Tips about Epcot, Mousecellaneous, Photography and Souvenirs

This is a big one for the shutterbugs: leave the pile of lenses at home! Those pounds of lenses really add up. I took a photo kit that I would normally take when on vacation -- a five-lens kit with a flash -- and found it to be too much by the end of the day, and most of it went unused. For the second day I only brought two lenses with me. I used the extra space in my normal camera bag for snacks, rain jacket, socks. The exception is Animal Kingdom: if you want pictures of the animals, go ahead and take a telephoto. - John-Erik

My 4-year-old daughter wanted to find gifts for all 12 children in her preschool class. We went to the Disney shops and found sets of crayons in the shapes of various Disney characters. These crayons come 12-15 in a pack, so we broke up the set and gave each child their own special crayon. We added to that the crazy Mickey straws that we could purchase, or sometimes were given for free, at the food court at Port Orleans Riverside. Then, when we got home, we realized that we were able to scrounge together 12 Disney World shopping/gift bags! Each child was thrilled to have his/her own package direct from Mickey! - Evalynn Kuehner

I am an 11-year-old girl who has visited WDW at least 35 times, and I found the best Disney World product for us Disney nuts. It is the Walt Disney World Resort Scavenger Hunt. It is only $4.00 in the Magic Kingdom Emporium on Main Street. It has questions like: What is the name of the mill on Tom Sawyer Island? What are they auctioning in Frontierland? If you WANT to know everything about Disney, or think you DO know everything, then this is for you. My family and I thought that we knew Disney, but we were so wrong! I thought you would like to know about this awesome product. - Chris B.

I read the tip about using the WDW shopping bags for packing and had to add this -- I also bring home several of those from each trip and save them. When I have my garage sale each year, I like to give those to the kids who come in and buy a little toy or something. They are so excited to get the WDW bags and, of course, many of them have never been to WDW, so it is a special treat for them just to have that bag. - Diane

I am 35 and made my first trip to Disney two years ago. It was spectacular, and we are going for our fourth trip in October. I always get a gold charm for a charm bracelet I have had for years. I have a Mickey, Tigger and Tinker Bell charm. This year I am going to put the charms on their own special Disney bracelet. I hope it will become a family heirloom one day. - Lucretia German

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

Have disposable cameras for your children to get their 'view' on their vacation experiences! - Madison

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 tip is to stock up on disposable cameras before going to WDW (just don't pack them in your checked bags or the x-ray machines will expose the film). I recommend the Fuji QuickSnap cameras - they have a small hole on one end that works perfectly with a lanyard. The cameras they sell at the park don't have that. Having the camera on a lanyard around your neck means not worrying about leaving it behind, dropping it, or getting pictures of the inside of your fanny-pack, and it is always at your finger tips when you want to get a quick picture. - Cheryl K. Klein

After 5 trips to WDW, you start to realize that you are taking the same pictures over and over again! Here are a few suggestions of pictures you may not have taken yet!

*Try to take at least one picture per country in the World Showcase.
*Take a picture of the same spot twice. Once during the day, and once when it's all lit up at night!
*Take a picture of one of the shows or parades in progress and turn the camera to capture your little one's reaction!!!
*Aim up! Inside many of the resort lobbies and restaurants, you'll find themed ceilings that make very interesting pictures! We were waiting for the parade and I had my husband hold my daughter up above me and I was able to take a cool picture of her with the decorations strung across the street above as a backdrop.
*At Christmastime, you'll see Mickey and pals in several different outfits. See how many different outfits you can capture Mickey wearing. (At any given time you can catch the characters in "Park Appropriate" outfits, so you can do this anytime of the year.) - Alea Laughery

When we returned home, I couldn't wait to get back all the pictures of the two of them together with the characters and their grandparents. We were very disappointed that the negatives for five of the rolls were damaged during processing. We were heartbroken that we didn't get one picture of the kids with Mickey or many of the other characters. Next time we will have our film processed while we are there. That way if there are any pictures that don't come out, we can be sure to go back and try again. Although it may cost a little more, we won't lose the memories. - Jennifer, Binghamton, New York

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

One of our favorite souvenir items from Walt Disney World is picture frames. We have gotten quite a collection over the years. It is a wonderful way to remember your trip and you can fill them with pictures of your trip and look at them every day. We also have a collection of magnets, license plates and beach towels. - Deb Curl

This summer, my family decided to give back a little to the Cast Members who make each stay even more magical. Before leaving home, we printed (using print programs that are out there on the Web) character thank you cards. Each card had a different princess or Tinker Bell on it, and said something nice like, "We put your service to the test, and you're the best!" or "Thank you for making our vacation magical!" We added our family name, hometown, and "Summer 2004." We printed them out, and each member of our family got a sheet of their own to color. After coloring, we laminated them. Once in the park, we handed them out to Cast Members who we felt had gone above and beyond the call of "normal magic." Most of the Cast Members we handed them out to were so surprised and thanked *us*! We really enjoyed doing this, and I feel sure that it will be a new tradition for our family. - Ashlee Farris

After traveling to Disney four days after September 11th and having all of my pictures come back with a "hazy" appearance due to the x-rays at the airport, I learned a great trick: I take along film mailers (York, Clark) which they provide for free and mail them directly from the Disney Hotels. They pay the postage and I have my pictures usually by the time I get back home. I simply write out checks before I leave home, put them in the mailers and keep them with my money so I don't lose them. They also offer to e-mail your pictures for a reasonable amount of money. When I first did this, I realized that I needed some tape to seal the envelope but the Disney staff were more than happy to provide me with some even though they have their own film developing. Now I always pack the mailers. Hope this comes in handy. - Dawn Hewitt