10 Disney Tips That Made Our Trip Amazing

So you’re planning a trip to Disney world, eh? Before we went for the first time I was clueless and extremely overwhelmed. Thankfully, a few good friends gave me some Disney tips that I am so thankful for, and it made a huge difference in our trip! Add that to things I learned from our own experience and I’ve got a bunch of Disney tips to share.

2025 Update: Well, we made the plunge and became annual passholders! Since I originally wrote this post, some things at Disney have changed (mainly their Lightning Lane process), so I have updated this post to reflect the most accurate information!

The Disney Tips You Need to Know

1. Get the Photopass

As a mom, this is probably my favorite tip that a friend gave me: the Photopass is 100% worth it. Normally we go places and I end up with tons of pictures of Chris and the kids and I am in NONE of them, because he didn’t take any pictures. Of course, I wanted to be in photos with my family at Disney especially, so the Photopass was one of my favorite parts! It’s linked in the Disney app in your account.

You’ll automatically get all your ride photos in your Photopass plus (and this is my favorite part), there are photographers at different spots all throughout the parks that you can stop at to take really great family photos. They just scan your band (more on the magic band below) and you’re on your way with your photos in your Photopass. You’ll also get all the photos from character meet & greets too! So worth it.

2. Refillable water stations

I mentioned this in my post about what to bring to Disney, but Disney has refillable water stations throughout the parks, so bring water bottles for your whole family.

3. Do the shows!

At other parks, we’ve experienced that sometimes the shows are not that great, but one of my Disney tips would be to check out as many shows as you can! For one, this breaks up your time in the heat and gets you little AC breaks here and there. But also, they are SO GOOD. So good. Some of my favorite memories are in the shows.

4. Book dining way in advance

This is one of those Disney tips that is imperative! Disney dining options fill up fast. You can start booking reservations 60 days in advance, and if you are staying at certain Disney properties you can actually book dining reservations 60 days plus the length of your stay in advance, so say you’re staying 3 days you can book dining 63 days in advance.

Disney used to let you book multiple reservations at the same time, so then you could have options and cancel the one you didn’t want a few hours before, but now things have changed. It’s still important to book your dining in advance as things fill up fast and lines can be long if you don’t have a reservation.

With a reservation, we’ve never waited more than a couple of minutes.

For most Disney restaurants, you have to cancel the dining reservation you don’t want at least 2 hours before to avoid a fee, but be sure to pay attention when booking if a specific restaurant has a different time-frame.

Disney Dining Reservation Tip: If you couldn’t get the reservations you wanted.

Also, on this topic: if you wanted to make certain reservations and they were booked, just reserve something else and then keep checking closer to the day (and even the day of) because people are constantly changing their reservations.

5. The Disney app is life

You have to have the Disney app. This will be your lifeline while you’re there and also while you’re planning. Go ahead and download it and get familiar with it! This is where you’ll buy your Genie Plus, reserve rides, join virtual queues, see wait times, order food ahead of time, and more. You can also view a Tip Board which is really helpful for navigating and choosing rides. This is why you need the battery backup for your phone I mentioned in this post with more Disney tips.

6. Lightning Lanes

This has changed a lot since our first trip to Disney, and to be honest, not for the better. When we first went they had Genie Plus and it was so worth it. Now, it’s Lightning Lane passes and I think the worth is going to depend on multiple factors.

Most recently we went to the park for one evening and one full day. For the evening, we did not purchase a lightning lane pass but we were able to ride most of the rides we wanted with very little (20 minutes or less) wait time. Honestly, we got more in that we wanted to do from 6-10pm on a Thursday night than we did the entire next day.

This was late April/early May from 6-10pm in the evening, and we maximized the time that everyone else was gathered to watch fireworks and went to the rides instead.

For the full day, we did purchase the Multi-Pass for all 5 members of our family. So, was it worth it? Well, I think it depends on several factors:

Factors that Help Determine if the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is worth it:

The Time of Year of your Visit: If you are visiting the parks during peak times, the Lightning Lane pass will make a huge difference for you. Lines can be really long when the parks are packed, so you will appreciate having shorter wait times to maximize your day.
How long you plan to spend at the park: For example, when we were just going for an evening, it wasn’t worth buying the Lightning Lane. We used other tricks like maximizing fireworks time to make the most of it. However, for the next day when we planned to spend the entire day there, it was more worth it to spend the money.
If you’re staying at Disney Properties or not: If you can purchase 7 days in advance and start booking rides, it makes a huge difference versus only being able to book 3 days in advance.
How long of a line you can tolerate: Some people really don’t mind waiting in lines. My husband is not one of those people.
The rides you really want to ride: If the rides you have your heart set on are premier, you might as well just spend your money on the single lane pass. If they are not, multi-pass is good for you. We still have not been on Tron because we didn’t get that single lane pass!

