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Some Little Known Walt Disney World Tips & Tricks! Updated for 2024

January 21, 201815 min read
Written by Paul Anderson
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Updated: April 5, 2024

Today I am going to tell you some of my favorite tips and tricks to get the most out of your Walt Disney World vacation and now granted there are a lot of them and I probably didn’t even catch them all but I figure this is a pretty decent list to start off with so here we go you so we’re just gonna roll through these so here we go first things first everybody drinks water whether you bring in your own water bottle or you purchase your own water bottle during the day I’ve got a little trick to save your money and it’s not really a trick just ask for a cup of water when you order your food from quick service restaurants or anything if you go get a Mickey pretzel if you go get a Dole Whip after a cup of water and they will give you a free cup of ice water.

Sometimes it’s really small sometimes it’s normal size but either way it’s free the only downside is it is Florida tap water not the tastiest but if you can bypass that it’s still water still good to go and it’s free another tip the rasilla bill mugs at the resorts if you’re staying on property you can go to the food court and order one of these refillable mugs and no they don’t have handles anymore but it’s easier to fit your stroller there you go and I think it’s like fifteen sixteen seventeen dollars or whatever but you can refill it as many times as possible during the entire length of your stay at the resort.

So if you’re staying for six seven eight nights it’s a pretty good deal you can only use it at Disney resorts not the parks but any of the hotels that are on property you can use them at their food court you can fill it up with soda or coffee tea whatever um but it will be free the entire length of your stay.  You just pay that money right up front.

If you have a Disney visa definitely bring it with you to the parks you get 10% off any purchases over $50 in any of the stores they also have special meet and greets for Disney visa holders and one is at Epcot where it’s usually Mickey and goofy Mickey Minnie either way then there’s a special meet and greet for Disney visa holders at Hollywood studios where you meet a Star Wars character Disney visa holders also get to take advantage of the visa lounge for example if Food & Wine Festival there’s a little piece of Disney visa holders I don’t know Disney Chase visa holders at the American Pavilion and it is swanky it is so slinky you go in and kids are playing Disney infinity you can get cheaper champagne and drinks they have a free coke dispenser and it’s air-conditioned so what’s better than that people forget about different types of transportation in the park so you think the shuttle system most of the time a lot of things they don’t realize are the monorail um it doesn’t just take you from resort to resort in a monorail can take you from Magic Kingdom to Epcot.

Also there is what’s called the friendship boat which is a little transportation boat that goes from Epcot to Hollywood studios and yes it makes them stop set a few resorts along the way and it’s a little ice little right so if it’s nice that you want to take a little boat canal along with that if you’re staying at Port Orleans Riverside or port Orleans French Quarter you can take a cute little boat from those resorts to Disney Springs and back.

And so long as it’s not a hundred percent humidity and really buggy it’s actually a really nice boat ride another thing I see a lot of people ask is whether you can ship packages to your resort and yes you absolutely can my recommendation is unique Amazon Prime I’m pretty sure Florida has same-day shipping so if you did forget something or if you weren’t able to carry something on the plane or if you forgot it at home do Amazon Prime and ship it to your resort that you’re staying yet and you will get that package if you are celebrating something at Walt Disney World a birthday an anniversary a recent engagement um make sure that people know to when you first check in tell the front desk that you’re celebrating first of all they’ll give you a celebration button.

But also people might go out of their way and do something special for you especially let people know if you’re dining that it’s either somebody’s birthday or you’re celebrating like a honey or something a lot of the times you could get a little treat I know.

I’ve gotten free desserts before I’ve gotten cards from characters like if I ate it be our guest they would give me a signed birthday card from Belle beast and if I was a Crystal Palace you get one from poo in the game if you are looking for a really obscure character but you know they don’t have a character spot always keep your eyes peeled because characters do a lot of character training where they go out in special places in the parks and interact with guests as part of their training to become a character.

