Veterans- Things you do to enhance your trip- mix it up a bit?

[crazymomof4]

You know who you are! You are the ones who don't need a park map to get around the parks, who know where to find the best food in each of the parks. "Frequent Flyers" of WDW-- the Disney Veteran!

So, how do you keep your trips from becoming "Groundhog Day" vacation? Make each trip stand out so they don't all run together in your memory?

In 2012 my DD and I read a book about "hidden secrets" and we saw the parks through different eyes. That was fun!

For our upcoming trip, we are staying at a resort we've never stayed and, as much as we love our old favs, we are focusing on eating at places we've never eaten (or it's been many years since we've eaten there).

So share some things you do to keep it fresh!

 

[AmyB2006]

Well, right now, my kids want to do the same things over and over again. So if I tried to plan things that were too different, it could turn out to be a total disaster. LOL So we repeat a lot of things.

But, we are trying to stay in all the different DVC resorts since we bought in. We still have SSR and OKW to try. We're staying at VGF December 2014!! So excited about that one. So that always makes it a fun new experience.

I usually plan one thing like HDDR, or CRT, or Fantasmic each trip. I'd like to do the luau and the BBQ eventually. My kids are running in the kids races this February, so hopefully they'll remember that. They'll be 7 and 5.

 

[kmb584]

Most of our trips are similar to the previous one as DD is 4 and wants to do the same attractions, meet and greets, dining experiences, etc. over and over again. Things don't change much in her world. For me, I like to book a resort that we haven't stayed at or haven't stayed at in a couple of years. I make sure to make at least 1 ADR for a restaurant we haven't eaten at. Two trips ago I became obsessed with Hidden Mickey's so they now add an extra fun element into my touring. On our next vacation we'll be doing the Pirates & Pals fireworks cruise, and next November attending our first MVMCP.

 

[susanm]

every trip i find something to do i havent done before... last years trip i had a few things... 1. took a trip over to Art of animation and ate at the food court there..it had just opened ..only the suites were open..so just checked it out... 2. i was there for my 60th birthday and wanted to do something different so for the first time i went to the MK barber shop and got a haircut with pixie dust...

last 2 trips i went to DTD and got a taxi from behind Basin Bath store and went to the Disney Warehouse (about $8) on an afternoon for a break and first time just went to the disney store, last year did a quick walk around the mall (BORING!!!) lol BUT, at the disney store i got A MICKEY HENLEY, A MICKEY POLO and WINDBREAKER all for about $40 was worth the taxi fare...they dont have tons of stuff but the prices are way cheaper...i think i paid $10 for the polo and $8 for the henley

always take time to check out other resorts too... love to go to the Poly or Wilderness lodge to eat and get there like 2 hrs early, check out the resort and shops there... did GF last time..got ice cream and sat on the patio and could see the castle from there ...and boats on the lake... nice way to relax...

every once in a while i do a backstage tour too...have done several and love them... also enjoy talking to the CMs.. in the shops or at the resort...they love to chat and share secrets if you ask.

 

[ArwenMarie]

We deliberately skip a park each trip, other than MK.

Our trips are usually a week long or less, so it helps with time management, which is the main reason we started doing it.

But we also found that it lets us enjoy the parks we do see more in depth, take more time there, etc. And then when we get back to the "skipped" park on the next trip, we are all super excited to see it again.

 

[surferdave]

So, how do you keep your trips from becoming "Groundhog Day" vacation?

A day at WDW would be a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over, and over, and over......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nMrjJHVtOc

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

We keep a "Disney Bucket List" that evolves during over the course of many trips. We started it with ideas from this board but then noticed that every time we checked off one of those "To Do's" that interested us, we often found 1-2 more to replace it.

So that's what we do - we keep a Master List with all items on it, crossing through completed items neatly (so they are still legible) & adding new stuff every time. By the time the next trip rolls around, we pick the stuff we make a temporary list to travel with, then update the Master when we return home.

Our list was "anything goes" where it could be a huge item like a full day tour (& maybe have to wait a few trips to be scheduled) to small details like a specific cupcake at BOG. Our only "rule" was that it had to be something we had never done before, not just old favorites we want to keep revisiting.

