Disney World secrets to make your next trip more magical

Sometimes, it will probably really feel such as you want to know some type of secret handshake to maximize a go to to Disney World.

There are tickets to buy and Lightning Lane choices to make if you need to skip the road on standard rides. You even have to determine on issues like which bank card to use and whether or not you need to purchase an interactive MagicBand+.

While we at TPG love sharing sensible suggestions to aid you unlock a profitable Disney World trip, we additionally get pleasure from letting you in on some lesser-known suggestions and secrets that may make your trip more fascinating and pleasant.

Here are 23 Easter eggs, hidden spots and insider secrets to make your next go to to Disney World even more magical.

There’s further kid-friendly enjoyable this summer time

If you intend a Disney trip between May 27 and Sept. 1, Disney is bringing even more magic to the parks with a number of limited-time experiences for households with younger youngsters. Dubbed “Cool Kid Summer,” households will discover particular areas with characters, dance events, video games, magicians and more in all 4 parks.

Here’s the place to go at every park:

• Epcot — GoofyCore at CommuniCore Hall
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom — A Celebration Sing-Along at Discovery Island
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios — Animation Courtyard
• Magic Kingdom — Big Top Bash at Storybook Circus and Galactic Blast at Tomorrowland that includes Stitch

There are Hidden Mickeys in every single place

A hidden Mickey is a delicate picture of Mickey Mouse that Disney Imagineers snuck into rides, partitions, carpeting, wallpaper and different design components throughout Disney World. There are lots of — most likely hundreds — of hidden Mickeys across the parks.

Some are so small, you have most likely walked proper previous (and even stepped on) them with out noticing they had been there. I’m notoriously dangerous at recognizing Hidden Mickeys, however fortunately, some are simpler to spot than others.

A number of of the more apparent ones embrace:

• Mickey-shaped vegetation on Living With the Land at Epcot
• A Mickey-shaped place setting within the banquet scene on the Haunted Mansion on the Magic Kingdom
• A Mickey-shaped rock show on the backside of one of many tanks at The Seas with Nemo and Friends at Epcot

You can go it alone and seek for Hidden Mickeys on your next trip, or you’ll be able to choose up one in all many useful guides, comparable to this Hidden Mickey e book on Amazon by Keven Neary, who’s featured within the TPG video under.

You can go on scavenger hunts

If you go to Disney World frequently and also you’re trying to shake issues up a bit, strive a enjoyable (and infrequently free) scavenger hunt.

There are some Disney World scavenger hunts which are free and out there year-round. In the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland space, you’ll be able to seek for Pascal, the chameleon from “Tangled,” close to the Rapunzel-themed restrooms (there are 10 in complete).

Also within the Magic Kingdom, you’ll be able to grow to be a real-life swashbuckler at A Pirate’s Adventure ~ Treasures of the Seven Seas in Adventureland. This interactive scavenger hunt is free and has a variety of enjoyable surprises.

If you occur to be staying in a Disney World lodge, there are sometimes scavenger hunts that ship you operating across the lodge grounds. You earn a prize (we have gotten buttons or a candy deal with) while you full the hunt, and the clues are typically themed to holidays and particular occasions.

Related: How to save your Disney trip when the parks are absurdly crowded

There are additionally paid scavenger hunts that take your search to the next degree.

During Epcot’s limited-time festivals, you should purchase a map for about $10 that leads you across the park to seek for clues. When you full the hunt, you flip in your map for a prize. During the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, for instance, you’ll be able to participate in Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak and earn a enjoyable prize like a personality spork or miniature cornhole.

Kids can grow to be Wilderness Explorers

As Russell from “Up!” mentioned, “The wilderness must be explored!” At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, youngsters can be part of Russell’s ranks and grow to be official Wilderness Explorers. When you enter the park, search for the Wilderness Explorers headquarters and choose up a handbook.

