Mistake you will not repeat next time...

[Zooshoveller]

I will not make the mistake of not getting a Christmas ornament again! Didn't think to get one during my 2012 trip, but now that we are going back this year, I really think it will be a nice tradition.

Exactly!!! I plan on buying two next trip!

 

[joshsmom]

Funny I'm the total opposite. What I feel is a mistake I made once was not renting a car when staying at Old Key West. We like to get to the parks for rope drop and take an afternoon break. I felt like I wasted so much time waiting for buses. This last trip I drove down and stayed offsite and loved having my truck waiting for me in the parking lot whenever I wanted to go. Always want a car going forward, even if I don't always use it.

This is for us too. We love being able to go to the parking lot and get in our car when the night is over, instead of waiting in a bus line. We stay at the All Stars so the buses serve three resorts and they are always very very crowded. We like the flexibility of the car. We used to fly but now we just drive down and have our own car. We also don't have to figure out how to get to church!

It works for us. I know others love the Disney bus system--and we do still use it at times. But if we have the car, we have options.

 

[carissa1970]

I love that observation so much. People have to use common sense and also do what works for their needs, budget and travel style. When I was new(er) to the DISboards and seeking restaurant advice, I posted a msg explaining our main goals were to stay in the parks and experience the rides, attractions and shows and that the budget didn't permit a lot of TS restaurants, nor did time permit running all around WDW.

But one poster (who shall remain nameless - and obviously has a lot more time/money/gall...oops, did I say that out loud? than me) said we were "Really limiting yourselves by not thinking about resorts" [to eat at].

Seriously? Did they want to send me a check so I could pay for a longer, more leisurely vacation? Otherwise it's not helpful advice. So - a mistake we're not going to make is being pressured into doing what won't work for us and I appreciate WDW2012's post. BTW, I just looked at Disney's website to see how many eateries are at the parks and there are 88. Frankly I don't see how that's "limiting". Nearly one hundred choices...based on three meals a day, a person would have to stay an entire month at WDW just to try each of them once! 88 lovely places to eat...makes me hungry just thinking about it! So that's case closed!

I'm with you on this one. Not only would it be very limiting to the time in the parks, and expensive, but having to sit down for long dinners every night would make my son go crazy. We don't do restaurants much with him when we are at home, so no way would I make it my goal to eat at several while on vacation. We will eat in the parks or in our room (dvc villa) and enjoy the rides and activities!

 

[Postal68]

I've been to the park too many times to count (25...30 plus?) and just tried my FIRST Dole Whip in October 2012.

I've been there 20+ times since 1980 and have NEVER tried a Dole Whip.

 

[Postal68]

I'd rather rent a car and drive to each park, even if I'm staying on resort property. To put in bluntly, Disney's transportation basically sucks anymore. It was fine back in the old days, but now there are so many resorts and the place has become so big it takes forever to get from point A to point B for most trips using Disney Transportation. Oh yeah, and I ALWAYS have a seat on my ride home when leaving the Parks at night after walking around for 12-15 hours.

 

[laceyinwonderland]

My "mistake I'll never do again" was being a snack credit nazi! My poor hubby wanted to get ice cream at every stand we passed and I kept saying "Aw come on, you can get that anywhere, lets find something better, more special, unique blaa blaa blaa" During our whole trip, he only got ice cream once and we had to take TONS of candy home bc we had so many snack credits left. I still feel bad about this years later.

 

[cajmom]

Having only been there our first time during spring break, I would have liked to just wonder around checking things out instead of rushing to ride all we wanted to. It's kind of hard with only 5 days at 4 parks. I will take time to smell the roses next time.

 

[joshsmom]

I Really love this thread!! Even though we've been several times, I still learned a lot. AND YES, I DID read ALL 41 pages!!!

 

[carissa1970]

Having only been there our first time during spring break, I would have liked to just wonder around checking things out instead of rushing to ride all we wanted to. It's kind of hard with only 5 days at 4 parks. I will take time to smell the roses next time.

We are going for our first time in July, but we go to Disneyland and CA Adventure a lot. We will be there 5 days, and we only plan to go into the parks for 2 of them. Just to check out what is different and ride a few rides we don't have out here. Will spend time at the resorts and your DTD, as it seems way better than ours! Totally planning to smell the flowers.

 

[humboldthny]

We are going for our first time in July, but we go to Disneyland and CA Adventure a lot. We will be there 5 days, and we only plan to go into the parks for 2 of them. Just to check out what is different and ride a few rides we don't have out here. Will spend time at the resorts and your DTD, as it seems way better than ours! Totally planning to smell the flowers.

