Little Known Perks

[NY GOOFY]

One thing we always take advantage of at the parks is the "baby swap". Me or DW take the 2 big kids on SM, EE, etc. and other stays with the little guys and gets the "baby swap" ticket. Later in the day, one of us walks right on with big kids again. NO WAIT!:mickey:
I find a lot of people in the parks do not even know about the baby swap as Disney does not seem to promote it.
I was wondering if any of you have your own "not well-known" facts or perks about any parks, rides, restaurants, etc?

[Quasimodo]

Your post reminded me of perhaps a little known and certainly under-utilized perk: the baby care centers. All four major parks have them. If you have a baby in diapers, you can use these centers. They provide a clean comfortable semi-private area to change your child's diapers. They also provide a private area for nursing. Diapers, formula and other baby care supplies are available for purchase if needed. Most all have a comfortable sitting room you can sit down in and rest in cool air conditioning. With the exception of MGM, all of them have adult restrooms that are very clean and almost unused. Much better than the heavily trafficked restrooms out in the rest of the park.

[beksy]

Good Post. I don't know any :blush: but its interesting to hear what others have found! :mickey:

[milhouse]

The Baby Care Center is a good one. We didn't know about it until later in our trip. It's good for a diaper emergency, baby advil, a band-aid. A real handy service.

One nice perk we used last time:
We passed a stuffed King Louie being sold at a stand in AK but we didn't buy it. We thought we could get it in MK or at Pop. But he's not sold in other stores. So the wife went to the Pop store and arranged to have it shipped over. Now our 2yr old monkey has his very own stuffed monkey.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I don't know if you can still do this or not: You used to be able to get a "shopping pass" to a park. If I remember correctly, you have to pay for a ticket, but if you return within the 30 minutes or so, they refund your money. That way if you've seen something in a park gift shop, you can run in and get it. This comes in handy if you are leaving that day and don't have time to shop around to see if you can find it somewhere else.

[DawsonAR]

I would like to know more about the shopping pass. This would be great while on a conference at Disney. I always volunteer to go on all the Disnry work related trips.

[ghost999]

i know it's a well known thing but the ddp is the best thing disney has made. it's about eighty dollars a day but for each dinner we had we spent at least 200 dollars. so it was well worth it.:mickey:

[snifflesmcg]

I would like to know more about the shopping pass.
Me too!
I found a great t-shirt that I wanted. I swore I would go back and get it. However, after I left the park, I forgot to pick it up. This pass would have been great.

[Becky'sMom]

The bet way to work the system to your best advantage is to combine these 2 perks. One of you puts in for a fast pass for one ride while the other puts in for another. Then, you each do the baby swap on your ride. That way you can fast pass 2 rides during each time period instead of one (at least this worked in April 2006). Also, remember that Disney never expects you to go on a ride by yourself, so if you have an older child with you, he/she can go on BOTH times!

[disneycouple2004]

Here is some info on the shopping pass :

have heard you can get a one hour shopping pass, what is this?

This was available from Guest Relations at the major parks at one time but seems it has largely gone the way of the dinosaurs. A 'shopping pass' as they were called is part of a "time limit" admission media. Distributing a time limit pass is an exception to the general admission media rules. All time limit admission media is distributed at the sole discretion of the Guest Relations CM distributing the media. Most will not allow it to be done anymore. My advice is if one CM tells you there is no such thing as a shopping pass that you ask him/her to check with their supervisor.

Part of the demise of these "shopping pass" admissions has been the result of Disney Merchandising. At one time, each park had many items that were specific to that park and were only available at that park. For example, a Splash Mountain sweatshirt could only be had in the Magic Kingdom itself. But now, the existence of park specific merchandise is extremely limited. A higher percentage of park merchandise is just as available outside the actual Theme Parks as inside their gates.

Just in case you find yourself the rare exception and still manage to obtain a one hour park shopping pass, here is how it works. This shopping pass is available only at the Guest Relations window at the four major parks. The deal is you must put a charge card imprint (they may take cash for it but I'm not sure) equal to the amount of a one day park pass at full price. You will have one hour to enter the park and do your shopping or whatever.

If you do not make it back to the same Guest Relations window within an hour, they will put your charge through as a purchase and you become the owner of a one day pass. If you do get back in time, the charge slip is voided and it will have cost you nothing.

This was set up to allow people to go back to a park to purchase an item or items that they forgot and are only available in the park. Only one person in your party will be allowed in on the shopping pass.

