Tips about Epcot, Rain and Souvenirs

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

We ran to a local Wal-Mart, and rather than buying those simple "$1" ponchos which never get back the same way, we bought the heavier, more expensive ponchos. However, as we got home, we realized that yellow ponchos in a rainy day at WDW won't really stand out - especially if we're looking for one another in our family so I printed off a "script" letter on my computer large enough to fill a single piece of paper. Then I carefully traced it onto each poncho, and using a black permanent marker, colored in the letter. Now, when it rains (and did it ever last August) all we have to do is look for our letter on the back of a poncho is a sea of ponchos! It worked great! - Bill Eisenstot

EDITOR'S NOTE: Disney has discontinued sales of the yellow ponchos (the new ones are clear) but there are still many people wearing them when it rains.

During the summer months you know how it rains everyday in FL. Wearing sneakers or sandals can get ruined or really mushy if you get caught in one of Florida's afternoon thunderstorms. Well if you carry with you to the parks your water shoes (like the ones from Wal-Mart) and put them on during a torrential thunderstorm you won't be so opposed to getting your feet wet or going out in the storm. After the storm, you can don your regular shoes that are nice and dry and continue on with your day or evening feeling comfortable. The water shoes are lightweight, easy to carry around even after they get wet, plus they dry a whole lot faster than your sneakers or sandals. - Kim Evans of Maryland

During the course of our Disney vacation, we accumulated a huge number of plastic Disney bags. Instead of throwing them away after we removed our purchases, we kept them in a drawer in our room and used them to wrap and cushion breakable items that we were carrying on the plane on the wayhome. - Erin

ALL PARKS - On our last trip to Disney we brought our own 2 way radios. This came in extremely handy and we were able to separate and change plans as we needed. We had to share the frequency with quite a few other people, but if you don't mind waiting your turn, it really is a convenient way to communicate if you decide to split up. - Sharmon Simonetti

ALL PARKS - Assign a meeting place IN THE SHADE! Meeting by the fountain at Epcot is great except it can be brutal in the afternoon sun. Better to meet at one of the Innovations cafes where you can stay cool and relax if your party is late. - D. Hamilton

I agree whole hearty about getting one "nice" gift / souvenir. My DW and I for years always got the "usual" stuff to bring home. T-Shirts, hats, etc. Nice stuff to remember our trip but would always seem to get put away and never really used. On our last trip we decided to try something a little different. We had always wanted a coo-coo clock so when we were in EPCOT we bought a very nice clock in Germany. It was expensive but they shipped it home for us (it arrived the day after we got home) and it now proudly hangs in our kitchen. It is a constant reminder of our trip. - Jim B

Disney has such a large selection of coin banks. We bought one toward the end of our trip but next time we will buy it on the first day. THEN as we get back to our room or camper each night, all change will go into the bank to begin our savings fund for our next trip. I found that halfway thru this trip I was lugging around a huge change purse of coins that added a heavy load to my backpack. Buying a bank the first day will not only give us a fun sense of "when we come back again" but i won't be lugging all those nickels & dimes around trying to pawn them off on kiosk vendors paying for my stuff. - Amy Miles

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For a cheap and suitcase friendly souvenir I love the antenna toppers. You can buy a patriotic one or even Christmas ones. They are so cute. I think they are $3.00 - $4.00. Stacey

ALL PARKS - There is another show at WDW that most people miss; sit down and watch the other guests. You will never see so diverse an amount of tennis shoes, fashion statements or age groups. - CMarlan

During our trip, we got caught in one of those rain storms. What saved the day and our souvenirs, brochures, guidebooks and everything else in our backpack was a good 3 coats of ScotchGuard that I had applied to our backpack when we had purchased it for the trip.

After having waited in the rain 1/2 hour and watching Illuminations without an umbrella or poncho, and walking to the parking lot, the inside of our basic $15 backpack was as dry as could be! Not only were our paper goods dry, so was my wallet and our camera and extra film which I had forgotten to put in a ziplock bag.

ScotchGuard (or any other spray on fabric protector/waterproofer) is available in office supply stores, craft stores and places like PepBoys. One thing that also saved our stuff was the fact that the zippers on our backpack were covered by a hem or flap that also helped keep out the water, but with all the water I had to wring out of my clothes, I know that can of ScotchGuard saved our day! - Regina Aaron

I've often asked the cast members at the cash registers to remove tags so someone in my party could wear a hat, put on a shirt or slip on new shoes. There has never been an occasion where a cashier did not have a pair of scissors handy to comply with the request - Phyllis Wirick

ALL PARKS - What our tip is, is to tie a bright bandana on the luggage rack or one of the mirrors of your car/minivan/truck that face the tram pick up area. We tied a bright colorful bandana nearest the tram pick up side on our while rented minivan, each day of our 11 day trip to WDW. It didn't matter what park we were at or what row we parked at. All we had to remember was the section, (example, stage, donald, unicorn, etc) we always found our van many times from very far away. We also used the bandana's on our stroller and on our luggage. - Clemley

We love collecting pressed pennies and quarters. We always bring many rolls of quarters and pennies. Since they are heavy and jingle a lot, we found this great idea. The quarters and pennies fit nicely in empty mini M&M plastic containers with snap tops. They are the exact size of a quarter and can fit well over a whole roll of quarters. They work for pennies also. So, before going to Disney we go to the bank and load up on rolls of quarters and pennies, so we don't have to scramble for them at the park and storage them in mini M&M containers. - Mary Smith