My Disney World tips + best food at Disney
It’s been a little over a week since we were at Disney World and WOW was it magical!
We spent a week in Anna Maria Island, FL for Thanksgiving and decided to drive up to Orlando to spend one day at Disney World! We actually surprised our friends and picked them up for Disney pretending to be an Uber (watch the video here).
The first park we visited was Animal Kingdom. I specifically wanted to visit this park for the Avatar rides. Fun fact, Avatar is one of my favorite movies!
After Animal Kingdom, we of course had to do Magic Kingdom and stay for the firework show.
The best part is that everything was decked out for Christmas (we went on November 27). There were trees, poinsettias, lights strung everywhere, the Christmas magic was alive for sure.
And without further ado…
My tips for spending one day at Disney World:
Use the Genie pass. When I went to first buy our tickets, I wanted to buy a fast pass and was informed they changed it to a “genie" and “lightening lane” (aka LL). The Genie cost $15 and this is how it worked:
Not all rides allowed you to use Genie BUT a good majority did (like the Na’vi River Ride, safari rides, and haunted mansion).
You use your Disney World app to select passes and times. Then you use a card (that is given you to at the entrance) to scan each time you want to use a pass.
You can only book up to TWO Genie passes at once. Meaning I could reserve my river ride and safari but couldn’t book anything else until I completed one ride.
The rides you book using Genie and LL gives you an hour slot. So, if you select 9am, you have 9-10am to use your pass.
We waited in line just a few minutes or just walked on to the rides using Genie and LL.
LL passes are purchased for individual rides (on top of the onetime initial $15 genie fee). I purchased one for $9 for Space Mountain and $7 for Mt. Everest. TRUST ME, SPEND THE MONEY. You have already spent so much on being at Disney World, allocate about $25 on LL passes. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like standing in line. It was worth spending the extra few dollars.
Your LL passes need purchased as soon as you can possibly get them because they go quick. Especially for big, popular rides. I got my Space mountain at about 11:30am for a 3-4pm slot. After lunch, pretty much all of the LL passes are already bought.
Get a park hopper pass. Especially if you are only spending one day there. If you have more time, you could do one park a day. With this pass, after 2pm you can switch to any park. We spent the first half in Animal Kingdom and switched to Magic Kingdom later. We probably could have done one more park but we were so tired. In my opinion, Animal Kingdom is a perfect half day park. When you go to make your Disney World reservations, you just need to reserve the first park you plan to visit.
Wear layers. Even though you are in Florida, it gets cold at night! I wore a lite sweatshirt and biker shorts and my legs were so cold at night. Trent and our friend Josh were so cold they had to pay $65 for a jacket at the gift shop. Unless you plan on buying merchandise, dress in layers or tie a jacket around your waist.
Get your spot for the grand finale firework show an hour early. I know this sounds ridiculous but if you want a good seat, you need to claim it early. We sat in the very first row right in front of the castle with NO ONE in front of us! I am so glad we did this because it got sooo crowded. With only having one day there, I wanted to enjoy the fireworks. My friend Shannon and I had to defend our spots while the guys went shopping for jackets and it wasn’t easy! People are so pushy and kept invading our space. Once you sit down, you can’t get back up.
Purchase a Disney After Hours ticket. I didn’t do this but wish I would have! Ours friends stayed longer than us and were very happy they bought one. They got to see a second firework show AND they sprayed fake snow out on the crowds. If I go back, I am doing this.
Add Epcot to your list. Again, this is something that I didn’t do but wish I did. My friends went here and kept sending me photos. I was jealous of all the amazing food options. If you are a foodie, you have to stop by this park.
I was actually really surprised by how cheap the food at Disney World was. I was expecting to pay like $25 every time I wanted to eat. And I eat a lot, so this worried me. The prices seemed very reasonable to me. For two people, we spent about $60 for the entire day eating and drinking. I don’t even list everything I had below…I ate all day! haha
You can also get a free cup of water from any quick service booth.
My favorite food from Disney:
Street tacos from a quick service booth in the Discovery Island area of Animal Kingdom
Churros from Dino Diner in Animal Kingdom
Sweet and spicy chicken and waffles from Sleepy Hollow in Magic Kingdom
Dole Whip from Aloha Isle in Magic Kingdom
The famous mouse shaped ice creams (you can get these all over the parks)
