Tips about Epcot, Food & Beverage, Kids, Photography, Planning and Souvenirs

I enjoyed Deb's recent article on things that go wrong on WDW trips and I have a tidbit to add, something that happened to me more than once. We bought tea at Epcot's British shop and had it delivered to our resort. I threw it in the closet when it was delivered to our room and three days later, when packing to go home, discovered that it wasn't my tea, but a very expensive china teapot. I was feeling very sorry for the person who bought it and would discover my tea instead! Luckily we were staying on the Polynesian Concierge level and they were able to switch packages in a matter of hours, before my plane left.On another WDW trip, our package from the Epcot France store (gargoyle snowglobes) arrived broken and wet... I would tell people to be very careful using the package delivery service, and to always check what they deliver right away. - Cammie Sawyer

Don't plan on mailing your vacation postcards from your gate at the Orlando airport -- there wasn't a mailbox anywhere near our gate. We had written a stack of postcards while we waited for our flight home, but we were subsequently informed that the only mailboxes were back near the check-in areas... meaning that they were on the other side of the airport monorail route and on the other side of the security checkpoint! We didn't have enough time before our flight to make this special trip, so we had to mail these postcards from our hometown. - Louis Rios

Before leaving home I taped a Barney and Wiggles video on a small cassette for my video camera so my 18-month-old could watch it on the plane (using the small screen on my video camera). When we got to the All Star Movies, I noticed that the Sony TV in the room had the jacks in the front to plug in video cameras. When my son was cranky in the room I used the video camera as a VCR and played the previously taped Barney video. It was great and we didn't have to pay extra to rent a VCR. We also watched the day's videos to remember what we did that day! - Laura Gallant of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

If you have a videocamera with both an LCD display screen and a viewfinder, turn the LCD screen toward the performers and floats. The Cast Members always enjoy this because they can see themselves in costume. This works best during nighttime parades: SpectroMagic, Tapestry of Nations, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade, etc. - Silipigni

ALL PARKS - In regards to having bags and whatnots inspected at the parks, the best thing is to have all pockets and pouches opened. Also, if you have a dayplanner or something similar, have that unzipped, too. When we went to Disneyland recently (to see the new Haunted Mansion Holiday), my husband was asked to open his dayplanner for them to inspect. When we park-hopped over to DCA, he was ready for the inspection process and dutifully had everything unzipped and ready to be looked at. - Milady

When traveling to my favorite place on earth, it's inevitable that I will hear from my family and friends: "Be sure to send me a postcard." Of course, not wanting to miss a moment of the magic that Disney has to offer, writing out postcards can be a bit of a chore... but to make it easier, I always compile a list of names and addresses of people that I am going to send postcards to and then simply do up a sheet of labels on my computer before the trip. I then pre-buy the stamps and pack them away with the address labels in my backpack that I will be taking to the parks. The day that I arrive at my resort, I buy all the postcards I need. Then during my vacation while I'm waiting in an attraction line, or for a show to begin, or in a restaurant, or on the resort bus, I simply apply my label and stamp to a postcard and write a quick note about my trip so far, as well as what I am about to do (e.g., "As I write this, I'm standing in the line-up to ride Rock 'n' Roller Coaster... you can't believe how my heart is pounding!!!"). It sure makes postcard writing a lot easier and faster, and when you get back home and see the postcards that you wrote to a friend or family member, you instantly relive the moment of what ride or attraction you were waiting upon. What a way to transport yourself back to the magic! - Shelly Theriault

Trail's End Buffet at Fort Wilderness was fabulous! My son is a picky breakfast eater, but they had donuts with sprinkles, which he loves. They only charged us $0.60 per donut he ate and for his drink, instead of charging us for the whole buffet. It is a big difference in price, and nice for people with little money. - Jennifer Smith

We have been to Disney World several times and each time we go we always take a ton of pictures. I noticed I have quite a collection of the same shots -- the castle, Main Street, the "big ball," the "big hat"... For our last trip in February I decided that I would experiment with black and white photos to mix it up a little. The pictures turned out so beautiful! Especially nice were shots of anything with dark colors such as Tigger with his black stripes or a black horse leading the trolley down Main Street. I used Kodak black and white 35mm film bought at a grocery store. I did not do all my photos in black and white, but I am happy I experimented with a couple of rolls. The variety makes a great addition to the scrapbook! - Paulette Kusmierz

EDITOR'S NOTE:: Some digital cameras have a black and white photo setting you can experiment with, too.

If you are wanting to purchase fragile items like stemware or coffee mugs, consider ordering directly from The Disney Store online. They have many items that are available at the parks. This way they can ship it to you and it will be well-packaged with separate boxes for each item and bubble wrap. - Cindy Waters-Goodman

Before you go, program 407.WDW.INFO and 407.WDW.DINE into your cell phone(s). It's SO easy to call these from wherever you are -- hotel room, in the park, etc. -- and find instant answers to your questions. Shari

We are leaving on our 6th trip to WDW and are taking 13 others with us! Something new we are doing this year....we have made 1 reservation a day for everyone (Hoop De Doo, Crystal Palace, Fantasmic, Cinderella's Breakfast......) so to make it easy for everyone we made a spread sheet of sorts with the whole week (calendar look to it) and put all of our confirmation numbers for each day at each location with times included (hotels also). Then we reduced it to a credit card size (still readable) and laminated it. That way everyone in the party has a copy and it is easily accessible!!!! - Gaylia Laird

Costco has an amazing backpack by Baby Innovations for around $25 that was fabulous. It has a zippered thermal side pocket that accommodated 4 juice boxes and a removable lunch container (thermal) that held a few more juice boxes, sandwiches and fruit snacks. It was well worth it, especially if you have kids who are young and/or picky eaters. - Lisa Cappabianca

When planning my vacation, I got a calendar that you can write on, and put on the calendar when to call for dining reservations, reminders to buy things for vacations, phone numbers, anything related to the vacation. Anytime I thought of something related to the vacation I wrote it on. I even wrote confirmation numbers on it so they would all be in the same place. This is a great way to keep reminders for vacation planning. - Donna Rebholz

Print out adhesive address labels of everyone you will be sending postcards to on your trip. You will wind up carrying one sheet of paper with you instead of an address book, and won't forget anyone in your vacation frenzy! - Victoria L. Moynihan

I was reading in your toddler section about explaining to kids about "big" Mickey and wanted to share our trick. My husband and I are taking our children ages 4 and 1, and our niece age 3 to Disney World in January. To make sure they know what to expect when they see a "big" Mickey we've been attending our local bookstores monthly character story time where a "big" sized character is present each month. This has allowed the kids to see first hand what to expect. We are also planning a visit a regional amusement park for a day as a dry run of sorts to prepare for our week at Disney. - Laura Hulse