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Half Dozen Dad

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Darren

10 Things you Need to Know Before Going to Disneyland

by Darren

Planning a trip to Disneyland? Don’t go before checking out these Disneyland tips we have for you. As a family of 8 who are frequent Disneyland visitors, we’ve got all the inside tricks for you.

10 Things you Need to know before visiting Disneyland - Great tips, especially for larger families or families on a budget.

My kids love the magic of Disneyland! In my opinion, there are few things more amazing than seeing that magic light up your child’s eyes and giving them memories that will last a lifetime.

While my family has had the opportunity to visit numerous other amusement parks, nothing seems to compare with the experiences my family has a Disneyland.

But as my family has gotten larger, the costs have gone up exponentially. We have learned to get creative to get the most out of our time at the park and save money at the same time.

Here are my top 10 tips you need to know before visiting Disneyland

Ticket Prices – This is obviously the largest cost for anyone attending the park. Discounts are hard to come by but GetAwayToday and AAA do offer a few dollars off. Stay away from individuals selling tickets as Disneyland now photographs people entering the park and your resold passes will likely not work. Also, as kids under 3 years old are free, you can easily save $100 or more going before that 3rd birthday.

Crowds – Disneyland now adjusts their prices based on how crowded they predict the park to be that day. My recommendation is if you can avoid it, don’t ever go on a day when the costs are high. Not only will it cost you more money but you will ride less rides because of the crowds. IsItPacked.com is a good tool to help you estimate the crowds before you go.

FastPass – Take advantage of FastPass tickets as often as you can and get the tickets for the rides you most want to ride early in the morning. Right now, Radiator Springs Racers in California Adventure usually gives out all their FastPass tickets for the entire day by around noon, earlier on busy days.

Rider Swaps – If you have members of your party that can’t ride a ride for any reason (kids aren’t tall enough, etc), ask for a rider swap when you get on the ride. This will enable up to 3 people to ride after you get off by going through the FastPass line.

Parking – Most of the time you will be directed to the Mickey and Friends parking structure. You then take a shuttle from the structure to Downtown Disney. There are several sections of the tram where you don’t have to empty and fold your stroller. Right now parking will cost $18 per vehicle. We actually prefer some of the other overflow lots better as you don’t have to fight the crowds to get on the tram at the end of the night. If you are staying at a hotel nearby, look for one that offers shuttle service or is walking distance to the park to save on parking costs.

Strollers – I recommend bringing a stroller even if you are not bringing young babies. Strollers work very well for carrying food, jackets, and tired kids at the end of the night. Just make sure you don’t leave valuables in them when you leave it to get on rides.

Food – There are lots of places in the park where you can now get meals for under $10 per person but that still adds up with a group, so we bring lots of snacks. Our favorite right now is the Uncrustables pre-made sandwiches. You can buy them frozen at any grocery store and they thaw throughout the day, keeping them from getting smashed. Bringing your own food means you can go the entire day without paying extra for food, or you can use your savings to splurge a bit for a nicer dinner. If it is in your budget, I highly recommend the character dining experience at Ariel’s Grotto. Check out our experience as a family of 8 at Ariel’s Grotto. 

Drinks – Especially if you go during a hot day, you have to stay hydrated. Many people don’t know that any restaurant in the park that serves fountain drinks will give you ice water cups for free and they typically already have them ready (no need to wait in line, just walk up to the counter. If you want some flavor, I like to bring some single serve Crystal Light packets to dump in the free waters. No where in the park does Disneyland offer free refills of fountain drinks.

Parades/Shows – There is no real way around this. If you want a seat, get there early. Main Street is always the most crowded for the parades but also has the most seats. I recommend trying up where the parade begins by Its a Small World. If you are not that interested in the parades or if you have already seen, this is an excellent time to go on the rides that typically have long lines.

Hotels – Staying at the Disneyland-owned hotels give you the advantage of Magic Mornings (you get into the park an hour before everyone else) but if you are not wanting to pay those prices there are lots of other options that are within walking distance so you don’t have to pay the $18 for parking at the park. Our favorite is the Convention Center Residence Inn. It opened in summer 2016, offers free breakfast and has huge suites that will sleep up to 8. The Fairfield Inn Anaheim Resort is the closest to the park and has Disney-themed rooms. The Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance has a cool Disney waterslide at opened in 2015.

 

Enjoy your time making magic memories at Disneyland with your kids.

 

Filed Under: Adventures Tagged With: Disneyland, family travel

Is your kid your friend?

by Darren

A video has been circulating recently that makes the bold statements that “I am not my kid’s buddy. I am their parent and they are angry with me because I parented them.”

While I agree that more parents need to parent their children and not worry so much whether them doing that makes the kid happy. I also feel that in today’s day and age, your child has to have a friend that they can confide in. If you are not friends with you child, how can you hope to know what is going on in their lives. This doesn’t mean as a friend that you need to always give them their way, it simply means that you are constantly working on building a relationship of trust.

We walk a fine line as parents. My guidelines for being a good parent are:

1) Love the child.
2) Spend time with them.
3) Listen to them.
4) Be an example.
5) Be stern but understanding.
6) Correct and punish, when necessary.
7) Show an increase of love.

Parenting is hard. Trust me, with 6 kids, I get it but being a successful parent goes far beyond just laying down the lay and forcing them to comply.

Filed Under: Humor, Parenting and Humor

What is the role of a dad today?

by Darren

Fifty years ago, the media portrayed dads as being strong father figures who provided for their families and provided for their wife and children. With few exceptions, it seems like dads are now portrayed as simple idiots who are often “duped” by their kids, can’t provide financially and have no real direction.

As a father of half a dozen kids, I feel like I have learned a lot about being a dad over the last dozen years. I’m still far from perfect but I hope that I have learned a few things over the years.

