A trip to Disney World is supposed to be fun, right?!

It absolutely IS fun (we wouldn’t go every. single. day. if it wasn’t), but we’re not going to lie — when we’re facing crowds, or heat, or our favorite ride shuts down suddenly, it can start to feel a bit stressful. We thought we’d share a few things today that we never want to hear you say in Disney World … we promise your stress levels will decrease if you avoid them!

First off, we just made a video about the BIG changes coming to Disney World in 2024, and you can check it out right here to familiarize yourself:

Now on to those tips. If you’re saying any of these things in Disney World, you probably needed to plan ahead … so we’re alerting you now to make sure you’re ready to go!

“We’ll find somewhere to eat around noon.”

Um, YES. There are more than 200 places to eat in Disney World. BUT, there are a couple of problems with this statement. First off, everyone and their Aunt Shirley wants to eat lunch at noon, right? Your best bet for finding short lines, getting hot food, and finding seating is to eat at off-peak times. Have a light breakfast in your hotel room (you can even order groceries to be delivered to your Disney World hotel!), and plan to get lunch as close to your chosen restaurant opening for lunch at possible — most of them open at 11AM.

OR, have a hearty breakfast in the late morning, and then plan for a late lunch/early dinner between 2 and 5PM — after peak lunch hours and before people start looking for supper.

And please don’t forget about Mobile Order! Many quick-service restaurants at Disney World let you order and pay for your meal right within the My Disney Experience app, choosing a window to go to the restaurant and skip the line to pick up your meal. But again — don’t wait until noon to place your order! You may find an hour or more wait before you can go to the restaurant to pick it up. We suggest putting in your mobile order a couple of hours before you (or your toddler!) will be hungry.

If you need help figuring out this mobile order stuff, we’ve got a guide right here!

Disney World Mobile Order Secrets We Learned the Hard Way — Don’t Make Our Mistakes!

“Which park has the Harry Potter rides?”

It is surprising how much we overhear people looking for Harry Potter World at Disney World in 2024, especially since the first section of the Wizarding World has been open for nearly 14 years now … at Universal Orlando Resort. But there are still many people who, when they hear about something at a theme park in Orlando, automatically assume it is part of Disney World.

So, we’re trying to help you avoid a lot of disappointment here. You’re going to need to plan a side trip to Universal Orlando if you want to visit the Wizarding World. It’s only about 9 miles down the road, and it really is an awesome experience for Harry Potter fans! But it does require separate tickets to Universal Orlando, and Disney World transportation won’t take you there — so you’ll need to plan ahead!

We Solemnly Swear You’re Going to Want These Harry Potter Shirts!

“Let’s go get in line for TRON.”

Disney World’s newest roller coaster, TRON Lightcycle / Run, is mega-fun. It’s also mega-popular. Now we know you’ve probably been to a theme park or two in your time, and you probably expect that the line for popular roller coasters can be long. But, you’re determined to wait anyway. Except, in this case … you can’t.

That’s right. There’s NO regular line you can just jump in to get on TRON. Instead, you have two options:

• You can join a free virtual queue, which means you would join the “line” on your phone and be able to do other things in the park until it’s your time to ride.
• Or, you can purchase an “Individual Lightning Lane,” which usually costs $20 per person, and gives you a specific window of time to ride without much of a line.

There are benefits and drawbacks to both of these methods. As we said, the virtual queue is FREE But it can be hard to get into. You can try to get a virtual queue at 7AM through the Disney World app (we’ve got a step-by-step guide to joining the virtual queue here), but it can “sell out” within minutes. If you missed it, you can try again at 1PM, but only if you’re inside the Magic Kingdom park at that time. A drawback to the virtual queue is that you don’t really know when your number will be called. When it is called, you usually have one hour to report to the ride, but if you’re in a long queue for another ride or have hard-to-get reservations for a restaurant, this can be difficult!

As for the Individual Lightning Lane, you will know in advance when your ride time is and plan accordingly. (You also purchase your Individual Lightning Lane through the app — we’ve got a guide here.) The main drawback here is the extra cost.

It’s up to you which of these methods will work best — and we see many people try for a free virtual queue first, and opt for the Individual Lightning Lane if the virtual queue is sold out. Either way will get you on the ride — which is our goal for you!

How TRON Compares to Other Disney World Coasters

That’s it — those are 3 things we hope you don’t say on your Disney World trip! We want to hear you say, “Today was SO great!” instead! Keep following DFB for more Disney World planning advice!