Vacation planning is always a challenge, but Disney World can be exceptionally complicated, especially for first timers. Here are 80+ Disney World tips for planning your first (but also second, third, fourth…) vacation to the Vacation Kingdom of the World!
Introduction
This post went from 12, to 19, to now 80+ Disney tips and tricks. At one point, it was just essential information, but now we want to offer you quick thoughts on everything Disney World.
Some are incredibly popular and on every Disney tips list—like “Never Pay for Water,” while one or two (don’t ask which) probably don’t appear anywhere else. If this is your third or fourth “tips” list, you probably won’t learn much here.
These are all pretty quick hits—there’s caveats and exceptions to many of them, but they’re good starting points and things to keep in mind.
Finally, and related to the above point—just because we say to skip one thing or do another doesn’t mean we think that’s always right for every trip.
Even though we’re not providing a ton of context here, we do try and link to our longer posts when we have them. Just because we say to skip a dining plan here doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still do the research and figure out whether it makes sense for you.
Related Posts
This post is one of two posts on this site that give a broad look at planning a Disney World vacation. The other is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide. The trip planning guide is shorter (because it has fewer tips), arranged a little more systematically, and contains information specific to trips in the next year or two. Additionally, we have a post with 50+ ways to save on your Disney vacation.
Part 1 - Right Now
We’re starting with three things you can do right this second.
1. Set up a My Disney Experience Account
“My Disney Experience” is Disney’s fancy way to refer to your Disney World account. If you set up an account on the Disney World website (or Disneyland, or even ESPN and Hulu), you’ve done this. If you haven’t (or you’re unsure), go to the Disney Website and set one up right now. Not every member of your traveling party needs their own account, but we recommend all adults have their own account.
2. Download and Explore the My Disney Experience App
The My Disney Experience (“MDE”) App gives you access to your My Disney Experience account on your smartphone. It is essential for your trip that at least one person have the MDE app. As with the MDE accounts, we recommend every adult download the app.
The MDE app is the only official Disney World app. Once you download it, explore it for a few minutes. It contains a ton of information people often ignore but which can be very helpful during your trip.
3. Subscribe To Us (or Someone Else)
Okay don’t go running because you think we’re trying to sucker you into something so early on this list. We think we have good updates and content to share. And if you don’t want to subscribe to us, subscribe to someone who can be trusted to keep you updated. Here’s a link to our subscription form and two from other sites that we subscribe to:
Subscribe to WDW Prep School (scroll down the home page)
Part 2 - Before Booking Your Trip
Now that we’ve got the three action items out of the way, let’s get into some big picture things to consider before you book your trip.
4. Learn The Basics
Before you start planning, you need to make sure you know what you’re talking about. We have a separate post covering some of the basics of Walt Disney World. That post includes things like how big the resort is, what parks are there, and what different types of resorts are there. Even if you think you're familiar with the basics, it can’t hurt to quickly skim the list.
5. Decide How This Trip Fits Into The Bigger Picture
Going to Disney World for the first time? Be prepared for friends, family, and Disney experts to freak you out. We’re all going to tell you how much there is to do and how much planning you need to do. Balance this by knowing whether you’re planning a “once-in-a-lifetime trip” or not.
Notice those quotation marks—a good benchmark is probably about seven years. If this is the only time you’ll be in Walt Disney World in the next seven years, then go overboard planning, it’ll be worth it to get as close to a perfect trip as possible. If you’ll be back two years from now, conversely, feel free to keep it simple.
6. Consider Working With a Travel Agent
Look, you can read all the blogs, download all the apps, and set all the alarms, but there’s no doubt it's a little easier if you have a travel agent to help you through things.
For a first-timer, having the help of a travel planner allows you to focus on the more fun parts of of your trip! You can get a quote from our recommended travel planner, Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC, via our form here.
We’re way past being first-timers, and we actually use Lauren’s services regularly (as in for dozens of bookings the past two years). It’s really nice to be able to have someone else there to assist us when we don’t have the time (or energy) to sort out the details of every trip.
7. Know How To Use Crowd Calendars
Crowd calendars are calendars that attempt to tell you how busy the parks will be on a given day. When planning your trip, it’s important to recognize that crowd calendars are great for telling you about important dates you might not know about (what the heck is Jersey Week?), but you can’t put all your faith in these predictions to just gift you a perfect, crowdless trip.
In short: don't worship these calendars. You want to use them to identify big picture things that might impact crowd levels. For the most part, there is no low season at Walt Disney World, and you can’t reliably predict crowds on a day-to-day basis. (Bonus Read: Where to Escape The Crowds at Walt Disney World)
All that said, we’re happy to recommend the WDW Prep School crowd calendar if you want to know which one we think is best.
