Tips about Epcot, Food & Wine Festival, Magic Kingdom and Planning

We always carry a cinch-sack to the parks. To help us get through the security bag check a little faster, my husband put all our items in two large zipper-top bags before we put them in the sack. Several security guards commented that it was a great idea. It made their job easier by being able to just look at the bags instead of digging through the cinch-sack. - Chris

We always carry a cinch-sack to the parks. To help us get through the security bag check a little faster, my husband put all our items in two large zipper-top bags before we put them in the sack. Several security guards commented that it was a great idea. It made their job easier by being able to just look at the bags instead of digging through the cinch-sack. - Chris

We always carry a cinch-sack to the parks. To help us get through the security bag check a little faster, my husband put all our items in two large zipper-top bags before we put them in the sack. Several security guards commented that it was a great idea. It made their job easier by being able to just look at the bags instead of digging through the cinch-sack. - Chris

Just got back from our first trip to the Magic Kingdom with a toddler. He goes down for a nap each afternoon and after not getting him to nap while going around Fantasyland/Tomorrowland in a stroller (probably too much noise and visual stimulation), we were going to go back to the hotel. On our way back toward the exit we strolled through the Tomorrowland Terrace. Less noise, no visual stimulation and protected from the sun, it was the perfect place for our son to finally fall asleep! It was also a good place for an adult to rest. It probably saved us an hour round-trip to the hotel and back. - Doug Chen

A tip "for when you are almost on the ride and it gets stopped for bad weather": This happened on our last visit. We were just about to board Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the ride was stopped due to storms. Although the wait was around an hour, my wife and daughter got chatting to others in the queue, and soon one of the girls opened up a game app on her phone. It kept quite a few people busy and the wait just flew by. It's worth loading a couple of games onto your mobile device for delays like this, especially if you have young children, to keep them occupied. - Tony M.

A tip "for when you are almost on the ride and it gets stopped for bad weather": This happened on our last visit. We were just about to board Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the ride was stopped due to storms. Although the wait was around an hour, my wife and daughter got chatting to others in the queue, and soon one of the girls opened up a game app on her phone. It kept quite a few people busy and the wait just flew by. It's worth loading a couple of games onto your mobile device for delays like this, especially if you have young children, to keep them occupied. - Tony M.

I just wanted to share a comment on Remy's Ratatouille Hide & Squeak, the scavenger hunt that's part of this year's Food and Wine Festival. My family and I have enjoyed Epcot's Food and Wine festival many times. It seems to get bigger, better and tastier every year! Our daughters, ages 8 and 11, had fun finding Remy and his ingredients that were cleverly hidden in each country. (The search became quite a competition between the four of us for the rest of the day!) The map, stickers and souvenir pin will be a nice memory of our trip! - Denise Darconte

EDITOR'S NOTE: For more details on this fun new scavenger hunt, be sure to read Kristin Ford's latest entry in her "A Mom and the Magic" blog!

If you're visiting the Food and Wine Festival, don't forget to stop by the Port of Entry shop at World Showcase Plaza. In addition to selling a wide variety of festival merchandise, the shop also features specialty food and beverage items from around the world. And at 3 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the festival, chefs from around Epcot will give mini-culinary demonstrations -- for free! -- recreating recipes from the Festival cookbook and other favorites. - AllEars® Editor Deb Koma

If you love to raise your hands during high-intensity rides (or any that take a photo during the ride) please consider sitting at the back of the ride vehicle. If you sit at the front or even in the middle you block out the faces of the people behind you, ruining their pictures. Keep in mind this may be the once-in-a-lifetime trip for those people and they may only have time to ride that once. - Nicole

If you love to raise your hands during high-intensity rides (or any that take a photo during the ride) please consider sitting at the back of the ride vehicle. If you sit at the front or even in the middle you block out the faces of the people behind you, ruining their pictures. Keep in mind this may be the once-in-a-lifetime trip for those people and they may only have time to ride that once. - Nicole

We aren't really big soda drinkers, so the refillable mugs aren't a good investment for us. However, we do like our morning coffee. I found disposable coffee cups with lids at the local dollar store. We make coffee in our room, take it with us on the way to the parks, then throw the cups away when we are finished. It's super-cheap and we aren't carrying around a cup all day! - Laura Briggs

In last week's tips, Gretchen Foster wrote about the difficulty of finding birthday cards on Disney property. The Japan pavilion in Epcot has a wonderful selection of all types of greeting cards. One of my grandsons has a summer birthday and I was able to find the perfect card there and slipped in a Disney gift card. - Carol Trainor

In last week's tips, Gretchen Foster wrote about the difficulty of finding birthday cards on Disney property. The Japan pavilion in Epcot has a wonderful selection of all types of greeting cards. One of my grandsons has a summer birthday and I was able to find the perfect card there and slipped in a Disney gift card. - Carol Trainor

A tip for UK visitors: In shops, kids struggle to work out the cost of something in British pounds, as they have to add the sales tax and then do the currency conversion. When ours were younger I made little conversion charts with the GBP equivalent (with sales tax added) of up to $20. As long as they can add up, they can then work out what things are going to cost from their spending allowance without having to ask Mum or Dad all the time. - Juli Williamson

Magic Kingdom - A not-well-publicized event that is fun to see for the little kids (and those kids at heart such as myself) is the opening ceremony at the Magic Kingdom. It occurs about 10-15 minutes before what Disney refers to as the "rope drop" (the time that they let people through the arches and into the park). The train arrives at the Main Street station above the floral displays with all the characters on board, with Disney music playing. They stop and wave to everyone waiting to enter the park. They let people through the turnstiles into the queue area about 20-30 minutes prior to the park opening. So get there a few minutes early if you want to see it. I believe it is worth seeing. - Mike