To follow up on our recent Disney Travel post, I wanted to share our Top 10 Disney Pro Tips that will make your time at the most magical place on earth even better. We had a crash course from our own personal Disney Pro (my cousin Blake) before our trip – complete with a 2 part power point presentation and a quiz so you know he means business. Here is what we learned!
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Disney Pro Tip 1: Fast Passes
You need to schedule your Fast Passes 30 days in advance for each day. Make sure you know who to navigate the website and set your alarm so you can sign up for each pass as soon as the site opens! These fast passes go FAST.
Once you use up your three fast passes at the park for the day, you can search for more on the Disney Mobile app to get through lines even faster! I’m not going to try and explain it, there are so many videos on Youtube so I would suggest heading there.
Disney Pro Tip 2: Disney Photo Pass– “Memory Maker”
Professional photographers are all around Disney now! We were able to utilize the professional photographers at character meet and greets, in front of famous Disney landmarks AND all the ride photos! All we had to do was swipe our magic band and wa-la, downloads to your Disney app within the day!
I never have bought a ride photo in my life, but it was SO fun looking at – and laughing at – all of our faces on the rides! No one had to pull out there phone to take group shots, or ask a stranger. The Disney Photo Pass made it so, so easy.
Related: How We Save Money to Travel
Disney Pro Tip 3: Rope Drop
We “rope dropped” all the parks during our 4-days of park hoping! What is “rope dropping”? Rope dropping is when you arrive at the park early enough where you are the first people in line – right at the rope. So, when the “rope drops” and the park opens, you are first in line for the most popular attractions.
We learned it is a full contact sport and is not for the faint of heart. Seriously, some days felt like we were in a mob! We arrived at the parks anywhere from 1-2 hours prior to park opening, but this may be different in busier seasons!
Unexpected bonus? Sometimes the rope dropped BEFORE official “opening” of the park. On the day were in Animal Kingdom, we did both Avatar rides before the park technically opened at 9am.
Related: Disney and Universal Vacation
Disney Pro Tip 4: Transportation Tips
- Take the ferry between Hollywood Studios and Epcot – this will drop you off in the World Showcase!
- Minnie Vans between Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom (though we didn’t do this – we should have!)
Disney Pro Tip 5: Wear comfortable walking shoes
These parks are BIG, and you are on your feet most of the day. We walked 8-10 miles a day. I LOVE my Chacos (find them on Amazon here). But I also found alternating shoes every other day definitely helped reduce any potential hot spots on my feet.
Related: Reasons to Consider a Cruise for Your Next Vacation
Disney Pro Tip 6: Bathroom Breaks
If you are traveling in a large group, if one person needs to go to the bathroom – EVERYONE goes to the bathroom! That way you aren’t trying to find a bathroom every hour for one person! Time is precious, people.
Disney Pro Tip 7: Uber & Lyft
Ride sharing is a great way to get around Orlando. We Ubered or used Lyft between the hotel, parks, restaurants and Airbnb. This way, we didn’t have the headache of trying to find a park, waste time finding a parking spot, and we didn’t have to pay for parking! I really felt like this saved us a lot of time.
Related: Pros and Cons of Airbnb + Discount Code for your first booking!
Disney Pro Tip 8: Download Apps
As I mentioned, download the Disney World App for maps and wait times.
Disney Pro Tip 9: Celebration buttons
Ask the ticket counter or information center for celebration buttons! I celebrated my birthday at Disney, and wore a “Happy Birthday” button! SO many cast members wished me a Happy Birthday and made me feel so special! One cast member even gave me a free Mickey ice cream!
Disney Pro Tip 10: Disney Gear
Get your Disney gear BEFORE you get to the park! Nothing is more fun than wearing that perfect Disney tee with your favorite character or Disney movie while at Disney! I found awesome Disney tees at Target, Kohls and Amazon!
I also LOVED not carrying a purse! Disney allows bags on rides, and I loved having a fanny pack (not the one I used, but I like the look of this one!) to carry all my daily essentials like extra contacts, sunscreen, lip balm and credit cards. To Disney-fy it, I added a princess zipper pull, and a Disney Princes adhesive sticker (I bought these on Amazon! They are actually stickers though, not patches like I thought). Finally, we bought Disney themed temporary tattoos (similar to these ones!) – just for fun!
Make sure you check out our Disney & Universal Vacation post for our Disney Itinerary! Hopefully these Disney pro tips and tricks make your Disney Vacation all the more magical!
Disney On,
*This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for some of the links in this post- at no cost to you. See our Disclaimer page for details*