Tips about Air Travel, Food & Beverage, Mousecellaneous and Souvenirs

Instead of buying a T-shirt or some other small expensive trinket that the kids will get bored with in a short time, I buy BEACH TOWELS. At Disney, they are $20 each and you can even get them at specific attractions. I have a huge collection from every place we have been and use them on an everyday basis. It's a great way to remember all the great vacations we have taken. Some of these towels have lasted 10 years! I have recently started storing the new ones I buy to give to my grandkids someday. - Pauline Sheehan

CHRISTMAS - We had our own Christmas ornament idea. We bought the official attraction collectibles -- the ones that look like a ride car -- tied clear string and a hook to them, and hung them on our tree. These only cost about $5 each! - Bill Fosbenner

CHRISTMAS - Our family always checks out the key rings at WDW. A lot of the key rings are suitable to be used as Christmas ornaments or jewelry. On our most recent trip we purchased a monorail key ring to use as a Christmas ornament. We saw a glass monorail ornament that was twice the price and I wasn't sure it would survive the plane trip home. We also bought a key ring that had a Tinker Bell charm on it. I removed the charm (silver) and placed it on a chain to wear as a necklace. The key ring cost $6 compared to the actual Tinker Bell charms that were $12. - Ronda

Want some help passing the time while traveling? Try Puzzlemaker from Discovery.com. (http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/ ) You can make your own crosswords, word searches, math puzzles, and tons more! They can be easy or tough, and you can print them directly from the site or import them into a spreadsheet so you can add graphics for a bit of fun. I've made word searches easy enough for my kindergarten-aged daughter and hard enough for my grandmother.

We have been searching for Hidden Mickeys at WDW, so to 'train' my husband for our last trip, I hid one Hidden Mickey a day for him to find before work. I only hid them in the bathroom because if he had to look all over the house before work, it wouldn't be fun! We both enjoyed this pre-trip practice, and I really think it paid off! He did 100 times better at spotting Hidden Mickeys once we got to WDW. A few words of advice for anyone who might want to try this: limit it to two weeks or less before your trip! Also, certain scrapbook stores sell Mickey punches; those were small and I could stick them anywhere! Other good ideas for Hidden Mickeys are placing anything in the three-circle shape, such as dots of cream connected to look like Mickey. There are many Hidden Mickeys like that at the World, so be creative! - Alea Laughery

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

Missed buying that souvenir before your trip ended? You can call Disney Merchandising and have any WDW park or resort item shipped to you. Call 1-407-363-6200. For Disneyland merchandise, call DelivEARS at 1-800-362-4533 to have it shipped via UPS. - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you by www.themouseforless.com and Mike C. and Jennifer

The portions at full service restaurants are typically very large. We order 1 or 2 appetizers and a dessert, or one entree and one appetizer and share. We get plenty to eat and save quite a bit on the food budget. In addition, there are no leftovers to tote around the park! - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you bywww.themouseforless.com and Mickey Birt

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

If you like a big breakfast, the best deal in the parks is at the Trail's End Buffeteria at Fort Wilderness. It has the same general menu as many of the other buffets, but no characters, plus the price is only $15.99 per adult! Also, if you want the food at Hoop-De-Doo and don't want to pay $50+ per person to go, the supper menu at Trail's End is EXACTLY the same food for about $23 per adult. - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you by www.themouseforless.com and Mickey Birt

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

Buy a Disney antenna topper in a bright color (basic black may not work) to help distinguish your rental car from the other 5,000 similar rental cars in the WDW lots. - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you by www.themouseforless.com and Catherine Lamey

I just wanted to remind people to check any mugs they buy to see if they are microwave-safe. I purchased a Muppets mug as a souvenir and was surprised when I came home and discovered it is not microwave-safe! I love to heat water for tea in my microwave and I'm disappointed that I cannot use my new mug for that. - Kristine Stever

Save money by ordering water instead of sodas when you dine. It's better for you, and the savings can allow you to purchase one or more desserts to split. Everyone knows Disney has great desserts! - Jane

Bring a soft-sided cooler for your room and fill it with ice from the ice machines to keep beverages and food cold. If you use large zip-top bags to hold the ice, you will keep the contents dry and make it easier to change the ice. This is a way you can keep the fixings for a quick, inexpensive breakfast in the room, and beer or wine for the evening. - Daisimae