Not everyone is as savvy as us...

[lenshanem]

BIL just called me from Orlando. Last night he and his wife decided to drive down to WDW for spring break for a spur of the moment trip. (She is a teacher.)

He wanted to know how to get a 3 day pass! After getting on to him for not calling me beforehand, I told him his only option was to buy the 3 day one park only per day discount deal at the gate or to buy the 4 day hopper at the higher gate price.

After looking around I called him back and had found a 3 day hopper through a ticket broker. Turns out they were lucky and they were open today despite the hours being Monday through Friday. He owes me!

This is their first vacation since they got married a year ago. They never took a honeymoon. This drives me crazy. I could have saved them money and got them onsite if they would have planned a little. (And this isn't even going into how busy it will be for Easter week!)

Makes me wonder how many other people do this?!? And then complain.... LOL

 

[KNWVIKING]

What is frustrating is when people without a WDW clue do a spur of the moment trip during an extremely busy season and then post a negative trip report,ie long lines,crowds,no PS availible,etc.
They make it sound like it's all Disney's fault that they don't understand FP or advanced PS planning.

I'm sure your BIL doesn't fall into that catagory but I hope he learns that a little planning will go a long ways in enjoying future trips.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Hey, give him a break...at least he was smart enough to head to the right place, and contact the right resource. There is hope!!!

 

[barbeml]

I can relate!

A couple we are close to were in Florida visiting her family. On awhim, they decided to drive over to WDW. Pulled up to one of the resorts at 9 PM and were shocked that they could not get a room. They wound up getting a room at Port Orleans around 10 PM, paying rack rate, of course.

I don't know what kind of tickets they got, but they went to Epcot and who knows where else with no clue and no plan. Then they tell us they can't understand why we go to WDW every year.

 

[thumperjr9]

Spur of the moment trips can be great!! But....Not to WDW (especially if it is your 1st time there.) You really need to do some planning and homework if you have never been there before. It amazes me how many people think WDW is only MK, sometimes even after they have been there. Though, if you are reading this you probably know the importance of planning a WDW trip. Besides the planning is half the fun!

 

[sk!mom]

To quote the Unofficial Guide: "When it comes to Walt Disney World ... you either need a good plan or a frontal lobotomy. The operational definition of self-discovery ... at WDW is the "pleasure" of heat prostration and the "joy" of standing in line."

People tease me for planning so much but when our vacation actually gets here we will have a wonderfully relaxing week because we have P.S. for some meals, we understand fast-pass, and we have spent the least amount of $ possible for us. I actually love the planning though.

My sister called last week to ask my advice on pulling together a spur of the moment trip to WDW- her families first. I advised her to get busy researching after she told me that she thought that they would just spend all of their time at WDW, "except we would like to go to that Wild Life Animal Park somewhere near there." (she meant AK, of course.)

 

[christophfam]

I think it is so funny too that some people still don't know there is more to Disney than MK. I just have to share this.

We are heading to AK on Tuesday and my 4 year-old DD is all set. We were at a playground this week and I told a friend that we were going to go to Disney just one day this trip and plan on going to AK. She said she didn't know that AK was a different park within Disney. My DD heard her and set her straight. "We aren't going to Cinderella's castle this trip. We are going to see the animals instead. Next trip we are going to the park with the Tower and maybe even Epcot. " Even my 4 year-old knows all the parks in the World!

 

[RoyalCanadian]

And so last week -- there I was, minding my own business as I did marriage prep work with a bride-to-be (Hey, I'm a Lutheran minister!) and she starts telling me about her recent trip to WDW. They had PHs for 4 of the 5 people in her family and so she tells me, "We just stopped at one of those roadside stands and bought a pass for me."
This is a young lady whose fiance qualifies for a Florida resident AP. And people wonder why I grind my teeth.

 

[N.Bailey]

I'll never forget a post I read a few years ago here on the DIS. Apparently this woman was standing beside Spaceship Earth looking bewildered when someone from the Dis here approached her and asked if there was something she needed help with? The woman responded that she was suppose to meet up with someone at the castle and for the life of her, she could NOT find the castle anywhere!

