36 Tips For Visiting Orlando Disney for the First Time From the UK

Visiting Disney World for the first time from the UK for us, with so much more to consider than any other family holiday we’d ever been on, felt at first look a bit overwhelming. With so much to think about, plan and book in advance, I ended up doing a lot of research before going. Something I found really useful when differentiating between what was essential or a nice to have when packing and planning though, was reading reviews and tips from other British families travelling to Florida.

Therefore I thought I would pull together a big guide of both tips I read before going, what I learnt while there, plus a few hacks that have been shared with me from some other experienced Orlando visitors from the UK.

Lets start with tips for those all important Disney park days…

Tips for Families on Park days in Disney World Orlando

1. On park days, plan to have your main meal at lunch time rather than the evening some days. We found this worked really well, especially with kids. As all the restaurants have great air con, it gave us an extended break from the heat in the middle of the day when we all really needed it.

2. Talking of food, although you are surrounded everywhere with snack options to buy when in the parks, they were mostly huge, sugary and expensive, so it worked really well having some smaller snacks we’d packed from the UK in our day bag, to also give our children throughout the day. That’s not to say we didn’t sample the Disney snacks, but it was good to also have our own. Mini cheddars and cereal bars worked well and this then meant we would buy the Disney or Universal food at the parks, as a treat, rather than stressing too much about the amount of junk food they were constantly consuming.

3. This was also the same with drinks – with the heat you obviously need to drink a lot, yet it’s hard to find anywhere selling drinks that are not fizzy sugary pop or plain water. If your children are like mine and used to squash and flavoured drinks, rather than always drinking water, then the mini squeezy bottles of squash you can buy here, are great to take out in your day bag. We found this was great for encouraging the kids to drink lots during the day while we were out and about.

4. Heather over at Mrs Mactivity is full of great tips for making the most of your park days “Ask for iced water in all the parks, it’s free and if you book a breakfast reservation at Disney, you can enter the parks earlier. Plus to get the best dining reservations (which book up WAY in advance) use sites like Mouse Dining to get alerts when reservations become available.” 

5. If your child has a favourite Disney character or film that they love to talk about, buy them themed clothes before your holiday that they then keep to wear when visiting Disney World parks. We found the cast members came over and chatted with our children lots when they were wearing Disney themed clothes or holding toys. This was the same with parades, the characters seem to interact with the children dressed in Disney themed clothes or holding Disney toys more.

6. Think about the time of day you visit the park. We had a great time visiting the Animal Kingdom Park one evening, as it was so much quieter and cooler without so many crowds. For those who enjoy the sunnier hours, being well prepared makes all the difference a comfy hat, plenty of sunscreen, and a good pair of sunglasses will help you stay cool and comfortable in the Florida heat.

You can read more about that evening in one of my Mini Disney diaries – Our Evening at the Animal Kingdom

7. Make use of the app – it took me a little while to get my head round the Disney app and I didn’t make full use of it in the first couple of days. Once I realised how much it could do, it made such a difference to our park days. It had all the information we needed, and made booking and checking in quickly, while also planning where to go, at the best times so much easier. I wish I’d looked at the app more before going away actually, as there’s a lot to take in, especially when you are looking at it jetlagged on an already busy park day.

8. If you get the Disney Photo Pass as part of your ticket, I’d recommend making full use of it. Although we had it as part of our package, we only did it a couple of times. We didn’t really pay attention enough to the locations we could have pictures taken and head to them purposely, or when we saw the Disney photographers they were busy with others or we were tired at the end the day. But looking back, I wish we’d made more effort with it – in the hundreds of photos that we took during our trip there, those are the only ones where all of us are in the picture and they are nice memories to keep – so I wish we had more of them.

9. Comfortable shoes! This feels very obvious, but also well worth saying, as Brodi from Our Off Beat Life explains: “Wear comfortable shoes with good arch support to Disney parks…The parks are much larger than people expect. The entirety of Disney world is over 43,000 square miles!”

10. If you go on water rides at the parks (especially the rapids at the Animal Kingdom park) wearing a poncho is worth it, we got absolutely soaked!

Tips for UK Families Visiting Orlando for the First Time

Moving onto the specific tips for holiday makers travelling to Orlando from the UK…

11. Don’t underestimate the jet lag when booking trips and restaurants in advance while still in the UK. We found planning our days around being up early and going to bed earlier than normal worked well.

12. Again another tip due to jetlag – keep some of your evenings free for downtime Because of the time difference and all the extra walking we were doing, it was nice to just grab something small and simple for dinner before crashing some evenings for an early night.

13. There is a brilliant group on Facebook called Disney and Orlando For Brits I’d really recommend joining it. This is full of British people asking questions and sharing reviews of everything related to visiting Disney, Universal and holidaying in Orlando.

14. Heather over at MrsMactivity has another great tip for British holiday makers looking to save money when booking “For holiday booking, if you can wait until the last minute prices often plummet. We’ve saved thousands booking four weeks before, but obviously you get less choice.”

15. Lyndsey from Travel With The OHallorans has a great tip about planning when to go “Do research into the time of year you’re going as there might be things that can affect your stay e.g. During Halloween season Magic Kingdom can close earlier due to events you have to pay extra for or busier days due to American holidays like Labor Day”

16. Sarah from Ten Minute Momentum has another tip about dates “My Tip for Brits visiting Orlando for the first time….The temperatures can be extreme in the summer (so much hotter than Britain) so plan your trip accordingly if temperature is a problem.” May and October are a great time to visit temperature wise.