Inside the e book, there are a number of actions that educate youngsters about animals and conservation. For every exercise they full, they earn a badge. Collect more than 25 badges and so they’ll grow to be official Wilderness Explorers.

You can take part in as few or as many actions as you want, and it is a enjoyable manner to discover every part this park has to provide past the rides.

You can mail a letter with a Disney postmark

The turn-of-the-century mailboxes on the Magic Kingdom’s Main Street, U.S.A. are more than simply well-themed decorations. They are actual, working mailboxes, and the mail is collected day by day by Disney solid members who cross it off to the United States Postal Service.

You can carry your personal postcard and stamp or buy them from places round all 4 Disney World parks. Before you drop mail within the field, cease by Guest Relations to get your unique Disney postmark.

Kids can run round play areas

While Disney is without doubt one of the most kid-friendly parks on the market when it comes to sights with low (or no) top necessities, any mum or dad who has taken their youngsters to Disney World is aware of that youngsters cannot simply go from experience to experience to experience all day with no break.

Kids want an opportunity to expend pent-up vitality, and all 4 Disney World parks have indoor and outside play areas the place they’ll do exactly that. A number of of my favorites embrace:

• Circus-themed indoor (i.e., air-conditioned) play space within the queue for Dumbo the Flying Elephant on the Magic Kingdom
• Space-themed play space (with video video games for older youngsters) on the exit of Mission: Space in Epcot
• The Boneyard fossil dig website at Animal Kingdom’s DinoLand U.S.A.
• Outdoor playground in Epcot behind the Creations Shop
• Interactive indoor play space on the exit to Journey Into Imagination with Figment at Epcot

You can e book a personal picture session

Whether you need a particular memento of your trip or that good picture with out different vacationers within the background however lack Photoshop abilities, Disney affords non-public picture periods in any respect 4 theme parks.

At $99 for a 20-minute picture session for up to eight visitors, it is surprisingly inexpensive so far as Disney costs go.

You can use it to commemorate a birthday, household reunion or different special day, or e book a morning session to get all your trip photographs out of the way in which earlier than the warmth and humidity set in.

Although same-day periods are sometimes out there, you will have higher luck reserving your session prematurely by way of Disney’s web site.

Related: The finest $120 I’ve spent at Disney this yr received me into Magic Kingdom’s secret tunnels

You can take dwelling free souvenirs

I have not cracked the code on how to get a free Disney trip but (although utilizing factors and miles can assist), however I do know the place you will discover a couple of free souvenirs to carry dwelling from your trip.

The first one you could already know as a result of it is a fairly standard one, however you’ll be able to choose up free buttons at any visitor providers location within the parks. There are buttons to have a good time a primary go to, birthday or anniversary or generic “I’m Celebrating” buttons the place a solid member can write within the particulars of your particular celebration.

Other free souvenirs embrace transportation buying and selling playing cards you’ll be able to gather from bus, monorail and ferry drivers and on the Skyliner stations. Kids may get KidCot postcards from every of the World Showcase pavilions, and so they’ll obtain a bonus postcard for gathering all 11 KidCot playing cards.

You can commerce pins with solid members

Pin buying and selling has been an official Disney exercise for 25 years. There are a number of ranges of pin buying and selling. Some visitors have hundreds of pins and go to the parks particularly to commerce for sure pins and meet up with different pin-trading fanatics. Others are more informal merchants, utilizing it as a possibility to gather a novel memento from their trip.

All you want to get began with pin buying and selling is only one pin. You should purchase particular person Disney pins or starter units with a lanyard and a number of pins from a number of Disney purchasing places contained in the park and at Pin Traders in Disney Springs.

Once you’ve gotten a pin (or pins), search for a pin board or a solid member with a lanyard or pouch with pins and ask them to commerce. You can commerce your pin for any of their pins. Sometimes, there are hidden pins that you would be able to solely commerce for in case you appropriately reply the solid member’s trivia query.

