Tips about Air Travel, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Mousecellaneous and Resorts

FORT WILDERNESS - When we stay at the Fort Wilderness Resort, we arrange to have an hour-long carriage ride that starts at 8:30 p.m. We ask the carriage driver to find us a good spot to watch the "Wishes" fireworks show, and the driver takes us to a secluded area next to the lake. We have a great view of the show, plus it is so nice and peaceful to be all alone there and not crushed amongst thousands of people. - Darrin Brooks EDITOR'S NOTE: Carriage rides are generally 30 minutes long so if you want an hour you will need to book two consecutive reservations.

ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE - Suggestions for Animal Kingdom Lodge: Go to the Front Desk/Guest Services of Animal Kingdom Lodge and request a list of activities and the "Hidden Mickey" list. The resort's Cast Members will give culinary tours, art tours, and tell stories, depending on the time of day you visit the resort. (The Hidden Mickeys are easier to spot during the daylight hours.) You can also visit the Sunset Overlook, located in the lounge next to the Front Desk. Cast Members at the Arusha Rock Overlook will even have night-vision binoculars! I recommend the dinner buffet at Boma. It has a wide variety of foods that would satisfy picky eaters too. - Lori

We were in Disney World last month and noticed that there are new ways that the MagicBands interact with various attractions. At Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, there is an electronic poster in the queue that displays the name and home city of guests. At Mission: Space, there are video screens in the post-attraction room that will display the names of the guests who finished the ride, along with their hometown and their mission projection. At Space Mountain there are video screens along the moving walkway that display the names of the guests who finished the ride. At the end of "it's a small world," look for the video screen to display the names of the guests on the boat. There may be more attractions that may also implement this technology, so keep your eyes open in the queues and in the post-attraction areas. - Brian Kehoe

We were in Disney World last month and noticed that there are new ways that the MagicBands interact with various attractions. At Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, there is an electronic poster in the queue that displays the name and home city of guests. At Mission: Space, there are video screens in the post-attraction room that will display the names of the guests who finished the ride, along with their hometown and their mission projection. At Space Mountain there are video screens along the moving walkway that display the names of the guests who finished the ride. At the end of "it's a small world," look for the video screen to display the names of the guests on the boat. There may be more attractions that may also implement this technology, so keep your eyes open in the queues and in the post-attraction areas. - Brian Kehoe

We were in Disney World last month and noticed that there are new ways that the MagicBands interact with various attractions. At Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, there is an electronic poster in the queue that displays the name and home city of guests. At Mission: Space, there are video screens in the post-attraction room that will display the names of the guests who finished the ride, along with their hometown and their mission projection. At Space Mountain there are video screens along the moving walkway that display the names of the guests who finished the ride. At the end of "it's a small world," look for the video screen to display the names of the guests on the boat. There may be more attractions that may also implement this technology, so keep your eyes open in the queues and in the post-attraction areas. - Brian Kehoe

We were in Disney World last month and noticed that there are new ways that the MagicBands interact with various attractions. At Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, there is an electronic poster in the queue that displays the name and home city of guests. At Mission: Space, there are video screens in the post-attraction room that will display the names of the guests who finished the ride, along with their hometown and their mission projection. At Space Mountain there are video screens along the moving walkway that display the names of the guests who finished the ride. At the end of "it's a small world," look for the video screen to display the names of the guests on the boat. There may be more attractions that may also implement this technology, so keep your eyes open in the queues and in the post-attraction areas. - Brian Kehoe

Regarding two-way communication with other members of your party, we have found that texting works the best. It's too hard to hear my cell phone ring with all the noise of the parks, and it's also too hard to talk on the phone. So we just send each other text messages to set up meeting places, or to let the other person know if we're running late. - Kirsten Searle

MAGIC KINGDOM - When two showings of a parade are offered at the Magic Kingdom in an evening, the second is almost always much less crowded and just as nice! - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you by www.themouseforless.com and Mike Boyer

If you have the Disney Trivia game, you can take a few packs of trivia cards with you to Disney. Some of you may have a long road trip ahead of you, so the Disney trivia cards help you pass the time. You don't need the game board. Take a few stacks of cards and put them in a Ziploc bag.

Even if you fly to WDW, pack a stack of trivia cards anyway. Unless you're in a dark queue like Pirates of the Caribbean, you can pass a long wait quickly with trivia, and you may get an added side benefit... new friends in the queue line grateful for the diversion, too! - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you by www.themouseforless.com and Lori Wagner

Instead of signing up for each airline's weekly fare specials, visit www.smarterliving.com and subscribe to their weekly email. It gives you weekly fare specials from most airlines, including Southwest, in a single email. You can even customize your emails by choosing up to three departure cities in which you are interested -- then you'll only be notified of the fares departing from those particular cities. - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you by www.themouseforless.com and Jackie

ALL RESORTS - If you are staying at a Disney resort, dial '0' from your room phone and ask the operator to connect you to Mears or any local Disney number. It'll save $0.75 per call. - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you by www.themouseforless.com and Laura B.

ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE - Each night at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, a Cast Member speaks about his or her own country in one of the lounges. They have storytelling each night outside around the Arusha fire pit, too (unless it's raining). - Jennifer

Advice for avoiding late and delayed flights:

1) Try to book early in the day. You are less likely to run into delays in the morning.
2) Try to take a direct flight. Connecting flights offer more opportunities for delays and missed flights.
3) Check in early. This decreases your chances of getting "bumped".
4) Do not fly on the hour or half hour. If you have a choice between a 9:30 flight and a 9:23 flight, take the 9:23 (this has to do with too many airlines scheduling flights on the hour and half hour). Pam Forrester

ALL RESORTS - Some of the resorts have life vests (child size) that you can use for free at the resort pools during your entire stay. One year we stayed at Beach Club (prior to my daughter learning how to swim), and were told she couldn't go down the slide with the vest on. So she worked really hard and learned how to swim that summer. I just wanted to let you know that there may be some things your child won't be able to do if they are unable to swim "unassisted." Mary W

EPCOT - Get a Kids' Guide to Epcot. It's a small, square, blue booklet, found near the turnstiles or at Guest Relations. There's a place for the child to write his/her name, date of trip, and a list of the people they traveled with. For each ride/attraction, the booklet describes in a sentence or two what to expect at the attraction. There's a small box next to each attraction listing, so that kids can put a checkmark when they visited an attraction. Or, they could use these boxes to check off what they wish to see.