Do you skip stuff?

[la79al]

For example, DD doesn't really get the non costumed characters. I am hoping that we can skip the princesses but then I feel like we are going to DW, we have to do the princess thing. And I think the older kids would really like checking out AKL but I don't want to deal with the potential hassle of getting there, so we are skipping it. And they will never know, but I feel bad. Am I the only one that wants to intentionally skip things despite the fact that the kids might like it?

 

[busyshrew]

We skip stuff all the time! Our trips to DW are short and there is no way we have enough time to do everything. We also keep our days out short because our DD is younger and we like to get back to the hotel by about 3 for rest and swim time. So we pick and choose.

This year we skipped the Fairies meet & greet. (she's done it before but would still have loved to do it again). We just didn't "remind" her about it. We also skipped TSM because we didn't feel that DHS was worth it for us as a family. So we told DD "next year when you are bigger" and she accepts that.

Her days were very full and she enjoyed herself tremendously, so I'm not going to feel guilty about skipping stuff - we'll do different things next time. It gives us something to look forward to!

 

[katied]

There's too much at WDW to do it all, so you have to skip things. The key is trying to figure out your "top hits" list for each member of the party and plan to hit those things. Everything else is a bonus, so don't stress over what you skip.

 

[chs27]

If you don't skip things, kids get worn down. There is always another trip. Figure out what you don't want to miss, then the rest is gravy.

 

[skimommy]

Absolutely. We have a list of must-see attractions and the rest will be a bonus.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Our first trip we use TourGuide Mike and tried to see almost everything -- it felt very rushed and overscheduled, but we did get to see a lot.

The last two trips we skipped tons of things, and did other things over and over. For example, I don't think we rode a single fantasy land ride, and went to AK, rode Expedition Everest and left. On the other hand, we rode the following things many times: Stitch, Monster's Inc, Buzz, Splash, Aladdin's Magic Carpet, Rock 'n Roller Coaster, ToT, Muppets, Test Track, and Mission Space.

I basically let my son rule the itinerary. I like the atmosphere of Disney, the nice hotels, the yummy restaurants, the happiness, more than any specific ride, so if he wants to spend 10 rides in a row trying to perfect his ability to steer me into spitting distance of a camel, I'm strangely OK with that.

 

[Mathfailure]

I think the best trips are less about seeing/doing everything and more about truly enjoying what you are comfortably able to accomplish.

For instance I do not like any ride which you sit in and are tossed around while viewing a movie. I feel like a Jill in the box, so I don't do them. Others may want to do them several times. All ok.

 

[2shortpeopleruleme]

Shoot we skipped two whole parks!I wanted SO bad to get them to Hollywood Studios but time just got away from us. Animal Kingdom was off the list before we even left home. My girls didn't know any better, but I felt bad about it at the time. However, my ODD rode The Barnstormer 5 times that week and still talks about it!

 

[dmoore718]

We skipped lots of stuff. Anything with more than a 30 min wait, we skipped or went back later. We did only what the kids would like, and went back to see the Princesses repeatedly, that was their favorite and the lines were short. We went the end of January. Also, I wasn't sure if they would like AK but it turned out to be a favorite! We didn't stress about and just followed their lead. We stayed at the parks all day because it was cold and they would have driven us crazy in the hotel room for extended amounts of time. Next time, we want to go to Downtown Disney though.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We've skipped different things each trip, and except for one thing, my boys (now 9 & 6, have been to WDW 5 times) haven't mentioned it. The only thing they did ask about was the Illuminations Cruise.

We've taken them since they were 3 years old and 15 months old, respectively. Their likes and dislikes have changed, as well as their comfort levels and height (obviously).

Don't stress, make a list of must-do things and go from there.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We are planning to skip DHS this trip to focus on the 3 parks that appeal the most to our kids.

As I'm going through UG, I'm marking up the things I know we are going to skip (Stitch's Escape, Pooh ride, Philharmagic, etc).

It's perfectly normal to skip things. Why force the agenda on your trip? It should be enjoyable!

 

[indimom]

Yep! We absolutely are skipping the princesses and fairy hollow. We are just not THAT into characters that we are willing to wait in a line to see them. We do love character meals though! We skipped most of the C-rate rides on our first trip. This time I plan to hit most of these (as many as we can). No guilt, they've got their entire lives to visit AKL and won't it be more exciting to meet the princesses when they have their own themed area in a couple years?? (Even I might get in line for that...)

 

[vettechick99]

I have skipped so much that there are things I still haven't done 25 trips later. Never done the Hall of Presidents, Country Bear Jamboree (not even sure where it is!), Tea Cups, and just this last trip we went to Tom Sawyer Island for the first time (I liked it!).

You just can not do it all. So pick the stuff you think will everyone will like and save the rest for another trip.

 

[musclemouse]

We went in Dec 08 and we made it to all four parks. We skipped a lot in each park. But what we couldn't make on our day to Studios we made up for on another day during that vaca. Coming this Dec we plan on skipping AK. My boys were just too little for that park, and still are. We are planning on adding extra days for exploring things other than the parks. My hubs and boys don't like WS at EPCOT, so they are going to go do something while I go. Then I don't have to feel rushed. We missed out on so many rides that we are going to make it a priority to get to those rides this year.

 

[foltzy]

We went on our first trip in Oct. We skipped a lot of things. No thrilled rides (Didn't bother me, my husband another story) because our kids were 2 and 4 and not ready for any of those types of rides or big enough. We were at Animal Kingdom only for about 2 hours (My son got sick) and we didn't spend a lot of time at Hollywood Studios either.

We took a very casual approach and had a great time. We also knew we'd eventually be going back and so it wasn't important to us to try and do everything on our first trip.

 

[DrMomof3]

We skip stuff all the time!
We skipped AK during our December trip. We only had 4 days at Disney and wanted to spend our time elsewhere. We skip many character greetings. We try to do whatever is most important to someone and skip other stuff. We also like to try new things on each trip!
My kids would be more disappointed if they missed pool time than if they missed seeing a certain character!

Amanda