Maximize Your Fun at Walt Disney World with These Side Quests

Rides, dining, and shows are typically the main attractions for Walt Disney World guests, but there’s so much more to enjoy at the parks than the main quest of eat, drink, ride, sleep, and repeat. Side quests offer hidden details, unique experiences, and creative achievements to add another layer of fun and magic to your visit.

Whether you’re a first-timer or a frequent parkgoer seeking new experiences, Disney side quests are a great way to explore beyond the obvious. From scavenger hunts and food strolls to quirky photo ops, these are some of the official and unofficial Disney World side quests we’ve enjoyed the most — and some we’re still chasing.

Official Walt Disney World Side Quests

Disney World has several official side quest activities available in the parks. Some of them are completely free, but most are low-cost experiences. Although there are year-round side quests you can pick up, some EPCOT activities change to fit the current festival.

Go on an EPCOT Festival Scavenger Hunt

EPCOT has 4 festivals throughout the year, and you can experience a new scavenger hunt at each of them. Here’s the festival and scavenger hunt lineup:

• January 17 to February 24: Figment’s Brush With the Masters (EPCOT International Festival of the Arts)
• March 5 to June 2: Spike the Bee Pollen-Nation Exploration (EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival)
• Late August to mid-November: Remy’s Ratatouille Hide and Squeak Scavenger Hunt (EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival)
• Late November to late December: Olaf’s Holiday Tradition Expedition (EPCOT Festival of the Holidays)

Purchase a scavenger hunt map for $9.99 plus tax at Creations Shop, Disney Traders, festival merchandise kiosks, or World Traveler. You’ll find items (character statues, art, or markers, depending on the hunt) and match the appropriate sticker to the item’s location on your map. Once you’re done, you can bring your map to Creations Shop, Disney Traders, or World Traveler to get a keepsake prize. Prizes have included a stencil set for the Figment hunt and a watering can for Spike’s Pollen-Nation hunt.

These hunts are fun as you visit spots throughout EPCOT, usually heavily concentrated in the World Showcase. Some items can be challenging to find, but you can ask cast members for hints. You can still get your keepsake even if you don’t finish the hunt.

On the Figment’s Brush With the Masters hunt, we saw Figment happily paddling on “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” in the Japan showcase and posing in place of “Mona Lisa” in the Italy showcase.

Hot Tip:

The Play Disney Parks app also has a DuckTales World Showcase Adventure scavenger hunt.

Eat Through EPCOT Festival Food Challenges

Each festival at EPCOT has a food challenge menu in the back of the festival passport. Get your passport stamped when you eat any 5 of the items on the menu, and you’ll get a completer treat.

At the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, the Garden Graze challenge menu features exclusively plant-based items.

Following the challenge menu is a fun way to try food you might have overlooked otherwise — although there’s no way we would have missed avocado toast at Brunchcot.

Once you’ve collected all of your menu stamps, you can pick up your completer treat at the designated festival booth near Port of Entry. The completer treat for Garden Graze was a plant-based Dole Whip in a souvenir cup with a packet of wildflower seeds.

Spot Dory and Friends at the Seas

As you view aquatic animals at the Seas pavilion in EPCOT, you can complete a Dory-themed scavenger hunt.

Pick up a free booklet — Finding Dory’s Friends: A Fin-Tastic Scavenger Hunt — on the ground floor of the aquarium near the stairs, then start exploring!

Inside, you’ll find stickers for animals you can find in the aquariums, from Dory herself to manatees. When you find them, you can move the sticker to the appropriate page. Each page has information and questions to ask about what you’ve found. Fun and educational!

Become a Wilderness Explorer

You can join the Wilderness Explorers from the Pixar film “Up,” earning more than 25 adventure badges throughout Animal Kingdom. First, visit the Wilderness Explorers headquarters on the bridge between the Oasis and Discovery Island. There you learn the Wilderness Explorers call — caw! caw! roar! — and pick up a handbook where you can collect your badges. It’s free!

Grab a pencil, too, and bring your handbook everywhere throughout Animal Kingdom. Look for the Wilderness Explorers icon from the handbook at spots throughout the park to stop and earn badges.

Hot Tip:

Wilderness Explorer activities end at 6 p.m. most days, which is sometimes earlier than park closing hours.

Inside the handbook are activities with notes on requirements and where to find the activity.

Visit each of the stations, where a Wilderness Explorers guide works through the activity with you, sharing facts and helping you complete the requirements to earn your badge.

Tell the guide once you’ve earned all of your badges, and you’ll get your Senior Wilderness Explorer badge sticker!

Fill Your EPCOT Kidcot Passport

As you walk around the World Showcase at EPCOT, you can visit Kidcot stations at each of the 11 pavilions for an educational memento.

You can purchase an EPCOT passport from shops in each of the country pavilions for $16.99, but it’s not required. All you have to do is ask for a country card at the Kidcot stops, which are free. Each card has facts about the country and a passport sticker.

But the best part is the unique drawings. Kidcot cast members — who are usually from the pavilion’s country — draw on the cards, and you never know what you’ll get!