[Lizzie]

The bet way to work the system to your best advantage is to combine these 2 perks. One of you puts in for a fast pass for one ride while the other puts in for another. Then, you each do the baby swap on your ride. That way you can fast pass 2 rides during each time period instead of one (at least this worked in April 2006). Also, remember that Disney never expects you to go on a ride by yourself, so if you have an older child with you, he/she can go on BOTH times!

This is a great idea I never thought of doing this. Its just me and my husband and the toddlers on the next trip and this will work great.

[Lori0963]

I don't know if you can still do this or not: You used to be able to get a "shopping pass" to a park. If I remember correctly, you have to pay for a ticket, but if you return within the 30 minutes or so, they refund your money. That way if you've seen something in a park gift shop, you can run in and get it. This comes in handy if you are leaving that day and don't have time to shop around to see if you can find it somewhere else.

That is good to know, in 2005 my husband and I used one of our no expiration passes just to enter Epcot for smashed pennies, we were in the park for all of 15-20 minutes. :( I'm always surprised at what we will do for our kids. :fit:

[teamblackwell]

Hi all,
Where are the baby care centers located?

[E-OR]

In Disneyland they have the singles lines for some of the rides like Soaring, raft ride, etc... Not many people know of this and we use it all the time when there. It saves us a ton of time. There is also some rides that you can get a fast pass for and still get another fast pass before the is up on the first ride. Like the raft ride @ DC, haunted mansion, etc... Is this available in any theme parks in WDW?

[Lizzie]

Baby Care Centers are clearly marked on your park map.

In AK it is on your left in Discovery Island as you enter Africa.

In Epcot its on your left right past Test Track before you enter WS.

In AK its on main street on the left by Crystal Palace.

In MGM its on your left right as you enter the park (I remember this being my least favorite of them all).

I hope that helps.

[CleveRocks]

I'm sure you all know about Disney's Magical Express. But one little known perk of DME has to do with room availability.

At the airport, you check in at the Disney Welcome Center. When you do that, a message is sent to your resort that you've arrived at MCO and will soon be at the resort. At that point, you will be pre-assigned a room if one is available that matches the criteria in your reservation. You can always change it when you check in at the resort, but the point is that a room is set aside for you, if one is currently available. I can best explain this with a concrete example.

Let's say you have a reservation for a king-size bed room at CBR. You arrive at the airport's Disney Welcome Center at 10:00 a.m. Let's say that there is exactly one room that matches your reservation that is clean and available right now, one and only one (remember, this is hours before official check in time). That one room will be set aside for you. You'll arrive at CBR probably around 10:45 a.m. Let's say at 10:15 a.m. someone else with the same reservation as you arrives at CBR and goes to the front desk. They will be told their room isn't ready yet. Even though there is a perfectly good king-size bed room sitting there clean and empty and ready, that other person won't get that room because it's been set aside for you. Even though they got there first, the room is yours. So you cruise in at 10:45 a.m., a half-hour after the other guy, and YOU get the room and he's still waiting.

Nice perk.

By the way, you aren't locked into the room you're pre-assigned to. It's just held for you. You can refuse it in favor of waiting for another room that is more to your liking. This is something done totally at the resort ... the DME desk has nothing to do with room assignment. In other words, it won't do any good to tell the DME CM what type of room request you have. They don't actually talk to the resort ... the computer just sends a simple message that you've arrived, and nothing more.

[disneyfan369]

I'm sure you all know about Disney's Magical Express. But one little known perk of DME has to do with room availability.

At the airport, you check in at the Disney Welcome Center. When you do that, a message is sent to your resort that you've arrived at MCO and will soon be at the resort. At that point, you will be pre-assigned a room if one is available that matches the criteria in your reservation. You can always change it when you check in at the resort, but the point is that a room is set aside for you, if one is currently available.


Pretty cool! I didn't know that was how it works. :mickey:

[I believe]

You can get free water from any food vendor that has a soda fountain. Save your cash or snack credits for:bar:insted. The tap water is not THAT bad...especially when it's hot out!

[Christine]

The tap water is not THAT bad...especially when it's hot out!


I don't know if my daughter would agree with you...when she was 5, she got some tap water in the room and spit it out because ,"it smells like feet!" :D

[TheRustyScupper]

I would like to know more about the shopping pass. This would be great while on a conference at Disney. I always volunteer to go on all the Disnry work related trips.

1) It still exists.
2) It is somewhat restricted, so use it as designed.
3) How it works
. . . go to Guest Services outside of the park
. . . ask for a 1-hr Shopping Pass
. . . tell them what you want to buy, and where
. . . give a credit card imprint for 1-day ticket
. . . return within time limit
. . . show the item and receipt
. . . they tear-up the credit card slip
4) The Shopping Pass is not a "browsing" pass.
5) It was meant to buy something previously seen.
6) Thus, the CM will ask what you want to buy and where it is located.
7) It is a great service for those purchases you wished you would have made.
8) We have used this successfully three times.
9) Don't look for this service around the time of parades or fireworks.

