Tips about Mousecellaneous, PhotoPass, Planning, Resorts and Souvenirs

We've found it helpful to bring address labels from home to use in the gift shops. Rather than writing out our address each time we send our purchase back to the room, we just peel and stick. It saves a lot of time. - Gavin Shannon

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

As a cast member who frequently responds, "I'm sorry, we don't have that size," "I'm sorry, we sold out of those yesterday," and "Yes, those are the only ones we have left. I'm sorry," I want to recommend that if you are visiting to compete in a sporting event at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, buy event-specific merchandise the first day, as soon as you can. It happens with every event -- we run out of event merchandise as soon as the event starts, so get yours as soon as possible! - Anonymouse

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

There is a new PhotoPass "magic" shot available. When you get in line to see Princess Tiana, the photographer (time permitting) will go through the line and take pictures of you with your hand out and the frog will magically appear in your hands. If there is no time before the princess arrives, just ask the park photographer closest to the princess area and they should be able to do the picture for you. - Sandi Lamborne

Going to a sit-down, outdoor presentation on a cold winter's night? Here's a simple, easy-to-carry way to keep your rump from freezing: bring one of those bubble-wrap filled envelopes of an appropriate size to sit on. The bubble-wrap insulates your nether regions from that cold, cold seat, is light as a feather and is easily carried in one of those many Disney World plastic bags you've acquired. It makes quite a difference! - Mamayama

Space Mountain now allows you to put your ride photo on a special Space Mountain Photopass card to download at home, for $14.95. It can not go on your regular Photopass card for free like at Test Track. - Jamie Hogan

We have always saved all of our "major" shopping for World of Disney where we can use our Annual Pass to received a 10 percent discount. Imagine my surprise, when on our last trip when I was checking out at MouseGear the Cast Member asked me if I had any discounts. I said, "I don't know, do I? What qualifies?" It turns out that I was able to get an Annual Pass discount there. I was also able to use it at the stores at Hollywood Studios, and even at our resort. I wish I had known that earlier in the week! - Tanya Thomas

EDITOR'S NOTE: The 10 percent Annual Passholder discount is being offered at many merchandise locations around Walt Disney World now through January 10, 2011. Premium Passholders can save 20 percent on select merchandise at Walt Disney Resort stores while this offer lasts. Be sure to ask about its availability when checking out. This offer has already been extended twice and may be extended again. It always pays to ask.

Disney's PhotoPass now has the option to pull any photos from your Facebook account so you may add characters and special borders, etc., so you can have them on calendars, prints, cards, etc. This Facebook option is completely under the control of the guest, so it's not mandatory. Simply log into Disney's PhotoPass to see the Facebook link. - Erin B.

When we visit the World. we usually spend about 12 days there. We "shop" the entire trip, jotting down what we want to buy and a couple of days before heading home we head to the World of Disney store at Disney Springs to buy all our MUSTHAVES. We use our annual pass for the 10 percent shopping discount and then ship everything home. The shipping cost offsets the Florida sales tax that we would have to pay if we took everything home ourselves. Also, packing to go home is a lot easier and when the package arrives, and we open each treasure. It's like we are still there! - Bobbie Ann Young

At the parks in Walt Disney World, there are numerous gift shops that sell princess dresses for little girls. Well, let me just tell you, I purchased an Elsa dress at the Disney Store beforehand for $45.95. A similar dress was $104 in the parks, for what I thought was a lesser-quality version. I suggest you buy your own in advance! - Vanessa

On our most recent trip I received in my welcome packet a PhotoPass card for the trip. Every year we take advantage of this service, but this is the first time we had our card in advance. To make it easier to keep up with I took one of the Disney luggage tags we had received and slipped the card in there and attached the strap. This helped make it easier to handle since it was a little bit more substantial, with the strap I was able to loop it through our backpack, my belt loop or even wear it on my wrist for convenience. The PhotoPass photographers even commented on this being a smart idea, because we were easily able to identify our card from others and they could scan it just fine. - Kaycee from Atlanta

Polynesian - We recently returned from a six-night stay at the Polynesian. We stayed in the Tokelau House and found that walking to the Transportation and Ticket Center when going to Epcot was a timesaver versus taking the Resort Monorail through the Grand Floridian, Magic Kingdom then to the Transportation and Ticket Center. - Lori C.

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.