 

[Schmeck]

N. Bailey, LOL - that's a great one! Sounds like it could have been my in-laws...

We've got a 12 day stay planned for the end of August, and my girls are trying to talk my in-laws into joining us for at least part of the trip. My in-laws are world travellers (seriously, they have been all over Europe, go to Mexico every winter, etc.) and do most of their trips without reservations or concrete plans. Sometimes I worry that we won't be able to contact them in case of an emergency (that happened once when a family friend passed away during one of their Mexico trips).

Anyways, they used to "just drive down to Disney World, we never had a problem finding a place to stay" (25 years ago) and I'm afraid they'll try this if they decide to join us. I don't want to spend half the day trying to track them down and connect with them, especially since they refuse to have a cellphone, LOL! I just don't think they understand the vast complex WDW has become in 25 years.

 

[TonyS20]

Originally posted by sk!mom
People tease me for planning so much but when our vacation actually gets here we will have a wonderfully relaxing week because we have P.S. for some meals, we understand fast-pass, and we have spent the least amount of $ possible for us. I actually love the planning though.

People tease me, too! Last Friday a group of us were talking about our weekend and upcoming vacation plans. The one guy asked me how my WDW trip was coming along. My boss chimes in that I have had it planned for months and I still had 8 months to go. I replied, "203 days, but who's counting!"

I think they all believe we are wealthy beyond our means! They don't understand that you can see all WDW has to offer and not take out a 2nd mortgage!

Planning keeps me sane!

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Two of my daughter's classmates are going down this week. Both were surpised when I mentioned it would be crowded. Neither has a single PS or even Park tickets purchased.

They will definately be one of the many groups of people standing in the middle of a walkway looking at a map and then saying "Where should we go next?"

 

[barbeml]

We were on the monorail one morning seated opposite a family who were definitely not savvy. They had been riding the monorail for an hour and were planning to get off when it "stops at the movie studios."

 

[LisaRay]

We live in a very small town and it seems that everyone in it knows we go to Disney at least once a year. So people are always asking me questions about trips. My favorite and the one that I hear the most often is.........Do you guys just do disney? I reply .. YES. .... they say yeah we are just gonna do disney too we have heard that that place epcot and that animal zoo are boring! So they say they are just gonna do disney only! They are of course referring to the Magic Kingdom! And can't seem to figure out that there are 4 disney parks but they are all disney! I will rattle off the names of the 4 parks and leaving magic kingdom last when i do this they always interupt by letting me know that the 4th park is disney?!?!?! this just drives me crazy!

The other thing that has driven me crazy lately is my SIL and BIL have never taken thier 5 year old and our 4 year old has been 4 times. So they are thinking of taking her. ( of, course just only doing disney also meaning MK) However they can't find another couple to go with so they have been putting it off for a year! I said just the 3 of you should go. But they think they need another couple with a child around their childs age so that she will have someone to ride the rides with! I have told them that THEY will ride the rides with her! They DO NOT get this! ( think 6 flags kiddy rides i guess??) It has even gotten so bad that now they are saying maybe they should just wait till we plan our next trip and they will just go when we do so that their DD will have our son to ride rides with!! NO WAY am i going with them!

BTW...... they are only going to the parks for 1 day! That is it. Driving from Il. and visiting family in the panhandle of florida and then driving down spending night, getting up doing one day at MK, then spending nite and driving back the next day!! SIL says that she doesn't think she can get BIL to go more than one day. Not really his thing!
Thank God these are not my blood relatives! And thank God my DH is nothing like his sister!
I feel much better after getting all that out by the way!

 

[yecats]

LisaRay, OMG, I just don't understand the concept that many have about WDW.

When I was a kid, my grandparents NEVER made any reservations. I can recall asking my grandmother when I was about 8 why she didn't call a hotel ahead of time to reserve a room (she used to go on various cruises and made those reservations at least 90 days out). She was beginning to have health problems which is why she didn't make ressie's prior to as a just in case matter. When I was 13, my grandparents decided to take a trip which was also to include a waterpark and 2 days at a 6 Flags park. On the drive there, we ran into the worst rain storm (of tropical storm proportions) and it took a lot longer to get where we were going. We finally arrived about 4 hours later than expected and began the search for a hotel. Needless to say there were also 2 large conventions in town which had most of the hotels in the general area sold out. We spent a good amount of time searching for a hotel and eventually after about 10 hotels finally found one to stay in which was costing a high price for last 8 hours that we could use the room to sleep in. Needless to say, my grandmother complained and complained.

