There’s no one set way to make the most of your Disney vacation, and we’re here to shake up your thinking a bit!

Most folks think that planning a Disney vacation only consists of picking out a hotel room, buying your park tickets, and deciding if you’re going to use Genie+ or not, but there are so many other options to consider! Disney World is also home to a wide array of recreational activities, ways to bring your pets on vacation with you, and more.

If you’ve ever sat back and watched the pros take their Disney vacations, chances are you’ve seen a few unconventional practices. Sometimes mixing in these options requires some out-of-the-box type thinking.

Here’s a list of a few options we bet you’ve probably not stopped to consider– yet!

1. Bringing Your Pet to Disney World

To most of us, our pets are like family so leaving them behind or being very far away from them while on vacation is almost unthinkable, luckily, Disney has options for you.

A few of the Disney hotels are pet friendly (Art of Animation, Port Orleans Resort– Riverside, Yacht Club Resort, and the Cabins at Fort Wilderness)! The designated rooms at these hotels have easy access to outdoor walkways for exercise and to green spaces with pet relief areas. Upon arrival at the hotel, the dogs and their owners will be greeted with a complimentary Pluto’s Welcome Kit.

As of right now, dogs are the only pets allowed, with a maximum of 2 permitted per hotel room. Other stipulations that follow are that the dogs are expected to be well-behaved, leashed in public areas, and properly vaccinated.

If you want options to have your pets nearby, there’s also the Best Friends Pet Care that is on Disney World property.

They run a day camp for pets along with boarding options in case they need to be housed overnight. They’ve even started a courier service to pick up and drop your pets back off after their stay at certain resorts.

2. Camping In A Tent At Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground

Bet you didn’t know you could tent camp at Disney World…well, you can! Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort is home to so many types of recreational stays and really wants to make you feel like you’re not in central Florida.

You can opt to stay at this hotel if you’re booking one of the wilderness cabins, bringing your own RV to stay in, or pitching a tent for a night– or a few! The campsites are bookable as their own category when selecting your room or package stay and can really help connect you with the great outdoors beyond the theme parks.

3. Making & Packing Your Own Meals

We get it! Meals at Disney World can be expensive. We’ve even made whole line items for them on our vacation budgets too. But while we wait for the Disney Dining Plan to come back in 2024, there are a few other ways to cut your meal costs.

We’ve seen and actually packed food to bring into the parks ourselves. Chances are on any given day you’ll walk right past a family that also has packed small things like sandwiches, chips, snacks, granola bars, and other non-perishable items to bring with them in the parks. It’s also important to note that if you want to bring things that need to stay cool, you’ll want to make sure it’s in line with Disney’s guidelines on coolers brought into the park before you arrive. If that’s not quite your speed, consider bringing or having groceries brought to your hotel.

If you’re able to move your budget around and splurge on a deluxe resort villa, these rooms have either a small kitchenette or a full-size kitchen. Some of our team have cooked whole meals in these rooms and they’re a great option if you are looking to extend your spending budget and don’t mind the short break from the parks. Usually, these hotels are closest to the parks so you usually don’t miss too much time away and can make it back after a short break at the hotel.

4. Food Delivery To Your Disney Hotel

While we’re talking about food and cutting costs there, consider a few familiar comforts.

Food delivery services like DoorDash, UberEats, and Amazon Fresh will deliver food right to your hotel! You will probably have to meet them around the entrance of the lobby to pick up your order, but it might be a small inconvenience over paying some of the higher prices on food inside the parks and hotels…especially with picky eaters. We’ve seen services from fast food chains like McDonald’s, KFC, Jersey Mike’s Subs, and more so we know there are several great options available to you.

5. Rider Swap

This is one that could really help save your sanity throughout the whole day! Learning which rides offer rider swaps for your tiny travelers and more importantly how it works BEFORE you get into the parks is ideal.

Let’s say you’ve got a little one with you that isn’t tall enough to ride the next ride everyone’s so excited to experience next, you might want to consider using rider swap. This option is offered when you visit a Cast Member outside of the attraction and explain they’re not able to ride (or maybe too afraid to ride) with everyone else and they will offer you an option for rider swap. At least one adult will stay behind with the one not riding and be issued a return time to use after the rest of the party has completed the wait and ride or attraction. During this time, the waiting adult and little one can go and experience another attraction instead of having to wait around and not do a whole lot. After the first riders at the party are done, the adults will swap off so the adult that was waiting around the first time will have an opportunity to ride afterward.

6. Scuba diving in EPCOT

This is a fun experience that comes up A LOT! YES, you can scuba in EPCOT!

EPCOT Seas Adventures – DiveQuest is a 2-hour-long experience where you’ll spend about 40 minutes on your actual dive. Participants will also get a backstage tour to see the inner workings of the massive aquarium which can be viewed by their friends and family from inside the Seas With Nemo and Friends exhibits. Advanced reservations are recommended for this recreational experience, you must be SCUBA-certified to participate, and a minimum of 10 years old with an accompanying (and paying) adult if you’re under 16 years old.

7. Resort Hopping During Your Trip

Have you ever found a hotel that you REALLY wanted to stay at during your Disney vacation but are not quite sure your budget allows for the ENTIRE stay, consider booking it anyway!

No, we’re not telling you to blow out your whole budget, just hear us out. We’ve also been able to accomplish stays at our dream hotels at Disney by opting to only stay a day or two at those hotels. Then, for the rest of our stay, we book somewhere else that fits within our budget. This allows us the chance to stay in the resorts we really want to experience and not compromise having to stay fewer days on vacation in total! Of course, this will come with its “cons” because you’ll then be doing a split stay between resorts so you’ll want to make sure you know these will be two separate reservations when it comes time to make dining reservations.

8. Surf at the wave pool in Typhoon Lagoon

Surf’s up at Disney, dudes…no, REALLY! You can learn to surf without ever having to step foot into the ocean.

Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon is an incredible water park but if you’re open to getting there before park opening, they’re ready to teach you some super cool skills. Surf lessons are offered at the water park before the park opens with an advanced reservation (trust us, these are very popular) so you’ll want to make these as early as possible.

Additionally, experienced riders can take their chances in North America’s largest outdoor wave pool before the park opens or after it closes. There are options too for open surf and private surf sessions for you and a few close friends. Each 3-hour session comes packed with 100 waves that are broken into sets of 25 each– during Private Surf sessions you can even choose the direction of your waves!

There’s so many ways to “do Disney” even if it’s not exactly as you initially considered it. Sometimes half the fun is found in shaking up your experience a bit, time and time again! As always, stay tuned with us at Disney Food Blog for the latest in Disney park news.

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Did we forget something on this list? Leave your addition in the comments below.