One of the best stops is the Japan pavilion, where a Kidcot cast member usually writes your name in Japanese on the card. I got a cute Baymax drawing, too!

On the other side is a country-themed coloring card. The card I got at the Germany pavilion had Chip and Dale carrying (and eating) a huge pretzel! There are tables with crayons or pencils for coloring, so you can color these as you go if you’d like. I picked up a set of tiny colored pencils for $2 to $3 at the House of Good Fortune shop in the China pavilion to color my cards on the plane ride home.

Here’s where you can find each of the Kidcot spots:

• Mexico Pavilion (near Mexico Folk Art Gallery) 
• Norway Pavilion (at The Puffin’s Roost) 
• China Pavilion (near the exit of Reflections of China) 
• Germany Pavilion (at Volkunst) 
• Italy Pavilion (outside, near La Bottega Italiana) 
• American Adventure Pavilion (outside, near Art of Disney) 
• Japan Pavilion (in the Bijutsu-kan Gallery) 
• Morocco Pavilion (at the Marketplace in the Medina) 
• France Pavilion (at Souvenirs de France) 
• United Kingdom Pavilion (at The Toy Soldier) 
• Canada Pavilion (at the exit of Canada Far and Wide in Circle-Vision 360)

Bounty Hunt in Batuu

If you have a MagicBand+ ($34.99 to $49.99), you can play Star Wars: Batuu Bounty Hunters in Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios. Start at the bounty board in Galaxy’s Edge, between the Droid Depot and Black Spire Marketplace.

Once you’re there, you can tap your band on the touchpoint and follow the instructions to get started. You’ll watch an introduction video and get a name, photo, and the amount of credits you can earn for collecting your bounty.

From there, look for panels throughout Black Spire Outpost to find your bounty. Your band will light up green when you’re heading in the right direction, red when you’re not, and purple when you’ve found your bounty. If you want to, you can open the Play Disney Parks app to reveal your bounty, but you don’t have to use the app.

After you’ve found your bounty, go back to the doorway next to the bounty board to scan your MagicBand+ again and earn your credits. You can return to the bounty board to start another hunt — there are 20 available bounties.

Interact With Golden Statues

All 4 parks feature golden Fab 50 statues featuring favorite Disney characters. If you have a MagicBand+, you can wave your arm in a small circular motion to activate their sounds, which may be a greeting, music, or other sounds. For example, I visited Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa at Animal Kingdom, and Simba laughed while Pumbaa snorted!

If you use the Play Disney Parks app, you can follow the Fab 50 Quest to collect characters, get location clues, and experience augmented reality.

Go on a Pirate Treasure Hunt

You can hunt treasure in Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland. First, visit the Crow’s Nest to sign up for free. It’s on the walkway between the exit of Pirates of the Caribbean and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

Inside, you can use your MagicBand+ or card to get a talisman card and a mission map. There are 5 missions of A Pirate’s Adventure, and each takes about 20 minutes to complete, but there’s no time limit, and you can come back to it throughout the day if you need to.

Use the map to find treasure throughout Adventureland at interactive spots.

Tap the talisman card to activate sounds, lights, and sometimes smoke. Listen closely for instructions to find the next spot on the map, as you have to complete them in order for it to work.

Once you’re done, you can return to the Crow’s Nest to pick up another map if you’d like. Complete all 5 missions, and you’ll get a sixth card signed by Jack Sparrow.

Trade Pins

Collectible Disney pins are a popular souvenir at Disney World, with entire stores and carts just for selling pins. You can collect and trade pins with cast members and other guests — look for trading boards in the shops.

Collect Pennies

Penny press machines are available throughout Disney World, and each machine has different pennies to collect. Each penny is $1, or you can get every style of penny in a machine for a flat price, usually around $5, depending on how many pennies a machine has. You don’t have to supply your own pennies, but most machines require you to manually crank them.

These are low-cost, small-sized souvenirs. It’s fun to see the variety of pennies available throughout the parks.

Hot Tip:

Bring $1 bills for this activity. You can pay with a card at the machines, but only for all the pennies, not individual selections.

Find Paw Prints in the Canada Pavilion

Near the Disney Vacation Club information booth in EPCOT’s Canada pavilion is Critter Crossing. You can walk through slowly to find paw prints and read information signs about woodland animals. This is a cute and quick challenge that’s great for kids.

Try To Pull the Sword From the Stone

Between Prince Charming Regal Carrousel and Cinderella’s castle is a spot where you can test your worthiness to become the next King Arthur. This “Sword in the Stone” interactive feature is a fun photo op, and the sword doesn’t budge for most people.

There is a cast member nearby who pushes a remote button to release the sword every now and then. Luck is a big factor in whether you can pull the sword up, but you can improve your chances by keeping both feet on the ground and not leaning over the sword.

See Veterinary Surgery at the Conservation Station

Take the train ride out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch at Animal Kingdom and explore the Conservation Station, where you’ll see windows, including an operating room where Disney veterinarians, techs, and keepers care for some of Animal Kingdom’s residents.

