Entrance at Animal Kingdom backed up/busy? Keep to the extreme left after going through security and enter the Rainforest Cafe restaurant, then turn right and head straight through the gift shop. You will be in a little courtyard/bar area – there will be a Cast Member and a scan-in station to enter the park.
The doors in the haunted mansion open to let you onto the ride are underneath the stretchy photo of the ballerina. You can see a red light on the wall.
There’s a very quiet washroom in Epcot in Future World West. The entrance is a double sliding glass door in between Fountain View (Starbucks) and Club Cool, but is not marked with a bathroom sign. You an also find some tables/couches and plug-ins in here, and it’s never too busy. Update September 2019 – this entire area is now under construction as part of Epcot’s multi-year renovation, so currently this tip is useless. RIP Club Cool.
Some quick service restaurants offer mobile ordering. It’s very easy to use, and can save you a lot of time. Aloha Isle in Magic Kingdom is one place that offers it – the line was easily 20 minutes long when I went to grab a Dole Whip, so I pulled out my phone, mobile ordered one and had it in my hand in about 3 minutes. There will be marked signs for separate lines for pickup.
Disney transportation is great, but sometimes you don’t want to wait for a bus. Lyft and Uber are great, and it’s never too expensive to get around on site.
The entrance to Magic Kingdom can get pretty busy. Sometimes it’s faster to walk from the Contemporary Resort – they have a separate security line and entrance. This tip is entirely based on where you are coming from though.
Speaking of the Contemporary – they have a great quick service restaurant named Contempo Cafe. It takes less than 10 minutes to walk from Magic Kingdom over to the Contemporary, and it’s a great way to escape the crowds of the park while enjoying some good, cheap food – we had a great flatbread pizza for under $10. Also – peanut butter pie.
If you have time, it’s so worth it to take an Uber or Lyft to a nearby Walmart. We found great Disney souvenirs – magnets/key chains for $1, tshirts for $12, hoodies for $25, hats for $12, etc. This is over half price of what you would pay in the parks for something similar. You can also pick up cheap bottled water, which you are allowed to bring into the parks with you. We start every trip with a Walmart run, and it’s never more than $10-$15 for the Uber.
Toward the end of the night, Disney will inflate the wait times for the more popular rides. We once entered the queue for a ride at Disneyland 15 minutes before the park closed. The posted wait time was 120 minutes. We were on in less than 20. They keep the posted time high so cast members don’t have to deal with 2 actual hours worth of people at the end of the night.
Most of the best food is found outside the parks at the resorts. You do not need to be staying at a hotel in order to eat at their restaurants. From Animal Kingdom, head to Animal Kingdom Lodge for Boma or Saana. From Magic Kingdom, see #7 above, or #11 below. From Hollywood Studios or Epcot, head to the Beach Club Resort for Beaches and Cream, or see #12.
If Magic Kingdom gets super busy & you need a drink – there’s a tiki themed bar at the Polynesian Resort called Trader Sams (kid friendly until 8pm) where the bar itself kind of comes to life when certain drinks are ordered. Decent food too.
One of our favourite hidden gems is Crew’s Cup Lounge at the Yacht Club Resort. It’s a quick walk from Epcot (or a boat ride from Hollywood Studios). It’s a bar/lounge, so no reservations accepted. The food is fantastic and much cheaper than the signature restaurant (Yachtsman’s Steakhouse) it shares a kitchen with. Luke loved his burger here.
After using your pre-selected 3 Fastpasses, you can grab a 4th, 5th, etc one at a time. We’ve found they never offer up the great ones right away – grab any of the ones being offered using your app, then click modify. As you keep refreshing, you will usually get different options. We’ve grabbed many tier 1 rides using this method.
There’s a Starbucks in each park where you can get pretty neat park specific You Are Here mugs.
The parks are least busy the first 2 hours of the day. If you can get there around then you’ll walk right onto rides for the first hour or so. They get most busy around noon-2.
All quick service food locations will give you a free glass of filtered ice water – you just need to ask!
Thirsty at Epcot but you’re craving pop/soda? Head over to Club Cool where you can sample some Coca-Cola products from around the world! The little sample cups are small, but by the time you try each kind you’ll have had enough pop. It’s all free to try! Update September 2019 – Club Cool has been closed as part of the multi-billion dollar Epcot renovation. RIP.
Wear your best shoes. The parks are large and you will walk 20,000+ steps per day.
Kids tend to have sensory overload sugar infused dehydration meltdowns between 2-4 pm. Take an afternoon break back at your hotel room for naps, pool time, etc.
Avoid the park that has Extra Magic Hours – it might seem like the park to choose for the day, but everyone has that idea, making that park busier.
At Hollywood Studios, most people are running to Toy Story Midway Mania or Rock N’ Roller Coaster at rope drop. Head to Tower of Terror instead, and you’ll walk on with zero wait (just make sure you have a Fastpass for Toy Story or RNR Coaster for later in the day if you want to ride).
Save your phone battery a bit – open up your My Disney Experience app and take a screenshot of your Fastpasses/dining reservations for the day, then set it as your lock screen. You won’t need to keep unlocking your phone and opening the app to check on the times for your reservations (trust me, you’ll be so over stimulated by the parks that you won’t remember the exact times of everything)
Looking for a quieter place to sit down or get out of the crowds for a few minutes? In Animal Kingdom, our favourite place for this is Nomad Lounge. In Hollywood Studios, head to One Man’s Dream, a little museum-type building filled with history on Walt. For Epcot, see tip #3. Magic Kingdom – head to the Carousel of Progress, Country Bear Jamboree, Enchanted Tiki Room or the Peoplemover.
Don’t skip Disney Springs. It has undergone millions of dollars in changes over the past few years, and it is fantastic. Any food option you can think of, the largest Disney store in the World, etc.
At Disney Springs, check out Uniqlo. They have Disney-branded clothing at a fraction of the cost that the parks charge (tshirts for $15, etc)
Chocolate pecan pie from Homecomin’. Good fucking lord, one of the most delicious things I’ve ever put into my mouth. And yes, I needed to swear there. It’s that amazing.
The outside patio by Trader Sam’s at the Polynesian is a great place to watch the Electrical Water Parade. Also Geyser Point at Wilderness Lodge!