I tried to warn them!

[Lesley Wake]

So my physical therapist (who has become more of a personal trainer/friend in the past few months) and his family went to WDW last weekend (him, his fiancee, 8 yr old daughter, and 3-yr old son). His daughter is a cheerleader and her team got a bid to the competition, so it wasn't a trip planned super far in advance. We are all SoCal natives, so both his family and mine go to Disneyland often enough and are used to the system there. I tried to warn him that WDW is a totally different entity-180 day dining reservations, 60 day fastpasses. I even gave him access to my touringplans subscription! Well, he didn't do any advance planning and regretted it!

They didn't decide which park to go to until that day, so by that time, most of the good FPs were gone (his daughter's team lost in the first round so they had more opportunities to go to parks than other teams). They ended up not getting any passes, even same-day ones (I don't quite understand why not, but whatever). They ended up only going on 4 rides in MK, 2 in AK, he didn't do any in HS (I don't think they quite understood rider switch, because it sounds like his fiancee and daughter went on ToT while he waited with their son), and didn't even go to Epcot. At AK he complained about waiting for 90 minutes for Kali River Rapids, and they never even went on the safari! They were at the parks late each night, but never saw any of the late-night shows or fireworks (again, don't quite understand how they managed that). They ate pretty much entirely at the All Star food court, so he was tired of all the junk food. I really just had to bite my tongue and stop myself from saying I told you so!

At least he wasn't completely anti-Disney. I think he understood he didn't take full advantage of planning tools. Because his daughter is still continuing with cheer, it's likely they'll be back in future years for the competition, so he will plan better then!

 

[MSPeeler]

I've done the same. Tried to explain the "experience" and difference before to friends and family prior to travel, but they don't really listen till they get home LOL.

Born and raise in Dallas Texas, we lived at six flags in the summers.... Disney World is a completely different experience, there is nothing like it. At least you tried, and hopefully next time he will take advantage of all the planning tools that Disney and other people provide!

 

[rwdavis2]

I try to tell people a trip to WDW is like an Everest expedition. It requires money, stamina, and PLANNING.

 

[maryj11]

To bad they didn't listen. People just don't realize you have to make plans at Disney or your limited.

 

[Beer Me]

I think Disney planning is simple but that came with some experience. I wouldn't personally use a travel agent but it might be best for first timers.

 

[DisDreaming4116]

And while it sounds like it will be more fun to "wing it," it will just leave you feeling frustrated and not enjoying the trip to the fullest.

 

[Tinkerbell8956]

And while it sounds like it will be more fun to "wing it," it will just leave you feeling frustrated and enjoying the trip to the fullest.

Haha my idea of "winging it" was to not make any ADRs and only eat counter service meals...I still planned out which counter service places I wanted though. I can't not plan, I'm too type A.

 

[FortForever]

I've tried to tell people before, and help them. Nobody listens and some just "show up" a the last minute, when down here visiting, and buy tickets at the gate with zero planning. Needless to say, that doesn't go well. My cousin and his wife got exactly one ride in each, in one day at MK. He took their son to Buzz Lightyear. She took their daughter to Enchanted Tales with Belle. That took the whole day for them.

 

[bladiator]

I've tried to tell people before, and help them. Nobody listens and some just "show up" a the last minute, when down here visiting, and buy tickets at the gate with zero planning. Needless to say, that doesn't go well. My cousin and his wife got exactly one ride in each, in one day at MK. He took their son to Buzz Lightyear. She took their daughter to Enchanted Tales with Belle. That took the whole day for them.

I have some family members that are maybe the worst time management specialists on the planet, and yet I don't know how you stand in a park FULL of rides and not accidentally get in line and get shoved on to more than ONE ride in a whole day.

 

[donac]

I am not type A but I am a planner for trips. We love Disney because you can plan. Dh and I are early risers so DW is great for us. We went to the midwest for a wedding and stayed a couple of extra days. We were up and about but nothing was open until 10. This did not work well with us. Even if you go at the last minute there are so many easy rides and shows that you can do that will fill up your day.

My brother and his family were like this. They hated Disney since they slept until 10 and got into the parks at 11:30 and then had to fight the crowds. You can do that now with fast pass and timing when you want but not then

 

[Tink_83]

So while I agree that prior planning in generally important, one of the best trips I've taken in recent years was a quick one day trip with DD when she was about to turn 3. DH and I took her to the MK, we showed up around 11 or so the day of, probably didn't make it into the MK until noon at least and then proceeded to do only what our DD wanted to do. The carousel was a hit, multiple times over (we rode it at the end until they closed the park on us), we managed to get FP for POC, HM, and probably something else that I can't remember and overall just relaxed and walked around the park letting DD lead the way. She saw Merida and insisted we stand in line to meet her (I didn't know until that point that she was such a Merida fan). Anyway, if your goal is to not hit too many main attractions, you have a younger child, and you go with a very relaxed pace you can pull off a successful spur of the moment visit to the MK. Now if you are trying to get on a lot of the headliner rides and you want to see a ton then a show up and see what happens approach will ruin your stay. You have to set your expectations to what you are doing and then you will hopefully have a better visit. I do find it odd that they didn't see the fireworks at the MK, I mean even if you are not positioned in the best of places (we were, can you guess, near the carousel waiting for them to open it again because the close it for the fireworks); and still managed to see the show; over head and we had to kind of keep watching from both directions but still we were able to see it and enjoy it (actually enjoy DD having her first real experience with fireworks, she was thrilled).

