Insider Tips

Here are a few of my most useful tips:

• If you're not using Magic Bands, take a picture of the back side of your tickets before you go on your trip.  This way, if by some horrible nightmare, your tickets get lost, you can head down to the ticket office at the front of any of the theme parks with the information from the back of your tickets and have them cancel the lost tickets and they can re-issue your tickets for you.
• Back up all of your contacts in your phone to your computer on the off chance it gets wet or lost.
• Upload your pictures to your computer at the end of each park day so that all of your pictures won't be lost if you lose your camera.
• Pin Trading is now very affordable! I love to buy a set of pins on ebay.com by searching "Disney pin lot" in the search box.  You can usually score 20-25 pins for about $15 or less.  This is pennies on the dollar compared to the $6-9 pin prices for buying them individually brand new.  Before the trip, I line all of the pins up in a row and line the kids all up in a row and let them take turns choosing pins until they are all gone.  They always find a pin or two they play to keep and several they look forward to trading with the many cast members who will gladly trade with them all over the Disney properties. For a kid who doesn't feel comfortable wearing their pins on a lanyard all over the parks, a hat or a purse strap can also be great ways to sport their pins for trading.
• Do not leave anything unattended in your stroller unless you are willing to lose it.  Most times, people will not mess with your belongings, but occasionally they do, and if you'd be sad to lose it (souvenirs, electronics, cute jackets, etc) don't leave them in your stroller when you head in to a ride or show.  I can't even tell you how many umbrellas I've lost on rainy days.  I no longer even bring them!
• Any Disney restaurant (not the stands that sell popcorn, ice cream, or bottled drinks) will give you free ice water even if you don't order any items that you have to pay for and it's FREE.  Florida tends to be a very hot place and the last thing Disney wants is dehydrated people walking around their parks.  Take the free ice water!  Or bring your own drink and ask for a cup of ice. 
• Disney does allow you to bring food and drinks into the parks.  You can NOT bring in any glass containers, alcohol, or hard-sided coolers into the parks.  Small-medium coolers can be packed full of sandwiches, juice boxes, bottled waters, etc. and loaded into the bottom of your stroller if you want to save a few bucks.
• Any photographer taking pictures for the PhotoPass will gladly take your picture with your own camera also.  To be courteous, allow the photographer to take your picture with his professional camera and then ask them to take a picture with your camera also. This is a part of their job and they are happy to do it.
• One way that I like to avoid saying no to souvenirs is to buy each kid a Disney gift card with a particular amount of money on it. Once their card is all used up, they can’t buy anything – it helps them learn budgeting and prevents the parent from having to say no. Instead I will say, “Well you only have 40 dollars, are you sure you want to spend 29 of it on that stuffed animal? Then you’ll only have 11 left for the rest of the trip…”  Then they can decide. Kids spend their money much more conservatively when they think of it as their own limited resource. I hate to have to say no – especially since I’m a sucker for anything Mickey! This helps me keep my spending under control, too.  You can even load a limited amount of money onto Disney gift cards at the Disney Store or disneystore.com (the website has more picture choices and gives free shipping to gift cards but give yourself plenty of time to receive them in the mail).  This lets them to choose what they want and doesn't force you to say no all day long.