Tips about Epcot, Kids, Magic Kingdom, Mousecellaneous, Resorts and Tickets
Boardwalk Villas - I have a money-saving tip for all of the BoardWalk hotel guests staying without cars. As DVC members we almost always stay at our home resort, the Boardwalk. We also use Magical Express and never bother to rent a car while there. (Gotta love that free Disney transportation!) Luckily there is a Hess station across the street from our resort entrance. On our first day there my husband and I will unpack one of our large suitcases and wheel it on over to that Hess station where we fill up on gallons of water, bottles of soda, orange juice and beer, plus some snacks and simple breakfast foods to stock our hotel fridge. We may look a little strange loading all that up into a suitcase and walking back to our hotel but we are able to stock up on drinks for a whole week at less than half the cost of the resort. - Erin
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On a recent trip I discovered that the new touch and go, RFID cards will still work while in a lanyard pouch. However, after I traded my paper annual pass for a new touch and go pass, it would not work in the pouch anymore. Apparently if you have more than one of the new types of cards together in a pouch or hold them together the sensors pick up both chips and can not tell which is which. The cards do work if you hold them up to the sensors one at a time still. They just can not be stacked together.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Annual Passholders can log into their My Disney Experience account and order a Magic Band at no additional cost.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Annual Passholders can log into their My Disney Experience account and order a Magic Band at no additional cost.
Magic Kingdom - My daughter is 8 years old, and on one of our last trips to Magic Kingdom she asked if we could make a reservation for the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. I was unable to get a reservation that fit our schedule. She was understanding, but a little disappointed. We decided to have our older boys experience the barber shop in the Magic Kingdom on the same trip. After we entered the barber shop and the boys were in their respective chairs, a cast member asked us if our daughter wanted her hair "done." They proceeded to put her hair in an up-do, complete with sparkling glitter! She looked like a princess and the up-do was a mere fraction of the cost that the Biddidi Bobbidi Boutique would have charged for a similar hairdo! - Danielle
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On a recent trip I discovered that the new touch and go, RFID cards will still work while in a lanyard pouch. However, after I traded my paper annual pass for a new touch and go pass, it would not work in the pouch anymore. Apparently if you have more than one of the new types of cards together in a pouch or hold them together the sensors pick up both chips and can not tell which is which. The cards do work if you hold them up to the sensors one at a time still. They just can not be stacked together.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Annual Passholders can log into their My Disney Experience account and order a Magic Band at no additional cost.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Annual Passholders can log into their My Disney Experience account and order a Magic Band at no additional cost.
Buy tickets in advance (as soon as you know you're going). We usually have about a year between trips, and with four travelers, I'll buy one ticket a month, for example. If the timeframe for the next trip works out, we upgrade the pre-purchased tickets to annual passes when we arrive at the resort. Ticket prices rise every year, but a ticket you buy at today's prices does not begin the expiration countdown until it is used for the first time at a park; so you could buy a ticket today, and hold onto it until that dream trip finally happens! - Bitterchickey
My fiance and I stayed at Walt Disney World as part of a business thing, and were able to get a "ConventionEars" ticket for 6 p.m. admission, which we used on our day of arrival. It was half the price of a regular admission, and Magic Kingdom had Extra Magic Hours until 2 a.m. that night, so we got a full day for half-price! Make sure to look into ConventionEars if you're at WDW for business. - Kris
If you are staying at Pop Century or Art of Animation, you can ride the other resort's bus from the park to the resort. The bus stops at the parks are next to each other (except AK) and it is a quick walk across Generation Gap bridge. My wife and I would take whichever bus arrived first instead of waiting. For example, we recently stayed at Pop Century (the '60s) and would sometimes ride the AOA bus if it came first, the Pop Century line was really long or if a scooter needed loaded. It only takes a couple minutes to walk from the AOA bus stop across the bridge to the '60s. - Mark
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All the way in the back of Morocco (in Epcot) across from the restaurant is an area where characters sometimes appear (especially during rain)... but late at night it's empty back there and there is a great backdrop for taking photos. There is a carpet and a wall painted to look like the city where Aladdin and Jasmine live. We spent a good 20 minutes back there with our Princess Jasmine fresh out of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique before anyone else came in and got some great shots! - Cathy
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All the way in the back of Morocco (in Epcot) across from the restaurant is an area where characters sometimes appear (especially during rain)... but late at night it's empty back there and there is a great backdrop for taking photos. There is a carpet and a wall painted to look like the city where Aladdin and Jasmine live. We spent a good 20 minutes back there with our Princess Jasmine fresh out of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique before anyone else came in and got some great shots! - Cathy
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Many attractions at WDW are tied to amazing stories, but some of the stories are not as popular as they once were. We recommend watching classic movies like "Swiss Family Robinson" and "Tom Sawyer" so young children can understand, appreciate and experience the attractions. Otherwise, climbing a tree house or rafting to an island may not have the same "magic" as it could. Also, as a mother of boys who are not as familiar with princesses, we watched "Snow White," "Cinderella" and "Little Mermaid" so they are familiar with the stories and could recognize the princesses more easily. - Sandy
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Many attractions at WDW are tied to amazing stories, but some of the stories are not as popular as they once were. We recommend watching classic movies like "Swiss Family Robinson" and "Tom Sawyer" so young children can understand, appreciate and experience the attractions. Otherwise, climbing a tree house or rafting to an island may not have the same "magic" as it could. Also, as a mother of boys who are not as familiar with princesses, we watched "Snow White," "Cinderella" and "Little Mermaid" so they are familiar with the stories and could recognize the princesses more easily. - Sandy
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We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort in the Little Mermaid rooms from April 21-28. I was a little apprehensive since I read so many posts about how far the walk to the building was! We stayed in building 9 (even got a free upgrade to a King bed for our anniversary), and we had no issue with the walk. Walking to the buses in the morning is easy, using the sidewalk on the outside of the buildings. This was especially convenient because they set up a breakfast cart by the Flippin' Fins pool every morning with grab-and-go items, so we didn't have to deal with the crowds at Landscape of Flavors. - Ginger
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