8. Check the refurbishment calendar (and remember anything can happen)
It stinks, but sometimes rides have to go down for refurbishments. Occasionally hotel pools and restaurants go down, too. The official ride refurbishment list can be found on Disney’s website as part of the park hours calendar. We have a running Construction / Refurbishment calendar as well.
You don’t have to plan around refurbishments. But you should know whether anything is scheduled to be down so that you can manage your expectations. No one wants to get to the theme park to discover the ride they were most excited about is down.
9. Learn About Special Events at the Parks
Throughout the year, there are events at the parks that allow you early or late access to the park and that may come with a special theme. While you could wait until later in the planning process to consider these, tickets can run you $150 per person—enough to impact the number of days you stay or what kind of park tickets you buy.
Some of these events include:
Holiday Parties — Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom
After Hours — After Hours at Magic Kingdom, After Hours at Hollywood Studios, and After Hours at Animal Kingdom
We’re not talking about Early Theme Park Entry—the perk that gives guests of select hotels early access to the parks—right now. Our coverage of these events can be found in the above links to the reviews above, or in our park hours and extra hour access posts:
Disney World’s events page is an overly complicated place to find a list of the events going on at Walt Disney World.
Part 3 - Booking Your Trip
Once you’ve got some dates in mind and you think you know what you’re in for, it’s time to book the trip. We’ll start with some general tips before going through flights, hotels, and dining reservations.
10. Set Your Budget and Work Within It
In our post answering “How Much Does a Trip To Disney World Cost?” we peg a “baseline” trip for a family of four as costing over $6000…but that’s hardly the end of it.
Whatever your budget, there is lots of wiggle room, some of which we’ll cover in this post. Most important, keep an open mind to creative changes—drop a day and add a ticketed event; change hotels mid-stay and add a day; etc.
11. Pay Attention to Discounts and Deals
Check out these posts of ours to save the most on your trip:
We’ve also got 50+ Ways to Save on your Disney Vacation.
12. Plan to Earn a Signup Bonus
This tip is definitely not for everyone. But any huge purchase—like a Disney World vacation. Is a good chance to earn a credit card signup bonus. You could be looking at $500+ savings by doing this.
13. Target Four Full Days
There’s no right length for a Disney World trip, but our go-to recommendation is four full days (one for each park) with a travel day on either end.
If you can’t quite get to four days, we have posts talking you through planning shorter visits:
14. Don’t Always Get Park Hopper
Generally, we advise getting park hopper tickets at Disney World. But we do think they can be skipped in the right circumstance. If you can have four full days, one day at each park or five full days, with two days at Magic Kingdom, you can probably skip park hopper. This saves money, and it also makes planning more straightforward.
15. Skip Water Parks On Trips Less Than Five Full Days
While we’re fans of them, the two Disney World water parks are not staples of our visits to Disney World. Even during extended stays in Florida, we only go to water parks once a month or so.
Unless you have one full day dedicated to each theme park, you don’t need to consider the water parks. If you’d like to read more, we have a guide to Blizzard Beach and a guide to Typhoon Lagoon. We also have a post comparing Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon.
16. Pay Attention to Carry-On and Checked Baggage Rules
Now, onto flights. Sitting at Orlando International Airport before your flight home, you’re guaranteed to see families with gigantic plastic Disney World merchandise bags stuffed with a bunch of stuff they acquired this trip.
If you’re going to be buying merchandise, make sure you have a plan for how you’re going to get it home. If you book a cheap basic economy fare or with a low-cost airline, you’ll need to review their baggage policies to avoid getting stuck paying a jacked up charge for extra bags as you’re boarding.
17. Fly Into Orlando International Airport (MCO)
Most people get this one right, but it’s worth quickly including in the list. Orlando International Airport (MCO) is the primary airport serving Orlando and the surrounding area. The main alternative is Orlando Sanford International Airport.
Disney used to offer free transportation from the airport to their hotels, and while that’s no longer available, MCO still has more (and better) shuttle options than Orlando Sanford.
Orlando International Airport is also closer to Walt Disney World than Orlando Sanford, meaning you'll have cheaper rates on shuttles and especially on taxis and Uber between the airport and non-Disney resorts.
There are obviously going to be some cases where it makes economic sense to fly into Orlando Sanford, just make sure you account for the extra cost of getting to property (and back to the airport).
