How To Upgrade Tools In Disney Dreamlight Valley

Disney Dreamlight Valley is absolutely loaded with biomes to explore, cosmetics to collect, and obstacles to destroy. That said, if you’re planning on making a serious dent in any of these things, then you’re going to need to upgrade your Royal Tools, which consist of the Watering Can, Pickaxe, Shovel, and more.

Fortunately, Dreamlight Valley hosts a community of capable friends, some of whom can use their special talents to permanently upgrade your Royal Tools. To reap these benefits, you will need to progress with your daily Dreamlight Duties, Friendship Quests, and Biome Quests.

Updated on February 16, 2025, by Alfredo Robelo: With two expansions already released, Disney Dreamlight Valley has many ways to upgrade Royal Tools both new and old. We’ve updated this article to include the upgrade paths for all Tools from A Rift In Time and The Storybook Vale expansions.

When you begin your epic journey across Dreamlight Valley, you’ll find yourself acquiring three Royal Tools: the Pickaxe, the Watering Can, and the Shovel. Each of these items can be used to complete certain activities around the village, which can net you Dreamlight, Fish, Vegetables, Fruits, and Minerals.

Unfortunately, there is only so much you can do with the beginner tools in your inventory. As you’ll quickly come to learn, unlocking certain biomes in the village can mean having to destroy rare objects, such as coral, tree stumps, and large mushrooms.

To remove any of these items, you will, of course, need to bulk out your arsenal with the upgraded Royal Tools. But what exactly are the Royal Tools?

Royal Phone

The Royal Phone can be used to take pictures, letting the player participate in many events dealing with the community, although certain Friendship Quests may require you to use it as well. It is the only Royal Tool the player starts with, and even though it is a phone, you can’t make or receive calls from it. There are no upgrades for the Royal Phone.

Royal Pickaxe

The Royal Pickaxe can be used to mine rocks around Dreamlight Valley. Doing so can net you a variety of items, including Iron Ore, Emeralds, and Aquamarine. Minerals collected from mining can be used to craft a number of items at any Crafting Table, as well as serve as gifts for your neighbors around the village.

Royal Shovel

The Royal Shovel can be used to dig up patches of land to plant crops. By interacting with any piece of land, you can establish allotments around the village and create farms for vegetables and fruits. These consumables can then be sold at Goofy’s Stall in any of the unlocked biomes.

Royal Watering Can

The Royal Watering Can is used to water crops and help them flourish. You can interact with any patch of dry soil and nourish it by pouring water over it and letting it grow over a short period of time. Once you have given any type of crop enough time to uproot, you can harvest it and sell it to Goofy’s Stall for spare coins.

Royal Fishing Rod

The Royal Fishing Rod is used to gather fish and seaweed from the different bodies of water around the village. From the ocean to the ponds, all bodies of water can be searched for specific types of seafood and fish with the Royal Fishing Rod.

Royal Hourglass

This Royal Tool is only accessible with the A Rift In Time Expansion Pass.

The Royal Hourglass is used to search through time to find lost artifacts, remove Swirling Sands, and craft new items at the Timebending Table. Many of the new items you’ll find with the Hourglass are required to create new furnishings for your village.

Royal Net

This Royal Tool is only accessible with the Storybook Vale Expansion Pass.

The Royal Net is used to gather the snippets scattered throughout the Storybook Vale. The snippets are mostly used to craft the tapestries of the Lorekeeper Tales, rewarding the player with large pictures of their favorite movies as well as other items. So far, there are no upgrades for the Royal Net.

As we said, the day-one tools can really only take you so far in Dreamlight Valley. In order to unlock the entire map, you will have to scout out the following nifty upgrades.

Several tools can be upgraded to help clear away obstacles in the valley, however, each upgrade has different requirements. You’ll need to complete different friendship quests with villagers to unlock the ability to break more obstacles like Ice Blocks and Tree Stumps.

How To Upgrade The Royal Pickaxe

The Royal Pickaxe has two upgrades: one that can be obtained from Maui, and another that can be obtained from Elsa. In order to claim either of these upgrades, you will need to venture through the Dream Castle and unlock their respective Realms. Specifically, the Moana Realm, and the Frozen Realm.

It doesn’t matter which Realm you unlock first, though we would recommend aiming for the Moana Realm, as this door is presented to you much earlier on in the game and requires less Dreamlight to unlock.