Pin buying and selling may be a variety of enjoyable for youths or adults who need to add one other layer of enjoyable to their journeys, whereas gathering cheap souvenirs.

You can hop a experience down Main Street, USA

There are all types of magical methods to bop round Walt Disney World — the Skyliner, the Monorail or a red-and-white polka-dot Minnie Van, to title a couple of.

One of the lesser-known modes of transportation at Disney is the Main Street Vehicles within the Magic Kingdom.

You can hop on a colourful trolley, omnibus, jitney or hearth engine and revel in a whimsical experience between Town Square and Cinderella Castle. It’s mainly like being in a Disney parade, so remember to wave at your adoring followers. These can be found on a first-come, first-served foundation and usually solely run within the early working hours, although they sometimes make a return late within the afternoon.

The Magic Kingdom is definitely on the second ground of the park

OK, stick to me on this one. When you stroll via the doorway tunnel to the Magic Kingdom and onto Main Street, U.S.A., you might be technically on the second ground of the Magic Kingdom.

The first ground is hidden underground and permits solid members, characters and provides to transfer all through the park whereas staying out of sight. Dubbed the “Utilidor,” this tunnel system is commonly referred to as underground, but it surely’s really the park’s floor ground.

The tree in Liberty Square was hand-chosen by Walt Disney

The Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square is themed after Colonial America, full with a duplicate Liberty Bell and Liberty Tree, the place the colonists’ first act of defiance in opposition to the British was staged in 1765. Disney’s Liberty Tree was hand-chosen by Walt Disney and transplanted about 6 miles from its unique location elsewhere on Disney property.

The tree is so essential to the park that acorns from the tree are collected and planted in order that they can be utilized to exchange the present tree ought to misfortune (or lightning) strike.

You can taste-test (free) sodas from around the globe at Epcot

Club Cool has been an Epcot staple because the late Nineteen Nineties, although it just lately moved into some new digs. The Coca-Cola-sponsored venue lets visitors pattern sodas from Italy, Korea, the Dominican Republic and different nations from around the globe at no further cost.

Some sodas are tastier than others, however making your manner via every taste to discover your favourite is a part of the expertise. In truth, one of the vital well-known flavors known as the “Beverly” — a bitter nonalcoholic aperitif from Italy — that’s nearly universally disliked. Drinking it’s virtually an Epcot ceremony of passage, as are the sticky sneakers you will stroll out with while you’re via.

There are a variety of Easter eggs

From the enterprise names on the home windows on Main Street, U.S.A. to numbers painted on a trash can in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, virtually each element in Disney World has a narrative behind it.

The home windows, for instance, bear the names of women and men who’ve been influential to The Walt Disney Company through the years. If you see a reputation, quantity or character — or anything that you simply suspect may need a hidden which means — you might be most likely proper. Ask a solid member to affirm your hunch.

Here are a couple of of my favourite Easter eggs at Disney World:

• There is a portray of Mr. Toad handing the deed over in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh experience within the Magic Kingdom as a result of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was closed to construct the Winnie the Pooh experience. You’ll additionally see a small statue of Mr. Toad within the graveyard on the exit of the Haunted Mansion.
• There is a window above the Emporium on Main Street, U.S.A. with the title “Elias Disney” on it. This was Walt Disney’s father.
• If you take a look at Cinderella’s fountain within the Magic Kingdom on the proper angle, the crown seems as if she is carrying it on her head (just like the princess she is).
• Barnabas T. Bullion, the proprietor of Big Thunder Mountain Mining Company, whose portrait hangs within the queue for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad coaster, is modeled after Tony Baxter, a Walt Disney Imagineer who labored on the attraction.
• On Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Hollywood Studios, the poster for “The Great Moving Ride” is a nod to “The Great Movie Ride,” the attraction it changed. You’ll additionally see an indication for a flower store with the deal with “1401.” This is a reference to the situation of Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California, at 1401 Flower St.