One of the spots that I always see them as it is that international gateway and Epcot and if you guys don’t know where I’m talking about if you’re walking from the UK to France right before you go over the bridge to France if you go straight ahead where the friendship boat canals are um sometimes you may see characters out about doing meet-and-greets.

For example I’ve seen Flynn Rider there a handful of times and you can’t meet Flynn unless it’s on a special occasion like Valentine’s Day or something like that so keep an eye peeled there may be somebody there that you won’t be able to meet anywhere else besides like a character dining experience like Ariel and her sea foam gown so definitely keep your eyes peeled for some characters doing training out and about in the parks if you get back from the Magic Kingdom really late it’s like midnight and you realize that the quick-service cafeteria closes at the time you get back don’t worry a lot of resorts do pizza delivery until the a.m.

And I must say that the pizza is actually super delicious sometimes people don’t know that you can use your old magic lands I mean so don’t throw them away keep them because if they’re still active on your mind is new experience account you can bring them and they will still have all of your information all of your fast passes your hotel keys all still recorded on it which is why I have not thrown any of them away yet.

And I still have more they just don’t fit on this I always bring a few so I can mix and match my outfits during the day be careful though not to lose them because they like I said they still have all of your information on them they have your credit card they have everything on there so just be really careful when if you do bring extra magic bands.

I do in fact bring a portable charger to the parks but if I forget the portable charger or something if you have your phone cord with your phone you can drop it off at guest relations and they will charge it for you so if you can separate from your phone for an hour to drop off your phone with guest relations and let them charge it to full and go pick it up when you’re wanting your phone back it’s just a quick and easy waste so you don’t have to spend an extra 30 bucks on a portable charger.

A lot of people go to the parks for rope drop which I talked about earlier it’s when you basically go to open the park a lot of people don’t know that when I say rope drop it’s not actually when the park opens all the parks open 15 minutes before they say so in Hollywood Studios opens at 9 o’clock they’ll actually let people in through the front part at and then slowly open more parts of the park until 9 o’clock so I think last time I wrote dropped Hollywood Studios I make a was rope dropping rock and roller coaster and at 9 o’clock I was in line for rocking roller coaster and that’s when they opened the attraction so definitely get there just a little bit before Park open if you’re wanting to rope drop any special attractions along with that Magic Kingdom has their welcome show 20 minutes before every park open day so the Magic Kingdom opens at 8 a.m.

At they will have their Welcome show and let guess into the park right after the 5 minutes Welcome show if you are traveling with a small child who is not tall enough for certain attractions but you and your significant other or you and your friends still want to ride the ride you can do what’s called writer swap and definitely look more into this online if you have any more questions about it but basically you can make a fast pass and one person can go on the attraction with the other members of their party while somebody else out with the child.

And when you’re done come back out and the adult that’s waiting with the child can also go again and use that same fast pass that you’ve made for the attraction if you’re planning on doing a lot of shopping at the park definitely take advantage of their merchandise holding system if you are still thing at the resort for a few more days you have the ability to ship the merchandise that you purchased to your hotel room exactly or you can have guest relations hold it up front for you and you can pick it up on your way out of the park all you have to do is fill out a little form and they give you a receipt that way you can pick it up on your way and you’re not lugging it around all day you have been wanting a dining reservation and have been unable to get them check at three o’clock Eastern Standard Time every day.

I cannot confirm this but I heard that that is when the cancellations for dining go into the system so if somebody cancelled their reservation the day before for something that you wanted today or the next day go at three o’clock to check if something’s opened.

For do another thing is it’s Florida it’s going to rain keep an eye out on the radar because there are a lot of attractions that shut down during the rain or when it’s lightning outside a test track does not run if it’s raining the speedway does not go when it’s raining so definitely just keep an eye out and make sure you do those big attractions those outdoor attractions while it is sunny and nice out so you do not miss it if it is going to rain for the rest of the day every night at the Magic Kingdom about 30 minutes after guests finally leave they do what’s called the kiss good night on Cinderella’s castle where it flickers and lights up and they play pretty music and then somebody comes on and tells you good night.

