Tips about Food & Beverage, Kids, Magic Kingdom, Mousecellaneous, Planning and Strollers

After doing Disney for years and years we decided to do a photo scrapbook of Disney Dining... We started doing just the desserts everywhere we ate; now we've added other edible items of interest and fun. We're hoping to add some Happiest Celebration desserts to the album in May! - Betsy Vancura

When we took our baby to Walt Disney World the first time, we were worried about having our stroller taken, even accidentally, since it is a popular Disney umbrella stroller. My husband made a sign and laminated it, and hung it from the back of the stroller. It said, "Please don't take my stroller; I'm only 6 months old!" It made it easier to pick ours out, and still didn't hamper folding it up. - Alea Laughery

Epcot - Since we're passholders, the kids have been so many times it can get boring for them. They've done the masks and passports at Epcot over and over. What I do before each trip is make up a new passport. I include a picture on the page and certain facts about the country that they need to find. It's interactive with the Cast Members in that country and they enjoy teaching the kids! For instance, in China, learn how to count from 1 to 10 in Chinese. In Germany, have a Cast Member tell you about the wall that used to separate their country. In America, what does the Liberty Bell stand for? As I said, the Cast Members love the interaction with the kids. They are proud to talk about their countries. As a prior homeschooling mom, I am always trying to sneak in a learning experience when I can and Epcot is the perfect place to do so without the kids realizing it! - Julie Turbide

Epcot - Since we're passholders, the kids have been so many times it can get boring for them. They've done the masks and passports at Epcot over and over. What I do before each trip is make up a new passport. I include a picture on the page and certain facts about the country that they need to find. It's interactive with the Cast Members in that country and they enjoy teaching the kids! For instance, in China, learn how to count from 1 to 10 in Chinese. In Germany, have a Cast Member tell you about the wall that used to separate their country. In America, what does the Liberty Bell stand for? As I said, the Cast Members love the interaction with the kids. They are proud to talk about their countries. As a prior homeschooling mom, I am always trying to sneak in a learning experience when I can and Epcot is the perfect place to do so without the kids realizing it! - Julie Turbide

One way my mom and I got ready for our trip to Disney World was to make a list of every animated Disney movie (in order of when each came out) and watch a movie a day until the trip! It helps you remember the magic of the movies while you get ready to experience the magic of the parks! - Chelsea

ALL PARKS - My tip is for keeping track of your hats while on rides or shows at the World... I bought some carabiners that we put on the strap of our fanny packs. I learned the hard way to put it through a part of the strap so that the carabiner is trapped and can't fall off when you take the fanny pack off. When we step inside at WDW, we both take off our hats, and snap them to the carabiner on our fanny packs -- it's easy to keep track of, and we don't worry about losing our hats or leaving them behind. We even do this on the rides, and find we can ride most things with our fanny packs (and hats) left on our waist. For wet rides, we put the hat over our fanny pack, and it helps keep splashes off. - Jill Neill

I have a 2-year-old who doesn't eat much. The kids' meals at the counter service restaurants are always too much for her, and we feel like we're wasting our money. One day we discovered that we could order a SIDE order of macaroni and cheese for only $1.79 (at Columbia Harbour House in the Magic Kingdom). It wasn't on the printed menu, but when we asked, they had no problem ringing it up. I am sure we could do this at most other counter service restaurants as well. This saves us from wasting money and food! - Renee Lunsford

I just wanted to share a tip I had for finding your stroller at night when you are in the parks. We have a navy blue stroller so at nighttime it is sometimes difficult to find it when you come off of a ride. Before we left on our most recent trip I bought a couple of battery operated glow-sticks. They come in different colors and have a breakaway lanyard. (I found them at Walmart.) When we parked our stroller I would turn on the light stick and when we came off of a ride or an attraction it was so easy to find our stroller. They are inexpensive and the best part is they are battery-operated so you can turn them on and off. My daughter also liked using them as magic wands that glowed in the dark. - Kelly

We have visited Disney two times in the last two years. Each time we rented a stroller for my daughter. Instead of opening and closing our map I always take chip clips with me and clip the map to the top of the stroller so while I am pushing her around I can look at the map. - Jennifer Parham

Magic Kingdom - If you have small children who like to ride the roller coasters, but don't want to wait in long lines, head over to the Great Goofini's Barnstormer after the first evening parade or Wishes if the park is open late, and they can ride it over and over again (sometimes without having to get off). My daughter is 5 and we do this a couple of times every time we visit. It's also fun to watch the fireworks from the roller coaster! - Keith King

After having almost missed dinner because we did not have our confirmation number and they could not find us in the computer, I now keep all of our confirmation numbers, dining places, and times in the calendar on my cell phone. That way when I am in the park I have dining reservations literally a fingertip away -- no more forgetting them in the room. - pigget74

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

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

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

As a vegetarian I was very concerned when my family wanted to go to the German pavilion in Epcot to have supper. Germans are known for their love of meat! I went in and asked the man at the front about vegetarian choices. He turned out to be the chef, who asked me what I liked to eat and then told me to get anything I would like from the buffet and he would be back. Oh my gosh, he came back with the best pasta dish I have ever eaten in my life! (I tried to coax him home with me, but to no avail.) If you don't see anything that you prefer on the buffet line, just ask. We now stop here every year when we come. - Lori Beros