Any MISTAKES made on past trips?

[My2CrazyGirls]

We've made that preemptive strike as well. We put a locked "file" on every memory card with that information as well as a file on every camera. And I put an address label with our cell phone numbers added on our Photopass/PhotopassPluss card(s) (and we take a picture of the back of them as well so that we have the number in case they get lost). I had 2 PP photographers comment on my labels and tell me what a good idea it was to do that because cards get lost or mixed up quite often.

Can you explain the locked file?

 

[kittengal13]

I assumed that locked file means the PP took a photo of their info that can't be deleted, so if anyone finds their camera, then they can contact them

Please correct me if I'm wrong lol!

 

[ndebt2disney]

1. Not bringing more than one pair of tennis shoes and several times wearing wet shoes to the parks (happened once, very early in our travels!)
2. Not "going with the flow" and trying to be everywhere at once, we've been enough times now, we're slowing down our combat tours to the World.
3. Trying to please the extended family when everyone went, should have insisted on splitting up more often! Trying to keep up with all four parents and an adult sibling was too stressful!
4. Not buying something I wanted, Im awful about spending money on me (I will spend it on DD or DH in a heartbeat! Seveal times I've left the parks and really wish I'd made a purchase!

 

[bluezy]

I assumed that locked file means the PP took a photo of their info that can't be deleted, so if anyone finds their camera, then they can contact them

Please correct me if I'm wrong lol!

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I created a document containing our contact information and then printed it. I took a picture of it and stored it on each camera and memory card. The file is "protected" and can't accidentally be deleted.

We also keep one of DH's business cards in every camera case.

 

[kris082668]

Bump

 

[Nakkira]

Not planning enough down time.
Not going at a less crowded time of year.
Not having Park Hoppers (although this was only a really problem 2 out of 5 days)
Being Crazy enough to go to DTD on our last night, also a weekend night.

 

[Amanda Esmeralda]

For us, buying tickets to MNSSHP was a mistake. Maybe it's more fun with kids but none of us really enjoyed it. Sporadic rain caused the villain show to be canceled multiple times so we never got to meet those villains (and part of my reason for getting tix was so I could meet Frollo, finally!) The wait for the special characters was long, the merchandise was nothing special... the only thing I really enjoyed was Hallowishes!

 

[Nakkira]

Another big mistake on my February trip was not bringing any warm clothes. I forgot that it DOES sometimes get cold in Florida. A light hoodie was not enough to keep us warm.

 

[cartoongeek]

-Running after family members trying to keep (they're fast walkers) and messing up my already messed up knee.
-Wearing a brand new pair of shoes for the first time, I had terrible blisters after.
-Forgetting to bring sunglasses, squinting the entire was not fun.

ETA// Getting on Mission Space: Orange. I wasn't right the rest of the day.

 

[KaLyn]

Mistakes from our past trip...
1 - Packing last minute and forgetting underwear. I washed my one pair nightly, by hand, in the shower and laid them out to air dry so they would be ready for the next morning.
2 - Not having (or knowing about) BodyGlide. My then overweight body paired with jean shorts and humidity cause some major chafing and a lot of pain. I may be much healthier now, but I'm still taking some BodyGlide!
3 - Having no clue about the importance of ADRs. I couldn't figure out why the CMs at LTT looked at me like I had 3 heads when I walked up and asked for a table. Years later I found this board and DUH!
4 - Booking without researching cheaper options, discounts, etc. I just got online and booked a room (at rack rate) and tickets. We paid $800+ for 3 people for a 1 night/2 day stay.

 

[AlexLovesCats]

1- Not putting in a 'special request' for a King bed after booking the hotel. My reservation was made on the phone with a CM and I repeated multiple times I wanted a king room. Upon checking in I was told that when rooms are booked they are all booked as 2 queens and then you need to put in a special request if you want a King because there aren't as many. (Why this was not mentioned by CM on phone I have no idea) There was a convention in the hotel so no King rooms were available. We were put in a double queen room on the first floor which smelled like mildew. They made sure we could move into a King room the next day so that was fine but just annoying because we ordered a lot of groceries for the week and were looking forward to unpacking and getting settled. Next time I won't make the mistake of not putting in a special request for a King room.

2- Scheduling a lunch ADR in the MK at the height of lunch time with just my boyfriend and I. We ate at the LTT at 12:30pm for lunch. It was absolute madness. Waited 20 minutes past our ADR time with no place to sit and wait . Tons of kids screaming and running between us. We were finally seated next to a table with a baby that cried throughout the meal. We are pretty laid back and so it didn't bother us too much, and the meal was good. Looking back we should have left the park to one of the nearby resorts for lunch. We did this later in the trip... We explored the Grand Floridian and had lunch at the GFC, it was a great lunch and a welcome break from the craziness of mid-day MK.

3- Not carrying my ADR #s with me. Before I left I made a point to write down all ADR times and numbers on a piece of paper to have in my purse. Twice we went to dinner and the hostess couldn't find our reservation and of course I had accidentally left the piece of paper back in the room. I brought up the MDE app and the reservation goes off the app as soon as your ADR time comes up (SO annoying!!!!) Next time I think I will take a picture of all of our ADR reservation numbers on my phone to be sure they are with me.

