If our blog post about why you should cruise with your kids has you convinced, here are some tips to make your trip a little smoother:

1. Buy some water and snacks at a local 7-11 before you board the boat
2. Pack bathing suits in your carry-on so you can swim while you wait for your luggage to be delivered to your state room
3. New activity books will give your early risers something to do while they wait for everyone to wake up
4. Take Ziplock bags or Tupperware to grab snacks from the buffet for day trips
5. The walls are magnetic so bring magnets for fun
6. Prepare your kids that shore excursions can be cancelled due to bad weather
7. Check out the Library for a great selection of games
8. Don’t bother finding the Arcade because the games there are expensive
9. A different kids' movie plays each day in room for when the sun gets too hot
10. Research your destinations before travelling to choose your excursions wisely

Not sure who to travel with? Check our recommended cruise lines, then call Click the Mouse London to get your trip planning started.

​Disney’s two water parks and four mini golf courses are great for all ages. They are an under utilized part of most Disney vacation packages but can offer great value and fun.
Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon have excellent play areas for little ones, fun slides for older children and great thrill rides for the daredevils in your group. Both parks have huge lazy rivers that circle each park and provide much needed relaxation on a hot day.
The mini golf courses that you can choose from are all unique and are a fun alternative for a more low-key day. When you stay on property (with a Magic Your Way package) you get passes to one mini golf course for each member of your party. 

In August 2017, we added two water park days and an extra mini golf pass per person to our Disney vacation package. This meant we were getting the “Park Hopper Plus” package. It only cost us $15 per person to add this vacation package to our two-day park hopper tickets. Considering a day at a waterpark can be $60+ and mini golf is $15 per person, the park hopper plus deal provided excellent value. This special might not always be available but it is certainly something to tell your Disney travel agent you are interested in.

​Imagine you’ve been shipwrecked on an island, things are falling apart and you will just have to try to enjoy yourself. The theming at this water park is great. I couldn’t help but wonder if the dam at the wave pool was actually going to burst. 

​The newest ride at the park is Miss Adventure Falls. Our family enjoyed riding it together. It was pretty high but our littlest, who is afraid of heights, still loved it. This ride gives a great view of the park.
The Crush ‘n’ Gusher has three different slides. Our favourite was the Coconut Crusher that features a motorized track making it feel like a water roller coaster.
We weren’t brave enough to try Humunga Kowabunga with its 214 feet downhill drop at a 60-degree angle. But we thought the Gangplank Falls slide was pretty fast and exciting for a family ride.
The little kids’ area at Typhoon Lagoon is much better than the one at Blizzard Beach. Typhoon Lagoon boasts a tube water slide for the really little ones and a fun interactive space for them to play – in fact we couldn’t get our 4 and 8 year olds to leave.

Of course the very best thing about Typhoon Lagoon (or the worst thing, depending on your perspective) is their extreme wave pool. The height and strength of these waves was intense. Our 8-year-old absolutely loved it and wanted to stay in all day. In order to be near the front of the wave pool you had to actually ride the wave or dive into it. Further back you couldn’t help but be knocked over. ​

Disney’s second water park also has a fun theme letting you imagine you are visiting during winter. Even the songs are winter and Christmas related and there is fake snow everywhere. The slides here are similar to those at Typhoon Lagoon but different enough to be worth a trip.
This water park has a really great chair lift ride to get you to the top of the large water slides. Our family enjoyed the family raft ride, Teamboat Springs, when we had a two-year-old and again now that he is eight. It got us very wet!
We all enjoyed racing each other on the Snow Stormers where you lay on a mat on your stomach and coast down the slides. The Tobaggan racers are a similar ride and represent one of our best family memories – putting our then two-year-old on his own mat and realizing the ride was much faster than expected. I assumed he wasn’t going to make it to the end and then turned around to see a huge smile on his face.
The area that is meant for 6 to 12 year olds (or so) is a ski patrol training camp where kids hang onto ropes, run across moving ice bergs, slide down a zip line that slams them into the water and ride smaller water slides that drop them into a pool. There were some fun options that even our 4-year-old could try and the pool was good for meeting new friends.
The little kids’ area at Blizzard Beach is great for really little kids but our 4-year-old was a bit old for the small slides and wading pool.

​These courses are side by side next to Blizzard Beach and their theming is over the top! Santa built these courses as a vacation destination for off duty elves. And each course has really fun statues throughout, including Santa, sandcastles, ice sculptures and more. The holes are well shaded with large trees, but it can still be really hot, so bring water. There is a small concession stand that sells drinks, candy, hats and sunscreen. When you arrive you give your name and which course you want to golf and they call you when its your turn. This certainly helps space out the golfers but it meant for a 20-minute wait for us. Snacks help pass the time.

Summerland is the trailer park where the elves go for their holidays. We loved the holes with camper vans and the one with the melting snowman. At one hole Santa is sleeping in the sand and another has a swimming pool. 

The Winter course is for the elves that prefer to stay cold. You can pretend you are at the North Pole and that might help to keep you cool. The hockey rink hole was really fun and the melting snow castle delivered a hole in one!

We think Fantasia Gardens is the best of the four golf courses because of the many interactive holes. There are musical features in the spirit of the movie Fantasia that are activated by your ball as you putt through. It was hilarious to watch the broomsticks shoot water at each golfer. This is a beginner course and great for little ones.

​Fairways is much more like a real golf course and doesn’t have the special effects and décor that the others have. This course is geared to the true golfer in your party. With sand traps, bunkers and water hazards you can really show off your golf skills.

​Below are some things we wish we had brought with us to the water parks:
Water shoes: the cement can get hot despite sprinklers spraying the sidewalks to cool them off. Plus, walking in your bare feet all day is tiring and the wave pools have rough cement floors. Be prepared with water shoes. We’ve purchased kids sizes for $4 in the off season at Giant Tiger.
Compact towel: you can certainly take a towel from the pool at your resort or even your hotel room to the water park but this is formally discouraged. However, we thought a few compact travel towels might be nice too, especially if you want to go to dinner directly from the water park.
Zinc: it is so hard to keep sunscreen on the face when you are swimming all day. Zinc will prevent burns on those sensitive spots (including the scalp).
Water camera: there are so many great opportunities to have fun with a water camera, we were missing ours.
Water shirts: the sun can be so hot in Florida and putting sunscreen all over yourself a few times a day wastes time. A swim shirt saves times and prevents burns on those hard to reach backs.
Magic Band: You can certainly leave your valuables at the resort if you have a magic band. Charging your meals to your room or being on the dining plan makes the day much simpler. Just remember to find out what your partner set the pin code at before you leave all your cash behind.