Tips about Epcot, Kids, Mousecellaneous, Souvenirs and Travel

A favorite stop for my 9-year-old daughter and me is the Basin bath shop in the Marketplace. Basin has very few locations around the country and has some of the best bath products. Our favorite is the "Mix Your Own Bath Crystals" section. For around $3.50, you receive a tube (1.25" x 5.5") that you fill with the bath crystals of your choice. They have a "buffet" of colors and scents for you to mix and match. It's a fun souvenir for "Mom and Daughter." They also sell an array of made-on-premises soaps cut straight from the bar, massage oil cakes for all ailments, and tons more. This shop should be a definite quick stop. - Maria Heuskin

Epcot - I just returned from a day at Epcot and wanted to give you a tip about Test Track. When I (5'3", 315 lbs.) asked the Cast Member at the end of the queue if I would fit, he told me that there was a mock car I could sit in. He called another Cast Member who escorted me to a private area. The car wasn't an exact copy of the cars in use, but was close. I found that I did not fit enough to be comfortable. The Cast Member showed me the side exit and I went on about my day. It was handled with care and privacy and I was never made to feel embarrassed. - L.

Epcot - I just returned from a day at Epcot and wanted to give you a tip about Test Track. When I (5'3", 315 lbs.) asked the Cast Member at the end of the queue if I would fit, he told me that there was a mock car I could sit in. He called another Cast Member who escorted me to a private area. The car wasn't an exact copy of the cars in use, but was close. I found that I did not fit enough to be comfortable. The Cast Member showed me the side exit and I went on about my day. It was handled with care and privacy and I was never made to feel embarrassed. - L.

I purchased Disney valentines on sale after Valentine's Day to make customized luggage tags. I cut off the Valentine's message and stuck the picture on the back of business cards that were made on the computer with our name, cell phone number, and destination address (in case the luggage got lost and had to be delivered). I used the self-adhesive laminating pouches from my local mart, but most office supply stores/copy places have luggage tag sized lamination materials. - Deb Ruscitelli

We drove to WDW from Pennsylvania with our two daughters, age 7 and 8. We knew the drive would be long and monotonous and although we were prepared with handheld games, DVDs, books on CD, and an array of activities, we knew we would ultimately hear the "Are We There Yet?" questions or, worse yet, the two girls arguing over everything from who was invading whose space to fighting over where to eat, etc. We came up with this plan: Each girl was given a roll of quarters. For every time they asked "Are We There Yet?" one too many times, or fought with each other a little too much, or just pushed Mom and Dad too far, we would take one quarter away. Any quarters the girls had left were theirs to use in the arcade of our resort at WDW. Amazingly enough, neither of our daughters lost one coin the whole trip and Mom and Dad weren't driven nuts in the car either! - Helen Kohr

I personally think Disney pins are a bit too expensive (and the clothes, too). Well, the answer to my problem was found on a trip to the Belz Outlet Mall right outside of WDW. We decided to stop at a shop called Character Warehouse. I ended up finding a few cheap shirts for about $5-$6 that sold for about $13 at WDW! And I also found Disney Pins for $.99! Some were even LIMITED EDITION! So, if you are a bargain hunter, this is a must-see! - Rachel
http://allears.net/btp/cware.htm

Just a word to Canadians traveling to WDW... We were looking forward to taking advantage of the Resort Airline Check-in service at WDW resorts for our trip home so we could travel hassle-free with our boarding passes in hand. However, we were disappointed to find out that even though we were traveling with Delta, and our first stop was New Jersey, we are still considered an international flight and international travelers (though welcome to use Magical Express) cannot get their boarding passes and have their luggage checked through. We would have appreciated knowing this ahead of time, but we had a great trip nonetheless. - Lori

Use your camera phone to take pictures of items you think you want. First, take a picture of the sign of the store where it is located. Then take pictures of the item and the tag of the item. Review nightly or at the end of your trip. Best of all, you can buy it from Disney Mail Order Merchandise when you're back home if you forget! - Crissy Stout

