13 Biggest Disney World Tips for First Timers (You’ll Be Glad You Knew #3!)

Are you headed to Magic Kingdom for the very first time? Last week we took our first Disney trip with all four of our family members and I learned SO much along the way. Here are our biggest Disney World tips for first timers.

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My son Jayden was 3 years old when he first asked us if we could go to Disney World. 

At the time it was Covid AND we had a newborn baby. So of course the resounding answer was “No.” I told him we’d finally go when his sister turned five, and that has been or response every year since!

This spring, his sister turned five and these kids had not forgotten our promise. So we booked our first visit to the Happiest Place on Earth.

I scoured crowd calendars online and eventually landed on a trip the first week of May. I then began what felt like a literal college course, scouring the Internet, watching videos and learning everything that I possible could for our first trip.

Must-Know Disney World Tips for First Timers

Here are the 13 biggest lessons that I learned on our trip that other families like ours MUST KNOW.

1. For newbies, a Disney planner is worth their weight in gold.

When I say I knew nothing about the Disney parks beforehand, I truly mean I knew nothing. I had been to Disney once during a work conference and pretty much only had time to eat a meal at Epcot and watch the parade.

I found a Disney planner through some mutual friends – someone who I could ask all my silly little questions to without any judgement.

The best part? These planners don’t cost you! They get paid a percentage directly from the vacations you book, so it really is a win-win to use one. Our planner, Rachel at Extra Magic Trips is a true Disney veteran. She’s been to the theme parks dozens of time and has similar-aged children, so I knew her recommendations would be legit. 

Over email communication, she helped me narrow down which Disney hotel would be best for us (we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside!) S

he also gave us advice on how to use their new water parks perk, what to ride and when, how Lightening Lanes work, best places to watch the fireworks and so much more.

Honestly, I’m entirely sure I would have been a lot more stressed without her wisdom.

Thinking about using a Disney planner? If you’re not well-versed on the parks yet, it’s a great idea.

2. Moderate resorts are great for introverts

I knew we wanted to stay on property to be as close to the parks as possible and to take advantage of Early Entry and avoid some long lines.

Now, we are BUDGET PEOPLE, which means we don’t like to waste money on frivolous things. But I won’t lie to you… we’re very picky about where we sleep.

A lot of our friends had raved about the value resorts like the All-Star Resorts and Pop Century. But I had also heard stories about thin hotel walls, loud kids running around at night, and cheerleader competitions… almost constantly.

Friends had told us “You’re never really in the room anyway!” But I know us, as a family of semi-introverts, and we ARE in the room fairly often.

So the room needed to be a nice place to kick up our feet and recharge. After crunching the numbers with our planner, Port Orleans Riverside seemed to give us everything we needed, and the price was actually cheaper than the available Art of Animation rooms (a highly recommended value resort) at the time.

Port Orleans Riverside and it’s sister resort French Quarter are drop-dead GORGEOUS.

The resorts sit on an adorable river with walking paths, water fountains, ferry boats and horse carriage rides. There were also so many places for the kids to roam and play.

After our long, hot, crowded park days, it was like coming home to a little slice of heaven. We also took a ferry ride to Disney Springs one night for dinner.

The ride itself was painfully long, but still a good memory to have, and something you just don’t get at other resorts! 

Note: For our first trip we spent two days at Magic Kingdom only. Port Orleans only offers bus service to the parks, so if you’re looking to use the Skyliner for transportation, you’ll need to look else. 

3. Don’t go on a Friday

For our trip, we arrived on Wednesday morning and took advantage of the free water park day at Blizzard Beach. Then for the next two days, we tackled Magic Kingdom.

Thursday at Magic Kingdom (May 1) was a dream. We did rope drop that morning and came at the tail end of the resort early access, which starts at 8:30 am.

The park was busy, but totally manageable. It was fairly easy to get the Lightening Lanes we wanted and had so much fun exploring the park for the first time.

Friday was a little different. From the opening of the park you could just tell that there was double the people, and it only got more crowded the rest of the day. 

There were multiple times when we’d see a ride showing a 5-10 minute wait times in the My Disney Experience App. We arrived at the ride, and the line extended far, far beyond the line queue.

We did have a few Lightening Lanes booked that day, and we were able to ride Tron (the newest coaster style ride) by doing rider switch right at rope drop at 9am. 

But with the crowds and a fussy 5-year-old, there was a lot less magic going on on this day. We spent a lot of time doing character meet with various princesses because the ride lines were pretty unbearable.

