Any MISTAKES made on past trips?

[KAMommy]

I think the biggest mistake anyone can make is thinking you can see and do it all, and then trying!! On our first trip, we tried to cram so much in and wound up exhausted. What I love about owning in DVC is that it "frees" you. You know you are going back, so you relax. While we still go to parks every day, we now take our time and just enjoy. By doing so, we have had some of our most magical moments.

 

[stacy6552]

Ok, yes, I too have regretted not heeding the potty call, right away; to the tune of $60 for new shirt, shorts, and underwear.

My original one is not covering our stroller when we left it to go on a ride, on an August afternoon no less. I knew the tip, found it right here, but sure enough it only took a few minutes to find our stroller completely soaked, with the rain cover safe inside the soggy box I bought it in.

 

[Tiggerbell05]

The first few times I went, I made the mistake of trying to get everyone to be in the parks from opening until close! I have since reformed- my DD13 won't even let me make any breakfast reservations , if I want to eat breakfast, I eat it at our resort while she's sleeping!

This next trip (12/17 PC), I will be trying very hard to pack much less! I usually wash clothes anyway (again, while my DD is sleeping ).

My biggest mistake was on our trip last February. DD got sick while we were having dinner at Boma. We were staying at POFQ and all the parks were closed. It took us about 90 minutes to get from AKL to DTD and then to POFQ . I should have just asked the front desk to call us a cab at AKL.

 

[Disney Girlie-Wirlie]

I made the mistake of not bringing a back-up battery for my video camera. I sware, the smaller these cameras get, the smaller the lifetime of the battery! So, I had one battery, I was in MK. ALL day I couldn't wait for SpectroMagic parade. It's my fave thing there and I never videotaped it after all these years. So I was ready to videotape it this past year and when the parade started, my battery died!

Now I bought another one for my trip in 7 days and I better get that parade on tape this time!

 

[misskrystal]

I wish we'd made some PS's. My db doesn't like to plan anything, so we didn't make any, which meant we didn't eat at any of the places we wanted to.

Next time I'll make a few at the ones I really want and leave the rest to chance.

I also made the mistake of thinking my db would want to spent the entire day at the parks. He didn't and, as we got the parks as they opened, left early and missed the fireworks

I also packed far too much, which was a nightmare re-packing to leave, as we'd bought so much.

My biggest mistake, though, was an all you can eat lobster buffet. We got SO sick Never again

 

[pampam]

Biggest mistake I ever did was buying travelers cheques and not checking them. Once I got down to Fla. and started to use them I found out the bank had made a mistake and issued Canadian $$ tc. = about as wanted as toilet paper at the time.

 

[momimouse27]

For one thing, on my honeymoon, in '92, my decision to break in a new pair of those cheap Walmart platform canvas tennis shoes-one word-Blisters!!

For another thing, our tendency to try to go too fast and see too much. I need to just slow down and enjoy our vacation.

 

[rjthkids]

>>>>I hate to say it, but my biggest mistake on my last trip was going with extended family. DH was deployed and I had already signed up for the marathon, so I asked my parents, sisters and their kids to join me and my kids. That's an experience I won't be repeating soon.
I love my family, but it's just too frustrating traveling in a large group. Not to mention that we all just have really different ideas of what makes for a good vacation. I'd rather travel with just my husband and kids from now on. At least they know who's boss<<<

It's interesting to see how many people on this thread regretted going with extended family. Since we are leaving in less than three weeks to go to Disney World and we are meeting six members of our extended family.

I think it should be o.k. though. We are pretty good about going our seperate ways when need be!

 

[Ali and boyz]

>>>>I hate to say it, but my biggest mistake on my last trip was going with extended family. DH was deployed and I had already signed up for the marathon, so I asked my parents, sisters and their kids to join me and my kids. That's an experience I won't be repeating soon.
I love my family, but it's just too frustrating traveling in a large group. Not to mention that we all just have really different ideas of what makes for a good vacation. I'd rather travel with just my husband and kids from now on. At least they know who's boss<<<

It's interesting to see how many people on this thread regretted going with extended family. Since we are leaving in less than three weeks to go to Disney World and we are meeting six members of our extended family.

