7 Hotel Rules Tourists Break That Scream "This Is My First Time in Orlando"

If you’ll be visiting Orlando for the first time, whether you’re planning a trip to Disney World or Universal Orlando, you might be a little confused about some hotel rules.

It’s okay, though, because we’re going to fill you in on what a lot of first-timers do when they visit Orlando, so you won’t make these mistakes. So let’s look at hotel rules tourists often break when they first visit our fair city.

Not understanding grocery delivery

You can have groceries delivered to your Disney World hotel room, but there’s a process you need to understand. You can use a grocery delivery service like Garden Grocer, Instacart, or Amazon Prime. You’ll place your order using your hotel’s address. Groceries will be delivered to Bell Services at your hotel, and even better, the cold items will be kept refrigerated until you’re ready to pick them up.

If you don’t want to make the walk to your hotel lobby to get your groceries, Bell Services can bring them to you for an additional small fee. This is a great way to stock up on drinks, snacks, or essentials.

Not understanding how food delivery works

However, if you plan on using DoorDash, Uber Eats, or Grubhub to order food from a restaurant and have it delivered to your hotel, things are a little different. These services cannot bring orders directly to your room.

Instead, you’ll want to keep an eye on the app’s tracking feature so you’ll know when your food will arrive, so you can meet your delivery driver in the hotel’s main lobby.

Thinking everything is within walking distance of your hotel

This goes for both Disney World and Universal Orlando. You might think that if you stayed at a hotel at these resorts, your hotel might be an easy walking distance to the parks or shopping districts. This is most often not the case. You’ll need to use transportation to get from your hotel to the parks.

There are some exceptions. For example, Universal Helios Grand Hotel is inside Epic Universe, while several hotels in the EPCOT area of Disney World are within walking distance of EPCOT, and some hotels in the Magic Kingdom area are close enough to make the walk to Magic Kingdom.

Not realizing how big the hotels are

Hotels at both Disney World and Universal Orlando can be on the bigger side. You’ll want to research just how large a hotel is before you book a stay there, or you might be spending a lot of time walking to the hotel lobby or taking transportation.

This is why we often tell Disney World visitors to skip Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort — it’s so huge and sprawled out that you’ll spend even MORE time walking at your hotel before and after all that time walking in the parks.

Not considering paying extra for a preferred room

With that being said, preferred rooms are available at most hotels that will put you closer to the hotel lobby and transportation. Although these do cost more than standard rooms, you’ll be making your trip a little more enjoyable by cutting down your walking time.

Pay for a preferred room to save your feet

So consider paying a little extra to have less walking at the beginning and end of your theme park days.

Thinking that hotel construction will get you a discount

One might think that if a hotel were under construction, which is happening a LOT right now in Disney World, you might get a discounted room. Well, it doesn’t work that way. That room will still cost you the same, regardless of whether there’s construction happening at that hotel or not (that even goes for when pools are closed).

However, construction is only during the day, so you shouldn’t hear construction noise at night when you’re trying to get some sleep.

Thinking you’ll need a car

If you’re visiting Disney World or Universal Orlando, you might think you need to rent a car or have a car handy to get to and from your hotel, the airport, and the theme parks. Both Disney World and Universal Orlando, though, have shuttle and rideshare options from Orlando International Airport, plus they both have free transportation to and from the parks.