Saving first timers

[W.E.D.]

Fellow DISsers, have you ever had to save a first timer?

A good friend of mine just announced he was planning his first family trip to WDW. I asked if there was anything I could help him with. He said he had already got a lot of information from a guy in his office.

Information like:

"Take my old resort cups with you. You can use them for free drinks."

I have my work cut out for me. Luckily, I have a few months to set my friend straight.

Anyone else?

 

[Jennasis]

All. The. Time.

Once redirected a friend going during Christmas week who had been told they didn't need reservations and could just walk up and get seated at TS restaurants.

 

[RMulieri]

Yup..Like the person I know that said they are going during Christmas week because its low crowds since everyone is home celebrating" OR ..I don't need reservations for dining, I have the dining plan. ..

 

[KCMiller]

I just did this week. A friend mentioned that she was going to WDW for the first time with her nieces. Staying off property, because she wanted to have a suite hotel with a breakfast. My DD (the one who did the CP) and I fell all over ourselves trying to give her advice on rope drop, etc. I directed her to the DISboards - she'll love all the info here!

KC

 

[brookmey]

Yes, I had a friend whose travel agent told them to park at a monorail resort and ride the monorail to MK or Epcot so they could save money on parking.

Same friend also didn't realize that she'll need to buy tickets for MNSSHP. She thought it was something Disney did every night in the MK.

Seriously, there are some travel agents out there who should not be booking Disney trips because they really have no clue about anything.

 

[ars0525]

I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your friend, but I would direct him towards this website & maybe some others to help with planning. After that I would just smile, nod & wish him a happy trip unless he asks you a specific question.

You don't want to become THAT friend that is a busybody know it all shove my opinion down your throat that he will soon be trying to avoid.

 

[kaligal]

I played down any WDW knowledge simply because I don't want to become responsible for someone else's vacation.

I don't mind answering a few questions. It's that they become endless and some are boring or stupid. plus, people end up wanting you to look stuff up and plan it all. On the DIS, I can skip stuff I find boring or stupid. I don't have to look anything up. And I'm not responsible.

For the most part, people come back happy with the trip and I did no work.

A close friend went to WDW. I tried to tell them a few things. They didn't want to hear it. Fine. But then they called me on Day 1 (at night) of their trip to ask 1001 questions and ask if I could make them a plan for the rest of the week.

So I spent two full hours making a plan for them, who does what, with whom, and when. that was the night I decided never to tell new friends about WDW knowledge.

 

[kelleigh1]

I have a co-worker who goes just about every year, so he's not a first timer, but he could be "that guy in the office".

His annual trips are usually big family trips. This year, it's 20+ people that are going. I think his parents have DVC. The families all stay at different resorts. His parents are apparently staying at the Beach Club this year. We happened to be talking about our upcoming trips as they are only a couple weeks apart and I'm staying at YC this time around. He mentioned about the Fantasmic dining package and that they could only get lunch and then the show much later, so they were planning to go back to the BC with his parents to hang out at Stormalong Bay until Fantasmic.

Now as we all know...only resort guests are allowed at Stormalong Bay. He even said that they are going to "sneak in".

 

[carly chloe]

We are Disney veterens too and have tried to give good tips to friends and family who think they can just wing everything. When they get back and I asked them how they liked certain things- they missed half of them!!!

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Yup..Like the person I know that said they are going during Christmas week because its low crowds since everyone is home celebrating" OR ..I don't need reservations for dining, I have the dining plan. ..

Heard both of these.

Also, had to set a friend straight about MNSSHP because his TA told him that his park ticket was good for the party as long as he arrived before 4:00. I thought he must have been mixed up and meant that he could purchase a MNSSHP and get into the park at 4. He was adamant that no, the travel agent explained that people only need party tickets if they are going to be in Epcot, DHS, or AK that day and then want to go to the party in the evening. But as long as you chose to go only to Magic Kingdom that day, and were there before 4:00, you were good to go.

A coworker was going to stay at the Grand Floridian because you could take the monorail to all four parks. I explained that there were only two parks accessible by monorail and that one of those parks would require switching monorails at the TTC. Poor girl had been told that this was the case for PR and CR, but not Grand Floridian. She ended up keeping her reservation and still had a marvelous time, but I was glad that she didn't get there and get surprised.

 

[RyMacJ]

Like a few others, most of the time I direct people here to the disboards, telling them anything they need to know, they'll find here.

I did have one co-worker just last week, who, when I was telling him about taking my girls to Disney said his little girl wanted to go but he didn't know because "can I drink there?"

 

[DisneyGal24]

Yeah DH and I have tried to help some family with some other things in the past. They mentioned going during Thanksgiving the other day. They heard it wasn't very crowded at all during that time. DH and I just looked at each other and kept our mouths shut. They never listen to us anyway. Why would they start now?

 

[DisLis]

I try. I generally feel them out to see how they react. I find many people just don't want to plan and it seems to upset them to think that they need to. I am getting pretty accurate at predicting what their trip reports will be like based on the conversations we have.

 

[pgowder]

Just had a co-worker asked me what I thought about him going in 2 weeks. I said that's great, where are you staying?

No room booked.

Decided on anything? Nope they just wanted to go.

What do you say?

 

[SenecaWolf]

All I know is that I am SO glad I found the DIS before my first trip!!!

 

[LockShockBarrel]

From a AAA Disney "specialist":

ALL character dining is 2 credits on the dining plan.

DTD is free in the evenings so don't waste a ticket there

It doesn't matter what kind of ticket you have, you can go into all the parks and water parks.

"Your saving THOUSANDS of dollars with free dining and staying at a deluxe. It's the only way you can get deluxe dining. You can't just buy it."

I only heard bits and pieces of this before I started helping her plan. I can only imagine how many irate customers this guy has had end up at Disney with very very wrong ideas of what things are like. Plus my friend booked like 60 days out. Ugh.. I'll never understand people who don't do their own research when it's so easily accessible. Although for this guy to be considered a 'specialist' is ridiculous.

 

[disnut8]

You don't want to become THAT friend that is a busybody know it all shove my opinion down your throat that he will soon be trying to avoid.

I agree with this. Everyone in my office knows I go to Disney World quite often. If they want my advise, they will ask for it. I had one guy who went with his family and said "I don't want to spend a lot of money". I responded that I would be happy to give him a few meal pointers and he said that would be great. They were staying offsite and he wanted to know if I could give him directions to the parks so I did that as well. That was it. The rest was up to him.

Had another guy who was so happy to be going, his wife had gotten some guide books and he said they were going with family and had booked through a travel agent. Nothing really I could do there but I asked how many were going. He said eight and I asked him if they were going to be a Grand Gathering. He had never heard of it so I suggested he talk to his "expert" travel agent. Don't know what happened there.

I give out advice when asked but the one thing I don't want to do is damper the excitement of a family's Disney trip.