How do you change it up?

[mickeysmith]

I know each trip is unique, but I am curious to see how others change (or don't change) their Disney vacations / strategies from visit to visit. I ask because I am changing a few things this time, yet keeping some the same.
The first thing we are changing is the time of year for our visit. We have always gone in October for fall break and love it. Next year, my DDs will be on different school schedules, so we are heading down on Memorial Day for the week.
We are not doing park hoppers this time either. I wanted to see what it was like to just stay and wear that one park out!
We are doing some new ADRs, too. We have Raglan Road, Mama Melrose Fantasmic package, Be Our Guest dinner and Garden Grill. We have eaten at Mama Melrose's, but not done the package. Crystal Palace is our finale for breakfast! That's a family favorite!!
We still plan to stay at Pop Century. I have looked and looked, but I just keep coming back to it. I guess it really is my home away from home! We will not do preferred room this time. I was going to try to request a lake view. I am still eyeballing CBR. It just looks beautiful!
Our park touring plans will be different w/o the hoppers. I am going with Easy WDW and hope for the best! I have a bucket list for each park of things we still have not done or seen. I am really excited about it!
Interested to hear how others change their visits!!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My trips are always different. My last one was spent primarily doing the Christmas stuff - I didn't ride many attractions in the parks at all.

I go at different times of the year, sometimes do tours, sometimes not. Same with TS meals - I very seldom eat at the same restaurant over and over again.

I book different resorts too. That's probably what keeps me going back - so many different things to try and different ways to tour.

 

[RebeccaRabbit]

We also like to change things up a bit each trip to keep things fun. Actually this year we are going to Uni instead of Disney - not because we are tired of Disney, but just because we haven't been to Uni yet and want to see it too.

Each Disney trip I always try to schedule a new ADR for sure. Last time we did Cinderella's breakfast, BOG, and Marrakesh for the first time. Previously we had done Crystal Palace, Tusker House, Akershus, Tony's, Rose & Crown, ... It's always hard for me to decide with the ADRs - want to go back to favorites (especially Akershus!), but also want to try some new places.

We are kind of running out of new attractions to see at this point. Last time finally did CoP for the first time - ugh. We also did Typhoon Lagoon for the first time and that was a change that will stay - great break from the parks. Still have not been to Downtown Disney and Disney Quest.

We also tried a new resort once (AKL), but didn't actually like it as much as our "home" resort - CSR. AKL was impressive, but too far from the parks, too dark, not as quiet and peaceful - and somehow, it just did not feel as comfortable to us. I think there may be an imprinting thing that goes on with the resorts, like with baby geese.

We'd love to try going at a different time. A slower time in Christmas season would be my dream (probably not realistic, I know). I'd also love to see the Garden or Food & Wine someday. Currently, due to my work schedule the only time we can go is summer or January, and there's no way I'm going in summer (heat + crowds = ), so we go the same time each year.

I agree "mixing it up" is a great way to add spice to your Disney vacay! Have fun!

 

[JZCubed]

We presently have a built-in cheating scheme - our child is growing into new rides and attractions. And now that she is in school, family vacations should conform to school calendar most often, so we will be traveling in summer for first time.

But we also understand the desire to do new things.

-- Trying new food is always fun - you've already mentioned too.
-- Adding one of those add-on excursions like Keys to Wonderland tour.
-- Doing the hands-on Interactive stuff at each Park (i.e., Sorcerers of MK).
-- Renting water craft at Contemporary / Boat cruise for Illuminations.
-- Rick Mears Driving Experience / Mini-Golf / Disney Quest / La Nouba.

 

[Jennasis]

We will try a new restaurant each trip. And this time we're trying a new resort and adding in more resort time and less park time. Also trying a different time of year to take advantage of SWW and F&G rather than our tried and true Sept/oct and F&W/MNSSHP.

 

[Princess Yvey]

I've been to disney so many times, yet I still find something new to do or experience every time! I used to live in Miami, and my dad had an office in Orlando too so we were there 1-2x a month growing up. As I got older, I got my own annual pass and was in the parks 1x a month.

I try different restaurants, visit resorts for their restaurants, go to "that ride I never ride", or discover new shortcuts and paths. I also loooovvveee to shop, so I enjoy browsing the new merch at the stores.

I've caught parades I haven't seen I'm years, or new stage shows. I try new snacks and foods too.

But of course, I have quite a few "must-dos" every trip too, so it's a nice balance

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I was there 2 weeks ago and it was my first experience with fp+. What I will do different next time is ONLY fp the long wait time attractions, and no fp for the rest. We found out when we skipped the fps we got more done instead of waiting for the next fp to come available because we didn't have enough time between to do anything else. We also will spend way less time in the parks and more time relaxing at the resort. In fact, I may stay offsite next time. I know it's a hassle with transportation but we tend to not go as much when we stay offsite and that's fine with me. I also found when I stay onsite I don't go to other parks such as US or SW. If I go and it's really crowded I'll do less at the WDW parks because to me it's just not worth it, all the standing in line to get only a handful of things done in a day. US was wonderful on this last trip. Very short lines, a sharp contrast to WDW.

