Disney World secrets and techniques to make your subsequent journey extra magical

There are Hidden Mickeys all over the place

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

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

You possibly can go on scavenger hunts

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

There are some Disney World scavenger hunts which are free and out there year-round. Within 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 whole).

Youngsters can change into Wilderness Explorers

As Russell from “Up!” stated, “The wilderness have to be explored!” At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, children can be a part of Russell’s ranks and change into official Wilderness Explorers. If you enter the park, search for the Wilderness Explorers headquarters and choose up a handbook.

Contained in the guide, there are a number of actions that educate children about animals and conservation. For every exercise they full, they earn a badge. Accumulate greater than 25 badges and so they’ll change into official Wilderness Explorers.

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

You possibly can mail a letter with a Disney postmark

The turn-of-the-century mailboxes on the Magic Kingdom’s Principal Road, U.S.A. are extra than simply well-themed decorations. They’re actual, working mailboxes, and the mail is collected day by day by Disney solid members who go it off to the US Postal Service.

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

Youngsters can run round play areas

Whereas Disney is without doubt one of the most kid-friendly parks on the market in terms of sights with low (or no) top necessities, any mother or father who has taken their children to Disney World is aware of that youngsters cannot simply go from experience to experience to experience all day and not using a break.

Youngsters want an opportunity to expend pent-up power, and all 4 Disney World parks have indoor and out of doors 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
• House-themed play space (with video video games for older children) on the exit of Mission: House in Epcot
• The Boneyard fossil dig website at Animal Kingdom’s DinoLand U.S.A.
• Outside playground in Epcot behind the Creations Store
• Interactive indoor play space on the exit to Journey Into Creativeness with Figment at Epcot

You possibly can guide a personal picture session

Whether or not you need a particular memento of your journey or that excellent picture with out different vacationers within the background however lack Photoshop expertise, Disney affords personal picture periods in any respect 4 theme parks.

You possibly can take house free souvenirs

You possibly 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 extra informal merchants, utilizing it as a chance to gather a novel memento from their trip.

All it’s essential to get began with pin buying and selling is only one pin. You should buy particular person Disney pins or starter units with a lanyard and a number of pins from a number of Disney buying places contained in the park and at Pin Merchants in Disney Springs.

After you have 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 possibly can commerce your pin for any of their pins. Typically, there are hidden pins you can solely commerce for in the event you appropriately reply the solid member’s trivia query.

Pin buying and selling may be loads of enjoyable for teenagers or adults who need to add one other layer of enjoyable to their journeys, whereas accumulating cheap souvenirs.

You possibly can hop a experience down Principal Road, USA

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

OK, persist with me on this one. If you stroll by means of the doorway tunnel to the Magic Kingdom and onto Principal Road, U.S.A., you’re technically on the second flooring of the Magic Kingdom.

The primary flooring is hidden underground and permits solid members, characters and provides to maneuver all through the park whereas staying out of sight. Dubbed the “Utilidor,” this tunnel system is also known as underground, however it’s really the park’s floor flooring.

The tree in Liberty Sq. was hand-chosen by Walt Disney

The Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Sq. 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 authentic location elsewhere on Disney property.

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

You possibly can taste-test (free) sodas from world wide at Epcot

Membership 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 international locations from world wide at no further cost.

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

There are loads of Easter eggs

From the enterprise names on the home windows on Principal Road, 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 Firm through the years. In the event you see a reputation, quantity or character — or the rest that you just suspect may need a hidden that means — you’re most likely proper. Ask a solid member to substantiate your hunch.

Listed here are a number of of my favourite Easter eggs at Disney World:

• There’s 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 Journey was closed to construct the Winnie the Pooh experience. You may additionally see a small statue of Mr. Toad within the graveyard on the exit of the Haunted Mansion.
• There’s a window above the Emporium on Principal Road, U.S.A. with the identify “Elias Disney” on it. This was Walt Disney’s father.
• In the event you have a look at Cinderella’s fountain within the Magic Kingdom on the proper angle, the crown seems as if she is sporting it on her head (just like the princess she is).
• Barnabas T. Bullion, the proprietor of Massive Thunder Mountain Mining Firm, whose portrait hangs within the queue for the Massive 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 Nice Transferring Journey” is a nod to “The Nice Film Journey,” the attraction it changed. You may additionally see an indication for a flower store with the handle “1401.” This can be a reference to the placement of Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California, at 1401 Flower St.

You possibly can watch a day by day flag retreat ceremony

There are grown-up variations of Disney treats

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

You will discover these treats on the parks, Disney Springs and a few of Disney’s resort resorts, and they’re nicely well worth the bus experience. Higher but, take a Minnie Van.

This is the place yow 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 Membership at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter
• Spiked Blue or Inexperienced 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 possibly can personalize your souvenirs on a budget

In the event you take our recommendation and choose up free memento buttons while you stroll into the Magic Kingdom, you’ll be able to pay just some {dollars} to have them personalised by a Disney artist at Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe in Liberty Sq..

You possibly 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 objects such because the TPG button we made on a current journey begins at $3.

1 land within the Magic Kingdom has no loos

You might be 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 Sq..

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

No want to fret, although. There are restrooms close by in Frontierland and Fantasyland, or, if you’re eating at Columbia Harbor Home or Liberty Tree Tavern, you should utilize the restroom there.

Youngsters can get a magical haircut

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is filled with secrets and techniques

You possibly can change into a Batuu Bounty Hunter

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

You may begin by visiting the “bounty board” situated between the Droid Depot and {the marketplace} stalls. If you faucet your band to the touchpoint with the Batuu Bounty Hunters image, you will be assigned a bounty to find (in 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). Begin by selecting a path and strolling. If you’re getting nearer to the right door, your MagicBand+ will vibrate and lightweight up inexperienced. If you’re getting additional away, it will flip purple. The nearer you get to your bounty, the faster your band will vibrate.

In the event you stroll as much as a door and your band turns purple, you’ve got discovered your bounty. Open the Play Disney Parks app and use the thermal scanner characteristic to scan the door and reveal the bounty hiding behind the door.

After you’ve got situated your bounty, head to the doorway to the suitable 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 subsequent bounty. You possibly 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 possibly can watch free Films beneath the celebrities

All Disney World resorts have a day by day actions schedule. Some, like arts and crafts or tie-dye T-shirt making, carry an extra payment, however many are free for lodge visitors. All Disney World resorts have weekly complimentary out of doors film screenings.

You must see day by day exercise schedules posted across the resort, however you may as well ask a lodge solid member when the property is exhibiting motion pictures that week. Different free actions embrace issues like pool video games and nightly campfires. You possibly can roast marshmallows without cost or go all-out and buy a s’mores equipment.

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 and not using a few surprises. Do not financial institution on it, however there are occasions when chances are you’ll occur upon a uncommon character assembly or a complete slew of characters making their approach by means of the park collectively.

Backside line

One factor I’ve seen through the years is that vacationers hear about “magical moments” that generally 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 go or one other shock perk. If they do not get a magical second, they’re generally disillusioned.

The easiest way to keep away from that disappointment is to make your personal magic.

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