Tips about Food & Beverage, Kids and Money and Resorts

For character breakfasts, I would recommend letting girls wear their princess dresses to the princess meals because it helps with the magical aspect of it. However, on extremely hot Florida days, try putting it on over their clothes a few minutes before your reservation or once you are seated. It will only take a moment and it will save the headache of your child whining about being hot. I put my daughter's dress on her after we sat down because I watched a slew of little girls crying outside while waiting in their hot and heavy dresses. - Mendy776

Regarding James Steele's tip about using Monopoly money for children's WDW spending money, I may have another idea. Some parents I have spoken with have created a checking account with the "Bank of Mom and Dad." Purchases are written in the checkbook and register just like adult checks, and the child has to reconcile the checking account like we all do. For those whose children are of an age where addition and subtraction skills are good, this has several advantages. First, the child finally sees a real world use for all that "boring math." Second, learning how to handle a checking account at an early age makes use of the real thing later in life a breeze. And Mom and Dad have the "checks" to check the accuracy and math and allows recovery if a loss of the "checkbook" happens. It might even work to have a "deposit slip" available before the trip so that children can add to the balance from their own piggy bank or allowance prior to the trip. - Randy Berbaum

While at WDW last week I found out that most of the Swan and Dolphin restaurants give a 20 percent discount when you show your AAA card. Exceptions are Il Mulino, bluezoo, Shula's, and Kimono's. - Michelle Buchecker

EDITOR'S NOTE: We double-checked this and found out it's true! Be sure to bring those AAA cards with you. Also, Disney Vacation Club Members get a similar 20 percent discount at the Swan and Dolphin restaurants. Kimono's does participate in the discount program, however.

A few years ago I had my niece and nephews decorate canning jars with stickers and their names. Now, for Valentine's Day and other holidays, we give the kids money to put in their WDW jars. They do not need more candy and toys, which is what they would usually get, and they love having money to put into their vacation jars. When we take our annual trip, they have their own money to spend and they love it! - Sheryl from Connecticut

My wife and I struggled to find a responsible way to allow our children (10 and 6) to have spending money, but not carry actual negotiable currency. The problem with the Gift Cards is that if they are lost or stolen, the money is gone. We as parents don't carry significant amounts of cash because of the very same risk; why have a different message for the kids? The final solution? Monopoly money. The kids were given their predetermined spending money in fake cash, which they carried. When they wanted to buy something they would have to pay Dad with their money, and Dad would stick it on the room charge or credit card, etc. The kids could see how much money they had left and decided how badly they wanted a particular item. We used this on our recent 12-day trip and it worked beautifully. The kids spread their spending carefully across the entire trip and we didn't worry about the cash when my daughter left her purse, which we recovered several hours later, at a Kidcot stop. - James Steele

I have a spending money tip geared to teenagers that is easier for them to manage than cash and easier for me than handing out cash. On our March spring break trip to WDW, I surprised my two teenagers with Disney Gift Cards that I purchased at the World of Disney Store at Disney Springs. They each liked having their own card and not juggling change. I learned the card is usable at Disney owned and operated merchandise, dining and recreation locations where credit cards are accepted, including the Disney shops in the Orlando Airport and Disney Cruise Line onboard the ship. (Some carts and outdoor vendors at the parks do not accept the card.) The balance prints on the receipt after each transaction, has no expiration, can be used with other forms of payment to complete a purchase, is reloadable ($5-$1500!), and can be kept as a souvenir. It's a cool card with Mickey on the front. Now that I know about the card, I plan to reload them for my daughter's high school band trip to Disney World next week. Purchase and use details can be found at DisneyGiftCard.com. - Sandy Marks

ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE - We arrived early at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our dinner at Boma. As usual, we went straight through the lobby to the savannah to check out the animals. The guide there informed us that from 8-10 p.m., you could see the animals through complimentary use of night vision goggles at the animal overlook by the swimming pool. We checked it out after dinner -- it was fantastic! The guides have two night vision goggles for visitors to use, and wipe them down with antibacterial wipes whenever there's a change in families. It was fascinating and unique to look for the animals using the goggles! - hardroff

Fort Wilderness - This year I took my family to dinner at the Trail's End Restaurant at Fort Wilderness Campground. We made a night of it: we started at the Wilderness Lodge, then took the boat ride to Fort Wilderness to our priority seating at Trail's End, which is a very reasonably priced buffet. Then we watched the Wishes fireworks on the beach and the Electric Water Pageant from the boat dock. The kids loved the boat ride and the ducks on the beach. It makes for a lovely and relaxing evening! You could put together a similar evening at any of the Magic Kingdom resorts, although the Trail's End doesn't tend to book up early and it's inexpensive. - Dawn Goodwin