17. If you are looking to save on the amount of money you spend when there, I would buy a few treats from the UK so you are not having to shell out so much in the Disney stores. I expected them to be expensive, but wow I was shocked by much very simple things, that didn’t even look well made were! Having a few Primark or Matalan Disney themed clothes or accessories were great as little surprise presents to wear once there, rather always visiting the shops.

Some great Disney products I’ve seen online

18. Similarly, If you want to wear them in the parks, buy Mickey and Minnie ears before you go as they are far cheaper online in the UK, than they are at the Disney World shops.

Shop Disney UK Minnie ears…

19. One way people sometimes save on their holiday is with their flights “If you have a big purchase coming up then get a credit card with aviation points that you can use towards your flights” recommends Sarah from Mum Loves

20. Don’t leave your ESTA visas to the last minute, its all quite straight forward to do online, but its best to do it as soon as you book, so you know as soon as possible whether its gone through straight away.

Tips for Staying at Disney Resort Hotels

21. We found the reusable drinks cups are well worth the $19.99 in the resort hotels. You can purchase a cup when you arrive at the hotel and then you can fill it up with all the different sodas and hot drinks throughout your stay, as much as you like. We definitely got far more than our money’s worth throughout the week. Only downside is it’s limited to the hotel, so you can’t use them at Disney parks.

22. We found we needed to ask for things, more than we anticipated at the hotel. We found housekeeping pretty lax at the Animal Kingdom Lodge hotel and didn’t get anything restocked in our room such as coffee or towels throughout our stay. They were however super quick at sending stuff up as soon as we asked, so although annoying, its worth asking.

23. Unless you want them as an accessory, we didn’t feel the magic bands were worth it for our family. If you haven’t heard of them, these add all your information onto a wrist band that you then tap, but as this info is all added onto your room key too, it’s so easy using these to tap instead. Plus with all my card details saved in the app, I used my phone a lot to pay for food orders etc. anyway. For an alternative keepsake, consider custom keychains featuring your favourite Disney characters to help remember your trip long after you’ve returned home.

24. The food although nice was very expensive at the resort, so we used Uber Eats too for some meals and that was simple to do and we saw lots of others doing it at the hotel. You simply order the food on the app and then wait in reception for it to be delivered. The kids especially loved this, as it gave them the chance to sample all the American fast food they’d seen online or mentioned in films before coming.

Staying in Orlando

25. Jaymee from The Mum Diaries loved staying in Kissamee “When we went to Orlando we stayed in a Villa in Kissamee, it was cheaper than staying in a Disney hotel, and it meant we could make full use of other Orlando attractions too! We stayed self catering, so we brought snacks etc to take into the parks.”

26. Sarah from Mumma Loves loved International Drive “When visiting Orlando if your not a huge Disney fan then stay on international drive. It’s perfect walking distance to Universal Studios etc and so many cheaper places to eat out. And more of an atmosphere.”

27. If you don’t stay onsite then lots of people also rent a car while they are away. If you do, here’s another tip from Ten Minute Momentum “If you rent a car in Florida, you will need to plan for all the tolls. Either opt for the daily toll pass with your rental or use the less expensive Visitor Toll pass if you fly into Orlando.”

Tips for Families Visiting Volcano Bay Water Park

As the waterpark is so different to the other attractions we visited in Orlando, I thought our visit to Volcano bay deserved its whole own section…

28. Lockers were crazy expensive, $18 each! So if you can, I’d avoid taking valuables and go without. Especially as you can link your bank card to the wrist band.

29. If you do get a locker, don’t make the same mistake as me and take note of your locker group number, so its easy to find later on. I didn’t pay attention to that when we were there, as the right locker simply opens when you tap with your wrist band – but you do need to tap the sensor in the correct section for it to work!

30. Before going away, I’d read it’s good to have water shoes to walk around in when visiting the waterparks as the ground gets so hot, but we didn’t find it was too bad (when we visited in May) My daughter especially is really sensitive with things like that, yet it didn’t even really bother her. We found there were lots of shaded or wet parts of the walkways to walk on, so it was fine walking around barefoot.

31. In terms of comparing it to the Disney water park we visited (Typhoon Lagoon) we thought this one was so much better. Whereas with Typhoon Lagoon, we’d done the main rides in a morning, we found Volcano Bay has so much to explore and huge pools for the kids to play in, meaning we could easily stay all day.

32. If you’ve got little ones then the splash park area for smaller children at Volcano Bay was brilliant. Although just be aware there is also height restrictions here that we were surprised at. For this area you have to be under rather than over a certain height to ride the slides and my ten year old was disappointed not to be able to ride.

33. If you are going to be there all day and don’t mind carrying them, take your own towels to the water parks, as they charge to rent them.

Out and About in Orlando

34. We used Uber a lot during our time in Orlando and found it an easy and cheap way to get around. It was so quick – every time we tried to get one, where ever we were, there was always one close. We never waited more than 15 minutes.

35. There’s so much more to Orlando than Disney “Save a day to go to the beach. Florida has some of the most amazing beaches ever! You have the favourites Clearwater and Daytona but my fave is Anna Maria island” Sarah from Mum Loves

36. If you want a cheap break from the theme parks, I’d say you can almost treat the shop Target as a day out! My children loved the sheer size of it and experiencing a shop they’ve seen so many times on You Tube in real life. It was a great place for the children to spend their holiday money on cheap souvenirs and treats and us all to stock up on American snacks.

You can also find out lots more about the rest of our Disney holiday over on some of my other UK family Disney blogs:

Our Disney Diary – a day at Epcot Eating our way around the World

Our Mini Disney Diary – Visiting the Animal Kingdom Park at Night

There’s also some great tips here on what to pack in a child’s carry on flight bag.