Tips about Disney Cruise Line, Food & Beverage, Planning and Souvenirs

I also use the Disney plastic bags that I bring home to carry my lunch to work. It helps me have a little bit of the magic here in the frozen tundra of Indiana. - Jude Wood

Another benefit of shipping purchases home is that Florida sales tax won't be applied to the purchase if shipped outside of the state. I'm pretty sure the cash registers take care of it automatically now, as long as the shipping is processed on the same transaction. - Kenn C.

Don't forget that the gift shops will also ship directly to your home. I usually buy water globes and my husband buys steins from Epcot. It's much easier and safer to have them shipped directly to the house, and if I remember correctly it wasn't that expensive. - luvmy2girls

Although lots of people ship home their souvenirs, I usually UPS home most of our clothes. I go to the laundromat, wash them and pack them up in a sturdy box (usually provided by the store from whichever Disney Resort we are staying in). They help tape it up and it goes UPS Ground. That way the kids can play with the souvenirs and/or bring them to school, and our vacation clothes arrive 3-5 days after we do! - Brenda Hawk

Someone mentioned using all those Disney plastic bags to wrap packages. We brought them all home (seemed like thousands!) and the kids use them to bring snacks to school/daycare, transport gym clothes, or anything else needing a quick bag. Not only are they much cuter than grocery store bags, they are a fun reminder of a magical trip. - Amanda

My favorite tip to pass along is this... I always ship my souvenirs home. I have both a UPS and a FedEx account. I pre-print the labels before I go and pack them in my suitcase. I get a box from the gift shop at my hotel and slowly pack the box during my stay. Then, the morning of my departure, I take the box to the front desk. They call the shipping company and the package gets shipped. About 2-3 days after I've arrived home, it's like Christmas opening the box. - Lisa Noch

Our family went to Cozumel and Costa Maya on the Disney Magic in September 2004. We wanted to go to the beach in Cozumel. The Disney staff only recommended private beaches to us. Thanks to our taxi driver, we went to Mr. Sancho's Beach, which is a public beach -- which means no admission fee. It's a beautiful beach with water activities. Also in Costa Maya, we didn't take the taxi anywhere, but later talked to someone who said she paid $3 to go to Tequila Beach. Feel free to talk to the locals when you're in Mexico since they can recommend great places to visit and sight-see. - Janine Ho

All the counter service restaurants we went to at Disney World showed their sandwiches as a combo type meal with fries -- indiviual sandwiches aren't listed on the menu boards. But if you ask you can just get the sandwich (hamburger, ham and cheese, whatever) without the fries and save about $2.00 per meal. Also they give you plenty of fries, so we would just get one combo meal and the rest of us just the sandwich and we easily had enough fries to share. - Lisa Marrott

Sometimes when you order a kid's meal in the parks it comes in a Mickey shaped plastic plate (or some other special container). We took one of them home and my daughter has enjoyed using it for over two months now. I don't know how long it will last, but it has made the magic last just a little bit longer! - Alea

On our last trip to Disney we saved a lot of money on breakfast by bringing instant oatmeal packets, bowls and spoons from home. We used the coffee maker in the room to heat the water and had a quick, inexpensive breakfast. Plus, it required no refrigeration so we didn't spend the $10 per day extra for a refrigerator. - Katie in Maryland

EDITOR'S NOTE: The $10 per day charge is for value resorts only. Deluxe and moderate resorts now offer complimentary small refrigerators.

Don't break the bank on souvenirs. We had our children create a "wish list" as we went through the parks. If they saw something they wanted, we were more than happy to write it down for them. Then on our last day, we made a special shopping trip to Disney Springs so that they could choose one gift from their wish list (or something new) and they only spent about $20 each. If Mom and Dad wanted to get them something extra (which of course we did!), that was a bonus. Jeanette

Before we go to Disney, my husband and I ask all our friends and family the name of their child's favorite Disney character. We list them along with their home addresses and bring them with us to Disney. When we go to the parks we look for postcards with that character's picture. It's kind of like a scavenger hunt for the whole family when we are searching for more obscure characters. Then we have fun filling them out with personalized messages like, "To my Little Honey -- Love, Winnie" or, "May all your dreams come true -- Love, Cinderella." Then we sign the character's name to the card and mail them. My friend's 4-year-old daughter slept with hers under her pillow for a month. It's a lot of fun, and my family and I get to share a little Disney magic without spending a fortune. - Kathy Donofrio

On our last trip to WDW, we were so excited to find that Columbia Harbour House sells sweet tea (a south Mississippi staple). This is "real" sweet tea that is fresh-brewed right there in the restaurant (not that stuff that comes out of a soda fountain that they call "tea"). The cast member working there told us that Columbia Harbour House was the only place in the Magic Kingdom that brews its own tea. Of course, throughout our stay we visited the restaurant many times to quench our thirst! - Lori K.

On our recent cruise on the Wonder, we went to guest services to obtain an extension cord for my husband's CPAP machine. The cast member asked if we needed distilled water, and said if so, they would provide it, free of charge. When we arrived back at our cabin later that evening, there was a gallon of distilled water waiting for us. This is a great service since it's so hard to get liquids through airport security. - Sue Sansoucy

We just returned from a whirlwind Disney vacation including a 3-night Disney Cruise on the Wonder. Traveling with our 9-month-old son was obviously a different experience, but the Cast Members on the cruise made everything go as smoothly as possible. Here are a couple of tips for cruising with a baby: Disney has portable cribs available for your stateroom; just make sure to request one when you book. Something we do when out and about is bring zipper baggies for the stinky diapers -- this was a nose saver in the stateroom. We packed a bunch of those and the dirty diapers were sealed to prevent any odor problems. The dining room waitstaff were more than happy to bring bowls and heat up baby food at dinner. Finally, my main concern was cleaning our baby bottles while on the boat. One of the nights I asked our stateroom host if it was possible to get dish soap so we could wash the bottles. Instead, he took the bottles and had them sterilized. He also learned our son's name and always made sure to say hi to him every day. Everyone onboard made sure that we had the most relaxing trip you could have with an infant. - Tracey Perry