Mistake you will not repeat next time...

[delaneyc52]

1. I will never ever step foot on a Disney bus. What a stressful waste of time! Rental cars all the way for us.

2. I will never ever do on-line check in. You get the worst rooms possible. We've been going for so long I know the good rooms/bad rooms and would rather negotiate with a cast member at check in.

3. Had family members with us for the first time last year (and we've been going to WDW since November '71). We never did ADR's or any planning up until that point and now I know why. Never again. Hate planning!! (Hear that FP+ planners???)

4. Per #3 above, we did a dining plan. Ugh. Never again. Way to much food.

5. We will never go in any busy season (which is getting more and more limited) but we'll keep trying.

Oh...one more. 6!! ..a lesson I learned 20 years ago. When the kids are enjoying the resort pool, go with it. The parks will always be there.

 

[tophatgirl]

Our DD is 6 and I feel the walking will be too much for her. What type of stroller did you bring?

We brought The First Years JET last year. It is a lightweight umbrella stroller that holds up to 50lbs although it pushes ok if a bit over 50lbs. I bought it at our local Shopko although Amazon offers the same one w/free shipping. It has a small under basket and a zipper pouch by the handles. I also like it because it has higher placed handles. Other I have found have been hard on my back and I am only 5 4. DH was ok pushing it too and he is 5 11.

HTH! Have fun!

 

[ZeroMyHero]

Not planning the park I would be at before making dining reservations.....

The first trip with the DP, we were running from park to park just to eat!!! Lesson learned....I look at a crowd calendar, plan my park, then make out reservations!!

^^^ THIS.

I will also never again make the mistake of skipping something simply because someone else said it was bad/boring/not worth it. On our first trip with friends years ago, they hurried us through AK because they said it was a boring park. We hit the safari ride and Kali River Rapids and that was it (EE wasn't built yet). They also told us the best food you could get in AK was at Restaurantosaurus, which at the time was a McD's. We decided to listen to them because after all, they had been to AK twice and it was our first time, but we felt rushed and got a bad impression of the park. How I wish we had split up that day. 5 years later, on our first family trip, we decided to give AK another shot and ended up loving it. Now when someone says "Skip X at WDW, it's terrible", I thank them for their opinion but try it out for myself anyway.

 

[Marthasor]

Our DD is 6 and I feel the walking will be too much for her. What type of stroller did you bring?

The City Mini Elite's that you can rent at most Orlando stroller rental places are also good for bigger kids. My son is 5 and BIG and I still rent a stroller for him. Makes both of our lives a heck of a lot easier in the parks - people stare at me, but I don't care. He still walks most of the time, but when we start chugging along to get from, say, TT to an ADR in WS, the stroller comes in mighty handy!

Mistakes?! Stitch, not getting a stroller, making too many CC hold ADR's, not trying the Swan/Dolphin sooner!

 

[MADnNOLA]

We have also learned to not put off riding something, meeting someone, buying/eating something until later in the trip....before you know it, it's over and the opportunity is lost.

THIS!!!!!

 

[bauer1168]

Mine would have to be watching Wishes directly at the front. You can definitely hear the fireworks, but will hardly see any of them. Couldn't believe I made that mistake. I blame the castle for being so awesome and pulling me in like a magnet

 

[brettcw23]

It's kinda funny with this thread as the "mistakes" are so opposite. One person will say "my mistake was not making rope drop" and another will say "getting up for rope drop". Another will say "having a touring plan" and the second will say "not having a touring plan".

LOL....I was thinking the same exact thing! Just goes to show how much personality plays a role in how to approach a Deisney trip!

What's amazing to me is that we are super Disney planners, yet we always find something new to learn from each trip.

 

[alicia080979]

Take my MIL. Never, ever, ever doing that again.
Also...no more taking newbies for a while. Our last two trips were just trying to show them everything which meant no chance for us to do Disney the way we like to which is get up, hit the park for a couple hours, go relax, shop, swim, etc. and generally have a much slower paced trip.

 

[jenjordan]

My biggest "mistake" was going with another family. We love them dearly and there weren't any problems at all, but I was the trip planner and I spent most of the time worried that if I made an error it would not only ruin our trip, but theirs too. This time we are going with just the 4 of us so the pressure is off.

 

[racefans44]

Mistakes made, but never again.

1. Renting a car. I'm on vacation and do not want the hassle. Plus I may
want a drink or 4.

2. Not get the dining plan. What can I say, it just works for us.

3. Go with extended family or friends.

4. Not have at least one resort day.

5. Pay for a touring plan. I don't know what I was thinking. We know
how to enjoy our Happy Place. Scrapped it at 3PM of Day 1.

6. Attempt to leave right after Fireworks.

I have seen several people list the extended family and friends as a mistake. I will definitely keep this in mind, because I was considering this type of trip. I think I will take everyone's advice and reconsider.

 

[KapBoy77]

I have seen several people list the extended family and friends as a mistake. I will definitely keep this in mind, because I was considering this type of trip. I think I will take everyone's advice and reconsider.

Yes this is making me reconsider things as well... However I'm afraid it might be too late.

