4. Try the Play Disney Parks app (especially in Galaxy’s Edge)

Image: Disney

Play Disney Parks is a newer addition to Disney’s app lineup, and it really seems to be coming into its own as a fun addition to the Disney experience. For those unfamiliar, Play Disney Parks is an app you can download that provides companion games to enjoy during your Disney parks excursions. Throughout all four parks, you’ll find opportunities in the app to check out unique musical playlists, trivia challenges, and collect achievements for visiting attractions.

The app’s strongest features are attraction-specific games and guided tours. In the Magic Kingdom, you can access mini-games in the queues for Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain to help pass the time in line. At Epcot, the app ties into the Soarin’ Trivia Challenge displayed on the screens along the queue for Soarin’ Over the World, turning your wait into a fun team competition with your fellow guests. Kids can also enjoy additions to the Kidcot Puzzle  Tours and Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure scavenger hunt. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the app provides several self-guided tours through Discovery Island, The Maharajah Jungle Trek, the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail, and even the World of Pandora.

The place where the potential of Play Disney Parks really shines is in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Within Galaxy’s Edge, the app gives guests access to Star Wars Datapad, an ultra-interactive free-exploration experience that turns guests’ phones into a Datapad that can interact with real-life elements inside the Black Spire Outpost. The game’s functions include translating Aurebesh and alien languages, tuning into secret frequencies and communications, scanning crates to find secret contents inside, and finally, hacking terminals, droids, vehicles, and ships throughout the land—often triggering real responses like engines powering up or droids whistling in response. The app even includes a “quest” feature where guests can chat with famous Star Wars characters and take on jobs for Batuu locals to build reputation in the land. It’s seriously intricate and addictively fun once you get the hang of it. There’s even a special queue game for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. For more details, be sure and check out our ultimate guide to getting the most out of Star Wars Datapad!

5. Watch the wildlife

Image: Disney

Walt Disney World is a really special place if you love nature, whether you’re visiting wildlife-specific attractions like Kilimanjaro Safaris or just talking a stroll. You can’t walk a stone’s throw in Florida without running into waddling ducks, anahingas sunning their wings, curious ibis, obnoxious seagulls, or skittering lizards. On rare occasion, you may even spot fish, turtles, and even small alligators in Disney’s waterways… and that’s just the Florida wildlife that like to hang around!

For a more concrete wildlife-watching experience, you can’t go wrong with a trip to The Seas With Nemo and Friends at Epcot or a tour of the walking trails at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You can easily let minutes fly by at The Seas watching manatees, dolphins, turtles, sharks, and tropical fish, and that’s not even considering special presentations you can enjoy hosted by Disney cast members.

Within Disney’s Animal Kingdom, really take your time when you visit the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The latter is the less busy of the two, but both offer multiple opportunities where you can just sit back and watch the resident animals do what they do. Our favorite stop is the aviaries at both locations. Sit still long enough, and you’ll get to see colorful birds sneak out of the plants to explore around you while weavers squabble over nesting material. Outside of the aviary, we even saw a fledgling horned owl learning how to fly once. Slow down, pay attention, and you never know what wildlife might do at Walt Disney World.

By the way, keep an eye on those fish n’ chips if seagulls are around, or you may find the wildlife watching you.

6. Go on an Easter egg hunt

Image: Jett Farrell-Vega (@mykingdomforamouse Instagram)

Eagle-eyed guests can enjoy quite the hunt if you know where to look: Walt Disney World is a bursting basket of Easter eggs. I’m not referring to literal Easter eggs but rather to secret tributes to Disney films and properties hidden throughout the parks. Disney imagineers love planting these little gems throughout Disney lands, resorts, and attractions.

The most famous Easter eggs to hunt for are, of course, hidden Mickeys. Entire books have been written about these little tributes to the silhouette of Mickey Mouse hidden everywhere from the aquarium floor of The Seas with Nemo and Friends to some curiously coiled cables in the pre-show area of The Rockin’ Roller Coaster. You can find hidden Mickeys almost anywhere in Walt Disney World, and keeping a tally of the ones you’ve found can prove a very fun family activity.

If you’re a Star Wars fan, you won’t want to miss Star Wars Launch Bay. This mini-museum of Star Wars fandom houses dozens of hidden Easter eggs from throughout the films. Even more than Launch Bay, however, you will want to plan some extra time in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The Black Spire Outpost was designed to house tributes to Star Wars from across the whole history of the saga, from the podracer engine used as a grill at Ronto Roasters to the silhouette of a porg chewing on a cable somewhere in the queue for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. As an example, if you happen to head to Oga's Cantina, you might notice the DJ looks very familiar if you ever rode the original Star Tours-- stick around long enough and Rex even reverts to his old programming from his Endor Express days!

The best place to go Easter egg hunting in Galaxy’s Edge is definitely Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities. This place is bursting with tributes to Star Wars both recognizable and obscure—and according to rumor, there’s even a miniaturized version of the Indiana Jones Ark of the Covenant somewhere in his collection. Can you find it?