Locals have a very different approach to Walt Disney World best summed up by a familiar phrase: “Hakuna Matata!”
I never thought I would become a Florida local—I lived most of my life on the other side of the country, where trips often required extensive saving and planning, and the idea of an off-the-cuff Disney trip was the stuff of dreams, not reality.
When we moved to Central Florida, I was immediately taken aback by how close we were to The Magical Place on Earth—less than a two hour drive. A whole new world of discounts, Passholder programs, and possibilities opened up. Over these past years, I’ve come to realized that visiting Walt Disney World as a local is a quite different experience than visiting from abroad. Things like the intensity I used to put into trip-planning, frequency of visits, and what we did during a Disney day all changed.
While exploring the ways Floridians experience Walt Disney World differently is interesting, what I found more intriguing was the ways experiencing Disney as a local changed the sort of advice I gave to visitors coming from out of town. Indeed, I learned out-of-state guests can actually glean some wisdom from the way Floridians do Walt Disney World, the “no worries” way…
1. Discounts make a big difference
Florida locals have access to an impressive pool of discounts for visiting Walt Disney World if you can prove residency. These include tickets (some in unique categories), resort rates, annual pass programs, and even pet-sitting discounts.
After years of saving up for week-long Disney vacations where we had to plan for flights, resorts, tickets, dining, and spending money, I was surprised by how affordable Disney’s Annual Pass program for Floridians seemed in comparison—they even allow locals to pay for passes month-by-month. While pass costs have gone up notably since I first arrived, the discounts offered to Floridians compared to out-of-state guests remain noteworthy.
The discounts offered by Disney—particularly on Annual Passes—allow Floridians the major benefit of being able to visit Walt Disney World more often. Instead of having to plan for one huge trip every year, if you live close enough, locals can visit whenever Parks Pass Reservations are available (within the limits of your pass). The low-cost / frequent-visit approach allows for very flexible ways to enjoy Disney parks, including things like off-the-cuff visits or half-day excursions. Most of all, both the flexibility-factor and lower cost reduce the stress of visiting Walt Disney World.
What Can a Non-Local Learn?
Floridians may have access to some of the best Disney discounts out there, but other discounts do exist—be thorough in your research for the best prices for tickets, resort rooms, and travel. For example, many people who have access to job benefits don’t realize their benefits program might get you access to very good discounts on tickets, rooms, and flights. Clubs like AAA, credit card rewards programs, and sites like Undercover Tourist offer discounts that don’t require a Florida residency.
2. The low-pressure approach
As mentioned, I’ve noticed Florida locals often take a much more “Hakuna Matata” approach to visiting Walt Disney World. For example, I would never recommend anyone visit a Disney park on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day—two of the most miserably busy days all year… yet, I have a Floridian friend who does just that almost every year and has a great time. The guy takes such a low-pressure approach to his visits that he has no strict expectations and just floats to where crowds are lightest that day.
Many Florida locals have access to more flexibility in their Disney excursions than non-locals—if a trip goes wrong, it’s not likely to be their last visit to Walt Disney World for the foreseeable future. While I know a few intense-planners, most locals I’ve seen take a leisurely approach to Disney days that reduces much of the stress-load. Passholders, particularly, have the freedom to change plans on the drop of a dime if a particular line is too long or a certain reservation isn’t available. This allows for much more relaxed Disney visits.
What Can a Non-Local Learn?
It is well-worth building margin for flexibility into your Disney vacation rather than planning every single minute. While there is wisdom in having a touring plan to get the most out of a Disney day, Murphy’s Law tends to inevitably show up in some form or fashion on Disney vacations. There are also occasions where you might find yourself wanting to slow down or change plans but feel like you can’t because of the itinerary for the day.
The greater the margin, the lower the stress—by giving yourself some breathing room, you will increase your ability to relax and enjoy the trip, as well as giving space to adjust if needed without feeling like the day is ruined.
But what about rides?…
3. Rides can be optional!
This one often comes as a surprise—even an offense—to some non-locals: you can have an incredible day at Walt Disney World and never hit any rides. Indeed, creative souls can have a great day without ever entering the parks.
I found that after becoming a Florida local, I became less-fixated on rides during our Disney excursions. While we still love doing rides, they stopped feeling like the do-or-die center of our time at Disney. On many visits, we found ourselves taking more time to wander about, explore areas like World Showcase, play games like Star Wars Datapad, watch birds in the Animal Kingdom aviaries, and sample foods at Epcot festivals. Once again, this has led to a much more low-pressure approach to visiting Walt Disney World since we have other ways to have a good time if lines are unusually long.
What Can a Non-Local Learn?
