Tips about Food & Beverage, Planning, Shipping and Souvenirs

If you feel the cold easily, consider bringing a sweater or sweatshirt! The air conditioning on the buses, and in the restaurants, hotel rooms and indoor attractions can be quite cold. - Kristy

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

We have gone to Walt Disney World every year for the last five years with our two kids (now ages 5 and 10) and I have one "must purchase" item prior to a summertime Disney trip: a personal size water fan -- and extra batteries. The water fans in the parks are around $20, but you can buy your own at home for $5 to $7. If you have a stroller, a clip-on stroller fan is great, too. - Ingrid

If a member of your party likes to wear certain types of pants with fairly loose pockets (i.e., athletic or cargo pants), and carries a wallet, it would be a very good idea before your trip to purchase those small Velcro closures and sew them inside the top edge of the pocket. These are just small round bits of Velcro with adhesive on the back so you can place them where you want them. Then just a couple of stitches to secure the front of the pocket to the back, and you are good to go. The Velcro will come apart easily with just a finger tug. We learned the hard way that wallets tend to pop right out of some pants, especially the very loose and comfortable exercise pants my husband favors for park-wear. Luckily, the wonderful people at Cosmic Ray's were able to find his wallet and return it, but we know next time to add a little security! - Joyce A. Deen

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.

We started planning trips around events so that even if we could only go for a weekend, it was still possible. Just last October, we took in Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. That was our only visit to a park during our three-day stay, but not our only Disney adventure. We visited the Winter Summerland miniature golf for the first time -- what a blast! We also visited a few resorts, eating in some of our favorite locations like the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian. Although we enjoy spending four, five, or more days in the park, these shorter trips have meant just as much, and we have plenty of memories! - Shawna

Ever since my son was small, I have purchased Disney plush characters at home, at either a drug store or when The Disney Store has sales. I bring them hidden in our luggage and surprise him with one every day we're at WDW. He believes it's Disney magic that he gets a fun, new toy every day! He doesn't ask for as many toys from the parks and I save a ton of money not having to pay retail prices! - Nancy Cohan

A great way to save money is pre-purchase Disney souvenirs for your kids before you leave for your trip. You can then surprise them every morning with something new. Whether it just be a dollar store Mickey sticker book or a new t-shirt, your child will love it and you will save money! My mother did this on our 1998 trip and to this day I can remember receiving something every morning from a character. - Jessica Stahl

The $1 section of Target and Michaels craft stores always have Disney items. Check out your local Disney Store and Disneystore.com to buy items for the kids before you get there and present them as a gift. I am not going to lie, we still buy stuff at the parks, but give the kids a limit. Also if you drive like we do, check out the Disney outlets in St. Augustine and Orlando. - Michelle G.

I didn't buy our goodies to take home with us until the last day. I know it is tempting to buy everything right away, but if you wait, then when you do buy them, you don't spend more than the budget. - Heather

For someone who wants to visit the parks often and have a souvenir each time without spending a ton of money, postcards are the key! Postcards are like miniature art. Upon your return, they can be framed, made into a collage, or even turned into a border around the room. On the back, you can also write the date or even a message about unique details from that trip. - Crissy Stout

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

I bring most of our beverages with us. I will bring a 12-pack of soda or three different two-liter bottles, a flat or a couple gallons of water. My biggest money-saver is bringing my own chocolate milk. My son drinks a lot of chocolate milk so I scope out the ads for the 10 for $10 sale and stock up the two weeks before we leave. One dollar milk is tons cheaper than the approximately $2.50 milk at Disney. - Shellie

We are also frugal and love being prepared. We were able to find collapsible water bottles with sport top spouts at our local dollar store, along with 12-pack Crystal Light singles and 10-pack off-brand powdered mixes. We took four bottles, then carried drink mixes in a baggie in our backpack, spending roughly $10 on supplies for four days of beverages! Many other guests were jealous of our neat bottles, which had a metal clip we used to hang from each of our bags. We filled them from water fountains with no problem, they didn't leak at all. - Kris