Disney Dreamlight Valley: How to raise friendship levels quickly

Making friends and building relationships in Disney Dreamlight Valley is the key to progressing through the game, and there are tricks to level friendships up quickly.

Disney Dreamlight Valley puts a big emphasis on friendship. Unlike Stardew Valley, where players can choose to interact with town residents, or Animal Crossing where the interactions are very surface level, the new Disney slice-of-life game requires deep connections for story progression.

However, getting friendship levels up can be a grind, especially when trying to complete each NPC questline. While getting to know Goofy, and helping Mickey with his grief over Minnie, is surprisingly deep and touching, some players just want to access the beach.

Below we’ve compiled a list of ways to boost friendship levels quickly in Disney Dreamlight Valley.

If you’re wondering if Disney Dreamlight Valley is worth it in 2023, you can check out our early access review here.

Talk to every Villager in Disney Dreamlight Valley daily

The first and most important way to improve NPC friendship levels is through conversations. Players can learn something about each of the valley residents daily, often engaging in social puzzles like guessing games during the dialogue.

Elsa from Frozen gains new skill points as she levels up

Going through these conversations will give a big boost to the Friendship level bar, making it worth visiting each character.

Disney Dreamlight Valley players can gift as much as they like

The biggest trick to leveling friendship in Disney Dreamlight Valley is giving gifts. In games like Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and Story of Seasons, gifts will only affect friendship levels a few times a day at most. Surprisingly, this isn’t the case when gifting NPCs in the Disney slice-of-life.

The quickest way to level up is to pay attention to the daily gifts at the bottom of the dialogue screen when speaking with a character. These particular gifts are usually easy to come by and will give a bonus boost.

However, those looking to blast through the earlier levels with each NPC need to look no further than their own kitchen.

Cooking is simple in Disney Dreamlight Valley

Early in Disney Dreamlight Valley, players will be given a stove in a questline with Mickey Mouse. He will teach the players to make Minnie’s crackers, unlocking the ability to cook quickly. Players who have been stocking up on all the wild fruit in the valley have everything they need to blast through friendship leveling.

Using one piece of fruit, players can craft the Fruit Salad food item. The cheap, easy-to-make snack can then be given in large numbers to any NPC, quickly raising the friendship level of the target character.

While this same trick can be done with non-craft gifts, the Fruit Salad is the most efficient option for the least amount of work.

Complete quests for Disney Dreamlight Valley Villagers

Players will also need to complete quests for the characters living in the valley. Unfortunately, this is the most ineffective way to raise the friendship levels of NPCs. Quests can take time to complete, require a lot of resources, and are often locked behind higher levels.

While it might not be the best or fastest way, it does still give a boost and is often necessary to continue the overarching storyline.

Thankfully, most of these social requirements in Disney Dreamlight Valley are easy and well-integrated into gameplay. While many might be eager to unlock the entire map for exploration, getting to know the locals definitely has its rewards.

That’s everything you need to know about how to raise friendship levels quickly in Disney Dreamlight Valley! For more DDV content, check out our guides below:

How to get Emeralds in Disney Dreamlight Valley | Is Disney Dreamlight Valley co-op multiplayer? | How to complete The Ancient Doorway quest in Disney Dreamlight Valley | Does Disney Dreamlight Valley have crossplay and cross-progression | How to get clay & locations in Disney Dreamlight Valley | Lost Diaries locations | All Sunstone Fragment locations | Disney Dreamlight Valley ingredients guide