[jedi jen]

I think pin trading with the CMs is a nice perk. My DS(9) and DD(5) enjoy it very much. They look forward to seeing and meeting the CMs, and the CMs are very nice and they learn interesting things about WDW from them. Also, the pin trading seems to enhance the whoe magical experience for them. Oh yeah, and me too. This year I have my own pins for trading. :D

[TheMartellFamily]

If you go to the first aid station they have some free services if needed for ailments occured while on vacations like upset tummy, and headache just go in and talk to one of the nurses and they can help you feel better.
Another one we have used so much in the past is the kidswitch program. Now are boys are so much older we are useing it less and less to the point I feel next time we may not need it at all.
I love the the Child care centers to. It is a nice to get away for a few minutes to have down time for the kids. It is great that they have great kid potties, changing tables, and feeding area that is quiet and not over stimulating the kids when they have sometimes have had to much.
There are so many great perks that if you find one it is great to know and pass it on.

[Mendelson]

On Thursdays in September, if you wear a green shirt (any kind...doesn't matter, so long as it is predominantly green) AND Mickey Ears and approach any blonde castmember (male or female, doesn't matter, but must be a natural blonde) and say, "I was born to speak all mirth and no matter," you will get a fast pass to both Space Mountain and Everest.

Remember, only on Thursdays in September.

[snifflesmcg]

On Thursdays in September, if you wear a green shirt (any kind...doesn't matter, so long as it is predominantly green) AND Mickey Ears and approach any blonde castmember (male or female, doesn't matter, but must be a natural blonde) and say, "I was born to speak all mirth and no matter," you will get a fast pass to both Space Mountain and Everest.

Remember, only on Thursdays in September.

That's so cool. How did you find this out?

[disneyfan369]

On Thursdays in September, if you wear a green shirt (any kind...doesn't matter, so long as it is predominantly green) AND Mickey Ears and approach any blonde castmember (male or female, doesn't matter, but must be a natural blonde) and say, "I was born to speak all mirth and no matter," you will get a fast pass to both Space Mountain and Everest.

Remember, only on Thursdays in September.

Is that some kind of joke?

[CleveRocks]

That's so cool. How did you find this out?

Is that some kind of joke?I don't think it's that important where he found it out or whether it's a joke or not. My guess is it's much ado about nothing.

[Lizzie]

On Thursdays in September, if you wear a green shirt (any kind...doesn't matter, so long as it is predominantly green) AND Mickey Ears and approach any blonde castmember (male or female, doesn't matter, but must be a natural blonde) and say, "I was born to speak all mirth and no matter," you will get a fast pass to both Space Mountain and Everest.

Remember, only on Thursdays in September.

Okay this has to be a joke. Has anyone done this?

[jedi jen]

On Thursdays in September, if you wear a green shirt (any kind...doesn't matter, so long as it is predominantly green) AND Mickey Ears and approach any blonde castmember (male or female, doesn't matter, but must be a natural blonde) and say, "I was born to speak all mirth and no matter," you will get a fast pass to both Space Mountain and Everest.

Remember, only on Thursdays in September.

I'm skeptical. :unsure::plot::noway::crazy::huh::paranoid::rub:

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

And you would be able to tell they are a natural blonde, how? Only my hairdresser & my sisters know for sure.

[Mendelson]

I don't think it's that important where he found it out or whether it's a joke or not. My guess is it's much ado about nothing.

Of course it's a joke! Sorry, I thought you'd all spot the silliness a mile away.

Bonus points to CleveRocks, spotting the "BS" (pun intended) and even knowing the play!

So yes, I'm playing, but remember, "the play's the thing."

[DisneyDudet]

I'm sure you all know about Disney's Magical Express. But one little known perk of DME has to do with room availability.

At the airport, you check in at the Disney Welcome Center. When you do that, a message is sent to your resort that you've arrived at MCO and will soon be at the resort. At that point, you will be pre-assigned a room if one is available that matches the criteria in your reservation. You can always change it when you check in at the resort, but the point is that a room is set aside for you, if one is currently available. I can best explain this with a concrete example.

