Family #1

Game plan: Spend Some Money to Make the Trip as Easy as Possible on Everybody
Children: Ages 2, 5, and 6

Jenny and Bernie decided to do Disney, but made a conscious decision to avoid trying to do everything. Jenny says, “We told the girls they could each pick five things that they really wanted to do, and told them we would do our best to do those things.” They skipped the Park Hopper choice and just did one park each day. Jenny and Bernie decided to stay in the Polynesian, a Disney luxury hotel, even though it was expensive because they felt it was the most convenient.  They loved being so close to the park, with the choice of the monorail or ferry to get them back and forth. They also went with the Disney dining plan and felt it worked well for their family.  It freed them up from having to worry about bringing food in, and they used it for two character meals– dinner with Cinderella at the Grand Floridian and breakfast with Pooh at the Crystal Palace –and were very happy with both.

They focused on getting there early in the morning and left the park every day in the early afternoon:  “We napped, swam in the hotel pool, and just hung out. Those are some of our best memories of the trip.”

Family #2

Game Plan: Minimize Meltdowns on Moderate Money
Children: Ages 2 and 4

Tara and Brad went for the economical All Star, a Disney budget resort, but opted for a suite:  “We’d put the girls down at 7:00 in the bedroom and this plan let us have an adult evening with a glass of wine.”

Key to their success:  “We came home every day for lunch and a nap.” They also brought food with them to the park– sippy cups, muffins, granola bars– because having to wait in line for a something to eat just leads to melt downs. This family found that driving to the park made more sense for them than waiting on shuttles from the hotel, and they also rented a stroller off site so they could take it to the car rather than turning it in at the park. The Park Hopper Pass worked for them, allowing them to tailor what they wanted to do each day.

Family #3

Goal: Flexible, cost effective fun for three generations
Group: Ten people, three of them children ranging in age from 16 to 6
Strategy: VRBO 

After checking on the cost of hotels, this family opted to rent a house for a fraction of the price they would have paid.  The house was clean and large; it had room for everybody– and a heated pool. “I know some people are nervous about VRBO, but this worked great for us,” Robin says, “There was a big selection of places and price ranges.”

Their game plan: “We ate breakfast at the house and headed in to the park in two cars.  We had the flexibility of doing things together or we could split up.”  The house they rented was about 6-10 miles away from the park.  In retrospect they would have preferred one of the many VRBOs closer to the park to avoid some of the traffic.

Family #4   - Veterans Returning to Disney, Having Learned from Many Previous Trips

Children: Ages 13 and 10
Goal: Do it all
Strategy: Make a plan and stick with it

This family has made many trips to Disney over the years, the first when the children were 18 months and almost 5. They don’t bother with a suite because they hit the park all day and collapse into bed afterwards.  Why spend time in a hotel room when you are in Disney World?

They stay on site, choosing the mid price ranged Port Orleans:  “We like that it is close to the parks, but the French Quarter, where we stay, is nice and quiet.”  Tricia packs a well stocked cooler and a toaster oven, and plans their time zealously, making the most of early openings, and late hours.  They catch the Electrical parade in the Magic Kingdom, the fireworks at Epcot, and spend a day in the water parks.  Secret weapons: Will carries an insulated backpack with snacks of hummus and veggies, and uses his inside knowledge on the best places for adult beverages at Epcot for afternoon breaks.  They’re all pros at the Fast Pass, and know which rides are especially beautiful at night, and that ponchos work for rainy days or wet rides.

Family #5 - My Family’s Experience

Our first trip to Disney was planned to celebrate our princess-loving daughter’s 4th birthday. Though we worried that she was too young, somehow both she and our 9 year old son were the perfect ages to appreciate all the magic. Children celebrating a birthday are given a big birthday button that wins them all kinds of special attention, which was a lot of fun.

One lesson we learned was to plan early.  We wanted a suite, and since all the other on site suites were booked, we stayed at Old Key West, which felt more like an apartment or time share — we felt a little too removed from the action.  We also learned that we probably could have lived without a suite. The room was far less important than we thought; we spent very little time there. We also paid extra for Park Hopper passes but ended up not “hopping.”  Since it was our first trip, we just did one park each day and found plenty to keep us busy.

Two big splurges made our trip especially memorable for us. One was impulsive: We got caught up in the magic madness and bought tickets for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas — this allowed us entrance to the Magic Kingdom after it closed, and we stayed until almost midnight. It was less crowded and there was a beautiful holiday festive feeling in the dark, with all the rides and Cinderella’s castle all lit up.  Our children loved the “free” Christmas cookies and hot chocolate, and the Christmas parade with toy soldiers. (Mickey’s Not Very Scary Halloween Party is also very popular.)

Our other extra was hiring a babysitter through one of the services for a grownup night out.  Our sitter came to our room with a backpack of fun activities, and we got to have a relaxing kid free dinner alone.

