Any Disney guest who has visited Epcot on a Friday or Saturday has probably encountered the tradition of parkgoers “Drinking Around the World”—sampling one alcoholic beverage from all eleven of World Showcase’s pavilions. While this can prove an innocuous enough pastime for some, for others things can get out of hand quickly (particularly during Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival). There are a dozen reasons why drinking around the world may not be the best idea for a guest. What if you want to do something fun and unusual at Disney World while staying sober?
Drinking around the world is hardly the only zany fun you can have at Disney World. Want a new tradition that doesn’t cause you to fall off the wagon? We found seven outside-of-the-box ideas that just might prove way more fun than getting drunk at Disney World.
1. Hit all four parks in one day
Part of the allure of drinking around the world is the idea of a challenge. One of the simplest alternatives you can attempt is to visit all four parks in one day. If you’re particularly determined, you could throw in Disney Springs or Disney’s resorts as well (though you may need to trade out those alcoholic drinks for Red Bull to hit them all!).
While this is possible any time, this challenge works best if you are visiting on a weekday in the off-season. You will need to move quickly, and it helps to have a battle plan. It’s not particularly challenging to just take transportation to all four parks. However, if you pick certain rides you want to hit at each, the thrill level goes up. You will want to be clever about your use of Fastpass+ since it can only be applied to one park at a time, and you will need to time your arrival at high-volume attractions carefully.
2. Have a thrill ride marathon
Image: Disney
If thrill rides are your thing, you could take your love of them to the next level with a thrill ride marathon. While the first way to do this might be to hit all four parks like we mentioned above, another way is to marathon-ride your favorite attractions.
This works better for some attractions than others (you probably won’t be able to do this with Flight of Passage, for example), but if you hit the parks in the off-season, at opening gate, or during fireworks, you can often catch your favorite thrill rides with a low queue. Using “Single Rider” lines is another way to shorten waits. During these light times, see how many times you can ride Space Mountain, Kali River Rapids, Star Tours, Expedition: Everest, or Rockin’ Roller Coaster in a row. Splash Mountain on a warm night during the fireworks is a particularly fun one. If it’s raining, the wait will be even shorter!
Have a tough constitution? Really miss that loopy feeling of being drunk? Just ride Mission: Space Orange Team a few times in a row. Three times was enough to leave our group staggering with the giggles all the way back to World Showcase.
3. Splurge on a signature dining meal
Besides the negatives of getting drunk, the biggest downside to drinking around the world is the cost. Alcoholic beverages at Disney World average $6-$16 a drink (with some fluctuations during the Food and Wine Festival). That’s $66-$176 a person, not even including the food you’ll need to make it through the day without passing out inside the American Adventure. Instead of splurging on that much booze, put that money towards a meal at one of Disney’s world class signature dining restaurants.
You don’t have to go full Victoria and Alberts to have a memorable time. Who are you visiting Disney with? A few of your bros? Make a reservation to enjoy some mouth-watering man food at Le Cellier or Artist’s Point. Like dining with an international twist? Have an unbelievable African meal at Jiko: The Cooking Place at Animal Kingdom Lodge. In the mood for a little romance or couture cuisine? Have the meal of your life at Monsieur Paul or catch a rooftop view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks at the Contemporary Resort’s California Grill.
For the price of just one day of drinking around the world, you could enjoy almost any of Disney’s finest restaurants or even a Starlight Safari at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
4. Have a race or scavenger hunt
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega
If you are visiting with a group of friends or a large family, you can come up with your own challenges to attempt during your trip. You can even divide into teams and race each other to complete a challenge.
A couple we know decided to have their honeymoon at Walt Disney World. For one of their wedding presents, we designed an elaborate photo scavenger hunt that took them on a tour of the entire resort. You can still see the map of it here (and use it for your own trip), though it is a few years out of date and personalized to the couple. You can design your own before your trip or just Google what other people have done before. It helps to have a theme to run with.
You can also have a challenge to see who can find the most hidden Mickeys, cast members from your home state, or do the most character greets. Heck, maybe your thing is seeing who can identify the weirdest tchotchkes or who can make it through all four parks to a designated finish line the fastest? Post your photos to social media as you go. Identify the strengths of your party and have fun with it. The key is to invite spontaneity into your vacation.
5. Dance like no one is watching
Image: Disney
You don’t have to be drunk to dance, and Disney is full of opportunities to get your groove on. You could go the obvious route and have a night at Atlantic Dance on the Boardwalk, but you can also “Dance Around the World” by trying to hit all of the places in Disney World where there are opportunities to dance. We’ve listed these before at Theme Park Tourist, but a few unorthodox possibilities are Germany’s Biergarten, Morocco’s Restaurant Marrakesh, and Animal Kingdom’s Africa and Asia pavilions. Disney Springs also has regular live music that is definitely dance-worthy if you’re not shy.
6. Make an epic vacation movie
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega (@mykingdomforamouse Instagram)
Are you a budding videographer? Put your skills to the test by making a completely non-traditional vacation film.
Maybe you want to tell a story using your vacation as the setting. Become players in your own peculiar film set at Disney World (film students, just don’t go too crazy as you have to have a permit to film anything professional). Maybe you can make a quest to get as many hilarious character interactions as possible. Have some acting skills? Milk it for all its worth! Maybe you’re that weird guy who politely challenges all the characters to lightsaber duels. Maybe you’re a couple of bubbly girls who shower each of the Disney princesses with so many complements you leave them flabbergasted. You could even do something as simple as put together a montage of you dancing with all the characters. Just stay within the boundaries of respect for the people behind the characters.
What’s funny to you? Make a vacation video emphasizing that. Maybe you make an entire video using camera tricks to make it look like you’re eating Spaceship Earth or being chased by dinosaurs in Animal Kingdom. You could try to match expressions of animals in exhibits or get a series of reaction videos if you have a friend who has never been to Disney World before (I still regret not having a camera ready when our normally taciturn friend started babbling like the Swedish Chef on his first ride on Splash Mountain). Hit up some of our “laughing places” for easy fodder. No matter what you choose, make it your own, and make it fun.
7. Do literally-anything-else around the world
Image: Disney
We’ve explored alternatives to drinking around the world before. In World Showcase alone, you can snack around the world, enjoy non-alcoholic drinks around the world, sugar rush around the world, or meet cast members from different countries. Particularly if you expand your horizons beyond Epcot, you can turn just about anything into an “around the world” challenge.
Low on funds? Try a “Cheapskates Around the World” challenge to see what the cheapest snacks or drinks you can find in all the pavilions are. If you’re a budding Instagrammer or photographer, you can do a photo tour around the world. Have you ever hit all the attractions in World Showcase? See if you can hit Gran Fiesta Tour, Frozen Ever After, Reflections of China, The American Adventure, Impressions of France, and Oh, Canada! in one day. For the Germany, Morocco, Japan, and UK Pavilions, try to catch all the entertainment acts or hit their character experiences. Try to learn some of the languages in all eleven pavilions. You can turn almost any premise into an around the world challenge with a little creativity.
Fun varies from person to person, but one thing is for sure—there are plenty of ways to have a blast at Walt Disney World without getting drunk. What are some of your out-of-the-box favorites?
