Lessons Learned - What will you do differently when planning your next trip to WDW

[HappyGrape]

For repeat visitors - what will you do different on your next WDW holiday. Any lessons learned?

My biggest one - I will not go to EMH at AK after a day of long haul flight and put my 7 year old son on Everest first thing in the morning. The child was traumatised and he did it the year before. By the end of the holiday he asked himself to do it - but still next time first day Fantasy Land at MK to give him a chance to build up brave.

I will not book FP+ for The Festival of Lion King - no benefit, the show is lovely but fp+ didn't add to the experience

 

[HappyGrape]

I may not hire a car either as the Disney busses were excellent last time

I will not plan evenings in Epcot during F&W with child. It's busy, he was not interested and was winging the whole time. We would go 11 to 3 to enjoy the festival

Nothing huge really, it was great holiday - planning helped allot.

 

[mindeola]

I don't think I will pay for Disney Dining again. I've done the math for our past two visits and it just is not worth it for the way we eat. For our next trip, I have figured we can save about $500 not purchasing the Dining Plan.

 

[Sarahbelle341]

I won't do CRT again unless I have another baby that happens to be a girl obsessed with eating in the castle. lol then I might be persuaded if its truly her hearts desire but even that's iffy we had such a poor experience. The food portions are small, not terrific quality, menu is limited, the princesses are almost identical to Akershus and the photo package is no longer included. It was a total bust for us all the way around and cost a fortune. Character interaction was rushed and service was terrible.

 

[toni nicole]

If I have an extra day, I will make the relaxing resort day our last day, not our first. Last time, we decided we could afford one more night in a hotel, but not another day in the park. We booked an extra night in the beginning of the trip and checked in and relaxed that first day. Our last day there, the depression of leaving and the extremely exhausting drive home told me we this should of been our resort day. Our upcoming trip in January, consists of all four park days, but our last day we will sleep in til 12, and only go on rides we have fast passed and then head home.

 

[smiths02]

Fewer dinner ADRs on our trip with the kids

No more pre-park opening ADRs. With 3 kids, it takes too long, so we are not really "ahead" of the game time-wise. There are no "empty" main street pictures anymore. I think service suffers as everything is a big rush to get people out on time. I'm not paying $200 to rush through breakfast. (We had a much better time at CP at 10:30 than CRT at 8:05)

Really, I'm going to plan more "3/4 days" as the afternoon break wasn't the best for us. I think we need to get an early start an go until brunch/early lunch, maybe hit a few things after lunch and go back to the resort (Sprinkled in with a few sleep in days where get a late start and stay until fireworks)

My older son who used to like Thunder Mountain, is now afraid of all the mountains...my other two aren't tall enough...so we will just skip those rides (DH and I are going in Feb and will get our fill before the June trip)

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I've been employing this lesson learned for many trips now, but on my first family trip, we learned that we much prefer ADRs near the park for the day. So, if we are in MK, we book ADRs in MK or on the monorail loop. For an Epcot or HS day, we prefer the park or Epcot resorts. I also learned that we want more hearty food during the winter than we do in the summer.

 

[DisneyDahling]

I think I've been waiting for this thread since my vacation ended on the 8th!
This was our first time with FP+ and our DS's first trip ( He is 4.5). So while we are not newbies to touring, these two items sure made us feel like we were!!

I would not put all my FP+ in the mornings with the idea that we would add on as soon as that 3rd was done. It NEVER worked and caused too much stress with scheduling and running around the park. Our last day we had a FP+ at 10:30, one at 12:30 and one at 5 I think and at the end of that day we thought, man, this was a perfect day.

I would be more vocal with my husband with my expectations on when he was to wake up and us get to the parks every day. Since I was not, there was some serious tension happening when we didn't get to a park at the time I thought we would and honestly, that did cause a lot of scheduling problems because he was very used to touring with Hoppers, which we did not do this time and just being adults, instead of adults plus preschooler. I think a PP idea of 3/4 days is brilliant and what we will be working towards next time.