 

[crazymomof4]

We keep a "Disney Bucket List" that evolves during over the course of many trips. We started it with ideas from this board but then noticed that every time we checked off one of those "To Do's" that interested us, we often found 1-2 more to replace it.

So that's what we do - we keep a Master List with all items on it, crossing through completed items neatly (so they are still legible) & adding new stuff every time. By the time the next trip rolls around, we pick the stuff we make a temporary list to travel with, then update the Master when we return home.

Our list was "anything goes" where it could be a huge item like a full day tour (& maybe have to wait a few trips to be scheduled) to small details like a specific cupcake at BOG. Our only "rule" was that it had to be something we had never done before, not just old favorites we want to keep revisiting.

That's such a great idea! Going to start that! I love that it can be anything large or small. For example our list will contain 2 things we've never done - The Keys to the Kingdom tour and having a Dole Whip!

 

[crazymomof4]

I totally get the posters who commented that they have to do the same things over each trip bc they have small kids who insist on their favs. So true! Part of the reason that I started this thread is because for many years THAT WAS US!! We have 4 kids and now the youngest will be 14 on our Sept trip. So we are finally moving OUT OF that stage and want to consciously plan WDW trips with a bit more variety than we were accustomed to when the kids were little. And the kids are fine with that bc, being older now, they want to expand their Disney experiences as well.
Thanks all for your contributions. Keep 'em coming!

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

That's such a great idea! Going to start that! I love that it can be anything large or small. For example our list will contain 2 things we've never done - The Keys to the Kingdom tour and having a Dole Whip!

Our list reads like that too - "take a drawing class at HS" then "try an American Dream slushie at EP" followed by "Find the Hidden Tink at BTMRR". Before our trip I broke down the master list items onto separate lists for each park so that each day I could grab the list that pertained to that day's park & not have to spend my time filtering the list for relevancy.

We got a LOT of great info out of that Monster Thread on this board a few pages back titled something like "Your Best Insider Fact" by Bcrook. Excellent post, especially if you appreciate the history behind the parks & Walt himself. DD9 was really interested in a lot of the background for Liberty Square in MK & the never developed Beastly Kingdom at AK.

 

[disneylovin24]

Lately my family has tried staying at different resorts to spice things up but for the most part we don't have to do anything to change our trips. The whole reason we go back to WDW is because we don't care if we get the same trip over and over again!

 

[bigbabyblues]

Last year was our 9th trip in 9 years.

We stayed at a resort we hadn't been to in several years. We went to a water park three times during the trip (first wp visit), we spent more time swimming in our resort pool than we had before, less focus on riding as much as possible and more time on the little things.

 

[crazymomof4]

less focus on riding as much as possible and more time on the little things.

That is exactly one of our aims for this upcoming trip. There are soo many details to appreciate in WDW and since, on this trip, I don't have to rush to make sure the kids (or 1st time guests who sometimes traveled with us) get to this or that ride/attraction, we can slow down and "smell the roses" so to speak.

 

[crazymomof4]

Our list reads like that too - "take a drawing class at HS" then "try an American Dream slushie at EP" followed by "Find the Hidden Tink at BTMRR". Before our trip I broke down the master list items onto separate lists for each park so that each day I could grab the list that pertained to that day's park & not have to spend my time filtering the list for relevancy.

We got a LOT of great info out of that Monster Thread on this board a few pages back titled something like "Your Best Insider Fact" by Bcrook. Excellent post, especially if you appreciate the history behind the parks & Walt himself. DD9 was really interested in a lot of the background for Liberty Square in MK & the never developed Beastly Kingdom at AK.

I will look for that thread! Along the same thought, DD and I will be re-reading "The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World" (by Susan Veness). The last time we took the whole book into the parks but found we never referred to it. This time we are copying the best of "secrets" on to file cards (seperated by park) and just taking the cards into the parks so we can recall what things we want to look for (or listen for).

 

[#1DopeyFan]

We have a "bucket lists" of sorts too, but I think we'll sit down and really put pen to paper now. Thanks for that!!


We've been trying to eat at at least 2-3 new TS restaurants every time, we're all about food. And there's still a handful of things that we keep meaning to do (such as Flights of Wonder) that are always on our list, but we can never seem to get them done. We try to change up the resorts a little too...but it'll be awhile before we see a deluxe again.

