Any MISTAKES made on past trips?

[MontanaZoo]

Going on Kali River Rapids the last day before our flight out. It was my first trip to Disney World, I was there for a conference and staying off site so trips to the park were short and hurried. I was wearing jeans (it was still really cold back in Montana since it was March) for the flight and had no other clothes. I was with two co-workers, we did 0 research before the trip. I had a huge wave come over the back of me on Kali and the back of my jeans were still damp by the time we got back to Bozeman (about 5 hours flight time, two flights, plus we were on the tarmac long enough to watch a MOVIE because of a lightning storm).
This was also pretty close to the time Animal Kingdom opened and I knew nothing about it. We missed almost ALL of the animals because the ride for the safari was too long, and we were too tired to try anything with trek or trail in the name (uh, didn't know that's where all of the animals are).

 

[Lovin' Lorne]

1.) Over planning. For us, it's better to just let it all unfold. Some days we sleep in late, others we get up early. Some days we never make it into a park at all.

2.) Only staying at WDW. There's a lot more to Florida than WDW, so now we make sure to get out there and see it at least one day of the trip.

 

[bouncy54]

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

I know the feeling. We went to DL last November and I felt like locking some members of my family in the bathroom at the hotel so I could enjoy my vacation.

Whine: "We already rode that ride 2 times."

Question: "Well...what do you want to do?"

Infuriating answer: "I dunno."

 

[TinkerBell DVC]

subscribing.. some of things are to funny

 

[GatorGirl]

Thinking that after the fiasco 20 years ago (our last family trip, which was to WDW BTW - I was 10) and since we are all adults now, we could go and have a good time! I won't even go to Wal-Mart with my step-dad now!!

Thinking that when your step-dad says, "you plan it all since you know what you're doing and we're too busy to mess with it" that he won't get upset because he had no say in what was happening.

Thinking that just because I think ambiance at a restaurant is just as important as the food, doesn't mean everyone else thinks the same way.

Thinking that since certain areas are geared towards kids (i.e. DisneyQuest, Dinorama, etc) that adults won't enjoy the heck out of them too, cause we did!

And lastly, and most importantly, thinking that, even when things are at their worst, that we didn't need to ship my step-dad home on a plane mid-week, even though everyone else wanted to, because, darn-it, this was a family trip and we had to be a family!! Never again! Once we split up things got so much better!

I wish I had read this BEFORE I decided that everyone should go along for DD's first trip!

I know the feeling. We went to DL last November and I felt like locking some members of my family in the bathroom at the hotel so I could enjoy my vacation.

Whine: "We already rode that ride 2 times."

Question: "Well...what do you want to do?"

Infuriating answer: "I dunno."

Yep! They "let" me plan the whole thing and then I when I asked what they wanted to do? "I dunno"

Never ever again. Next tim it is just me, DH and DD. The rest of them can see the pictures!

 

[Jen76b]

My biggest mistake was a painful lesson indeed. I'd gotten badly chaffed on my inner thighs after getting soaked on Kali River Rapids. It hurt so bad for my legs to touch and we were planning to go to E-night at MK that night so I came up with the bright idea to put whole strips of moleskin over my chaffed thighs. During E-night the moleskin started rolling up around the edges so I decided to duck in the bathroom take the moleskin off and put new sheets on. When I took the moleskin off all my skin ripped off with the moleskin! I was a mess! I barely made it back to the room that night. I had to buy gauze and wrap my thighs but the tape wouldn't stick from getting all sweaty. I ended up having to rent an ECV to get around the parks for our last two days. Now, I take and use Bodyglide and it prevents chaffing.

I'm sorry to laugh, but that is so funny. The chaffing use to happen to me a lot as a child when I went on water rides. As an adult, I will never get on a water ride.

With that being said, I took my son to a waterpark (not at Disney) last summer and had the worse chaffing at the end of the day. I was so miserable. I vow never to go back to another waterpark until my legs don't run together anymore..

