Tips about Keep The Magic Alive and Mousecellaneous

Here's a must-have! Take along a "plug-in" air freshener with your favorite scent. Not only does your room smell good, but you have a nice glow of a nightlight to keep from tripping over your suitcases at night. - Judy Shock

Whenever we go on vacation I always bring a power strip to charge all of our electronics (cell phone, camera, DVD player, iPod, etc.) The rooms never have enough outlets and are usually in an akward spot. This helps so much and you never have dead batteries. - Julie Pagano

This is for brides-to-be who are interested in planning their wedding at Walt Disney World, but who are not into the traditional Disney Wedding Pavilion: be aware that there are unique sites available for your ceremony and reception. When we mentioned to our Disney wedding planner that Animal Kingdom was our favorite theme park, she told us about a wonderful site in Harambe. Our daughter and son-in-law had a truly magical outdoor wedding ceremony in the candlelit Tamu Tamu courtyard with a fabulous dessert reception to follow at Tusker House. - Debbie Gneshin

Please do not feed the birds. We all know this is wrong, but many an enjoyable Disney lunch is ruined by this. Birds are not supposed to eat popcorn and turkey legs! - Bonnie C.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Disney does post signs to this effect and prints a gentle reminder on its paper napkins, but it bears repeating. It's very unhealthy to feed "people food" to the birds, squirrels and other animals around the parks.

Best Friends Pet Care is now taking online boarding reservations for repeat customers. To read more, go to: http://wdw.bestfriendspetcare.com/news/online-reservations-now-available-repeat-guests - Sheamus Hunt

Every day, several cell phones are lost at Walt Disney World. When a phone is lost, you not only lose communications, you also lose the important phone numbers stored in them. Though the wireless companies encourage you to donate your old phones when you upgrade, I suggest that you hang onto one and its charger as a spare and toss them into your suitcase when you pack. Odds are that you'll never need to use it, but should the worst happen while you're visiting the Mouse, you might be able to switch your phone number to the old phone by contacting your carrier. In a couple minutes, you have a working phone again. If you subscribe to some kind of "Backup Assistant", you might also be able to download your contacts to the spare phone. (Note that only someone who is authorized on the account and knows the password can make that change.) It may not be the shiny new Blackberry that you just got, but that old Motorola Razr is better than no phone for that week. - Mike J.

Magic Kingdom - I read about another reader having problems making reservations for the Harmony Barber Shop. I called 407-WDW-PLAY and the cast member helped me immediately, there was no confusion. She also told me that there are some appointments available BEFORE 9 a.m., some days as early as 8:05 a.m. Might give you a head start on your Magic Kingdom day. - Marianne

We purchased four inexpensive framed cork boards, one for each member of our family. We use the maps from the various parks for the background and purchase pins that symbolize those memorable moments we have at Disney, e.g. first ride, first time staying at a resort. We also use the pins to attach leftover fast passes, room keys and other little tidbits we picked up on our trip. This is our version of the scrapbook and we can display it on our family room wall. - tcgaspie

Our daughter was only 4 the first time we took her Walt Disney World and we thought she might forget quite a bit of her trip, so we typed up each night that we were there what we did each day so we wouldn't forget. When we got home, we filled a Disney photo album with 200 pictures and labeled the days. Before each day is the typed sheet of the daily events and comments (written diary style) that she can read and then look at the day's pictures to remember her trips. - Lisa Thompson

Create a simple, inexpensive scrapbook. Before a magical vacation, look for Disney theme stickers on sale and a scrapbook with at least 15 - 20 pages at a discount store such as Walmart or Target. While on your magical vacation save 'free' items such as a few unused fast passes, napkins, resort papers and key, airline stubs, pressed pennies, paper menus (just ask to keep it). Also remember to take some pictures of your resort, the monorail and Disney bus, views from your window and in the parks, favorite rides, and your family photos. When you arrive home from your magical vacation, create your scrapbook with everything you have collected, plus some cutouts and ride descriptions from your old guide book. After a few years, you will be glad you created a scrapbook. It will bring back many magical memories of where you stayed and ate, a description of what you did, and how you traveled about. Enjoy! I hope the above helps Disney fans have magical memories without spending a fortune. - Wendy

I've always kept receipts and written records of all our trips to WDW, starting in September 1971. In the '90s when we bought our first computer I put it all in. I can tell you the dates, the resort and room number, room rate, who joined us and the highlights of each of the 62 visits (430 nights) that we have stayed in Disney resorts. I also include highlights of each trip, like meeting Miss America and Bob Hope in the Studios, my wife singing with Bob Jackson in the Cotton Co-op and all the other magical moments we have enjoyed. - Mike Shook

I am a divorced father of two who was lucky enough to take my children to the Kingdom just as all of the Christmas decorations were being unleashed upon the parks. As an idea for the girls to give a gift to their mom for Christmas, when we arrived at Epcot we purchased one special autograph book (the larger size that can have a picture put on the opposite page) and the Christmas shirt for each daughter. I then took a picture of the girls in front of each country's pavilion and had a cast member write in their language Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. There were some pages left over, so we also were able to insert pictures and autographs from the main characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy) and some others. The girls had fun posing for the pictures and telling the cast members what they were doing and why, and it became our "little secret," which Mom got on Christmas Day. - Ted Donnelly

Be careful about leaving valuables in your stroller/wheelchair. On the last day of our trip my camera and my daughter's purse were stolen directly from our wheelchair in the wheelchair area at the exit of the Haunted Mansion. The camera was in one of the drink pockets and her purse was under her backpack that was on the seat. The most valuable items were the pictures themselves, after a week of Disney parks. We have been going there for quite a number of years and never experienced a similar problem (except for one stuffed critter grabbed). Security said that instances like this were rare. - Jim Colman

To pass the time until the next trip, my mom started an email poem. She writes four lines about anything at WDW that she can't wait to do, and then sends it to the next person. They add to it and send it on. It's so much fun to see what everyone writes and it gets everyone excited! - Callie C

Use Google maps. They have great aerial shots of Walt Disney World, all of the parks and resorts. You can even see the monorail cars on their tracks, and cast member buildings. Just type Walt Disney World into Google and choose maps, then satellite. After that you can zoom in and out all you like. Another cool thing -- everything is labeled, so you can learn all the road names and names of the ponds and lakes around the property. - John