Tips about Epcot, Food & Beverage, Magic Kingdom, Mousecellaneous, Resorts and Tickets

Whatever you do don't spend money on bottled water. It is so expensive and there are water fountains everywhere. This goes for the theme parks and the airport. Simply bring an empty bottle and fill it up as you need it. If you are really hardcore about it you can drink water the whole trip and skip buying drinks at the quick serves entirely. Also think about bringing lots of snacks from home such as granola bars and peanut butter cracker packs that you can eat instead of buying snacks and treats in the parks. You'll save a bunch of money this way. - Chris Kulp

I think it is important to know that you do not have to order a "meal" at a quick service restaurant. If you just want pizza without a salad, or a hamburger without fries, you can have it! And it costs less! - Kathy Jo Horan

On a recent trip I discovered that the new touch and go, RFID cards will still work while in a lanyard pouch. However, after I traded my paper annual pass for a new touch and go pass, it would not work in the pouch anymore. Apparently if you have more than one of the new types of cards together in a pouch or hold them together the sensors pick up both chips and can not tell which is which. The cards do work if you hold them up to the sensors one at a time still. They just can not be stacked together.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Annual Passholders can log into their My Disney Experience account and order a Magic Band at no additional cost.

Buy tickets in advance (as soon as you know you're going). We usually have about a year between trips, and with four travelers, I'll buy one ticket a month, for example. If the timeframe for the next trip works out, we upgrade the pre-purchased tickets to annual passes when we arrive at the resort. Ticket prices rise every year, but a ticket you buy at today's prices does not begin the expiration countdown until it is used for the first time at a park; so you could buy a ticket today, and hold onto it until that dream trip finally happens! - Bitterchickey

My fiance and I stayed at Walt Disney World as part of a business thing, and were able to get a "ConventionEars" ticket for 6 p.m. admission, which we used on our day of arrival. It was half the price of a regular admission, and Magic Kingdom had Extra Magic Hours until 2 a.m. that night, so we got a full day for half-price! Make sure to look into ConventionEars if you're at WDW for business. - Kris

If you are staying at Pop Century or Art of Animation, you can ride the other resort's bus from the park to the resort. The bus stops at the parks are next to each other (except AK) and it is a quick walk across Generation Gap bridge. My wife and I would take whichever bus arrived first instead of waiting. For example, we recently stayed at Pop Century (the '60s) and would sometimes ride the AOA bus if it came first, the Pop Century line was really long or if a scooter needed loaded. It only takes a couple minutes to walk from the AOA bus stop across the bridge to the '60s. - Mark

All the way in the back of Morocco (in Epcot) across from the restaurant is an area where characters sometimes appear (especially during rain)... but late at night it's empty back there and there is a great backdrop for taking photos. There is a carpet and a wall painted to look like the city where Aladdin and Jasmine live. We spent a good 20 minutes back there with our Princess Jasmine fresh out of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique before anyone else came in and got some great shots! - Cathy

All the way in the back of Morocco (in Epcot) across from the restaurant is an area where characters sometimes appear (especially during rain)... but late at night it's empty back there and there is a great backdrop for taking photos. There is a carpet and a wall painted to look like the city where Aladdin and Jasmine live. We spent a good 20 minutes back there with our Princess Jasmine fresh out of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique before anyone else came in and got some great shots! - Cathy

Many attractions at WDW are tied to amazing stories, but some of the stories are not as popular as they once were. We recommend watching classic movies like "Swiss Family Robinson" and "Tom Sawyer" so young children can understand, appreciate and experience the attractions. Otherwise, climbing a tree house or rafting to an island may not have the same "magic" as it could. Also, as a mother of boys who are not as familiar with princesses, we watched "Snow White," "Cinderella" and "Little Mermaid" so they are familiar with the stories and could recognize the princesses more easily. - Sandy

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

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

Magic Kingdom - While at Magic Kingdom at night, we tried to take advantage of some busier attractions during the fireworks, in hopes there would be short wait times. We chose Enchanted Tales with Belle, as the wait time stated 20 minutes. Well, there was essentially no line. But the best part was that standing just outside of Maurice's house turned out to be one of the best places to see the fireworks. They appeared to be shot off right behind Beast's Castle and were literally right over our heads. And then when they were done, we were able to walk into the cottage and participate in the Belle experience right away. It was magical! - Megan