Mistake you will not repeat next time...

[larryz]

My mistake -- taking the Free Dining offer instead of the applicable discounts. Won't do that again...

 

[kapoof]

I will never go during a holiday. One trip we went during spring break...never ever again! I can't imagine going over Christmas...I would much rather get Disney tickets for a christmas present and leave after new years. Way way less crowds and cheaper rooms too.

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

When we went to Ohana for supper from CSR this was of course the only one time we ran into bus issues.

After waiting ages for a bus to MK we finally decided to take the HS bus & go from there by bus to Poly. Wow...big big mistake!! HS was crazy & the bus line unreal long. The bus took forever to arrive & then we found the Poly shares a bus with 2 other deluxes.

We allowed 1 & 1/2 hours to arrive so would be there early...& was almost a hour late!

Never, ever again...will I do that. Lesson learned...get the MK bus as usual or save stress & get a taxi.

 

[disneydee6]

Our past trips, especially the past two with my family, we have kind of rushed a little. My last trip, when I went with a friend, we took our time, and one thing I really loved was taking time to walk around World Showcase. I loved trying all the different foods and drinks, looking into the little shops, and enjoying some different shows. After that trip, I will not make the mistake of rushing through my Disney trip, and making sure to leave time to enjoy Epcot (already my favorite park, but now even more so!)

 

[NewmanFamily6]

As many times as I have been to the world I still have never seen the Jammin Jungle parade There is always something that happens to intervene with the timing of that particular parade.....maybe next trip

 

[tjmj9801]

We also made the big mistake of not getting to the parks at rope drop. I am chalking it up to the fact that my in laws were with us and that stressed me out greatly I have vowed that next time will be better and we HAVE to plan another trip to make up for it

THIS!! We booked a "make up" trip 4 months after going with MIL and BIL. I will NEVER let them ruin my magical place, or probably go on any other vacation, with my MIL or BIL again! They complain that we go to the parks too much, leaving them at their chosen off property resort, but refuse to "pay that much" for tickets. We're a theme park family and don't like being made for feel guilty for it. Solution? Don't plan to go with them again. Oh, and, don't stay at an off property resort and shop at DTD twice then go home and tell everybody you "went to Disney". No, honey, you vacationed in central Florida.

Rant Over. Back to our regularly scheduled thread.

 

[QueenElinor]

We had a magical trip this past month. Really, we didn't make any major mistakes but did have crisis averted several times. Like losing the tickets- thank goodness I listened to folks on this site and had copied the backs of them. Advance planning for Disney is critical!

I would say the biggest mistake I made this time is worrying too much about saving money here and there. I did get a great room discount (30% is a lot of cash at the YC). That should have been enough.

But I went overboard pinching pennies. Bought a bunch of Disney gift cards through a Target promotion- it's true I saved 24% on those cards- but what a hassle. Same with getting the tickets through UT. They wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place if they'd been on the KTTW card. We just had all these cards and tickets and FP+ passes (which also got misplaced briefly) etc. etc. floating around, it was a giant headache for me, because I was in charge.

In the end, we probably spent close to $10,000 on this trip with airfare, etc. for 5 people. It's not like we were frugal while we were there- we did the CP package, did Dive Quest, had TS every day. The hassle factor was simply not proportional to the couple of hundred bucks I may have saved. Next time I'll be sure to get a good deal on the room, airfare and car rental and let the rest fall where they may.

 

[brookmey]

We are currently on our way home from 10 days at Disney and they were wonderful.

The big mistake I made was letting my 6 year old talk me into taking him on Stitch's Great Escape. I had never done it before and planned to keep it that way after reading on the DIS how horrible it is. It was horrible, dumb and completely ridiculous. And of course, DS loved it and said it was one of his favorites. I should've pulled out the "we're not going on it because I said so" instead of letting him sweet talk me onto it. Never, ever again. Next time we go DS will be 7. He can go by himself.

 

[Jennasis]

Mistakes I will not repeat:

1. Vacationing with extended family or groups larger than 4 total people. Or with my younger sister...EVER.

2. Going in July.

3. Eating a gingerbread shingle from the GB house at the Grand Floridian. I would sooner eat an actual shingle before another one of those awful things.

 

[nansmama]

Biggest mistakes we have learned from:

1. Bringing my dd's BFF with us.
2. Getting in line for Maelstrom when you can't see the front of the queue.
3. Showing up hungry at DHS (terrible food options at this park).
4. Nighttime in Animal Kingdom without a clue and without a map.
5. Getting stuck on the "wrong" side of MK during a parade.

 

[katrina1122]

Mistakes

1. Going to F&W at night. Epcot was full of drunks who were extremely rude.
1a. Eating the chicken and rice dish from singapore with nothing to drink on hand. Wow that stuff is HOTTTTT.

2. Getting up early just to make a dining adr before we hit a park. We like to sleep in. I now don't book before 10am if I can help it.

