Unwritten Rules And Etiquette You Should Know Before Visiting Disney Parks

As a card-carrying Disney Adult (and a certified Disney Kid before that), I've spent most of my life learning official Disney Park rules. While my home park is Walt Disney World Resort (WDW) — where I'm currently an annual passholder — I've also visited Disneyland Resort in California and Disneyland Paris multiple times. Over the years, I've learned that there's a lot more to visiting Disney Parks than official park conduct pages for any Disney property will tell you.

As with any big brand, there are inevitable complaints about Disney Parks, but once you familiarize yourself with park culture, you're much less likely to encounter problems. In fact, there are all sorts of unwritten rules and etiquette you should know before your next Disney vacation. Here, we'll look at 10 helpful tidbits that span the globe, from what Disneybounding is at Disney World's Magic Kingdom to how you should eat at Tokyo DisneySea.

To put together this guide, I drew on my own knowledge as a pass holder, as well as official Disney guidance for parks worldwide. I also used firsthand information from the Disboards forums, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit.

For those who may be unaware, Disney places strict age limits on wearing full costumes in its parks, except at special events like WDW's Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. At Walt Disney World Resort, for example, only guests age 13 and under can wear full character costumes  including masks. At Disneyland Paris, this rule applies to guests age 12 and under. At Anaheim's Disneyland Resort, full costume attire is one of the things banned for those age 14 and over.

This rule led to the creation of Disneybounding, a concept that allows adults and older teenagers to still celebrate their favorite characters without breaking park rules. As a passionate Disneybounder myself, I think it's very important for Disney Parks guests to understand that they can still have fun with their attire without wearing a true costume. The original idea was to use clothing you already had in your closet to mimic colors, silhouettes, and details associated with various Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel characters.

As Disneybounding has evolved and gotten more popular, some people (myself included!) now buy more elaborate items specifically for certain looks. For example, I recently did an Ariel Disneybound that involved a purple top with a long, mint green tulle skirt. A simpler Snow White look could use yellow shorts, a blue puff-sleeve shirt, and a red bow headband to imitate her vibe. Part of the fun is that other "Disney people" may immediately recognize what you're doing, while those outside of the community will just see a cute outfit!

Much like during a darkened theatre performance, it's more or less common knowledge that you shouldn't use flash photography on dark theme park rides, whether or not they're at a Disney property. However, there's another equally distracting light source you might not have thought of before: your phone screen. Unlocking your phone at full brightness on Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion, for instance, can really ruin the vibe of rides that Imagineers spend years engineering.

Disney fans on social media and online discussion forums often discuss how to handle the situation when someone pulls out a brightly lit phone or uses a flash in the middle of a dark, immersive ride experience. Someone on Facebook, specifically discussing Disneyland Paris, said they get annoyed by "people filming in the dark rides in general! The screens are so bright even without the flash, it's so frustrating!!" One person on the WDW Magic forums said they used to "loudly and firmly tell the offender(s)" to stop, while others suggested complaining to the rest of your party just loud enough for the offending guest to hear.

Unfortunately, there isn't a single, polite foolproof way to get people to stop using bright screens while riding dark attractions, but I've personally found that a well-placed exasperated sigh often does the trick. The unwritten rule among Disney regulars is that there's nothing wrong with taking a quick photo or video on a dark ride, but you should absolutely turn your phone brightness all the way down or utilize night mode.

Minnie ears are part of the Disney Parks uniform for many park-goers, and that's great! However, when you're watching a show, parade, or fireworks with other guests behind you, Disney adults everywhere will implore you to please remove your (second set of) ears. Parents of small children, in particular, beg other guests to respect others in this regard. One mom on Reddit wrote a "simple plea from a mother of a young (read: short) child ... [ears] create a big block above your head and sometimes completely blocks young ones from viewing."

Another person on Facebook has similar feelings as a shorter adult, writing that it makes them "feel mean or miserable asking someone to remove them" when that individual should probably have already removed their headgear. Several commenters chimed in that Tokyo Disney Resort does an excellent job of dealing with ear headbands. The park officially requests that all guests take off hats and headbands during performances.

One person on Reddit said they would love it if the same regulation went "into effect at Magic Kingdom. Immediately." And, while it is courteous to take off your ears or hats during performances at any Disney property worldwide, bear in mind that Tokyo Disney Resort is owned and operated by the Oriental Land Company, not by Disney Enterprises. The two parks in China, Shanghai and Hong Kong, are both owned partially by Disney and partially by the government. Thus, their rules sometimes differ from those of the fully Disney-owned Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, and Disneyland Paris.

