Disney theme parks and experiences take up a good amount of our lives. We couldn’t be more thankful for that, as it’s turned into a full-time job for me and more travel than we ever could have dreamed of. Like many favorite things in life, traveling begets traveling. Seemingly, the more places we go and experiences we enjoy, the more we want to try other places. That extends to the Disney Parks as our bucket list keeps growing despite checking things off. In this post, we’ll share our favorite Disney Parks & Experiences bucket list items that we’ve been able to cross off and ones that we haven’t experienced yet.

Deciding on just a few for this list came with quite a bit of debate, first in my mind and then with Melissa. Again, we’ve been very fortunate to enjoy the experiences we have and don’t take them for granted. There’s also big and small bucket list items as well as very specific and more general ideas. Sometimes the small moments win out and hold a special place in our memory more than the big splurges.

I say that to encourage anyone who is making a list of things you want to experience to make it diverse! You can knock the big stuff off as the budget allows and do the smaller things as they come to mind. Sometimes the simple things are best – an unexpectedly vibrant sunset while on the riverboat or crowding in on Main Street with tons of strangers to watch something hopeful.

Don’t get me wrong though, there’s plenty on this list that is lavish. I’ve included 6 experiences we’ve already done and 6 that are at the top of our current ‘want to do’ list. The latter will still take years to complete but we’re hopeful it happens at some point. We’ll start with the 6 we’ve already accomplished, in no specific order.

6 Disney Parks Bucket List Things We’ve Done

Staying at Every Walt Disney World Resort Hotel

This took us a while and there are still some nits to pick with the actual premise – we haven’t stayed in the A-frame of the Contemporary, haven’t camped at Fort Wilderness, etc. Getting to the 20+ hotels at Walt Disney World (23, if you include Swan & Dolphin) was something we never dreamed of when we honeymooned there in 2013. We were broke, right out of college and thought staying at Coronado Springs was pretty luxurious.

Our trips around that time included lots of walking around deluxe resorts and dreaming about staying there one day. We still do plenty of that, to be honest. Being able to stay at all of the hotels became more realistic in the last 5 years, as we have a small DVC contract, are able to afford more and reviewing them is my job now. Having accomplished this makes me all the more excited for new hotels that will open in the future.

Achieving this goal probably isn’t for everyone. We’ve done more split stays than I can count and default back to values so that we can travel more frequently. But staying at all of these hotels has made Walt Disney World feel special to us, with each place having a different theme, personality and pros & cons.

Tokyo Disney Resort

Speaking of that newlywed time in our lives, planning our honeymoon was when I first became aware of how adored Tokyo Disney Resort is. This was shortly after Tom and Sarah started writing about it on Disney Tourist Blog and I started following TDR Explorer. Eventually, a trip to Japan went from being a pipe dream to reality.

Seeing how we’ve been back numerous times, it did not disappoint. If I had to get more specific with this bucket list item, it’d be walking around Tokyo DisneySea. I’ll never forget our first trip around the park, watching sunset beyond Mount Prometheus and just having a general sense of awe that this place exists. No matter how many times we go back, that wonder is still there. I hope every Disney Parks fan gets to experience that at some point.

Wild Africa Trek

One of our bigger blind spots when it comes to Disney Parks is all of the tours offered. Part of the blame falls on time and money, as these offerings cost a lot of both! The rest of the blame falls on Wild Africa Trek because once we did that Animal Kingdom tour, every other has paled in comparison.

This tour takes guests through many of the animal exhibits at Kilimanjaro Safaris – up above the hippo pool, over the crocodiles on a rope bridge and down into the savanna in a smaller truck. As always with a Disney theme park tour, the guides were extremely knowledgeable and accommodating. Wild Africa Trek culminates with a number of snacks served in a shaded spot in the savanna, overlooking the animals. If you love animals and Animal Kingdom, we couldn’t recommend this highly enough.

Living by Disneyland

Obviously, this one won’t be for everyone. We were in a fortunate enough spot where we could move close to Disneyland and Southern California, which we adore. Part of it was work related, part of it was just life! We are now within walking distance of Disneyland Resort and that’s a real dream.

If you’re a fan of Disney Parks then you’ve probably heard that Disneyland is a locals park first and foremost. It is baked into the culture of Southern California. Being able to experience that firsthand has added a different dimension to the resort for us. For theme park fans, getting to be able to experience it as more than a vacation destination is interesting and wonderful. We love stopping into the park for dinner and a ride before going back home and doing it again in a few days!

Victoria & Albert’s

Disney’s most prestigious restaurant in the states resides in Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian. Victoria & Albert’s has received Michelin Stars and earned the AAA Five Diamond Award for decades. When we dined here, quite a few years ago at this point, it was easily the fanciest place we’d ever been. It still might be, for what it’s worth.

Victoria & Albert’s felt like one of those spots that we definitely needed to try at least once. Since we have, there hasn’t been a rush to go back, largely thanks to the high price tag. I do think we’d enjoy the restaurant even more now. Maybe it could go on the re-bucket list at some point. This is one of those splurges at Walt Disney World that’s well worth a stay at All Star Sports just so that you can have one of the most memorable dining experiences of your life!

