Tips about Health, Magic Kingdom, Mousecellaneous and Resorts

ALL RESORTS - My wife and I just got back from Port Orleans Riverside and discovered a neat idea. All the TVs are in armoires. Tune into the daily happenings channel. They play just instrumental music in at least 60 minute groupings. Turn up the volume, close the cabinet door, and you have the Magic all evening long. On another channel they feature Disney Radio. Each evening from 7-10 they have audio stories. Again, just turn up the sound, close the door, and you've got more magic! - Jim Miller

ALL STAR RESORTS - When we stay at the All Star Resorts we like to make our room feel larger and also give our daughter more playing room. Simply push the two beds together against the wall and move the night stand and table between the beds and the door and these small All Star rooms become much more roomy. Just leave a note politely asking the housekeeping to leave the furniture the way you have arranged. - Amy Kearns

SHADES OF GREEN - With a military ID, you can purchase items at the Shades of Green Gift Shop that are VERY reasonably priced. For instance, we bought pins there for my son to trade in the parks: $3 for pins that are $6.50-$8.50 in WDW gift shops. - Joseph and Renee Witmer

SHADES OF GREEN - We stayed at the Shades of Green this past October during the National Car Rental Golf Tournament. The great perk of staying there was admission to the tournament was FREE! My husband got to see Tiger Woods in person for free. Needless to say we've made reservations for this year's tournament. - Connie Roberts

Pop Century - My wife and I just returned from a stay at the Pop Century Resort. We discovered that if we were trying to catch a bus from a park back to Pop Century and the lines were very, very long, we could sometimes hop on the Art of Animation Resort bus instead. (The stops are usually next to each other.) The walk from the Art of Animation, through the lobby, and across the short bridge to Pop Century took only a couple of minutes -- much quicker than the possible long wait we would have had for our own resort bus. - Rory Osborne

The only really important advice I would add to this [bringing other people's children] is to make a copy of the other child's health insurance information and also have a signed or even notarized letter from the child's parents stating they will be traveling with you, to where, and on what dates. Hopefully you will never need to use it, but you never know! - Tara Felicio

I have one more tip related to Mary Cronin's idea. I hate walking on my treadmill. Has anyone actually recorded the walk from Spaceship Earth to the American Adventure to play back while walking the treadmill at home? My tape would always have to include a stop at Boulangerie Patisserie in France! YUM! - "Jungle" Jim Sirks

I read Mary Cronin's advisory to walk in order to be in shape for WDW, and I couldn't agree more. My wife and I are in our mid-50s and we have always wondered just how far we really do walk while at WDW, so we bought a pedometer and I wore it on our trip October 18-25. On the 18th and the 25th, our walking was limited to three hours each day due to our arrival and departure from WDW. Our first full day, which included Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, we logged 8 miles -- for the week we were just shy of 40 miles! Believe me, we do not race around the parks. We walk at a normal pace, and we were astounded at the total. Our advice: start walking. - William Kested EDITOR'S NOTE: ALWAYS be sure to break in any new pair of shoes/sneakers you have purchased for your trip.

Do lots of walking before you go to get in shape for walking at the World. This really pays off when you get there, in terms of stamina and enjoyment. We take family walks, and my husband and I also walk on a treadmill in the mornings. Just imagine you are walking from Spaceship Earth to the American Pavilion, or from the far end of one of the parking lot rows to the tram. If you're in better shape, you can pretend to jog from the rope at Tomorrowland to Space Mountain, or from the park entrance to Kilimanjaro Safari in Animal Kingdom. Even if your style of Disney touring is a relaxed stroll, you will benefit from any walking that you do before you go. - Mary Cronin

I've been to Walt Disney World several times. This was the first time I needed to use a motorized scooter. One big tip: Spaceship Earth has a completely separate entrance for scooters. It is one-fourth of the way around the pavilion on the left side. Do not go up the ramp where everyone else goes. A cast member came running out to direct me, and I had to back down. This was my first day with a scooter, so I was a complete novice and managed to run over both my husband's feet. Not good. The system is excellent for scooters and their families IF you know it. - Linda Hesser