Tips about Mousecellaneous, Photography and Planning

After traveling to Disney four days after September 11th and having all of my pictures come back with a "hazy" appearance due to the x-rays at the airport, I learned a great trick: I take along film mailers (York, Clark) which they provide for free and mail them directly from the Disney Hotels. They pay the postage and I have my pictures usually by the time I get back home. I simply write out checks before I leave home, put them in the mailers and keep them with my money so I don't lose them. They also offer to e-mail your pictures for a reasonable amount of money. When I first did this, I realized that I needed some tape to seal the envelope but the Disney staff were more than happy to provide me with some even though they have their own film developing. Now I always pack the mailers. Hope this comes in handy. - Dawn Hewitt

If you plan on visiting WDW during the winter months, buy several pairs of those "magic" stretch gloves before you leave for your trip. If a cold front comes through during your visit and you need gloves, you'll be happy you bought them before you left home. The parks sells them for $6.00 a pair. Quite a difference in price than what your local Wal-Mart sells them for. - Noreen Rachuba

From time to time people want to know the location of the closest church to WDW. Now you can search: http://masstimes.org. You can search for services in any state and town. They even have city maps, too. I thought this might be helpful to anyone wanting to go to services while on vacation. Tina

We have been going to WDW since our children were toddlers. Now they are all teenagers (and beyond), but this tip is still good. We have them bring plastic beverage holders that can clip onto a fanny belt. They start out with water, but if we ate a meal in the park, frequently there would still be some beverage left from the meal. The kids would fill the bottle with the leftover drink and take it with them. This has worked well over the years. - Anne Cioffi

We just returned from our trip to Disney World. The night we went to Fantasmic I knew we would be sitting for a while waiting for the show to begin. The best investment I made was buying one of those soft folding stadium seats. I carried it with me like a purse. Even used the side mesh pocket to carry drinks to our seats. We waited for over an hour and a half for the show to begin but I didn't mind - I was very comfortable with my seat padding and back support! - Marilyn Lewis

Be flexible with making your ADR dining arrangements. If the table you want is unavailable try different combinations -- 2 tables of 2 instead of one table of four; a 3-2 split rather than a table of 5, etc. Splitting up your group for just an hour or so may be the way to go, given that you're spending all day and all night together for several days on end. Splitting up may also allow you to gain more flexibility in changing ADR reservations without penalty if, after several days in the parks, someone in your party says "I don't need to see any more characters, I'll stay at the hotel, sleep late and meet you later, go and enjoy!" - Phylis

On a recent Disney trip I decided to forgo bringing my purse and just buy a cheap, small man's wallet. I just popped my ID, credit cards, ticket and a few dollars in, and off I would go. I could skip the bag line and not worry about where my money and information was. It made airport check-in a breeze also. I still use it today and leave all my other seldom-used cards in my larger wallet in my purse. How often do you really use all that other stuff you drag around with you? - Donna

Want to get prepped for your Hidden Mickey hunt at WDW, Disney style? Just watch Lion King 1 1/2. There are so many Hidden Mickeys in this movie that I lost count! - Alea L.

Here are some photo tips:

1) Watch out for the lighting. Even though you might not see shadows, your camera will pick up any dark places and your photo might not come out as good. Don't be afraid to use your flash in the daytime. Sometimes you need "filler" light for shadowy places -- for example under a person's chin or in the nooks and crannies of a piece of architecture.

2) Try to get photos of the back of the floats in the parade. Some of my best parade photos are of the back of floats. Also, when you pick your spot for the parade make sure you watch out for what is above you (a light or tree branch, for example). It would be a real bummer to pick a spot and sit there for a hour, and then when it comes time to take photos for the parade, find that there is a huge tree branch blocking your shot.

3) Be silly with the characters. Instead of the same boring old picture of you (or your family) and Pluto, scratch behind his ear and see what happens. Have your little girl whisper something in Snow White's ear and then take the photo. It is a lot of fun and will make some very memorable photos.