I get the feeling that a lot more locals come on Fridays, because the park continued to grow more and more crowded as we got into the afternoon. We eventually just went back to our hotel to swim and didn’t return until fireworks that night.

Based on our experience, if you’re looking for the best time to get the most bang out of a short trip, go mid-week.

4. Crowd calendars never tell the full story.

This one closely relates to 3. But what you need to know about me is that I studied every Disney crowd calendar that I could find relentlessly before choosing our trip dates.

As first time visitors we wanted to experience as must as possible in as little time as possible without paying a lot with young children. (Am I asking for too much?!) 

Our dates for last week of April-first days of May showed the second to lowest crowds all year. So of course that got me excited!

I figured by coming to a Disney property after spring break but before school was out we’d avoid other vacationers and the most busy times.

And while I’m sure the crowds on our dates were nothing compared to crowds during holiday breaks, it was still a lot for kids (and a mom) who don’t love crowds, hotness, and lines.

I would say early May is still a good time to hit the parks! But always be ready to share your experiences with thousands and thousands and thousands of your closest friends. 

5. Have younger kids? Buy Lightening Lane Passes!

When I first read about Lightening Lane for Disney resorts, it kind of just felt like another unnecessary money grab that we could do without. But I also knew this would be the only time we’d be at Disney for awhile, so I wanted us to be able to do as much as possible.

So we bit the bullet and bought the Lightning Lane Multi Pass and I’m so. dang. glad that we did. We were able to walk straight on to some kid favorites like Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan, and only waited a few minutes for the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

Having scheduled right times where we knew we wouldn’t have to wait for long made it easy for us to shape and plan the rest of our day. 

One thing it seems a lot of people didn’t realize is that you can only book 3 LIghtning Lane experiences ahead of time.

But once that ride is complete, you can continue adding another, then another, for the entire day. It was always the best chance for shorter waits and a great option for getting more in in less time.

6. Character lines are sweet, but time-consuming

I have a princess obsessed five year old, so I knew a bit part of our Disney World trip would be meeting some of her favorite princesses. What I didnt know is that she’d want to meet even the princess who were not her favorites… no matter how long that line took. 

The great thing about these character lines is many of them are inside, or at least in shaded areas. It’s a good downtime activity to eat a snack around fewer people while you wait.

Some of these princesses are very chatty, so we really had to practice our patience. But seeing the sheer awe on my daughter’s face after some of the meet and greets was priceless. 

In our 2 days at Magic Kingdom we met: Belle, Ariel, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Tiana, Jasmine and Elena. The latter left a real impression, so of course we ended going home with a brand new Elena of Avalor dress. 

7. Table service and character meals just weren’t worth it for us.

A lot of the posts I read in Disney groups and advice articles recommended sit down experiences and character meals. And while I loved the idea of getting to eat breakfast in Cinderella’s castle with my people, the costs of these experiences seemed CRAZY to me, to say the least.

No offense if you and your family love and reserve these meals. But for us, with two incredibly picky eaters who don’t like to sit down for very long, a meal that costs $88 per adult and $52 for a child (Cinderella’s Royal Table) made absolutely no sense for our budget.

We also met most of the princesses in other areas of the park. To top things off, my 5 year-old is currently deathly afraid of people in large costumes. 

So for us, maybe we’ll do this someday when we are millionaires (I’m still believing for it!)

But for now, quick service order ahead pizza and hot dogs and dinners at our hotel food court were more than sufficient for us. 

Note: Since one of our kids is an extremely choosy eater, we made and packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the room each morning and popped them in the stroller. That way we always had a backup plan for when hunger would strike.

8. If you have the water park perk, use it!

Disney introduced a perk this year where all guests at resort hotels can visit a water park for FREE on their check in day.

If you’re able, I would for sure add this to your must-do list. We got to the parks around 12pm and headed to Blizzard Beach, since that’s the water park that was open during our travel dates.

We only stay for about 2.5 hours before checking into our hotel, but we had a great time splashing in the wave pool and chilling on the lazy river with the kids. They have already announced this perk will continue for resort guests in 2026, so don’t miss it!

8. Have kids? Buy groceries for your room Trust me.

On that note, if you have kids and you’re on a budget, GET YOU SOME GROCERIES! Most of our meals on park days cost around $50-60 as a family of four (without drinks!)