18. Stay at a Disney Hotel
Next up, hotels. Disney’s hotels are not perfect. As has been pointed out innumerable times, Disney hotels excel in thematic design and (to a a degree) in customer service. But at any price point they are unlikely the best hotels in the area.
That said, we continue to go back to them because the perks and the small things that come with being operated by Disney make the overall experience much more enjoyable. Among the included perks of staying at a Disney hotel are:
Early Theme Park Entry: 30 minutes before regular park hours when the Disney park is open only for Walt Disney world Resort hotel guests (and guests of select other hotels)
Early Access To Individual Lightning Lanes: you'll be able to book individual Lightning Lanes at 7AM, vs. when the park opens for everyone else (these can sell out before park opening time) (also available to guests of select other hotels)
Complimentary transportation: Get to all four parks and Disney Springs via bus, monorail, Skyliner, boat, or walking
We have a guide to the hotels of Walt Disney World, which links to every hotel review (alternatively you can search our site for a specific review).
For what it’s worth—we’re not compensated by Disney. We’ve never gotten, requested, or would take a free hotel stay from them. We’ve given plenty of negative commentary to them when they deserve it. If you’d quickly like hotel recommendations, here are six ($ signs are relative prices):
19. Be Open to a Value Resort
There’s a dark corner of Disney parks fandom that loves to hate on the value resorts even though most of them have never stayed at them. Obviously the “cheap” option will always get a bit of underserved hate from the high horses, but we highly encourage you to consider them. We discuss the value resorts at Disney World in more detail here.
(Note: This isn’t to rag on the deluxe or moderate resorts at all. I assume when planning people always at least peek at those options, and we already recommended some above.)
20. Book a Split Stay
This might be our favorite tip on the list. The split stay—where you book a few nights at one hotel and a few nights at another, is an awesome way to experience a new resort, particularly an expensive one, without breaking the bank. If you split your stay between two Disney hotels, Disney will even transport your luggage from your first hotel to your second.
21. Look Into Club Level
If the price is right, or if you’ll have a bit of time relaxing at the resort, we recommend looking into Club Level stays at Walt Disney World.
As our reviews and general commentary suggest, the club vary wildly. Personally, we recommend Kilimanjaro Club at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Chronos Club at Gran Destino Tower, and Atrium Club at Contemporary Resort.
22. Be Sure You’re Getting The Lowest Price
Yes, you should always check sites like Expedia, Orbitz, Booking, etc. for low prices, but the Disney site sometimes has the best prices…but there’s a hitch.
I hate that this has to be a tip, but the Disney website often “hides” the lowest price from you. We have a post that covers how to get the Disney website to show you the lowest price. The issue is simply that if there’s an ongoing featured offer, the Disney website will highlight the lowest price available under the offer, which isn’t always the lowest price available.
23. Skip the Dining Plan
It always has to be pointed out that yes—you can save money with a Disney Dining Plan. But we remain firmly in the camp that the trade offs and the additional hassle in planning aren’t worth it. That said, if you can get free dining, you may want to consider it. You can read more about dining plans in our guide to the Disney Dining Plans.
24. Book Your Advance Dining Reservations (60 days)
Disney restaurants are an important part of the Walt Disney World experience. You've got a wide range of restaurants to choose from:
Dine in Cinderella Castle with princesses
Enjoy the fireworks from California Grill at the top of the Contemporary
Share the single best dish Disney has the offer: bread service at Sanaa
Start your day with Kona Cafe's Tonga Toast and Bloody Mary flight
Advance Dining Reservations, or ADRs, can be booked 60 days in advance. You’ll want to pick your restaurants as early as possible and then look into booking them. And keep your eyes on slots you can't get immediately, as they may open up.
25. Check In Online
If you’re staying at a Disney hotel, you can check in online or on the app in advance of your arrival, saving you a trip to the front desk. While we do online check-in a lot, we’ve also found more success in getting a room on arrival if we go to the front desk.
26. Get Your MagicBand (or MagicBand+)
If you’re staying at a Disney hotel you can order your MagicBand as part of that reservation (for an additional fee). If you don’t do that, we still recommend every member of your party get a MagicBand to use as their park ticket and for tapping into rides on Genie+. You can buy MagicBands at DisneyStore.com, or at any park or resort at Disney World.
Nowadays it’s actually getting tougher to find the original MagicBands, and you’ll probably wind up buying a MagicBand+ (read more about these at WDW Prep School).
Getting Around
There’s one more topic we want to cover before we start talking about the parks, and that’s how you’ll get to the parks.
