Top 5 Free Disney World Vacation Activities: From My Kid’s Perspective

For the past two years, my wife and I have put aside money to take our three children on a Disney World vacation. Our youngest is under three years old, so he is FREE. So, why wouldn’t we take advantage of that?! As a result, my kids talk about Disney World often and how they can’t wait to go back again. I recently asked them what their favorite FREE activities were while on their Disney World vacation. Here are their top 5 free Disney World vacation activities:

1. Hunting for lizards

We live in Pennsylvania. We don’t see lizards unless we walk into a pet store or visit the Zoo. When you visit Orlando, lizards are EVERYWHERE! It almost spooks us every time! My kids enjoyed counting all of the lizards as we would walk to the pool or playground. On a ten minute walk, we would count over 100 lizards! We tried to catch them, but they were so fast. At one point, I caught one by its tail and the tail came right off and wiggled in my hand. It grossed me out and that was the end of that! Hunting lizards became a fun activity during our week in Florida.

2. Playing in the pool

We love to visit Disney World around February or March. It’s still cold in the Northeast. The weather stinks. We’re so close to spring, but not quite. So when we visit Disney World for a week, we absolutely love to spend time at the pools. Depending on the resort you stay at, there may be multiple pools within the resort to explore. When we stayed at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek, we had five different pools to choose from. Two of those pools included a lazy river!

Your Disney World vacation does not have to be spent at the parks every single day. In fact, I recommend multiple “rest days” during your vacation. Especially if you have kids under the ages of 15 years old! Even as adults, my wife and I were ready to rest our legs and take a break from the hot heat! (Yes, it’s hot year round in Orlando.). My kids loved playing in the pool and most resorts even have a splash pad, which my two year old just adored.

3. Pin trading at Disney Springs

This is a new tradition that my family started this past year. I bought each of the kids a Disney pin lanyard set. It comes with a lanyard and four starter pins. If you’ve never been to Disney, pin trading is a BIG deal. There are stores in the parks and at Disney Springs filled solely with pins. Any kind of pin you can think of! Pins from Pixar movies, Star Wars, Disney World, Marvel, princesses. You name it. There is probably a pin of it.

But here’s the best part. There are pin trading boards at different locations throughout Disney Springs. On our rest days, we walk around Disney Springs and search for these pin boards. There are probably 30-40 pins on a board and this gives you the ability to trade in one of your current pins for a new pin on the board. Absolutely free! My kids had a BLAST searching for the boards and trading pins throughout the week. We bought them a few more pins to add to their collection and it was so much fun to watch them try to figure out which pin they would trade for next!

4. Exploring different playgrounds in the area

If you have little kids, visiting playgrounds in your area is a great way to make memories and save some money. Yes, a Disney World vacation can get expensive if you’re not careful. However, your kids won’t complain when you take them around to explore the different playgrounds in your area! Every resort will have at least one playground, and most likely multiple playgrounds. We spent a lot of time walking to the playgrounds and ultimately ended up hunting lizards at these playgrounds before jumping into the pool! A great way to get out some energy and enjoy the beautiful Florida weather!

5. Riding the Skyliner!

If you’re looking for a free and fun activity during your Disney World vacation, then look no further.

Ride the Skyliner!

The Skyliner picks you up at various points throughout Disney World. You can pick it up at Hollywood Studios or Epcot. You can also pick it up at a few of the different Disney resorts: Pop Century, Art of Animation, Disney’s Riviera Resort and Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. Here’s the best part: You don’t need to physically be staying at those mentioned resorts OR be within those mentioned parks in order to use the Skyliner. That’s right. We were staying at a resort off-property and still rode the Skyliner on our rest day! And it’s FREE!

Disney has bus service available at Disney Springs. So we made our way to Disney Springs and parked our car for free. From there, we hitched a ride on the free bus service and made our way to Disney’s Riviera Resort. We walked around the resort and did some exploring and then hopped on the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios.

From there, we hopped off and DID NOT go inside the park. Instead, we walked along the river towards Epcot. This is referred to as the “International Gateway at Epcot.” We hopped back on the Skyliner from there and rode it back to the main hub at Caribbean Beach Resort. We then were able to hop on a bus and make our way back to Disney Springs.

It was a lot of fun and it felt like a ride. The Skyliner sits up high and allows you to take in the sights in a different way! Just bring snacks for your kids. It took us about two hours to complete that entire trip, but it was well worth it!

If you’re thinking about booking a trip to Disney World with your family, be sure to read Disney Vacation on a Budget!