Yeah, We’re Going There. These Are the Most ANNOYING Things at Disney World
Walt Disney World is the “Most Magical Place on Earth.” A destination that has made lifelong memories for millions of visitors over the last 50+ years, and has come to define the American vacation experience. However, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.
Happily Ever After
I’ve been visiting Disney World for over 30 years, and over that time, I — and the rest of our DFB team — have become quite familiar with some of the more annoying parts of a visit to the resort.
Ride Lines
When it comes to “annoying” things at Disney World, wait times and long lines are likely to be the most popular answer from the vast majority of guests. It doesn’t matter HOW cool the ride you’re getting in line for is. There’s just something about waiting in a 60, 90, 120+ minute line that makes even the best Disney World rides grumble-worthy. In fact, a long wait can even “ruin” a ride for someone.
Standby queue at TRON
There are some ways to avoid lines at the resort’s four theme parks. First off, of course, is Disney’s premium skip-the-ride-line service. Lightning Lanes. You get to PAY to skip over the main queues for many rides in exchange for much shorter queues.
Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane
However, the downside of Lightning Lanes is that they do get expensive. So here are a couple of other options that won’t cost you an extra dime:
- Going to the parks for rope drop or Early Theme Park Entry (aka: the 30-minute headstart given to all Disney hotel guests) can help you skip over the bulk of a line at least ONE of your priority rides without paying anything extra for it.
- End of the night/during one of the fireworks spectaculars can also be a key time to find lower ride wait times at no extra charge.
- Single Rider lines might break up your group temporarily, BUT they are a THIRD line option for select Disney World rides that could very well STILL help you skip over the bulk of the main queue, minus the Lightning Lane price.
Single Rider
That said, if you’re willing and able to pay extra for little-to-no waits park-wide, and you want some options other than Multi Pass and Lightning Lanes, then you may wanna consider investing in one of Disney’s After Hours Events/Holiday Parties – which are separate ticketed events that happened on select evenings AFTER the parks close to give you exclusive entertainment AND a limited guest capacity- meaning back-to-back Disney rides for YOU.
Magic Kingdom at night during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party
Now, if you’re staying at a Deluxe Tier resort, you can get EXTENDED EVENING HOURS for select parks on select nights. This will give you TWO EXTRA HOURS in the parks PAST closing time (no extra ticket purchase necessary, though you WILL still need a valid park admission for the day).
Getting In and Out of the Magic Kingdom
Getting to EPCOT? Buses, Monorail, Skyliner, and boats. Easy.
Monorail at EPCOT
Getting to Hollywood Studios? Pretty much just as easy, minus the Monorail.
Skyliner
Getting to Animal Kingdom? You’ve got fewer complimentary travel options to choose from, but still pretty straightforward.
Disney Bus
Getting to Magic Kingdom? Now THAT’S a horse of a different color for many guests.
Let’s begin with non-Disney Transportation. When you drive to Magic Kingdom and take a non-Disney rideshare (like an Uber or Lyft), or use a hotel bus that comes from a non-Disney owned hotel, you’re not gonna be park/be dropped off outside the Magic Kingdom front gate. Rather, you’re gonna have to start your venture at this central hub at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC). From the TTC, you can decide whether you wanna ride the monorail, take the ferry, or even walk the rest of the way to Magic Kingdom.
Monorail entrance at the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC)
Transportation times from the TTC and to the Magic Kingdom vary depending on the crowds, so – as a good rule of thumb – just be sure to factor in extra travel time on Magic Kingdom mornings, since it’ll take you longer to reach the park than you might realize.
The ferry boat at Magic Kingdom
Now, there are several ways to be dropped off directly at the gates of the Magic Kingdom, bypassing the TTC entirely. These include:
- Taking a Disney resort bus,
- Staying at one of the Magic Kingdom resorts and you can easily travel over by monorail, by boat, or on foot: the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, the Polynesian Village, and the Contemporary Resort.