I approached the birth of my oldest with excitement and fear. I was scared that I had no idea what I was doing but as soon as I saw his little face, I went into provider mode. I then spent the next number of years working full-time, going to college full-time but also doing late night drives trying to get him to sleep along with attempting to not get peed or puked on to many times.

I am not going to discount that I am certain my wife has regularly out worked me when it comes to the kids and household, but I am certain that I am far from the way the “traditional” father is now portrayed in the media. I have worked hard for my kids and know many other fathers who have done the same, lets not forget them.

As I see it, the role of a dad is to:

1) Provide
2) Protect
3) Lead by example
4) Teach

I hope to use this blog to help other parents learn what hast helped me in my family.

Filed Under: Parenting and Humor

Can you Make Money Driving for Uber?

by Darren

Have you been wondering if you can make a good side income driving for Uber? As a father of six, I’m always looking for a good side hustle so I set out to see if Uber was a valid way to make some extra money.
electric car, ev, bmw, i3
People claim that they can’t make enough money to make a career out of driving for  Uber. I wanted to test it out for myself so I signed up as a driver. I love the idea of something flexible that parents can use to earn extra funds and still allow them to work around hectic family schedules.

Getting Started with Uber

The process to get setup with Uber was pretty simple. I signed up online then attended an in-person event to finish the process. They ran a background check, requested some documentation and a vehicle inspection. The entire process went fairly smoothly, despite the fact that I chose to use my electric car, a BMW i3 (more on that later).

Driving for the First Time

With the kids off to school, I put the Uber placard in my window, placed pepper spray in the driver’s door (just in case) and logged into the Uber Partners app on my smartphone to tell them I was ready to drive. Within minutes, I got a notification that someone wanted a ride. I accepted and used the GPS within the app to drive to the pickup location.
My first passenger was an older couple who wanted a ride to the train station, a short 14 minute ride of 7.63 miles and a fare of $14.06.
I can do this, I thought.

Safety

One of the biggest concerns people have about driving for Uber is safety. Will they be safe while driving? Since there have been a few high-profile news stories about Uber passengers getting violent, this seemed like a valid concern.
I didn’t find safety to be an issue. I met lots of very nice people and drove in areas I was familiar with.
I did take a few precautions. I kept mace in my door just in case and used a mount for my smartphone so I could stay handsfree.
I learned almost immediately that you MUST have some sort of mount to hold your smartphone in place. I honestly think Uber should make this part of the vehicle inspection. It is simply not safe to be looking at a phone for directions or where to pick someone up without a mount.
Proclip makes vehicle-specific mounts for just about any car and sent us one that was perfect for the i3 coupled with my iPhone. The mount even charges the phone and will accommodate a wide range of cases.
I always stopped driving by about 10pm so that I was taking people out for the night rather than bringing them home. So far I’ve avoided picking up an overly drunk passenger. I think this is a major part of the reason why I have never felt unsafe, but you do make more money if you are willing to drive later at night.

Flexibility

I loved the flexibility Uber offered. I was able to login to drive anytime I wanted and sign out anytime I was done.  I found that demand is always highest in the evenings on the weekends here in San Diego. I did try and schedule my driving around those times as much as possible because I knew that I would make more money driving during those times, but I was free to set my own hour and adjust them to fit my schedule.

Demand

Demand, while the kids are at school, was a lot more sporadic. I might give several rides back to back and then have nothing for hours. I also found that even though Uber is completely flexible with when I can log in and work, the end time is much more difficult to schedule as you never know where the next ride is going to take you. It might be right next to your kids’ school (which I had happened perfectly once) or your last ride might want you to drive them to the airport which could take hours so you want to make sure you aren’t on a tight time schedule while driving.
Overall, the experience was good and driving for Uber is something I think I’ll continue to do as my schedule allows time for it. I met some great people and it was a really interesting experience. I actually found that it was great for networking and as a work-at-home dad it was a great way to get out of the house.
Interested in driving for Uber? Sign up here. 

Filed Under: Adventures, Cars, Humor, Making Money, My Wife's Stuff, Parenting and Humor, Tech

Super Bowl Ads with Kids

by Darren

UPDATE: USA Today’s Ad Meter ranked Hyundai’s Dad Ad as the #1 Super Bowl Ad of 2015

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R_483zeVF8[/embedyt]

Every year I watch the Super Bowl with my kids. We enjoy lots of great food, cheer for our favorite team and laugh at the Super Bowl ads. This year, like last, I loved that most of the ads were very kid-friendly. There were no sleazy GoDaddy ads and not even the Pepsi ad of years past. This year it was KungFu Panda, weiner dogs running towards ketchup, a family sitting down for PizzaHut together and a dad watching out for his teenage girl on a date. It seems that the advertising companies are now trying to attract the attention of families.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouTeio9AzGQ[/embedyt]

As a parent, I laughed at the Doritos Ultrasound ad of a baby wanting to eat Doritos and was honestly intrigued by how many people it offended. I have snuck my kids all kinds of things before they were supposed to have it so the idea of an unborn baby wanting Doritos does not offend me.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugn_qmQ0NFo[/embedyt]

My 10 yr old son loved the T-Mobile “Drop the Balls” ad! He didn’t know anything about Steve Harvey’s Miss Universe mess-up. He just loved seeing all the balls overwhelm and make fun of Verizon as he has seen their ads.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8YZdejPKg[/embedyt]

Let’s hope that media continues to be “kid-friendly”.

 

 

Filed Under: Cars, Humor, Parenting and Humor, Tech

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About Me

Let's get a few things clear...

Yes. All 6 are mine.

Yes. I must have my hands full.

Yes. They have given me a lot of grey hair.

...and yes. I wouldn't trade being a dad of 6 kids for anything.

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