Tips about Epcot and Health

I have a tip for blister sufferers at WDW. I recently managed to get blisters in numerous places on my feet on a recent trip, and thinking I was a veteran and immune to this, was caught totally unprepared. (I usually take moleskin with me.) The stores in Disney do not have blister bandages or moleskin. So, from the gift shop at Saratoga Springs I bought regular bandages and the hurt-free first aid wrap that sticks to itself and not your skin (like what they put on your arm when you donate blood). I placed the bandages over the blisters and then wrapped my foot with the hurt-free wrap. It worked like a charm. The wrap holds the bandages in place and prevents them from causing any friction or rubbing. I was very skeptical, but desperate and figured out a way to get by on what the gift shop had without taking time out of my vacation to hunt down a drug store or discount store for moleskin. (Although I won't go without it ever again! Lesson learned.) - Sally Ballard

Epcot - My husband and I recently learned of something called the "Wine Walk" at Epcot. For $20 you can purchase a passport at the France, Germany or Italy wine shops. The passport allows you to taste six different wines (two per country). The passport lists the two specific wines in each country. What is unique about the Wine Walk is that you do not have to use the whole passport in one trip. You can try a few and then save the rest for a future trip if you like. Each wine is a two-ounce pour, but Germany seems to be the only country that was very strict on this. Italy and France were a bit more liberal with their pours. Our favorite country for the tastings was Italy. Even though you only get about two ounces per taste, we felt it was a pretty good bargain as we would have paid about $35 if we bought each pour individually. - Tiffany Harmon

Epcot - My husband and I recently learned of something called the "Wine Walk" at Epcot. For $20 you can purchase a passport at the France, Germany or Italy wine shops. The passport allows you to taste six different wines (two per country). The passport lists the two specific wines in each country. What is unique about the Wine Walk is that you do not have to use the whole passport in one trip. You can try a few and then save the rest for a future trip if you like. Each wine is a two-ounce pour, but Germany seems to be the only country that was very strict on this. Italy and France were a bit more liberal with their pours. Our favorite country for the tastings was Italy. Even though you only get about two ounces per taste, we felt it was a pretty good bargain as we would have paid about $35 if we bought each pour individually. - Tiffany Harmon

Epcot - When my family and I go to Epcot we try to make our World Showcase adventure memorable. We have tried making a mask and saving a section for each country and writing a special fact in that section, but that didn't work very well, so we then tried having the people working at the Kidcot station write our names on the attachable paper picture from each country. This was very cool, but if they got wet from rain they bled and washed away. This past time my sister and I decided to get a candy from each country. You can usually find these in the gift shops or even at restaurants. At each pavilion we took a picture of us eating the candy and we saved the wrapper/box. We then came home and made a collage with the wrappers and pictures. This was a very exciting thing for us -- we had never thought of doing anything like this before. You can even do this with the little kid menus. I know when I was little I used to circle what I wanted to eat, write the restaurant name and chef's name on top, and then if it was a character meal, have the characters sign the menu. I did this with my younger sister and she loved doing her paper menu collage while I worked on my candy wrapper collage. I think this is a very creative and fun activity for kids of all ages. My mom is going to do it with us this time! - Lindsay

Epcot - When my family and I go to Epcot we try to make our World Showcase adventure memorable. We have tried making a mask and saving a section for each country and writing a special fact in that section, but that didn't work very well, so we then tried having the people working at the Kidcot station write our names on the attachable paper picture from each country. This was very cool, but if they got wet from rain they bled and washed away. This past time my sister and I decided to get a candy from each country. You can usually find these in the gift shops or even at restaurants. At each pavilion we took a picture of us eating the candy and we saved the wrapper/box. We then came home and made a collage with the wrappers and pictures. This was a very exciting thing for us -- we had never thought of doing anything like this before. You can even do this with the little kid menus. I know when I was little I used to circle what I wanted to eat, write the restaurant name and chef's name on top, and then if it was a character meal, have the characters sign the menu. I did this with my younger sister and she loved doing her paper menu collage while I worked on my candy wrapper collage. I think this is a very creative and fun activity for kids of all ages. My mom is going to do it with us this time! - Lindsay

Epcot - Just wanted to add to the reason to pick up a Passport kit from Epcot. I got one on our last trip and secretly had each country stamp and write Happy Birthday to my husband on the Passport. A month after we got home it was my husband's birthday. I put the Passport in a Mickey birthday card and he was very pleased and surprised with his multi-language greetings. - Sue S.