- Booking a Minnie Van (AKA Disney’s own rideshare service that you can book directly through the Lyft App. Minnie Vans tend to be a little more costly than regular rideshares, but they’ll pick you up near the Magic Kingdom buses, AND you won’t have to deal with all the transportation crowds whatsoever. So the extra expense might be worth it to avoid the headache.
Minnie Van
And you think it’s bad GETTING to Magic Kingdom? Just wait until you have to LEAVE it. Right after Happily Ever After shoots off its last firework over Cinderella Castle and every BURSTS into thunderous applause, it becomes a WHIRLWIND of hustling/bustling energy towards the exit IMMEDIATELY after. So bus lines, monorail lines, and boat lines get EXTREMELY packed out with not just THOUSANDS of guests, but thousands of CRANKY guests who’ve just spent 10+ hours in the park, in the heat, racking up tens of thousands of steps.
Crowds waiting to watch ‘Happily Ever After’
Keep in mind that Magic Kingdom transportation at the beginning and end of the day is NO JOKE. And that’s for both the TTC transportation AND the resort bus transportation, as well. So again — factor that extra transportation time into your schedule, but also don’t be afraid to hang back in Magic Kingdom just a bit longer AFTER the park officially closes.
While the rides and attractions won’t be taking any more guests, the Main Street, U.S.A. shops will stay open for an extra 30 minutes or so — meaning you can wait for the thick of the crowds to get on the buses, boats, and monorails while you bypass the time chilling in the park near Cinderella Castle and making some last-minute purchases.
Shoe Issues
There are a few more important things to pack for a Disney World trip than a good pair of shoes. Without solid foot support, your vacation is going to fall apart quickly.
We love the cushion!
Speaking of falling apart, a true nightmare Disney scenario is what to do if your shoe breaks in the middle of your theme park day, during, say, trying to make it to your Lightning Lane return window.
Having a shoe completely fall apart on ya like this is typically a sandal offense. A reliable pair of tennis shoes usually won’t strike you with the same sort of problems (though sneakers have their own issues, including rubbing heels the wrong way, or having the sole start to come apart, or getting soaked and STAYING soaked after a rainstorm so that your feet prune up and stay pruned for hours.
Our favorite pair of shoes after thousands of hours and miles of testing in the parks are HOKAs. These are so comfortable, bouncy, and reliable.
Hoka Women’s Clifton 10 Sneakers
See our Favorite Shoes for Disney World here
Generally, we would recommend having an EXTRA pair of shoes handy, either at your hotel or even in your park bag. You can also store an emergency pair of shoes inside the front-of-park lockers, if you’d like. (You’ll just have to pay a little extra to secure that locker rental – which is usually around $10 per day for the standard size).
Lockers in EPCOT
Now, you might not WANT to spend $10 to store an extra pair of shoes that you don’t wind up using, but it’s almost like the umbrella theory here. If you bring the umbrella, it’s gonna be nice and sunny. If you don’t bring it, THAT’S when it’s gonna start pouring. Not to mention, if you DO need an emergency pair of shoes ASAP, you’re probably not gonna want to spend money on the ones the parks might have available in those flagship gift shops. Because if you DO find shoes there, you’re more than likely gonna have to pay $30-$60+ for a pair.
It might not be an IDEAL solution, BUT if you had a trusty tube of shoe glue in your park bag to patch up sandal straps, tennis shoe soles, etc., that’s a really INEXPENSIVE way to create a temporary solution when you don’t have the time to figure out something more lasting.
Or, if you hate wet shoes and are traveling during the rainy season, we suggest shoe covers!
Did we just find the ULTIMATE rainy day solution?
Yes, they look a little funky, but we promise they work!
