Any MISTAKES made on past trips?

[Disney at Heart]

Purchased Park Hopper passes with no expiration date ($$$). Arrive at EPCOT extra early to be at the front of line for opening. Standing in line for about 45 minutes and as opening time approaches, I go to retreive our tickets and can't find them. Then I remember I left them back at the hotel room. Offsite. Not anywhere near Walt Disney World. I am having a mental meltdown as I quickly go through my options. My best effort getting back to the car, driving to and from, and back to the entrance would result in a huge loss of time and allow massive numbers of guests to be ahead of us. Maybe I can plead my case to the attendant at the turnstyle promising to come back that evening with the tickets if they just let us in. Yeah right. That is not going to happen. So instead it is off to stand in the line to purchase another round of tickets ($$$) as opening is imminent. Made it back to the turnstyles about five minutes after opening. The good news is we now have extra tickets for a future visit!

Next time go to guest services. My husband forgot his ticket two years ago and we were barely in time for an ADR. Guest services looked him up and printed a new ticket in a short time. We would not have made lunch if we had gone back for his ticket. Don't know how it might be different now with Magic Bands.

 

[lauralarissa]

Although this years trip we had alot of unavoidable glitches in our plans due to the storms everyday of our trip. I feel it was our best yet! This year was our 1st year with just the 4 of us our little family. Past years we have taken friends and family and had to wait on them, ask their opinions and so on and so forth. Don't get me wrong we do ask childrens opinons but it's not the same. It was just so much smoother this time. We did what we wanted when we wanted! Changed things at the last minute just cause we felt like it! It was GREAT. Not saying I will never take other people again but I will definitely do more trips with just us!

 

[nkereina]

Past mistakes for us have inclued:

* Deluxe Dining Plan. We're two adults so we thought we'd want the sit down meals, which we did, but the amount of food that comes with this plan was gluttonous. We never considered the fact that there's never an instance in "real life" when we EACH would order an app, entree and dessert. In addition to this, we also scheduled ADRs too close together which resulted in many canceled dinner ADRs and leftover credits.

* Eating dinner at MNSSHP. Only a few QS locations were open, and all were very crowded and time consuming. Ate up valuable party time.

* Downtown Disney on a weekend. Just craziness. Go during the week if you can.

* Packing the recommended shoe organizer, power strip, etc. We're only two people and these things just weren't necessary for us.

 

[amberlini]

My family is going for our first time this November. I appreciate all the tips and will continue following this thread. My big question is if you had to give an average amount for spending money, what would it be? Not including food, just souvenirs, clothes, things like that. It will be myself, my DH, my 2 DS's and 1 DD. The kids are 9, 8, 5. TIA for any replies.

 

[pampam]

to the dis. I suppose to answer your question, it depends on your spending habits and income. Is this a budget trip you have in mind?

 

[amberlini]

Yes, we don't want to go crazy spending but this may be the only time we get to go so I want the kids to be able to get what they really want, within reason. We're going to have the trip, food, and airfare paid for before we go, so I'm just trying to get an idea of how much to bring just for extra's.

 

[ZoZo]

My family is going for our first time this November. I appreciate all the tips and will continue following this thread. My big question is if you had to give an average amount for spending money, what would it be? Not including food, just souvenirs, clothes, things like that. It will be myself, my DH, my 2 DS's and 1 DD. The kids are 9, 8, 5. TIA for any replies.

This is a hard question to answer because it varies so much from person to person (and family to family). I travel with just adults, no kids, so my spending money budget might be different than families with multiple kids.

I usually budget enough for one clothing item and one or two other souvenirs per trip. Usually about $150 or $200 for souvenirs, including clothing.

You and your husband might decide is either a dollar amount per person, or a "you get one t-shirt and one other souvenir for the whole trip." That might head off the "I want that, and that, and that, and that, and that" type of tthing that might happen with kids. Let the kids choose their items, but give them a budget.

Another great idea I've seen on the DIS is to give everyone their own Disney gift card with a pre-set amount of money built in. With the ages of your kids, you'd want to hang onto the gift cards (rather than having them potentially lose them!).