4- Drinking at lunch when already tired. I had previously scheduled a day we could hang by Stormalong bay to swim. Of course the forecast changed last minute and it was cold and rainy on that day. Our final day of the trip was 80 and sunny, we had FPs in the early afternoon and then we were planning on finally going to swim after our 1pm lunch at Sci-Fi. After a week of late nights and early mornings we were both pretty drained of energy as it was. We both had 2 beers at Sci fi and by the time we left we both felt absolutely exhausted. And ended both just wanting to lay down... Which resulted in a really long nap til time to get ready for dinner. I think without the beers we could have powered through and experienced Stormalong Bay. I would not recommend drinking at lunch when you're already tired if you have more on the agenda for afterwards, just wait til dinner for a drink.

5- Mistake almost made, not packing a raincoat. I had bought cheap ponchos at Target and thought this would be fine for surprise rain showers as our forecast was looking good. At the last minute we decided to pack our raincoats just in case. Anyway, forecast changed and it ended up raining most of our time there. I did wear the poncho on the first day but found it uncomfortable, cheaply made and just plain ugly. I was so glad we brought the raincoats because we wore them most of the trip and our pictures look a whole lot nicer than if we were wearing big blue trash bags.

 

[AJ1983]

1- Not putting in a 'special request' for a King bed after booking the hotel. My reservation was made on the phone with a CM and I repeated multiple times I wanted a king room. Upon checking in I was told that when rooms are booked they are all booked as 2 queens and then you need to put in a special request if you want a King because there aren't as many. (Why this was not mentioned by CM on phone I have no idea) There was a convention in the hotel so no King rooms were available. We were put in a double queen room on the first floor which smelled like mildew. They made sure we could move into a King room the next day so that was fine but just annoying because we ordered a lot of groceries for the week and were looking forward to unpacking and getting settled. Next time I won't make the mistake of not putting in a special request for a King room.

Thank you so much for posting this! I also booked my room over the phone with Disney, and requested a King size room at Pop because its our honeymoon. I thought that WAS the "special request" but now I'll be sure to follow up with another phone call!

 

[jezebel73]

Two come to mind:

I ignored the reminder email that my Photopass time was expiring and had to BEG to get it extended another few days. I really lucked out by not being charged for it!

and

My clothing-picky niece finally found a sweatshirt she liked in one of the parks and didn't buy it that day, but we didn't realize the merchandise is different from store to store and that we couldn't get it anywhere else. We spent a lot of time looking for it the rest of the trip and she ended up buying nothing.

 

[Kristina4109]

We had free dining and I was the only person in our party paying attention to our credits. My mistake was not being in charge! We wound up leaving WDW with 5 unused snack credits and 3 unused counter service credits.

If I had to do it over again, I would have used snack credits for breakfast and this would have meant we weren't too stuffed to use those counter service credits at lunch time!

 

[MarieMouse]

-Not planning enough to have a sit down and recover! I don't think going back to the room for a nap is a good idea. By the time you get there and get a nap and wake up again it just seems like a lot of wasted time. Instead we just find a quiet area of the park, and sit/lay down for an hour.
-Getting feet wet on water rides and having to walk around with wet feet! What I now do is pack a pair of flip flops into my park bag and swap shoes in the queue. Once I'm off the ride I just swap back and my feet and shoes are lovely and dry.
-Trying to get all of Epcot done in one day. We did this as one of party were sick during our holiday and we had to spend sometime in the hospital so on the last day we had to get Epcot done.....rushing from country to country taking a photo buying a souvenir seeing the show, doing the ride. It was too fast paced- I didn't take anything in!
-Not buying stuff as and when I saw it. It might seem like a hindrance carrying merchandise around with you but it's better than not being able to find it again when you want it.

Still have the most amazing holidays at the disney Parks! Regardless of what might have happened!

 

[pampam]

-Not planning enough to have a sit down and recover! I don't think going back to the room for a nap is a good idea. By the time you get there and get a nap and wake up again it just seems like a lot of wasted time. Instead we just find a quiet area of the park, and sit/lay down for an hour.
-Getting feet wet on water rides and having to walk around with wet feet! What I now do is pack a pair of flip flops into my park bag and swap shoes in the queue. Once I'm off the ride I just swap back and my feet and shoes are lovely and dry.
-Trying to get all of Epcot done in one day. We did this as one of party were sick during our holiday and we had to spend sometime in the hospital so on the last day we had to get Epcot done.....rushing from country to country taking a photo buying a souvenir seeing the show, doing the ride. It was too fast paced- I didn't take anything in!
-Not buying stuff as and when I saw it. It might seem like a hindrance carrying merchandise around with you but it's better than not being able to find it again when you want it.

Still have the most amazing holidays at the disney Parks! Regardless of what might have happened!

If you are staying on site, packages can be shipped to your resort. If you are off site, packages can be held at the exit for you to pick up on your way out of the park.

 

[MarieMouse]

If you are staying on site, packages can be shipped to your resort. If you are off site, packages can be held at the exit for you to pick up on your way out of the park.