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I tell people it is all about expectations - you can go with no planning, but just realize you likely won't get on many of the popular rides or eat at the popular restaurants, etc.

But I have had similar experience. One didn't want to make any ADRs and assumed they could just slip the CM a $20 and get seated at any restaurant when they wanted ... and were shocked when that wasn't the case

 

[Pigletpal40]

Unless you are a seasoned pro, I wouldn't go without planning. That said, we took a last minute, pre-cruise trip two weeks ago. Had enough rewards on our Disney Visa for three nights @ Allstar and two park hoppers from 2004 with 3 days left. We grabbed whatever FP's we could get and
did two MK days and one Epcot. Rope drop all three days and ate at counter service and Allstar Café. Got on all the attractions we wanted and rode most eticket rides at least 3 times each. Frozen and dwarves only once at R.D. During our stay we were able to pull FP's for Peter Pan, Space, Thunder, HM, Splash and Pirates, along with Jungle Cruise and Dumbo at MK. We did one morning EMH/RD in Tomorrowland and Frontierland and the other in Fantasyland and Adventureland.
Epcot we got Soarin, Mission Space and Living with the Land. We went on TT single rider multiple times and once ended up in the front seat and my wife in the back of the same car. SSE, Mexico, Nemo, Ellen and Frozen standby and walked the countries. Nice quick fix before our cruise.
We have helped many friends with their first trip. When they return, they can't thanks us enough for pointing them in the right direction and making their vacation Magical

 

[Lesley Wake]

I do find it odd that they didn't see the fireworks at the MK, I mean even if you are not positioned in the best of places (we were, can you guess, near the carousel waiting for them to open it again because the close it for the fireworks); and still managed to see the show; over head and we had to kind of keep watching from both directions but still we were able to see it and enjoy it (actually enjoy DD having her first real experience with fireworks, she was thrilled).

Yeah, I was confused too. I guess one of the other cheerleader families said they should see the electric light boat parade, so they left the park for that.

I think the kids had a good time, which was probably a priority for them. They loved the pools and the freedom of allowing the kids to run around the resort knowing most people were there for the cheerleading so it was safer (now, I don't know how much the other resort guests liked that...)

 

[Davey Jones II]

In my day-to-day life, I'm so disorganized that it would give a Type A person nightmares. But our next WDW trip is in October, and, for months, I've already been planning. And the REAL planning is still to come.

The funny thing is, while I normally hate planning, I actually find myself enjoying planning for a theme park vacation. It creates anticipation.

 

[Mome Rath]

First-timers, at the very least, need knowledge, even if they don't want to plan. Really simple things can go a long way, and don't take hardly any time to just learn about, but, ironically, it takes an expert to tell first-timers those simple things. We had a family member going who was so sure they could go without any knowledge, and of course, they hated it. There seems to be an odd sort of pride sometimes, that even when they know someone who has gone to WDW practically their whole lives, they don't want to act as though you know something they don't... even if it is just about a theme park.

 

[Karau614]

When we first decided to go to WDW for the first time as a family about 4 months ago, I had no idea what went into going on a trip. We started with a small budget and I think by the time we go we are about 4x what I initially thought we would spend, but we have all the fast passes and dining reservations we want and I think it will be a much better experience because of the planning. When we first planned I think we just imagined eating at the hotels and QS all the time but I found out there is much more available than that. I would say if you haven't been you just have no idea. I know I didn't. I'm glad I found this site for all of the helpful info and opinions.

 

[Robo]

I guess one of the other cheerleader families said they should see the electric light boat parade, so they left the park for that.

Six whole minutes of Casio keyboard music and flickering lights.
Gahhhhhhhhh!

 

[FelisLachesis]

I have some family members that are maybe the worst time management specialists on the planet, and yet I don't know how you stand in a park FULL of rides and not accidentally get in line and get shoved on to more than ONE ride in a whole day.

"That's wait time is too long"

Next ride... "that wait time is too long"

Next ride... "that wait time is too long"

repeat for most of the day

It's now closing time.

 

[ols386]

At least your friend will know for future trips that he needs to do some pre-planning.