Epcot - Just wanted to add to the reason to pick up a Passport kit from Epcot. I got one on our last trip and secretly had each country stamp and write Happy Birthday to my husband on the Passport. A month after we got home it was my husband's birthday. I put the Passport in a Mickey birthday card and he was very pleased and surprised with his multi-language greetings. - Sue S.

Epcot - To save money, instead of buying the Epcot passport in the parks, create your own passport! You can make your own by cutting regular 8x11 paper into fours and stapling the pages together. You can have your children personalize the cover with their names, so Kidcot cast members don't have to ask them. And for each country, you can have children draw out the flag of that country. This can help prepare your children for the experience of World Showcase! Remember to leave the adjacent page empty for the special messages the cast members will be writing. - Ban-Hing Ng

Epcot - To save money, instead of buying the Epcot passport in the parks, create your own passport! You can make your own by cutting regular 8x11 paper into fours and stapling the pages together. You can have your children personalize the cover with their names, so Kidcot cast members don't have to ask them. And for each country, you can have children draw out the flag of that country. This can help prepare your children for the experience of World Showcase! Remember to leave the adjacent page empty for the special messages the cast members will be writing. - Ban-Hing Ng

Epcot - Just wanted to add to the reason to pick up a Passport kit from Epcot. I got one on our last trip and secretly had each country stamp and write Happy Birthday to my husband on the Passport. A month after we got home it was my husband's birthday, so I put the Passport in a Mickey birthday card. He was very pleased and surprised with his multi-language greetings. - Sue Schultz

Epcot - Just wanted to add to the reason to pick up a Passport kit from Epcot. I got one on our last trip and secretly had each country stamp and write Happy Birthday to my husband on the Passport. A month after we got home it was my husband's birthday, so I put the Passport in a Mickey birthday card. He was very pleased and surprised with his multi-language greetings. - Sue Schultz

Epcot - On our last trip to Epcot, we purchased the passport set that allows children (or adults who are children at heart) to visit the Kidcot stations in each country and get a passport stamp. On that day, my daughter happened to be wearing a Minnie Mouse shirt that was personalized with her name, Isabelle, on the front. That turned out to be wonderful, since every time she went to get her stamp, the Disney cast member would write her name in their native language. I think they normally do this, but they never had to ask her name since it was on her shirt and every cast member seemed to notice it right away. Now, she has a wonderful keepsake with her name written in several languages. - Teresa Frangakis

Epcot - On our last trip to Epcot, we purchased the passport set that allows children (or adults who are children at heart) to visit the Kidcot stations in each country and get a passport stamp. On that day, my daughter happened to be wearing a Minnie Mouse shirt that was personalized with her name, Isabelle, on the front. That turned out to be wonderful, since every time she went to get her stamp, the Disney cast member would write her name in their native language. I think they normally do this, but they never had to ask her name since it was on her shirt and every cast member seemed to notice it right away. Now, she has a wonderful keepsake with her name written in several languages. - Teresa Frangakis

Our son is 19 years old, but we have not ditched the stroller for Disney World. Of course, we don't use it for him. For someone with chronic back and shoulder pain, it is the best. We bring an umbrella stroller to keep our backpack with ponchos, snacks, etc. Anyone who has back difficulties knows that walking for long periods of time is pretty uncomfortable. The support from the stroller for the back is amazing, and really makes a difference on how long you can last in the park. It's like using a rolling walker, but it's not, and it also holds all your belongings. - Nancy

Epcot - We went to WDW in October to avoid the crowds. It was almost sucessful! Epcot was jammed like New Year's Eve because of the Food and Wine Festival. My suggestion is to go to Epcot very early in the morning to catch the normal stuff and then come back later to enjoy the Festival! - William