Tips about Countdown, Epcot and Food & Beverage

Did you get a great hotel deal for a Disney All Star "value" resort? Don't let the food court prices steal your bargain. At your value resort, a little Minute Maid sip box costs $1.50, and a 2-liter Coke in the gift shop is $3.50. You will probably not exceed your baggage allowance for a 4- or 5-day trip, so you can bring along another suitcase without exceeding your airline limit. Get that old suitcase out of the basement or buy one from a flea market, and the day before your trip, take the family on a grocery shopping trip. Let everyone pick out their favorite snack items. It will be a fun start to the trip, and you could literally save hundreds of dollars. Make sure you have included breakfast items like donuts, fruit cups, juices, bottled water, etc. Breakfast in the room can save you up to $10 per person, per day. If you are a coffee drinker, bring along that old coffee pot or pick up a little five-cup pot at Walmart. Not only will you save money, but you'll also save time not having to walk back and forth to the food court each morning. - Timothy Helm

We just returned from WDW, which was wonderful as always, and I wanted to give you a tip about eating at Chef Mickey's without a Priority Seating. When we called during the day for a Priority Seating for the same evening, there were none available. Since we were staying at the Contemporary, I went to the hostess around 4 p.m. (they close for lunch) and was told that they start taking seating requests at 4:30 p.m. for the 5 p.m. restaurant opening. I went at 4:30, put in my request, got my buzzer, and went to the shops. Promptly at 5 p.m., my buzzer went off, sending me back to the restaurant for dinner with my party of five. - Linda Bradley

I have some tips on how to save money on food at WDW. For breakfast, consider room service! You would think it would be expensive, but you can get a tea, muffins, croissants, and fruit platter for 2-4 people for under $20! And many rooms have free coffee machines... Another option is to do the two-meal-a-day plan. Have a big meal (breakfast/ brunch) around 10-11 a.m., and another big meal around 3-4 p.m. This way, you beat the restaurant rush at the more popular meal times, and when everyone else is eating, you are enjoying the slightly shorter ride lines. - Laura P., Bel Air, Md.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Room Service breakfasts are only available at deluxe resorts and Coronado Springs.

A friendly Cast Member writes to remind everyone to totally fill out their charge slips when dining at restaurants. They said we'd be surprised at how many folks leave the tip and total lines blank!

Just wanted to let people know there are also a Costco and B.J.'s Warehouse close by, for those who frequent those stores instead of Sam's Clubs. B.J.'s is just off I4 at the Conroy exit, so a few miles to drive, but for those of us who live in the northeast it is more common than Sam's. - Dolores DeFrancesco

I just returned from WDW and I stayed at the Old Key West resort. As most people know, the general store at OKW is highly priced for food. What I found out this time is that there is a Sam's Club about 10 minutes away on Orange Blossom Drive. My wife and I went there and bought all of the food for the stay and spent a whole lot less money! Just an FYI for Sam's Club members staying at OKW who want to get food at a decent cost. - Joseph Potts

EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks, Joseph! There are actually a few Sam's Clubs in the WDW area. Visit their website at http://www.samsclub.com and click on Club Locator to get directions.

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

I just love your tips for getting children excited about their Walt Disney World trip. But what if your child is married and 28 years old? What I do is count the number of days until my daughter and her husband's trip, and then I send her an email that goes something like this: "Only 55 days to Go!" I send it every few days, and just change the number. She loves the emails and says they make her smile! See? You are never too old for the Magic. - Georgette A. from New Jersey

My 3-year-old daughter and I will be going to Walt Disney World for the first time next month. To get into the Disney spirit, I've been having the "Disney princesses" send her little cards every couple of days. I print a blank card and write a little note from a princess saying how excited she is to hear that my daughter is coming. Sometimes I mention a specific ride that we can go on (i.e., Snow White's Scary Adventures, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, etc.) that features the princess. Then I enclose pictures. Some pictures are of when my daughter met the princess at Disneyland. Some pictures are of the specific ride that I mentioned in the card, and some are just images of the princess that I found on the internet. My daughter loves this and we've been taping the cards on our wall next to the calendar where we're marking off the days until our trip. It's been a fun way for me to get her excited about the trip. - An ALL EARS® Reader

When my family was planning to go to WDW last Thanksgiving, my wife, Kathy, started a game we would play at the dinner table called "Who Am I?" The rules are simple. Describe yourself, either a character, ride, resort, restaurant, or anything that is found at WDW, with the fewest clues and have the others guess who or what you are. Some are simple like, "I'm small, green and fly from Cinderella Castle." Answer: Tinker Bell... It puts the family in a WDW frame of mind for the trip. We started playing it this past weekend, because my girls and I are trying to convince my wife to go during Thanksgiving this year! - Mark Oldmixon