ALL PARKS - I mistakenly left my video camera in a locker after Fantasmic last April at the Studios. The following morning, after a harried cab ride and security escort back to the locker rental (I was checking out and flying home that day), I was surprised to find out that they do not clean out the lockers each evening. It is up to the next rental guest to turn in left packages, etc. It was even more difficult, as the manager could only open one locker at a time (there was no master key) and I couldn't remember the exact locker number.TIP: Take a digital photo of your locker number in case you lose your key or, like me, leave articles in it overnight. That way the manager can go directly to that locker and find your personal belongings. The next guest DID turn in my things, the manager called my cell phone immediately, and WDW shipped my articles back to me at no charge. I am very grateful for this service, but could have saved everyone a lot of confusion if I had just snapped a quick photo. This is helpful if you jump parks and have different lockers to memorize every day. - Elizabeth Marsh

Adam and a number of others observed a slight problem with last's week tip on jet lag: I was just reading through the newsletter about time changes. While the information is correct about adjusting your body clock, the reader indicates that Florida is five hours behind the UK... that part is also correct. However, when you wake up in Florida at 7 a.m., your body does not think it is 2 a.m... it thinks it is noon. We in Hawaii would actually be five hours behind, and have trouble getting up early.

Wanting our kids to have the items they "needed" at WDW but wanting to build the magic before and during the trip, we decided to bring our own treat box and let the girls "shop" from that box before each day's activities began. I gave each girl a fanny pack or small backpack, water bottle and an autograph book/pen on the airplane. I packed a small shoebox with treats (gum, mints, fruit roll-ups, cookies, etc.) and another with Disney-related trinkets (keychains, playing cards, stickers, personal fan, etc.). Each morning the girls "shopped" for edible treats to place in their backpacks and a trinket -- this sometimes eliminated them even wanting to shop at a gift shop during the day! I saved countless dollars and had a great time selecting the items for the treat boxes. - Diana L. Maslowski

My husband and I were getting married at Disney World and wanted to have one of our wedding photos framed with all the character signatures -- as if they were our guests at our wedding. We went to a local frame shop at home and had the person make a photo mat large enough to fit a 4x6 and all the characters' signatures. It worked perfectly and we carried it in a huge Disney shopping bag that a Cast Member had given to us. We were able to fit Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Cinderella, Belle and Beast, Mary Poppins and Bert, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Snow White, Aurora, Minnie and many others on the back of the mat (and only my husband and I know they are there). It was a challenge to get all of them and a goal magical to accomplish! They usually have these types of mats at any craft store as well, and you can have them cut the way you want -- small or large. - Rob and Amy

On our last trip to WDW, my husband and I quickly tired of our 5-year-old son asking for every fascinating souvenir he saw. We came up with the idea of having our son keep a list of all the souvenirs he liked, and we promised that at the end of the trip we would go back for the one he finally decided was the best. While we still had to stop at a lot of souvenir stands, there was no whining or begging from the time we started the list. Charlie happily added to the list each day, and at the end purchased a wonderfully noisy blaster from the Star Wars shop at the Studios. - Cari Allyn Brooks

Don't forget to factor in the time difference! After a long journey by road, air, then road again, it is easy to attempt to hit the ground running and do masses on your first full day in the World. Be realistic! Remember that Florida is five hours behind our time, so when you get up on your first morning at 7 a.m., your body will still think it is 2 a.m.! I know there is a lot to do and never enough time to do everything you want to, and also that you need to try and act as though it really is 7 a.m. or you will never adjust, but equally do try to take things a little easy on your first day there - be kind to yourself! Nap in the afternoon if you need to. - Carolyn from the UK

Ever wonder how much walking you do at the different parks, or on different days? So did we. A couple of years ago I bought an inexpensive pedometer basically for this purpose. You may want to consider this, as it gives you a little more to talk about after your vacation. We keep a daily log of the miles we walk and share it with our friends back home. Also you will either confirm what you already think about how far you walk, or you may be quite surprised that you walked as far as you did. Just a note -- we always rack up the most miles on our days at Epcot. - Bob Rogers