You can watch a day by day flag retreat ceremony

Each day within the Magic Kingdom’s Town Square, Disney pays tribute to our U.S. army veterans with a patriotic flag retreat ceremony. As a part of the ceremony, a veteran is chosen (typically at random) to help with the reducing of the American flag whereas the Main Street Philharmonic performs the “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America.”

The ceremony often takes place round 5 p.m. as a result of it’s customary solely to show the American flag from dawn to sundown, in accordance to the U.S. flag code. Other flags you see contained in the Disney parks aren’t topic to this code as a result of they’re lacking a star or stripe and aren’t technically “real” American flags.

There are grown-up variations of Disney treats

I might by no means flip down a Dole Whip or Mickey-shaped beignet, however I’d be even more inclined to partake if it had an extra-special adults-only spin. Some of Disney’s hottest treats have spiked variations that is likely to be simply the deal with you deserve after spending a protracted day at Disney.

You can discover these treats on the parks, Disney Springs and a few of Disney’s resort lodges, and they’re effectively well worth the bus experience. Better but, take a Minnie Van.

Here’s the place you will discover my favorites:

• Frozen margarita made with lime-flavored Dole Whip at Barefoot Pool Bar at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Boozy Baton Rouge Beignets at Scat Cat’s Club at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter
• Spiked Blue or Green Milk at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
• Frozcato (Dole Whip, Moscato and vodka) at Wine Bar George in Disney Springs
• Pineapple Dole Whip with a rum floater at Pineapple Lanai at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

You can personalize your souvenirs on a budget

If you are taking our recommendation and choose up free memento buttons while you stroll into the Magic Kingdom, you’ll be able to pay only a few {dollars} to have them customized by a Disney artist at Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe in Liberty Square.

You can select from a wide range of fonts, colours and illustrations to jazz up your memento, and so they additionally promote a wide range of customizable vacation ornaments within the store. Pricing for gadgets such because the TPG button we made on a latest trip begins at $3.

1 land within the Magic Kingdom has no bogs

You are by no means too removed from a toilet (or trash can) at Disney World, however there’s one land within the Magic Kingdom the place you will not discover a single public restroom: Liberty Square.

Liberty Square is about in Colonial instances when indoor plumbing didn’t exist. Disney, ever the masters of theming, selected to stick to the timeline and construct the land with out public restrooms.

No want to fear, although. There are restrooms close by in Frontierland and Fantasyland, or, if you’re eating at Columbia Harbor House or Liberty Tree Tavern, you need to use the restroom there.

Kids can get a magical haircut

Even on a regular basis issues like haircuts are only a bit more magical at Disney World than they’re at dwelling. Kids (and adults) can get their hair reduce at Harmony Barber Shop within the Magic Kingdom for an inexpensive value (beginning at round $20 or half that for a beard trim).

The barbershop affords a particular “first haircut” bundle that comes with a commemorative Mickey Ears hat, a memento lock of hair and a certificates, however even normal haircuts include the choice to add a sprinkle of “pixie dust” to end off your new ‘do.

Advance reservations are extremely beneficial, and pricing doesn’t embrace gratuity, which have to be paid in money.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is stuffed with secrets

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is by far probably the most immersive land at any Disney theme park. So a lot thought and care went into each small element of the land, and it is rife with Easter eggs and easy-to-miss callouts to the “Star Wars” movies.

Not solely is the Millennium Falcon the primary full-size model ever created, however there’s additionally a tiny Millennium Falcon hidden within the ship’s undercarriage. Look for it underneath the vented a part of the cockpit close to the doorway to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.

You’ll additionally most likely see the numbers 77, 80 and 83 all through the land (a simple one to spot is contained in the Docking Bay 7 eatery). These are references to the years the three unique “Star Wars” movies had been launched.

One of my favourite issues concerning the land is how seamlessly it interacts with the “datapad” within the Play Disney Parks app.

