Disneyland with young kids and Vegan

It's magical and fun. As I mentioned before here, going to Disney Parks has been a new experience for me everytime. This was no exception. This time, I did it with my four kids, five and younger. It helped to have a few extra adult family members in tow. I learned a few lessons along the way. So in addition to my earlier post, here goes:

• Always book down time. Be it naps, or waiting for a parade, or having a enough seats for tired kids to nap in a stroller, be ready for down time.
• Use cranky bucks. I got this idea from the Family Fun magazine. It worked wonders. The bucks were in $5 denominations, equaling 5 minutes of cranky time. If they didn't use it, they could cash it in for real money and buy a toy. We use justice and mercy at our house. Justice took away the bucks when the kids used them, mercy kicked in on the last day. They'd been so well-behaved the whole trip I couldn't deny them forgiveness and mercy. They got to use the whole amount.
• Character Meals. I decided this is the only way to see characters. It's expensive, but so worth the money. Our most expensive meal was at Goofy's Kitchen for dinner. Yet, it was this meal we saw the most characters at one time, seven, and Chip and Dale each gave my son such great attention! They teased and teased him with hiding his pen and then his autograph book. You can't get that kind of fun at the Meet and Greets in the park! PCH Grill was the most intimate, fun, and least expensive. It reminded me a lot of O'Hana at the Polynesian Resort at WDW. Our third was Ariel's Grotto, to see the princesses. I don't know how hard it normally is to see princesses in the park, but I sure enjoyed sitting down to food and eating while they came to me. My feet thanked me too!
• Character Meals and vegan: Not a problem. Notify somebody, the server, cast members in the buffet area, just about anyone with a name tag. They will either have the chef come chat with you, or notify the chef and have him create a plate for you. These plates of food were enormous. You will not leave hungry or feel neglected. I did make sure the dietary need was on my reservation.
• Bathrooms. Take note of every bathroom marked on the map. We visited every single one. 
• Baby stations. I wish there were more of these. Sometimes it was so out of the way that I'd sit with my Hooter Hider and nurse on a bench. It was comforting to see other mothers do the same. Other times I just wore my sling and nursed the baby while in cue lines for the ride. If the baby station is close, and your child is under 48 inches, use it! I could always convince a child to use the bathroom when I told them there was a special little potty waiting.
• Ample time. We took four days to do both parks. It was enough time to hit all the rides, parades, and still get in naps or early bed times. Although I do wish we'd done more napping. We were very tired by the fourth day.
• Beware of weekends. It started to get busy on Friday night and was totally packed on Saturday. I'm used to early December crowds at Disney World and I quickly learned that the local population uses Disneyland as weekend entertainment, rather than a destination vacation as we were using it. With young kids, I will totally vote for using vacation days so we can go during the week and fight fewer crowds.
• Use the Disney transportation. The train around Disneyland was fun! And a great way to get to Toon Town. The monorail was a great ride and saved walking when we took it from Tomorrowland to Downtown Disney to get to our Character Meals in the hotels.
• Be honest and kind. Use honey, not vinegar, to get help. If you try to slide by the rules or bully a cast member you won't get nearly as much help then if you are up front and honest. I was in a sticky situation with timing and this technique saved a night from going sour.