Here’s what you need to know about Lightning Lane Passes:

Now there are Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, Single Pass, and Premier Pass:
- With the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, you can pre-reserve arrival windows for up to 3 rides (or certain attractions like shows) before your visit. There are, however, certain rides that are only available with a Lightning Lane Single Pass and are not included in the Multi-Pass, so they are a separate purchase.
  - To book more rides, you first have to scan in at your first reserved ride. Once you do so, you can check the Tip Board in the app to book your next selection. You just keep going like this all day, with up to 3 booked at one time.
- With the Lightning Lane Single Pass, you can pre-reserve an arrival time for a top attraction. For example, right now Tron at Magic Kingdom is a premier attraction so we were not able to book it with our Multi-Pass, we would have had to pay an additional fee to book the Single Pass for that ride, however, they sell out super fast and are normally fully booked early in the day.
- With the Lightning Lane Premier Pass, you get a one-time entry to each available Lightning Lane experience in a park for one day, including the most in-demand attractions. This one is new and the app states they are “piloting the rollout with very limited quantities”, so I am not positive everyone will have access to this.
- The cost of each Lightning Lane pass varies per day and per theme park, so you have to check your Disney app to check the pricing for the date of your visit.
- If your plans change, you can modify your pre-reserved arrival windows for the rides you have booked in the app.
- To buy lightning lane passes, timing will depend on a few factors. Guests staying at a Disney resort or other select hotels can purchase and book Lightning Lanes up to 7 days before the first day of their resort stay. Basically everyone else can only purchase Lightning Lane passes up to 3 days before the first day of their ticket.

There is an app called Standby Skipper that will book Lightning Lanes for you at an extra cost. Learn more about it here.

family in animal kindgom infront of big dino

7. Magic Bands were great if you are staying at a Disney Resort and if you are doing Lightning Lanes

Yes, Magic Bands are yet another expense, but once you buy them you can use them over and over. I really loved having a Magic Band because I didn’t have to keep up with yet another card. Just scan your band to enter rides (if you’re using Lightning Lanes) and more.

Plus, if you’re staying at a Disney Resort, you’re able to link your credit card to your Disney account and just scan your band to pay for things, which is really nice (and also got me in a little trouble at our resort pool bar).

I wish this was a possibility to link the card even if you’re not staying at a Disney resort, we learned this the hard way!

I was also worried the Magic Band may fall off my littlest kiddos on rides, but we had no issues.

I will say, if you aren’t planning to do Lightning Lanes and not staying at a Disney Resort, the only thing you would use your Magic Band for really is to scan into the park, which doesn’t really seem worth it.

If you don’t get a Magic Band, you get a card.

This is okay if you have a zipper pocket or something with easy access to keep them in, but can be hard with kids.

8. Don’t forget your ID if you’re a Florida Resident activating a Resident Ticket or Pass

If you bought a Florida resident ticket, do not forget to bring your ID with you to the park! I made this mistake, thinking that I had the Magic Band so I didn’t need my wallet. Well, I still had to verify our tickets with our IDs the first time we entered a park, so yeah.

Thankfully, Disney has amazing customer service and they worked it all out for me, but it did take extra time and effort that could have been avoided if I had just stuck my ID in Chris’s wallet.

9. Stay at a Disney property

This is one of those Disney tips that I swear by – staying on property is a game-changer for so many reasons:

All Disney properties are just magical and enhance the whole experience
You get early access to the parks every morning
You are then able to purchase individual Lightning Lanes for rides starting at 7 days in advance.
Most hotels outside of Disney charge you parking fees PLUS then you have to pay to park at the Disney parks. Avoid all those fees and just stay on property.
Your Magic Bands get more perks, as mentioned above.
You get extra hours in the parks on certain nights (for Deluxe resort guests)
You can take the bus/tram right from your hotel to whatever park you’re visiting that day and never have to get in your car. We loved this!

10. Be strategic for the newest rides

For the newest rides (whatever they are when you are going – check the app) there is normally a single lightning lane pass, or they are one of the top tier attractions for the multi-pass.

If there is a ride you have your heart set on, or your kid does, research ahead of time if it’s available via Multi-Pass or Single Lane Pass so no one is disappointed.

11. Work in a “break day” to enjoy your resort

If you’re going for more than 2 days, I strongly recommend working in a “break day”. We went for a whole week and this is how we did it:

Day 1: Check in to our resort, explore it and have a character dinner (this was a great experience in itself, so I loved doing this on a non-park day so we weren’t sweaty and tired).
Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Day 3: Animal Kingdom
Day 4: Break Day – We had a pool day and lounged around at our hotel which was much-needed after two days walking 20,000+ steps at the parks. The kids loved the pool and kids splash area at our hotel and we loved a little relaxation time. That night, we went off-property for dinner at Medieval Times (this was a fun experience, the food was horrible but the experience was worth it).

12. Watch for character meet & greets

Check the app and watch for character meet-and-greet times. This way, you can sort of plan parts of your day around making sure your kiddos get to meet their favorite characters.

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