4 Disney World Hotel Scams People Are Still Falling For

If you’re planning a stay at a Disney World Resort Hotel, you need to be wary of certain “scams” that target travelers staying at the “Most Magical Place on Earth.”

From booking woes to fraudulent food offers, falling for one of these can seriously ruin any trip. Don’t fret, though, we’re going to tell you what to avoid and how to really solve the problems that the scams prey on.

Booking Stays and Buying Tickets Through Unofficial Sources

The first major thing to keep in mind is that you should ALWAYS book your Disney World vacation or hotel stay through official Disney websites or through a certified travel agent — like our friends at Mouse Fan Travel.

They’re experts in the field with over 20 years of vacation planning experience, and they can help take a bunch of the stress out of the entire booking process for you! We’ve encountered many situations where people booked their hotel stay through a “budget” site and then arrived at the resort to find that they didn’t have a reservation at all, or their room was double-booked. If you want to save, use the discounts available on Disney’s site instead.

The same goes for Disney World tickets. There are plenty of places around the web — including Facebook Marketplace — that claim to sell Disney tickets under face value, not to mention all of the third-party locations in the Orlando area claiming to offer Disney tickets. However, these locations aren’t always reputable.

Sure, there’s a chance you may strike gold… but there’s also a chance you might end up getting scammed with fraudulent tickets. Instead, you really should only buy your tickets from authorized sales locations like the Disney World website or app, through a travel agent authorized to sell Disney Destinations, or through authorized ticket seller websites.

Renting DVC Points Without Due Diligence

Let’s move on to renting Disney Vacation Club points from owners who won’t be able to use them. Several dedicated websites offer DVC rentals in an authorized way — like David’s Vacation Club Rentals. However, there are also many unauthorized dealers claiming to rent out points.

To be blunt, we’d definitely advise against renting DVC points from strangers in Facebook groups or some rando on Craigslist. If these deals fall through (like they sometimes do), you’ll have nothing to back you up, and you’ll be out the money that you spent!

Florida Toll Road Scams

Toll road text message scams have been proliferating around the country for a couple of years now, and Florida is no exception. Scam texts from numbers claiming to be the Department of Transportation, notifying users of an “unpaid toll balance.”

Don’t click on the link they send you, and please don’t give them any credit card information! If you find yourself driving to Walt Disney World from out of state and don’t own a SunPass or other toll-paying device, your tolls will be billed directly to the address to which the license plate is registered.

Sketchy Food and Pizza Flyers

Anyone who’s stayed at Disney World in recent years has probably had a flyer for a “local pizzeria” or other supposed food delivery service. Granted, these services are tempting due to the lack of late-night food options at Disney hotels.

However, PLEASE don’t give them your credit card information. If you’re craving some late-night munchies, head over to the 24-hour McDonald’s or order through a service like Uber Eats, GrubHub, or DoorDash.

Be careful not to fall for any of these scams on your next trip to Walt Disney World, and stay tuned to AllEars for more tips on visiting the “Most Magical Place on Earth.”

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Have you ever been “scammed” going to Disney World? Let us know in the comments below.

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