Tips about Epcot, Kids, Laundry, Magic Kingdom, Planning and Resorts

SHADES OF GREEN - With a military ID, you can purchase items at the Shades of Green Gift Shop that are VERY reasonably priced. For instance, we bought pins there for my son to trade in the parks: $3 for pins that are $6.50-$8.50 in WDW gift shops. - Joseph and Renee Witmer

SHADES OF GREEN - We stayed at the Shades of Green this past October during the National Car Rental Golf Tournament. The great perk of staying there was admission to the tournament was FREE! My husband got to see Tiger Woods in person for free. Needless to say we've made reservations for this year's tournament. - Connie Roberts

Just wanted to add a laundry tip. Our family has skin allergies and can't use the Wisk tabs. I found that buying a 16 oz. container of Woolite and taking it with us is a great idea. It is relatively small and lays flat. The 16 oz. does eight washes. I also like the fact that it is liquid (has a cap), which makes it less messy than the powder detergent. - Keri DeFrancesco

Would like to add some advice to the laundry article. Make sure you pack your baggies of powdered detergent in your checked luggage. We rushed our packing to return home and put the left over Tide in my husband's carry on -- needless to say, when the bag went through the scanner at the airport, it was mistaken for a much more expensive powder!!! The officer made a beeline to where it was packed in the bag. We had to do some quick explaining and of course it smelled like Tide when the officer opened the baggie...whew!!!! - Mary Kay Reis of Pittsburgh, PA

Here's another laundry tip -- I purchased those new tablet laundry detergents. They come in individual packets that are great for packing into small areas of your suitcase. You save money as well as space because laundry detergent at the resorts are $1 per tiny box, which adds up fast if you have more than one load. - Priscilla Piacente

In one large Zip-Loc bag I put the following: a garbage bag, quarters for the washer and dryer in a snack-size Zip-Loc bag, two dryer sheets in another snack-size Zip-Loc bag, and measured laundry detergent in a medium Zip-Loc bag. Then I label the bag (just in case). Once we unpack, all I have to do is get the garbage bag out for our dirty clothes. Once the bag is full of dirty clothes, it is off to the washing machines. Pre-planning makes it so easy. No more hunting for quarters or detergent. It's all there. There is nothing like doing wash while sipping a tropical drink poolside in the bright sunshine!!!! - Heather from New York

Pop Century - My wife and I just returned from a stay at the Pop Century Resort. We discovered that if we were trying to catch a bus from a park back to Pop Century and the lines were very, very long, we could sometimes hop on the Art of Animation Resort bus instead. (The stops are usually next to each other.) The walk from the Art of Animation, through the lobby, and across the short bridge to Pop Century took only a couple of minutes -- much quicker than the possible long wait we would have had for our own resort bus. - Rory Osborne

The only really important advice I would add to this [bringing other people's children] is to make a copy of the other child's health insurance information and also have a signed or even notarized letter from the child's parents stating they will be traveling with you, to where, and on what dates. Hopefully you will never need to use it, but you never know! - Tara Felicio

Don't throw out those popcorn buckets! They make excellent protection in your luggage for small breakable souvenirs, such as glass ornaments.- Lori Welch

I have one more tip related to Mary Cronin's idea. I hate walking on my treadmill. Has anyone actually recorded the walk from Spaceship Earth to the American Adventure to play back while walking the treadmill at home? My tape would always have to include a stop at Boulangerie Patisserie in France! YUM! - "Jungle" Jim Sirks

I read Mary Cronin's advisory to walk in order to be in shape for WDW, and I couldn't agree more. My wife and I are in our mid-50s and we have always wondered just how far we really do walk while at WDW, so we bought a pedometer and I wore it on our trip October 18-25. On the 18th and the 25th, our walking was limited to three hours each day due to our arrival and departure from WDW. Our first full day, which included Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, we logged 8 miles -- for the week we were just shy of 40 miles! Believe me, we do not race around the parks. We walk at a normal pace, and we were astounded at the total. Our advice: start walking. - William Kested EDITOR'S NOTE: ALWAYS be sure to break in any new pair of shoes/sneakers you have purchased for your trip.

Do lots of walking before you go to get in shape for walking at the World. This really pays off when you get there, in terms of stamina and enjoyment. We take family walks, and my husband and I also walk on a treadmill in the mornings. Just imagine you are walking from Spaceship Earth to the American Pavilion, or from the far end of one of the parking lot rows to the tram. If you're in better shape, you can pretend to jog from the rope at Tomorrowland to Space Mountain, or from the park entrance to Kilimanjaro Safari in Animal Kingdom. Even if your style of Disney touring is a relaxed stroll, you will benefit from any walking that you do before you go. - Mary Cronin

Coming from Canada, with a 45 percent (loss) exchange rate at the time, moneysaving ideas were a must for our trip in Fall 2002. Before our trip I had printed off coupons for every restaurant and store we planned to visit.. The more I saved, the more I wanted to save. I packed everything from cereal to laundry soap so that I would not have to buy it in Orlando at an already inflated price, and with a high exchange rate for me. The best savings I got was on water. We purchased a case of 30 bottles of water at our local Wal-Mart for under $8 (Can). To have bought that at WDW, 30 bottles @ $2.50 US = $75, then add our exchange rate to that and we would have paid about $130 Canadian. Since we anticipated a lot of outlet shopping, we each brought two large suitcases. The 30 bottles were spread out among them, so the weight was not an issue. (But honestly, for that kind of savings, I would have carried them on my back.) Next time though, I'll pack two cases of water. Your website was invaluable to us while planning our vacation. Our daughters (ages 7 and 9 at the time of the vacation) agree that we had a year of WDW fun and excitement before we ever left our home in chilly Nova Scotia. By the time we got to WDW, they were READY. Our most valuable expenditure was in time spent preparing for the trip. - Greg L. from Canada

A few months ago someone suggested taking a soft-sided cooler with Ziploc bags to use in your room in lieu of renting a fridge at $10 a day. We took the suggestion one step further. I purchased a cooler with a plastic liner, took it home and put it in our luggage. Lo and behold it fit perfectly, which meant we would not have to worry about leaking Ziploc bags. And by packing our unmentionables inside the liner we did not lose any precious packing space. It worked out wonderfully and we saved $110 in the process. - Vonnie

Even though my 5 year-old daughter has been to Disney four times already, she's a little scared about getting lost. Trying to think of a way to relieve her fears, I thought of a great idea. We have those two-way FRS radios that we got before our cell phones. The kids know how to use them, so I just thought that we could put one in a fanny pack (from previous Disney trips) for my 5-year-old and my 7-year-old son and get another for us to hold. They know to look for a Cast Member if they get separated from us, but now we can still be in constant communication with them and have them lead us right to where they are. When I told Amanda about this idea she went right to her room and found her pack and put the radio in it. We don't leave until July! Talk about prepared! - Jenn B. from Philadelphia