Any MISTAKES made on past trips?

[TelynnRose]

My BIGGEST mistake was to treat a blister on the bottom of my foot on my own (I am a diabetic). Since I was able to treat a blister on one foot with moleskin and neosporin, I thought I could care for this one the same way. By the second day, the blister had burst and quickly got infected. Long story short, a simple blister on the bottom of the foot (again, I am a diabetic) ended with the amputation of all toes on one foot and a long recovery.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR FEET!!!

 

[Struffel]

Trip this last March (thank god it was just my wife and I and couple of our friends - no kids).

Standing in line for Splash Mountain. Started to drizzle. We said it will soon pass. No. The sky opened and it downpoured. We were drenched to the bones. We finally gave up on waiting when the wind started to pick up and we started to get chilly. We rushed into the Splash Mountain gift shop.

Wet and cold, we each spent like $100 for shirt, shorts, towel, and socks. Some of us even bought underwear.

I believe the rain was caused by Disney to force us to buy more stuff!

And we never got to ride Splash Mountain, but we got wet

Just get to a restroom, wring out the water out the clothes, dry your hair with toilet paper and save the wasted money for a donation towards water projekts in Africa!

 

[pampam]

My BIGGEST mistake was to treat a blister on the bottom of my foot on my own (I am a diabetic). Since I was able to treat a blister on one foot with moleskin and neosporin, I thought I could care for this one the same way. By the second day, the blister had burst and quickly got infected. Long story short, a simple blister on the bottom of the foot (again, I am a diabetic) ended with the amputation of all toes on one foot and a long recovery.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR FEET!!!

Now, that was a huge mistake!

 

[Off to Neverland 7]

BIGGEST MISTAKE:
- drinking around the world during F&W and thinking it would be a GREAT idea to ride Mission Space on the way out.. worst idea EVER. Ruined our entire day

Dancing our way over to our happy place - Jan/Feb PTR 2015

Disneyland Resort 1993-2000 Passholder 2004-2014 Caribbean Beach Resort July 2001 Paradise Pier Resort 2009, November 2014 Grand Californian April 2010 Pop Century Sept 2012, Sept 2013 Disneyland Hong Kong July 2013 Animal Kingdom Villas & Universal's Cabana Bay Sept 2014 Pop Century & Disney Dream Feb 2015!!

 

[danjoan14]

Trying to get everything in on the last day of our Thanksgiving weekend trip. We went to MVMCP on our last day. Had the entire day planned out. Then before you knew it, it was 11 PM and the park was closing in an hour. Had to try to get some last minutes attractions in before it closed. I really need to stop doing that and listen to my DW! She really did get upset. I hope I learn my lesson for our next trip in August!

And on other past trips? Not getting a brick at the MK in the Walk Around The World, and not getting my picture in the Leave A Legacy program. DW and DS had their picture done, but I didn't get one done. Really? Now I hear about it every time we visit.

 

[LovinD]

For me it was bringing only one pair of shoes. I thought if I brought one pair of comfortable, supportive shoes, I'd be good. WRONG. Wear the same shoes daily, and your feet continue to rub the same way, and by the third day I could seriously barely walk! I had the worst blisters ever. And I was wearing good shoes! (Chacos)

For this trip, I'm bringing 4 pairs of supportive, comfortable sandals (Chacos, Tevas, Eccos, and Keens...can you tell I am a sandal wearer? LOL) and rotating what I wear when!

 

[contraption22]

A lesson learned on my last trip with a size able family group, come to an agreement that you don't have to do EVERYTHING together. If not, you'll end up waiting for each other, and missing things you may want to do.
So, come up with a list of things that you really want to see or do.
It's likely that other people in your party are not as interested in doing some of those things as you are and vice versa. Take it as an opportunity to get these things off your list!
I treat my trips to WDW as it may be my last for a long time. I've gone 10 and 15 years between visits! I don't want to go home with a list of things I missed.

 

[JennyHall]

I have there big mistakes. 1) Not eating enough. My boyfriend and I were so busy trying to get on as many rides we could that we forgot to eat a normal food schedule. This caused tiredness, grumpiness, and our stomachs to hurt! 2) Attending rope drops every morning. Again, we decided to hit every park in the morning right at rope drop. This made us like zombies by the end of the trip. 3) Not taking enough breaks in between the day to just relax or take it easy at the parks.

