Tips about Epcot, Food & Beverage, Laundry, Planning and Resorts

We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort in the Little Mermaid rooms from April 21-28. I was a little apprehensive since I read so many posts about how far the walk to the building was! We stayed in building 9 (even got a free upgrade to a King bed for our anniversary), and we had no issue with the walk. Walking to the buses in the morning is easy, using the sidewalk on the outside of the buildings. This was especially convenient because they set up a breakfast cart by the Flippin' Fins pool every morning with grab-and-go items, so we didn't have to deal with the crowds at Landscape of Flavors. - Ginger

If you are driving your vehicle to one of the Epcot or Magic Kingdom resorts and plan to dine, be sure to have your confirmation number handy. Guards are being more strict on parking at these resorts! - Deb Wills

I haven't seen this widely publicized yet, but Amazon Prime Now has started delivery to the WDW resort hotels. It's open to Prime members and can be used to order groceries, diapers and tons of other things that you may need while on vacation. Delivery is free within two hours and $7.99 if you want it delivered within one hour. They'll drop your items at Bell Services for you to pick up. You have to order through the primenow.amazon.com website or use the Amazon Prime Now app to place your order though, not the regular Amazon site or app. It's certainly a convenient way to get the stuff you need without having to leave the property. - Brian B.

All Resorts - Use On-Line Check-In every time and indicate your approximate arrival time. Disney has designated cast members working on these room assignments. Keep your room requests to a minimum, and prioritize them. Everybody wants to have a nice view, near the lobby and next to friends and family, but too many requests may make it impossible to find your perfect room, in your room category. Which request is most important? When Disney has to decide they may not pick yours. - A Cast Member

Epcot - My wife and I went to the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival a couple of weeks ago. Knowing we were going to end our night in the Magic Kingdom we parked there in the morning and took the monorail to Epcot. My tip comes from that ride. When you get to Epcot, the monorail goes into the park so you get a bird's-eye view of the flowers that you can't get otherwise. Now that we have taken this ride we plan to do it more often. - Mike Sikorski

Epcot - My wife and I went to the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival a couple of weeks ago. Knowing we were going to end our night in the Magic Kingdom we parked there in the morning and took the monorail to Epcot. My tip comes from that ride. When you get to Epcot, the monorail goes into the park so you get a bird's-eye view of the flowers that you can't get otherwise. Now that we have taken this ride we plan to do it more often. - Mike Sikorski

Shades of Green - The laundry facilities at Shades of Green only accept tokens, not actual quarters. We learned that the hard way when we brought down about $12 in quarters last summer. You must purchase tokens from the change machines in each laundry room to do your laundry there. On the plus side, the kids had a blast at the arcade with those leftover quarters! - Teri Biebel

Shades of Green - The laundry facilities at Shades of Green only accept tokens, not actual quarters. We learned that the hard way when we brought down about $12 in quarters last summer. You must purchase tokens from the change machines in each laundry room to do your laundry there. On the plus side, the kids had a blast at the arcade with those leftover quarters! - Teri Biebel

Animal Kingdom Lodge - I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading "Zamgwar Sleeps with the Giraffes". The last time my husband and I were in Disney World was in September 2009. We were recently married and a family friend let us use her Disney Vacation Club points as a wedding gift. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and reading Zamgwar's article brought back such wonderful memories. AKL truly is an amazing resort. I have a tip for anyone staying there: Our room was located on the Uzima Savanna. We much preferred this savanna to the main Arusha Savanna. Arusha is extremely large with lots of trees and bushes and when we went down to one of the public viewing areas, we had trouble seeing a lot of the animals. They were either hidden, or too far away. The Uzima Savanna is much smaller and you are guaranteed an up-close and personal look at the animals! - Jillian

We had planned to do laundry during our week-long stay at the Art of Animation resort, so we made sure to bring along a few rolls of quarters. However, we discovered you don't need them anymore! There is a computerized system similar to an ATM that allows you to pay with your card! You slide your card in and tell the computer which washer/dryer you are using, and it authorizes the machine to start up! Just make sure all your clothes and detergent are inside and ready to wash before paying. - Jason

All Resorts - For young children who are too big for cribs, bed rails may be available upon request at Disney resorts. Be sure to ask at the front desk if you need them. - Megan

ALL PARKS - It's been said before, but the early bird gets the worm. Each morning we rose with the sun and were at the gates of our chosen park at opening. We literally cruised through on every ride, numerous times. (Expedition Everest five times in 20 minutes!) We were out of the parks by 10:30 each day. Our kids left vacation feeling like we had seen and done everything and we never noticed the crowds. We heard so many complaining about how horrible it was and we shared a private chuckle about our planning. - Michelle K

Magic Kingdom - We were just at Disney World last week, and we spent two days in the Magic Kingdom. The crowds weren't too bad, but the lines for the Be Our Guest Restaurant were very long. The wait was 45 minutes around 11:30. A helpful cast member told me that many times the line is shorter around 1 or 1:30 p.m. We had a snack to tide us over and went back at 1:20 p.m. Sure enough, we were in the castle in 10 minutes. It was totally worth it! You can research allergies on the touch-screen menu to see what foods are OK to eat. It was wonderful for my gluten-free son. Lunch prices were just slightly more than prices at the Columbia Harbor House, but the ambiance and decorations were priceless. My kids spent half the meal staring at the snow falling outside the giant picture window lining one wall. I really enjoyed the vegetable quiche, and the gluten-free Lemon Raspberry Cream Puff was great, too. Everything about the restaurant is done right. It was a wonderful memory for us. - Ali Sanders

For international visitors, using mobile phones abroad can be very costly as roaming charges vary so much. We bought two-way radios to keep in contact in the parks. They have become a Walt Disney World trip essential for us. We bought ours with a charger pack. One word of advice though: the radios bought in USA are not legal in UK and vice versa. - Heather Young

I like to bring an extra sandwich-sized zipper-top bag to the parks with me. That way if the kids don't finish a meal we can take some of it with us as a snack for later. - Ingrid