| If you are switching from one Disney Property to another during your vacation, contact the bellboys at your original hotel. They will transport your luggage between the hotels, and it will arrive after 2pm. |
| Unlike Disneyland, at Disney World you can take a cooler in! Save yourself some food money and take your own lunch a few times while there. |
| Have a plan before going to the parks. Since traveling from park to park is not always simple try to plan on one park each day. |
| The Dolphin and Swan hotels have childcare services for children aged 3 and up. Other Deluxe resorts offer childcare for ages 4 and up. |
| For other childcare options try Fairy Godmother at 407-277-3724 or 407-275-7326. In room care is also offered by Kinder-Care babysitting services, and they can be reached at 407-827-5444. |
| Make Priority Seating reservations for Walt Disney World eateries by calling 407-939-3463. |
| From any of the Resort Hotels there is bus service to all of the Walt Disney World Parks about every 20 minutes. |
| Mears shuttle can be taken from resort hotels to Universal Studios for about $14.00 each way. |
| Taxi to Universal Studios is about $23.00 each way plus tip. |
| If you stay 7 days or longer, purchase your tickets through Walt Disney Travel Company, and YOU decide which parks you want to visit. |
| If you rent a stroller at Disney World, you can leave the Disney stroller at one train station, take your belongings and your nametag for the stroller, and then get a new stroller at the next station. |
| If you go to multiple parks in one day, and rent a stroller, you can take your belongings and the nametag from the stroller, show it at the next park, and be given a stroller. |
| Florida tap water has a horrible taste. Either buy bottled water, or take packets of Crystal Lights or something like that to put in the water. This way you can have flavored water without the bad taste. |
| Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride is like Dumbo. It is a small kids ride that allows you to control if you go up or down. There are 2 sets of seats and you can fit 4 total on each carpet. |
| Casey's on Main St serves hot dogs, corn dogs, fries and drinks. That is it, but these are some of the best hot dogs at Walt Disney World. It has a cute awning outside the restaurant, and the seating is all outside in iron tables and chairs. There are signs saying not to feed the extensive amounts of ducks and other critters that come by to visit while you are eating. |
| On Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World, the logs are not individual seats, but bench seating for about 5 rows in each log raft. |
| Food and Wine Festival at Epcot is the first week of November. They set up booths all throughout the World Showcase from different countries (more than just the countries represented at Epcot) and offer various types of foods and wines from each country for sampling. The food samples (about an appetizer size) run about $3 to $4 and the wine samples are about the same (probably about 3-4 oz of wine). |
| For a non-Disney meal, Pacino's on 192 East (going away from Disney to the east) is on the left hand side. The prices are about $15-$25 for full entrees that included bread, etc., and the kids entrees, including drinks, are about $5-6. You get HUGE portions! Fettucine Alfredo with chicken is about $20, and the steak dinners (with veggies and a carb side dish) are about $25 for 16 oz steaks and cooked over an oak fire. Pacino's has a nice atmosphere, wooden tables and tile floors, very typical Italian Steakhouse feel. Very casual, like all restaurants in the WDW area this is a place you can eat at after leaving the parks for the day without having to change clothing. |
| If you have young children, a great idea for keeping them safe if they get lost is to stop at your local pet store before your trip. There, for about $5.00 you can get a pet tag (heart works best with kids) and put your child's name, with a cell phone number for both parents (if both will have a cell phone at the parks). The tag can then be laced in your child's shoes, or through a belt loop. |
| Light sticks can be purchased before going to Walt Disney World or the Disneyland Resort and tucked into a fanny pack or backpack to ease a child's fear of the dark quickly, and without be obtrusive like a flashlight. |