this feature. They’re wristbands and over $100/ticket most of the time.
@sandbar517 I get what you mean. We wouldn’t do Disneyworld until our kids are older because of the expense of getting there and staying at a hotel. But for us, Disneyland is only 60-90 minutes away depending on traffic, so we often just go for the day and come home.
@nanifrog I also know of a few adults near me that go to Disneyland/world at least once a year (as an actual , and I always wonder how in the world they can afford that!! Crazy!
Married June 2012
BFP June 2013- blighted ovum, D&C Aug 2013
BFP Oct 2013- twins! A&H born May 2014
BFP Aug 2017- EDD 5/8/17
A typical day at Magic Kingdom for me going with J by ourselves we get there about 1030 when we'll get into the park around 1045 I will have a fast pass booked from 1045 to 1145 or just 11 to noon and then I'll have another fast pass from noon to one and another fast pass from 1 to 2. We'll normally take a break from riding rides at that point, get some food and I'll book another fast pass while we're doing that. In between our fast pass rides because it does not take a full hour to do those things we will ride some of the rides that have a 20 or even a 30 minute wait.
My nephew (who is possibly on the autistic scale) had a hard time for a few years of pulling out his hair. They gave him toys to hold whenever they were empty and that helped.
BFP 2/25/14 EDD 11/5/14 BD 11/4/14
BFP 8/26/17 EDD 5/5/18