3. Going during a busy season. We only go in low seasons now...no need for rope drop (see #2).

4. After almost 20 trips of never eating at Earl of Sandwhich until this last one in Nov. Loved it!

5. Being ride crazy and not stopping to see the roses. On the last trip dh and I didn't worry about getting on every ride or about fp, etc. In 10 days we got 1 fp for TSM. Otherwise if the line was long we just came back later. We rode pretty much everything anyway and got to see lots of side shows, etc we've never noticed before.

 

[MissouriPrincess]

1. We drove, and I had the brilliant idea to stay offsite the first night to "maximize our time in Disney." So, on our first Disney day, we checked out of our hotel, packed the car, went to MK at rope drop, then at about 1:00 we left to check-in at AKL--Kidani. Room wasn't ready until 2:30. Then, we moved everything in from our car. By that time, it was time to get ready for our ADR at Chef Mickey's at 5:00. Next time, we are just going to our resort and we'll be done with it.

2. We were on the dining plan, and I was weird about using snack credits early in the trip. I used my gift cards I had saved, in the beginning. I'm so weird, and I had snack credits left at the end. I will just use them next time!

 

[mom2rtk]

I won't go to Disney with friends again. Even well tested Disney-loving friends. Not gonna happen.

But then I have to make at least one new mistake every trip, right?

 

[brettcw23]

Great answers from everyone!

1. Trip insurance...we left right after Sandy hit. No isues but the stress killed me!

2. We were staying BLT and had a pretty early flight out of Pittsburgh. We made the mistake of trying to go to the MK when we got there b\c our room wasn't ready yet. We were all tires, cranky and hungry, in other words, a recipe for disaster! Next time we'll check out the resort, pool, etc.

 

[Miss Mo]

Not making toddler son go to the bathroom before leaving magic kingdom after fireworks!!! We had a coach driver who clearly got lost and the drive back to POFQ took forever which was no fun for me when the sleeping child on my knee wet himself!! Lol!!

 

[Emagine]

Agree with a good many of these. Sort of fun hearing others who understand your thoughts lol.

For us, just because our situation, would be buying the meal plan. We did about 7 years ago once when the kids were 3 and under. Now one is an adult but eats like a bird. Tried it the week of Halloween this year and hated it. Sure it is easy to swipe that card. But the food, the cost and the dancing around place to place made it a nightmare. Back to the room and cooler we go!

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

We NEVER leave the parks for naps. They always napped well in strollers and we didn't have a chunk of our day spent in transportation.

We have NEVER left the park for nap time either. It just seemed like a huge waste of time for us to gather everyone up, go to the car, pack everyone and everything in it, drive back to the resort, etc... Our kids preferred to just nap in the stroller. And for the adults and kids that weren't in the stroller, if we need a rest, we get a snack, and find some shade somewhere.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

Okay, after reading this thread, I NEEEEED to add "Eat a dole whip" to my list of TO DOs for our April trip. We've been to Disney many times and we've never had one, but it sounds like they are heavenly!

 

[chocovrdmicears]

1. Never going during the Holiday Season again. It was freezing, crowded..and flu season. No swimming, hats and mittens in the Parks..then 1/2 the week in the room with sick kids. No thank you.

2. I know...I know....but - We will never go WITHOUT the Dining Plan. . Our past trip was our first without it and it just stressed me out WAAAYYY to much. Maybe we saved some $$$ - but our kids are big eaters so sharing sounded good on paper, but was an epic fail in the Parks. We ate off property a few meals to save some $$$. For the little it saved us, we lost a lot in Park time. I am one of the people Disney had in mind when they created the Dining Plan - don't care about the $ for $ return - The idea that our food is paid for...priceless.

 

[pixarmom]

We NEVER leave the parks for naps. They always napped well in strollers and we didn't have a chunk of our day spent in transportation.

We have NEVER left the park for nap time either. It just seemed like a huge waste of time for us to gather everyone up, go to the car, pack everyone and everything in it, drive back to the resort, etc... Our kids preferred to just nap in the stroller. And for the adults and kids that weren't in the stroller, if we need a rest, we get a snack, and find some shade somewhere.

I'm always happy to see others mentioning the stroller nap alternative. When I was a new mom 13 years ago, I was the recipient of much advice and much of it was the inflexible kind. Nice to see others helping today's new moms by mentioning there are many different ways to approach this. I also like it because after that first day with a little one, we've logged countless days and hours at DL and WDW using the stroller nap (again, because it worked for our kids) and I always like to feel just a little less crazy!

Not making toddler son go to the bathroom before leaving magic kingdom after fireworks!!! We had a coach driver who clearly got lost and the drive back to POFQ took forever which was no fun for me when the sleeping child on my knee wet himself!! Lol!!

I can relate to this! Our youngest did the same on a Disney cruise once while sitting on my lap watching a movie in the theater. On the bright side, I was able to run him right up to our stateroom, give him a bath, change his clothes and become familiar with the laundry room on the ship!