Needless to say, I am the complete opposite. I always plan ahead of time, have room and dinner ressie's, maps, etc. It's my pet peeve to walk into the MK and see people arguing over the park map and what they want to do first and generally have no or little knowledge and just standing there wasting time. If they just would've spent a little bit of time on the net or by a book, they could've had a nicer vacation. I'll never understand the concept of taking a vacation to somewhere you've never been without doing a bit of planning.

 

[Aimeedyan]

LOL @ the stories! I can relate to so many!

My SIL and BIL took my niece to Disney several years ago, and my BIL has griped nonstop since returning about it... well, they decided to go one week in advance, didn't make reservations for hotel, car, anything, didn't know ANYTHING about the parks, or buy tickets ahead of time. So their 4 day trip there was filled with long lines, frustration, confusion, and overspending! Not DISNEYS fault they were clueless!!!

And to tick me off further, they didn't once ask me or my mom (who did Disney travel for years and now works at Disney) for ANY advice! Don't gripe if you don't want help!

So when BIL gets on his high horse about the horror of Disney, I calmed remind him of the mistakes HE made in planning that trip, and how my experiecnes have been very different =)

 

[pixieprincessmom]

A friend of mine decided to go a year ago "for the kids." She had told me several times that she didn't understand why we went so often. We went along with them, thank God, because their were times she and DH forgot about the kids. They went back in March and are already planning for next summer. So far she gets the planning part, they had several PS's in March, I had to tell her about codes (again), but they ended up getting a great rate at Pop-Century. Now her dream is to pass me up on trips to WDW.

 

[pintrader]

It never ceases to amaze me why people don't calll Disney reservations and get the el cheapo basic package and order their tickets in advance. "If you say I am a Florida Resident, Annual Passholder, AAA, AARP family/individual what discounts do I qualify for?" ( Or whatever suits your case.) You can get some DEALS.

NEVER hesitate to call and say "what discounts do you have for which I qualify?" No one is going to give something away at a discount that they can get full price for. Not in ANY business. Planning saves money.

If you like "spur-of-the-moment trips then plan them by getting park hopper or some type of passholder tickets that can be used "spur-of-the-moment". Always call ahead to get a room, even if it is an hour ahead. Before you get there they NEED you to fill a roon, Once you are there you NEED the room. The planner gets the benefit.

When people call me now and say "Hey, we're in Florida, can you help us plan Disney? I flat tell them yeah, plan ahead. All of them get one "get-out-of-jail-free" card. I help once as long as they agree to take ALL my adivce which includes the first paragraph here.

Aren't friends and family fun? These are just things I have learned over the years once we tired of being Hotel Bell (last name)

 

[lenshanem]

Update -

I haven't heard from BIL and SIL since they got back from their trip, but I did read the MK had to close the gates due to filled capacity and only onsite guests were allowed in. I think this was Monday?

(They weren't staying onsite, remember? )

When I told hubby he laughed and said he bet they were complaining the entire trip wondering why we liked WDW so much.


A little planning can go a long way............

 

[JLS]

We have been going to WDW since 1999, and I am a "loves to research and plan ahead" type. But we live in L.A., and my mom for YEARS has been asking us "I can't believe that you guys would go to WDW when you have Disneyland so close by." Another person who just doesn't get that there is a major difference and that WDW is more than the MK.

I think some of the confusion that people have about the "MK" name and calling it "Disney" is legitimate though because of the name "Disneyland" used for what is, essentially, the MK here in California. And the MK used to be the only park at WDW, so that's what people know.

As for planning, my husband made SO much fun of me for researching and planning and doing an itinerary before our first trip (even circulating my itinerary around his office where I became the butt of jokes....) but when we were there (in July, no less), he couldn't believe that we hardly waited in any lines to eat or ride, and everything was organized, etc. He was impressed and since then really appreciates the planning aspects.