Anyone have an tips for cruising the Disney Cruise Line with small children?

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I am thinking of what tips worked best with me and my family last year. When I went on the Wonder I had a 12 month old and a 5 year old.

I will be posting real soon, just wanted to get this thread rolling if anyone else has ideas or advice! :D

I don't have little ones, but from what I saw a big tip is eat early -- second seating is probably too late for most kidlets.

Bring an autograph book -- lots of characters on board.

If you take your kids to the Oceaneers club, talk to them beforehand and let them know that Mommy and Daddy are not far away (to a kid a ship can look huge).

Bring some things to keep the kids occupied during embarkation and disembarkation -- both procedures can be very boring for kids who don't understand what is taking so long (the same can hold true for adults):D

OK...my tips:

1) bring snacks, coloring books, anything to keep kids busy when you are waiting to embark. There is cartoons playing, a few characters roaming around and a small snack shop, but my 5 year old was anxious and bored (at the same time).

2) Use room service!!! You can order as much or as little as you'd like and it is included with your cruise cost (but not bottled water or pop). I ordered a big pitcher of lemonade (for free) and kept it in our room daily, along with like 10 cookies. But do remember to tip the room service waiter, I brought some extra one dollar bills set aside for tipping him (or her). Oh, and since I was making formula and needed bottle water, I brought my own unopened bottles of Arrowhead Water. Much cheaper then buying on board.

3) Go see characters during the dinner seatings. The evenings in the atrium were the main times for characters to be out on our cruise. It started right before dinner and was so busy (the 6:30pm seating). But once the seating started and people were on their 1st meal course, I noticed outside Triton's that the atrium was almost empty of people and so I grabbed my kids and did our character greeting then (and got cute pictures). No waiting!!

4) On Castaway Cay day order room service for breakfast and head out to the island as soon as they say the doors are open. We were out by like 9:30-9:45am and was one of the 1st on the island. It was great and not crowded. So we took our time and walked to the family beach (doing all the photo oppurtunities) and got great chairs. By noon we were done. The kids were hot and tired. So as we were getting back to the ship (taking the tram) a TON of people were getting off the boat. It looked like a sea of people. My hubby and I were so happy to get our day done and over with early. When you have kids, you got to listen to them and rest when they need to. Our trip was 100% for our kids, so we had no problem cutting our day short there. And after naps we hit the very uncrowded pool onboard and buffet. It worked out great!

5) Use the kids' program. My 5 year old loved it and still asks when we are going back just for the program. The program is availible all day until I think like 1am, and they fed him meals and snacks. At the end of the program the kids put on a singing show in the main theater on board. It was cute! My son still wears his Disney Cruise program shirt he got while in the program. My 1 year old went to the nursery and since we had a beeper thing we were contacted when he was crying. Nursery people were great.