Paying For A Restaurant You Didn’t Wind Up Eating At
Anyone who’s been to Disney World in the last couple of decades knows that booking Advance Dining Reservations is advance is a necessity. However, plans and appetites can change, and sometimes, the restaurant you booked 60 days out isn’t the restaurant you still want to eat at during your park day.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre Restaurant
And Disney’s okay with you changing your mind… if you give them enough time. If you want to cancel/modify a dining reservation, most Disney World restaurants will let you do that with no strings attached, just as long as you do so up to two hours before your original reservation time. But once you’re two hours out, if you don’t cancel your reservation, you’re gonna be charged with a no-show fee. Most of the time, these no-show fees will be $10 per person.
However, for select restaurants — including the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review at Fort Wilderness, Victoria and Albert’s at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, and Monsieur Paul/Takumi Tei at EPCOT — cancellation fees work differently, and will require you to not only make those cancellations EARLIER than 2 hours out, but will also charge you WAY MORE if you wind up ghosting them. (You may even have to pay the FULL PRICE of the meal itself, depending on the restaurant. Be sure to read up on the cancellation policies for the restaurant you’re planning on booking BEFORE you actually book — just in case the policy works differently than you’re expecting it to.)
Hassun at Takumi Tei
And THEN there are places like Cinderella’s Royal Table in Magic Kingdom – which still abide by the 2-hour cancellation policy, but do NOT abide by the $10 per person cancellation fee. You’ll be charged the full price of the meal.
Cinderella’s Royal Table
To cancel your reservation on time, open your My Disney Experience app, find the reservation, and select the “cancel” button. IF you do accidentally miss that 2-hour window? You’ll be given a number to call to proceed with a late cancellation… BUT that doesn’t mean you’re not gonna forfeit the no-show fee if you call to cancel with 30 minutes to spare.
The Garlic Bread at Tony’s Town Square
The best advice we can offer: If you have to make any sort of last-minute dining cancellations, swing by the host stand of the restaurant you’re trying to make the cancellation for and explain what’s going on. Again, this might not free you of those no-show fees, but, depending on the situation, the restaurant MIGHT be able to waive them for you. It always helps to talk to a real person when things go awry instead of fully relying on technology to sort things out for you.
Getting Off At The WRONG Bus Stop At A Resort With An Internal Bus Loop
While some Disney resorts have just ONE bus stop area that you need to worry about, others are more like a college campus set up with MULTIPLE buildings and MULTIPLE places to potentially be picked up and dropped off. This is the case for resorts like Animal Kingdom Lodge, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans Riverside, Saratoga Springs, Fort Wilderness, Old Key West, and Caribbean Beach.
Now, if these giant resorts didn’t have multiple bus stops, guests would be exhausted from all the walking by the end of their vacation. However, more bus stops around the hotel loop means whatever hotel room you get placed in is at least gonna be close to one of them.
Coronado Springs
But bus loops not only take a while to make their whole circle around the resort to pick up guests from each stop, but they can also be confusing if you forget which stop you need to get off at. Many a time we’ve accidentally gotten off at the wrong stop and found ourselves on the FAR OPPOSITE SIDE of the resort from where we needed to be.
Before you get served a slice of this humble pie yourself, be sure to pay close attention to WHERE you’re being picked up at the start of your day. Take a picture of the stop number, too, if need be, much like you would if you need to remember where you’ve parked.
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
That said, if you do accidentally get off at the wrong stop, there are a few options for you:
- You can always stay where you are and wait for the next Disney bus to come pick you up and carry you the rest of the way to where you actually need to go, but this could take a while.
- If you think you’re capable, you can also make the trek across the resort on foot. Just look for the signs around the property that’ll point you in the right direction, and don’t be afraid to flag down a cast member and ask for their guidance, if need be.
Traveling With Someone Who Doesn’t GET It
From our experience, there are three types of people visiting Disney World:
- There are the Disney Adults.
- There are people who appreciate Disney, but really don’t need to go ALL the time.
- Then there are the people who just don’t get it. Which is completely fair: We’re not all gonna have the same interests in life, and that’s fine.