Yeah I had heard about this. It's something I haven't taken advantage of. Definitely something we are going to do this year! Thanks

 

[DJWMom]

Doing MK and MNSSHP the same day with young kids. We got to MK around 9:30am, spent the whole day touring and did the party. More walking doing the trick or treating and doing some of the rides and the kids were done in by 8pm. We saw half of the parade and completely missed hallowishes because the kids were ready to leave. Didn't end up meeting any of the special characters either. Felt like a waste of money.

We should have used the day to relax and hang out at the pool instead of using up a park ticket and gone to the party at 4.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Do not wear new shoes out for nice dinners. The walk from the parking lot of the GF to narcoosses resulted in 4 blisters which then resulted in a rather miserable time walking for the rest of the trip. Not worth looking cute.

 

[Dashzap]

What a great thread...fun to read...here is my summary of all the prior posts:

DON'T

• don’t pack too much
• don’t carry too much on the plane
• don’t forget your comfiest shoes (not new ones), two pairs to alternate, and flip flops for pool, water ride shoes
• don’t forget your regular meds
• Don’t start new medication right before a trip
• don’t overpack toys for kids
• don’t forget your sunscreen
• don’t buy souvenirs for everyone
• don’t travel with a love-sick teen
• Don’t over schedule
• Don’t get up early if you hate getting up early
• Don’t book an early morning flight if everyone will be too groggy
• Be careful who you travel with, and plan to split up.
• Book a separate room from snorers
• Vet your potential spouse by going to Disney with them. If they hate it, think twice.
• Don’t overeat on the dining plan
• Don’t stand downwind of fireworks smoke
• Don’t change resorts too often
• Don’t buy too many snacks and water at a grocery
• Don’t bring non-Disney people with you
• Don’t be everyone else’s tour guide
• Don’t eat frogs legs or lobster buffet right before your trip
• Don’t get your rental car keys wet
• Don’t make yourself groggy with booze or meds
• Don’t expect a room with a view of the pool to be quiet
• Don’t go to the park with early entry hours; it will be too crowded
• Don’t carry a regular purse
• Don’t wear white, it shows dirt
• Don’t think your kids will be happy carrying their own stuff in their own fanny packs
• Don’t take the boat between Epcot and the Studios if you are in any kind of hurry
• Don’t go in summer if you can’t take the heat
• Don’t make meal plans that require park hopping; you’ll feel too rushed
• Don’t do the deluxe meal plan. It’s too much food.
• Don’t skip your traditions, like getting an ornament each time.
• Don’t let go of your bag on rides.

DO

• Be ready to tell people NO when they want to tag along (or share a room)
• Do check events scheduled at your time to avoid cheerleaders
• Do take an older or ill relative for a once in a lifetime trip, but be ready to go at their pace
• Make a careful packing list and double check what you pack. Socks, diapers, and first aid stuff are expensive at Disney.
• Dress in layers. Be prepared for unusual weather.
• try Body Glide
• Double check dates. Double check you have your admission/tickets/passports/gift cards.
• If you have a problem with your room, speak up right away
• Double check your travel agent’s work
• Have a game plan for touring
• Buy stuff when you see it; consider how you will get it home
• Back up your photos each night
• Get family pictures taken, including you
• Bring extra battery and memory
• Put your name on your camera, memory, phone, etc.
• Take time to look around
• Buy a charm bracelet
• Get travel insurance
• Think about the weight of your bags before you fly
• Stay long enough and with time for the hotel; go to the pool
• Go to the dentist before your trip
• Cover your stroller against rain
• Bring a poncho for wet rides, and appropriate shoes
• Alternate who goes to ride with oldest child, and who stays with the too young one
• Do speak up if someone is cutting in front of you in line
• Do wear a string to keep your eyeglasses on
• Do bring a nicer outfit if you go to the nicest restaurants, but still wear comfy shoes
• Plan a day off once you get home to recover.
• Hydrate
• Be ready for humidity
• Build up your walking stamina
• Wear sunscreen (even on your ears and part), sunglasses, and a hat
• Keep a list of important #s, not in your wallet
• Rent an EVC if you need one
• Take a taxi or rent a car when it makes sense
• Ship stuff home
• Be flexible
• Do ask your co-travelers what they want to do
• Do save a spot for parades; bring something to sit on

CONTRADICTORY ADVICE (YMMV)

• Stay onsite to be close and for the ambiance, unless you want to get more for your money.
• ponchos; cheap ones are good because you throw them away, cheap are bad because they aren’t long enough and don’t fit over bags. Umbrellas don’t do the job. Raincoats are more comfortable.
• Dinner reservations: some want them, others want flexibility
• See/don’t see Fantasmic
• Never go with family/Go with family but set expectations and split up
• Kids nap in stroller/kids need hotel room nap
• Bring your camera everywhere/leave your camera home
• Bring snacks to the park/eat Mickey bars and pretzels instead
• rent a car/take the bus
• go to MK 1st/don’t go to MK 1st

NO LONGER RELEVANT:

• anything to do with film
• paper tickets