Tips about Epcot, Keep The Magic Alive, Mousecellaneous, Resorts and Souvenirs

A game my sister and I play is "20 Questions". Usually one person has 20 questions to find out what the other person is thinking of in one of three categories - person, place, or animal. You ask yes or no questions, and if you don't get the answer by question 20, you lose. We play this Disney style. We call it "Disney 20 Questions" (original, huh?), and our categories are "Attraction, Restaurant, or Character". Attractions include anything from Voyage of the Little Mermaid to Mission: Space. We have a blast (no pun intended) playing this, and it helps us relive our favorite Disney memories. - Jenny Beck

We live in Australia and only make it to WDW every 4 years. Both of our children (8 and 5) have visited twice and love to remember the trips. When it seems like it is too long to wait for our next trip we pull out some of the paper plates and cups from our last trip and cook something like chicken strips and mjacaroni cheese which we usually only eat at WDW), and have a Disney dinner. We also like to make s'mores for our friends just like we learnt at the Port Orleans campfire. - Sandie Morthen

I was at a Lenox outlet store last week and guess what I found? A necklace with Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer! On the back is engraved "Keep the magic alive". A perfect daily reminder right around your neck. - Tiffany Bailey

Kingdom Hearts. This PS2 video game allows you to actually become a character in some of your favorite Disney films. Your character actually gets to explore the scenery of films like "Alice in Wonderland", "Tarzan", "Nightmare Before Christmas" and many others. Along the way, you battle Maleficent, Hades, Jafar and other Disney Villains with Goofy, Donald and several Disney heroes at your side. - Mike

Check the local TV listings for the Travel Channel and the Food Network. Both regularly have programs featuring Walt Disney World. - Mike

I like to look at my Disney vacation pictures from years gone by and see how the parks have changed and relive my wonderful vacations. I also subscribe to the Disney Magazine. I have the Fantasmic CD and a CD I made at the Imagination Pavillion with all Disney songs from the parks/rides. - Connie La Tempa

We've found a great way ~ Internet radio "hub" Live 365 has a number of broadcasters/stations that play Disney music - everything from soundtracks to ambient park music, even some sound bites from attractions! We don't realize how we relate hearing ambient park music to "feeling" like we're there, until we listen to it at home! Just go the the Live 365 website, and search "Disney" or "Walt Disney World". A list of stations that play that music are listed, complete with short descriptions of the type of music they play. It's a great way to feel like you're at the park, when you're at home! - Cindy W.

One of my favorite things to do for a quick Disney fix, when a trip is not in the near future is play a video I bought on a previous trip. This video travels throughout the 4 theme parks showing the various attractions (the name escapes me..."Around the World"?). I think you can still purchase it from WDW directly. Also the free promotional planning tapes/DVD from Disney are loads of fun. Sometimes I'll even watch a Sing-Along tape with the kids (Campout or Beach Party at WDW or even Disneyland fun). Finally, Some days I just listen to my CD's of the theme park rides and show. It is a great way to remember the fun had on the last trip and anticipate the next trip. - Holly Bryfogle

Visit a Disney Store...if you can still find one in your area! 🙂 -Tony

To keep the Disney fun going between trips, I bought a small dry-erase board, hung it in the bathroom, and my husband and I take turns playing Hangman. The answers we come up with are anything Disney related from Disney movies to the parks to something we've read on AllEars®.Net. We've been playing for many, many months and still haven't run out of creative answers. We even made up fun rules like if one of us happens to guess the answer before guessing any letters, the winner gets a one-hour massage from the other person. (This is challenging, but very possible!) - Paulette Kusmierz

ALL STAR MOVIES - If you stay at the All-Star Movies Resort, try to stay in the Mighty Ducks area. You are close to the buses for All-Star Music, which are less crowded, and you can choose either bus to return on. You can also choose either food court if one is too busy. The pool is close and not as crowded as the main pool. It is also quiet. The rooms facing the parking and trees are in the shady side of the building and are less expensive. - John Harman

By all means make sure you have that house key when you head out from home! We DID lock ourselves out of the house on one WDW vacation. We, like a lot of folks, have an automatic garage door opener and use that as our main means of entry into the house. We don't normally lock the inner garage door leading into the house. Well, because we were going to be gone, we decided to lock things up extra securely, so we locked the inner door and hard locked the garage door. As soon as that lock went "clunk" I realized that I don't even carry a house key! I asked my hubby and he had paired down his keys to the bare minimum, and guess what? He took the house key off! We growled at each other for a couple of minutes, then decided there was nothing we could do about it at themoment and went on our trip. When we got back, we broke a window in our back door, and had it replaced the next day. That was an extra $50 we sure didn't need to spend! - Carol Kelley

ALL PARKS - I purchased "The Unofficial Guide to WDW" book before our trip. I tore out the pages in the back of the book (the ones that suggest which attractions to see and in which order -- a very valuable tool) and laminated them. I then punched a hole in a corner of each page. As we set off for a certain park for the day, I would attach that set of pages with a binder ring to my fanny pack. I then had a quick reference guide for all the attractions and restaurants in that park. It was outside my fanny pack so I could look at it quickly without having to open my fanny pack each time. It was laminated so if it rained, the pages were not ruined, and they could withstand a lot of abuse. I took along a Sharpie marker and marked off each attraction as we visited it so I could see at a glance where we'd been and where we were supposed to go next. It worked out very well for our trip. - Lisa Kent

My wife and I took our daughter to WDW when she was three years old. Wanting to remember all that we did, we kept a journal of each day's activities. The pictures were later put into a scrapbook, but we did something else that has paid great dividends since. We incorporated the journal with numerous pictures (some were our pictures scanned in, some were "borrowed" from Disney.com and AllEars.Net) and created a newsletter in Microsoft Publisher. Now, whenever my daughter (who is now five) wants to relive the experience, we pull out the eight-page newsletter and give it a read. It has really helped her keep the memories of her first trip to WDW alive!!! - Steve Grohne

Antenna Toppers -- They make a good identifier for a rental car in a parking lot. - Monte Kremin