Tips about Characters, Food & Beverage, Kids, Mousecellaneous and Planning

Take a shoestring/small cord and put it thru the spiral binding on the autograph book. Frees the kids (and your) hands and it is easily slipped over their head when they see a character. - Karen S.

We just returned from our first trip to Disney World since having kids. I was a little anxious about how I would be able to make bottles for our 10 month old daughter at the parks--I didn't want to rely on trekking to the baby care stations every time. I found that at any counter service/quick service location in the parks I could ask for a cup of hot water to make a bottle--they must get this request a lot because everyone was ready and willing to hand over a hot cup of water (and for free of course). I just mixed in some of my own ice water with the hot and made the perfect bottle every time. It was a great time saver for us and kept our daughter happy. - Matt & Ellen Evans

If you are going to be in the park all day with small children, invest in a small collapsible cooler that can fill inside your luggage. These cooler are inexpensive to purchase. Walmart has them for $6.00. After you arrive in Disney fill it each morning with a six pack of water and some ice from the hotel. Bottle water is about $3-4 dollars for a six pack, verses the $3.00+ per bottle you will pay inside the park. These coolers have arm straps, and can easily be hung from your stroller. Many cast members were gracious enough to throw a couple of scoops of fresh ice into the cooler. The security guards at the front gate overlook the no food brought into the park. My husband and I did this last year and we literally save over 20 dollars a day by not buying the water in the park. - Peggy, Point Pleasant, NJ

When at WDW, no matter the time of year, there always seem to be a "wait" for something! We help pass the time with our 3 yr old by packing a deck of cards. While waiting for meals, Mickey's Philharmagic, parades, and even the boat back to the hotel, we'll play quick games of "Go Fish" or "Crazy Eights." She'll even make up her own games to help pass the time. It's truly been a lifesaver for an ansy little pre-schooler! - Alison Boeckman

ALL PARKS - If you arrive at Magic Kingdom prior to opening, there is a Welcome Show on the Train Station Platform.

We took in small snack-sized bags of Gatorade to put in our water bottles for the really hot days. The park charges a lot for Gatorade -- almost as much as the canister itself costs -- and you can just tear a tiny bit of the bag off and pour it right in. We also carried our water bottles with our own water bottle holders. Family Fun Magazine shows you how to make your own. We made some for our Girl Scout troop that were similar: Use two to three feet of webbing, which you can get at a fabric store, or get those cheaper dog leashes from a dollar store. Cut to your desired length, fold each end around a rubber O-ring (found in plumbing areas of hardware stores) and sew the ends to form your water bottle holder. You simply slip the O-ring over the mouth of the bottle and you have a hands-free bottle of water that you can refill and use to keep yourself hydrated. - Clemley

We have just returned from a week in Disney World with our almost 4-year-old granddaughter. With the help of PassPorter and AllEars® we were able to do it up right. Our own saving grace was purchasing a pair of "earmuffs" (sound protection earmuffs) for our princess. We kept them easily accessible on the top of our knapsack. The excitement, loud noises, fireworks and scary rides were a piece of cake. We saw and heard lots of little ones crying from the noise. Our granddaughter has always been scared of fireworks and we wanted to make the whole experience positive. She enjoyed everything and was so proud of herself that she wasn't afraid of anything, because nothing in Disney World would hurt her! - Diane Russell

This summer, my family decided to give back a little to the Cast Members who make each stay even more magical. Before leaving home, we printed (using print programs that are out there on the Web) character thank you cards. Each card had a different princess or Tinker Bell on it, and said something nice like, "We put your service to the test, and you're the best!" or "Thank you for making our vacation magical!" We added our family name, hometown, and "Summer 2004." We printed them out, and each member of our family got a sheet of their own to color. After coloring, we laminated them. Once in the park, we handed them out to Cast Members who we felt had gone above and beyond the call of "normal magic." Most of the Cast Members we handed them out to were so surprised and thanked *us*! We really enjoyed doing this, and I feel sure that it will be a new tradition for our family. - Ashlee Farris

When we go down we ship down [to our resort] a variety of food etc via UPS. We send down coffee, bagels, peanut butter, jelly coffee filters, cereal (Disney themed of course), snacks, iced tea and kool aid mix to name a few things. It takes about 5 days from Vermont. We address it including our ressie number and arrival date. When we check in they tell us there's a package waiting. It sure beats hauling a lot down and beats the prices at Orlando stores. - Heidi Coughlin EDITOR'S NOTE: Resorts with convention services will issue a delivery charge for all packages shipped.

Magic Kingdom - On my last trip to WDW I had my 9 month old with me. After running out of formula, I asked around and none of the cast members knew where I could get any within WDW. After taking a $30.00 cab ride to the nearest grocery store, I found out that WDW does stock the popular brands of formula, among other baby necessities, at a small baby store by the Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom. - Cara Nelson

EDITOR'S NOTE: Each of the 4 theme parks at Walt Disney World have a Baby Care Center (usually located near the First Aid building). They have a variety of items for sale.

If you plan on visiting WDW during the winter months, buy several pairs of those "magic" stretch gloves before you leave for your trip. If a cold front comes through during your visit and you need gloves, you'll be happy you bought them before you left home. The parks sells them for $6.00 a pair. Quite a difference in price than what your local Wal-Mart sells them for. - Noreen Rachuba

This year, instead of the regular autograph books or white baseball hats to have the characters sign, I wanted something that I could bring home and use in our scrapbook. I bought a "Stax" pack of 100 sheets of multicolored card stock pre-cut into 4" x 6" sheets. (I chose the primary colors.) I then separated them into three stacks, one for each of my children, and punched a hole in the top left corner of each sheet. I had gotten three of the new key rings that are basically oval clips with a ring attached to them. I then let each of my kids choose one of the "shaped" key rings that matched (i.e., heart, star, etc.). That clip was then attached to the oval on each "book" and the outer clip was used to let the kids attach their book to a belt loop, backpack, etc. Then, when we returned home, I just unhooked the pages from the clip and each autograph can be used in the scrapbook. (We always take black Sharpie markers with us to use.) - Michelle Suit
For other scrapbooking tips, visit: http://allears.net/btp/scrapbook/intro.html

From time to time people want to know the location of the closest church to WDW. Now you can search: http://masstimes.org. You can search for services in any state and town. They even have city maps, too. I thought this might be helpful to anyone wanting to go to services while on vacation. Tina

When getting character autographs, please have your children hand the character the pen with the tip down. It's very hard to turn the pen around and hold an autograph book. Also felt tip markers work best. - Stacey

MAGIC KINGDOM - I've found that making a lunch reservation as early as possible at Crystal Palace is far better than the breakfast. You can get to the park early and get a lot of stuff done before the crowds pour in and then take a break in the air conditioning! - Julie Budd