Tips about Food & Beverage, Mousecellaneous, Resorts and Travel

The recent note in the newsletter regarding not being able to have a sit-down meal before Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in the Magic Kingdom only reinforces that dining reservations are a MUST during any meal. This includes "regular" days as well as special occasions. Why risk having to leave the park for lack of planning when all it takes is an online reservation or a quick call to 407-WDW-DINE? - Darlene Kane

A quick tip to save on airfare: I recently went to Disney and the cheapest airfare coming home to New York was $182 each -- multiplied by six, as I have four kids. I found a flight out of Daytona for just $69 each. I rented a car from Alamo (which is on property) for $80 and drove. It is an easy drive and only takes an hour. I saved nearly $700 for what amounts to a minor inconvenience. - Hugh O'Brien

I had breakfast with my daughter at Cinderella's Royal Table. I just wanted to let you know that there is a new addition/substitution at breakfast. Instead of the cream cheese-stuffed French Toast with Cognac sauce, it is now a Caramel Apple Stuffed French Toast and it was unbelievable! It appears that some of the pastries may have changed, too. I ate here last December and it seems that the Mickey head-shaped blueberry muffins were new as well. - Kristin LaRose

On a recent trip I discovered that the new "Touch and Go" Key to the World cards (RFID) will work while in a lanyard pouch. However, if you have more than one of the new types of cards together in a pouch or hold them together, the sensors pick up both chips and cannot tell which is which. The cards work if you hold them up to the sensors one at a time, they just cannot be stacked together. - Mark

My new husband and I debated wearing Wedding Ears at Disney. We finally decided against them because of costs, weather, rides, etc., but we wanted people to know were on our honeymoon. No worries. The buttons we received at check-in were enough! Seriously, when going to Disney wear a button! And wear them with pride! Be honest, of course, but the mere symbol that we were celebrating our wedding was enough to have Disney making us feel even more special than we already did! The minute we put on the button, while leaving the Polynesian's Great Ceremonial House, we immediately had well-wishers congratulating us! - Emily Ebersole

Pop Century - If staying at the Pop Century Resort, you might want to bring along a noise maker or a fan. The rooms are very quiet, not a lot of background air conditioner noise like you get at many hotels. To muffle the sound of people outside, we always bring a fan. - Jenifer Markham

I noticed in last week's AllEars Hears that someone mentioned the removal of the a la carte menu from the Grand Floridian Garden View Lounge's afternoon tea. Be sure if you see something like that to ask about it. We noticed the same thing, but asked and were still able to get everything we wanted a la carte, including the cheese plate (which had disappeared from the menu entirely). They have been changing the tea process and the strawberries and cream are now pre-made and are no longer gluten-free, so always be sure to ask questions every time you go somewhere! - Melissa Barlett

I noticed in last week's AllEars Hears that someone mentioned the removal of the a la carte menu from the Grand Floridian Garden View Lounge's afternoon tea. Be sure if you see something like that to ask about it. We noticed the same thing, but asked and were still able to get everything we wanted a la carte, including the cheese plate (which had disappeared from the menu entirely). They have been changing the tea process and the strawberries and cream are now pre-made and are no longer gluten-free, so always be sure to ask questions every time you go somewhere! - Melissa Barlett

When we were at Disney World, we ordered self-contained cereal bowls and other fruit snacks from an online service. They arrived at Pop Century a day or so before us. Pop Century held the packages and delivered them to our room when we arrived. We then picked up milk every morning. It was quick and easy and saved some money. I did not use them all, so Pop Century helped me send the remainder back home. - Brenda Fitzsimmons

When we were at Disney World, we ordered self-contained cereal bowls and other fruit snacks from an online service. They arrived at Pop Century a day or so before us. Pop Century held the packages and delivered them to our room when we arrived. We then picked up milk every morning. It was quick and easy and saved some money. I did not use them all, so Pop Century helped me send the remainder back home. - Brenda Fitzsimmons

Our family does not eat pork, and at the Garden Grill, we mentioned to the server not to bring any pork products (several menu items mentioned bacon). A few minutes after we sat down, the chef came to our table to point out that a few other items also had pork in them, such as a topping or gravy. He offered some alternatives that were delicious and didn't take any extra time. We were also able to get seconds, since it is a family style meal. It's worth it to always ask! - Amy O.

Boardwalk Villas - I have a money-saving tip for all of the BoardWalk hotel guests staying without cars. As DVC members we almost always stay at our home resort, the Boardwalk. We also use Magical Express and never bother to rent a car while there. (Gotta love that free Disney transportation!) Luckily there is a Hess station across the street from our resort entrance. On our first day there my husband and I will unpack one of our large suitcases and wheel it on over to that Hess station where we fill up on gallons of water, bottles of soda, orange juice and beer, plus some snacks and simple breakfast foods to stock our hotel fridge. We may look a little strange loading all that up into a suitcase and walking back to our hotel but we are able to stock up on drinks for a whole week at less than half the cost of the resort. - Erin

If you are traveling with a car, and you have a handicap sticker/emblem, valet parking at the Deluxe Resorts is free. We had a temporary tag on our last trip and only found this out by accident one night when the Polynesian parking lot was full, but the guard saw the tag and directed us to the complimentary valet parking. We did take advantage of it after that, and it was nice to have the young valet men lift out the scooter for us! - Kathy Jo

We're a family of three that lives about 90 minutes from Walt Disney World. We usually pack our own picnic lunch of sandwiches and bottled water or sports drinks that we take with us when we have a Disney Day. It's amazing how hungry you get when you're touring, so we always bring our own snacks (packs of pretzels, cheese crackers, apples, bananas, etc.). It is a little inconvenient carrying a backpack loaded with food, but I figure that one small inconvenience saves us in the neighborhood of $50 per day that we spend in the parks, so it's worth it. Even though we love the Magic, we just can't look past some of the disproportionately high prices for things like bottles of soda and water. Lately, our favorite picnic spot has been the porch of the Main Street train station, where you can overlook all of Main Street, USA. There are tables and chairs up there that never seem to attract too many people. Once, we even had the Trolley Show cast members perform right in front of us on the porch as part of the "Walkin' Right Down the Middle of Main Street USA" show, and then as they left, they tried to bargain with us for a couple of the homemade chocolate chip cookies we were eating at the time! My son thought that was hysterical! We've also enjoyed the outdoor porch area of the Mexico pavilion at Epcot, which also has a number of tables and chairs that are usually vacant. - Diane C.

We live in Florida, so we are at the parks all the time. Spending even just a few hours at the parks can really hurt the wallet, especially when there are seven mouths to feed. What I began doing is making sandwiches for everyone, keeping them in a cooler and heading out to the car at lunchtime. I will have everyone tell me what they would like on their sandwich and assemble them at home. I will keep lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard and Italian dressing on the side in the cooler. I label each of the lunch bags and finish adding the condiments as each person would like at lunchtime. We have drinks and bags of chips in the car as well. I will spend only 1/10 of the amount of money on lunch and it is delicious and more nutritious than eating in the park. We do this even if staying on Disney property or at our timeshare on 192. You get away from the rush of the park and it really does not take too much time out of your day. This does require a little extra work in the morning, but it is well worth it. I couldn't see spending $80 for lunch a few times a month, every month for the past four years... that adds up! - Margaret