Theme parks 101

While on the theme of themeparks, here are some of the things common in each of them and important enough to make life easy:

• Buy tickets online. Or atmost via the automatic vending machine. Otherwise be prepared to waste atleast 1-1.5 hours to enter the park. Oh ya - only at the entrance !
• Parking lot - the first point of contact. Now they run for miles together, and sometimes on multiple stories. So each section or floor is marked with a unique identifier. A color scheme combined with a character name (like Goofy or ET or Jurassic Park). Take a photo of that. So it is easily remembered, while on our way back at the end of the day. And we avoid the "Dude where's my car ?" situation.
• And Maps. What would we do without maps ? Enter park, take map. Find locations of every show & ride. And cover them. As simple as that. Its called planning your day. ... And yes, it is humanely possible to cover all rides & shows.
• Limit how many souvenirs you buy, by marking them on the map. Each ride or show will have a gift shop dedicated to that Disney Character, Universal movie or such. Decide which one is you favorite and limit your shopping to that gift shop.
• And then escalators & elevators at strategic locations. Along with moving walkways, to cover those long mile without walking. So get all you need - strollers, food, jackets, etc.
• Now queues are generally long. But most of the parks have some or the other timesaver. So find out what it is ? Disney had Fast-Pass. A vending machine outside every show. It dispenses a pass for some particular timing and you need to come back at that time for this show. Universal has Child-Switch. When you are with a young child who is not allowed inside a show or a ride, one person is anyway going to wait outside with the kid. So rest stand in a queue, while the Child-Switch person can skip queue when its her turn. 
• That reminds me, take a picture of your kid at the start of the day. If anyone gets separated, it will be easier to show what clothes they were wearing.