Tips for visiting Disney World in 2025

Walt Disney World is among the most magical trip locations on Earth. Nevertheless, it may also be difficult, costly, irritating, scorchingly scorching and the epicenter of toddler (and grownup) meltdowns.

The model of Disney World you get is basically in your personal fingers.

Fortunately, there are simple expert-tested suggestions for visiting Disney World. Use the following tips to economize, have enjoyable and guarantee your 2025 Disney World vacation is a hit.

This 12 months will convey a number of changes to Disney World, with a number of new sights opening throughout varied parks.

This summer season, the Magic Kingdom will debut “Disney Starlight: Dream the Evening Away,” the primary new nighttime parade at Disney in nearly a decade. In the meantime, Epcot will see a brand new Spaceship Earth-themed lounge open in late spring, adopted by the reopening of a reimagined Check Observe in late summer season.

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, “The Little Mermaid — A Musical Journey” and the brand new “Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After” exhibits may also take to the stage this summer season.

Use our favourite eating hacks

Along with their revealed menus, a lot of our favorite Disney World restaurants — together with Nomad Lounge in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Dealer Sam’s Grog Grotto at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar at Disney Springs and Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen on the Magic Kingdom — have off-menu “secret objects.”

Generally, these secret menus can prevent some huge bucks. For instance, you will get Ohana noodles from Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort with out paying the hefty prix fixe value of an Ohana dinner by ordering a bowl from Tambu Lounge subsequent door. It isn’t on the menu, however you’ll be able to ask for it.

One other of our favourite methods to save lots of on Disney eating is to settle in at certainly one of Disney World’s many atmospheric lounges slightly than hitting up a table-service restaurant at each meal. You may nonetheless have a desk and a server, however you’ll be able to order from a menu of lighter bites and artistic cocktails with out spending an excessive amount of on an costly meal.

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For instance, at House 220 Restaurant in Epcot, the set lunch menu prices $55 for adults and $29 for kids. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to nonetheless benefit from the area view within the lounge, which affords heavy appetizers ranging between $12 and $18.

A few of Disney World’s greatest lounges embody the beforehand talked about Nomad Lounge at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Geyser Level Bar & Grill at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Steakhouse 71 Lounge at Disney’s Modern Resort and Sanaa Lounge at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas — Kidani Village.

Lastly, when you do not feel like sitting down in a restaurant or lounge after a protracted day at a park, ordering takeout from a few of Disney World’s hottest eating places is a superb various dinner choice. Simply kind “to go” into the My Disney Expertise app search bar to see an inventory of eating places the place you’ll be able to mobile-order a full meal. You may take your meals again to your room or to the nightly outside film displaying at your Disney World hotel.

Create your personal souvenirs

Recreation solid members at Disney World resorts run free day by day actions, from poolside trivia to night s’mores across the campfire to motion pictures beneath the celebrities. Additionally they provide paid actions the place you may make enjoyable do-it-yourself souvenirs, corresponding to tie-dyed Mickey T-shirts.

At Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, for instance, you’ll be able to select coloured nuts and string to make your personal kukui nut lei ($15 for youths and $20 for adults). A number of Disney World resorts even have Community Halls the place visitors can watch motion pictures, play video games and make crafts — both free of charge or a small payment.

Know when you may make your Lightning Lane choices

If you’re staying at a Disney Resort resort (together with the Swan and Dolphin properties or Shades of Inexperienced), you should buy Lightning Lane passes as much as seven days earlier than your trip at 7 a.m. Jap time for the complete size of your keep (as much as 14 days).

You may learn the complete particulars in TPG’s guide, however this offers you a head begin over off-site visitors, who can solely buy and start planning their Lightning Lane choices as much as three days upfront. Lightning Lane passes for well-liked sights get snatched up rapidly, so have a plan for which sights and return occasions you like earlier than your reserving window opens. This will provide you with one of the best shot at skipping the road for Disney’s top-tier rides at your most well-liked occasions.

You may e-book Disney World eating reservations 60 days upfront. Nevertheless, guests staying on Disney World property with their reserving linked within the My Disney Expertise app could make reservations 60 days plus the size of their keep upfront. In different phrases, visitors staying for 5 days can e-book some meals 65 days earlier than their arrival.

This further-out reserving window means you may have a greater probability of scoring probably the most fascinating reservations, which frequently promote out greater than 60 days upfront.