27. Do Not Rent A Car
if you’re bringing your own car, or you decide we’re wrong about renting a car, we have a guide to driving and parking at Walt Disney World. In it, we explain why we draw the line at the cost of renting a car. If you’re staying at a non-Disney hotel, you may need to rethink this depending on the transportation situation.
28. Known Your Free Transportation Options
Our site doesn’t yet have a comprehensive guide to the free transportation at Disney World, but the reason is that there’s so much of it. Disney World is home to a network of free buses, boats, walking paths, monorails, and the Skyliner.
Every hotel has free transportation to every park and Disney Springs. Every park has free transportation to every other park. Transportation between resorts is more complicated, and we’ll cover it below. Our best resources on transportation for now is just our individual hotel reviews.
29. Buses Have Better Hours Than the Skyliner, But the Skyliner Is Overall More Convenient
As discussed more in our Guide to the Disney World Skyliner and the relevant hotel reviews, the Skyliner’s limited hours mean there are a few circumstances in which you’ll prefer to take the bus. That said, the Skyliner is our go-to from these hotels in most circumstances.
30. Transit to Alternative Hotels
The following groups of hotels are connected (within the groups, not across groups) by walking paths:
Swan & Dolphin, Yacht & Beach Club, and BoardWalk Inn
Polynesian and Grand Floridian
Port Orleans French Quarter and Port Orleans Riverside
All-Star Resorts (Usually share buses)
Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge (20+ minute path through the woods)
When taking Disney buses, if you don’t mind a short walk (that last one excepted), you’ll sometimes want to just hop onto the next bus to any of those resorts and then walk to your resort.
31. Check Bus Wait Times On The My Disney Experience App
This is the first mention of the My Disney Experience App since we told you in tip #2 to download it. The bus wait time feature is fairly limited, but we still use it on every stay. Currently, it is only useful for getting bus times from your Disney hotel to the four parks and Disney Springs. You need to be booked at a Disney hotel to access the times. They can be accessed via the main menu —> “Resort Hotel”—>”See Bus Times.”
32. Use Ridesharing To Save On Time
We frequently use Uber to get around Walt Disney World. Other experts recommend Lyft. And Disney has its own service—Minnie Vans—operated in partnership with Lyft.
The biggest time you’ll need to consider one of these services is if you’re going from one resort to another. Unless the resorts are in the same area and connected by other transportation, you’ll need to from your hotel to a park and from the park to the other hotel in order to get between two hotels. This can easily taken an hour.
Additionally, if you’re behind schedule, Minnie Van is a good option for getting to Magic Kingdom. Unlike Uber, Lyft, and your own car, Minnie Vans can drop you off right at park’s main entrance with the free resort transportation.
Part 4 - Conquering the Parks
There are four theme parks—Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. You need to have a plan for how you’re going to experience each one.
Before we get to specific tips, we have pages that compile all our posts on each park: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios.
33. Recheck Old Advice
Back in the 90s when my family regularly went to Disney World, you could buy a book for a 1995 trip and the advice would still mostly hold for a 1997 trip. No more.
With the parks changing at a rapid rate, and with information and Disney tips being shared faster than ever online, advice gets dated quickly, and honestly—I still sometimes hear people repeating the same tired, outdated strategies from the 90s.
This isn’t just about advice from decades ago. Itineraries written last week can be useless if a new ride has opened, if Disney temporarily changes the Genie+ setup or moves some rope drop location, or even just because crowd behaviors have changed.
34. Learn About Rides and Entertainment
Truthfully—we don’t think you need to research each individual ride or piece of entertainment before you arrive. To our mind, just knowing “roller coaster” or “stage show” is probably enough, and you can get that information just by visiting Disney’s own listing.
That said, we have more comprehensive guides to each park:
35. Know the Ways to Get on Rides
By now you probably have figured you’ll either wait in the regular standby line or use Genie+ to get on a ride. That’s mostly true, but it really helps strategizing your days to break it up more. Check out the 10+ Ways to Get on Rides at Disney World (most of which will also pop up in this post, by the way).
36. Learn About Height Requirements and Rider Switch
Sometimes I get to a park at 7AM, two hours before it’s scheduled to open, and I’m at the front of the crowd with the other early risers. And I overhear parents saying to each other “well I’m not sure if Janie is tall enough for that one…”
Know this stuff ahead of time—we have a Guide to Height Requirements and Rider Switch at Disney World. If you start your morning by heading to Space Mountain and find out Janie isn’t tall enough, you’ve basically locked yourself into a 20 minute wait (instead of zero minutes) for your first ride with that diversion (plus Janie is super bummed now).
