Tips about Food & Beverage, Keep The Magic Alive, Magic Kingdom, Mousecellaneous and Souvenirs

Instead of buying a T-shirt or some other small expensive trinket that the kids will get bored with in a short time, I buy BEACH TOWELS. At Disney, they are $20 each and you can even get them at specific attractions. I have a huge collection from every place we have been and use them on an everyday basis. It's a great way to remember all the great vacations we have taken. Some of these towels have lasted 10 years! I have recently started storing the new ones I buy to give to my grandkids someday. - Pauline Sheehan

CHRISTMAS - We had our own Christmas ornament idea. We bought the official attraction collectibles -- the ones that look like a ride car -- tied clear string and a hook to them, and hung them on our tree. These only cost about $5 each! - Bill Fosbenner

CHRISTMAS - Our family always checks out the key rings at WDW. A lot of the key rings are suitable to be used as Christmas ornaments or jewelry. On our most recent trip we purchased a monorail key ring to use as a Christmas ornament. We saw a glass monorail ornament that was twice the price and I wasn't sure it would survive the plane trip home. We also bought a key ring that had a Tinker Bell charm on it. I removed the charm (silver) and placed it on a chain to wear as a necklace. The key ring cost $6 compared to the actual Tinker Bell charms that were $12. - Ronda

As great as zipper-top bags are for holding snacks, you might want to think about hard plastic storage containers for them or something equally sturdy. I've witnessed a squirrel literally rip a hole in a reusable supermarket bag to get at the chips inside, no matter how many times we shooed him away. Anytime you're in a show or a ride with a long line the squirrels and birds have PLENTY of time to mess with your stuff that you've left in your stroller or scooter. - Aren

We have been searching for Hidden Mickeys at WDW, so to 'train' my husband for our last trip, I hid one Hidden Mickey a day for him to find before work. I only hid them in the bathroom because if he had to look all over the house before work, it wouldn't be fun! We both enjoyed this pre-trip practice, and I really think it paid off! He did 100 times better at spotting Hidden Mickeys once we got to WDW. A few words of advice for anyone who might want to try this: limit it to two weeks or less before your trip! Also, certain scrapbook stores sell Mickey punches; those were small and I could stick them anywhere! Other good ideas for Hidden Mickeys are placing anything in the three-circle shape, such as dots of cream connected to look like Mickey. There are many Hidden Mickeys like that at the World, so be creative! - Alea Laughery

What my girlfriend and I do is take two scrapbooks -- one for me and one for her. Each night, before going to bed, we take a minute to write down our best moments for that day. When we get back home we trade the books. It's fun to see the trip through the eyes of your loved one. It brings back memories that you may have skipped, and it helps you understand each other even more. Planning the next trip is then easier, because you have a better idea of what the other one would rather do. This could easily be done with a whole family. - Sylvain, Montreal

I wanted to add to the suggestion about sending postcards signed by Disney characters. On the first morning of our trip in November, I excused myself from breakfast with my family at the All Star Sports food court to pick up two postcards from the shop in the lobby. I wrote notes to each of my sons with specific details from the night before at Epcot and signed a favorite character's name on each. It was fun to write in a style that I thought Dumbo or Stitch might use. I popped them in the mailbox and returned to breakfast. After we got home, my sons received their postcards and were amazed to not only get mail from Disney World, but to have the character know just what they did. It worked like a charm and made the magic continue even after we were home. - Julie Morgan

This is particularly popular with our kids (ranging in age from 9 to 14) during the return trip when we drive. We do a "game show" style quiz on our trip and at our location (either at WDW or on the Disney Cruise). For example, if we are doing a Jeopardy-style quiz, and we just returned from a WDW vacation, we will use categories such as Epcot or Magic Kingdom or resorts. Questions (or rather "answers") could be destination-related ("This is a ride at Epcot that takes place in a boat.") or specific to our trip ("This was the first ride we rode on Tuesday."). The way we play it, we rotate through each child and let them pick the "value " of the question. The higher the value, the tougher the question. We give a better pin to the winner and other pins to each of the "players!" - Sonney from Maryland

Although it hasn't even been a year since our last trip, reading through the ALL EARS(tm) newsletter makes me yearn for the day when we will take another. So, as I read through the newsletter itself, especially the tips section, I find lots of great ideas that I know I'll want to use for our next trip. I cut and paste them into a 'note' in Outlook that I entitled "WDW tips," to look at and sort through before we go to see the Mouse again. It makes me feel better -- almost as if I were already planning a trip. - Maria Mounsey

We were in Disney World last month and noticed that there are new ways that the MagicBands interact with various attractions. At Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, there is an electronic poster in the queue that displays the name and home city of guests. At Mission: Space, there are video screens in the post-attraction room that will display the names of the guests who finished the ride, along with their hometown and their mission projection. At Space Mountain there are video screens along the moving walkway that display the names of the guests who finished the ride. At the end of "it's a small world," look for the video screen to display the names of the guests on the boat. There may be more attractions that may also implement this technology, so keep your eyes open in the queues and in the post-attraction areas. - Brian Kehoe

We were in Disney World last month and noticed that there are new ways that the MagicBands interact with various attractions. At Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, there is an electronic poster in the queue that displays the name and home city of guests. At Mission: Space, there are video screens in the post-attraction room that will display the names of the guests who finished the ride, along with their hometown and their mission projection. At Space Mountain there are video screens along the moving walkway that display the names of the guests who finished the ride. At the end of "it's a small world," look for the video screen to display the names of the guests on the boat. There may be more attractions that may also implement this technology, so keep your eyes open in the queues and in the post-attraction areas. - Brian Kehoe

Regarding two-way communication with other members of your party, we have found that texting works the best. It's too hard to hear my cell phone ring with all the noise of the parks, and it's also too hard to talk on the phone. So we just send each other text messages to set up meeting places, or to let the other person know if we're running late. - Kirsten Searle

Missed buying that souvenir before your trip ended? You can call Disney Merchandising and have any WDW park or resort item shipped to you. Call 1-407-363-6200. For Disneyland merchandise, call DelivEARS at 1-800-362-4533 to have it shipped via UPS. - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you by www.themouseforless.com and Mike C. and Jennifer

MAGIC KINGDOM - When two showings of a parade are offered at the Magic Kingdom in an evening, the second is almost always much less crowded and just as nice! - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you by www.themouseforless.com and Mike Boyer

The portions at full service restaurants are typically very large. We order 1 or 2 appetizers and a dessert, or one entree and one appetizer and share. We get plenty to eat and save quite a bit on the food budget. In addition, there are no leftovers to tote around the park! - Timeless Tip o' the Week brought to you bywww.themouseforless.com and Mickey Birt