I think it should be o.k. though. We are pretty good about going our seperate ways when need be!

we for one regretted it. BIG TIME

 

[smraynor]

I can't think of a biggest mistake...but I can come up with some pretty big small ones....

....Florida does get cold in December...no matter what anyone says...
....The week of the 4th is never a good idea, we all went crazy...
....If you like it, buy it. It will not be there when you come back tomorrow...
....Always go left doesnt always work with the lines...

 

[Tenorsinging]

let's see.....been said before, but really that overpacking thing...getting better.

wish I had taken more pictures
wish I had taken better notes for my journaling
wish I had budgeted more money for WDW

Tenor

 

[CA Disney Fans]

let's see.....been said before, but really that overpacking thing...getting better.

wish I had taken more pictures
wish I had taken better notes for my journaling
wish I had budgeted more money for WDW

Tenor

I totally agree with you. I try and keep all of my receipts so I have an idea of what we did each day.

 

[Texas Princesses]

We are planning on using the afternoon breaks on each day to swim and explore the WL. It does not seem to work very well when you are doing it at around 4 ish. I personally don't think that is a good idea at all.

The break should happen shortly after lunch in the park. You should be returning to the park you are visiting again/next sometime around 4 to 5ish. Catching dinner at around 7 in the park, or 9ish after leaving a park.

That seems to work very well, and keeps the batteries fully charged.

 

[vettechick99]

I like the poster who said not mistakes, but learning experiences. But I have to say I have one of each. My learning experience was asking non-Disney friends to come visit us while we were in WDW. It was awful. Wait. They were awful. I still love them though.

The mistake was wearing 3-inch boots and walking the Osbourne Festival route. Wow, did that suck!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I have two biggest mistakes:

1. Going with my aunt & uncle and three cousins back in 1996. We hung out with them every weekend but when we were on vacation we all wanted to do different things. We loved TS meals and they could care less if we ate hot dogs every day. We didn't care for the water parks but they wanted to go every day. Needless to say we haven't been back with them

2. Being 19 and stupid and in-love while at WDW. All I could think of was my boyfriend back home, and I tried to go back to the room every 5 min. to call him (I wasn't fortunate enough to have a cell phone), and I couldn't wait until the end of the vacation to be back home with him. Well we broke up 6 months later. And I missed all of my vacation.

 

[Atotty]

Spending all the time in the parks and not any at the hotel. We really missed out on a lot of the fun things at AKL.

 

[jmminarik]

The mistake was wearing 3-inch boots and walking the Osbourne Festival route. Wow, did that suck!

Sounds like you were dressed for the wrong Osborne family.

-Joe

 

[amwhitaker]

Not buying a California Adventure sweatshirt I wanted 'cause I didn't want to carry it through the park thinking that it would be in the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney. It wasn't. I'm CA sweatshirtless!!

 

[samsmom05]

I packed way too much stuff. Of course, my mom was helping me make the list (DM and DDad came along). She would call and have me add things to the list. I packed it ALL. Sent a box of stuff ahead. Mom and Dad had one small carry-on and a medium suitcase each. DH, DD and I looked like we were moving. Next time if she wants to bring it she gets to carry it or ship it herself. Or at the very least not make fun of me about how much stuff I packed.

We tried the early morning touring then a break and then more touring routine. This just did not work for us. A couple of days in we found it much more enjoyable to take it easy in the morning and then hit the parks about 11:00. We were there just last week so crowds were really not an issue.

 

[DisneyElf]

Definitely learned that going on vacation with friends - doesn't mean you have to stay with them 24/7.

First time we did it - we spent 1 day together -- then wanted to kill each other. Since we were sharing a car, hotel room (suite) etc. it could have become a huge issue. But since were where all adults - and talked about it - we worked it out.

We would go to a park - do a couple of rides together (after double checking that everyone in the group wanted to do the SAME rides), then split up and agree to meet at certain times. One time at Epcot we had a mini-schedule what shows the other groups would be at different times <G>

Since then we have done Disney cruises together (4 adults in a CAT 6 - works just fine), and did WDW vacations together too! Even kept the connecting door open during Hurricane Frances stay at POFQ. The trick is separating when you need to.