Spaceship Earth
However, when a Disney Adult travels to their “happy place” with someone who’s not impressed by what they’re seeing, it can really deflate the whole vacation mood. Again, people are gonna have different opinions on things, and that’s okay, but that feeling of hyping something up for so long, only to have someone crush the way you feel about it in just one sentence, can be absolutely vexing.
IF you ARE in a position where you HAVE to travel with someone who’s stuck in the mindset that Disney’s gonna be miserable and just for kids:
- Remember that it’s OKAY to split up and do your own thing and then regroup with everyone later on.
- There are plenty of things to do ON Disney property that even non-Disney-folks can enjoy (like golf, nightlife at Disney Springs, lounges like GEO-82, exploring EPCOT’s World Showcase, and even lounging in a hammock back at one of the resorts).
Caramelized Leek Martini
It might take a little extra planning, but the payoff could mean finding the middle ground between the Disney fan and the non-Disney fan without having to yuck anyone’s yum.
Driving In Orlando, Period.
It’s nice to have your own car on vacation, or at least to have a rental car handy, so you never have to wait on a Disney bus to get you to where you need to go, and you don’t have to keep paying for rideshares. Plus, you can exit the Disney bubble any time you want to explore DIFFERENT areas around Orlando. However, that means you actually have to drive in Orlando. And that’s… well… it can be a bit overwhelming.
Disney World Entrance
If you’re about to do some driving around Disney World AND Orlando, here are some of the BEST pieces of advice to help ease the travel pain (if only just a smidge):
- Always leave EARLIER than you think you need to. Even if your GPS is telling you you’ll reach your destination in 30 minutes, you’ll wanna leave 60 minutes before you have to be somewhere (if not even earlier than THAT) just to give yourself some buffer time, if you happen to get caught in stalled traffic.
- Double-check where your GPS is leading you. Sometimes, programs like Waze and Google Maps might be leading you towards the right direction, but the wrong area. For example, if you type in “Magic Kingdom,” there’s a CHANCE your GPS might start directing you STRAIGHT into the park — or in the off-limits, cast members only areas — instead of towards the TTC parking lot. So before you head out and blindly trust technology to lead you where you need to go, double-check and redirect if need be.
Driving to Disney World could be less expensive!
A Blocked Show View
Picture this: You stake out a great spot to watch Magic Kingdom’s nighttime spectacular, Happily Ever After – one where you can clearly see Cinderella Castle in all her glory. Then, right before the show begins, someone shows up wearing the biggest Sorcerers Mickey novelty hat you’ve ever seen in your life. They’re well within their right, but it’s still a bummer.
Crowds waiting to watch ‘Happily Ever After’
The trouble with the nighttime spectaculars at Magic Kingdom versus EPCOT or Hollywood Studios is that clear visibility of the full show (as in seeing ALL the castle projections along with the fireworks) isn’t always guaranteed. And what could make matters even worse is if you get behind someone who’s just flat-out blocking everything by holding up their phone way up high to record the show the entire time, or hoisting a kid up on their shoulders, or wearing that blasted Sorcerer Mickey hat.
Now, before we get all in a tizzy about this, we gotta take a deep breath and see the other side of things for a minute:
If you paid a lot of money for your kid to be at Magic Kingdom — and you want to make sure they can see EVERYTHING — then, yeah, the temptation to hold them higher up so they can see Tinkerbell flying across the night sky is legitimate. Also, perhaps the person recording the entire show is, like, FaceTiming their grandparents back home so they can experience it too — then, again, the temptation to hold the camera or iPad WAY high in the air in front of others can be very, very real. And, y’know, we gotta at least give props to Sorcerer Mickey guy for getting in the Disney spirit and all, I suppose.
Cast Members
But now, let’s flip the script. Everyone behind these people has also paid a lot of money to be here, and ALSO wanna see the show, and it’s hard to see the show when there’s a clear obstruction blocking your view.