Surgeries usually happen first thing in the morning, and cast members told us Wednesday is the best day to go. When possible, vets, keepers, and techs come to the viewing area to explain the procedure and answer questions. You might see some familiar faces from the “Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom” show on Disney+!

Hot Tip:

Another great activity is the Animation Experience at Conservation Station, where a Disney animator will teach you how to draw a popular Disney character.

Unofficial Walt Disney World Side Quests

Find Hidden Mickeys

You can look for hidden Mickeys everywhere in Disney World. They’re at the parks, resorts, and Disney Springs. There are so many hidden Mickeys to find — I’ve been told there are more than 100 just at Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway!

Drink or Eat Around the World

Drinking around the world at EPCOT is a popular unofficial activity for Disney adults. It involves getting a drink in each of the 11 country pavilions in the World Showcase. We’ve seen shirts, passports, and even temporary tattoos you can use to track your progress as you drink. You can drink whatever you’d like—beer, wine, cocktails, or nonalcoholic options all count. Pace yourself with food, stay hydrated, and consider electrolyte packets.

Another option is to eat around the world, which is somewhat easier, as all you have to do is try a food or beverage of choice.

See Handprints of the Stars

The Chinese Theater at Hollywood Studios — where you can ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway — is a replica of the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Like in Hollywood, you can see handprints from stars — including Mickey Mouse — in front of the theater.

One of my favorites is the one with Robin Williams and his family. If you look closely below Robin’s handprints in the top left, you’ll see another dot that’s said to be his noseprint.

Experience Pandora After Dark

Animal Kingdom often closes before sunset, but when the park closes at 8 p.m. (typically weekends), and the sun sets before then, you can experience the sensory treat of Pandora at night.

It’s a fun experience to walk through the trails of Pandora and see the plants glow. Pandora is usually fairly empty this late, so you can hear the nature sounds, too.

Find the Hidden Skulls

Hidden Mickeys are everywhere, but there are also hidden skulls. We’ve seen them in the caves of Tom Sawyer Island and on Pirates of the Caribbean, but I’m sure there are more to find!

Spot Everything Weird About “it’s a small world”

One of my favorite ways to experience this ride is by pointing out everything unusual I can find — and there’s a lot. The wonky-winking hippo is hard to miss, and the hula girls who can’t keep up are always entertaining. It’s also fun to look for some of the older dolls that are a lot different from the more modern animatronics.

Get in Trouble With the First Order

Stormtroopers from the First Order regularly search Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios, and you can be targeted for an interrogation, especially if you wear something that could suggest you’re with the Rebel Alliance, like a character T-shirt or Jedi-like robes.

On Rise of the Resistance, cast members are intentionally unfriendly and brusque as you’re shipped off to interrogation. We’ve seen kids get grilled about the Rebel base for wearing a Chewie shirt! You might get zinged by the First Order cast members if you stand out somehow, like not following precise instructions to stand on a particular light or taking too long to get through the stormtrooper room.

More Walt Disney World Side Quests

There are so many side quests you can do at Disney World, there’s no way to cover them all here! These are some of the additional side quests you can enjoy at the parks, resorts, and Disney Springs:

• Experience Enchanted Extras, such as behind-the-scenes tours, building a lightsaber, and resort activities, including horseback riding and canoeing.
• Watch a light show on Spaceship Earth.
• Spot rare characters, such as Scrooge McDuck, DiVine, Rescue Rangers Chip and Dale, Thumper, or Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother.
• Hit high scores on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and Toy Story Mania.
• Select a foreign language on Spaceship Earth.
• Visit 4 parks in 1 day.
• Spot rebels — including Rey — hiding in Batuu.
• Activate Chewie mode on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
• Look at the details of the mosaics in the Cinderella’s castle walkway.
• See the flag lowered at Main Street Square at 5 p.m. — usually with veterans or first responders.
• Get walked off a malfunctioning ride for an unusual tour (and receive a Multiple Experiences pass you can use for most Lightning Lanes).
• Find Pascals hidden near the Rapunzel bathroom in Magic Kingdom.
• Listen to pianists at Casey’s Corner or the Grand Floridian lobby.
• Get a haircut at Harmony Barber Shop.
• Ride a Main Street vehicle.
• Find Snow White’s wishing well.
• Do the Monorail bar crawl — or Christmas tree and gingerbread house tour.
• Walk the Discovery Island trails at Animal Kingdom.
• Mail a letter from Magic Kingdom’s Main Street mailbox.
• Join a lightsaber meetup.
• Take a power nap on the People Mover.
• Watch the “Kiss Goodnight” when Cinderella’s castle plays “When You Wish Upon A Star” and the lighting scheme changes about 30 minutes after the park closes.

Final Thoughts

The magic of Disney World isn’t just in the headline attractions but in unexpected delights. Whether spotting hidden Mickeys, earning Wilderness Explorers badges, or chasing down a bounty in Galaxy’s Edge, these side quests offer new ways to enjoy the parks.