 

[psiprez]

Soooo... it was just the 10th anniversary of this little thread I made... pretty cool

 

[danjoan14]

Soooo... it was just the 10th anniversary of this little thread I made... pretty cool

Yes, congrats. It's a wonderful thread. I have to add a mistake we made on our last trip a few weeks ago. Way to many morning trips to the parks. The first week, we were traveling with Disney Rookies. They wanted to get to the parks early to avoid the afternoon heat. They had planned to go back to the resort in the afternoons, and return in the evenings. That didn't happen much, so it made for a very long day for them. We were alone the second week, so it was an easier time. DW prefers to go to the parks early afternoon and stay until closing. This way we can stay later without anyone dragging by night time. Plus as my DS gets older, he prefers to stay late and sleep later the next morning. It worked out better so we had time to eat breakfast and didn't have to rush to get ready to get to the parks early. Doing a morning breakfast at one of the parks for one day is not an issue. Trying to do it everyday is a challenge. This schedule seemed to work out better for us.

 

[psiprez]

Yes, congrats. It's a wonderful thread. I have to add a mistake we made on our last trip a few weeks ago. Way to many morning trips to the parks. The first week, we were traveling with Disney Rookies. They wanted to get to the parks early to avoid the afternoon heat. They had planned to go back to the resort in the afternoons, and return in the evenings. That didn't happen much, so it made for a very long day for them. We were alone the second week, so it was an easier time. DW prefers to go to the parks early afternoon and stay until closing. This way we can stay later without anyone dragging by night time. Plus as my DS gets older, he prefers to stay late and sleep later the next morning. It worked out better so we had time to eat breakfast and didn't have to rush to get ready to get to the parks early. Doing a morning breakfast at one of the parks for one day is not an issue. Trying to do it everyday is a challenge. This schedule seemed to work out better for us.

I'm totally with you. We are NOT early morning people. If we get out of the hotel room by 10am, that's an early day for us. (dislaimer: we both work 3pm-midnight shifts, so 10am is like the crack of dawn for us!!)
Sure we can't take advantage of the low morning crowd, but we are all happier, and less cranky, if we just stick to our regular hours of operation.

 

[meghammy]

We chose the Deluxe Dining Plan, and had a TON of credits left over. We were never hungry for lack of food, either. The meals we had were huge and timed well. We met up with my cousin and his family the day of our departure, and were handing out snacks to them because we had so many credits and wanted to use them since we had paid for them. Our next trip we are definitely scaling back a bit.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

not taking enough diapers and realizing you're out of diapers when DD2 poops at Cinderella's dinner.

 

[YawningDodo]

Misremembered the time of the second parade at MNSSHP, after deciding we'd aim for the second parade. We were outside Splash Mountain when I realized my mistake and we were able to dash over and watch the parade anyway, but we stood behind people and we got there as the first float was passing by. I kicked myself so hard for that; I love the Halloween parade and while I'm not one to stake out a position an hour in advance or anything, if I hadn't been thinking we had a half hour more than we did we could have gotten a much better view. Too much else going on that night to keep it all in my head. Lesson is, if you're waiting on something special like that, check your dang event guide whenever you finish with another event in case you're misremembering.

Just get to a restroom, wring out the water out the clothes, dry your hair with toilet paper and save the wasted money for a donation towards water projekts in Africa!

Yeah, no. On our first day at Universal Studios this last trip, we rode the various water rides and were completely soaked through. Clothing simply does not dry in Florida, especially if you're wearing cotton underwear and that's soaked as well. Going to the bathroom and wringing things out just made us more miserable because afterward we had to put sticky wet clothing on and it felt even worse after having briefly had it off. We never did dry out until we got back to the resort and had our showers and change of clothes. Less splashy things like Splash Mountain at WDW and the Jurassic Park boat ride at UIA are doable without a change of clothes, but when you're well and truly soaked, a trip to the bathroom is not going to help in the slightest.

Second time at Universal on that trip, we each brought a full set of clothing, underwear on outward, and stowed it all in a day locker. We didn't end up needing most of it (I did change socks at one point), but the cost of the locker was well worth it for the peace of mind. When we were at WDW we didn't worry about it because an emergency trip back to the resort could be done in under an hour, but if you're further out from your resort it's worth it to come prepared.

 

[nkereina]

For me it was bringing only one pair of shoes. I thought if I brought one pair of comfortable, supportive shoes, I'd be good. WRONG. Wear the same shoes daily, and your feet continue to rub the same way, and by the third day I could seriously barely walk! I had the worst blisters ever. And I was wearing good shoes! (Chacos)

For this trip, I'm bringing 4 pairs of supportive, comfortable sandals (Chacos, Tevas, Eccos, and Keens...can you tell I am a sandal wearer? LOL) and rotating what I wear when!

Good point. Another reason we bring at least two pairs of sneakers is in case it rains, we can switch them out for the dry pair. Nothing worse than wet sneakers! And bring newspaper to dry them out!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Not buying the Beauty and the Beast tea set for kids they sell in the gift shop by Gaston's. It was only $36 and I'm going to kick myself in the butt for not getting it. We are going back in April. I hope it's still there!