 

[glassslippergirl]

We also used to go often for weekend trips. We always tried to do something new like a restaurant or experience. A lot of times we would walk past something and say, "That looks fun," and try it out. That was how we rented a boat at DTD. Without park hoppers, OP, I'd recommend doing everything that you've never done at a park. We did that one day at AK-- so much fun-- there's so many trails and hidden experiences there. Use an app like ride counter to keep track of exactly when you did each thing for posterity. Sometime in the future when DS is older, our goal is to get APs, document when we went on every attraction in that time, and have maps made that mark the date and time we completed each attraction.

 

[Bullseye]

We add two US/IOA days to our trips and that has really added new life. Also since you can never get everything in on a trip, we usually try to do things we missed on the prior trip. Switching up resorts from year to year also makes it fresh.

 

[mickeysmith]

Without park hoppers, OP, I'd recommend doing everything that you've never done at a park. We did that one day at AK-- so much fun-- there's so many trails and hidden experiences there. Use an app like ride counter to keep track of exactly when you did each thing for posterity.

Absolutely! I've got a list to do and look forward to finding things in the moment that I have not done. This time, I just want to sit on Main Street for a bit and enjoy! Not to mention eat at Pecos Bill's, do Country Bears, ride the Riverboat . . .

Going to visit some resorts has always been something I've wanted to do. In 2016, my best friend and I will be back to celebrate our 50th!! Hopefully, I can do some visiting then. We may also do one of the tours.

We, too, tie in Universal. We are huge HP fans. We spent our fall break there instead of Disney this year. I really missed the Mouse, but we immersed ourselves in Harry's world!

This is a fun thread to read. I appreciate the responses. It gives me even more ideas!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We change where we stay and since my oldest and I are interested in the Golden Spoon Challenge, we always try to include a new restaurant that we haven't eaten at.

We still do some things the same because we do have our favorites. So the above is how we change if up.

 

[PoohsFan1]

We like to change a couple things for each of our trips. This next trip will be the first trip that it will be just my DDs and I so that is probably the biggest change that is going on. Other then that, we are going to be trying a couple new restaurants (Raglan Road and Yak and Yeti) and going to a restaurant that we haven't gone to in a long time (Kona Cafe). Also this trip my kids are going to experience new attractions that they never saw before (Tiki Room, Country Bears Jamboree, check out some of the walking trails at AK, etc....) because DH never really cared to do them. I would of put Liberty Bell in the new attraction list but unfortunately it will be down for a small refurb while we are there . My girls and I are so excited for our trip .

 

[mickeysmith]

We like to change a couple things for each of our trips. This next trip will be the first trip that it will be just my DDs and I so that is probably the biggest change that is going on. Other then that, we are going to be trying a couple new restaurants (Raglan Road and Yak and Yeti) and going to a restaurant that we haven't gone to in a long time (Kona Cafe). Also this trip my kids are going to experience new attractions that they never saw before (Tiki Room, Country Bears Jamboree, check out some of the walking trails at AK, etc....) because DH never really cared to do them. I would of put Liberty Bell in the new attraction list but unfortunately it will be down for a small refurb while we are there . My girls and I are so excited for our trip .

This is so fun!! It is my first trip alone with our 2 DDs! We are so excited about it!! They will be 17 and 14, so I am trying to grab as much time with them as I can. Time is flying by.

We are like you - there are so many things we like to do that others didn't. My DH is even excited for us!! I really can't wait!!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think changing up the time of year is the easiest way to switch things up for us. It's amazing how different an August vacation is from a February vacation versus a November vacation. All with pluses and minuses.

I really do think of our trips as "Orlando" trips now, not just "Disney" trips. So Universal has helped switch things up too...two more parks to explore, more hotels to try, new restaurants.

 

[mickeysmith]

I am interested to see how different May is from October. I am anticipating increases in the crowds and heat! We are heading down for the last week in May this time.

 

[TravelandLeisure]

We went last summer and will be going again in late May 2015 (I am a teacher so very limited on when I can travel). However, we are changing things up a bit by visiting all new restaurants--the only repeat we have is BOG, but we are doing dinner instead of lunch this time.

We also didn't get to see MSEP or FOF parade last year, so we will get fast passes for those. There are several more attractions we will hit that we missed due to time constraints.

Finally, we added a trip to Sea World and Aquatica at the end of our trip. We have never been, and are very excited.

I feel with all of these changes, it definitely won't feel old or stale.

 

[nkereina]

We are also changing the time of year we visit for our next trip. Our last two trips have been in November and we've had bad luck with the weather, so we are going to try the Spring instead. We usually visit MK first, followed by Epcot, DHS then AK but for our Spring trip, I'll be planning which park to visit based on the most recommended parks for each day. We'll need to pay better attention to that since Spring sees higher crowds than we are used to in November.

 

[msp2mco]

We try to do different things each time we go. That includes trying a new restaurant, doing a scavenger hunt, taking time to watch some park entertainers, try new restaurants, do the same things at different times of the day, and check out attractions that aren't very popular.

 

[mickeysmith]

Well, I did it! I changed our res to POFQ instead of POP. I absolutely love POP, but I am ready to venture out! I know this sounds crazy, but it makes me a bit nervous!?

 

[LisaBi]

DS is very much a creature of habit. He'd much rather repeat things he knows and loves (over and over and over) than try something new that he may love even more. So our rule the last several years is we have to do at least one thing each day that we've never done before. That may be a new attraction or restaurant or just one we haven't done before. It might be as simple as checking out the other side of the resort, or taking a different mode of transportation, like maybe the boats between Epcot and DHS.