Rider switch allows your group to split up who’s going to watch Janie while everyone else rides Space Mountain (or whatever ride). Group A waits in line while Group B stays with Janie, then Group B gets to use the Lightning line while Group A stays with Janie. The above-linked post covers this in more detail.
37. Master Genie+ and Lightning Lanes
To get the most of your time in the parks, you’ll want to master the Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane system. Genie+ is a paid system to enable you to skip the lines at select attractions.
The system isn't perfect. It requires a lot of knowledge to really perfect using it. And even if you learn everything you can, some things are still up to chance. Not to mention, when you finally get to the parks, excessive crowds can make Genie+ a lot less valuable.
Besides our guide to Genie+ that we linked to above, we have individual park Genie+ guides:
38. Consider Single Rider Lines
Test Track, Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and Expedition Everest have single rider lines. Guests who use the single rider line will typically have a shorter wait, but groups will be split up and each individual will fill a single empty seat with another party (hence “single rider”).
Single riders on Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run will almost always being assigned the engineer position on that ride.
You can read more about single rider lines at Walt Disney World.
39. Combine Single Rider and Rider Switch
Particularly when you have two parents, Allen and Barry, and a child, Cathy, they can get good use out of combining single rider with rider switch. Allen and Barry will be riding alone anyways, so Allen should use the single rider line, and rider switch will allow Barry to use the Lightning Lane queue.
40. Take Advantage of Early Theme Park Entry
If you’re at a hotel with Early Theme Park Entry (a Disney hotel or select partner hotels), you should take advantage of the morning time.
41. Plan for Rope Drop
Rope drop is the fancy blogger way for saying “the time when the park actually opens.” Sometimes this is when it’s scheduled to open, sometimes it might be an hour earlier.
Rope drop matters because this is the time when lines for rides are lowest, and a good rope drop strategy keeps you in short lines for the first hour or two of the day, complementing your Genie+ strategy to combine for the perfect day.
We have guides that cover rope drop at all four parks:
42. Find Characters With the MDE App
The My Disney Experience app contains a Characters section that gives times and locations for character greetings, but you should also check the Attractions and Entertainment sections, too. Disney categorizes character experiences under all three of these sections.
We have a few posts to help you meet characters:
43. Pay Attention to Streetmosphere
“Streetmosphere” is entertainment that isn’t on a stage or in a theater, but rather on the “streets” of the park. The Entertainment section of the app lists most streetmosphere, which includes things like the Main Street Trolley Show at Magic Kingdom and the Citizens of Hollywood in Hollywood Studios.
44. Make Three Lists During Lunch
Another candidate for my favorite tip—while everyone else is chatting about the morning, someone needs to make three lists during lunch. First, a list of attractions you want to visit and their closing times. Second, a list of shows you want to watch and their showtimes. Third, a list of characters you want to meet and their greeting times.
Every full day I spend at a theme park, I make these three lists at lunch. Then I delete things as I visit them. The My Disney Experience app has all this information, but the lists allow you to only see what you have left and to have critical information like showtimes quickly on hand.
45. Ask Photopass for Photos
Photopass and Memory Maker are Disney services that allow you to have professional photographers around the park take photos of you that are then linked to your account for you to download later.
You’ll pay for these photos if you download them, but you can also just ask the Photopass photographers to take a picture using your camera. You won’t get the special effects (“Magic Shots”) that are sometimes added, but Photopass photographers typically have prime locations and are professionals, so you’ll still get great photos.
46. Get Special Seating for ____
If you’re really into the nighttime shows or parades, Disney offers a variety of dining packages that offer VIP seating for these shows. You can see a list of these by using the appropriate filters on the Disney World dining website. This brings us to…dining!
47. Use Package Pickup
If you’re staying at a Disney hotel, you can have your merchandise purchases at the park sent back to your hotel (typically to the hotel gift shop) so you don’t have to carry them around all day.
If you’re not staying at a Disney hotel, you can still have the purchase sent to the front of the park so you can pick it up on your way out.
48. Take a Behind-The-Scenes Tour
Each of the parks has behind-the-scenes options with prices that range from $35 to $200+ per person. We have reviews of Keys to the Kingdom, Caring for Giants, and Up Close with Rhinos.
49. Avoid Epcot on Festival Weekends
Nowadays, Epcot has festivals most of the year, so you probably can’t completely avoid them, nor would you want to.
But for the best experience, avoid spending weekends at the World Showcase during a festival, particularly the Food & Wine festival. There are lots of crowds and lots of drinking, and it just isn’t the most enjoyable experience.
