Tips about Magic Kingdom, Mousecellaneous, Other and Resorts

I recently made reservations for a trip to Disney in January. Being Florida residents, we go every year and use the discount. This year, for some reason, I decided to ask if there was a AAA discount on hotels and if it was different than the Florida resident discount. Come to find out (much to my surprise!) there is a difference and AAA was a little cheaper. I don't think they offer the AAA discount at every hotel, but we were looking at one of the All Star resorts. Oddly enough, we could only choose between the Music and Sports to use our AAA discount. So, for anyone out there who is a Florida resident and also has AAA, make sure you ask about it. - Charlene

ALL PARKS - My husband and I just returned from our honeymoon at WDW and had a MAGICAL time! One thing that I would like to share concerns the "Magical Wishes" pins that you can pick up from Guest Relations at the theme parks. My advice is that everyone celebrating a special event -- honeymoon, anniversary, birthday -- pick up one of these buttons. Everywhere we went in WDW we were warmly congratulated by Cast Members! We had an incredible time! I would recommend WDW to any couple who wants a truly special honeymoon! - Christina Church

EDITOR'S NOTE: There are many styles of buttons available at Guest Relations. Among the more popular: "Best Wishes,""Congratulations," "1st Visit", "Happy Anniversary" and "Today is My Birthday."

ALL PARKS - My husband and I just returned from our honeymoon at WDW and had a MAGICAL time! One thing that I would like to share concerns the "Magical Wishes" pins that you can pick up from Guest Relations at the theme parks. My advice is that everyone celebrating a special event -- honeymoon, anniversary, birthday -- pick up one of these buttons. Everywhere we went in WDW we were warmly congratulated by Cast Members! We had an incredible time! I would recommend WDW to any couple who wants a truly special honeymoon! - Christina Church

EDITOR'S NOTE: There are many styles of buttons available at Guest Relations. Among the more popular: "Best Wishes,""Congratulations," "1st Visit", "Happy Anniversary" and "Today is My Birthday."

I noticed in some of the online forums that many people will use their vacation as a reason or inspiration to get in shape. After all, you will need your "walkin' shoes" in the World! I, too, have begun walking in the mornings for exercise... inspired by our pending trip to that Magical Place! My tip is: there are many new sources for podcasts about Disney World. Listening to these podcasts really makes your walk go quickly! You don't need an iPod to listen; any MP3 player will do, or even burn them to disc for your old-fashioned CD Walkman! - Tom in Connecticut

EDITOR'S NOTE: We're aware of several Disney podcasts that have started up in recent months -- there's MouseTunes found at: http://mousetunes.com/ There are also the podcasts at WDWToday.com -- be sure to check out Episodes #19 and #22, which feature ALL EARS® editors Deb Wills and Deb Koma, discussing their book (PassPorter's Walt Disney World for Your Special Needs). We're sure there are other podcasts out there, too -- do a quick internet search if you're interested in finding more.

While preparing for our trip and reading all the tips I could find, I came across the tip about getting the dish wipes for washing out the refillable cups or anything else you might need to wash. I thought that it was an excellent tip and set out to try to find them. I looked in every store in my area trying to find them, but could not. Finally I decided to try to make my own. I got some thick baby wipes and laid them flat on the kitchen counter. I squeezed on some dish soap and left them to dry until the next day. When they were dry, I put them in a zipper top bag. It worked perfectly and I was able to use things I already had around the house! - Angela B.

All Resorts - In the room at the hotel, there typically isn't any place to store your bathroom stuff. Toothbrushes, makeup, medicines, shaving supplies, or whatever else ends up sitting on the counter where it either gets moved or is subject to cleaner overspray when the staff comes in to make up the room. My wife found this tip on a cruise ship website and it worked great for our Disney trip over Thanksgiving. She found a clear plastic hanging shoe holder, the kind that has pockets for holding individual shoes. We hung this in the closet and put all our bathroom stuff in there. It was out of the way, but easy to see where individual items were. The holder went down to the floor, too, so we could put things our 5-year-old needed towards the bottom so she could get them herself. Everything had a place so the bathroom countertop was completely clear when we left for the parks each day. - Pete Johnson

Contemporary - Though you can't just go to the top floor of the Contemporary to watch the fireworks, you can go to the third floor lookout (or the stairwells of the 4th-14th floors). Also, remember that the monorails stop when there are perimeter fireworks. - Kenny

Contemporary - Though you can't just go to the top floor of the Contemporary to watch the fireworks, you can go to the third floor lookout (or the stairwells of the 4th-14th floors). Also, remember that the monorails stop when there are perimeter fireworks. - Kenny

Fort Wilderness - We seem to arrive at Fort Wilderness late in the afternoon after driving for several days. After setting up, it's too late to visit any of the parks. What we do is take the boat over to the Wilderness Lodge for some minor shopping (the Orlando paper) and then over to the Magic Kingdom. We don't go in, but exchange our vouchers for the park tickets. By that time of day, there's no line but a couple of Cast Members are still on duty. If we time it right, we can watch the fireworks from the boat on the way back. - David and Dayle Youngs

Grand Floridian - We found that the Gasparilla Grill at the Grand Floridian Resort provided decent food at just a small premium over counter service in the theme parks. The food available poolside at the waterside pool was very expensive; however, you could get a tray from Gasparilla's and bring your food out to the pool. - Michael Gizzi

When we travel to the World, we make sure to purchase as much as we can on our Magic Band. On one hand, there's no need to carry cash around, but the real benefit for frequent visitors is that at the end of your stay you get an itemized list of all expenditures. We still pay for it all with cash when we check out. After we get home and are settled in from our trip, we go through the list and use it to track exactly where we spent our money (dinner, lunch, toys, etc.). Doing this allows us to budget almost exactly how much money we will need for our next trip and there's no need to save all of your receipts to do it. - Fred Block

Three of the restaurants at Disney Springs (Fulton's Crab House, Wolfgang Puck Cafe, and Portobello Yacht Club) are operated by the same parent company, Levy Restaurants. They have a Preferred Frequent Dining Program that you can use at any of those three restaurants and earn points that can be traded in for gift cards, etc. http://www.levyrestaurants.com - Erick

ALL PARKS - While spending the day in Epcot in the hot weather, when my feet are hot from the pavement, I always change to another pair of socks and sprinkle on some baby powder. It's a quick refresher. - Claire Rozzi

EDITOR'S NOTE: this works great at all the parks!

ALL PARKS - While spending the day in Epcot in the hot weather, when my feet are hot from the pavement, I always change to another pair of socks and sprinkle on some baby powder. It's a quick refresher. - Claire Rozzi

EDITOR'S NOTE: this works great at all the parks!

ALL PARKS - If you are not going to ride an attraction with your family, meet them in the ride's air-conditioned gift shop. Most rides have a gift shop into which the ride will exit, so it's a convenient place to meet up with your family. - Angela H. Nisbett