Tips about Kids, PhotoPass, Planning and Souvenirs

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

Did you know that the cost of booking a vacation with a Disney travel agent is the same as booking a vacation yourself directly through Disney? Sometimes it can even be cheaper, as the agent will watch for discounts to help you get the most value for your hard-earned dollar. - Melissa Weis

Take advantage of all the discounts -- we use the military and annual passholders' ones regularly. We also stay Sunday through Thursday to avoid "weekend" rates and bonus! -- parks are usually less full weekdays. - Katherine Marshall

Research! Utilize the excellent menu feature here on AllEars.Net. Know what the different restaurants or service counters offer so that you know they serve something both you and your kids like. With the costs of an entree, you definitely don't want your child to tell you they don't like what you ordered. Make a list of the places in each park that satisfy all of your needs. Then, if possible, actually make choices before you go. Stick with what you know works, especially for your kids. - Tom Galloway

When my daughters and I went to Disney World two years ago, we registered our PhotoPass before we left and gave my husband (who couldn't come on the trip) the password. He was able to see where we were each day as the photos were uploaded to the site. We stopped at as many PhotoPass opportunities as possible. It was wonderful. He could see how much fun we were having and that we were safe. They took so many great pictures we bought the CD when we got home. We are going again this summer and plan to do the same. - Denice Gartrell

Many attractions at WDW are tied to amazing stories, but some of the stories are not as popular as they once were. We recommend watching classic movies like "Swiss Family Robinson" and "Tom Sawyer" so young children can understand, appreciate and experience the attractions. Otherwise, climbing a tree house or rafting to an island may not have the same "magic" as it could. Also, as a mother of boys who are not as familiar with princesses, we watched "Snow White," "Cinderella" and "Little Mermaid" so they are familiar with the stories and could recognize the princesses more easily. - Sandy

I haven't seen this widely publicized yet, but Amazon Prime Now has started delivery to the WDW resort hotels. It's open to Prime members and can be used to order groceries, diapers and tons of other things that you may need while on vacation. Delivery is free within two hours and $7.99 if you want it delivered within one hour. They'll drop your items at Bell Services for you to pick up. You have to order through the primenow.amazon.com website or use the Amazon Prime Now app to place your order though, not the regular Amazon site or app. It's certainly a convenient way to get the stuff you need without having to leave the property. - Brian B.

The best idea I ever had was on our last visit with our 11- and 7-year-old grandsons. I bought the most inexpensive prepay phone I could find and $10 in minutes. I programmed my cell phone number in for one-button dialing and then programmed that phone's number into mine. We never lost the boys because we could call and find them if they got separated from us. We even let them do Tom Sawyer Island and similar attractions by themselves. We were able to call and let them know when it was time to return. This gave them a great feeling of independence and gave us a break. - SJPEC

We just returned from a fun vacation at Disney. We went when school was in session so my first-grader was asked to journal daily about what we did (school provided the journal). It occurred to me to bring his journal with him and have characters sign it. He then wrote before or after the autographs about his day and what we did. A great school project and a nice keepsake! - Lisa Kuehnle

Laura shares these PhotoPass tips:

-- Make sure that the picture is always taken with your own camera in addition to the PhotoPass camera. Our Tigger pictures were never uploaded. Everybody can make a mistake and the photographer forgot to scan our PhotoPass. We didn't realize until we got home.

-- Take the kids out of the stroller, but get one picture in the stroller. I absolutely love our picture of the kids in their strollers and my husband and I each pushing one. It shows exactly what the week looked like.

-- If your kids are sick of getting pictures taken, then try to get them to take one making silly faces followed by nicer faces. Or have them wave good-bye to the parks.

-- Absolutely, write down your PhotoPass number. I took a picture of ours with my phone and emailed it to myself.

-- Ask the person taking the pictures for suggestions or alternate spots with every picture. At Animal Kingdom this led us to find a gorilla hiding in a place that we never would have found on our own.

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

I loved the article on traveling to Disney with babies (AllEars® Issue #721, July 16, 2013). I agree with all the tips, and I have one of my own. We took our daughter to Disney World when she was 16 months old. As anyone with small children knows, diapers can be bulky to pack so we took enough to get us thru the first day. When we checked into the hotel (Caribbean Beach Resort) we called the front desk. A cast member gave us the phone number for a local pharmacy and we ordered diapers from them, along with a few other things like soda and water and snacks. They were delivered to our room that night, and it was a great experience. We went back when she just shy of 2 years old and did the same thing. I highly recommend this! - Jane Carlson