Food and Drink
We’ve covered some food and drink already in booking, when we discussed the dining plans and told you to book your dining reservations. Here’s some more to keep in mind…
50. Learn What Your Hotel Offers
Each of the value hotels has a single cafeteria that serves quick service breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The moderate hotels each have a cafeteria as well, but some of them also have a table service restaurant.
The deluxe resorts typically have one casual table service restaurant or buffet, one signature restaurant, and one or two small quick service options. Most of the deluxe resorts have character meals on-site, too (Animal Kingdom doesn’t).
And again, just because you’re staying at a hotel, don’t expect to walk into a table service restaurant without a reservation—book it in advance!
51. Learn What’s At the Parks
No secret here, just a friendly reminder. You can eat table service (buffet or a la carte, with a waiter), quick service (fast food) or from snack stands at the park. If you want a quick meal, don’t walk up to a table service restaurant. If you want a relaxing experience with service, you hopefully booked a reservation.
We’re still building our dining content, but we currently have posts covering:
52. Mobile Order
The My Disney Experience app has a Mobile Order feature that allows you to order food at most quick service restaurants before you get to them. You’ll order, pay, tap in the app when you arrive at the restaurant, and get a notification when your food is ready.
53. Mind Your Reservation Times
I get lots of questions from people who schedule their breakfasts for when the park opens and then need advice for ride strategy. Well, the best time to get on rides without Lightning Lanes is when the park opens, so this is a real problem and hard to give good advice for (rope drop matters, remember?).
If your time in the parks is limited and you’re trying to fit in as many rides as possible with short waits, any meal is better to reserve than breakfast. Relatedly, don’t schedule a lunch that will conflict with a parade (usually 2PM or 3PM) or a dinner that will conflict with a nighttime show (varies daily).
54. Check for Same-Day ADRs
We regularly check for same-day dining reservations, particularly for lunch. We even saw limited space at table service restaurants in Magic Kingdom on Christmas Eve last year. Multiple times we’ve gone to Skipper Canteen, been told it is reservation only or has an hour+ wait, and then opened the app to find a reservation in around an hour or sooner.
Obviously if you can plan for your reservation ahead of time, you should do that. But if you’re skipping advance reservations for flexibility (we usually do), you should still check the app once you’ve figured out your meal time.
55. Epcot Festival Booths Are A Good Use of Credits
Whenever there’s a festival at Epcot—which is most of the year—most of the items at the booths can be had for a snack credit. This tends to be the best use of snack credits both in terms of price and quality. If I were ever on a dining plan during festival season, I’d use all of my snack credits at Epcot.
56. Bring Your Own Food
While Disney has rules on how big coolers can be—and they can’t have loose ice, you need ice packs—bringing your own food is still a viable option. You cannot bring outside alcohol into the parks.
57. Know Starbucks Locations
There are Starbucks locations inside each of the Disney World parks. They have different names, but they all have the Starbucks logo and sell Starbucks beverages:
Magic Kingdom - Main Street Bakery (east side—right, when facing castle—of Main Street, uses old Starbucks logo)
Epcot - Connections Cafe (Future World, near Guardians and Test Track)
Animal Kingdom - Creature Comforts (path between Discovery Island and Africa, past Pizzafari)
Hollywood Studios - Trolley Car Cafe (right side of Hollywood Boulevard at the far end when entering the park, uses old Starbucks logo)
You can earn points and pay with a Starbucks card at these locations. You cannot use points or mobile order. You also will not get credit for things like “star dashes” or games that require you to purchase specific items or visit multiple locations.
There are two Starbucks inside Disney Springs (best to use a map or ask a CM when you’re there). These are regular Starbucks stores.
58. Consider Meals at Nearby Hotels
There’s little reason to constrain yourself to meals inside a park at Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Particularly at Epcot, the Boardwalk and its hotels are right outside the park, so you should be open to meals at Boardwalk Inn, Yacht Club, and Beach Club.
At Magic Kingdom, you’re looking at a bit of transit time getting to nearby hotels (5-15 minutes by monorail, 7-10 minutes by boat, plus waiting time), but if you’re not on a tight schedule you should be open to meals at Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and even Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness.
You can walk from Hollywood Studios to the Boardwalk, but it will take about 15 minutes (we do this regularly).
59. Never Pay For Water
Everyone’s favorite Disney “hack” finally makes its way onto this page. You can go into any quick service restaurant (along with some small snack stands) and request a free cup of water. Depending on the day and location, they may have a large dispenser just sitting out. There are also drinking fountains throughout the park and a few water bottle refill stations.
