Tips about Food & Beverage, Kids and Packing

Just wanted to let people know there are also a Costco and B.J.'s Warehouse close by, for those who frequent those stores instead of Sam's Clubs. B.J.'s is just off I4 at the Conroy exit, so a few miles to drive, but for those of us who live in the northeast it is more common than Sam's. - Dolores DeFrancesco

I just returned from WDW and I stayed at the Old Key West resort. As most people know, the general store at OKW is highly priced for food. What I found out this time is that there is a Sam's Club about 10 minutes away on Orange Blossom Drive. My wife and I went there and bought all of the food for the stay and spent a whole lot less money! Just an FYI for Sam's Club members staying at OKW who want to get food at a decent cost. - Joseph Potts

EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks, Joseph! There are actually a few Sam's Clubs in the WDW area. Visit their website at http://www.samsclub.com and click on Club Locator to get directions.

In January, our daughter attended the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party (at the Grand Floridian). We got to take pictures of her when we dropped her off, but were a little disappointed we didn't get any of her with Alice and the Mad Hatter. They do give you one Polaroid, but we are avid scrapbookers and needed more. Well, when I developed film from our trip there were several pictures of Emily with the characters at the Tea Party! I forgot that Emily had her own camera at the party. She had taken pictures, and also Cast Members had taken several pictures of her with the characters using her camera. Tip: Send your little ones with their own camera. Hers was a Fisher Price, but you could send disposable camera, too. The pictures will be great! - Lisa Stewart

For more information on the Tea Party, go to: http://allears.net/pl/grandadven.htm

We just returned from our first trip to WDW. WOW, what a wonderful experience -- but it could get really expensive! I was concerned about keeping up an active pace and having "Disney" food to sustain us, as there were six adults in our party (two in their 20s and four greater than!). We used Federal Express to mail a package of snacks to ourselves, to arrive at our resort the day of our arrival. We packed pears, apples and dried cranberries, packaged sausage and cheese (wrapped in cold packaging), crackers, fruit cookies and boxed juices. We packed our backpacks every day from these items. Everything traveled well. We were really grateful around 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for our nutritious snacks. We keep up a 12-13 hour a day activity agenda, but still didn't see it all! We are going back next year. - Loraine Dressler

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. We were with a group of adults and wanted to purchase a few beers after a long hot day at the parks to sit back and relax. I am not sure how much less expensive the bottles of beer were at the general store compared to River Roost Lounge but it was worth going a few extra steps for the savings!!! - Nancy T.

If you're like us, and the only thing you really need to purchase for your room once you're at Disney is bottled water, you might consider purchasing it at one of the Tiger Marts, located at the Exxon (soon to be Hess) gas stations on property. We did this on our last trip, and found it to be much easier and more convenient than buying it at Goodings (always crowded) or trying to locate a store off-site.

A gallon of water was $1.69 - which sure beat the $3.50 we paid (in desperation) for 1.5 liters at our hotel! The Tiger Marts have lots of other items, too - including snack foods, some frozen foods, and even Krispy Kreme donuts - and the prices seem to be about what you would expect in that type of convenience store, without the additional "Disney" inflation. - Laura Gilbreath

This tip is true in the All Star Resorts in regard to milk. I purchased a pint of milk in the General Store (gift shop) but in the food hall (food court) it was double the price for exactly the same bottle!!! - Hazel Brunt

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is true at all Disney Resorts

One night after the fireworks, we waited too long to find an ice cream vendor at Magic Kingdom. My daughter was very disappointed that she didn't get the Mickey Mouse bar, so we decided to stop in the Trading Post when we arrived back at Fort Wilderness. Lo and behold the ice cream bar was there, and for half the price they sold it at the parks! From that night on we had Mickey ice cream bars every evening when we arrived back at Fort Wilderness! - Felicia Gouge

We fly from the DC area to Walt Disney World at least once or twice every year, and we pack our "half-boosters/backless-boosters" in a super large hockey bag. We throw the seats in the hockey bag when we get to the airport and check the bag with our luggage. We unpack the bag at the rental minivan and we are on our way! - Joanne Zeidman

The only really important advice I would add to this [bringing other people's children] is to make a copy of the other child's health insurance information and also have a signed or even notarized letter from the child's parents stating they will be traveling with you, to where, and on what dates. Hopefully you will never need to use it, but you never know! - Tara Felicio

Don't count on the weather forecast being accurate for your whole trip. We visited the week before Christmas. Checking the weather the day before we left, it said the high each day would be about 70 and the low about 50 (give or take a degree or two). After we arrived, the temperature was a little cooler than we expected. This wasn't too bad since we had sweatshirts packed for the evenings. The next couple of days, however, it was really cold even in the afternoon. We absolutely froze our tails off after the sun went down! If you're going during the winter, and in particular during the holidays when the parks are open until late in the evening, take long underwear and winter jackets even if it appears you won't need them! Better to have them and not need them than to not be able to enjoy the parks due to the cold! The weather can change in a hurry. - Sandy Tidwell

Crystal Palace is incredibly accommodating for restricted diets. Our server was helpful and the chef was wonderful. The chef will show you what you can eat and will also offer to make fresh food from the kitchen. I'm GF/DF (gluten-free/dairy-free) and received fresh GF dinner rolls and DF "butter." For dessert they had a special GF/DF brownie for me. The food was delicious and fresh and we loved it. My food consisted of fresh greens (green beans, broccoli), rice, roasted chicken, and salmon in a honey-cilantro pesto. Fantastic. The characters were great and fun! The cast members made sure that we got to meet Pooh and all of his friends while we were there. At one point there was a little dance party, so it was fun to see the kids romp around with the characters. The environment was nice and we had a nice view outside of the castle. The cast members and chef worked really hard to give us a magical evening! - Destinie

When packing for each child, I roll up a pair of shorts, a matching shirt, matching socks and underwear, put them into a quart size zip lock baggie and squeeze the air out of it. It takes up very little room, the clothes stay relatively wrinkle-free, and best of all in the morning when we're in a hurry to make the bus the kids just grab a bag. No one has to look for the right shirt or matching socks (as long as the socks match each other i'm happy). - Edith Raible

Our small kids don't care for sudden or loud noises. Take along a couple pairs of kid-sized ear plugs. They don't take up much room, but they make all the difference in the "world" to jumpy little ones! - Vicki Knuckles