You can translate indicators written within the Star Wars language of Aurebesh, decrypt secret messages and hack into droids. Playing with the datapad function unlocks one other degree of enjoyable within the land, which is available in particularly useful if the strains are lengthy.

You can grow to be a Batuu Bounty Hunter

Speaking of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, you’ll be able to grow to be a bounty hunter a la Boba Fett, and all you want is a MagicBand+ and your smartphone.

You’ll begin by visiting the “bounty board” positioned between the Droid Depot and {the marketplace} stalls. When you faucet your band to the touchpoint with the Batuu Bounty Hunters image, you will be assigned a bounty to find (on your first spherical, additionally, you will obtain an introduction to the sport).

Bounties are hidden behind doorways in Galaxy’s Edge (the doorways even have the Batuu Bounty Hunters image painted on them). Start by selecting a route and strolling. If you might be getting nearer to the proper door, your MagicBand+ will vibrate and lightweight up inexperienced. If you might be getting additional away, it’s going to flip crimson. The nearer you get to your bounty, the faster your band will vibrate.

If you stroll up to a door and your band turns purple, you have discovered your bounty. Open the Play Disney Parks app and use the thermal scanner function to scan the door and reveal the bounty hiding behind the door.

After you have positioned your bounty, head to the doorway to the proper of the bounty board to gather your credit. From there, you’ll be able to stroll proper again over to the bounty board to gather your next bounty. You can play as little or so long as you want, and the app will save your progress so you’ll be able to choose the sport again up on future journeys.

You can watch free Movies underneath the celebs

All Disney World lodges have a day by day actions schedule. Some, like arts and crafts or tie-dye T-shirt making, carry a further charge, however many are free for lodge visitors. All Disney World lodges have weekly complimentary outside film screenings.

You ought to see day by day exercise schedules posted across the resort, however you too can ask a lodge solid member when the property is exhibiting motion pictures that week. Other free actions embrace issues like pool video games and nightly campfires. You can roast marshmallows at no cost or go all-out and buy a s’mores package.

There are shock character conferences

Most Disney character meet-and-greet instances and places are displayed within the Disney World app, however Disney would not be Disney with no few surprises. Don’t financial institution on it, however there are occasions when you could occur upon a uncommon character assembly or a complete slew of characters making their manner via the park collectively.

Occasionally, Disney will do “test runs” earlier than bringing characters out for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. If you go to within the weeks main up to these occasions, you could get fortunate and spot them training for his or her upcoming appearances. Or, even in case you do not spot them, you could get tapped on the shoulder by a solid member and requested if you need a particular meet-and-greet that occurs backstage.

Some fortunate Disney visitors have additionally gotten caught up in what Disney followers refer to as “Character Palooza” — a gaggle of characters who all come out on the identical time for photographs and autographs. Sometimes, uncommon characters just like the penguin from “Mary Poppins” and Gepetto from “Pinocchio” will present up with the same old solid of characters.

You do not even have to go to a theme park to meet uncommon Disney characters. Characters additionally make the rounds in Disney World lodge lobbies. You may even see an indication within the foyer with the dates and time home windows for these meet-and-greets, or you’ll be able to ask a solid member on the entrance desk.

This summer time, choose lodges (Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort and Disney’s Wilderness Lodge) will publish particular meet-and-greet instances in order that households can see their favourite characters with out ready in line on the parks.

Bottom line

One factor I’ve observed through the years is that vacationers hear about “magical moments” that typically occur at Disney World and hope for their very own little little bit of pixie mud, like a free Mickey-shaped ice cream, skip-the-line cross or one other shock perk. If they do not get a magical second, they’re typically disillusioned.

The finest manner to keep away from that disappointment is to make your personal magic.

You can seek for Hidden Mickeys, cease in for a confetti-topped haircut or choose up a free memento … and perhaps even add an additional artist’s contact to it for a couple of {dollars}. You’ll come dwelling with numerous comfortable recollections and newfound Disney information to share with family and friends.