Also, this was our first trip as a DVC Member and quite honestly, I missed mousekeeping! Didn't feel like a vacation for me, as I was constantly cleaning up. No flames please, yes I did read the contract and member handbook and scoured the DVC Boards to get an idea before we left but being in the throws of it is slightly different than reading about it.

 

[DisMommyTX]

Don't pay more for a room, expecting it to better. We went all out for our first stay on WDW property --club level Polynesian. It was ok, but never felt like it was worth what we paid for it. Expectations were just too high.

Next trip we got a great deal at AKL on Orbitz, and we loved every minute of it.

Other lesson learned, don't go to MK on last half day. Leaving the park to make our 6pm flight was so depressing. (We tend to arrive at noon and shut down the parks most days.) Next trip we spent our last half day at DTD. Much better exit strategy easing away slowly than being ripped away from the center of all that is magical.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

We're going back in december, and I have decided to make ZERO adrs. That's right, none!!!

The food is sub par, and it takes up too much time. With a 3 year old, I'd rather just get some counter service food when the kid gets hungry.

We also no longer stress about fast passes. If we make it, yay, if we miss our FP, no big deal. We are on vacation to have fun, not to stress!

 

[5kidsmommy]

We're going back in december, and I have decided to make ZERO adrs. That's right, none!!!

The food is sub par, and it takes up too much time. With a 3 year old, I'd rather just get some counter service food when the kid gets hungry.

We also no longer stress about fast passes. If we make it, yay, if we miss our FP, no big deal. We are on vacation to have fun, not to stress!

This has been our strategy our last few trips. This trip though I do have multiple ADRs (first time ever) and I'm a little worried. We have always just eaten when we were hungry. As far as FP+ we are meh about rides, we don't run from ride to ride, we try to take it in. And that is how we tour now, not worrying about doing it all, focuses more on the family togetherness.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Don't pay more for a room, expecting it to better. We went all out for our first stay on WDW property --club level Polynesian. It was ok, but never felt like it was worth what we paid for it. Expectations were just too high.

Next trip we got a great deal at AKL on Orbitz, and we loved l.

That's how we feel about onsite/offsite. We stay offsite and pay half of what a value would cost. We get a ton of space to relax in style. Love it!

 

[KSellers88]

I wouldn't waste a FP on meeting Mickey at the Town Square. The wait time was only 15 minutes when we went. I would also book two rooms so I wouldn't be kept up all night by my father snoring!

 

[Cando86]

I think we'll be taking more mid-day breaks in the future. It's just the way we like touring now and going in September really solidified that opinion!

 

[twinboysandalulu]

We decided to be more relaxed this vacation. We only made 3 ADR's over our 8 days and all of our fast passes are in the afternoon so we can sleep in and go at our own pace. I also have an day with no plans. Every vacation we have a blast so hopefully this will help us enjoy it even more!

 

[BellsFam]

I'll make time to swim!

DD6 did not know how to swim when we left, was NOT a fan of water... That's ok limited pool time sounds great! Nope! DD took this vacation first time in the pool to become a FISH! Now when we talk about going back, she just wants more time in the pool!!!

 

[KSR0330]

I agree with less ADR's. It will be nice to not be tied down to a time that we HAVE to get to dinner. We will have a couple, but not one every night like we did last trip.

 

[fairy oma]

We have decided the next trip 1 or 2 ADRs for a more "spontaneous" experience. Just relax and enjoy the vacation.

 

[hsmamato2]

make fp+ ...in case we decide to use them. If we aren't anywhere near a certain ride when the time comes up,and otherwise busy, we just ignore it...no worries. I dislike rushing around-
make a couple of adr's for fave places,and leave the rest up to chance, for the same reason as above.

 

[Shellyb84]

We will not purchase the deluxe dining plan again, WAY too much food and too much time spent eating. We will do the math and may purchase the regular dining plan, depending on the length of stay it sometimes makes sense.

We will not do CRT again.

Never again go to a water park. Never.

We will spend a lot more time at the resort pool.

We will not book a water view room, as we only went on our balcony at BC twice.