Not every Walt Disney World vacation needs months of planning. Maybe you find yourself in the fortunate position of having an extra day to play with on a business trip to Orlando. Maybe you’re a local who wants to surprise the kids or a Passholder with a day off. Whatever the reason, improvised Walt Disney World trips are a blast!
An unplanned, totally-unexpected Disney World visit is definitely a little different than the average week-long family vacation. It can help to go in with some clear expectations, as well as a few ideas how to maximize the fun. Here are 7 of our favorite tips to make the most of your next totally impromptu Walt Disney World visit… oh, and #4 holds a secret that can prove a game changer for any visitor.
1. Let go of the pressure
An improvised Walt Disney World visit should be an opportunity to cut loose and have fun. Walt Disney World vacations can sometimes carry a burden of stress, especially if your family has been saving for years just to make it happen. The best thing about totally-unplanned Disney days is that this stress can be cast off to the wind. Go into an impromptu Disney day with the realistic expectation that you aren’t going to be able to do everything, and you may have to adapt plans as you go.
There are all sorts of things that could affect your unplanned Walt Disney World visit. For example, if the day you get to go falls during Disney’s busy season, you may be limited in what experiences you can access. Dining reservations and Fastpasses may be hard to come by. If you visit shortly after a major expansion opens, expect some significant shifts in crowds compared the what you’re used to. The key is to just relax and go with the flow.
Let go of the pressure to have a perfect day. Go in with high hopes but realistic expectations. If something doesn’t work out, no worries—your unplanned Disney day was an unexpected blessing in the first place. Take your time and adjust as you go. This is an extremely liberating way to enjoy the parks if you’ve never gone without a strict plan.
2. Consider a theme for your day
As mentioned, you won’t be able to see everything in Walt Disney World in one day. Indeed, you likely won’t even be able to see everything in a single park in one day. With this in mind, it can help to pick a loose theme for your impromptu Disney visit. Unless your theme is “go wherever Tinkerbell takes me”, this can help ensure you leave feeling satisfied at the end of your day.
Love roller coasters? Focus on a tour of Disney’s top thrill rides, whatever long waits may be required. Are you a social media butterfly? Make capturing great photos a key part of your day. Is an Epcot festival taking place? Plan to spend your day touring food stands and trying mini-delicacies. You can plan a day focused just on one park or make park hopping your theme. Heck, you can even do a four-park tour if you don’t mind only hitting a few experiences per park. The sky is the limit! A theme will help narrow down your options so you don’t feel too scattered.
3. Know your “must do” experiences.
Running hand in hand with a theme, it’s important to know what your “must do” experiences are. It would be a shame to get an unplanned Walt Disney World day and miss your favorite experience because you ran out of time. To help guide your day, choose your top three can’t-miss experiences. While your day may still remain largely unplanned, this will at least help you prioritize your time.
If your “must do” list includes E-Tickets like Avatar: Flight of Passage, it may mean part of your improvised Disney day will be spent in line. That’s okay! If that’s the #1 thing you want to do at Walt Disney World, it’s worth it. If possible, try to hit attractions with traditionally long lines immediately after opening gate (if you managed to wake up with Mr. Bluebird) or during fireworks experiences. Even better, if you can hit your can’t-miss experiences early, you’ll have even more free time later in the day.
If something on your list isn’t available—perhaps a ride is under refurbishment or a dining reservation isn’t available—don’t sweat it. Move on to the next item on your list or try something new but similar. It may prove an opportunity to discover new magic at the Most Magical Place on Earth.
4. Know how to get last-minute FastPass+ reservations
Not sure if I really want to reveal this. It is a best-kept secret for many Disney regulars, but for you, fair reader, I will spill the beans.
It is actually not impossible to get decent Fastpasses at the last minute—and I’m not talking about the typical Fastpass dregs like Primeval Whirl and Journey into Imagination.
The trick is completely legit (you won’t be breaking any My Disney Experience terms and conditions), but it isn’t always a surefire thing. It also involves a little patience and a good phone battery. The trick to getting top tier Fastpasses at the last minute is to catch the ones other guests cancel when they realize they aren’t going to make their Fastpass+ reservation on time.
The way you do this is that the day of your trip, go into My Disney Experience and pull up the Fastpass menu for the park of your choice. Unless you can travel fast, it is likely going to need to be the park you are in already. You can either look for a new Fastpass reservation or try to modify an existing one. If you don’t see a good quality Fastpass available, click over to a different time of day to refresh the screen. Likely, this won’t change much. Click back to the original time you selected to refresh again. Keep doing this, clicking back and forth and refreshing. If someone cancels a Fastpass reservation, it will appear on the list (right at the top if it’s a tier one attraction). You may end up being the lucky guest who spots it first. If a hard-to-capture Fastpass comes up, click it and make your reservation quickly. Presto!