Attending Anniversaries & Openings

We’ll end this section with the broadest entry. When I started this site many years ago (more than I’d like to count), I thought about how cool it would be to go to the opening of attractions and shows. Attending park anniversaries and milestones would go hand-in-hand with that, wanting to celebrate the things that we’ve grown to love. Eventually, we started doing just that! Being there for the opening of Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland was one of the first instances and it won’t leave my memory anytime soon, nor will the good mood of the crowd during Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary. Well, the good mood was there until Disney’s Enchantment started 😉

Since then, these special dates have become a favorite of ours. Some of it is due to the actual content. Being around for ride openings or the first day of a parade heightens the excitement, like seeing a highly-anticipated movie with an optimistic crowd. These days also seem to offer lower wait times for everything else that’s not premiering since most people’s attention is concentrated on the new thing.

But that’s only half of the equation on what makes these days special. Over the last few years, we’ve met some wonderful people at openings of different shows and rides. The longer waits ahead of whatever is debuting means more time spent with strangers. Sometimes we get lucky and those strangers become friends.

6 Disney Parks Bucket List Things We Haven’t Done

Going to Every Disney Park

We’ll start with the classic Disney Parks Bucket List – going to every Disney theme park in the world. There are currently 12 across the globe:

• Disneyland Resort: Disneyland, California Adventure
• Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom
• Tokyo Disney Resort: Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea
• Disneyland Paris Resort: Disneyland Paris, Disney Adventure World
• Hong Kong Disneyland
• Shanghai Disneyland

We’ve been to 10 of those, with Hong Kong Disneyland coming up in October to turn the number to 11. That leaves Shanghai Disneyland, which we are on the fence about traveling to for a number of reasons that I don’t need to get into in this post. At some point, we’ll probably make the jump and experience Shanghai. I expect the number of parks to grow over the next decade. Abu Dhabi has been announced, although I’m still dubious on whether that goes forward, and rumors about Shanghai adding a second park are picking up steam. This one falls under the someday list and I know many people have the same goal!

An Alaskan and/or Norwegian Disney Cruise

A more personal bucket list item is a Disney Cruise to Alaska or Norway. Really, the dream has always been Norway but I’ve heard/seen/read so many good things about Alaska cruises that it’s propped up in my mind, as well. We’re still on the fence about whether we’re cruise people but these itineraries offer something more unique, where we could get out and explore nature almost every day. I think that would be a nice balance to all of the offerings on the boat. Along with that, I’d love to see all of these areas from the cruise ship. I love a fjord! Melissa has a slight fear of open water so Alaska or Norway might be a little easier to stomach for her. Naturally, these are the most expensive of the Disney Cruise itineraries so that’s what is holding us back so far.

Club 33

We’ve never been inside of Disney’s most famous club. For those unfamiliar, Club 33 sits on the second level of New Orleans Square and is incredibly hard to get into. Most of that difficulty comes from the extreme price tag that I can promise you we’ll never be able to afford regardless of how many people read this website. There’s always the off chance I win the lottery (haven’t bought a ticket), become friends with a billionaire (most of them don’t seem great), or have a long lost rich relative that has written me into a will. Yeah, safe to say I won’t be a Club 33 member.

But I’ve had friends who have made it into the exclusive Disneyland spot thanks to acquaintances. So, there’s always a chance of getting in for a fancy dinner! I’d love to explore the famed restaurant and see the Court of Angels again. There is some secrecy about Club 33 that has diminished with the rise of the internet. It’s easier to find out what the experience is like but that hasn’t made my interest wane.

Snow at a Park

From a very ritzy entry to a just plain luck entry. Snow does fall at certain Disney Parks! Disneyland Paris is easily the best bet and I can’t think of many sights I’d love to see more than that gorgeous castle and hillside adorned with fresh powder. Our first trip to Paris was planned for February, just on the off chance that we might catch a few flurries. December or January seem like better bets but didn’t fit in quite as well with our schedule.

Tokyo Disney Resort has seen some snow here and there, as well, but seems like an even greater difficulty to try to catch. Maybe I’ll just have to go live there for a winter! We’ll hopefully track down a castle with a snow covered ground in front of it at some point. For now we just settle for Blizzard Beach.

Club Levels & Fancy Stays

I still like a value resort. We stay at Pop Century, All Star Sports and Toy Story Hotel more than any other Disney hotel. But, we did our first club level stay a few years ago and it may have ruined us. Now I’m constantly checking different club levels, weighing if the extraordinary price tag would be worth the extraordinary stay. Most of the time, the answer is no. But I keep looking and would love to try all of the club levels at Walt Disney World.

Along those same lines, there are a number of lavish Disney hotels that I’d love to stay in. Chief among them is the Disneyland Paris Hotel. That happens to be one of the most expensive Disney hotels, unfortunately. Others fall into that same category like the Grand Californian, Fantasy Springs Hotel (we plan to stay there later this year) and a few other Paris options. We’ve stayed at a number of beautiful Disney resorts around the world but there’s plenty more to go!

A Theme Park’s Opening

This one doesn’t come around all that often! Shanghai Disneyland would have been our only chance in adulthood to experience an opening day at a Disney Park. That wasn’t really a consideration at the time given where we were in life. Funnily enough, I’m betting that the next Disney theme park that will open will also be in Shanghai so time will tell on that!

Technically, we could have done Epic Universe on opening day last year and maybe should have considered it more. I don’t pretend to be a Universal Orlando expert, although we’re spending more and more time there. For now, we’ll kick the can down the road but experiencing a park on opening day would be extremely exciting!

Those are our Disney Parks bucket list items! What are some that are on your list? Let us know, along with any questions you have, in the comments below. Planning a Disney trip? Check out our Travel Guides to help get you there! Here’s a link to discount tickets at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. If you enjoy what you’re reading here on Wandering in Disney please subscribe to the blog via email or WordPress and like our social media pages. You can find all of those things on the right side of this page. Thank you very much for reading, we appreciate it!