Tips about Food & Beverage, Kids and Photography

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

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.

Did you ever go for breakfast or dinner and find out your Priority Seating cannot be found, and you don't have the PS number with you? Well, this happened to me a couple of times. The cast members were very nice, but also sorry because the wait for dinner at Cinderella Castle would be at least one hour and Chef Mickey had no openings at all. So this past May I made a printout of our restaurants, times and Priority Seatings, shrank it to the size of a credit card, had it laminated and put it in my wallet next to my credit card. It worked wonders because for dinner at San Angel in Mexico they could not find our seating -- I gave them my PS card and within seconds it came up on the computer. By the way, dinner at San Angel was just too delicious, you must give it a try! - Fran Giambalvo

Greetings from Alaska! I just read a tip from another reader about bringing snack size bags of Gatorade powder to add to water. Recently, I bought a round plastic container that has three compartments to hold servings of powdered baby formula to use in our upcoming trip to WDW. It has a top that twists to allow an opening to pour the contents of one compartment at a time. I think the container is made by Munchkin, and I found it in the baby products section of one of our local stores. Next time I'm out shopping, I'll pick up another container to use for Gatorade powder. - Anne-Lise Hagevig

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

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

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

We just returned from our first trip to Disney World since having kids. I was a little anxious about how I would be able to make bottles for our 10 month old daughter at the parks--I didn't want to rely on trekking to the baby care stations every time. I found that at any counter service/quick service location in the parks I could ask for a cup of hot water to make a bottle--they must get this request a lot because everyone was ready and willing to hand over a hot cup of water (and for free of course). I just mixed in some of my own ice water with the hot and made the perfect bottle every time. It was a great time saver for us and kept our daughter happy. - Matt & Ellen Evans

If you are going to be in the park all day with small children, invest in a small collapsible cooler that can fill inside your luggage. These cooler are inexpensive to purchase. Walmart has them for $6.00. After you arrive in Disney fill it each morning with a six pack of water and some ice from the hotel. Bottle water is about $3-4 dollars for a six pack, verses the $3.00+ per bottle you will pay inside the park. These coolers have arm straps, and can easily be hung from your stroller. Many cast members were gracious enough to throw a couple of scoops of fresh ice into the cooler. The security guards at the front gate overlook the no food brought into the park. My husband and I did this last year and we literally save over 20 dollars a day by not buying the water in the park. - Peggy, Point Pleasant, NJ

When at WDW, no matter the time of year, there always seem to be a "wait" for something! We help pass the time with our 3 yr old by packing a deck of cards. While waiting for meals, Mickey's Philharmagic, parades, and even the boat back to the hotel, we'll play quick games of "Go Fish" or "Crazy Eights." She'll even make up her own games to help pass the time. It's truly been a lifesaver for an ansy little pre-schooler! - Alison Boeckman

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

We took in small snack-sized bags of Gatorade to put in our water bottles for the really hot days. The park charges a lot for Gatorade -- almost as much as the canister itself costs -- and you can just tear a tiny bit of the bag off and pour it right in. We also carried our water bottles with our own water bottle holders. Family Fun Magazine shows you how to make your own. We made some for our Girl Scout troop that were similar: Use two to three feet of webbing, which you can get at a fabric store, or get those cheaper dog leashes from a dollar store. Cut to your desired length, fold each end around a rubber O-ring (found in plumbing areas of hardware stores) and sew the ends to form your water bottle holder. You simply slip the O-ring over the mouth of the bottle and you have a hands-free bottle of water that you can refill and use to keep yourself hydrated. - Clemley

We have just returned from a week in Disney World with our almost 4-year-old granddaughter. With the help of PassPorter and AllEars® we were able to do it up right. Our own saving grace was purchasing a pair of "earmuffs" (sound protection earmuffs) for our princess. We kept them easily accessible on the top of our knapsack. The excitement, loud noises, fireworks and scary rides were a piece of cake. We saw and heard lots of little ones crying from the noise. Our granddaughter has always been scared of fireworks and we wanted to make the whole experience positive. She enjoyed everything and was so proud of herself that she wasn't afraid of anything, because nothing in Disney World would hurt her! - Diane Russell

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