Tips about Mousecellaneous and Souvenirs

Although lots of people ship home their souvenirs, I usually UPS home most of our clothes. I go to the laundromat, wash them and pack them up in a sturdy box (usually provided by the store from whichever Disney Resort we are staying in). They help tape it up and it goes UPS Ground. That way the kids can play with the souvenirs and/or bring them to school, and our vacation clothes arrive 3-5 days after we do! - Brenda Hawk

Someone mentioned using all those Disney plastic bags to wrap packages. We brought them all home (seemed like thousands!) and the kids use them to bring snacks to school/daycare, transport gym clothes, or anything else needing a quick bag. Not only are they much cuter than grocery store bags, they are a fun reminder of a magical trip. - Amanda

My favorite tip to pass along is this... I always ship my souvenirs home. I have both a UPS and a FedEx account. I pre-print the labels before I go and pack them in my suitcase. I get a box from the gift shop at my hotel and slowly pack the box during my stay. Then, the morning of my departure, I take the box to the front desk. They call the shipping company and the package gets shipped. About 2-3 days after I've arrived home, it's like Christmas opening the box. - Lisa Noch

Hang on to your hat! My husband wears a baseball cap to prevent sunburn. He was astounded to have it fly off his head on the Tower of Terror. He was very relieved he caught it. What he didn't realize was that our brand new annual passes had been in his front shirt pocket. They, too, had levitated. Fortunately, the Cast Member saw them and called our names. WHEW! - TJ

Don't break the bank on souvenirs. We had our children create a "wish list" as we went through the parks. If they saw something they wanted, we were more than happy to write it down for them. Then on our last day, we made a special shopping trip to Disney Springs so that they could choose one gift from their wish list (or something new) and they only spent about $20 each. If Mom and Dad wanted to get them something extra (which of course we did!), that was a bonus. Jeanette

Before we go to Disney, my husband and I ask all our friends and family the name of their child's favorite Disney character. We list them along with their home addresses and bring them with us to Disney. When we go to the parks we look for postcards with that character's picture. It's kind of like a scavenger hunt for the whole family when we are searching for more obscure characters. Then we have fun filling them out with personalized messages like, "To my Little Honey -- Love, Winnie" or, "May all your dreams come true -- Love, Cinderella." Then we sign the character's name to the card and mail them. My friend's 4-year-old daughter slept with hers under her pillow for a month. It's a lot of fun, and my family and I get to share a little Disney magic without spending a fortune. - Kathy Donofrio

I am an adult with no children and I anticipated getting my Mr. Potato Head pieces for two years. I can sit and play for hours. Do you know that the new World of Disney Store in NYC has special Disney New York pieces? I got a few duplicates for Christmas. - Leslie Johnson

At the Once Upon a Toy store in Disney Springs there is a "My Little Pony" display at the back of the store like the popular Mr. Potato Head one up front -- all you can stuff in the box for $18. The box is the same size as the Potato Head box, but My Little Pony pieces are MUCH smaller! In fact some of them are fabric -- skirts, collars and princess hats, along with plastic shoes, crowns, hairbrushes etc. You can squish lots of those into the box. There are also larger accessories like beds and a popcorn cart. We had put a pony and handfuls of the small accessories in our box and had lots of space left when my husband reminded me that the sign didn't say we could only get ONE Pony. We ended up with two ponies and tons of the "princess" outfits. We might have even been able to fit three ponies if we had tried! Little girls are very into My Little Pony now and as we continued shopping we were stopped several times and asked where we found them. I don't think many people make it all the way to the back and so they miss this display. - Laura Narney

Over the last weeks there has been some discussion on the Mr. Potato Head. We just returned from WDW, and my wife (a true kid at heart) had to have all those cool Disney Potato Head parts. She just stuffed the box full of all the parts, and planned to buy the potato from Wal-Mart when we got home. We don't have any kids, but we have all the cool Disney Potato Head parts! - Josh Nordgren

Last week, Jill Murtha mentioned double-checking your Mr. Potato Head arms before purchasing to make sure they fit. Another tip when purchasing the Mr./Mrs. Potato Heads is to put pieces inside the potatoes before you put them in the box. You pay for whatever you can fit in the box, so you might as well get your money's worth. You can get quite a few extra pieces this way. - Elaine Frazee

For $.79 at your local Target store you can purchase a clear plastic coupon holder in the office supply department. It's 5" x 7" in size, has a Velcro closure, and is perfect for holding your tickets, money, etc. It keeps everything from getting wet on the water rides and is easy to find in your backpack! I never go to WDW without mine! - Noreen Rachuba EDITOR'S NOTE: Magic Bands eliminate the need to carry many cards, but for those you do, this is a great suggestion.

I just read over the section on postcards and remembered a crazy idea I had with them. On one trip to Disney World, a friend asked me to get Mickey's autograph. Not wanting to come back with a piece of paper, I bought several different postcards of Mickey. I waited in line to meet the Mouse and when I got to him, I asked if he would give me his autograph on the postcard. He took the postcard, looked at it for a brief second, and then gave me a thumbs up and signed the postcard. It's a great way to add a little magic to the postcard. I would suggest mailing autographed postcards to kids and family members as well. - Skip Broome

If you buy one of those Mr. Potato Head toys where you can fill the box up with whatever parts you want from the bins, double-check that the "arms" fit into the arm holes. Our 7-year-old recently purchased a Mr. Potato Head at Once Upon A Toy at Disney Springs, and after we got back to the hotel room we found that the pegs in the arms were too small for the arm holes so the arms wouldn't stay in their sockets! Luckily we were able to exchange them for a new pair of arms at a different toy store at Disney's Hollywood Studios. When we were exchanging them, we noticed that the bin of arms varied a lot in the size of the pegs -- some were bigger and fit fine, while many others were too small and didn't fit. So, a word of advice: check to make sure that your Mr. Potato Head parts fit into the potato before purchasing them! - Jill Murtha

I brought Dawn DishWipes with us and washed out our refillable mug in our room sink every night. My mug just never felt truly clean on any of our other trips when I would just rinse it well with hot water. The wipes come in a clear plastic box and are dry, so I just put a bunch in a Ziploc bag. Dina

We had great luck booking the Illuminations Cruise over the years. We have done it several times. This year we booked the Magic Kingdom Fireworks Cruise. I think it is a little more available. We enjoyed it much more. There was a lot more "cruising" before the show and the backdrop of the castle and Magic Kingdom was fantastic. - Margaret