Top Tips From Compiling All the Family’s Experiences

1. The most important tip is to plan your trip to coincide with Disney’s less busy seasons. Two families in visited in April, two in November, and one in January.
2. Plan your trip well in advance. Six months before the trip isn’t too early to make hotel reservations.
3. Choose what activities are important to you and plan around them. Even though it sounds compulsive, you really need a detailed game plan for each day.  Several guide books feature “touring plans” tailored for different age groups and length of stay.  We actually tore one out and carried it with us
4. If you have a child who is even REMOTELY stroller age, bring or rent a stroller, even if you haven’t used it in months. When no one is in it you can use it to haul your back pack, there is plenty of stroller parking so it’s easy to abandon it when you don’t want it, and it will save you when your small child inevitably gets too tired to keep up.

Useful Websites and Guide Books

• Walt Disney World with Kids (Kim Wright Wiley): a great book for planning, advice on the best views for parades and other events, and ratings of the “scare factor” for rides.
• The Unofficial Guide: Walt Disney World (Bob Sehlinger and Len Testa): Detailed and helpful touring plans, reviews of restaurants and rides from the authors and readers– very helpful and informative.
• www.mousesavers.com: Tips for saving money on tickets and reservations, and reviews from fellow travelers.
• www.touringplans.com

A recent article in cnn.com used the phrase, “helicopter parent” to describe parents who “hover” too much. Of course, we want to protect our children and we want to protect them from danger, but how do we do that “hovering” in a way that won’t keep them from learning their own independent strengths. Children should feel those joys found thorough success.

Deborah Skolnik of Parenting.com writes about a young boy who has learned to bring “any challenging task” to his parents because he knows they will do the task for him. Skolnik also explains that Psychologists at the University of Washington studied more than 200 kids and their moms for three years, and found that when a child already had pretty good judgment and self-control, having a heli-mom who provided too much guidance and not enough independence raised his risk of becoming anxious or depressed.

Become More Like a Submarine

Silvana Clark, author of “Fun-Filled Parenting: A Guide to Laughing More and Yelling Less,” suggests that parents, rather than hovering like the helicopters, should become more like submarines and should “stay close by — in case of real danger — but mostly out of sight, so [your child] gets out of the habit of running to you for every problem.”

As a parent, I can resist the urge to finish my child’s puzzles, but what about when children are nearing middle school and beyond? The urge to “hover” sometimes increases when parents realize that adolescent activities potentially lead to failure and riskier situations – making the basketball team, earning GPA points on transcripts, and even driving a car. Parents should remain “submarines” even during this adolescent stage of our children’s lives.

Combat the Hovering

Combat the urge to “hover” by helping young adults set small goals that, when attained, will build a sense of independence, allowing them to feel responsible for their own worlds. Parents can help find “smart challenges” for their children:

• Find a Summer Camp for your child. Your child doesn’t have to leave you for the week. Find a local experience. Schools like Charleston Collegiate have week-long science, arts, sports, and outdoor camps that will help your child achieve a sense of independence and accomplishment. (www.ccssummer.org)
• Help your child try a new sport or a new skill. Cooking classes are great ways to learn new skills and then bring the successes home to parents and siblings.
• Find a fun contest and enter it.
• Participate in a summer reading challenge. Many local libraries have incentives for summer reading. Parents can even read the books at the same time and talk about them at dinner. (www.ccpl.org)

Kimberly Blouin and Elizabeth Boyd are both master teachers at Charleston Collegiate School on Johns Island where they lead SAT Prep courses. Kimberly Blouin is also the Director of Summer Programs.

The term, “Mommy Makeover” can mean many things. While there is no substitute for healthy eating and regular exercise both before, during and after pregnancy, women know that pregnancy (-ies) can definitely take a toll on their bodies, especially breasts and tummy, and all the exercise and optimal eating habits may not correct everything. Most OBGYN’s will readily admit that a woman’s body is never quite the same after bearing one or more children.

When thought about in the context of plastic surgery, if a woman’s breasts get bigger and stay bigger following pregnancy, she may very well benefit from a breast reduction, which is usually a procedure that is covered by most insurance companies. More commonly, however, a woman may notice that after one or more children she has actually lost volume from her breasts, making them not only smaller, but perhaps more saggy. This condition can usually be nicely corrected either with a breast lift (“mastopexy”), a breast augmentation, or sometimes both. With regard to breast augmentation, both saline and silicone gel filled implants are available today since the 2006 FDA ruling that silicone gel implants are entirely safe, even for cosmetic augmentation. The most important single factor related to satisfaction after breast augmentation is selecting the correct size implant. Too often women are unfortunately overaugmented leaving them with an unnatural appearance that looks fake (check out WhatSizeShouldiBe.com).

Many women will experience skin laxity in their abdomen, with or without stretch marks. This can often be accompanied by a looseness of the abdominal musculature, or even a hernia. Both problems can be corrected with a “tummy tuck” or abdominoplasty. Let’s not forget that because a mother’s work is never really done, signs of fatigue or stress may sometimes be visible on the face with tired looking eyes, frown lines, or early folds or wrinkles around the mouth or cheeks. A proper skin care regimen, along  which can nicely enhance one’s appearance without expensive surgery and essentially no recovery time.

More Information

For more information, please visit MommyMakeoverCarolina.com or PlasticSurgeryCarolina.com, or contact the office of Dr. Ram Kalus at 843-881-3881.