Tips about Epcot, Food & Beverage, Mousecellaneous, Souvenirs and Transportation

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

Hang on to your hat! My husband wears a baseball cap to prevent sunburn. He was astounded to have it fly off his head on the Tower of Terror. He was very relieved he caught it. What he didn't realize was that our brand new annual passes had been in his front shirt pocket. They, too, had levitated. Fortunately, the Cast Member saw them and called our names. WHEW! - TJ

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

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

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

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.