Things I would never have done without the DIS

[Mickeyfollowers]

For first timers to WDW didn't know if you knew that if you are staying at one of the WDW resorts and you buy something from one of the shops at the parks or DTD and don't want to carry it around you can have it delivered to your resort at no charge. You pick it up the next day at your resort in the gift shop after certain time.

 

[Georgia Girl2]

subbing . . . thought I knew a lot . . . ha-ha . . .

 

[Danauk]

I answered your question in bold.

Where is the Wishing Well?
If you are looking at the castle as you walk down main Street the wishing well is on a path to the right of the castle.

What are the paths around the Tree of Life?
On the AK map look for teh Discover Island Trails. You get some wonderful views of the tree of life up close and there are a few animals and birds around there too. We once saw the 2 maccaws who had escaped from their enclosure, we got some great pictures with them and it is usually really quiet around there.

How do you get to the bottom of the Canadian Falls?
Not 100% on this one, but I presume there is a path to follow somewhere, if I take a look at the pictures I took last week I can figure it out!

How do you wake up Tinkerbell?
If you are the 1st guests into Tinks shop you get to do this.

How do you ID your kid?
No advice on this, I don't have kids. I have heard a few parents say they get spacial tags made that have their cell number on, they can be on a bracelet or something that attaches to the show lace. Oh and take a picture of your child each day so you know what they are wearing.

What is DME?
Disney's magical Express. The free bus transfer service from Orlando airport to WDW. They can also collect your luggage for you and deliver it to your room a few hours later.

What is School Bread?
Not sure, never tried it!

 

[JenIN]

Great list so far.

Without the DIS, I would never have known that you can book a portrait session at the resorts. We did fabulous family pictures last fall at Grand Floridian.

Without the DIS, I would never have known that you could purchase a CD of all your Photopass Pictures. And I sure would never have known that you could prepurchase the Photopass CD and save some $$.

Without the DIS, I would never have known that (at the time) you could receive an offer with the confirmation of your Photopass CD prepurchase that would give you a greatly discounted portrait session at GF.

Without the DIS, I would never have known to do the pick-a-pearl in Japan.

Without the DIS, I would never have known that instead of bringing a whole day's worth of bottled water into the parks, I could just bring 1 bottle and several individual pouches of KoolAid mixins (or Crystal Light, or Propel Fitness water mixins) and then just fill my bottle from the water fountain, use one of my mixins and have a great-tasting drink.

Without the DIS, I would never have known how truly nasty the water from the WDW drinking fountains taste.

Without the DIS, I would never have known how important it is to have a plan.

Without the DIS, I would never have known about rope drop, the importance of arriving early, or the beauty of an afternoon rest.

Without the DIS, I would never have known to start calling before the call center even opens to try to make a reservation for CRT.

Without the DIS, I would never have know to call the desk at Bonnet Creek (non-WDW condo we stayed at) to request a "fireworks view" room.

Wow, this is making me nostalgic. I'm ready to go back. For those of you planning. Have fun!

JenIN

 

[cheala]

I'm getting all kinds of great ideas! thanks!

 

[IslandAdventure4]

I have to come up with a list to add, (as soon as I have a chance)

 

[IndySam]

The one thing I plan to try next week that I've never heard of anywhere else but here is the Playhouse Disney dance party during EMH at DHS.

 

[walt's assistant]

Without the DIS, I doubt we'd have stayed at the Dolphin. Our preconceived opinions about the place were wrrr...wrrrr....

wrong.

 

[erikawolf2004]

How can you prepurchase your photopass cd to save money and get the GF photoshoot? Would love to do this, but couldn't find it on the photopass site.
Thanks for all the great info.
Erika

 

[mae5731]

I've only been twice, but this forum gave me so much info. Because of the DIS I knew about:

the path to the bottom of the falls at the Canadian pavilion

good spots for pictures

less crowded pathways in the parks

CS meals that are so large two people can share

I'd love to hear more about these! Thanks

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

The Dis made my trip with DS last year so much more special - I would have never know about

Dole Whips
School Bread
Personalized Menu & Diver at Coral Reef (so sorry they stopped doing this!)
Sharing a Wishes Cruise with other Disers
Decorating our Window at POP
Bringing the shower rod to offer more privacy at POP
Bringing the shoe rack for toiletries to have more room at POP
Having water delivered from COSTCO
POP Fridge Swap!
Taking food pics to relieve our dining adventures in a review once we returned home!

Most of all ... how to instructions to make and the wonderful designs for our matching t-shirts from all of the wonderful DISigners here!

Our trip was extra special because of all these things that I would have never known about.

This year with DH, we'll be trying a Grey Goose Slushie, getting a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich and scoping out rare characters in Toon Town!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU all for the wealth of information!