Let's say you have a reservation for a king-size bed room at CBR. You arrive at the airport's Disney Welcome Center at 10:00 a.m. Let's say that there is exactly one room that matches your reservation that is clean and available right now, one and only one (remember, this is hours before official check in time). That one room will be set aside for you. You'll arrive at CBR probably around 10:45 a.m. Let's say at 10:15 a.m. someone else with the same reservation as you arrives at CBR and goes to the front desk. They will be told their room isn't ready yet. Even though there is a perfectly good king-size bed room sitting there clean and empty and ready, that other person won't get that room because it's been set aside for you. Even though they got there first, the room is yours. So you cruise in at 10:45 a.m., a half-hour after the other guy, and YOU get the room and he's still waiting.

Nice perk.

By the way, you aren't locked into the room you're pre-assigned to. It's just held for you. You can refuse it in favor of waiting for another room that is more to your liking. This is something done totally at the resort ... the DME desk has nothing to do with room assignment. In other words, it won't do any good to tell the DME CM what type of room request you have. They don't actually talk to the resort ... the computer just sends a simple message that you've arrived, and nothing more.

Many who have worked in reservations say rooms are assigned days in advanced, so I don't know how this play, or what is true. Something to really look into.

Little perks... Birthday buttons at Guest Relations are always fun!

At DL, they do have a few "disconnected" FPs, meaning you can hold one for Space Mountain and run to get one for one the disconnected rides, like Roger Rabbit.

Also, some people don't know, but you can ship breakable or large packages bought directly from the parks home. You pay shipping based on total purchase price, and don't pay taxes. They send it from the parks to your home. The best part, if something is missing or broken, contact Disney and they will replace it for free, as they are the ones who pack and ship. We use this in addition to sending packages to the resort (easier than to the front of the park... its a zoo getting it at the end of the day!). The best part is that those not staying on site can ship their packages home and save space in backpacks!

[Lizzie]

If you are not staying on site you used to be able to buy packeges and have them sent to the front of the park and you can pick them up as you leave.

[CleveRocks]

Of course it's a joke! Sorry, I thought you'd all spot the silliness a mile away.

Bonus points to CleveRocks, spotting the "BS" (pun intended) and even knowing the play!

So yes, I'm playing, but remember, "the play's the thing."I'm just showing off the benefits of a large urban public school system education.:thumbsup:

We learned Shakespeare and had enough time left over to develop a sense of humor, too!:cool:

[CleveRocks]

Many who have worked in reservations say rooms are assigned days in advanced, so I don't know how this play, or what is true. Something to really look into.I got this information a while back from two separate CMs, one of whom works with DME and one of whom is in resorts.

The strange thing is that every WDW resort runs as its own separate little entity, so the methods and procedures can differ slightly from one place to another.

Generally speaking, the rooms that are assigned days in advance are those that have any sort of special paid-in-advance upgrades, important special needs or strong requests attached (e.g., non-smoking [although this no longer applies], first floor, etc.). At most resorts, run of the house reservations aren't pre-assigned ... the front desk CM pulls from the appropriate pool of currently clean and available rooms in the computer (for example, at a Moderate resort, there would be a pool of water view rooms, a pool of king-size bed rooms, and at CBR a pool of preferred location rooms). In other words, if they will have 300 rooms checking in at CBR on Saturday that have no special needs, they will not bother taking the man-hours to assign all of those rooms in advance, unless of course the room assigner on the graveyard shift is just that bored or that gung-ho.

Here's how it was explained to me on another message board by one of the CMs I was referring to:

The Back office Cast has this information sent to them... Room assignment (at resorts that still have that position) and Operation Support Cast have a screen in DPMS/HRGAS (the computer system that is used at the resorts) that they are supposed to have open at all times. Once the guest checks in at the DME counter at the airport, it automatically sends the information to the resort notifying them that the guest has arrived and checked in. Once this information is on the "table," as it is called, it has to be cleared out by the Back office team. The only way to clear it off the table is to assign a room and remove the reservation from the table. The Operations Team will get the notification that the guest has arrived and look for a clean and vacant room that they can assign right away.

As soon as a room is assigned to a reservation it downloads to the DME Assistants' Palm Pilots as completed. When the bags arrive they will deliver the luggage to the room that the Palm tells them. The front desk CM is supposed to let the Back office team know when a DME res was moved (if the guest chooses a room other than the one pre-assigned) so that they can notify the DME Assistant.

Specific enough???

[tealady]

We LOVE the pin trading too!

I think I am the most enthuastic "kid" when it comes to that excitement!

:fan:

[psychotekkie]

Cool info, CleveRocks! I love knowing exactly how things work at Disney. They do all this work behind the scenes, and to us it just comes out looking like :pixie:magic!:pixie:

[DisneyDreams09]

I love the pin trading, there were so many the CM's had that we just loved, but we stuck with trying to find the most rare ones, and we got several from the mid-90's in 2006 when we went, isn't likely that you'll find too many of those.