 

[GrammyJudy]

Going back to POP took about 2 hours...never again.Sci-fi was very disappointing. Things I missed:Not seeing Fantasmic & Beauty & the Beast show.Not eating in Mexico in Epcot.Not going shopping at DTD.

 

[bopper]

I'm sorry to laugh, but that is so funny. The chaffing use to happen to me a lot as a child when I went on water rides. As an adult, I will never get on a water ride.

With that being said, I took my son to a waterpark (not at Disney) last summer and had the worse chaffing at the end of the day. I was so miserable. I vow never to go back to another waterpark until my legs don't run together anymore..

We have now bought "water shorts" for everybody in the family after the smallest DD has had issue with getting cotton shorts wet on water rides.

 

[PollyannaMom]

New 'mistakes' learned on last trip -

1) Arriving and checking our on a Saturday, the place was a madhouse!

2) Trying to go to MK on a Saturday - the place was a madhouse!

3) Not enough resting!

4) Taking the boat instead of the bus to the MK. The boat was sooo slow.

Uggh! - I read somewhere else to GO to MK on Saturday because that is everyone's travel day, and they're NOT at the park yet! - Any other opinions on which is right???

(Should note, I leave in 2 weeks for a visiting-relatives-near-Orlando trip, and am trying to tentatively plan day trips to MK and SeaWorld.)

 

[MichelleinMaine]

Just in case someone does something similar and doesn't know- most of the time, you can retrieve pictures that are deleted off a memory card. The key is once it's done- DO NOT TAKE ANY MORE PICTURES ON THE CARD. Next time you're on a computer, look for a file retrieval program (there are several out there.) Might not get them all back, but usually gets most of them back!

This brings to mind our wonderful disney trip from 3 years ago... Now I can laugh at it, but at the time, I was devastated! We go with my family, and my Mom and sister...we're all complete picture-holics! at the 11th day of a GREAT 12 day vacation- I handed my dh the camera, he wanted to see this"most perfect shot of our 4 yr old ever taken" (ds is passionate about sea life, took a shot in Sea world of him and a dolphin that brought tears to my eyes, was going to go home, enlarge it, etc )
Anyway, as I'm in the bathroom area, I hear DH say"what's format card mean?" I honestly don't remember the next 30 seconds- but suddenly I was on the other side of the hotel room, trying to take the camera from his hands,while he was pressing the button. (I do remember a long"no-o-o-o-o", ala Luke skywalker at the end of the star wars movie...)
Yes, DH had reformatted the entire digital card. All 400 or so shots, but especially the one that we could never duplicate, that moment of ds and dolphin. AND, they take pics in seaworld, but I knew I had a one in a million shot of ds already, so I DIDN"T buy the one they took, which wasn't as nice.
I called the next a.m.- but they delete them at the end of the day. AND, We had decided we were done at S.W.- so we hadn't opted for the "get the second day free" option that evening as we left.
Well, we were intending to take it easy on our last day, but instead I dragged my family to 3 parks, and took a million pictures, all on the last day!(also not the best idea) Went home and pretend scrapbooked them in the order we did a lot of stuff- instead of all my shots being from just the one day! So, I guess I won the crazy insane scrapbook/picture-holic mom award that year! Like I said, now it's a part of family legend, and dh is still dh! Not ex-dh! And for ds, he still adores dolphins, but he has to make do with his big stuffed one we bought at Sea World...

 

[hsmamato2]

well, as regards the meory card, i brought it to our local photo shop,the go-to guys when something is wrong...they tried, but when you reformat,all pictures are GONE.
Oh, try never to do MK on a weekend,it's usually prttey bad, the bset you can do is use your hoppers,if it's crowded,find another park!
Last time we hit MK on a Monday,and it was very nice!

 

[tlbwriter]

Uggh! - I read somewhere else to GO to MK on Saturday because that is everyone's travel day, and they're NOT at the park yet! - Any other opinions on which is right???

