It’s easy to get lost in the weeds when planning a Disney World vacation and feel like you need to do everything. But, not every add-on or experience is worth increasing your overall budget for! A lot of times, the things that everyone is insisting you do don’t actually add up to a better vacation for you. So, what popular things in Disney World are overhyped? Here are 10 overrated Disney experiences to skip on your next trip!

Disney Dining Plan

The Disney Dining Plan is often touted as a convenient way to pre-pay for meals during your Walt Disney World vacation. However, it may not be the cost-saving option many believe it to be.

Instead of automatically adding a dining plan to your vacation package, it’s important to carefully consider your eating habits and preferences. It can be challenging to ensure you’re using all the pre-paid credits and getting your money’s worth — it’s just another thing to think about while you’re visiting.

Remember that the Dining Plan’s primary benefits are convenience and the ability to budget in advance. It’s not designed as a money-saving tool, and you may find yourself losing money if you don’t strategically plan your meals.

Ultimately, if you enjoy trying various restaurants and don’t mind planning ahead, a dining plan might work for you. However, if you prefer flexibility or lighter meals, paying as you go could be a better option.

Lightning Lane Services

Disney’s Lightning Lane services promise quick access to popular attractions. But are they truly enhancing your park experience?

These paid options allow you to skip regular standby lines for select rides. While convenient, they come at a hefty price tag – often $15-30+ per person per day on top of park admission.

You might feel pressured to purchase Lightning Lane to avoid long waits, especially if you’re used to Disney’s old FastPass+ system — it was just always something you used. However, every attraction still offers a free standby queue. And, the lines aren’t always as bad as you might think, especially if you’re visiting during a slower season.

With some smart planning, you can enjoy most rides (if not all) without coughing up the extra cash. For example, you could:

• Arrive early for rope drop
• Use Disney’s app to check live wait times and strategically plan your day
• Go on popular rides during parades or fireworks
• Take advantage of single rider lines where available

It’s also worth noting that some attractions, like Haunted Mansion, have interactive queues that you entirely miss by using Lightning Lane. So, you might even find that you don’t mind waiting at all!

While Lightning Lane may seem tempting, remember it’s not essential for a great Disney day. Strategic planning and flexibility can lead to an equally enjoyable vacation without the extra cost.

Fireworks Dessert Parties

While the idea of watching fireworks in a reserved area before or after dining on unlimited treats and drinks sounds enticing, Disney’s fireworks dessert parties often fall short of expectations.

The viewing areas don’t offer much better views than what you can find for free in the park. And, on most cases, you’ll still be surrounded by crowds, just in a slightly more exclusive space.

Additionally, the dessert offerings, though plentiful, may not justify the high price tag. It’s challenging to consume enough sweets to make the $100+ cost per person worthwhile, especially considering you’ll likely have eaten dinner not much earlier.

Now, if you’re celebrating a special occasion, a dessert party could add a touch of luxury to your trip. In that case, go for it!! However, there are many other ways to make your visit special without the hefty price for little payoff.

Consider alternatives like booking a nice restaurant meal or purchasing special merchandise instead. These options often provide better value.

There are plenty of great viewing spots for all of the fireworks shows that don’t require you to pay extra. Yes, you may have to arrive a little earlier to stake out a spot, but you don’t need to splurge on a dessert party to enjoy the show.

EPCOT Festivals

Now, here’s the thing, we LOVE the EPCOT festivals. But, over the years, the near-constant stream of festival after festival has caused them to become a bit overrated.

If you’re not familiar, EPCOT hosts several festivals throughout the year, drawing crowds with themed food, drinks, and entertainment. While these events are fun and exciting in themselves, they often lose their appeal after you’ve experienced them once or twice.

The festival booths often feature similar food offerings year after year. So, you’ll find yourself sampling familiar dishes rather than discovering new culinary delights.

Additionally, these events tend to make the park more crowded than usual. Local visitors flock to EPCOT along with vacationers, creating longer lines and busier walkways. On particularly busy days, this makes it challenging to enjoy the park’s regular attractions and amenities.

And, with so many small bites and drinks available at the booths around World Showcase, you’re missing out on EPCOT’s permanent (and delicious!) dining options. In fact, we find that even seasoned Disney-goers haven’t tried many of the EPCOT restaurants because it’s so easy to fill up on trying all the festival offerings.

So, while we definitely recommend enjoying the EPCOT festivals when you visit (because they are fun!), be sure to balance your park day out with other restaurants around World Showcase and permanent attractions.

Drinking Around The World At EPCOT

Speaking of EPCOT, the trend of “drinking around the world” has grown for adult park-goers, with guests rising to the challenge of sampling alcoholic (or non-alcoholic) drinks from each of the 11 countries in World Showcase. While it may sound exciting, this challenge is often touted as one of the most overrated Disney experiences.

