If you're considering buying a Disney World  PhotoPass CD for an upcoming vacation, you'll save if you pre-order it before Tuesday. The price goes up $20 to $149.95 on June 16.

 

Also, you can save an additional 20 percent if you order the CD here. 

 

Disney has stationed its photographers throughout the parks -- and even the water parks -- and it's free to have your photo taken. Just ask the photographer. Afterward, he will give you plastic card; the numbers on the card are what you will use at either a PhotoPass station on Disney property or online to view your photos.

 

My family has purchased many professional photos from our Disney World outings through the years and by far the best deal if you plan to purchase more than 10 photos is a PhotoPass CD. The price of the CD is for an unlimited number of photos from your vacation -- even if the photos won't actually fit on one CD. So, if you plan to buy the CD, take photos everywhere and anywhere! 

 

You can duplicate photos by doing a "save as copy" in the edit mode on disneyphotopass.com. This will allow you to save versions of the same image with different borders, signatures and crops because the images cannot be manipulated with Disney tools once they are burned on the CD.

 

Remember -- the CD price is for as many photos as you have in your account.

We're barely past one Twilight convention and another is announced for the tourism corridor near the Orlando theme parks. Eyecon, a celebrity autograph convention, will return Sept. 25-27 to The Florida Hotel at Florida Mall.

Fans of Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular books seem to be looking for another way to connect with the series while waiting for the second movie in November. And this encounter with some of the actors appears to have been a hit. See photos here.

It's early, but so far these actors have been confirmed for September: Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Justin Chon (Eric Yorkie), Gil Birminghan (Billy Black) and Edi Gathegi (Laurent).

Tickets go on sale online at noon EST Monday. For details, click here.

Spring is my favorite time of the year to capture images at Epcot because having the abundance of color from the Flower & Garden Festival as a backdrop is just beautiful.

Hard to believe, but even amateur photographers like myself can top that by including the iconic monorail in a photo. Epcot is the only park where the train travels inside the gates, making for unique images. What, besides Cinderella Castle, says Walt Disney World like the monorail?

My preferred spot is adjacent to Imagination Walkway, which is on the right side past Spaceship Earth by the large ponds with floating topiaries. Monorails come by about every 10 minutes, so patience might be required. Trust me, though, the photo will be worth it.

For more inspiration, Sentinel photographer Joe Burbank shares dozens of gorgeous photos from the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival here. The event runs through May 31, and it looks like we might even get a break in the rain this weekend, especially early in the day.

Our colleague, business reporter Jason Garcia, reports that Disney raised its water-park prices this weekend. Adults now pay $45 (up from $40) for a single day at Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon, and kids ages 3 to 9 pay $39 (up from $34).

Here's a way for passholders interested in the water parks to ease the sting of the price increase: Use your Birthday Fun Card. Disney World's current "What Will You Celebrate?" promotion grants all guests free admission to one of its four theme parks on their birthdays. Because passholders already have paid for their tickets, they can opt for a gift card worth the price of admission ($75 for adults or $63 for kids), which is good mostly for merchandise.

However, the gift card can be applied to water-park tickets or passes. Sounds like a good alternative if swimming, tubing and sunning are your thing. Plus, the Birthday Fun Card doesn't expire, so you can go to the water parks any day that works for you -- not just on your birthday -- and still have some spending money.

It had been years since my husband and I had been on Space Mountain, despite our annual passes. But during the weekend, our visiting family members took the kids to another attraction so we could experience the roller coaster before it closes for refurbishment next month. (Space Mountain is scheduled for rehabbing April 19 with a target reopening at the end of the year.)

We first rode the right side (Alpha) and then the left (Omega). Is it my imagination, or does Omega go just a little faster and have bigger drops?

(Photo by Walt Disney World)

The March issue of Parents magazine offers tips from Florida moms, including four from Orlando, on how to save money at Disney World. Many of the tips are ones that frequent visitors with children regularly follow, such as bringing a cooler with lunch and drinks (less expensive and less stressful than waiting in crowded restaurants) or spending an afternoon at Downtown Disney (enough to keep kids busy for hours, and there's no admission or parking fees).

One mother recommends that visitors skip the park-hopper option on their multi-day tickets, saving $50 per ticket. In my experience, unless you have specific plans for splitting days at the parks, this option often seems to go unused, especially if you have young children. The hassle factor is just not worth it.

 

Another suggests collecting your Magicard at orlandoinfo.com, the Web site of the Orlando-Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau. You can download the discount card and have it in hand right away. There are some interesting offers if you are planning to venture off Disney property, but I didn't find any for the Mouse.

 

The magazine’s tips have the common themes of planning ahead and making the most of what you are paying for, instead of trying to overschedule each day.  In addition to saving money, these tips will go a long way toward keeping the peace, which we can all agree is priceless.

World of Disney has a sweet deal for passholders this month. Stop by the information desk in the middle of the store, show your pass and an ID, and receive a free lanyard with two "exclusive" passholder pins.  You'll also receive a coupon for an additional 10 percent (so 20 percent total) off your purchases that day. I'm told the promotion runs through Feb. 28, or while supplies last.

My children saw Epcot in a new light recently when they joined the ranks of pin traders. I had resisted the hobby, mostly because of the expense. (Disney pins can start at $7 and increase from there.) Oh, my son and daughter had the lanyards and a few special pins -- lucky recipients of a "Year of a Million Dreams" promotion -- but they wore them to the parks just for fun.

After they saw a friend's excitement at trading, they declared they were ready to try, too. So, for the day, we approached most of the cast members we saw and asked to view their pins. It was interesting to see how each child approached the process differently. My daughter jumped in wholeheartedly, as she does most things, willing to give away anything if the cast member had a pin that caught her eye. My son hung back shyly, waiting for his sister to finish her transaction, while he studied the possibilities. Then, with some encouragement, he made his offer with a specific trade in mind.

Either way, both children enjoyed the process as much as the spoils of their trades. At ages 4 and 6, they are not trying to collect certain types of pins, as serious collectors do, but rather just looking for pins they like. If that is your goal, too, I offer this tip:

Curious about the details of Disney's new promotion "What Will You Celebrate?", I stopped by the "Birthday Booth" (Will Call) at Epcot this weekend. In case you've missed the many TV ads, viral e-mails and other promotions, Disney is offering free admission to any of its parks on guests' birthdays in 2009.

It had been announced that passholders would have the option of choosing one day's admission for use after their passes expired, a birthday fun card valued at a day's admission ($75 for adults and $63 for kids ages 3 to 9) to be used on select merchandise, or a multiple-ride Fastpass for the day. But doesn't that leave you wondering where you can have your shopping spree, or if the Fastpass will give you celebrity treatment for the day?

Earlier this week, reserved tickets apparently were made available on Disney.com to the general public for the Walt Disney World Christmas Day parade taping today and tomorrow in the Magic Kingdom. I had been told previously that any guests in the park each day could be chosen to be up close to the filming.

So, if you're planning to go tomorrow without a ticket, know that you're not likely to be in the front row. Still, you may be able to view the action from other spots near Main Street USA. Also, as the day goes on, some people get tired of standing around for hours and give up their spots, which could open up places for others. Of course, it's up to the production company, Lightship Entertainment, to decide how they will film the crowd shots. Remember, this is for the television show that airs Dec. 25.

This morning's 8 a.m. taping was cancelled, but the noon filming went on as scheduled with David Cook and Sarah Brightman, park guests say. Taping begins tomorrow at 7 a.m. for those with the special tickets. Everyone else must pay admission or have passes to enter at 9 a.m.