Not riding The Pooh ride

Missing the parade at MNSSHP

Oh... I'm sure I have a lot. It was my first trip as an adult/ Mom and I didn't PLAN the trip. I also hadn't been in ten years. I had no idea. Luckily we are going back in April to try and redeem ourselves!

 

[Accident]

Not buying the Beauty and the Beast tea set for kids they sell in the gift shop by Gaston's. It was only $36 and I'm going to kick myself in the butt for not getting it. We are going back in April. I hope it's still there!

Get the shop disneyparks app and order it right now and ship it home.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Get the shop disneyparks app and order it right now and ship it home.

I will look into it! It'd be a great item to have!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Last time I went September 2011 with my husband is a combination of a few mistakes.

We have 2 airlines that have non-stop flights to MCO. Just checked and the flight time for the airline we would likely use hasn't really changed; it leaves just after 7am CST and gets to Orlando just after 10:30am EST.

Went from off-site hotel to MK same day as arrival with hotel's complementary free shuttle though we also had a rental car. While we may have gotten in early enough in the day it just felt too hectic and we were run down by the end of the day and it was just our first day at the parks (we hade 4 more to go plus 3 days at Universal). This next trip we are planning (with my husband, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and step-father-in-law) for September 2017 I added an extra day to the vacation which will be used as the arrival day. Yes it will add extra costs (rental car, hotel, time off work) but it is going to be so worth it. I plan on spending some time down at Disney Springs (Formerly Downtown Disney) but not too much so we don't get too tired. That way we are refreshed the next day and it will introduce the family to Disney again since the last time they went was like 15 years ago (while I went in 1999 (and before that but don't remember the year), 2004 and 2011).

Stayed off-site: This next trip I want to stay on-site (something I didn't do in the past at all) and likely All-Star Movies. I completely understand that ASM is a Disney-fied Motel 6 but I do believe we will get more perks (don't have to pay for parking-which is now $20 but was like 15 or so back in 2011), EMH-will plan to use some, MBs, FassPass+ 60 days in advance, etc.

Off-site's Hotel free shuttle was so not convenient. Not advertised at all but it shared the shuttle with another resort at least when we were picked up to go to Universal Studios. Picked up just after 7am and made it to Universal at 8:30...it would have only taken about 20-25 mins without the added resort......With that being said we honestly will be relying on driving our rental car for this 2017 trip instead of the Disney buses (maybe once in a great while) and we wished we would have just sucked up the parking cost and done this the last trip.

Not bringing a travel-sized sunscreen; we only had the big one we used before leaving for the parks for the whole day!!(as we only bring a small scubba-divers water-resistant pouch with a strap to carry it-fits our two cell phones plus necessary cards to the parks). We are well used to the humidity where I'm from so I know how to dress and understand how it will feel but our sun isn't quite as strong. Getting a burn early on your trip is painful, not attractive..sunglass lines and all as well as peeling risk even with aloe.

Last one isn't really a mistake but more of a desire. Never really focused on food-always ate quickly at Quick Service places like hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, etc. Next trip (even though we will have more people than last time) I want to utilize a few ADRs with nicer restaurants. I will not however, let my mother-in-law try to plan our trip around food---something she does all the time much to the annoyance of us all. Food will just be an added experience not the focus and we will not bog down our days with ADRs.

 

[PirateSAM]

Great thread, thought I'd add mine...

1. For past three years, NOT making ADRs. Eating at QS every lunch and dinner... UGH. Rectifying this mistake in 2016!
2. NOT using Disney transportation. I know a lot of people complain about it, but I've never really had any problems (other than my waiting at the wrong bus stop trying to get back to my resort from Epcot. But I swear that bus I just missed said my resort! LOL)
3. Staying off-site. First trip back in many years, went with friends and they wanted to go cheap but nice at an off-site resort. Started going solo and staying on-site at a nice Deluxe resort. Spend a little more money, and enjoy your vacation in luxury. Nothing worse than staying in a small hotel room and feeling forced to either be gone all day or feel like you're living in solitary confinement.
4. Packing WAY TOO MUCH! Staying in a Deluxe now, I find that a few interchangeable outfits can last a week by doing laundry and mix 'n' matching! I only bring a duffel bag with clothes and a smaller backpack with all my toiletries.
5. Rushing through the parks, and not taking the time to enjoy my surroundings. The parks are designed to be visually appealing regardless of where you look. Take the time to stop and smell the roses...literally!
6. Skipping fireworks at MK and Epcot. Will also be rectifying this mistake in 2016.

That's all I can think of for now...