Leave room in your Disney day for enjoying some experiences that don’t involve standing in lines for rides. So many of Disney’s best attractions and experiences are based on free-exploration and wandering—places like the walking paths of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom’s Tom Sawyer Island, Epcot’s World Showcase, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Leaving room for this sort of choose-your-pace exploration relieves some of the pressure of running from line to line. As a bonus, this shift in mentality can be a huge boon to expecting mothers who may not be able to ride all the thrill rides they normally would! There are still lots of experiences for moms-to-be to enjoy with the family that don’t involve jostling rides.
4. Your priorities for resorts change
While some Florida locals do have a lengthy drive to Walt Disney World that would necessitate a resort stay, Central Floridians take a very laid back approach when it comes to resorts—mostly because we usually don’t need one! Orlando locals can return easily to their homes, but even those commuting from a couple hours away can often enjoy a Disney day without needing to stay overnight in most cases.
I’ve found that as a Florida local, when we do choose to stay at a Disney resort, our priorities are much different than when we used to visit from abroad. While we still value things like convenience to the parks (particularly at the Epcot resorts), the relaxation-factor is often key for us. Whenever we have access to a resort room, we usually take a mid-day break when visiting the parks, meaning we want a resort we’ll really enjoy kicking back at for a few hours. Things like good quality beds, places to lounge, and a nice bathroom become much more noticeable.
Along with relaxation factor, we also really value the ability for our resort room to feel like a home-away-from-home—in most cases for us, this means trying to get a Disney Vacation Club villa room for visits of more than one day since they include kitchens, a game changer when you have access to a vehicle to go get groceries.
We also tend to take price into account when choosing resorts since we know we may visit more than once a year—in our case, our other favorite resorts are the Swan and Dolphin since they are excellent quality, moderately priced, include most of the benefits of a Disney resort, and we can build up Marriott Bonvoy points for future stays. They also have one of the best coffee shops at Walt Disney World!
What Can a Non-Local Learn?
A Disney vacation may feel more fast-paced than a trip to the beach, but you are still going to want some time to relax. When you think of your resort as a haven to recharge, you pay less attention to things like cartoon characters on the walls and novelty pools, and more attention to things like convenience to the parks, quality of the rooms and bathrooms, and extra benefits like kitchens.
Instead of thinking of your resort as a hub for nothing but sleep and the occasional swim, choose a place you will enjoy recharging at if you need a break—and remember, it is okay to take breaks during your Disney days.
5. Access to a vehicle can be pretty convenient
Before becoming a Florida local, we almost never needed a vehicle when visiting Walt Disney World. We could use the (now extinct) Disney Magical Express to get to our resort, and we used Disney transportation for everything else.
I will admit, having access to my personal vehicle whenever we visit Walt Disney World has seriously changed my tune—particularly in light of some of Disney’s belt-tightening with transportation options throughout the resort. While we still use Disney transportation frequently, I’ll admit it’s nice being able to just jump in the car to park-hop or even run off-site. The only park we try to avoid parking at remains Magic Kingdom due to the oh-so-unmagical Transportation and Ticket Center, but having a personal vehicle remains an excellent way to get between the other parks and resorts.
What Can a Non-Local Learn?
While you don’t want it to become a budget-buster, if you have the means, a rental car remains a worthwhile consideration for families visiting Walt Disney World. It does bring some extra expenses with it, like parking costs, but if you plan on doing a lot of hopping throughout Walt Disney World or traveling off-site, it’s worth considering.
For those who want the flexibility of a vehicle without the commitment of a rental car, rideshare services like Uber and Lyft are extremely active at Walt Disney World and provide an alternate means to travel.
How about babies, should you bring a baby to Walt Disney World?…
6. A different approach to bringing babies
Early in my time as a writer for Theme Park Tourist, I recall stirring up quite a controversy regarding the subject of bringing babies to The Most Magical Place on Earth—it was one of the times our readers actually changed my perspective! You see, I was firmly in the “don’t-bring-babies-to-Walt-Disney-World” category—I’d known so many families who had challenges and busted trips bringing babies to the parks, and much of the expert advice I’d read over the years echoed the sentiment that babies might have mixed reactions to the parks.
However, I realized I was coming from the perspective of someone who lived on the other side of the US, where families in my community had to save up for years to afford a Disney trip—a trip that may only happen once in a decade, if that. In these cases, it made sense to wait until about the four year old mark—I wasn’t aware, however, how different the experience was for Florida locals other frequent Disney visitors.
For locals (and frequent visitors), bringing a baby isn’t that big of a deal—if something goes wrong, there are lots of options to course correct. Home isn’t that far away in some cases. In others, there’s less pressure for everything about the trip to be perfect. You don’t have to worry about packing as much, and there’s a freedom and flexibility that reduces some of the challenges of having a baby at the park, and many moms and dad have a great experience. Once again, Hakuna Matata!