How To Break Sea Debris On Dazzle Beach

To unlock the first Royal Pickaxe upgrade, head to the Moana Realm and speak with Maui. You will need to complete his Friendship Quests until you are presented with the opportunity to invite him back to Dreamlight Valley.

To do this, simply place his home from your Inventory anywhere on Dazzle Beach.

Once Maui has made it to the village, progress with the Friendship Quests until you receive A Tale of Stone and Fire. Completing this quest will net you the Royal Pickaxe upgrade, which can be used to break coral clusters on Dazzle Beach.

The quest A Tale of Stone and Fire asks that you prepare Maui a meal with a five-star rating. An easy way to create this would be to cook Bouillabaisse, a relatively simple entrée that can be rustled up with Shrimp, Tomato, Lettuce, Seashells, and a Clam.

How To Break Ice Blocks In The Frozen Heights

To unlock the second Royal Pickaxe upgrade, visit Elsa in the Frozen Realm and complete her Friendship Quests. Once you have mopped up the Breaking the Ice quest, you will receive an upgrade that allows you to break blocks of ice around Dreamlight Valley.​​​​​

The Friendship Quest Breaking the Ice asks that you bring Elsa a Warmth of Summer Potion. You can obtain the items needed to craft this from Dazzle Beach, Forest of Valor, and Glade of Trust.

How To Break Copper Rocks In Eternity Isle

If you own the A Rift In Time expansion, you’ll need to upgrade your Royal Pickaxe to break Copper Rocks. To get the upgrade, you’ll first need to complete the quest The Secrets of Eternity Isle given by Jafar, and then unlock the first upgrade of the Royal Hourglass (detailed below) if you also want to break the Large Copper Rocks.

While you only need the first upgrade of the Royal Hourglass, which costs 5,000 Mist, crafting the potion that permanently unlocks the ability to break Large Copper Rocks costs 3,000 more Mist.

How To Break Glass Stalagmites In Glittering Dunes

The Stalagmite Glass is another obstacle exclusive to the A Rift in Time expansion, with both types of obstacles (small and large Stalagmites) needing their own specific potion. You unlock the first potion by following Jafar’s questline until nearing the end of The Sands in the Hourglass, at which point Merlin will have new expansion-related quests, starting with Village Project: Timeless Treasures.

The recipe for the potion unlocking the Large Glass Stalagmite upgrade for the Pickaxe is unlocked via the first upgrade of the Royal Hourglass, just like with the Copper Rocks.

How To Break Petrified Wood In The Bind

The Storybook Vale expansion simplified how upgrades are unlocked, making it a simple reward for completing the expansion’s introductory quest. As such, all you need to do to unlock this Pickaxe upgrade is complete the quest Welcome to the Storybook Vale, although you also need to do all the introductory base game quests before tackling this one.

How To Break Hunks of Marble In Mythopia

Once you unlock Hades in the Storybook Vale expansion, he’ll upgrade your Pickaxe as part of his friendship quest Mythic Restoration. You will also need to have a few base game characters already unlocked, most notably Remy, since he isn’t needed to access the expansion itself.

All the resources Hades asks for, particularly the Eternal Poppies, Posidonia and Gravel, can be quickly found in Mythopia itself.

How To Upgrade The Royal Shovel

The Royal Shovel can be upgraded into the Shovel Blade, a nifty tool that can not only dig trenches around Dreamlight Valley, but also remove tree stumps, too. To bag this important upgrade, you will need to invite Anna back to Dreamlight Valley.

You can do this after finishing the quest line in the Frozen Realm.

How To Break Tree Stumps In The Forest Of Valor

Once you have invited Anna back to the village, simply complete the opening Friendship Quests until you learn how to craft the Shovel Blade.

Unlocking this will help you keep Dreamlight Valley in shipshape, and will also help you obtain more Hardwood, a useful resource that can be combined with other materials to make a wide selection of furniture and cosmetics.

How To Break Wildebeest Bones In Sunlit Plateau

Breaking Wilderbeest Bones is tied to Scar’s friendship quests, but you don’t need to reach max level with him. At friendship level four, he aids you in crafting the upgrade to break Small Wildebeest Bones, and at friendship level seven he’ll aid you in breaking the Large ones as well.