 

[redrosesix]

I will never again take a car to MK when I'm staying in disney (unless my husband is driving and offers to drop us off and pick us up at the front of the park). It's just so much faster to take the bus to the front of the park when you're going to MK.

Driving is fine if you're going to AK or DHS and you're going early (or really really late) but we always take the bus to MK now, and usually monorail from there to Epcot since it's our least favourite park.

And from now on I will always let my DH sleep in by himself and leave for the parks without him -- we have wasted far too much time while he's "on vacation". And he can go to Epcot by himself if he wants to while we go to a different park, so I don't have to hear any whining from anybody on our trip.

 

[csummerlin55]

I have seen several people list the extended family and friends as a mistake. I will definitely keep this in mind, because I was considering this type of trip. I think I will take everyone's advice and reconsider.

I almost always go with my DH, DKs, DM, one or both of my DGMs and even with my DFIL. I would not say we ever have a problem that would prevent us from doing it again (granted everyone is pretty easy-going). IMHO watching my children make those memories with their grandparents and great-grandparents is priceless. I realize this isn't for everyone but it works for some.

 

[cuchu2005]

Not securing our rental car keys properly. Lost them. Lucky us we had a roadside insurance included (w/o knowing) and the rental company replaced our car. Now I hold on to them like they are gold!

Mx

 

[Brook1099]

Wait, where do you buy Dole Whip mix? TIA.

Unified Enterprise Corp online is where I bought mine. Dont bother getting the vanilla not that good.

 

[Murron]

I'm another vote for rental cars vs.never taking the Disney buses. A lesson that took me years to learn. Rental gets you from A to B a LOT faster without stress or waiting. If I want to be at MK at rope drop...I'll be there.

Family is another thing. Sometimes having to re-adjust your habits is difficult. We've done it, we have had a lot of fun, but it's not something we'd like to do on a year to year basis. I guess "our" time is just incredibly important to us after working and taking care of others all year long.

And we can count ourselves among those who rather be spontaneous vs. over planning. Spontaneity has never let us down. That means never doing the dining plan or ADR's. A previous poster alluded to the potential FP+ and I'm on the same page. I can't plan my meals or rides 6 months in advance!

And...as others had said...experience each venue for yourself. One person may dislike TOT and another may think it's the greatest ever. Just try (and taste yummmm) everything at least once.

 

[DisneyGal24]

1. Going with other people. Before DH and I kids of our own we decided to go to WDW, Universal, and IOA. One of our friends and her two kids came with us. It was miserable. The kids, both 10 at the time, whined the entire time, wouldn't ride anything, and just wanted to swim. After a few days we started to go our separate ways.

2. Drive all night to get to WDW. We arrived at our resort around 7am. We didn't really consider the possibility that our room would not be ready. Pretty dumb on our part. The kids had slept all night and were ready to go to a park and see Mickey. We ended up at Epcot but Dh and I were so delirious! Luckily by the time we returned to the resort for lunch our room was ready. The kiddos were still going strong and we didn't get a nap. We were exhausted!

 

[Disney Freebird]

Uh oh... What happened with this? My DH and I have been talking about bringing our DD's BFF with us. Do tell!

Here's the link to a thread with a bunch of stories....


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3005867

 

[nannyker]

I probably wouldn't go to MK on a Saturday or Sunday.

We arrived on a Saturday so Sunday was our first offical park day so of course we started at MK only to find it packed and after fireworks and extra magic hours waited for our bus to the resort for an hour!

Our last day was the following Saturday so we of course made MK our last day. We had to leave to go to our ADRs and when we reutrned we could barely get into MK because it was the light parade and then when it was over everyone just stayed put for the fireworks and we had to push and shove our way down main street just to get into the park!!

I would plan our ADRs a little better so we weren't park hopping every day for dinner. I was thinking we would go back to our room each day to rest shower and then go to dinner. But we found with the buses etc it just would not be worth it. I also learned because of the ADRs we never had the chance to see fantasmic because the first days we couldn't get back in time and the second day it rained hard and they cancelled it.

Also I would have requested an earlier ME bus to the airport than the one they scheduled us on. By the time it stopped at 4 other resorts and got us to the airport we barely made it to the gate to board our plane on time!

I would not go in September again though it was free dining plan the humidity was horrible and we were moody and uncomfortable the whole week.

I would keep breakfast stuff in our room. MAny days we would leave our room at 10 am have a small breakfast go to the park and in an hour be starving for lunch and have to stop again to eat.

I would carry our raincoats with us everyday instead of leaving them in our room..of course it rained so hard we had to give in and buy some!!

I would pack less clothes for all of us!

Things I would do again?
Princess meals, Dining plan, big stroller for my DD to carry all our junk and have a place to leave it while we ride, and Photo pass plus.

 

[TNMouseFan]

Making ADRs for food types that my DD has never eaten at. I thought Chefs de France would be a treat...him, not so much. Hes a pretty meat and potatoes southern boy eater. I was trying to sway him- my fault. Will never do Chefs de France again and probably will be reminded of his experience for a long time.

Will never go Christmas week again. Yes it was beautiful, but I definetly learned I prefer the off seasons much more.