Robin

I just read your article about trip hassles (When Good Trips Go Bad, Revisited, Issue #233) and I can relate. Although we have had many experiences, both good and not so good in the course of our 30+ trips, one of the worst was when I thought we'd have to break in to our own home. That's right, I lost our house key. Of course, I didn't realize it until we were all packed and waiting for the bellman to come and check the bags. We tore the luggage apart and still couldn't find the key. We eventually called our house sitter (and kitty-sitter) who was able to unlock the back door a few hours before we were scheduled to land. All's well that ends well, but the tears and stress almost wiped out the magic of the trip. Now, I make sure that I carry a spare key in the pocket of my carry-on bag and check it before we leave the house. That way this will never happen again! - Vicki

A tip for parents is to carry a few changes of clothes for the kids. There are a few places where there are fountains that come out of the ground (like at the bus stop entrance to Disney Markeplace) and some rides on which you can get very wet. This way the parents can take their kids into a restroom and change them into dry clothes so that they'll enjoy the rest of the trip to the park without having to run around in wet clothes or underwear. - W.V. Daniels, Jr.

There are so many excellent guide books on WDW it would be hard to choose from the many available. Head to your public library, check some out, put those not on the shelf on reserve and look them ALL over before you decide to buy one. You might decide a general guide with great maps is for you or one on doing Disney with children or for seniors or for singles or one that rates the rides or gives you a great strategies for missing the crowds. Whatever you decide, you can easily order the book that best meets YOUR needs to take along from your local bookstore or online book dealer. The maps alone could easily make it worth your while and the info on things outside of WDW can be very valuable. I compared the various strategies for doing Disney and planned out some alternatives for avoiding lines that hit the things MY family wanted to see. I also discovered some interesting strolling musicians and odd little shops that I would have missed in the wild rush to do the rides. (Joy Kennedy)

I don't know how many folks travel with teens but I travel with my 16-year-old son. We usually stay at the All Stars and the only place for us to change privately is the bathroom. This can cause problems if you have had a shower and it's all steamy. So to solve the problem and give us a little more privacy, I go to the dollar store and buy a cheap white or colored shower curtain. Then I get two of the 3M hooks (with Command adhesive) that have the pull tab to remove them from the wall. We then hang the shower curtain between the sink area and the bedroom area. When we aren't using the area we hang the shower curtain on one hook. But when one of us wishes to change, we just hook the curtain up and we have a nice private area to change. I discovered this about 10 years ago when I was traveling with three kids. This way the two girls could change in one room and the two boys in the other. Editor's Note: We've checked out these hooks by 3M with the Command adhesive, and they seem to really work as the manufacturer claims: they are specially designed so that they won't mark the walls or remove paint, and they don't leave a sticky residue behind.)

We have been searching for Hidden Mickeys at WDW, so to 'train' my husband for our last trip, I hid one Hidden Mickey a day for him to find before work. I only hid them in the bathroom because if he had to look all over the house before work, it wouldn't be fun! We both enjoyed this pre-trip practice, and I really think it paid off! He did 100 times better at spotting Hidden Mickeys once we got to WDW. A few words of advice for anyone who might want to try this: limit it to two weeks or less before your trip! Also, certain scrapbook stores sell Mickey punches; those were small and I could stick them anywhere! Other good ideas for Hidden Mickeys are placing anything in the three-circle shape, such as dots of cream connected to look like Mickey. There are many Hidden Mickeys like that at the World, so be creative! - Alea Laughery

Always keep your used film separate from your camera or video camera. While on our first trip to Disney World... at Epcot we misplaced our camera... One plus that my wonderful husband had thought of and I hadn't... after we finished a roll of film, he would put it in his pocket. The next day when I called the main lost and found, they had our camera... Even if we had never gotten that camera back, though, most of our precious memories of our first trip to \"The World\" were safe and sound. - Ruth K.