Tips about Food & Beverage, PhotoPass and Resorts

Last year I bought my husband the "Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs" cookbook. This year when we went, my husband brought the book and requested (at each dining establishment) that the chef sign the page in our book that had the recipe from their kitchen. It was a treat for both the chefs as well as my family when, on occasion, the chef came out to our table. Now we have started a family tradition that we can continue as adults while our kids work on the autographs of the characters. - dollydawne

Fort Wilderness - I recently returned from Fort Wilderness and discovered that the "petting farm" is now called the "pony pond." There are a few Shetland ponies and miniature ponies but no other animals and there is no more feeding. We really enjoyed seeing "Qes," one of the horses in the stable we had seen the day before pulling the trolley down Main Street, USA. - Josh Steiner

I print out clear labels with all of our information and bring along extra to label everything that we get new at the parks, from our cups to our PhotoPass. The extra labels are great in case you do forget to label something before you leave and the clear labels blend right in. - Cara Martin

Even if you are not a fan of food on the bone, don't let that stop you from going to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. I let our hotel concierge know my aversion to food on the bone and he called over to Hoop-Dee-Doo. When we arrived I was served one of the most tender, juicy and well-seasoned boneless, skinless chicken breasts I have ever had. Great also for those watching their weight. The restaurant requests that you let them know at least 12 hours in advance. Enjoy the show! - Michelle Buchecker

With the necessity of ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations) and keeping track of all those reservation numbers, I decided this year to type a list of our reservations. I included the date, time, and name/location. Then I shrunk the text, printed it and laminated it. It was smaller than a credit card! I put a hole in it, placed it on a carabiner and hung it on my backpack. It was always handy and ready for use and easier to make any needed changes! - Marie from Long Island

If you lose your PhotoPass card, as we did this past week on our vacation, don't despair! A cast member in the PhotoPass place in Magic Kingdom (Exposition Hall) was able to locate all the pictures that were on the lost card and transfer them to another PhotoPass card that we had. How? By using the time and date stamp on my digital camera, I was able to tell the cast member the exact date and time that we were at a certain place with a certain character and they were able to find all of our pictures in no time at all. Of course the best thing to do is to either take a picture of the back of all your PhotoPass cards or write down the numbers, but if you forget to do that those photos don't have to be lost! - KTiede8587

If you go to the water parks early in your trip and you have pictures taken, your PhotoPass has a stretchy bracelet so that you can wear it on your wrist. Use this pass for all of your photos in the parks. The bracelet clicks open and can be put on your lanyard, or you can wear it around your wrist for the whole trip. - Tim Banic

If you happen to have a clear plastic holder for your Keys to the World Cards, put your PhotoPass card with the scan showing through the clear plastic. Whenever you get your photo taken by a PhotoPass cast member, all the CM has to do is scan your card and it can be done without even taking the card out. After many times fumbling for our PhotoPass card, I'm so glad a CM saw me and told me about this. It sure saved some time and was so easy. I had the clear plastic holder attached to a lanyard around my neck, which made for even easier scanning! - DawnMaree Welch

I traveled with a group of 14 this past June. We ended up with three sets of photos to view. Don't buy three CDs of pictures; just email Guest Services and tell them the email addresses and passwords that were used, and all the PhotoPass numbers. They will set up one site and you'll be able to order one CD of pictures. This process took us two weeks to complete with emails to Guest Services and questions for us to answer, but it was well worth the savings. Guest Services will extend the expiration dates of passes so you won't lose any pictures. Always contact Guest Services when in question about anything, as they really do help. - Karen

Regarding that tip about not being able to combine PhotoPass cards, you can, but they all have to be uploaded onto one account. So the reader who shared that tip could have gotten all of her photos on one CD had all the different cards been uploaded onto one account, rather than each family member making their own account. - Justine Annucci-Bonomolo

Twenty-four members of our family just returned from a wonderful 10-day trip to the World. We accumulated 15 (no exaggeration!) PhotoPass cards along the way. Because we are all related, we just whipped out any old card whenever one was needed, not keeping track of whose card was whose. The problem arose when we returned home and the three of us who ended up with cards in our possession decided to upload the photos. To our dismay, we could share photos with each other but not combine our PhotoPasses onto one CD. This meant purchasing three CDs at $125 each in order to have all my own kids' pictures. The lesson: keep your own family's photos on your own card(s) so you can get them all on one CD when you return home. - Melanie Deware

Two tips when eating at El Pirata Y el Perico (especially on hot days): 1) Ask for extra sour cream when you get your entrees (none at the topping bar), the packets are a little small; 2) when on the dining plan, ask them to hold the ice cream bars until after you've eaten. It was 90 degrees when we ate, and the cast member at the window was kind enough to hold ours so we could enjoy them as ice cream rather than soup! - NOTE: El Pirata Y el Perico is only open seasonally - tusportsfan

After finding out that the picture packages they bring to your table at some of the character meals have the PhotoPass number on the back, we asked the cast member who brought them to us if we could get the number. The first meal of our trip the cast member said that you had to purchase them. The second meal the cast member let us in on a great tip -- all you have to do is go to one of the PhotoPass stores and tell them the date and approximate time of your event and they can get that picture and put it onto your PhotoPass CD! I think this is great for those of us who plan to buy the CD and don't want to spend extra money on the packages they bring to the tables. We went to the PhotoPass spot in Epcot -- it took a little searching in the system but the pictures from 'Ohana and Chef Mickey's were added to our CD! - Kat Garcia

Fort Wilderness - When I took my son over to Fort Wilderness for an afternoon pony ride, we were so disappointed when he couldn't ride because he was wearing open-toed sandals. It is required that kids wear closed-toe shoes to ride the ponies at Fort Wilderness. - Robin Jones

EDITOR'S NOTE: Parents should also wear closed-toe shoes.

Yacht and Beach Club - If you're staying at the Beach or Yacht Club and walking to and from Epcot here's a hint to make your trip easier. Most folks walk up over the ferry bridge. For two older adults who sit behind computers all day, that "up" part at the end of the day after walking all over Epcot was a killer. There is a path beside the overpass that goes down along the river. This seemed to us to be flatter and much easier when we were tired. - Jane and Al Boeck