Disney - Getting Ready to Leave

We have been to Disney World every 2 years since Carter was one (February 2010, April 2012, and now February 2014).  In the past we always stayed off property using some of Brian's hotel reward points for free nights.  Since Brian doesn't travel for work anymore, we don't have many banked points.  So we decided this year to stay at a Disney hotel.  This meant we had some special perks this year.

A few months before our trip we got this little box.

Inside was a flash drive that had a couple of videos using The Incredibles characters to explain the Magic Bands and Fast Pass +.

Then about a month before our trip, we got this box.

Inside were our Magic Bands.  We got to pick our colors before they were shipped.

And inside the band is each person's name.

Disney is in the process of converting everyone to these (I think) but right now they are testing them out with people staying at a Disney hotel.  The bands are your room key, pass into the park, used to pay for things in the park, and used for the Fast Pass lines.

The Fast Pass system is also changing.  Disney has removed all the machines in the park.  Now you can go online 60 days before your trip and pick your Fast Pass rides and times.  There are also stations in the park were you can sign up for your Fast Passes for the day.  There are restrictions on which rides you can do and you are limited to how many Fast Passes you can get (we could get 3 per day at this time of year).  And the most popular Fast Passes do run out if you wait too long to get them.  This meant I had to do a lot more planning before the trip.  I'm not sure I like the new system or not but it did work out okay for us.

This year we did 7 days in the park (plus 2 travel days).  We stayed at the newest Disney hotel - The Art of Animation - in a standard room (tiny!!!).  Because Rylan is still in a toddler bed with a rail I got him a toddler size air mattress with inflatable sides that would prevent him from rolling off of it.

As usual, we drove.  I got lots of new DVDs that the boys had never seen to hopefully make the drive a little easier - Planes, Despicable Me 2, Turbo, The Croods, & Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.  The room also had a mini-fridge so I packed breakfast for each morning, snacks, and most of the boys lunch and dinner for the week.  Food is so expensive in the park and we wanted to keep the cost down as much as possible (as well as eat a little healthier).

Hopefully tomorrow I'll post about the first day or two of our trip!