 

[pwdebbie]

the path to the bottom of the falls at the Canadian pavilion
Now, I only did this once right after the directions were fresh in my mind, but here's what I think we did -- Go through the Kidcot area and there is a path or maybe a bridge that takes you down to the bottom area of the falls.

good spots for pictures If you take a look at some of the picture threads here on the DIS, you get great ideas for pictures. These pictures can be found in the sub-forum of the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies forum. Go to the Theme Parks Community Forum and you will find threads such as "Disney Picture of the Day" or "Details Details Details" or "Magic Kingdom Photos" etc. Because of looking at these photos, I figured out some places to take good pictures. In fact, my dh got tired of me saying, "Oh, this is where I can get that good shot of <fill in the blank> that I saw on the Picture of the Day thread." Also, because of those picture threads showing me pictures of things I'd totally missed on the first trip (like the wishing well), I kept my eyes open in search of them.

less crowded pathways in the parks One pathway that we liked that had no one on it was back behind Space Mountain and comes out at the Railroad Station in Mickey's Toontown Faire area. Another was the path to the right of the castle where the wishing well is located. Very lush foliage and shady and few people. And the paths around the Tree of Life in AK were never crowded. We actually had CMs tell us there were no paths at the base of the tree! The first one we found because someone posted here on the DIS to follow the path at the exit of It's Tough to be a Bug. Sometimes if you follow signs for handicapped access to attractions you will find yourself on paths you didn't know about.

CS meals that are so large two people can share Cosmic Rays chicken and ribs meal was plenty for the two of us. Pecos Bills was also a large shareable meal. Sunshine Seasons was more like dinner than lunch. Could have been easily shared. It seems to me that the meal at Backlot Express in DHS was also ridiculously huge, but we ate there in 2007, not 2009, so the memory is a little fuzzy on that one. In AK we've only eaten at Flame Tree BBQ, but the portion there was huge.

 

[mae5731]

Thanks pwdebbie

Things I haven't seen mentioned are the "make your own" Epcot passports and autograph pages that the DISigners have come up with. LOVE THEM! Also the quarters and pennies stack wonderfully in a mini m&m tube (I may or may not have broken down and bought a whole box of them at Sam's just because I got tired of looking for them in the grocery store)...stack 2 quarters and a penny repeatedly and you are good to go.

Had to edit...I have also learned that you should put the m&m tube stack of change in your checked bag or just expect tsa to do a bag check thinking you are bringing some explosive device on the plane!

 

[Fenchurch]

This is an awesome thread!! I too have learned lots.

I tried to post the link to the photopass website but my post count is too low (longtime lurker, just registered recently. If you add "previsitcdplan.aspx" to the end of "photopass.com/" it should work. Either that or I can start a thread and serial post until I have 10! Think that would get me booted?

 

[erikawolf2004]

Thank you for the info, I figured it out...Here is the link:
http://www.disneyphotopass.com/previsitcdplan.aspx
How do you do the photopass sharing and can you use this for a really large party(15) and then order multiple extra cd's?
This thread rocks, I have learned so many great things for our trip next week!!!
Erika

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

Segway tour!
Ridden boats between resorts/Magic Kingdom just for fun!
Watched fireworks on hammock at Poly beach.
Have dinner at Ohanas (It's amazing how many people go to Disney and are unaware of all the amazing restaurants!)

 

[Fenchurch]

How do you do the photopass sharing and can you use this for a really large party(15) and then order multiple extra cd's?
This thread rocks, I have learned so many great things for our trip next week!!!
Erika

I have ended up with 4 or 5 photopass cards myself and combined them all when I ordered the cd. Just enter all of your codes into one account and it should work. I have read of folks who have ordered the cd then made multiple copies at home. Never done it myself though. I have also read that there is no limit to how many photos you can have. You may end up with more than one cd but it's all the same price. Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[DisneyMom14]

What is School Bread?

I would have never known to try this if not for the DIS. It is a sweet bread with a vanilla custurd inside and topped with a coconut icing. Large enough for my husband and me to share. It was DELICIOUS!

I have ended up with 4 or 5 photopass cards myself and combined them all when I ordered the cd. Just enter all of your codes into one account and it should work. I have read of folks who have ordered the cd then made multiple copies at home. Never done it myself though. I have also read that there is no limit to how many photos you can have. You may end up with more than one cd but it's all the same price. Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

My sister and I went to DW 2 weeks apart. She went first so she pre-purchased the cd. I paid her for 1/2. She brought back her cards and then when we got back, we added all of her cards as well as mine. When the cd came in, she got the original and I got the copy. The cd gives you copyright. I printed my pics at Walmart. Oh and we had so many pictures that it came on 2 cds for no extra charge.

 

[disdream00]

I was going to be in Daytona Beach for a week this summer for a family reunion and decided to try to go to Disney for one day. When I started researching, it looked like it was going to be very expensive, but thanks to the DIS it was not. I learned that my old tickets from a 1993 visit that had one day left were still good = 5 one day park hopper tickets for $0. Here I also found out about signing up for the Starwood Preferred program and getting the American Express card = one free night at the Dolphin hotel with an upgrade to a park view room! I also learned about extra magic hours, efficient use of fast pass, and where to find Lightning McQueen! Thanks!

 

[luckymom4]

I would never have saved almost $100 on my vacation package! I looked at the budget board's discount page this morning. I never try those things because I'm always the person who just BARELY misses whatever discount is available. Well, I called on a whim...and saved almost $100! Now our balance is $82, so I can pay our vacation off this weekend! Yippee!