Tips about Characters, Epcot, Food & Beverage, Magic Kingdom, Resorts and Souvenirs

In January, our daughter attended the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party (at the Grand Floridian). We got to take pictures of her when we dropped her off, but were a little disappointed we didn't get any of her with Alice and the Mad Hatter. They do give you one Polaroid, but we are avid scrapbookers and needed more. Well, when I developed film from our trip there were several pictures of Emily with the characters at the Tea Party! I forgot that Emily had her own camera at the party. She had taken pictures, and also Cast Members had taken several pictures of her with the characters using her camera. Tip: Send your little ones with their own camera. Hers was a Fisher Price, but you could send disposable camera, too. The pictures will be great! - Lisa Stewart

For more information on the Tea Party, go to: http://allears.net/pl/grandadven.htm

We just returned from our first trip to WDW. WOW, what a wonderful experience -- but it could get really expensive! I was concerned about keeping up an active pace and having "Disney" food to sustain us, as there were six adults in our party (two in their 20s and four greater than!). We used Federal Express to mail a package of snacks to ourselves, to arrive at our resort the day of our arrival. We packed pears, apples and dried cranberries, packaged sausage and cheese (wrapped in cold packaging), crackers, fruit cookies and boxed juices. We packed our backpacks every day from these items. Everything traveled well. We were really grateful around 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for our nutritious snacks. We keep up a 12-13 hour a day activity agenda, but still didn't see it all! We are going back next year. - Loraine Dressler

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. We were with a group of adults and wanted to purchase a few beers after a long hot day at the parks to sit back and relax. I am not sure how much less expensive the bottles of beer were at the general store compared to River Roost Lounge but it was worth going a few extra steps for the savings!!! - Nancy T.

If you're like us, and the only thing you really need to purchase for your room once you're at Disney is bottled water, you might consider purchasing it at one of the Tiger Marts, located at the Exxon (soon to be Hess) gas stations on property. We did this on our last trip, and found it to be much easier and more convenient than buying it at Goodings (always crowded) or trying to locate a store off-site.

A gallon of water was $1.69 - which sure beat the $3.50 we paid (in desperation) for 1.5 liters at our hotel! The Tiger Marts have lots of other items, too - including snack foods, some frozen foods, and even Krispy Kreme donuts - and the prices seem to be about what you would expect in that type of convenience store, without the additional "Disney" inflation. - Laura Gilbreath

This tip is true in the All Star Resorts in regard to milk. I purchased a pint of milk in the General Store (gift shop) but in the food hall (food court) it was double the price for exactly the same bottle!!! - Hazel Brunt

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is true at all Disney Resorts

One night after the fireworks, we waited too long to find an ice cream vendor at Magic Kingdom. My daughter was very disappointed that she didn't get the Mickey Mouse bar, so we decided to stop in the Trading Post when we arrived back at Fort Wilderness. Lo and behold the ice cream bar was there, and for half the price they sold it at the parks! From that night on we had Mickey ice cream bars every evening when we arrived back at Fort Wilderness! - Felicia Gouge

Pop Century - My wife and I just returned from a stay at the Pop Century Resort. We discovered that if we were trying to catch a bus from a park back to Pop Century and the lines were very, very long, we could sometimes hop on the Art of Animation Resort bus instead. (The stops are usually next to each other.) The walk from the Art of Animation, through the lobby, and across the short bridge to Pop Century took only a couple of minutes -- much quicker than the possible long wait we would have had for our own resort bus. - Rory Osborne

Crystal Palace is incredibly accommodating for restricted diets. Our server was helpful and the chef was wonderful. The chef will show you what you can eat and will also offer to make fresh food from the kitchen. I'm GF/DF (gluten-free/dairy-free) and received fresh GF dinner rolls and DF "butter." For dessert they had a special GF/DF brownie for me. The food was delicious and fresh and we loved it. My food consisted of fresh greens (green beans, broccoli), rice, roasted chicken, and salmon in a honey-cilantro pesto. Fantastic. The characters were great and fun! The cast members made sure that we got to meet Pooh and all of his friends while we were there. At one point there was a little dance party, so it was fun to see the kids romp around with the characters. The environment was nice and we had a nice view outside of the castle. The cast members and chef worked really hard to give us a magical evening! - Destinie

We just got back from Walt Disney World. What a week! After spending a lot of time waiting in autograph signing lines, we actually received a compliment from one of the characters -- Cinderella, I think. We had tied the pens on curling ribbon (another "must have" to tie around knapsacks and rental stroller handles, etc.) and attached them to the spiral wire of the autograph books. We were always ready when our turn came up and were never without a pen! Thanks so much for your other tips. It made our trip a lot less stressful since we were so prepared! - Leslie Sacks

Make sure you get doubles of pictures taken with characters. That way on your next trip to the "World", you can have the character autograph his or her picture with you in it! - Mmmgong

Just call 1-407-363-6200 -- WDW Merchandise Guest Services! You can order just about anything they sell at WDW! Holly

During our trip to WDW, we did several character meals. At first we would only use our cameras to take pictures after the characters signed the autograph books and were posing with the kids. But after the second meal we started snapping away as soon as the characters approached our table. We are so glad we did this because we captured a very funny sequence of events while at the Villains Dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian.

These candid shots tell a funny story, showing the playful interaction between my sons and the characters. After that, we started snapping away at all of the character meals, and now that we're back, we see that the candid shots usually gave us better pictures than the posed ones! So my tip is start taking pictures as soon as the characters approach your table and start interacting with your children. Of course you want the posed pictures, but the candid ones just might end up being your favorite memories of the meals! -Theresa Brown

(Editor's note: This is a great tip for character meet and greets in the parks also!)

A tip regarding preschoolers and autograph books: I highly recommend the use of autograph books, due to the fact that some young children don't like the idea of just going up to the characters to stand next to them for a photo. If they have a purpose, such as to get an autograph, the kids (at least my three) will walk up to a character, no problem. One big suggestion is to have a bunch of character stickers, either with you or back at the hotel. That way the preschoolers who can't read can identify the signatures -- plus what preschooler doesn't like putting stickers on anything? - Melanie comments

The characters love getting little gifts when greeting the children (pictures, etc.). Just make sure to write your name and address on the back. My daughter recently shared a picture of herself dressed up as a mermaid with Ariel, about a week later she received a nice thank you card from Ariel. It was a nice way for her to have part of the magic follow her home. I love the ALL EARS® newsletters, keep them coming. - SondraB in Fla.

In preparation for our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World (first trip with our three children 5, 3, and 1 -- wish us luck!), I put together autograph booklets for our 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son. I searched online for "Disney clip art" and to my amazement there are tons of sites with art to save on your computer. After collecting all the character images I wanted, I made 3 x 5 boxes (2 per sheet of cardstock paper) and pasted the images on the pages in a corner. I took it to a local printing shop and let them bind them for me (very inexpensive). Now my kids can play a game of match the character they see in the parks with the pictures on their autograph cards. As a bonus, they'll immediately know which signature is Cinderella's and which is Mickey's and won't have to ask us repeatedly (as preschoolers will)! Then when we return home, I'll undo the bindings and put them into a scrapbook for each of them, along with photos and such, as a great memory book for their first trip to Walt Disney World. And, as we're seeing my grandmother (who is 90 this year) just after we leave Walt Disney World, I included a card with her photo on it for her to "sign" something for each of them. She always wanted to be a star! (Lisa Mitchell Parker)