Any MISTAKES made on past trips?

[ZoZo]

Our first trip in 1997, I had my husband pack a whole case of beer in his carry on. And it wasn't the kind with wheels, so he had to carry it all through the airports. I was worried that he wouldn't be able to have a few beers in the room. Who knew that they sold beer in each resort.

He didn't really want to go to WDW and I was afraid he would hate it and never go back. Turns out he loved it, except the carrying a case of beer around the airports part.

I guess you wouldn't have the option to do this today, with all of the liquid restrictions at the airports. Unless they sell beer in three-ounce bottles, right? All you could stuff in a quart-size ziploc, anyone?

 

[*~Ariel~*]

Waiting 3 hours for Soaring!!! There is no way that ride is even worth 45 minutes!!

 

[Swimmergirl]

On my honeymoon I forgot tennis shoes! In the rush of leaving the chapel someone else put my shoes into a bag I wasn't taking on the honeymoon! So when we arrived at WL I realized I only had a pair of slip on sandals. After all the stress of a wedding, my sick father (he had been in the hospital until the day before the wedding), and travel delays, the missing shoes were the last straw. I broke down a cried. My poor DH didn't know what to do with me! I wound up buying VERY overpriced Nike's at the Mickey athletic store in DTD. Now I always double check that I have extra shoes packed!

 

[Kathi OD]

On my honeymoon I forgot tennis shoes! I wound up buying VERY overpriced Nike's at the Mickey athletic store in DTD. Now I always double check that I have extra shoes packed!

Make sure to remember the socks too! That was what I forgot our last trip...sneakers without socks all day in WDW??

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

Good things to know!! We're heading to WDW in May!

 

[dreamalittledream]

Dining with too large of a group all of the time. We had 9 and it always seemed like we waited for our ADR's and dinners took a long time. I would have spilt up a few meals and then regrouped.

Packing too much. Even the Bellhops were amazed at the amount of luggage I brought out of the room when we were done. ( I did buy 4 snowglobe frames that were in 12x14x10 boxes which took up almost an enire suitcase)
But I had different shirts for every day of a 10 day trip and a few extras for just in case and weather changes.

Not bringing my camera every time I left the room. Our last night in MK, just DD6 and I went to EMH and had the best time. She spent 15 min playing with Pluto, who is her favorite, at the end of the night by herself and I don't have any photos of it, just my fond memories.

Planning too exactly for the first day at MK. We got waylayed by Aroura first thing and delayed getting to Fantasyland and I got all stressed out about it. "Dumbo or Die" so we ended up at Speedway first and crisscrossed more thant we should have. Next time I'll try to relax and enjoy the first mornng and plan a second morning to do commando style. I was just way too excited!

 

[Mobed]

Just back on 12/19. Only regret is not using the Photopass people. We were always in a rush to get our next Fastpass or get in line. Oh...also, not buying a "few" more souvenirs. Like a few more shirts. You can always wear t-shirts!

Loved the DDP, Loved the daily afternoon breaks (we were there 8 nights, so didn't feel like we had to rush!), Loved getting there at opening and then coming back for evenings, Loved renting a van!

A tip....with my young kids, I was SURE they would be begging for "stuff" all day, every day. So, I loaded up on Disney stuff from Dollar Tree before hand. A whole bag full, one for each kid for each day. I told them that they had to nap and if they did that Mickey would visit while they were asleep and leave a prize. Wow, they were soooo thrilled! I got stuff like silly putty, yo-yo's, paddle balls, stickers, coloring books & crayons....all DISNEY. Here, my kids never asked for a single item from the WDW stores (I must have trained them TOO well to never ask for anything! Yikes!), so it was an extra pleasure blessing them with these little items. Cost me $24 (8 days x 3 kids)...not bad!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Double check to be sure you aren't leaving your tickets in your room.

I was reading one of my old journals today and yup - we did that. We were staying offsite on that trip too.

 

[lukenlaurafan77]

I just had to jump in and post here. My biggest mistake was going with friends last year and allowing them to dictate our schedule. We have 5 kids between us all(3 for me) and 2 for her. They INSISTEd on leaving after only 2 hrs at each park for naptime and returning. By the 3rd day I realized if we wanted to DO anything we had better do it by ourselves. We spent our last day at MK ALL day and had a blast but we never got to see everything there was. This year we're doing 2 days at MK.

