Tips about Epcot, Food & Beverage, Kids, Planning and Transportation

We generally start planning at least a year in advance. I have a plastic tub that is labeled "WDW stuff." I place our heavy-duty hotel mugs in it so they are already packed. I also buy things throughout the year for the trip: toothbrushes, toothpaste, magic gloves and whatever else we normally use during our week-long trip. I also go to my local laundromat and pick up boxes of laundry detergent for $.50 a box. One box cleans two loads and is a lot cheaper than the hotel laundry dispenser. I also pack several dryer sheets in a freezer bag and place them in my suitcase. It keeps the clothes smelling nice and I have dryer sheets for use while there. One nice thing about the bin is that, for those times that we drive to WDW, we just put the lid on it and pack it in the van. After we arrive to the hotel we empty it out and use that as our clothes hamper for dirty clothes. It works great for those trips to the hotel laundry. - Sirena Penn

Epcot - If your kids aren't big enough to ride Test Track go into the gift shop/exit. I thought it was just a gift shop, and I was wrong. My 3-year-old was thrilled to be able to sit in a Hummer and a Saab. All he talks about are the cool cars he played in at Test Track. I am so glad I didn't walk by this attraction. - Robin from Deltona, FL

Epcot - If your kids aren't big enough to ride Test Track go into the gift shop/exit. I thought it was just a gift shop, and I was wrong. My 3-year-old was thrilled to be able to sit in a Hummer and a Saab. All he talks about are the cool cars he played in at Test Track. I am so glad I didn't walk by this attraction. - Robin from Deltona, FL

Epcot - If your kids aren't big enough to ride Test Track go into the gift shop/exit. I thought it was just a gift shop, and I was wrong. My 3-year-old was thrilled to be able to sit in a Hummer and a Saab. All he talks about are the cool cars he played in at Test Track. I am so glad I didn't walk by this attraction. - Robin from Deltona, FL

Epcot - If your kids aren't big enough to ride Test Track go into the gift shop/exit. I thought it was just a gift shop, and I was wrong. My 3-year-old was thrilled to be able to sit in a Hummer and a Saab. All he talks about are the cool cars he played in at Test Track. I am so glad I didn't walk by this attraction. - Robin from Deltona, FL

The restaurants certainly do get booked up in advance, but remember that you can still walk on up to the seating host/hostess and ask if they have anything available. We live in Tampa Bay and visited on Valentine's Day. I called the dining reservations line every day for two weeks before and couldn't get in anywhere. We drove up anyway, and a Polynesian Resort Cast Member offered to help us out by calling all the resort restaurants for us. There was still nothing available until late so we decided to just grab a quick bite anywhere. We took the monorail over to the Contemporary, tried the dining reservations number again -- nothing. Just for yucks, my brother-in-law went to talk to the host/hostess at Chef Mickey's (they were just opening), and they said, "SURE, we can get you in right now if you're ready." This also happened at 'Ohana on another occasion, with a wait of only 20 minutes. The dining reservations are great, but there's nothing like being there and asking.- Melinda M.

Our 3-year-old is very scared of fireworks, but she loved Wishes. This year we took the Wishes soundtrack and she listened to it on headphones while we watched our local fireworks. It worked like a charm and made the 4th of July fireworks enjoyable for all. This also works with the Fantasmic! soundtrack. - Konni Liechty

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

To find your car in the parking lot, whether it be your own or a rental, bring/buy one of the giant sunshades to put in the front window. This is great to help keep the sun from shining in the car all day -- but also it really makes it easy to find your car at the end of the day in the parking lot! We bought a great Disney one -- it folds fairly flat and packs easily in the suitcase! - Kelley Kriesel

Having dinner a bit late? Are the boats and buses packed or not running? Kids tired and cranky? Raining out? Hands full with strollers and baby gear? Don't let the stress of trying to get back to your hotel ruin the entire day. Consider taking a cab from wherever you are dining back to your resort. It's pretty inexpensive when you think about it. We stayed at Wilderness Lodge this past January and were having dinner at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian. It was myself, my wife, and my 4-year-old and 4-month-old daughters. The little one fell asleep earlier and the older one was cranky and tired. Never fear! We walked out the front of the hotel and asked the valet to get a cab for us. They saw we had a large stroller so they asked for a van. We didn't even have to fold the stroller up. The driver picked up the whole thing and put it in the back. Five minutes later we were at our hotel and it was $5 plus tip. We did it again later in our trip from the Contemporary and it was $8 plus tip. Well worth it because we ended our day with a smile. - Fred Block

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.

If you are able to choose your own rental, choose one with an out-of-state license plate. Then, when there are many cars of the same color and same make, you can identify your car by the state it is from. - Joyce Troxell

I always ask for a rental car in an "unpopular" color -- I clarify this to the clerk by explaining that I don't want black, silver, or white. Red is okay, but green is great, because so few rental cars come in green! - Elizabeth Smock

Like many folks do, we rent a car when visiting WDW. So many of these rentals look the same in the mega-sized parking lots. What my family does is make our rental stand out from all the others. I will tie a few streamers of orange surveyor's tape from the radio antenna and hang a gaudy colored bandanna from the rear view mirror. I have also tried tying a balloon from the antenna, but sometimes it popped before our return. - Pete Gerry