Every Day is a Winding Road...

(Day 8, Walt Disney World Vacation)
Having been at WDW around a dozen times, I have a couple of travel tips for those staying at Disney's Boardwalk resort, as well as a couple of shopping and food related tips. (Two of my favorite things to do at Disney are eating and shopping...so I feel qualified!)

If you are staying at the Boardwalk:

• When taking a bus back from any of the parks or Downtown Disney (and assuming your feet are not killing you from wearing inappropriate theme park footware), get off the bus at the Swan and walk to the Boardwalk. This will save you about 15-20 minutes, which, on the late bus back from the Magic Kingdom (full of cantankerous parents and cranky children), will be a blessing, trust me. Many bus routes are combined at WDW. The Boardwalk bus stops at the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club and Beach Club resorts before getting to the Boardwalk. If you get off the bus at the Swan, turn right (don’t go into the hotel unless you are sightseeing) and head towards the water. Turn left onto the path that travels along the water towards the bridge. Turn right on the bridge and walk to the Boardwalk.
  
• If you are staying in any of the Boardwalk rooms above the River Grill or Crest o’ the Wave, there is a back door that, combined with the previous tip, will take another 10 minutes off your journey “home.” After you walk over the bridge from the Swan, turn right onto the asphalt road that goes parallel with the water. The first chance you get, turn left onto a cement path leading towards the rooms. Make another left and walk through a lovely little courtyard. (Currently these are Disney Vacation club offices, but soon they will be guest rooms.) At the end of the path, go up the ramp to the right and into the building (you may need your room key to get in if you are doing this late at night). You will know if you are in the right place if the doors say “Stairwell D1.” Proceed up the stairs to your floor and go to sleep before others who were on the bus with you have even arrived at the Boardwalk.

Two other tips:

• If you’ve stayed at a WDW resort before, you probably already know about Disney’s little trick to make shopping painless: you can get purchased items sent back to your resort so you don’t have to cart them around all day.(Talk about a great gimmick!) Well, you can also get stuff shipped home for very reasonable prices. If you spend less than $100 it’s around $10 anywhere in the U.S.; if you spend more than that, it’s around $15. Something that I learned today from a very nice cast member at the Disney Marketplace Christmas Store (yes, I was shopping for Christmas stuff already), was that, if you shop at one store and have them ship it home, and then go to another store and buy something else, you can bring it to the first store and add it to your box being shipped AT NO EXTRA COST! This is assuming that the package has not been picked up already, of course. For example, I was shopping at the Christmas store and chose a number of items to be shipped home (they insure breakables, so for things like snow globes, this makes more sense than trying to cart it home yourself, plus there’s no tax charged). After I left that store I went to the Pooh Corner store and saw something else that I really wanted, but didn’t want to carry home myself. So, after I paid for it, I went back to the Christmas store and asked them to add it to my box. Since the box had not yet been picked up, they gladly did it, and it cost me nothing extra. Talk about convenience!
  
• One of my favorite things to eat at WDW is also one of the least expensive things to buy. At Downtown Disney there is a Cuban restaurant called Bongo’s. Outside of the restaurant, there is a walk-up window that serves Cuban coffee and a few select delicacies. When I want a really quick and very tasty lunch or dinner, I buy two or three of their “Papa Rellenos,” or what I usually call “Bongo Balls,” as they are spherical in shape. The balls, smaller than a tennis ball but bigger than a golf ball, are made of fluffy mashed potatoes, with a delicious spicy beef center (Cumin, onion, pepper). If you’re lucky, an entire green olive will also be in the center of the ball. The ball is lightly fried so that the outside shell is golden brown and a little crispy. Grab a few packets of Pistol Pete’s Hot Sauce, and dip the ball into the sauce. WOW! As my husband is fond of saying, “it’ll blow the top right offa your oil well.” Delicious! And since you could probably only eat three of them, you can’t beat a meal for $2.25 at WDW!
  

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