Every Disney Park around the world has its own mobile app, which means Disney park-goers often stop to check something on their smartphones. Whether you're looking at a Lightning Lane reservation, bypassing a quick service dining line with Mobile Order, or even just checking the digital park map, there are plenty of reasons to pause for a moment at a Disney theme park. The problem isn't inherently stopping (trust me, we all do it — sometimes I just need a minute to take in the $100,000 Arribas castle!), but rather stopping in the middle of a walkway.

In a DISboards discussion on the subject, someone pleaded with their fellow Disney World enthusiasts that if one needs "to gather your thoughts, get your bearings, etc please do so on the side of the walkway." Commenters on the thread agreed, with one saying this bad habit "gets on my nerves every time I'm at the parks," and another quipping that the "epidemic needs to be resolved."

The issue persists on the West Coast at Disneyland. One Redditor lamented that "you literally cannot walk in a straight line" because people abruptly stop or don't pay attention on the sidewalks. The problem is so pervasive among Disney regulars that one person even joked that they "call our cats Disney tourists when they do that sudden halt mid hall." No matter which Disney Park you happen to be visiting, moving to an alcove or a curb to check your phone or decide on your next stop is the courteous move.

Grabbing a Dole Whip or a churro and eating it while you stroll is completely normal at both Disney Parks in the United States. And at Disneyland Paris, it's not unusual to walk around Sleeping Beauty Castle with a pastry and a glass of champagne in hand. At Tokyo Disney Resort, however, eating etiquette is just one of the different things tourists need to expect. Throughout Japan, it is generally considered rude to eat while walking.

A Redditor who has lived in Japan shared that one "would be extremely hard pressed to see someone walking down the street casually eating." This cultural norm largely exists due to the risk of litter and food scraps falling, not because the actual act of eating is rude. However, if you're visiting Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, it's important to remember this unwritten rule. When you get a treat, like the famous Green Alien Mochi, do as the locals do and either eat it near the food stand or find a bench or table.

When you're visiting any international Disney resort, part of being a considerate guest is noticing cultural differences and adhering to them if you're not already. As one Facebooker noted, they even "only saw a few eating in lines and mostly they were only ever eating popcorn." While it's unlikely that anyone will actually call you out foreating and walking at Tokyo Disney Resort, it's still respectful to abide by this unwritten rule.

Bringing a stroller to a Disney Park is a necessity for many families, even as their kids get a little older. My girls are Disney pros, and even my nine-year-old still wants to ride out after Happily Ever After some nights! However, Disney newcomers sometimes don't realize that they can't just leave their strollers wherever they want if they're getting in line for an attraction or going into a show. Disney has designated stroller parking areas near every ride, theatre, and most restaurants.

Walt Disney World Resort specifically notes that Cast Members may sometimes rearrange strollers. While it's extremely likely that your stroller will be moved to a stroller parking lot if you leave it unattended elsewhere, strollers are also sometimes relocated within the designated sections. It's also worth noting that on Kilimanjaro Safaris, specifically, children can stay in their strollers about halfway through the line, where a Cast Member takes the stroller and parks it for you, so it's a bit like finding a needle in a haystack when you disembark! My kids have made a game out of who can spot our bright aqua stroller caddy first.

It is smart to have something eye-catching (like my brightly colored caddy!) on your stroller for easy identification in a sea of other strollers. If you can't find your stroller at any point during your Disney trip, simply ask a Cast Member for assistance. They will do their best to help you locate it. As one person on Reddit noted, stroller relocation is not meant to inconvenience guests, but Cast Members "have to move them when they bottleneck walkways and doors."

There comes a point when you've visited your favorite Disney Park enough times (a few hundred, in my case) that reciting the scripts on your favorite attractions is basically second nature. And, while I'll always be slightly tempted to bellow "Dead men tell no tales!" on Pirates of the Caribbean or quote the entire preshow on The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, I've learned to resist the temptation and, frankly, you should, too.

This is a common topic of discussion among Disney fans online. In one cheeky Facebook post, someone said, "Repeat after me... 'I don't need to recite the Haunted Mansion ride dialogue. The ride will still go on if I don't.'" 