Among the hardest-to-snag reservations embody Cinderella’s Royal Desk, House 220 Restaurant, Topolino’s Terrace — Flavors of the Riviera, Oga’s Cantina, Ohana and Roundup Rodeo BBQ at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

You may need to e-book these (or your most coveted restaurant) as quickly as your reserving window opens. Visitors have till two hours earlier than their reservation time to cancel, so one thing might all the time open up on the final minute when you preserve checking.

If you’d like another person to do the exhausting be just right for you, there are web sites particularly designed to warn you when a hard-to-find reservation opens up. The Disney planning web site TouringPlans has a free alert service that can notify you by way of textual content or e-mail when a reservation to your chosen date and time vary turns into accessible.

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Lower your expenses by selecting your dates fastidiously

Similar to it prices extra to fly or e-book a resort throughout busy weekends and holidays, it additionally prices extra to get entrance tickets to Disney World at sure occasions of the 12 months.

Ticket costs vary by date and park, with some days being significantly cheaper than others. Disney’s Animal Kingdom is positioned because the least costly park, whereas the Magic Kingdom is the priciest park. Single-day tickets begin at $119 per particular person for Animal Kingdom and might value as much as $199 every for the Magic Kingdom.

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Moreover, the price of the reduce-the-line Lightning Lane move varies by day. It prices extra on busier days (and has even sold out on a few occasions), so the value variations can add up if you wish to go to Disney World on a peak date.

Go for different fee choices moreover money

A straightforward solution to shave anyplace from 3% to 10% off the price of your journey is to purchase discounted Disney present playing cards to make use of for every part — your Disney resort or Disney Vacation Club dues, park tickets, merchandise and eating.

You will get them from Goal (there is a 5% low cost when utilizing a Target Circle™ Card) or from Sam’s Membership and BJ’s at a 3% to 4% low cost. Even when you do not get a reduction, you’ll be able to earn bonus points on your rewards credit card by strategically shopping for Disney present playing cards at grocery shops and workplace provide shops.

Some cash-back credit cards additionally embody wholesale warehouses of their quarterly cash-back classes, boosting your total financial savings. Chain retailers like Meijer, Kroger and Lowe’s often run promos that may nab you much more financial savings on present playing cards, too, so that you could possibly rise up to about 10% off.

In case your coronary heart is ready on certainly one of Disney’s Deluxe resorts however your pockets says in any other case, you’ll be able to typically get monetary savings on dear nightly charges by renting Disney Vacation Club points.

Relying on which bank cards you retain in your pockets, you may additionally be capable of redeem points for your Disney World tickets or a factors resort close to Disney World.

The knowledge for the Goal Circle Card bank card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or supplied by the cardboard issuer.

Assume it’s going to rain — and plan accordingly

That is Central Florida, so there’s all the time an opportunity you may get caught in a pop-up afternoon thunderstorm. The fitting preparation can imply letting somewhat rain roll off your (coated) again as a substitute of drenching your parade. You will get “rain prepared” with the following tips:

• Wear waterproof shoes (learn: no sneakers and socks that may get soaked).
• Convey a travel umbrella and a poncho or rain jacket.
• Cowl your stroller with a water-resistant cowl each time there’s even the slightest probability of a bathe.
• Think about the forecast if you select what to experience first (you might have to prioritize outside rides).

Lots of Walt Disney World’s outside sights shut briefly throughout rain and lightning. You probably have your coronary heart set on a top-tier experience (corresponding to Slinky Canine Sprint, Check Observe, Expedition Everest — Legend of the Forbidden Mountain or Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice) do not wait till the tip of the day to attempt to experience. When you do and rain comes your method, you could possibly be out of luck.

Rigorously take into account the place you keep

Disney World has some really fabulous resort motels — however they often value $500 or extra per evening. In case your funds cannot fairly deal with such a splurge, take into account a few of Disney’s Reasonable motels (here’s our favorite hidden gem) and renovated Value options.

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If a conventional Disney property is not possible for you, keep in mind you could get a number of of the identical perks you’d obtain when you stayed on property on the Swan and Dolphin properties or one of many Disney Springs hotels. As an added bonus, many of those properties take part in main resort loyalty packages like Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors.

