Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The more you can agree to and nail down in advance, the less potential you'll
have for disagreement and confrontation once you arrive. Because children are more
comfortable with the tangible than the conceptual, and also because they sometimes
have short memories, we recommend typing up all of your decisions and agreements
and providing a copy to each child. Create a fun document, not a legalistic one. You'll
find that your children will review it in anticipation of all the things they will see and
do, will consult it often, and will even read it to their younger siblings.
By now you're probably wondering what one of these documents looks like, so
we've provided a sample. Incidentally, this itinerary reflects the preferences of its cre-
ators, the Shelton family, and is not meant to be offered as an example of an ideal
itinerary. It does, however, incorporate many of our most basic and strongly held re-
commendations, such as setting limits and guidelines in advance, getting enough rest,
getting to the theme parks early, and saving time and money by having a cooler full
of food for breakfast. As you will see, the Sheltons go pretty much full tilt without
much unstructured time and will probably be exhausted by the time they get home,
but that's their choice. One more thing—the Sheltons visited Disneyland in late June,
when all of the theme parks stay open late.
Notice that the
Sheltons
' itinerary provides minimum structure and maximum
flexibility. It specifies which park the family will tour each day without attempting to
nail down exactly what the family will do there. No matter how detailed your itiner-
ary is, be prepared for surprises at Disneyland, both good and bad. If an unforeseen
event renders part of the plan useless or impractical, just roll with it. And always re-
member that it's your itinerary; you created it, and you can change it. Just try to make
any changes the result of family discussion and be especially careful not to scrap an
element of the plan that your children perceive as something you promised them.
LOGISTIC PREPARATION
WHEN WE RECENTLY LAUNCHED
into our spiel about good logistic preparation for a
Disneylandvacation,afriendfromPhoenixsaid,“Wait,what'sthebigdeal?Youpack
clothes, a few games for the car, and then go!” So OK, we confess, that will work,
but life can be sweeter and the vacation smoother (as well as less expensive) with the
right gear.
CLOTHING
LET'S START WITH CLOTHES.
We recommend springing for vacation uniforms. Buy for
each child several sets of jeans (or shorts) and T-shirts, all matching, and all the same.
For a one-week trip, for example, get each child three pairs of khaki shorts, three