60. Do Not Drink Around the World at Epcot
Another “not for everyone” tip, but we recommend against “Drinking Around the World” at Epcot for a first visit unless you set aside an extra day for it. The World Showcase pavilions offer so much great stuff, alcohol won’t be the best use of your energy (or money) if you only have one afternoon there.
61. Snack Around the World Instead
Snacking around the world is a much better use of money than drinking around the world, in our opinion. Visit each of the eleven World Showcase pavilions and get a small snack or dessert item for a taste of their cultures.
62. Say Thank You Around The World
We have a post to help you learn to say “thank you” in each of Epcot’s 11 countries! One of our favorite aspects of world travel was learning to say thank you in different languages (I was able to do over 30 off the top of my head at one point). In Epcot, you don’t even need 11 languages since there’s some overlap.
63. Finding Alcohol at Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom is the only park without open consumption of alcohol. Table service restaurants at Magic Kingdom serve alcohol (we’re fans of Skipper Canteen). Additionally, you can take the monorail (or boats) to nearby hotels to visit bars. We highly recommend Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto (or the more scenic but less fun Tiki Terrace) at Polynesian. Read more about Beer and Alcohol at Magic Kingdom.
64. Split Fajitas at Pecos Bill (Magic Kingdom)
There are definitely other items like this around the parks, but the one we’re most familiar with is at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn at Magic Kingdom. They have a fajita platter and a “toppings bar.” Once you’ve added sufficient toppings to the platter, it can feed two people. (Admittedly, we’re small people who don’t each much.)
65. Get a Full Pizza
The pizza options around Walt Disney World vary, but there are a few locations that serve pizza by the slice and full pizzas. Full pizzas are almost always the better bet as long as you aren’t flying solo. More than once we’ve bought a full pizza at a value resort (its cheaper than two slices) and given the leftovers to people sitting at the bar.
66. Get a Dole Whip & A Mickey Bar
Dole Whip (Pineapple Soft Serve) and a Mickey Bar are essential Disney parks treat. Is telling you to eat a snack really a tip? Maybe not, but we couldn’t leave you without mentioning it.
67. Dining Packages Are A Good Use of Credits
Dining packages that give you access to a meal, VIP show seating, and only cost one credit are typically the best use of table service credits if you’re on a dining plan. Of course, this is measuring “value” by “what Disney charges.” If you don’t like the restaurant or the show, it might not be your best option.
Part 4 - Outside the Parks
We’re getting near the end, but we’ve got a few tips to know about life outside the parks. If you have a full day outside the parks, you might want to check out our Guide to Planning a No Parks Day at Disney World.
68. Check Your Hotel Activity Schedule
Each hotel has an activity schedule that contains things like pool games, crafting, and movies under the stars. If you check in online and go straight to your room, you might never see this, but it can be quite helpful to helping you fill some time outside of the parks.
69. Every Hotel Has Laundry Machines
Laundry machines are available at every hotel. Hopefully you don’t need them.
70. Watch Fireworks from the Seven Seas Lagoon
The beach behind Polynesian Village Resort is accessible even if you’re not a guest of the hotel, and it has a nice view of the fireworks at Magic Kingdom and typically has the music piped in to nearby speakers. Pair this with a stop at Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto or Tiki Terrace for a wonderful evening.
Firework viewing is also available behind Grand Floridian and at the Contemporary, but the Polynesian experience is the best, in our opinion.
71. Play Some Miniature Golf (or Real Golf)
Fantasia Gardens, walking distance from the Boardwalk, has two miniature golf course. There is also a pair of courses—Winter Summerland—just outside Blizzard Beach water park.
Additionally, there are several full-size golf courses, including some used by the PGA Tour (the Palm and the Magnolia).
72. Visit Disney Springs
Disney Springs is a dining, shopping, and entertainment district at Disney World. Besides a variety of stores and restaurants, there are a few activities like Cirque du Soleil, the NBA Experience, and Aerophile (a balloon ride).
73. Visit Other Resorts
Resort-hopping is a favorite Disney activity of ours. If you follow us on instagram, you’ll see that we often take diversions in the middle of the day to check on the other resorts.
This is particularly nice during the holidays, when Disney decorates all of its hotels. But any time of the year, you might want to take a second to see another hotel, because maybe that’s the moment you start planning your next stay at Disney World!
