5 Disney World Vacation “Rules” You Can Totally Break

Reading tips, blogs, and articles is a fantastic way to prepare for a Disney trip! But do you ever feel like all you hear is, do this or do that? The list of rules seems to pile up. Well, this article is for the rule-breakers out there! Here are five Disney World vacation rules you can break and how you can manage without them.

1 – You Must Go to All Four Theme Parks

Well, guess what – maybe I don’t want to go to all four theme parks! Alright, rule-breakers, each of Disney’s theme parks are spectacular and unique in its own way. Are you going to miss a great attraction or experience that is only offered at a specific park? Most likely, yes, but that’s ok! Disney purposely sets up each park with a must-do experience so they can draw you in. A good example is a family member we have that doesn’t like to be around animals. While we love Animal Kingdom, she has absolutely no desire to spend her money on a ticket to go there. She’ll miss climbing Expedition Everest and riding on the Safari. But, you know what – that’s ok! Because instead of spending her time and money on something she’s not certain she’ll enjoy, she gets to spend it relaxing at the resort for the day or maybe having a repeat visit to a different park she enjoys. You’re going to have an excellent experience whether you decide to visit one, two, three, or four of the parks!

2 – You Must Stay at a Disney Resort

Staying on Disney property provides great ease for transportation and fun perks. We enjoy Disney’s excellent customer service and cleanliness, which we have personally experienced at several of their resorts. However, you may find yourself needing to save on the budget and stay off-site. No worries! Breaking this rule doesn’t mean you are missing out on Disney’s magic! We are Hilton Honors members, for example, and sometimes we earn free stays. Instead of staying on-site, we stay at a local Hilton property for a couple of nights free. While we don’t get the resort guest perks, we don’t feel like we are being gypped from an incredible experience as we drive in and park our car at the theme park. We get to experience the same attractions, dining options, and almost all of the same theme park experiences resort guests do. Plus, if you still want to step foot on property at one of Disney’s Resorts, head to one of the resort restaurants for a meal and drinks!

3 – You Must Make Advanced Dining Reservations

Ok – you’ve either missed your advanced dining reservation window, you’ve decided on a last-minute trip, or you just really don’t feel planning and making your advanced dining reservations. This is one rule breaker that has a few restrictions that go with it, but it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy Disney’s incredible food. Disney takes every opportunity to feed you, so no worries, you won’t go hungry. The restriction to this rule break is you likely won’t get into hard-to-get dining locations such as Be Our Guest Restaurant. Look for alternatives to the hard-to-get dining options. At alternative spots, you can sometimes make reservations just before your arrival. We also suggest you look at off times to dine (2 pm or 3 pm, for example) and the plethora of quick-service dining options Disney has readily available. If you still aren’t getting lucky at beating those restaurant crowds, there is always Mickey Ice Cream bars and Turkey Legs!

4 –  You Must Pay for Genie+ If You Want to Ride a Lot of Attractions 

Genie+ is one way to pay to access the new Lightning Lane that has replaced the old FastPass lane. When you purchase Genie+ anywhere from $15-$39 per day per person, you’ll have access to select attractions at each park and (theoretically) skip the line and save time. This may sound like a no-brainer. Who wouldn’t want to skip the line all the time and get a ton of attractions in? Well, like most things at Disney, this isn’t necessarily the case, and in some instances, because of the Genie+ restrictions, you won’t be able to skip the line as often as you think. First, you need to know that access to the Lightning Lane with Genie+ is only available for select attractions. And while there are over forty attractions available, the Genie+, for most of them, you don’t need the Lightning Lane because often the wait times are so low you won’t actually save time. Just like with FastPass, you don’t need to skip the line for Journey Into Imagination with Figment, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Muppet*Vision 3D, The Animation Experience, or It’s Tough to Be a Bug because unless it’s Christmas week, you won’t wait longer than five minutes or the time until the next show (usually 10 minutes). And even for the top Genie+ attractions like Space Mountain, Slinky Dog Dash, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Kilimanjaro Safaris — if you plan ahead and get there at opening or get in line as the park is closing, you can usually avoid the long wait times anyway.

Second, you also need to be aware that Disney only allows you to access each attraction on this list once daily. So, once you’ve ridden Space Mountain with Genie+, you won’t be able to book another return window to skip the line for the same attraction. This really devalues what you get out of Genie+. Take, for instance, if you plan to spend your entire day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Only eleven attractions use Lighting Lane with Genie+, and for four of them, you do not need to use the Lightning Lane almost always, and the remaining four usually have only moderate wait times (30-45 minutes) during the busiest part of the day. They often have short wait times, early in the morning or later in the evening. Also, if you arrive at opening and use the Lightning Lane for these attractions, you can only book them one at a time, and so far, we’ve seen the return windows really spread out. Guests are not getting the back-to-back return windows they were expecting. So if you can’t use Genie+ to ride the Safari more than once a day, your return windows are spread out, and you don’t need it for all of the attractions–do you need it at all?

We recommend that unless you are visiting during Spring Break or Christmas week, you may not need Genie+ to enjoy a lot of attractions during the day. With a little bit of planning, you’ll be able to enjoy plenty without spending additional money on Genie+. Save your money for the attractions that usually do have long wait times–the attractions that are only available through Individual A la Carte Selections. Click here to learn more.

5 – You Must Have the Right Family Dynamic

Sorry, kiddos, but who says Mom and Dad won’t enjoy Disney without you? That’s right – take it from us. Leaving the kids at home for an “important meeting in Orlando” makes for a great breather away! Some might want to stone us for this one, but especially if your kids have experienced Disney, it’s ok to go without them and enjoy yourself. The same goes for the old rule that you should not take a baby. We asked our pediatrician when it would be ok to take our newborn to Disney. We were given the “wait until six weeks,” and then we took our little man with us. While a Disney trip with a baby is a different experience, with baby care centers and all of the attractions your baby can sit on your lap for, it’s still a really great time! The same goes for the rule that kids should be old enough to remember it. Sure, they might not remember every part or any of it, but their faces filled with joy are just worth it! There is no time like the present.

These are just a few of our top rules that you will survive breaking! Do any of our rule-breaker fans out there have any rules they like to break?