Tips about Health, Mousecellaneous, Resorts and Souvenirs

If you are driving your vehicle to one of the Epcot or Magic Kingdom resorts and plan to dine, be sure to have your confirmation number handy. Guards are being more strict on parking at these resorts! - Deb Wills

All Resorts - Use On-Line Check-In every time and indicate your approximate arrival time. Disney has designated cast members working on these room assignments. Keep your room requests to a minimum, and prioritize them. Everybody wants to have a nice view, near the lobby and next to friends and family, but too many requests may make it impossible to find your perfect room, in your room category. Which request is most important? When Disney has to decide they may not pick yours. - A Cast Member

Shades of Green - The laundry facilities at Shades of Green only accept tokens, not actual quarters. We learned that the hard way when we brought down about $12 in quarters last summer. You must purchase tokens from the change machines in each laundry room to do your laundry there. On the plus side, the kids had a blast at the arcade with those leftover quarters! - Teri Biebel

Animal Kingdom Lodge - I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading "Zamgwar Sleeps with the Giraffes". The last time my husband and I were in Disney World was in September 2009. We were recently married and a family friend let us use her Disney Vacation Club points as a wedding gift. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and reading Zamgwar's article brought back such wonderful memories. AKL truly is an amazing resort. I have a tip for anyone staying there: Our room was located on the Uzima Savanna. We much preferred this savanna to the main Arusha Savanna. Arusha is extremely large with lots of trees and bushes and when we went down to one of the public viewing areas, we had trouble seeing a lot of the animals. They were either hidden, or too far away. The Uzima Savanna is much smaller and you are guaranteed an up-close and personal look at the animals! - Jillian

My husband uses an ECV to get around the parks. After several trips to the parks, we came up with an easy way to attach our hotel refillable mugs: a shoestring! Usually the basket in front of the ECV is full of other things, so attaching our cups with a shoestring or cup holder is essential. - Judy Shock

All Resorts - For young children who are too big for cribs, bed rails may be available upon request at Disney resorts. Be sure to ask at the front desk if you need them. - Megan

We all remember to notify our credit card companies before we leave home to let them know we will be out of town so we can use those cards. Something I failed to remember, though, was to notify the company that manages my health insurance "Flex Spending" debit/credit card that I would be in Orlando! Of course, the fourth day into our vacation I got sick. My physician called in an antibiotic to Turner Drug (which, by the way, does not accept any form of insurance). Turner Drug would have accepted my flexible spending card, but it was declined since I hadn't updated it with my traveling details. Also, you don't get a traditional receipt that you can turn in for reimbursement -- that fee was charged on my resort bill. I can't imagine trying to recoup that money with a Disney Resort receipt! - Peggie Radke

For all those with peanut and/or tree nut allergies, make sure you have a meal at the Be Our Guest Restaurant (which was breathtaking, by the way). The chef advised us that no nuts are used on premises, and although the bread was made in a facility that may have resulted in cross contamination, ALL of the desserts were safe for those with peanut/tree nut allergies! My son was able to pick his own cupcake for dessert, and I'm not sure who was more excited -- him or me. The chef just had to prepare the cupcake without the garnish, which did not take away from it at all. Not to mention the cupcakes are amazing! I would highly recommend Be Our Guest, as most other sit-down restaurants are only able to offer ice cream without the Mickey sprinkles for dessert! - April Slavin

My family, which includes my 4-year-old son who has a peanut and tree nut allergy, recently visited Disney World. I did my research and contacted the Special Diets and Dietary Needs cast members prior to our visit, I noted his allergy on all of our Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) and made sure we mentioned it at all quick-service meals. I am happy to say everything went great! The only minor issue we ran into was at all of our ADRs, some type of bread or rolls were served before dinner and if they were not made in the restaurant, there was no guarantee that they didn't contain any nuts or were cross-contaminated in the bakery. It doesn't sound like a huge deal but when you are a hungry kid and everyone else is eating, it is tough. If I had known this in advance, I would have brought some crackers or something for my son to snack on. Also, a lot of the desserts are not made in the restaurants, so we ran into the same concern there. - Stacy Hearn

Pop Century - Just stayed at Pop Century for the first time and really enjoyed the resort. Wanted to mention that the "Mom's Night Out" dinners at the food court are fabulous for about $10! The fried chicken was excellent. Sad to report that those dinners are no longer served in metal TV dinner trays, though. - Susan

Last time I went to Walt Disney World I bought a fleece shirt that had a "security tag" on it. Unfortunately, I did not realize until I got home that the cast member who checked me out never removed it. How frustrating! Do yourself a favor and double-check your clothes for those tags before leaving for home. - mkmouse

We reuse our popcorn containers we get from Disney. They come in handy for many things. Our main use for them is to cut up fruit, like watermelon or pineapple, and store the fruit in those containers. Then the kids can grab their fruit whenever they want some and it's already cut up. We also use them for markers and crayons, great storage containers. - Nicole Miller

All Resorts - My wife and I get to go to Walt Disney World fairly often, so we always build "relax" time into our trips. Sometimes, that means going back to the resort for a quick nap in the middle of the afternoon. We find that turning on the "WDW Today" channel on the TV provides the perfect background music for this. "The nap channel" (as we call it) provides soft, instrumental versions of Disney songs. We hop in bed, turn the volume down a bit, and drift off to a rejuvenating sleep. And while I can't prove it, I'm pretty sure the music helps to make magical dreams! - Brian Lawrence

We love the refillable mugs at the Disney resorts and find them to be a great value. Before leaving home, I purchase disposable dishcloths and spray them with a foamy dish-washing detergent, let them dry and place in a zipper top bag. Just dampen the wipes to thoroughly clean the mugs with soap and water. Each wipe lasts for several washings. No leftover, sticky residue; just a nice clean mug. Especially great if one member of the family has the sniffles. - Linda Jacobs

All Resorts - If you have toddlers and/or crawling babies, it is a good idea to check the floor, including under the beds, for medications dropped from the previous resort guests. We found an unknown pill picked up by our one year old as he was scouting out the place. It only takes a minute and is well worth the effort! - Timothy