For starters, costs add up quickly. With drinks often priced over $12 each, you could spend upwards of $137 just on alcohol. That’s a significant chunk of your vacation budget!

On top of the cost, attempting to drink in all 11 countries in one day is physically demanding. You may find that you end up feeling unwell and miss out on other EPCOT attractions during the day and then don’t have the energy to take on another day at Disney when you wake up the next morning.

Instead of trying to hit every country, we recommend choosing 3-4 countries with drinks that genuinely interest you. You can also opt to share drinks with friends to sample more without overindulging. And, if you are committed to taking on the challenge, make sure you eat enough and drink water as you go.

Remember, EPCOT offers much more than just drinks. Don’t let this challenge overshadow the park’s other attractions and experiences.

Character Dining

Character dining is a signature Disney vacation experience, but we often find that it can be one of the overrated Disney experiences given how much it costs.

These character meals are some of the priciest places to eat across Disney World and the interactions with the characters are often brief. Additionally, the food quality at these restaurants is often underwhelming, so you’re paying a premium for the characters, not the food.

Instead of eating a rushed meal at one of these extremely popular restaurants and leaving disappointed by the food and character interactions, meet the characters in the parks! Almost all of the characters you can find at character restaurants have a permanent (and free!) place to meet you in the parks. The interactions are comparable, and you don’t have to shell out any extra cash.

Character Meet-and-Greets

There’s no doubt that character meet-and-greets are a staple of the Disney parks experience, and we do recommend doing them! But, time is money in Disney World, and character meet-and-greets can take up a lot of time.

So, instead of hopping in line to meet each and every character you spot, prioritize your favorites so that you don’t end up spending all your time in lines for brief meet-and-greets with characters you don’t really care about.

Another reason character meet-and-greets can be overrated Disney experiences is that the encounters can feel rushed and somewhat awkward, especially for older visitors. You might spend an hour queuing only to have a 30-second photo opportunity and a quick autograph.

That being said, younger children who are big fans of specific characters often find these meet-and-greets super special. Seeing their favorite princess or superhero in person can be a highlight of the trip and the characters tend to spend more time with kids.

Remember, the quality of your experience can vary depending on the specific character, time of day, and your own expectations. While you may find some of your character encounters underwhelming, others may end up being a core memory from your trip, so pick and choose who you meet!

Memory Maker

Memory Maker is Disney’s photo package that gives you access to download all of your vacation photos taken by PhotoPass photographers and at certain attractions in the parks. It can be tempting to splurge on the photo memories, but we’ve often been disappointed by the quality of the images.

PhotoPass photographers are usually happy to take pictures using your personal camera or smartphone. So, save your money for a more worthwhile Disney upgrade and skip paying for your photos.

Certain Attractions

Disney World offers many popular attractions, but beware of falling into the trap of only doing what others say you “have to” ride. Some popular rides just don’t live up to the hype for the length of time you spend in line. And–remember–time is money in Disney World!

For example, Jungle Cruise at Magic Kingdom often misses the mark for people, as the punny style of jokes often falls flat. And, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is over in the blink of an eye.

Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run can be hit or miss. Which role you’re assigned in the flight simulator largely determines how much fun you have. Pilots tend to have the most engaging experience, while other positions may feel less immersive. (Though this could change in 2026 when the ride debuts some major changes–learn about them here!)

Of course, what’s overrated for some might be a favorite for others. It’s best to do some research on attractions beforehand and prioritize the ones that sound most exciting to you over the rides that everyone talks about.

Staying at a Moderate Resort

Moderate resorts at Disney World bridge the gap between value and deluxe accommodations. While they offer some upgrades, you may find that they don’t always justify the higher price tag and stays here can be one of the most overrated Disney experiences.

Room sizes are only marginally larger than value resorts. So, yes, you’ll get a bit more space, but not enough to make a significant difference in comfort for most guests.

Additionally, these hotels offer slightly improved dining options, including table service restaurants. However, the food quality and variety aren’t drastically different from what you’d find at value resorts.

And, the layout of these hotels tends to be quite spread out, resulting in long walks to reach amenities. So, you might spend more time than expected trekking to the pool, dining areas, or transportation.

Of course, these are still an upgrade from value resorts, but you may get more out of your trip by splurging a bit more on a deluxe resort. It’s important to consider how much time you plan to spend at your hotel, how often you plan to eat at the dining options, and what parks you want to be close to before opting for a moderate resort just because of the price point.

Comments

What do you think about these overrated Disney experiences? Do you agree? Let us know in the comments what other experiences you’d add to the list!