So what to do? Well…
- If you’re planning on recording this show — for whatever reason you might have — or if you know the younger folks in your party are gonna struggle to see against the THOUSANDS of other guests packed into Main Street USA, then try to stake out a spot closer to the front of the castle at LEAST 45-60 minutes before the show starts. That way, you automatically have a clearer view and angle for yourself.
- From there, you can lift up your phone or your kiddo to the height of your own head instead of hoisting either of them well above you. That way, you won’t be blocking guests too much more than what you would’ve already been accomplishing while standing there like a law-abiding citizen.
- And if YOU’RE the one wearing the sorcerer Mickey hat… we love it. Promise. Just… take it off for now.
You can try to grab a spot early
If you don’t wanna deal with the possibility of your Magic Kingdom show being blocked whatsoever, you may also wanna consider investing in one of the Happily Ever After Dessert Parties, which’ll give you a GUARANTEED view of the show plus UNLIMITED desserts, drinks, and other snacks to enjoy either before, during, or after the fireworks take place. The Fireworks Dessert Pre-Party takes place at Tomorrowland Terrace and will give you your spread of desserts BEFORE the show.
Tomorrowland Terrace
Then, when it’s show time, you’ll be led to a VIP, roped-off standing area, reserved for Dessert Party Guests ONLY, over at the Plaza Garden. The Post-Party offering is basically the same thing (only you’ll get your dessert spread AFTER Happily Ever After instead of BEFORE).
The Seats and Sweets Dessert Party option is a little pricier than the other two, but THAT’S because you’ll be able to SIT in Tomorrowland Terrace AND enjoy desserts DURING the performance. You can book a fireworks dessert party just like you would a regular table service, 60 days before your visit.
©Disney
WEATHER
Given Walt Disney World’s location in the subtropical Central Florida climate, weather is always going to be an issue when visiting the resort. There’s a good chance that you’ll at least have one rainy Orlando day during your vacation (ESPECIALLY if you’re visiting during hurricane season — which starts up at the beginning of June and lasts until the end of November), so here are a few ways that might help you “weather out” the worst of it:
- Pack Rain Gear, Just In Case: Remember that “umbrella theory” we talked about earlier? While bringing an umbrella isn’t gonna be the surefire thing keeping the stormy clouds at bay, it’s always best to come prepared so that you can keep going even when the storm rages on. Beyond your umbrella, it’s like ponchos, quick-dry athletic wear, and shoe covers are also smart to pack.
Frogg Toggs Poncho
Get Our Favorite Poncho for Disney World Here
- Consider Magic Kingdom As Your Rainy Day Option: This is kind of a random suggestion, but if the weather is TRULY saying that it’s not gonna let up — and you don’t really have any wiggle room days to fit into your trip to wait things out — maybe choose Magic Kingdom as your main park that day. Why Magic Kingdom? Because it’s got a LOT of indoor rides, shows, attractions, connecting indoor shops down Main Street, U.S.A., and restaurants where you can bide your time INDOORS. It’s also close to THREE deluxe resorts (along the monorail line) that you can ALSO escape to, if need be. Plus, if the rain is just sort of drizzly and gloomy but nothing major, you might have the chance to see Magic Kingdom’s Rainy Day Cavalcade, the park’s default option for Festival of Fantasy when it’s getting too yucky out for those parade floats and characters.
Magic Kingdom
- Check the forecast before you do ANYTHING: If you download a Minute-By-Minute Weather App (like AccuWeather), you’ll have quick access to up-to-date weather information, meaning you can plan AROUND the storms and hit up any outdoor attractions a few hours BEFORE they roll in.
Rainy day at Animal Kingdom
While all of these annoyances may pop up on a Disney World trip, each and every one can be planned for and avoided to ensure a trip to the “Most Magical Place on Earth is just that. Stay tuned to DFB for more tips on making the best of your trip to the resort.
The Worst Time to Go to Disney World in 2026
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WE KNOW DISNEY.
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