 

[PoohsFan1]

We like to try out a new resort each trip. We will be staying at VWL for the first time on our trip in May, we have stayed in the Lodge, but never the DVC side of it....we are very excited. Plus we are staying 3 nights at BC (our favorite resort) in the Hotel side which we haven't done since 2009 (have stayed in the DVC side a couple of times) so it will be great to stay there again, we just love the hotel.

We also like to make sure we eat in at least one new restaurant each trip. In May it will be Monsieur Paul and Biergarten (DH and I have eaten at Biergarten before but not the kids). We are also going to be heading back to some restaurants that we haven't been to in a while (Yachtsman's Steakhouse, Captain's Grill breakfast, Cape May Cafe Clam Bake).

DH and I are seriously considering doing the Pirates and Pals cruise with the girls. This is something that we have never done before and had read a lot of great reviews on, if we don't do that then we are thinking of either seeing La Nouba or going on the Steam train tour in MK....all of which we have never done before.

 

[bigbabyblues]

That is exactly one of our aims for this upcoming trip. There are soo many details to appreciate in WDW and since, on this trip, I don't have to rush to make sure the kids (or 1st time guests who sometimes traveled with us) get to this or that ride/attraction, we can slow down and "smell the roses" so to speak.

Our last trip was our favorite so far. The thing my kids talked about the most? We (minus DH, he was off taking pics of fireworks) skipped Illuminations (our favorite nighttime show), and went over by the "jumping fountains". The boys chased the water squirts, jumped in front of the water as it went overhead, and got utterly, completely soaked. Down to their shoes. I took pics, and there is one where DS13 caught the water with his face. They loved it!

We decided to take a family pic, or a pic of at least three of us, in each country of Epcot. Some were posed, some were not. We had a ball, and ended up with 28 pictures!

 

[crazymomof4]

Our last trip was our favorite so far. The thing my kids talked about the most? We (minus DH, he was off taking pics of fireworks) skipped Illuminations (our favorite nighttime show), and went over by the "jumping fountains". The boys chased the water squirts, jumped in front of the water as it went overhead, and got utterly, completely soaked. Down to their shoes. I took pics, and there is one where DS13 caught the water with his face. They loved it!

We decided to take a family pic, or a pic of at least three of us, in each country of Epcot. Some were posed, some were not. We had a ball, and ended up with 28 pictures!

Cool ideas, both, and not ones I'd have thought of! We are doing Epcot twice so one night we should take advantage of the crowds all congregating for the show and go off and do something different! and PLANNING certain pix as opposed to just randomly snapping away is another great idea.
Writing these down!

 

[mistysue]

I try to cycle between barber shop, pirate's league and the pirate cruises for the kids. Then DH and I have been going on a date to something different, so everybody gets a special experience.

I think this year DH and I will go to the MK and see wishes without the kids, I'm super excited because I love that show and my daughter freaks out at fireworks.

We are also really into dining, so I try to break our really great experiences in half, repeat half the next year and leave half of them out. That way we can go back to old favorites and there is always somewhere we need to go back for.

 

[RandFamily]

Great question, OP!

We love our old favorites but we try to make each trip special in some way (we've been going 3-4 times a year for long weekends). Here are some things we've done:

1. "The nothing we normally do" trip. This was during college spring break when it was packed so we didn't do any rides we usually did - and focused on the less popular, obscure attractions. We had a blast! Another trip we only did the Scorcers of the Magic Kindgdom for 4 days and the evening shows (not kidding).

2. Tours: We have done many of the tours and they make the trip special. I usually plan the tour towards the middle or end of the trip.

3. Holiday trips: We have done Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas (all of them we went right before the holiday to avoid crowds) We also plan trips around the special parties (MNSSHP, etc)

4. Special People Trips: One trip we took my 80 year old mother and my adult kids - what wonderful memories! Another trip we took my adult children's significant others all as a group.

5. Special Places: We choose a special DVC resort - the best was the Tree House.

6. Birthdays - we try to go on one person's birthday and make that day as special as possible.

7. Photo Trips - a couple of times we've decided to make a photo book and we really worked hard to take as many photo pass and our own photos as possible. We are also collecting photos with all the characters so each time we work on getting new ones.