What's Actually Worth the Splurge (and What's NOT) at Disney World in 2025, From a Professional Disney Adult

Disney World vacations are incredibly expensive. That much is clear once you start to look at prices, even if you’re doing no additional add-ons.

So what add-ons at Disney World are really worth the cost? Lightning Lanes? Disney World hotel prices? Should you book table service restaurants or choose to dine at quick service spots to save some money? We go to Disney World every day and have been for years. If you’re heading to Disney World in 2025, here are the add-ons we think are totally worth the splurge, what will really depend on your group, and what we don’t recommend AT ALL.

DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, which means when you click a link and make a purchase, we receive a commission.

Worth It

If seeing Magic Kingdom’s fireworks show is a special part of your day, but you don’t want to stake out the perfect spot for at least an hour ahead of time, then we think a Magic Kingdom Fireworks Dessert Party is certainly worth the additional cost! We specifically recommend the Pre-Party or Post Party offering, which still gives you reserved seating for the fireworks and the included drinks and sweets, just before or after the show instead of during! It saves you a bit of money per ticket, ranging from $99 to $109 for adults.

Preferred Rooms at Value and Moderate Resorts

When staying at a Disney World hotel for a lower price, you’ll often choose to stay at a value or moderate resort. However, these resorts are the largest on Disney World property, and paying a little bit more for a preferred room can save you a LONG walk to and from transportation at the start and end of each day. For families with young kids, anyone with mobility issues, or anyone who’s just looking for a way to give their legs a little break during a walking-heavy trip, this is a tip you’ll definitely want to consider.

Food

This is pretty generic, but it’s true for many different things! A table service restaurant you want to experience once in a lifetime? Go for it, life is short! Want to grab a new treat that’s only around for the season? Grab it now, it could be the last time we see it! Of course, you don’t want to go overboard and blow your budget, but some of these Disney treats and dining opportunities are special — if you won’t be traveling to Disney World for the foreseeable future and food is a big source of enjoyment for you, we say it’s worth the splurge!

Red Velvet Mini-Bundt Cake at EPCOT’s Festival of the Holidays

FuelRods

Having a fully charged phone in Disney World is extremely important for many different reasons, but being able to use the My Disney Experience App is one of them. Disney World sells FuelRods in the park, and once you buy one, you can trade them out for fully charged ones at the machines in the park at any time you need. However, it’s cheaper to buy these on Amazon first instead of in Disney World, but you can trade them out just the same!

A RideShare at Busy Times

At certain times in Disney World, specifically when the parks close each night, lines for Disney World transportation can get VERY long. Instead of waiting for the bus for an hour to get back to your Disney World hotel, this is a time we suggest you order yourself a rideshare to significantly cut down your wait time. You’ll get back to your room much faster, be able to shower, and head to bed before many people are even out of the park.

Button Upgrade

You can get a free celebration button in Disney World to celebrate almost any occasion, but you can also head on over to Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe in Magic Kingdom to get what you’d like written on it in a fancy way that makes it really shine! It’s only around a $3 upcharge and we’re obsessed with it.

But what about the things that aren’t always worth the additional cost? There are PLENTY of those that exist around the Disney World parks.

Not Always Worth It

Park Hopper Tickets

Many of us absolutely love park hopping in Disney World because it gives us the freedom to go practically anywhere we’d like whenever we desire. However, if you’re traveling to Disney World for longer than 4 days, we don’t recommend park hopper tickets because you’ll have plenty of time to explore each park! However, if you’re traveling for 3 days or fewer, it can be a great way to bop around and complete all your must-dos.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass

Again, if you’re traveling to Disney World for a shorter period of time, getting Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Lightning Lane Single Pass in EPCOT may very much be worth the cost to ensure you can get everything done. However, this can get really expensive for larger families/groups, and if you’re traveling for longer than about 4-5 days, we wouldn’t recommend it.

TSA PreCheck

This one goes out to those who fly to Disney World and will do it more than twice a year (or often fly to other destinations throughout the year), multiple members of our team said paying for TSA PreCheck is entirely worth the additional cost. Not only will going through security be easier, but you won’t have to get to the airport as early, which means more time spent in the park!

Table Service Meals

You’ll absolutely need to eat in Disney World, but you may be tempted to eat at quick service locations to save yourself some money and stay on-the-go. However, if you’re a big fan of food and really appreciate a great meal, or you love to visit with characters and kind of knock out two birds with one stone, then booking a few table service meals throughout your trip will certainly be worth it for you. If you’re not a big fan of special dining though and really just eat because you have to, you likely won’t feel like you’ve gotten anything special out of table service dining.

A Disney World Hotel

This one is pretty controversial, but it’s true that staying at a Disney World hotel won’t be the right move for everyone! If you’ll be in the parks most of the day and only need somewhere to shower and sleep, then booking an Airbnb or another hotel off Disney World property will be a better match for you. If you want the amenities and offerings that come with staying at a Disney World hotel AND you know you’ll have time to explore it, then it’ll be a great fit!

There are a few things in Disney World though that we 100% believe are NOT worth the splurge, and we have to warn you about them.

Not Worth It

Lightning Lane Premier Pass

Just a few months ago, Disney introduced a new tier of Lightning Lane called Lightning Lane Premier Pass. This allows you to skip ALL the attractions’ queues in ONE Disney World park one time during the day. No pre-planning required on when you’re going to do each ride, which is great, but it’s wildly expensive, ranging between $100 and around $400 per person, per park, depending on when you’re visiting. We’ve tried this out ourselves, and we can confidently say we do NOT think it’s worth it in any way, shape, or form, unless you’re doing a challenge like we did and try to ride everything in the park in one day, and even then, it’s questionable.

Any Sort of Lightning Lane in Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is about to be undergoing some serious changes in 2025, and the construction means that one ride, TriceraTop Spin, will be going away for good in January and the entire area will be closed for construction. Throughout the year, Dinoland U.S.A. will continue to close, blocking off practically a whole land from guests, AND It’s Tough to Be A Bug will be closing to make way for a new show as well. In a park that already has such few attractions, buying any sort of Lightning Lane for this park will not be worth it with two of them closing during the year — with a good rope drop strategy, or waiting to ride Flight of Passage at the end of the day, you’ll be able to complete all your must-dos with no issues.

Be Our Guest Restaurant

This one is a hot take, but a lot of our team agreed that we do not recommend booking a table service dining reservation for Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom. While we love the atmosphere of this restaurant, we haven’t been even remotely impressed with the food the last few times we’ve gone, and the atmosphere is no longer enough to justify the price tag otherwise. We really hope Disney will work to turn this restaurant around and SOON, because we’d love to be able to start recommending it again!