Tips about Epcot, Kids, Mousecellaneous, Old Key West and Planning

In last week's tips, Gretchen Foster wrote about the difficulty of finding birthday cards on Disney property. The Japan pavilion in Epcot has a wonderful selection of all types of greeting cards. One of my grandsons has a summer birthday and I was able to find the perfect card there and slipped in a Disney gift card. - Carol Trainor

In last week's tips, Gretchen Foster wrote about the difficulty of finding birthday cards on Disney property. The Japan pavilion in Epcot has a wonderful selection of all types of greeting cards. One of my grandsons has a summer birthday and I was able to find the perfect card there and slipped in a Disney gift card. - Carol Trainor

In last week's tips, Gretchen Foster wrote about the difficulty of finding birthday cards on Disney property. The Japan pavilion in Epcot has a wonderful selection of all types of greeting cards. One of my grandsons has a summer birthday and I was able to find the perfect card there and slipped in a Disney gift card. - Carol Trainor

I loved your article last week on birthday trips. However, people should be aware that it's difficult to buy greeting cards, wrapping paper, gift bags or ribbon on-property (I don't know why). If you are going to bring gifts that need to be wrapped, bring your own cards and wrapping from home. Also, don't bring pre-wrapped packages if you are flying as they will almost always stop you at security and make you unwrap it. - Gretchen Foster

A tip for UK visitors: In shops, kids struggle to work out the cost of something in British pounds, as they have to add the sales tax and then do the currency conversion. When ours were younger I made little conversion charts with the GBP equivalent (with sales tax added) of up to $20. As long as they can add up, they can then work out what things are going to cost from their spending allowance without having to ask Mum or Dad all the time. - Juli Williamson

A tip for UK visitors: In shops, kids struggle to work out the cost of something in British pounds, as they have to add the sales tax and then do the currency conversion. When ours were younger I made little conversion charts with the GBP equivalent (with sales tax added) of up to $20. As long as they can add up, they can then work out what things are going to cost from their spending allowance without having to ask Mum or Dad all the time. - Juli Williamson

Magic Kingdom - A not-well-publicized event that is fun to see for the little kids (and those kids at heart such as myself) is the opening ceremony at the Magic Kingdom. It occurs about 10-15 minutes before what Disney refers to as the "rope drop" (the time that they let people through the arches and into the park). The train arrives at the Main Street station above the floral displays with all the characters on board, with Disney music playing. They stop and wave to everyone waiting to enter the park. They let people through the turnstiles into the queue area about 20-30 minutes prior to the park opening. So get there a few minutes early if you want to see it. I believe it is worth seeing. - Mike

If you are in the World now or will be soon, keep your eyes open. We saw two bald eagles last week on World Drive, between Buena Vista Drive and the Epcot exit. The next day I saw one at the entrance to the Wide World of Sports complex. Beautiful birds and my phone's camera did not do them justice. - Michael S.

Something we tried this last time we stayed at the Boardwalk Villas was to bring a water purifier that you connect to the kitchen faucet. This worked amazingly well! We didn't have to haul or buy a whole bunch of water bottles for our trip, you just keep refilling a glass or reusable container. You don't have the waste of the plastic bottles or have to drink the nasty-tasting Orlando water! Just write down a reminder to take your purifier off the faucet before you leave. When you get home, connect the purifier back to your own kitchen faucet! - Tammy

When making dining reservations using the Disney website make sure you log in before you select your reservation time. I lost two reservations to 'Ohana (on two separate occasions) because after I selected the reservation time the system prompted me to log in. Once I logged in, the system did not hold the reservation that I selected. Very disappointing! I sent a message to Disney regarding this problem and their solution was to be sure that you are logged in prior to searching for a dining reservation. - Sarah Kelley

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We bring a sleeve of plastic disposable cups to the Disney parks in our backpack. That way we can buy two or three water bottles and share them among the five of us. The cups are light and when we buy five individual bottles no one ever finishes theirs. - Gail Geiser

If you need to drive to the park to drop someone off, Disney provides very convenient guest drop-off areas at each of the four parks. It's as easy as telling the toll booth cast member at the main parking entrance that you're dropping someone off. They'll give you instructions on how to get to that park's area. At the Magic Kingdom, you need to be in the lanes on the right and they'll direct you down the road going to the Transportation and Ticket Center. At the other three parks, they'll send you into the regular parking area where you'll tell the second cast member you're dropping someone off, and they'll direct you to the spot at the front of the lot near the entrance. - Laurie Jennings

Remember, if you forget where you parked your car, tell a parking attendant about what time you parked. They can then usually tell you about where you parked within a row or so. - Fred

For all those folks writing about nightlight options -- Make sure your wall-mounted hair dryer is plugged in! Each room I've ever stayed in, regardless of pixie dust level, has the built-in night light feature. Though, as a retired teacher, I admit that the cyalume sticks (glow sticks) are always fun! - Scott Stuart