I believe the Unofficial Guide says Saturday is usually one of the busiest days at MK.

 

[hifidigital]

Not spending more time relaxing at the resort (POFQ).

Spending too much time in the parks steals the simple joy of relaxing by the pool on your vacation.

I'm going back in October...I wonder if I'll follow my own advice?

 

[cwestbrook]

sub

 

[ilovecountry]

It sounds stupid but my biggest mistake was underestimating the humidity there! We were there in June & I have long straight blonde hair......I looked like Krusty the clown as soon as I stepped outside of the hotel room. No matter what I put in my hair, it was so frizzy, then weighed down because of what I tried putting in it. All of my pics look so crappy. The secret weapon I found (It's pricey but worth it, you can get it at ULTA on sale quite a bit or ebay) TIGI Bed Head After Party Just a tiny bit amount in your hair will give you 100% frizz free hair, super shiny, bouncy, and it will NEVER look weight down.

 

[whoopnshoot]

In our car battery after 2 weeks of sitting at the airport...it was not a fun way to end a trip!

 

[jjeanms]

Not making advanced dinner reservations at any restaurants. Been to disney many times before July 06 and never had a problem getting dinner reservations. After dining plan, you must make advanced reservations.

 

[IMDORY]

For me it is the mistake I've made the last 3 or 4 trips-don't be afraid to take a taxi in some cases!!! There has been at least one or two instances on each trip I should have just taken a taxi...yes, it is a cost-but sometimes worth it.

My most recent example would be last August. We had reservations at GF for dinner. It had been storming in the afternoon (as is usual in the summer) what I didn't realize that this particular day was more than the passing summer storm-it was a VERY bad series of thunderstorms that began in the afternoon and continued on and off through the evening. I decided to take the boat from WL to CR to get on the monorail. By the time we got to the WL dock(of course, we waited longer than we ever had for a boat )-I forgot we had to go to FW first! Somewhere between WL and FW a HUGE storm began and we then went on to CR with lighting all around us everywhere. We were totally drenched by the rain (yup, down to our undies-and we even had rain jackets on!) We then had to run in this scary storm all the way from the CR boat dock into the CR (LONG run in the storm!) We ran upstairs to catch the monorail and the doors just shut as we got there...we are now 10 minutes late to the ADR time...we arrive at the GF totally soaking wet-forget looking nice to walk into the GF-we looked like total sewer rats! We then froze in the AC at the restaurant while eating our nice dinner...turns out this storm was so bad, and right over us that lighting actually hit the fireworks area at MK and started a fire and the P&P Party fireworks were very much delayed that night.

How could I have fixed this??? Instead of walking by the front entrance to go down to the boat I could have spent about $10 maybe? for a taxi, arrived dry, pretty, safe and unfrazzled!! BOY did I learn my lesson that time-I hope I won't forget it next trip.

 

[Minnie_me]

Our mistake was heading out to a water park when it was OBVIOUS that bad weather was coming. DH thought it would just rain a bit, and it would be the PERFECT time to be at a waterpark, since everyone else would leave (RIGHT!).

I dislike waterparks anyway, so I didn't want to go.

But we went. And on the bus ride over, a huge thunderstorm started. We got to the waterpark (i don't even know which one!), and it was closed. Thousands of people were exiting, and getting in line for their buses. So I said to our bus driver, "We're just going to stay on this bus and go back to POP."

But of course, he wasn't going back to POP. He was actually heading back to the bus depot or whatever.

So we had to get OFF the bus, in the middle of a terrible thunderstorm, and wait with thousands of people for our bus.

Huge waste of time.

 

[annie1995]

Forgetting our rain gear even though the sky looked clear. We were drenched, the stroller was drenched. Needless to say, I will lug it everywhere now in Disney. And overpacking. I always over pack clothes, and never wear them all cause I end up doing laundry anyways