Part 5 - Miscellaneous
Before we finish up with “your next steps” here are some final, uncategorized Disney tips…
74. Buy Your Merchandise Outside Walt Disney World
This is one of the favorite tips I hear from parents, in particular. Rather than buying gifts for your kids inside the Disney stores, purchase them some gifts before your trip to give them during the trip.
This works for things like t-shirts or ears for adults, too. You might find a design you prefer on etsy before your trip that is less expensive than what’s offered in the park.
75. Get Into Pin Trading
We’re not pin traders, but you might want to look into the culture before you get to Disney World, because if you’re into it (or your kids are), then Disney World is pretty much the best place for it.
76. Consider a FuelRod
While there are good reasons not everyone should buy a FuelRod, we’ve found the swapping capability to be invaluable during our time in Disney parks. Read more about Why We Recommend FuelRods for Disney trips.
Part 6 - Next Steps
If anyone made it this far, congrats. So, where to next in your planning? Here’s some suggestions…
77. Ignore Most Non-Professional Advice
Look, if you don’t like our site, that’s totally fine. But please, please find other reputable expert sources (we recommend some below) to guide you in your trip planning.
You neighbor who went last week, your cousin who collects Mickey Ears, even the annual passholder who organizes your weekly frolf meetups—these people are not going to be the best people to ask for advice. It’s not that they don’t know things, it’s that they often don’t understand how their experiences and advice might not make sense in the context of your trip.
An excellent example of this would be an annual passholder who is constantly in the parks. Surely they are experts, but they might also tell you “the wait for Rise of the Resistance last week was 90 minutes and we skipped it because it wasn’t worth it.” Guess what—they’ve probably ridden it a dozen times already, so of course it isn’t worth it to them to wait.
The one non-professional source we recommend below is forums. Active forums contain a variety of perspectives that are essential for you to get a full picture of your options.
78. Consider Purchasing a Guide Book
More into the printed word than internet? While we prefer online resources (more below) because so much can change so quickly, we get that some people prefer books. Consider also:
The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2023 (affiliate link — we may make a commission on purchases)
The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World (affiliate link — we may make a commission on purchases)
The Hidden Mickeys of Walt Disney World (affiliate link — we may make a commission on purchases)
79. Pack The Right Things
The internet is full of Disney packing lists, and you'll have no problem finding long ones on Pinterest or Google. We've decided not to put together a full packing list, and instead we have a list of Disney Vacation Packing Essentials.
80. Know Where To Get Your Information Online
You're here, and we think that's great! But we're only one good source of information on Walt Disney World. There are lots of places to go, but we've got two sites we especially love.
First, Disney Tourist Blog is a great site dedicated to all things Disney travel. We always start our search for information at Disney Tourist Blog.
Second, WDW Prep School is an extensive, exceptionally deep resource for Disney World planning. If you need a site to guide you from trip planning, beginning to end, start there.
Finally, if you’ve got questions, the /r/WaltDisneyWorld subreddit over on reddit is a good place to post.
81. Read Some Trip Reports
Trip reports, including our own Disney trip reports, are some of the best sources of information at Disney World because they’re (largely) unfiltered looks at what experience a person actually had.
82. Read The Forums
Disboards, WDW Magic, Touring Plans—there are lots of sites with Disney World forums out there. Honestly—these forums are the single best source of weird, detailed questions you don’t think anyone could possibly know the answer to.
They can be a pain to search and navigate, though, so if I’m searching for a question, I’ll just tack “forum” (in quotes) onto my Google search and see what comes up.
It’s important to note these are a semi-exception to our earlier tip to avoid non-professional advice. Forum advice is unique for two reasons. First, it’s often coming from people who have direct experience with an issue—they aren’t repeating what someone told them. Second, it will be vetted by other people in the forum. If other experiences differed, people will report it.
83. Magic Is Earned, Not Given
We’re putting this last because we want to finish on an important note. This is a principle that applies in pretty much any way you can interpret it. Here are a two important interpretations...
Do not ask Cast Members for magic. It’s insulting to expect them to just give away free perks to anyone who asks.
Make your own magic for the Cast Members. Be polite to Cast Members; appreciate the little things they do. Send a Cast Compliment to guest services. This is just part of being a decent human.
Know what you’re getting into and plan contingencies. Guess what, if you show up at Walt Disney World on a summer weekend and then go to guest services to complain about lines, you’re just wasting your time and the time of people behind you in line. Instead, take advantage of the opportunities to avoid lines (including rope drop and Genie+).
Sometimes even when you do that, things might not work out. Disney World has plenty to offer, be prepared to be flexible in finding how to have a good time. The parks will be kind to you if you let them.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.