So we decided to eat breakfasts in our room in the mornings to keep costs down. For us that looked like muffins, mini donuts and lots and lots of fruit. 

Many of the resorts have a beverage cooler that essentially function like a mini fridge, so we were able to stow away fruit, pepperoni, jelly, and other snack-y things that we could grab or pack anytime. We also took a small cooler with us and kept it in our stroller on park days for mid-day snacks. 

Since we had our car, I drove to the local Walmart to grab our food. But services like Instacart will also to deliver to your resort front desk for pickup when you’re ready!

9. On the fence about the stroller? Get it. 

We rented a stroller and put our 8 year old son in it and I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO SHAME ABOUT IT.

Of course we made our kids walk often, but anyone who has been to the parks knows that there is a LOT of walking. And other than our bus shuttle service to the park in the morning, you’re constantly on your feet. 

To avoid the whinies and  the constant “My feet are tired!” complaints, we rented a stroller.

Then, we used it to haul allll of our crap – food, ponchos, water bottles, first aid kit, so that we could be hands-free and carefree. We rented the City Mini Double stroller which perfectly held our 8 year old and our 5 year old through a company called Kingdom Strollers.

They had great reviews, and they will pick up and drop off directly from your resort. For families who drive, you can also bring along your own as well! 

10. Some prep purchases are totally worth it… some are not.

Before our trip, I scoured Disney Reddit boards and Facebook groups (especially this one), trying to make sure I had absolutely everything packed and purchased that we could possibly need during our trip.

Some of the recommendations ended up feeling a little excessive and unneccessary for us (like cooling towels, and chafing sticks, for instance). There were also a lot of people who suggest a Disney dining plan, but for us the pricing didn’t end up making sense. 

Some things we did buy that were totally worth it include a pack of ponchos (it didn’t rain on our trip but we wore them on water rides), protectors for our Magic Bands, mini fans for the kids, a portable phone charger, and Mickey ears bought on Amazon before the trip like this one and this one.

(Buying them ahead of time saved us a solid $40-50). We also bought the most basic Magic Band for everyone on the website ahead of time, which saves you $10/each instead of buying them at the park or in the app.

Basically, know your family and what common complaints are. (My kids don’t like to be hot or wet!) And do your best to prep for those needs without overpacking.

11. Rider Switch is a wonderful gift to parents.

At every other theme park we’ve ever visited, there has always been a parent who has to sit out of the thrill or “adult” rides to stay with our youngest. Not at Disney!

We used Rider Switch for Space Mountain and Tron, which allowed my husband to ride with my son, and I was given a Lightening Lane pass to switch out and ride with him when they were done.

That means he got to ride twice, and both parents get to experience the fun with him. A true win that cost zero extra dollars!

12. You can’t do it all and that’s totally OK

I had a few friends say this to us beforehand and I’ll admit my attitude was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” We were spending two full days at Magic Kingdom so I felt positive we would pack it all in.

But alas, they were right. With the crowds and just generally needing downtime, we weren’t able to do everything that was on my list… and that’s totally okay.

For now, we didn’t experience Mine Train (the lines remained insane the whole trip and we didn’t want to pay for the individual Lightning Lane.)

We didn’t do any table service restaurants or visit the other parks. But all that means we’ll have to come back soon and do it again!

Don’t expect to do it all. Try to keep a good attitude and just make the most of the time that you have. 

13. I see why they call it the most wonderful place on earth

We definitely had some hiccups in our Disney trip, including both kids being sick the week of leading up to it. But once we got there, I definitely understood the magic.

From seeing the excitement on my daughters face when she met Rapunzel for the first time to eating delicious treats and seeing my son have the time of his life on Space Mountain, it really feels like an escape from everyday life.

I’m so glad we picked Port Orleans Riverside as our resort and the kids seemed so happy and at peace there. Though the whole experience wasn’t cheap, these 3 days were the best way to gear up for summer break and spend some time that we will never forget together as a family.

Conclusion

While I don’t know that our family will do Disney every year, I know that we still have so much more to explore and do so we have to come back!

Next visit we’ll plan to take advantage of their Park Hopper ticket so we can visit Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot. I also think we might try out flying next time so we can spend more time at the parks and less time on the road.

All in all, this is a trip we won’t do super often because of the price tag, but every few years and for special occasions, we really might be becoming Disney people.

What Disney tips would YOU give to a first timer? What tips would you share with me for when we head to the other parks? I’d love to hear them in the comments!