 

[planetcaravan19f]

When I was 16 (over ten years ago) I put my camera on the bench next to me while I ate lunch...needless to say I walked away and left it behind.

Of course when I went running back to get it, it was gone.

So everyone, put your address on the camera and never let it out of your site. I also didnt think to look in the lost and found.

 

[Sparkie]

Biggest Mistake:

Paying for DD's boyfriend to go including airfare. Now dont get me wrong- he is a nice kid and all but DD decided that she didnt like him anymore about 3 weeks prior to the trip but she didnt tell ME nor did she tell HIM!! So he spent 3 miserable days with an ex-girlfriend who was behaving badly and I spent another $50 to change his plane ticket and sent him home early at his request.

Lesson learned: No boyfriends allowed on the family vacation- and if by some moment of temporary INSANITY I say yes, again to the "friend" I'm getting my non-refundable money up front.

 

[ctdisneyfreak]

Taking a towel on Space mountain with me. On my July 2006 trip, it was hot and I had a towel around my neck to keep the sun from beating on my neck. WELL, I forgot I had it on. While riding Space Mountain, the ride stopped, the lights turned on, we were stuck. I overheard a cast member say "yeah, there was a towel on the track. Who would being a towel on this ride". I reached for the towel on my neck...it was gone.

my bad

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

Taking a towel on Space mountain with me. On my July 2006 trip, it was hot and I had a towel around my neck to keep the sun from beating on my neck. WELL, I forgot I had it on. While riding Space Mountain, the ride stopped, the lights turned on, we were stuck. I overheard a cast member say "yeah, there was a towel on the track. Who would being a towel on this ride". I reached for the towel on my neck...it was gone.

my bad

Sorry to laugh, but that is definitely something that would happen to me.

 

[ctdisneyfreak]

no worries. I laughed as I was typing this post!

 

[kimmar067]

...yeah, bringing my gosh-darned FAMILY.....

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

I don't know if you are aware but there are fridge swaps on the disboard that will enable you to have a fridge for nearly and in some cases entirely free! And you don't have to lug it there yourself. Some of the swaps include microwaves and coffee pots also. Check out any of the Budget Board threads that refer to "fridge swaps"

Learning a ton here!!! Thanks OP and everyone!!

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

not taking into account the flight, the time change, the heat/humidity took on our bodies,

packing too much clothes,

not going to the waterparks more (sooooooooooooo refreshing),

not bring home more bags of mickey pretzles (everyone loves them!).

Never heard of the pretzels, can't wait to look for them. Thanks!

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

TOO MANY BAGS ON THE AIRPLANE! I thought my husband was going to pull all his hair out! I had my carry-on/baby bag, my girls each had a bag, dh had his laptop bag, I carried on my toiletry bag because it was packed so "carefully" and I was afraid of it getting thrown and broken , and then I had a HUGE resort bag with powerade, food and mickey krispie treats that we just "had" to buy on the way out the door because we had snack credits to burn and our luggage had been whisked away hours before from Magical Express. OH YEA, did I mention that I thought we should get some swimming in the morning we left so I had another bag with wet clothes in it!!! AND.....I keep forgetting the stuff we had we also had a big daddy umbrella and my wonderful Maclaren stroller.

There- is that enough ???

Seriously we carried on almost as many bags as we checked! Lesson learned

You are so funny!!! That's hilarious coz ZI could totally see myself trying it - won't now. Thanks for telling this!

 

[kimmar067]

Never heard of the pretzels, can't wait to look for them. Thanks!

...the absolute BEST pretzels at WDW are the CHEESE-FILLED ones they sell at the Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland......

 

[Chellymouse]

Our biggest "learning experiences":
1. Pack a first aid kit...bandaids (someone ALWAYS gets a blister no matter what) tylenol, advil, decongestant, ect. That stuff is WAY overpriced at the resorts.
2. We actually didn't pack enough clothes! We wanted to have room to bring things back....spent way too much time doing laundry and ended up spending extra money so we didn't have to do so much laundry.
3. Not having a plan....you need to have a plan. Don't have to plan every minute of every day, but we didn't have a plan and missed out on some things!