While much of the internet banter about not reciting ride scripts is lighthearted, it's legitimately disrespectful to others to loudly blurt out even the most famous Disney ride quotes. Imagine, for a moment, that you're on a once-in-a-lifetime trip with your kids, only to have a Disney Parks regular practically shouting the Ghost Host's lines a beat or two too early. Frustrating, no? In a Reddit thread specifically referring to Haunted Mansion, one person summed it up nicely, writing that behavior "honestly just grinds my gears."

Some Disney character meet-and-greets — like Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater at Disney World or Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Jessie at Shanghai Disney's The Meeting Post — have formal queues. You wait in line, and a Cast Member ushers your party in when it's your turn to enjoy your character interaction. In these situations, there is really no opportunity for others to insert themselves into your experience.

Meeting roaming characters, however, is less formal and, therefore, has murkier etiquette for some guests. At Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Paris, in particular, in my experience, roaming characters are much more common than at Walt Disney World. The exception is certain special events like Cool Kids' Summer, when roaming characters are out at Disney World during Early Entry at Magic Kingdom. My girls experienced several memorable interactions this summer alone, including eating croissants with Mad Hatter! While the possibility of seeing roaming characters doesn't make one Disney amusement park better than another, it certainly can change your experience.

Without a traditional queue, some people are tempted to interrupt others' character interactions, either by sending their children too early or taking photos during someone else's experience. In some cases, guests don't even realize they are encroaching. Such was the case on Reddit, where one Disneyland guest outlined an experience with Pluto in which "my two year old ran up to hug him and I got snapped at by a woman who told me a line was forming." The best thing to do in any situation like this is to pay attention to Cast Member guidance and err on the side of caution if others are already approaching a roaming character.

Even though Disneyland Resort opened first in 1955, Walt Disney World Resort, which opened its gates in 1971, is considered Disney's flagship theme park property. Because of this, some people assume that overseas Disney Parks are just alternate versions of Disney World. It is true that all Disney theme park properties have some similarities. They all have a castle park, for example, and the Dumbo the Flying Elephant Ride can be found in all six existing Disney Parks. There has not been confirmation of whether it will also appear at the upcoming Abu Dhabi location.

Some version of the spinning teacups can also be found at every Park except for Shanghai, and the U.S. Parks' Haunted Mansion was modified and is known as Phantom Manor in Paris. Pirates of the Caribbean and "It's A Small World" are also standbys, with the former at every park except for Hong Kong and the latter everywhere except Shanghai. Nonetheless, presuming any international Disney theme park is a foreign version of the "Florida Project" is doing it a grave disservice. Even famous rides like Pirates differ from property to property, with Shanghai's version taking inspiration directly from the iconic Johnny Depp movie franchise. And, in Paris, Big Thunder Mountain is "much more of a thrill ride than anything you would find stateside," according to a Quora user.

Additionally, each Disney Park has its own cultural flavor and one-of-a-kind rides. Crush's Coaster at Disney Adventure World in France, for instance, is a personal favorite of mine — with its spinning turtle-shell cars, it's not quite like anything else Disney has to offer! Meanwhile, at Tokyo Disneyland, guests can find the world's only Beauty and the Beast ride. The unwritten rule is to prioritize things you can't do at your home park when you travel. On our upcoming Paris trip, we'll be making a beeline for Arendelle and The Dragon Under The Castle!

If your Disney experience thus far has been limited to the American or European parks, prepare for a bit of culture shock the first time you stand in line in Hong Kong, which is the world's smallest Disney theme park property, or Shanghai. It is not uncommon for Western visitors to find that Chinese and Hong Kongese perceptions of personal space are very different from their own. One Redditor even warned: "Since I visited Shanghai Disney a few years ago, 'too close' got a whole new meaning."

Another person on Facebook cautioned those preparing to visit the Shanghai resort that "if you enjoy your personal space and get annoyed if people get into it, be prepared." They even described people encroaching on them in extremely close quarters to take photos throughout the Park. Some people strive to visit Disney's Shanghai and Hong Kong locations in a single vacation. Redditors advise that going during shoulder seasons can help you escape the worst of the crowds.

It's important to note that throughout China, including in Hong Kong, people have a very different cultural understanding of personal space than North Americans or European. It is not uncommon for people to push others while waiting in line. Preparing yourself for these cultural differences will help you feel more comfortable throughout your trip, not just at Disney.