Finally, remember that if you buy a souvenir early in your trip but then find something you like better, you can return your first item for a refund at any WDW store. You don't have to return it to the shop you bought them item at. You can even return items to your own resort gift shop! Then you won't have "buyer's remorse" if you see something you like better late in your trip. Just keep you receipts!

Finally, it's a good idea to buy an item when you see it. There are several instances where I saw something that I wanted, but didn't buy it right away, thinking, "Well, they'll probably have that the World of Disney Store at Downtown Disney!" Then never saw the item again on my trip! Grab things when you see them, and don't assume they carry the same items in every store.

 

[Toadlover]

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...

I know this post is from years back but that had to play out in slow motion for you. Oops! Too bad you didn't have to fix it!

 

[Toadlover]

i will NOT allow anyone to insist that a group of 5 or more of us must stay together throughout the parks.

Our group will be 11 on this next trip. The teenagers will want to take off on their own for sure. I'll be left alone as my sister and husband will go off together and my mom and her husband will too. When I was a kid we went on trips of 17+ and had some split-up times, too. I must say though that our together time was run very efficiently.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

Yes, we don't want to go crazy spending but this may be the only time we get to go so I want the kids to be able to get what they really want, within reason. We're going to have the trip, food, and airfare paid for before we go, so I'm just trying to get an idea of how much to bring just for extra's.

When I budget, I assume $100 per day for two adults. That includes food, souvenirs, and incidentals. Food usually takes up right about $50, so that means it ends up being about $25 per person per day for souvenirs. Obviously we don't spend the $25 each each day, but total amount ends up being right - and whatever's left on the last day tends to go toward the zillion pins we each want. Last year we got a couple bigger souvenirs because we saw things we liked, but it still came out to about $25 per person per day. Or you can plan it more like my parents did when we went as a family (when I was a kid), which was more about item count: one hat for characters to sign (I think one tshirt once we were older), one medium-sized souvenir (like a plushie or doll or something, probably worked out to the $15-20 range), and one small thing (pens, keychains, pins, etc., somewhere around $6-8) - while flexibility is awesome and you want to let them get things they want because you're not sure when/if you'll be back... I know when I was any of the ages your kids are, I wanted everything!

 

[Lavitz]

Ordering iced tea, only to find out they forget to put sugar in it in the USA and it tastes vile. Then ordering it again multiple times since it is my drink of choice and I keep forgetting.

 

[MataHari22]

Ordering iced tea, only to find out they forget to put sugar in it in the USA and it tastes vile. Then ordering it again multiple times since it is my drink of choice and I keep forgetting.

That's not exactly true about not putting sugar in tea. Depends on where you are in the US. Many states, especially in the south, serve sweet tea automatically.

 

[jewjubean]

That's not exactly true about not putting sugar in tea. Depends on where you are in the US. Many states, especially in the south, serve sweet tea automatically.

Usually they will also provide sugar and sweeteners for you.... Just a quick question and it will be sweet tea!

 

[freckles04]

Ordering iced tea, only to find out they forget to put sugar in it in the USA and it tastes vile. Then ordering it again multiple times since it is my drink of choice and I keep forgetting.

Agree with others that this is regional in the USA.

Here in West Tennessee, you either order "sweet tea" or "unsweet tea." If you order "iced tea" you will get asked "Sweet or unsweet?"

At Disney, we could not find sweet tea.

When I go to visit family out west in Wyoming, no one has sweet tea! They look at you like you have 2 heads if you ask for it!

And I think anyone who loves sweet tea (like I do!), or maybe just any Southerner, can tell you that unless you put the sugar in while it's hot, it does NOT taste the same!

 

[SingingMom]

Agree with others that this is regional in the USA. Here in West Tennessee, you either order "sweet tea" or "unsweet tea." If you order "iced tea" you will get asked "Sweet or unsweet?" At Disney, we could not find sweet tea. When I go to visit family out west in Wyoming, no one has sweet tea! They look at you like you have 2 heads if you ask for it! And I think anyone who loves sweet tea (like I do!), or maybe just any Southerner, can tell you that unless you put the sugar in while it's hot, it does NOT taste the same!