Are you planning on going to all 4 parks in 2 days? Remember that the WDW parks are a lot larger than the parks in CA and not at all close to each other so you will need to factor in a significant amount of travel time if you plan on park hopping. In my opinion both MK and Epcot are 2 day parks all on their own if you are going at a leisurely pace. At the very least I think you should consider 3 park days....

 

[carissa1970]

Are you planning on going to all 4 parks in 2 days? Remember that the WDW parks are a lot larger than the parks in CA and not at all close to each other so you will need to factor in a significant amount of travel time if you plan on park hopping. In my opinion both MK and Epcot are 2 day parks all on their own if you are going at a leisurely pace. At the very least I think you should consider 3 park days....

We aren't planning on AK this time around, and there isn't a lot we plan to do at MK. Of course, we may get there and change our minds, so we are flexible. We plan to go back in 2 years and we aren't going to try to do it all this trip. I may be crazy! We are dvc members, and I want to keep going back to try different resorts. I figure we will see everything at the parks eventually...

 

[1971DBday]

I will not make the mistake of not getting a Christmas ornament again! Didn't think to get one during my 2012 trip, but now that we are going back this year, I really think it will be a nice tradition.

This is our family tradition!!!! After 10 trips to WDW (7 with all three kids) I think we have about 60 ornaments!!!! However when my kids leave the nest their ornaments will go with them to start their own tree!

 

[JamiLeigh]

It will probably be years before I can make up for this mistake, but DH and I went in 2007 right before we had children. We both wanted to do the full day behind the scenes tour but I didn't want to spend the $400. Back then we both were working, I've been a stay at home mom for 5 yrs, so it's silly to me we didn't do it. I will always regret this. We splurged that year and stayed at the Poly, so an extra $400 wouldn't have broke the bank.

 

[RedfromNL]

If you go during the summer months (May, June, July, August) bring TWO outfits for each day. The wife suggested this before our 2010 trip but I decided not to listen to her. Boy was that a mistake. It was so hot that I needed to change my shirt as soon as the rope dropped at "rope dropped." Needless to say I spent most of the trip like this ----->

So true!

We will be there in May. Temperatures so far predicted are quite high for us (that counts as tropical at home!) so we dress and pack accordingly.

I make sure I have a park-outfit for the morning and an evening-outfit for later. The evening-outfit might be worn again though, if it passes the "sniff-test".

But yes, we do plan on at least two loads of laundry in two weeks....

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

So true!

We will be there in May. Temperatures so far predicted are quite high for us (that counts as tropical at home!) so we dress and pack accordingly.

I make sure I have a park-outfit for the morning and an evening-outfit for later. The evening-outfit might be worn again though, if it passes the "sniff-test".

But yes, we do plan on at least two loads of laundry in two weeks....

Yes we are going in May also. I swear by two outfits a day and Tee shirts with material like Under Armour and those type of quick drying ones.

 

[zy144622]

But only Disney resort guests can use them? We're staying off site. :S

They don't check to see if your a resort guest

 

[bopper]

Think about it this way:

If you are using the Disney bus, it is because you are going from one disney place to another disney place where presumably, you will spend money. By making it so you don't need a rental car they are keeping you within the Disney fence and you never have to leave (and spend money elsewhere). So, in reality, they want you to get around WDW using the buses, resort guest or not, because they want to make it easier for you to go to a restaurant or a store or a park and spend money.

 

[buckysinnTheHouse]

Trying to do everything on one day

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I'd rather rent a car and drive to each park, even if I'm staying on resort property. To put in bluntly, Disney's transportation basically sucks anymore. It was fine back in the old days, but now there are so many resorts and the place has become so big it takes forever to get from point A to point B for most trips using Disney Transportation. Oh yeah, and I ALWAYS have a seat on my ride home when leaving the Parks at night after walking around for 12-15 hours.

We always rent a car for three reasons:

1) Several years ago it took over an hour to get picked up in the AM to get to TL and we missed rope drop. Started to take a taxi there.

2) We sometimes eat at other resorts and going from one resort to another is very timeconsuming.

3) We stay at the BC and have been very upset at Epcot openings because when the IG opens at the same time front gate you end up behind the entire front gates at Soarin'

 

[kellyjeanie]

Moral of the story: If you MUST get a treat, make it a cupcake.

Oh goodness, the way you told this story was hilarious!! I'm glad you could laugh about it at the end. Thank you for the important lesson!