What Can a Non-Local Learn?
Babies tend to have their own plans, and they may not like the things you expect them to—heck, many guests report the resort pool was baby’s favorite experience. If you are planning a once-in-a-lifetime Disney trip from abroad, there is a good argument to be made for waiting until your little one is above about age four. They’ll remember more and be able to engage with more throughout Walt Disney World.
However, if you choose to bring your tiniest little one to Walt Disney World, you can still have a great time by embracing flexibility—you may have to change plans here and there. Have a good resort to retreat to or research the best rest areas in each park (such as the Baby Care Centers). Lift some of the expectations, and you’ll have lots of breathing room to enjoy things as you go with your little bundle of joy.
7. You get really good at cost-shaving
I used to heavily pad our budgets for Walt Disney World visits so we’d have lots of wiggle room for impulse purchases—while I still do that for extended trips, I’ve found that after becoming a Florida local, I have learned all sorts of crazy ways to shave costs at Walt Disney World.
On most Disney visits, we bring our own snacks and water. We drain cash gift cards everywhere we go (even if they have tiny amounts on them!). We take advantage of Passholder discounts and often make full meals out of sampling items throughout Epcot’s festivals. We take advantage of freebies like birthday rewards whenever possible. If we’re staying multiple days, we’ll make our own breakfast. When we do splurge on a meal, we’re really able to enjoy it because we didn’t throw away a bunch of money on quick meals we didn’t really want. We do what we can to make every purchase count.
What Can a Non-Local Learn?
Cost-shaving isn’t just beneficial to locals–any money you save on useless areas of your Disney trip can be spent towards something you really value. Find areas where you can cut fat from your vacation budget—buy tickets from a vendor offering discounts instead of Disney directly. Arrange to purchase some groceries to have on hand for your trip so you can eat breakfast in your room and enjoy some snacks that will ward off impulse buys—instead of blowing your budget on popcorn and candy bars, you can hold out for something you can only get at Disney.
8. You notice much quicker when things are off
This was a surprising one for me—I’ve been a lifelong Disney fan, and I’ll admit, I had a bit of an idealized view of Walt Disney World before I moved here. There were times that it felt like Disney could do no wrong—almost every experience I remembered was perfect and magical.
While some of this can be attributed to the passage of time, I noticed after I moved to Florida, I became much more keenly aware of changes at Disney parks—particularly negative shifts like food quality problems or the addition of upcharges. Because I was able to observe these changes in real time, some of the curtain was pulled back, and the mechanics behind the magic became visible.
Local Passholders make up one of Walt Disney World’s most loyal fan bases, and they feel shifts at the Most Magical Place on Earth very acutely. I found that I became a little bolder to say something if I noticed negative changes at Disney parks—sometimes through my writing and sometimes through polite communication with Guest Services (who have always been so wonderful). I noticed I would feel a bit more rankled when I felt like the business-minds at Disney were fiddling with the magic, and I found myself less-willing to pour money into elements of the parks that felt like a money-grab instead of the quality I’d come to expect from Disney for years.
At the same time, locals are also an incredibly loyal group when Disney gets things right—nowhere have I seen this expressed more impressively than in the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Whereas Galaxy’s Edge ran into a number of troubles opening at Disneyland, the Florida fan-based came out in such dramatic support of the new land that Disney actually had to change their park opening protocols multiple times because so many people were arriving before dawn. This got even more intense with the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Heck, the longest line Epcot has seen in ages was fans arriving in droves to purchase Figment popcorn buckets!
In short, Florida locals can be a passionate fanbase due to their love for the Most Magical Place on Earth.
What Can a Non-Local Learn?
Disney is amazing, but they aren’t perfect—it’s okay to politely say something when things go wrong on your vacation.
To clarify, I am certainly not advocating for the belligerent lambasting and abuse of cast members we’ve seen throughout the pandemic—rather, what I mean is that it’s okay to remember that Disney is a business, and that business cannot grow and improve if guests do not find ways to politely communicate when there are issues. You’re not a monster for gently talking to a manager or Guest Services if the need arises. I do think Disney cast members need some extra grace right now, but there are a number of decisions being made by the overseers of Disney parks that fans aren’t happy about.
On your vacation, it’s good to have high hopes but realistic expectations, and you don’t have to feel like your trip is ruined if something goes wrong. Take a breath, ride out the wave of emotions, and see what can be done to move forward. If the error is something on Disney’s part, they will often go above and beyond to address it if you approach someone with authority constructively. The Walt Disney World experience is changing, but the true source of joy in our vacations is the time we are able to spend with loved ones. Put that front and center, and you’ll be able to ride out the swells if they come.
Are you a local? What other tips do you have for visiting Walt Disney World? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook! Thanks for reading!