And here in NJ, we order it as "unsweetened iced tea" to make certain it is freshly brewed, and not that fake stuff you get in the soda fountain! Lol

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[corvidae]

Fortunately, all of my mistakes have been made at Disneyland, so maybe I've got enough practice to get it right when we go to DisneyWorld! (yeah, its a nice dream)

1. Thinking that, as a single mom, I couldn't possibly manage my 3 boys by myself and deciding to take friends with me. Friends turn into one's most annoying enemy when they start trying to herd one's children about like dangerous Wildebeests. Sheesh, if they want to go to Splash Mountain instead of Big Thunder Mountain, just freaking smile and follow them! And if they dodge around another guest, momentarily leaving the 3 inch perimeter around your person, just keep an eye on them and trust them to come back to you--don't shriek at them and act like they've just committed an heinous crime! Now my boys and I go by ourselves and I am always amazed at how awesome and incredibly fun they are.

2. Letting my youngest eat a few too many treats. Hey, it's Disney, and we generally eat super healthy, so what's the harm in a few treats, right? Surprisingly, the general populace doesn't appear to recognize that particular look a young child gets when he is about to blow. My other boys and I saw it and dove for cover. Half of Tomorrowland failed to see it and it least 5 people got splattered with what looked like 3 days worth of treats. And then there was the next trip where he hurled all over the table in Goofy's Kitchen, right in front of Minnie Mouse, who can dodge surprisingly well for someone in a giant plastic head. This time, the kid's going to eat salads, dagnabit.

3. Not double checking the safe in the room before check-out. I've lost 2 camera's that way. Geez, you'd think I'd learn the first time.

 

[ISeeTheLight105]

The biggest thing I regret is only allowing one day per park. We stayed 9 days and only bought 4 park tickets. So while I was being conscious about our off-days to explore the other resorts, etc, there was a TON we missed out on, especially in MK.

Next time we decided to pick our 2-3 favorite parks and spend at least 2 of our days at each one.

 

[JoWiJo]

Doing a table meal daily. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the meals, and I'm glad I had the table experiences. Well, most of them. And I went to a lot of character meals, and those were fun.

BUT...

Planning my daily schedule to get to the restaurant by a certain time (which was before my actual reservation time), and taking into consideration transportation issues into the equation -- it really took a lot of time away from enjoying the actual parks. It was especially annoying when it was too early to leave for the restaurant, but there was not really enough time to do anything worthwhile.

At the time, there weren't many options for MK, and I wasn't interested in the ones they had (except for CRT, but I didn't want to take up spots that some kid would have wanted), so that meant leaving the park for GF or CR for a meal. And three of the places I wanted to eat at were in EPCOT, so that meant either planning a day there, or planning to park hop from DHS (which ate up time).

All in all, while it's wonderful to have ADR's at places you want to go, the process can take too much time away from the park, even when it doesn't take you out of the park.

One or two table meals? Sure. My best meals have always been at the Biergarten. And there can always be something interesting and fun to be had at them. But table meals every day? No. Not again. I think I'd rather grab a burger or something at a counter service most of the time, then return to enjoying the park attractions.

Also, I made a boo-boo when it came to calculating table credits for the DDP. Despite my efforts to make sure I added them up correctly, I failed to account that the California Grill was worth two credits, despite the fact I was aware of that little fact and was trying to make sure I didn't forget. I got to the last TS meal, handed them my KTTW card and the CM came back and told us the news, and suggested that I talked to the concierge back at the hotel. The good news about my goof was that out of the possible charges for table credits, the concierge worked it so that I was only charged for the least expensive one.

 

[Daisy326]

Yes, to the person who said sharing a room with friends was a mistake! I agree!

 

[bopper]

We just went to WDW for my 50th birthday and my husband got the Platinum Package (which includes 3 meals a day and 2 snacks) and we stayed at the Grand Floridian with the Concierge lounge.