Tips about Christmas, Epcot, Kids, Planning and Souvenirs

Epcot - When my family and I go to Epcot we try to make our World Showcase adventure memorable. We have tried making a mask and saving a section for each country and writing a special fact in that section, but that didn't work very well, so we then tried having the people working at the Kidcot station write our names on the attachable paper picture from each country. This was very cool, but if they got wet from rain they bled and washed away. This past time my sister and I decided to get a candy from each country. You can usually find these in the gift shops or even at restaurants. At each pavilion we took a picture of us eating the candy and we saved the wrapper/box. We then came home and made a collage with the wrappers and pictures. This was a very exciting thing for us -- we had never thought of doing anything like this before. You can even do this with the little kid menus. I know when I was little I used to circle what I wanted to eat, write the restaurant name and chef's name on top, and then if it was a character meal, have the characters sign the menu. I did this with my younger sister and she loved doing her paper menu collage while I worked on my candy wrapper collage. I think this is a very creative and fun activity for kids of all ages. My mom is going to do it with us this time! - Lindsay

I just returned from Disney and I took some bubble wrap with me this time, because I knew I wanted the Roaming Mickey from Epcot, and I also knew its box would take up way too much room in my luggage. This was a great idea, it doesn't weigh anything and I can pack it flat, it doesn't take up any room at all. I am going to do this every time I go on vacation now, and I don't have to worry about not buying that breakable item that I see and fall in love with! - Melanie

We tackled going to Walt Disney World with three boys ages 10, 8, and 5 who wanted to buy everything they had in front of them like this: We had them hold up the item they wanted and we took a picture of it. The day before we left, while I was packing, they went through the pictures to pick the one thing they liked the best. Now we knew what to look for, as well as having some extra pictures for memories. If we were going to a park, we used the Shop Disney Parks app, which we had downloaded. It told us where to go and in one case had the item delivered to Guest Relations at the front of the park. The app will also tell you what delivery options are available (to your room, to guest relations, or to your home). - Robbie Haines

On our last stay, we stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside for 10 nights. We were a bit worried: How could we enjoy some late night TV without waking our 5-year-old daughter? How would she fall asleep with the lights and TV on? We found a great solution. We bought our daughter a small dome tent (it packs up very compactly), which we shipped ahead of our arrival. When we got to the room, there was just enough space (once we rearranged a table and chair) to set her tent up in a corner. She loved it! She put all her "babies" in there each night with her, and couldn't wait to zip herself in for "camping out." Interestingly enough, the housekeeper brought in extra bedding unasked and one of those foam egg-crate pads to soften the "bed" inside the tent. Housekeeping also rearranged the "babies" around the tent each day. - Laura Suffi

Epcot - Just wanted to add to the reason to pick up a Passport kit from Epcot. I got one on our last trip and secretly had each country stamp and write Happy Birthday to my husband on the Passport. A month after we got home it was my husband's birthday. I put the Passport in a Mickey birthday card and he was very pleased and surprised with his multi-language greetings. - Sue S.

Epcot - Just wanted to add to the reason to pick up a Passport kit from Epcot. I got one on our last trip and secretly had each country stamp and write Happy Birthday to my husband on the Passport. A month after we got home it was my husband's birthday. I put the Passport in a Mickey birthday card and he was very pleased and surprised with his multi-language greetings. - Sue S.

Epcot - To save money, instead of buying the Epcot passport in the parks, create your own passport! You can make your own by cutting regular 8x11 paper into fours and stapling the pages together. You can have your children personalize the cover with their names, so Kidcot cast members don't have to ask them. And for each country, you can have children draw out the flag of that country. This can help prepare your children for the experience of World Showcase! Remember to leave the adjacent page empty for the special messages the cast members will be writing. - Ban-Hing Ng

Epcot - To save money, instead of buying the Epcot passport in the parks, create your own passport! You can make your own by cutting regular 8x11 paper into fours and stapling the pages together. You can have your children personalize the cover with their names, so Kidcot cast members don't have to ask them. And for each country, you can have children draw out the flag of that country. This can help prepare your children for the experience of World Showcase! Remember to leave the adjacent page empty for the special messages the cast members will be writing. - Ban-Hing Ng