How To Break Rubble In Ancient’s Landing

Rubble is an obstacle exclusive to the A Rift in Time expansion, with the upgrade to break Small Rubble being awarded by Merlin while the Large Rubble upgrade is unclocked via upgrading the Royal Hourglass once. Merlin’s quest starts after advancing through Jafar’s questline, specifically at the end of The Sands in the Hourglass.

How To Break Mossy Logs In The Bind

Right after unlocking the Royal Pickaxe upgrade at the start of The Storybook Vale expansion, Merida’s introductory questline continues with Clan DunBroch’s Rules of the Hunt. Right at the start of this quest you gain the ability to break the Mossy Logs scattered in The Bind.

How To Break Broken Teacups In Everafter

Right after unlocking Everafter in The Storybook Vale expansion, you can be awarded the ability to clear Broken Teacups with your Royal Shovel by Flynn. However, this only happens by finishing the Curiouser and Curiouser quest, which needs you to first finish A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing.

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How To Upgrade The Royal Watering Can

You can upgrade the Royal Watering Can relatively early on in the game, though it does require you to befriend Merlin and complete a fair chunk of his Friendship Quests to receive it.

How To Remove Mushroom Patches

To obtain the upgrade, simply follow Merlin’s Friendship Quests until you receive The Final Trial. Completing this Quest will give you the ability to remove large mushrooms, which are locally referred to as Mystical Mushrooms.

You will need to own this upgrade in order to unlock the Glade of Trust biome.

How To Remove Green Fires In The Forgotten Lands

While water shouldn’t need an upgrade to remove fire, the Green Fires in the Forgotten Lands are magical in nature. As such, someone equally magical is needed to remove these fires, and the Fairy Godmother is exactly who you need: you simply need to raise her friendship level to two, and then start the Fire Alarm quest for her to upgrade your Watering Can.

How To Remove Evil Plants In Wild Tangle

Evil Plants are an obstacle exclusive to the A Rift in Time expansion, with the upgrade to break Small Evil Plants being awarded by Merlin (after the quest Village Project: Timeless Trash) while the Large Evil Plants upgrade is unclocked via upgrading the Royal Hourglass once. Merlin’s quest starts after advancing through Jafar’s questline, specifically at the end of The Sands in the Hourglass.

How To Remove Bubbling Mushrooms In Everafter

To remove the Bubbling Mushrooms, you’ll need to advance through Flynn’s friendship quests until you can take on An Old-Fashioned Heist. This not only requires Flynn’s friendship level to be seven, but you also need several characters already unlocked, particularly:

• Buzz Lightyear
• Merida
• Mulan
• Mushu
• Olaf
• Remy
• Stitch
• Vanellope

How To Remove Mysterious Flames In Mythopia

Within the Mythopia biome, the Mysterious Flames are encountered mostly in The Fiery Plains. Hades will upgrade your Royal Watering Can to remove these flames during the quest A Moth to a Flame, which starts just as you unlock that part of the biome.

How To Upgrade The Royal Fishing Rod

While the Royal Fishing Rod isn’t formally used to remove obstacles, it can still be upgraded thanks to Moana’s Boat. Each upgrade to Moana’s Boat reduces the energy cost of using the Royal Fishing Rod by two percent, making the max reduced by 20 percent at the boat’s level ten.

How To Upgrade The Royal Hourglass

After you unlock the Royal Hourglass during The Flying Metal Nuisance quest, you can upgrade it at a Timebending Table. Upgrading your Royal Hourglass will cost lots of Mist, starting at 5,000 Mist and increasing by 5,000 for each level.

Mist can be gathered by removing Swirling Sands, completing Dreamlight Duties on Eternity Isle, and clearing the Splinters of Fate from the biomes around the island.

How To Complete Friendship Quests

Friendship Quests are the primary objectives you’ll be completing when developing your community. To really make it thrive, though, you will need to invite friends to help it prosper.

To this end, you will need to complete Friendship Quests, which are episodic journeys that require you to complete various tasks for certain characters.

Before you go gallivanting around the desolate village of Dreamlight Valley, you’ll want to open up your Log, which will show you all the current Friendship Quests available to complete.

And if you’re just starting, these will likely be connected to either Merlin or Mickey Mouse.

Completing Friendship Quests nets you Dreamlight, which can be used to unlock new biomes in the village and Realms in the Dream Castle. You will need to unlock both of these in order to find new friends and, in turn, obtain more Friendship Quests.