Tips about Food & Beverage, Magic Kingdom, Mousecellaneous, Resorts and Travel

Unlike Florida Residents and Annual Passholders who can order Tables in Wonderland cards by phone or mail, Disney Vacation Club members must buy their TiW card in person, at a Guest Relations location. This is important for travelers to Disney's Vero Beach Resort (which takes Tables in Wonderland). You will need to do a drive-by to Disney Springs Guest Relations or another Guest Relations location to get your TiW card. - Donna Fesel

Before we would leave [on our car trips to Florida], we would give each of our three children a roll of quarters. They loved playing video games, and every time they said, "Are we there yet?" they paid me 25 cents. They seldom would ask more than once or twice! My kids are now grown, so we use the same thing on the grandkids when we take them on a trip, and we all laugh at how much money their Mommy or Daddy lost. - Jill Rengering

We have two Walt Disney World trivia books (compliments of our travel agent at Mouse Fan Travel). For about an hour at a time, on the drive to Florida, we play a game. I read the trivia question and the four multiple choice answers. My husband and two sons guess the correct answer. I keep a tally of how many each person gets correct. Then they each get one Disney Dollar for each point earned in the game. They can spend the Disney Dollars on anything they want in the parks and resort, such as Dole Whips, arcade tokens, and souvenirs. This alleviates the constant requests for Mom and Dad to buy them things and, since it's their "money," they only buy the items and snacks they really want. You might think the older kids and adults would have an advantage in the trivia game, but believe it or not, the questions are such that the answers are mostly guesses anyway. The kids just love it when they can beat Dad! My sons are older now but they still want to play Disney Trivia on the drives to Florida. They know a good thing when they see it! - Martha

All Resorts - On our trip in June 2012 we learned that they leave the scales on all night at the airport luggage check-in desk. This made it easy to find out if our suitcases were too heavy before we had to check them in the next morning. - Sharon H.

Buy a post card for each day of your Disney vacation on the first day. Each evening write down the day's highlights and mail the postcard to your home address from the hotel's front desk or postal box in the lobby. When you return home, you'll have a day by day 'mini journal' of what you did each day. So many of us plan to journal every day but after a day or two forget about it. Postcards are quick and easy! - Judith

Coronado Springs - The Pepper Market at Coronado Springs is now doing a regular breakfast buffet. No ticket and stamping, it's just pay one price (I think it was $15) and it's all you can eat. - Juli Ruffing

EDITOR'S NOTE: The $14.99 buffet service was tested at Pepper Market earlier this year, and has apparently been implemented full-time now. We have updated menus here:
http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm#cs

Coronado Springs - The Pepper Market at Coronado Springs is now doing a regular breakfast buffet. No ticket and stamping, it's just pay one price (I think it was $15) and it's all you can eat. - Juli Ruffing

EDITOR'S NOTE: The $14.99 buffet service was tested at Pepper Market earlier this year, and has apparently been implemented full-time now. We have updated menus here:
http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm#cs

Beach Club - We will be staying at the Beach Club in August. I recently called to add some room requests. When I requested a metal crib (the deluxe resorts used to have these, as opposed to the soft-sided Pack 'n' Plays), they informed me that they are no longer providing them. My son does not sleep well in Pack 'n' Plays. He is a tall 2-1/2-year-old. We requested a roll-away and will be transferring our son to a big boy bed this summer. The metal cribs were a nice feature that the deluxe resorts provided. - Sara

I was all set with extra batteries on our last trip, however finding a screwdriver was the problem. I will be packing one of the all-in-one screwdrivers I found at the dollar store next trip. - Jennifer C.

While visiting the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World last week I surprised my husband with the Mickey Mouse cake for his birthday. The staff put the leftover cake in a box for us. Since my family wasn't ready to return to the Pop Century yet we rented a locker by the entrance for $7.00 plus a $5.00 refundable deposit. It's air conditioned there and the cake stayed cool until we were done for the day. We kept the cake in the refrigerator in our room and nibbled on it the rest of our stay. The cake was great, by the way. - Marion Brandt

All Resorts - If you have diabetes, let the cast member know that you will need a special container for used medical supplies when you check in to your hotel. After checking in at Boardwalk, within 10 minutes housekeeping was at our door with a small haz-mat container. One less thing to worry about! - Judy Peek

I found that there is a Disney Gift Card app for iPhones. This keeps track of what's left on your cards, and what the transactions are. I believe that it is only available for the iPhone. To get it, just go into the App Store on your iPhone and search for "Disney Gift Card app." It's a free app. I downloaded it and put in the info for our wrist cards, and it showed our balance. Real easy. I'm loving it already! One thing -- you have to pick a character for each card. I do not think that you can have the same image for two cards. - Dave Adams

I'd like to add two of my own tips for flying with young children. Firstly, if your plane is going to be equipped with seat-back entertainment (we fly from the UK so ours always are) consider buying your child their own pair of children's headphones. The ones the airlines give out are too big for little heads and young children should not use the in-ear type. Ours come complete with a volume limiter so we don't have to worry about our daughter accidentally turning them up too high. Secondly, even if your young child is out of diapers, bring along a few pull-ups and keep them on hand. Extended periods of turbulence can put the washrooms out of use for hours at a time and slipping a pull-up onto your child is preferable to a wet seat when you're in a "keep seats belts fastened" situation. - Melanie Dye

Wilderness Lodge - We are staying at Wilderness Lodge and have a room overlooking the pool area. We also have a couple of kids and tired grownups who like to nap during the afternoon. Unfortunately, Wilderness Lodge has a daily pool party blasting loud music, so be aware and request a garden view if this will be a problem for you. Luckily, we have our sound machine to help drown out the noise, but I wish I had known this. I might have stayed elsewhere. - Melanie Drake

EDITOR'S NOTE: The main pools at many Disney resorts feature similar afternoon parties and poolside activities, which tend to be quite noisy.

I enjoyed Laura's article on tips for Little Fliers. I would like to share one of my own. My ears would not pop on a flight long ago and the flight attendant gave me two cups stuffed with hot paper towels. You put one cup over each ear. There is something about how the hot air affects the pressure that will alleviate the ear pain. It may look a little silly, but it works. (And for the little ones, it will certainly distract them anyway.) - Sandi Lamborne