Walt Disney World visits are always fun, but sometimes it can be easy to get into a rut of just running from ride to show to meal and character meet-and-greet over and over again. You’ve probably heard about some Disney challenges, like drinking your way around the World Showcase or seeing how many Hidden Mickeys you can find, but there are many more ways that you can make your next WDW visit more unique! Here’s a list of 10 Disney dares. Are you up for the challenges?
1. Try Spaceship Earth in every language
You’ll get a whole new perspective on the wonders of communication through the centuries by selecting a different language when you board your Spaceship Earth Time Machine. Besides English, the attraction’s narration is offered in Portuguese, Spanish, French, German and Japanese, so you can plan on six rides to get the full effect! (For a bonus challenge, you could try all of the different choices of “futures” at the end of the rides.)
2. Expand your palate
Instead of hitting up your usual restaurants, why not let fate decide what you eat? You could try indulging in the lowest- and highest-priced foods at every park, letting your server bring you a surprise or simply trying a dish or a restaurant you never considered before. You might just discover something you love. (Bonus challenge: Try consuming every Mickey-shaped food item you can find.)
3. Pay attention to the signs
Try playing “Spot the Letter” — find signs in the parks that show each letter of the alphabet in different fonts and take photos of them. When you get home, you can turn the different letters into a collage that spells out your name or any phrase you choose. Print it out, frame it and you’ll have a one-of-a-kind souvenir! (Bonus challenge: Find signs that have numbers on them, print out those photos and put them on your refrigerator or calendar for a countdown to your next trip.)
4. Complete one type of attraction in a day
Grab your Park Hopper pass and ride all of Walt Disney World’s roller coasters one day, view all of the Circle-Vision 360° movies another day and watch all of the live shows on a third day. Doing this will take some time and stamina, but it can be done! (Bonus challenge: Try all of the spinning rides, like Mad Tea Cups and Mission:SPACE in one day.)
5. Find out how many times you can get 15 minutes of fame
Walt Disney World has plenty of opportunities for you to get a little attention. You can see if you can have your joke and name read by a monster or be “That Guy” or another participant in Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor; perform as an extra in the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular; interact with the Citizens of Hollywood on the streets at Disney’s Hollywood Studios; sit on stage at Flights of Wonder at Disney’s Animal Kingdom; and even lead the audience in making animal noises at the Festival of the Lion King. Bonus challenge: Give an autograph to one of your new “fans.”
6. Figure out how many times you can ride your favorite ride in a row
We’ve all been on rides that we didn’t want to get off of, so why not try to see how many times you can ride back-to-back? It’s best to attempt this challenge when attendance is low at the parks, such as during a parade or fireworks or an hour or two before a park closes. If there’s a line behind you, you’ll likely have to get off the ride each time and get right back in line, but that still counts for your consecutive ride total! Bonus challenge: See how your experiences change by alternating between the left and right sides on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror or the front and back cars on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
7. Spend a day without rides
If just thinking about going on Mad Tea Party multiple times makes you feel dizzy, you could try an entire day without going on any rides at all! There are so many different things to do at the parks, from taking a Keys to the Kingdom tour to just enjoying the people-watching and other sights and scents that you may usually miss when you’re rushing from attraction to attraction. Bonus challenge: Try spending a day taking in the variety of live entertainment at Epcot’s World Showcase, from the British Revolution rock concerts to the Jeweled Dragon Acrobats in China.
8. Count your characters
Walt Disney World has character meet-and-greets around nearly every corner, so you could challenge yourself to see how many you could visit at one time! Grab a map and Times Guide when you enter the parks to see where the characters will be hanging out. Bonus challenge: Try to snag a meeting with the more unusual ones like Pinocchio or Captain Hook.
9. Play games
You may have seen people rushing around Walt Disney World on a mission — and they weren’t trying to reach Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin so they could beat their previous scores. They were likely playing one of the parks’ interactive games, such as Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom or A Pirate’s Adventure – Treasures of the Seven Seas. Sorcerers involves grabbing a pack of spell cards and using them to defeat Disney villains at different interactive spots in the park. You can get the tools you need at the Firehouse on Main Street, U.S.A. A Pirate’s Adventure has five distinct missions that each take about 20 minutes, and if you complete them, you’ll receive a reward. A magic talisman is needed in order to read the maps for this game, and it can be found at The Crow’s Nest in Adventureland. And the best part about these games? They’re both free with your theme park admission. Bonus challenge: Buy a Master Sorcerer T-shirt at the parks to unlock special spell powers.
10. Hitch a ride
Walt Disney World transportation can whisk you to the parks, resorts and Disney Springs, but you could also just sit back and enjoy the rides themselves. Try taking a series of buses, boats and monorails in one day and seeing where you end up. Bonus challenge: Try to visit as many resorts in a single day as you can. Each one has its own distinct atmosphere and theming, and you may even be inspired to stay at a new one on your next trip!
These challenges will not only make your next visit more fun, they’ll also lead to even more memories. Instead of looking back at your trip and thinking, “I rode Space Mountain again,” you’ll remember seeing 15 characters in one day, discovering a love of mariachi music from Mexico and maybe even learning a little bit of Portuguese from Spaceship Earth! Have you ever tried any of these Disney dares or are you putting them on your must-try list? Tell us in a comment below!