Epcot - Just wanted to add to the reason to pick up a Passport kit from Epcot. I got one on our last trip and secretly had each country stamp and write Happy Birthday to my husband on the Passport. A month after we got home it was my husband's birthday, so I put the Passport in a Mickey birthday card. He was very pleased and surprised with his multi-language greetings. - Sue Schultz

Epcot - Just wanted to add to the reason to pick up a Passport kit from Epcot. I got one on our last trip and secretly had each country stamp and write Happy Birthday to my husband on the Passport. A month after we got home it was my husband's birthday, so I put the Passport in a Mickey birthday card. He was very pleased and surprised with his multi-language greetings. - Sue Schultz

I save the black, plastic Mickey-shaped "dishes" you get food on at some of the quickie eateries (like the eat-on-the-street Rosie's All-American Cafe in Hollywood Studios) and take them home. Every night I put out fresh veggies for our girls with ranch dressing in the ears for dipping. They get a kick out of it and we've been using them literally for years! We think it's neat that we recycled them all the way from Disney. I wash them on the top rack in the dishwasher with no issues. - Shanlee Ginchereau

Epcot - On our last trip to Epcot, we purchased the passport set that allows children (or adults who are children at heart) to visit the Kidcot stations in each country and get a passport stamp. On that day, my daughter happened to be wearing a Minnie Mouse shirt that was personalized with her name, Isabelle, on the front. That turned out to be wonderful, since every time she went to get her stamp, the Disney cast member would write her name in their native language. I think they normally do this, but they never had to ask her name since it was on her shirt and every cast member seemed to notice it right away. Now, she has a wonderful keepsake with her name written in several languages. - Teresa Frangakis

Epcot - On our last trip to Epcot, we purchased the passport set that allows children (or adults who are children at heart) to visit the Kidcot stations in each country and get a passport stamp. On that day, my daughter happened to be wearing a Minnie Mouse shirt that was personalized with her name, Isabelle, on the front. That turned out to be wonderful, since every time she went to get her stamp, the Disney cast member would write her name in their native language. I think they normally do this, but they never had to ask her name since it was on her shirt and every cast member seemed to notice it right away. Now, she has a wonderful keepsake with her name written in several languages. - Teresa Frangakis

CHRISTMAS - Our family had finished 10 days at Disney World the week before Thanksgiving. However we were in Florida for the entire month of November. Needless to say our girls, ages 6 and 10, were very bored and missing Disney very much before our time had ended in Florida. We wanted to go back to Disney, but couldn't afford more tickets. We had seen a special on HGTV about how Disney decorated for Christmas. We wished we could see some of the resorts after seeing this special. I called guest relations and they told us that we could see each of the resort decorations, such as the gingerbread house (amazing) at the Grand Floridian. The simplest way to do this is to park at a monorail resort and take the monorail to the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary Resorts. Of course if you wanted to see the Beach & Yacht Club, and the Boardwalk resorts then that is a separate drive or a bus ride. These decorations are absolutely breathtaking. Unbelievable how gorgeous these lobbies are. We have never stayed on property, but after seeing some of these resorts up close we plan to make a future visit. On our way to the resorts we passed by something we had no idea was at Disney World -- miniature golf courses. There was Winter/Summerland miniature golf, and Fantasia miniature golf. We had planned on going to a mini golf course that day around Orlando after touring the decorations. The prices are not any higher than any other course outside of Disney. These courses were so much fun and you have all the Disney magic surrounding you. Our girls loved it. We played the Wintertime course and then went to the Fantasia course and played that twice. Our favorite was the Wintertime course though. We finished up with a drive to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to see their decorations and had dinner at the Boma restaurant. We were able to have a great day at Disney even though we didn't have tickets to the parks. You get to see a lot of Disney property that you wouldn't normally see. I highly suggest touring the resorts and especially playing the golf courses. They are a blast. Thank you Disney for making our final day magical outside the parks. - Noelbigmac99 EDITOR'S NOTE: During peak times, many resort parking lots are closed to everyone except those staying there and those with dining reservations.

CHRISTMAS - One of the best-kept secrets of the holiday season is to walk through Fort Wilderness and view all of the Christmas decorations that the campers put up. Most of the decorations are more elaborate than anything many of us have at home. Stick around at the beach for the evening to watch the Electrical Water Pageant and view the fireworks from Magic Kingdom. - Susan Visconti