Before I start with my e-mail today, I have the following information
for you:
Baby Care Center Amendment
I ran into a friend of mine recently. One of
the sweetest people I've ever met, she had just read my column about the
Baby Care Center. She told me about an outstanding feature that I
missed!
The Baby Care Center provides filtered water
in the kitchen for parents who need to prepare bottles of formula. In
addition to all the other wonderful features of the Baby Care Center, I
think this is an important resource to keep in mind.
| Adrienne's eMailbox for 7/25/00: |
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Norm wrote:
Your site mentions that airlines don't allow booster seats on
their flights. They do indeed. In fact they encourage it. More
important, all car rentals offer them so it's moot for folks
arriving in LAX from out of town..
And Karen also wrote:
I just read your reply to the booster seat e-mail. I just got
back from Seattle and saw several booster seats being used on the
flight. We were on American. My hubby and I travel extensively with
our four-year-old. We have rented car seats (yuck - plastic) and
brought our own.
We invested in a car seat cover about two years ago ($39.00). It
turns your car/ booster seat into another piece of luggage. What is
best is that you can fill it with extra stuff (blankets, clothes,
stuffed animals, etc) especially at the end of your journey when
there is no more room in the suitcase. I highly recommend the car
seat cover. Ours has logged over 50,000 air miles and it is still in
one piece (and we all know how baggage gets thrown about).
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| I'll start
by saying thanks for the tips. I called around and was able to
confirm that several car rental agencies do offer booster seats. I'd
like to hear from readers who have experienced using these services.
I was really perplexed by the emails and
conversations I had after I posted those comments on my previous eMailbox
column. I did some research into this and here's what I learned:
My original sources for that column had
been the airlines themselves, since I had recently planned a trip. I
went to United,
Delta,
and Southwest.
If you follow those links, (which open in new windows by the way, so
you won't lose your place here) you will reach the infant travel
information pages for those three airlines. They all say that they
do not allow booster seats on their flights.
Then I found out that the term
"booster seat" is open to a variety of interpretations. A
friend who is a flight attendant for Delta explained that the reason
booster seats are forbidden is the way they "anchor" to
the seat differently than car seats do. Car seats are first seat belted
into the airline seat by themselves, and only then are children seat belted
into the car seats. In contrast, after a booster seat is placed on
the airline seat both the booster seat and the child are cinched
down only by the seatbelt of the airline seat.
A reader who works as a gate agent in
Dallas told me that her training did not mention specific designs of
seats, but she was told to look for the sticker that says the seat
is certified for use in aircrafts. Note that the Southwest Airlines
page linked above refers to car seats as child restraint devices.
Armed with this information, I made a
trip to the greatest children's store on Earth, Bergstrom's. Yes,
they do have a location about a block east of Disneyland. The prices
on clothing are a little high in my opinion, but their prices on
cribs, strollers, car seats, etc are great, sometimes even less if
you have to special order something! Upon inspecting several models
of booster seats, I found that seats with built-in belts have
stickers that say they are approved for airline use. Inspecting a
seat with no belts, I read a sticker that actually said it was NOT
approved for airline use.
So there you have it. Many booster seats
are not permitted on airlines. If you have a child weighing over 40
pounds and plan to take a booster seat on vacation, look for a
sticker on the seat that tells you whether or not your model is
approved.
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Lisa wrote:
I really liked your review of the Disney strollers. I will never
rent them again are because the new strollers were so dirty. The
fabric soaks up every soda and whatever else is spilled on them,
making the strollers kinda gross for your child to sit your child
in.
But most importantly, the stroller tips completely backwards.
After a last-minute catch to keep my child from hitting the ground,
I was so scared when I realized what could have happened.
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You made a really good point that I must
have glossed over. I wrote that because the strollers are
lightweight, it was easy for our friend Casey to "pop
wheelies" with it. What I neglected to include was that by
hanging diaper bags or other heavy items from the handlebars of
these strollers, they become "back heavy" (so to speak)
and can easily tip backwards.
Matthew is a 30-pounder, so generally
speaking, he could have counterbalanced the weight when he was in
the stroller. I can imagine how disconcerting it was to see the
stroller tip backwards with your child in it!
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Exceptional Mom Mary sent this in:
I don't know whether they still have the Mousekemeals things for
sale, but those were *excellent* souvenirs! I think we got insulated
lunchboxes at the Stage Door Cafe on the trip before this past
one.

Neat thing about those lunchboxes (other than the $5 price!) was
the strap configuration, where it lengthens to be carried over the
shoulder or shortened on both sides to be worn as a backpack. We got
some as gifts for friends on
that trip, and all three of my little ones have them for their
lunches at day care!
While Casa Mex (sob sob) was still open (sob sob), they had the
BEST Mousekemeals souvenir: the plate that was shaped like the
Castle with a big Mickey standing on the side. I bought three of
those for my kids and several others for gifts. It's been *years*
since I've seen melamine plates that have Disneyland printed on them
(I have some from when Casey was little), but to merchandising's
defense, I didn't see any WDW-specific melamine either.
I'm waiting...
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Mary, what a fantastic deal! Considering
that the lunchboxes at the Emporium cost $12, these boxes are much
more economical. And while the Emporium lunchboxes have Disney
Characters on them, the Mouskemeal boxes [as you can see above]
actually list the lands of Disneyland on them, so they're even more
Disneyland-specific. I
have seen these for sale at Tomorrowland Terrace as well as other
walk-up / counter service restaurants around Disneyland.
As for your plate requests, I'll post
them here in case anyone from merchandising reads this.
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In my eMailbox column on July 7,
I offered information about leaving a guest compliment at City Hall
for helpful Cast Members (CMs).
Trevor responded:
I have also sent them compliments via e-mail from their web site.
Just remember the person’s name that helped you out, and why
you're complimenting them. The webmaster moves it along just like
at City Hall.
I even had the unique experience of having the CM remember the
incident and thanked me for the compliment on my next visit a few
months later.
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Yes, Trevor, this is another option for
complementing helpful CMs. Mighty
Alweg's site gives many helpful URLs, addresses, and phone
numbers for contacting Disneyland.
The phone number to call Disneyland
Guest Relations is (714) 781-4773. Click
here to find the form to send a guest comment to Disneyland
through the Disney website. They also have
a page for emailing Walt Disney World.
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Send your Adrienne's
eMailbox / Parenting in the Parks questions or comments to:
AdrienneK@mouseplanet.com
Keep in mind all
questions submitted to the Adrienne's eMailbox column
become property of this site. They may be edited for length or
style and in consideration of a family readership. Questions
may also be quoted on other parts of the site too.
Not all questions
may be responded to, but all will be read so I can have an idea
of what you all think out there. |