Tips about Magic Bands and Mousecellaneous

The small Disney shopping bag is perfect for holding a raincoat. It packs easily into backpacks and can also even be threaded through a belt. Like others, I always save every shopping bag until we go home just in case we need it for something, but when we have to purchase a new raincoat, I'm always glad there is a little one stored in our room. - Lori Wedeking

I use the Disney shopping bags as gift wrap. If the item does not fit in the bag I cut the bag at the seam. I have even taped several bags together for a large box. Teamed with curly ribbon, kids love the Mickeys all over a package. - Patricia Towsley

I also have another idea for the Disney bags that you get when you buy something in the "world." I bring home all the bags and when I put my photo album together I use one of the bags for the cover of the album. That way I know exactly which album I'm looking for. - CapeGoofy5

By all means make sure you have that house key when you head out from home! We DID lock ourselves out of the house on one WDW vacation. We, like a lot of folks, have an automatic garage door opener and use that as our main means of entry into the house. We don't normally lock the inner garage door leading into the house. Well, because we were going to be gone, we decided to lock things up extra securely, so we locked the inner door and hard locked the garage door. As soon as that lock went "clunk" I realized that I don't even carry a house key! I asked my hubby and he had paired down his keys to the bare minimum, and guess what? He took the house key off! We growled at each other for a couple of minutes, then decided there was nothing we could do about it at themoment and went on our trip. When we got back, we broke a window in our back door, and had it replaced the next day. That was an extra $50 we sure didn't need to spend! - Carol Kelley

This summer, my family decided to give back a little to the Cast Members who make each stay even more magical. Before leaving home, we printed (using print programs that are out there on the Web) character thank you cards. Each card had a different princess or Tinker Bell on it, and said something nice like, "We put your service to the test, and you're the best!" or "Thank you for making our vacation magical!" We added our family name, hometown, and "Summer 2004." We printed them out, and each member of our family got a sheet of their own to color. After coloring, we laminated them. Once in the park, we handed them out to Cast Members who we felt had gone above and beyond the call of "normal magic." Most of the Cast Members we handed them out to were so surprised and thanked *us*! We really enjoyed doing this, and I feel sure that it will be a new tradition for our family. - Ashlee Farris

A tip in a previous newsletter mentioned the problem of switching hotels while on the dining plan. It is true that your MagicBand will not work (for dining only) until after midnight on the day you check out of one hotel into the next (therefore you cannot charge a meal on the dining plan with your MagicBand all your next day). But guest services will write down the numbers that you need to give at the restaurants so that they can be manually entered and you do not have to pay or charge them on your credit card and be reimbursed. After midnight, when your dining plan becomes activated on your MagicBand, the dining credits are just automatically calculated and deducted. This was how it was handled for us in October when we moved from the Cabins at Fort Wilderness to the BoardWalk. It went very smoothly. - K.G.

On a recent Disney trip I decided to forgo bringing my purse and just buy a cheap, small man's wallet. I just popped my ID, credit cards, ticket and a few dollars in, and off I would go. I could skip the bag line and not worry about where my money and information was. It made airport check-in a breeze also. I still use it today and leave all my other seldom-used cards in my larger wallet in my purse. How often do you really use all that other stuff you drag around with you? - Donna

Want to get prepped for your Hidden Mickey hunt at WDW, Disney style? Just watch Lion King 1 1/2. There are so many Hidden Mickeys in this movie that I lost count! - Alea L.

We have been searching for Hidden Mickeys at WDW, so to 'train' my husband for our last trip, I hid one Hidden Mickey a day for him to find before work. I only hid them in the bathroom because if he had to look all over the house before work, it wouldn't be fun! We both enjoyed this pre-trip practice, and I really think it paid off! He did 100 times better at spotting Hidden Mickeys once we got to WDW. A few words of advice for anyone who might want to try this: limit it to two weeks or less before your trip! Also, certain scrapbook stores sell Mickey punches; those were small and I could stick them anywhere! Other good ideas for Hidden Mickeys are placing anything in the three-circle shape, such as dots of cream connected to look like Mickey. There are many Hidden Mickeys like that at the World, so be creative! - Alea Laughery

We were in Disney World last month and noticed that there are new ways that the MagicBands interact with various attractions. At Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, there is an electronic poster in the queue that displays the name and home city of guests. At Mission: Space, there are video screens in the post-attraction room that will display the names of the guests who finished the ride, along with their hometown and their mission projection. At Space Mountain there are video screens along the moving walkway that display the names of the guests who finished the ride. At the end of "it's a small world," look for the video screen to display the names of the guests on the boat. There may be more attractions that may also implement this technology, so keep your eyes open in the queues and in the post-attraction areas. - Brian Kehoe

Regarding two-way communication with other members of your party, we have found that texting works the best. It's too hard to hear my cell phone ring with all the noise of the parks, and it's also too hard to talk on the phone. So we just send each other text messages to set up meeting places, or to let the other person know if we're running late. - Kirsten Searle

We have traveled to Walt Disney World many times, but our last trip was our first trip with MagicBands... and our first trip with a 3-year-old. Since he was 3, my son required a MagicBand for FastPass+ entry, but he HATED wearing it. We are pin traders, so my solution was to clip it around my pin lanyard. I was still able to use it for FastPass+ and I didn't have to worry about losing it. I even put mine on there when my wrist started to sweat in the Florida heat! - Shannon

Anyone who travels to Walt Disney World more than once a year (guilty as charged!) has probably been accumulating an assortment of MagicBands. To help keep them straight from trip to trip, try assigning a date or some sort of unique identifier when you customize them. For example, I named the MagicBand for my upcoming trip Deb-1215. I also have one named Deb-AP, which is the band I received with my Annual Pass. This way, I know generally how old the bands are and it's a little easier to determine which ones I should deactivate. And remember, if you don't want another band on your next trip, you can opt out -- just look for the link on the "Customize Your MagicBands" page on My Disney Experience. - AllEars Editor Deb Koma

Read more on our MagicBands information page.

We like to stay on property and get a new MagicBand each time. In order to keep track of which band is for which trip I have started to use my initials, the initials of the resort I'm staying in and the year as the name on the back of the band when I order them. For example, I stayed at Old Key West this spring so the "name" on the back is "CJH OKW18." Next year we are going to Animal Kingdom Lodge so that band will be "CJH AKL19." It's a good way to track your bands. - Joe Hardwick

Don't forget to mention that a trip to the Kennedy Space Center is worth it. It's only an hour's drive and the backlot bus tour for the $20 was well worth it. Wow, unbelievable what this day trip offered. Not a lot of walking (so go after a day of hard walking around WDW. - David