A lot of people forget about other things to do besides the parks at a Disneyworld don’t forget about Disney Springs which is if you hadn’t been in pest I mean I was there in June no I didn’t go to Disney’s friends in June I was there before that in January and it is completely different now so I’m super excited to go back in a couple weeks to check out Disney’s friends and everything that’s new down there but also there’s miniature golf there are two water parks there are actual golf courses there’s Wide World of Sports there are carriage rides spas special restaurants special things to do so definitely check out some of the resorts as well.

If you’re looking for a fun alternative thing to do at the Magic Kingdom there is Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom which is like an interactive scavenger hunt type of thing where you go and get cards at the firehouse on Main Street and play it from there.

A lot of people pin trade at Disney parks and you can actually pin trade with any of the cast members that are wearing pin lanyards or have a pin pouch or something like that guess at Walt Disney World Resort Hotels can request a wake up call from a character and that character will call and wake you up in your hotel room that morning if you are the first family to go into a Christmas shop of if you are the first family to go to the Christmas merchandise store in Liberty Square and the Magic Kingdom you get to decorate their Christmas tree.

And after you decorate the tree they give you little mini of blue excuse me little miniature Mickey ornaments as the momentum with the year on it and they’re super adorable if you have gluten allergies or if you are vegan definitely ask your chef if they can make special meals for you especially if you are vegan they can make the Mickey waffles vegan they can make the beignets at Port Orleans French Quarter vegan.

The options are actually better if you are vegan but you don’t know any of the vegan options at Disneyworld follow at vegan Disneyworld on Instagram and they’re always popping by different places that have vegan options for you if you go to town at the Magic Kingdom and you meet magician Mickey he talks he talks yep that’s all that’s that’s my tip.

Another thing which a lot of people don’t know about and it’s probably the most upsetting that people don’t know about this is the wine walk in the world showcase at Epcot you get a passport where you stop at three different countries France Italy and Germany and you get two ounce pours one ounce pours I don’t know you get two basically you get two little glasses of wine at each country and you get stamped each country to go to but it’s like six little big glasses of wine for twenty dollars oh it’s such a good deal and the wine is so good.

I do it every time every time there is a mailbox on Main Street USA and you can actually mail postcards from the mailbox it doesn’t say it’s being mailed from Main Street USA I think it’s actually you shipped from somewhere in Orlando but either way it will get shipped there is a barber shop on Main Street USA and you can get your haircut there if you don’t want your haircut sometimes they’ll sprinkle pixie dust on another thing is you can bring outside food and drink into the parks.

Also a lot of people don’t know that if you are dining at Toni’s town Street restaurant which is the Italian restaurant and Magic Kingdom it’s it’s lady in the Tramp themed and if you asked for lady in the tramps autograph they will go back um the cast members will come out with two little paw prints that our lady in the Tramp signatures and that we get it fast but certainly not least be nice to cast members because you know what they’re gonna be nice to you nice may mean just a really nice person talking to you nice name means a free Fast Pass nice name a free soda it may mean three free fast passes either way even if it doesn’t mean that you get something out of it you should always be kind to cast members at the Disney parks.

They are here to make your day the most magical it can be so even if you don’t get anything out of it go out of your way to be nice to the people who are trying to make dreams come true well I think I went through a lot of tips and tricks I probably missed some if you have any tips and tricks that I missed comment down below I know I missed some it’s really hard so let me know if I missed any um I hope these help you and your family on your future vacations I know I said I was going to do a video every other week but two weeks from now I’m so sorry I’m gonna be in Disney World so I’m just doing research for you all that’s why I go down honestly no I’m kidding um but I will come back with another video in three weeks so thank you guys all for watching and I will see you all soon have a magical day bye bye

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