If you’re planning a Disney World trip, you’ve probably done all your planning and picked out your hotel, right?

You’ve probably budgeted for that hotel and have an idea of what kind of perks that hotel offers (like certain transportation options, whether that be buses, Monorail, or Skyliner). You might even be aware of the 2025 perk where you can get a FREE ticket to Disney World’s water parks on your arrival date. We’re sure you know about Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Hours. But we’re about to tell you about some free Disney World hotel perks and upgrades you might not know about.

Character Meet and Greets

Meeting characters in the parks can take up a lot of valuable time, with many characters having long lines for those interactions. Of course, you can book a character dining experience to meet characters, but that can end up being pricey. However, did you know you can meet characters at your hotels? Characters make appearances at Disney World hotels from time to time, and those interactions are much more casual and fun.

So how do you know if characters will be meeting at your hotel? Well, you can look for the colorful caravans parked outside your resort. Granted, we don’t see these caravans as much as we used to, but characters are still popping up at hotels to surprise guests, so be on the lookout!

With that being said, though, there is a guaranteed character meet and greet opportunity at Disney’s Fort Wilderness. You can hang out with Chip ‘n’ Dale at Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Campfire Sing-Along, which happens nightly. You’ll get to roast marshmallows, sing songs, and meet that mischievous duo of chipmunks.

The entire experience is FREE, although you will have to pay for your S’mores supplies (which can be purchased from the Chuck Wagon). After Chip ‘n’ Dale have done their thing, you can watch a Disney movie on the outdoor screen.

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Character Wake-Up Calls

Wake-up calls are never fun, but in Disney World, you’ll be HAPPY to get a wake-up call. That’s because you can get MICKEY himself to call your Disney World hotel room each morning to let you know it’s time to get up. And it’s 100% free.

All you have to do is pick up the phone from your hotel’s bedside table and press the “wake up call” button. When prompted, just enter in the time you want to receive your Mickey wake up call. That’s it! SO easy and SO fun!

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Holiday overlays

During the holiday season in Disney World, Disney World hotels get all decked out for the holidays. Each resort gets a pretty Christmas tree and lots of fun decor that’s sure to make you feel jolly. The deluxe hotels even get MASSIVE Christmas trees, as well as fun gingerbread displays. What’s even better? It’s 100% free to visit Disney World hotels to check out their displays. 

Disney’s Fort Wilderness goes even harder for the holidays. The hotel has an annual Christmas Eve Golf Cart Parade where guests deck out their golf cart rentals in holiday decor and drive around the resort with other holiday-themed carts. HOWEVER, if you want to see it or participate in it, you have to be a guest at the hotel or campground.

Learn more about the holidays in Disney World

Partial Savannah View

If you’ve booked a stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, you may have seen that you can book a Savannah View room so you can wake up each morning and look out at all the animals that live on the hotel’s savannah. You may have also seen how pricey those rooms are. Did you know, though, that you could still get a very similar view FOR FREE?

All you have to do is put in a room request for a “Partial Savannah View.” Now, you’re not GUARANTEED to get a room with a partial view of the animals, but Disney does go out of their way to try to meet most reasonable guest requests. You might also end up with an obstructed view, but it’s been our experience that you’ll still get a good view of the animals. If you don’t get your request, though, there are plenty of savannah viewing areas throughout the hotel.

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Get the closest room to EPCOT

Let’s talk about another room request you can make. This one involves a secret door that will put you as close to EPCOT’s International Gateway entrance as possible. You’ll find it at Disney’s Beach Club Resort, which is already pretty close to EPCOT. BUT look at this map of Beach Club…do you see that section of the hotel that juts out closer to EPCOT than other sections?

This door is ONLY for guests at Disney’s Beach Club, but here’s the cool thing: there’s a room located RIGHT NEXT TO IT, room 1501, which is the closest hotel room you can get to EPCOT. So what you can do is request that specific room. Again, Disney may not be able to fulfill your request, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, right?

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Magical room upgrades

Okay, so this isn’t a guarantee, but it does happen, and when it happens, it doesn’t cost you a dime. Sometimes you might book a standard room at a hotel and get upgraded to a better more premium room. In fact, we’ve even seen instances where we’ve booked a room at a value resort and ended up being upgraded to a deluxe resort — FOR FREE. It doesn’t happen often, but it DOES happen.

Now, this is not something you should ask for (honestly, if the Cast Member doesn’t laugh if you DO ask for it, we’d be surprised). It’s just one of those things that could happen to add a little extra pixie dust to your trip. But, yeah, don’t expect to book a room at an All-Star Resort and end up the Grand Floridian.

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Mobile Order To Go at Hotel Restaurants

Sometimes you want a table service meal…but without the actual table. Let’s just say you want dinner and you don’t want to sit in a restaurant, but you still want to eat at a table service restaurant. Well, many of Disney World’s hotel restaurants offer a Mobile Order Table Service To Go option where you can just order ahead and pick up your food and eat it in your pajamas in your hotel room (or wherever you want to eat it).

You’ll find restaurants with this option in the My Disney Experience App — they’re listed separately as the restaurant name and then “To Go” after that.

Everything you need to know about Mobile Order Table Service To Go

So if you’re staying at a Disney World hotel anytime soon, be sure to take advantage of these free perks. And stay tuned to DFB for more.

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What free Disney World hotel perks do you take advantage of when you visit? Let us know in the comments!