Make the most of free water park visits for Disney resort visitors

Disney Resort resort visitors can begin their 2025 trip off with a splash with a free water park visit on their check-in day. Tickets to Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks sometimes value $74 plus tax for adults and $68 plus tax for youths ages 3 to 9. (Youngsters beneath 3 are free in any respect Disney World parks.) This perk can prevent a pleasant chunk of change and get the holiday enjoyable going as quickly as you arrive on the property.

This provide is just accessible to visitors at certainly one of Disney’s official motels — so take into account both taking the early flight or staying off-property in your arrival day to take advantage of your check-in day. Once you e-book your 2025 keep, Disney will ship data earlier than your arrival on make the most of your free water park go to.

Disney is aware of that visitors are clamoring to get on new sights like Epcot’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure on the Magic Kingdom. The corporate additionally is aware of the expertise begins diminishing when visitors have to attend in line for 4 or 5 hours per experience.

To maintain wait occasions beneath management, Disney makes use of a virtual queue system when it opens new rides. Relatively than a conventional standby line, visitors can strive for a digital queue spot on the My Disney Expertise app. Usually, rides that use a digital queue additionally provide a Lightning Lane Multi Go or Single Go choice, giving visitors a number of avenues for getting on well-liked rides.

There are two alternatives to hitch: at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. There may be an extra choice for Deluxe resort visitors at 6 p.m. throughout prolonged theme park hours. You may strive for the 7 a.m. slot from the consolation of your resort mattress, however you should be within the park the place the experience is positioned for the 1 p.m. alternative.

The period of time that the digital queue system stays in place for a specific experience is determined by its recognition. For instance, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has been open for over two years and nonetheless makes use of a digital queue as a substitute of a conventional standby line.

Permit time for a resort day (or 2)

There’s a lot to do round Walt Disney World that you could possibly simply fill a number of days with activities that don’t require buying a park ticket. When you’re visiting for a number of days, take into account including some actions exterior the parks.

Attempt a spherical of miniature golf — or 18 holes of the actual factor — within the morning or some pool time in the afternoon. Go to Disney Springs for dinner and a displaying of Cirque du Soleil’s “Drawn to Life.” Or, take into account “Drawn to Life’s” final Page to Stage expertise for a behind-the-scenes tour and a memento memento.

One other good time to plan a resort day is earlier than annual after-hours events like Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. These go nicely into the evening, so you may want to save lots of up some power.

Save character eating for nonpark days

Character meals are typically a visit spotlight, however too typically, visitors make the error of making an attempt to cram a morning character breakfast into an already full park day. As a substitute, save these character meals for a resort day, particular dinner in your arrival evening or farewell breakfast in your departure morning.

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Ebook breakfast as late as attainable when you have your coronary heart set on a specific in-park character meal. Make it a brunch so it can save you your early morning hours for scoring shorter waits on rides.

Regulate character meet-and-greet hours

Many character meet-and-greets begin later and finish sooner than when the parks open and shut. Be sure you examine any must-meet character’s look occasions within the My Disney Expertise app; this manner, you’ll be able to keep away from the heartbreak of lacking out on a Winnie the Pooh hug or Wookiee fist bump from Chewbacca.

Disney lets resort visitors staying on property or in choose affiliated motels (just like the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin properties and the Disney Springs motels) into any of the 4 important theme parks 30 minutes early to start having fun with choose sights.

Moreover, on choose nights, these in Deluxe Disney resorts (and, once more, together with these on the Swan and Dolphin motels and Shades of Inexperienced) can stay two hours after the parks close to get pleasure from choose sights with comparatively minimal waits.

Often, Epcot and the Magic Kingdom alternate staying open late on choose nights. On nights that Epcot is open late, vacationers staying in eligible resorts get an additional probability to get a digital queue boarding move to experience Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.

Make your cellular orders upfront

Utilizing the cellular order choice within the My Disney Expertise app can save a ton of time when ordering meals from quick-service eating places. However, on busy days at well-liked spots, the return occasions can get backed up rapidly.

You may dodge this complete state of affairs by inserting your order and setting your very best return time early within the day. Or, keep watch over return occasions to make sure you place your order earlier than your required window is gone. You may all the time modify your return window inside Disney’s app if it’s worthwhile to change it.

Between having the right gear in your theme park bag, understanding concerning the hidden layers of magic built into Disney and following these sensible suggestions, you are nicely in your solution to being a Disney World professional. To not point out, you may be saving money and time.

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