We have had good luck doing this during peak eating times as well as catching Fastpasses that require use immediately. Indeed, we have stood outside of the Tower of Terror before doing this and often have ended up with a Fastpass coming up within the next hour. It’s a harder trick to pull with E-Tickets like Avatar: Flight of Passage or Test Track but miracles do still happen. Indeed, our one and only Avatar Fastpass we ever claimed came from fortunate chance using this method. It can feel a little mind numbing, but it’s a decent way to pass the time in a queue, and if you are lucky, it can really prove a game changer on an improvised Disney day!
5. Budget (but don’t over-stress)
Impromptu Disney days are fun, but Walt Disney World is still an expensive place. While we all would love to have a “Treat Yo Self” day at the Most Magical Place on Earth, crippling debt is not a good souvenir to leave with. For this reason, it is a good idea to at least have a basic budget for your improvised Disney day.
I know. It doesn’t sound particularly fun, nor does it feel like “letting go”. Your budget doesn’t have to be complicated. Just have a general idea what you can spend without introducing unnecessary financial stress. The idea is to give yourself a margin where you have lots of freedom to move and enjoy things during your trip without financial panic sneaking into your fun day. If you have the funds to just go wild, do so, but if not, a loose budget can help ensure your unplanned Disney day doesn’t end with unplanned for stress. Set a limit with some breathing room and stay within that.
6. Use transportation wisely
Planning on visiting more than one Walt Disney World park on your impromptu day? You won’t want to lose unnecessary time puttering about trying to park your car or floundering on Disney transportation. Getting around the Most Magical Place on Earth is rarely an exact science, but here’s a few guidelines to help you out.
If you have a personal vehicle and plan to park hop, you’ll need to decide if you want to drive your car from park to park or use Disney transportation. In our experience, Epcot tends to be the park we have the easiest time parking at quickly. Disney’s Hollywood Studios usually isn’t too bad either, but that will likely change when Galaxy’s Edge opens. Disney’s Animal Kingdom has a very large park lot that is usually busier in the mornings, but it still isn’t too bad. You may have to take a little extra time to park here.
The biggest time-sink to avoid if you can is Magic Kingdom’s Transportation and Ticket Center—the most UnMagical Place at the Most Magical Place on Earth. Parking at Magic Kingdom is usually an unpleasant experience at best but getting from the TTC to Magic Kingdom can test the patience of even the stalwart traveler. If at all possible, the best way to park hop to Magic Kingdom is by bus from another park or a resort. The busses take you straight to the park, skipping the TTC entirely. If for whatever reason, you still end up at the TTC, never take the ferry. It’s almost always slower. Also, the Resort Monorail is often faster than the Express Monorail, even with stops at the Magic Kingdom resorts.
In general, the monorail is fun but usually proves very slow as a means of park hopping because of the necessary stop at the TTC. It is better on slow days, but it’s never a surefire thing. Disney’s busses may be frustratingly unscheduled, but they’re often the best way to get around. If you’re having trouble catching a park bus, you can always bus to or from a resort that connects by walkway to a park, like any of the Epcot Resorts or the Contemporary for Magic Kingdom. The Friendship Boats between Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are a fairly reliable method of transportation, but if you have strong legs, you can sometimes speed up your trip by walking to the piers at The Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club, or the Swan and Dolphin. If all else fails, the walkway between Epcot and DHS is lovely.
In a real hurry? Use Uber or Lyft! These two services have become such a mainstay at Walt Disney World that Disney had to contrive their own Minnie Van service just to compete with them. By far, Uber and Lyft tend to be the fastest way to get around, so look them up if you’re looking to fly! If crowdsourced rides make you nervous, the Minnie Van service is good as well, just more expensive.
7. Be a kid again and try something new
The one and only requirement to ensure success on an impromptu Walt Disney World day is to have fun, and the best way to do that is to tap into your inner kid.
Remember the wonder of just enjoying The Most Magical Place on Earth for the first time? Remember taking in the sights, the smells, the wonder of it? Throw off restraint, cut loose, and use your unplanned Disney day as an opportunity to be a kid again. Try new experiences you’ve never had the chance to enjoy. Have an ice cream bar or a school bread. Go goof around in the tunnels on Tom Sawyer Island. Watch that Epcot film you’ve never walked into, try an exotic soda in World Showcase, or volunteer to be an extra on the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Your impromptu Walt Disney day is about having some no pressure fun—throw off your worries and enjoy!
Have you ever had an improvised Walt Disney World day? What is your favorite tip to enjoy one?