Fort Wilderness - This year I took my family to dinner at the Trail's End Restaurant at Fort Wilderness Campground. We made a night of it: we started at the Wilderness Lodge, then took the boat ride to Fort Wilderness to our priority seating at Trail's End, which is a very reasonably priced buffet. Then we watched the Wishes fireworks on the beach and the Electric Water Pageant from the boat dock. The kids loved the boat ride and the ducks on the beach. It makes for a lovely and relaxing evening! You could put together a similar evening at any of the Magic Kingdom resorts, although the Trail's End doesn't tend to book up early and it's inexpensive. - Dawn Goodwin

Old Key West - As a follow up to Tanya's tip (last issue) about walking around Boardwalk in the morning -- when we stay at Old Key West we always walk all through the resort area and take the paved trail over to Saratoga Springs. We sit by the pool there and have coffee, breakfast or even fruit that we buy in their restaurant before heading back. Golfers would enjoy watching foursomes teeing off as you pass several tee boxes. It is a wonderful trail. When staying at Saratoga we reverse the trip and sit at Turtle Krawl before heading back. It is very relaxing. - Margaret

Epcot Resorts - If you are staying at the Epcot resorts go for an early morning walk -- it's worth it. I know you do tons of walking while at WDW, but there is something magical about walking around the BoardWalk and Yacht and Beach Club first thing in the morning. We stayed at the Dolphin over New Year's and I was still preparing for the half-marathon the following week, so I got up early each morning to go for a walk around the walkways to Epcot, the BoardWalk and the Studios. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this time -- it was such a pleasure to walk and enjoy the beauty of all the buildings, the waterway and just the calm at that hour, and it was a wonderful way to start each day. - Tanya

We're headed down to the world very soon and we've been looking for ways to cut costs. At home, we've found you can save a lot by drinking water. Well, we find the water in Florida to taste a little funny because of the high content of sulfur so we didn't want to do that, but suddenly I remembered those little drink flavoring packets they have now to put into bottled water. The Crystal Light brand says to mix with 16.9 oz. of water but I've found I can go up to 24 oz. and it still tastes strong enough for me. Kool-Aid also makes the individual packets now for the kids and I noticed several other brands at the store. I can't wait to go down and use these. With drinks costing anywhere from $1.50 to around $5.00, I think this will be a huge savings for us! - Terri Daugherty

When purchasing milk, pay attention to the size and the price. During the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend I discovered at Saratoga Springs Spa & Resort, Artist Palette Restaurant a pint of milk was $1.99 and a quart of milk was $1.75. I bought the quart of milk for myself and my daughter. - Mark A. Carlson

The first thing I do each morning, no matter where I am, is drink an ice cold Diet Pepsi to wake me up. It is the only soda I really like. In Walt Disney World, though, there is not a Pepsi product anywhere. One night my husband even walked from Disney Springs to the Hess Station and they don't even carry any Pepsi products. So if you are like me and only like Diet Pepsi or a Pepsi product of any kind and won't have access to a rental car on your vacation, BRING IT WITH YOU! I wish I had known. I would have packed some in my suitcase and our mornings would have been much more pleasant. - Laurel Sloan

All Star Resorts - When my family of four (two adults/two teenagers) stayed at the All Star Music resort we brought along two twin-sized air mattresses and the electric pump to inflate them. My daughters slept on the air mattresses while my husband and I had the full sized beds to ourselves. We did need to push the full sized beds closer together to create enough room for the air mattresses and in the mornings we would need to flip one mattress on top of the other but this wasn't too big of a deal. The wonderful Cast Members who came in to clean our room didn't seem to be bothered by the air mattresses and they left our full sized beds where we had placed them. This was our great solution to the sleeping situation when it came to only being able to afford the value resort rooms but needing more space for sleeping. The cost of the air mattresses was actually less than paying for fold-out beds for the eight nights we were there and everyone had their own bed to stretch out in for a more relaxing night's sleep. - Lisa Cash

EDITOR'S NOTE: While this arrangement worked in this particular case, we wanted to note that most All-Star rooms are only meant to accommodate up to four individuals, plus one child in a crib. Bringing the air mattresses to squeeze more than four occupants in a room would be violating the hotel's fire codes.