What Do You Regret Most About Your Vacation?

[klmall]

I regret that we go so infrequently (usually 3 years between trips) that I really feel the need to cram the good things we love and the new things we haven't seen yet into too short a vacation. DH and DS tolerate Disney for my sake and it has gotten so expensive we really can't afford a long enough trip to suit me. Yes, I have gone solo twice and it's wonderful but being with my family is so special.

For those who regret not taking enough pictures I always feel the same way even though I take thousands of pictures (literally)! Yes, photography is my favorite hobby but I think I relive my trips and enjoy them almost even more through my pictures afterwards.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I regret over planning and under planning.

Our 2003 and 2008 trips I barely knew anything about WDW. I found the dis right before our 2008 trip. I just knew we were missing out. We did miss out on a lot.

So for our 2009 trip we did the ddp. We stayed on site. We got park hoppers. We had a ts everyday. I had park days set up for am and pm. I didn't plan out our rides to the minute. I wasn't that over planned but there wasn't much time to be spontaneous.

Our 2011 trip I didn't know until about 4 weeks out that I was going. Xh had the trip planned for the kids but his mom bailed at the last minute so he asked me to go. I made a few ADRs. For CRT and CM, VN, CP. Even got BBB for dd. I didn't even plan which park which day but had an idea. Let the kids pick day of. Did midday breaks everyday. And really just went with the flow.

Our 2011 trip was our best trip ever. We relaxed a lot but had tons of fun. Dd met every princess without the stress of it being a must do. It just happened and was a great surprise.

I think another reason I loved it was bc I forgot my camera. I do regret it but I enjoyed not having to lug around a camera (used my phone) abd just enjoying the moments. Sure I might not have a picture of everything but the mental notes will always be with me....hopefully.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

So for our next trip I'm making 4 ADRs for a 10 night trip. I'm also leaving most nights open to do as we please.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Hmm....my regret seems to be the opposite of most everyone's Our last trip was the first time I really had regrets. It was our first summer trip and I totally regretted planning downtime in the middle of the day, during the hottest point, and a # of resort ADR's. I just felt like we lost so much park time! I booked some lunch ADR's at resorts, and while they were places I'd always wanted to try, between the travel time and just being out of the parks I felt like we were wasting time. And on the days I had us going back to the resort to swim - nobody wanted to swim But once back there my DS's wanted to chill in the room on their phones and all I could think was, WE COULD BE IN A PARK lol!!! Finally the last couple days we had lunch ADR's in parks and stuck it out during the hot hours and I realized we could have managed doing that every day. Lesson learned for our next summer trip!

I agree, lunch ADRs in the park in the summer are the way to go.

We usually go in August and we do our one table service meal of the day for lunch in the park. It gives us enough rest and AC to keep going for a bit more. Then the day usually falls apart mid-afternoonn between the storms and the heat and we grab whatever for dinner, but at least I am happy at that point we got enough in.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Love that quote

 

[floralmouse]

Last trip: I regretted ignoring the touring plans book and trying to "go with the flow." Won't make that mistake again. Surprisingly, I didn't mind staying offsite.

Trip before: I regretted riding Jaws at Universal. Truth to tell, other than Twister (which we got to soft open) and Terminator, I didn't like our time there. I would go now, though, to see IoA and Harry Potter. I also regretted eating at Planet Hollywood. One of the worst meals I've ever had, period.

 

[KB'sMom]

Our only regrets have been that our trips weren't long enough. Our upcoming trip is 2 weeks long - and even then it probably won't be long enough!

 

[nessz79]

Our usual regrets (that we keep doing) is overplanning and eating at too many TS restaurants. Sometimes I feel like all I do is eat when we have more than 1 TS meal planned in a day.

This next trip, we are doing 1 TS max per day. We are also only doing FP+ for what we really want to do and not stressing about what we ride beyond that.

 

[avic77]

I have a list:
1)Taking too many pictures and not just being there and experiencing it put the camera down and LOOK at the World!
2) Over planning to the point I panicked when i lost my handy laminated day by day cards
3) Not planning a resort/rest day. I also get there and feel like I have to be in the parks every day from rope drop the park close.

 

[BigAlsGal]

My regret (which I have remedied) is not taking days off. I grew up trying to squeeze every last minute of fun out of everyday. When you go for a week and just do parks day in and day out it's just too much. My kids were unbearable. My body was a wreck. My feet HATED me. We were all so cranky.

After learning that lesson I now schedule days off and leave midday to hang by the pool and put my feet up. Makes all the difference in the world. Everyone enjoys themselves more and my body doesn't hurt nearly as much. I've learned to appreciate those times just as much (if not more) than being in the parks.

Oh one more regret. Not staying onsite one time to try to save money. Blech! Sucked the magic right out of the whole trip. Not worth what money we saved.

 

[Sparkly]

Not having enough rest/resort time. We paid more to stay onsite and never got to enjoy our hotel enough. Never got to enjoy the pool or beaches
Having the DDP. Stressful trying to get to our ADRs and there were loads of snacks I missed out on because we were never really hungry.

 

[crazy4wdw]

I made too many ADR's so I missed sampling several of food items at Epcot Food & Wine Fest I was interested in. Also, I should have planned one extra day for the festival. Also, I should have checked with Disney CRO about bounceback offers for next year. I didn't find out until I returned home that where resort discounts available for 2015.

 

[EKGinNYC]

If I had our trip to do over again, I would fly down to Orlando Friday evening instead of early Saturday morning. Then we could have had a full day Saturday to spend at the park, instead of a half day beginning in the afternoon. My DD goes to bed early so I thought flying down Friday evening would be too much, but in retrospect it would have been better to get her to bed late Friday night and still be able to put in a full day on Saturday (even though it would have cost us another night at the hotel). Won't make this mistake next time!

 

[Angie_Ohio]

We are going for our first Disney Christmas from Dec. 20-26. I used a park planning site to determine which parks to head to first each day. My son booked the fast passes. We have the dining plan and are staying at Wilderness Lodge. My teens only need to eat dinner with us so they are free to do what they wish including nothing. My parents are coming so I want to be sure they have fun ( both are Disney Fans). We usually try to fill each day but not this trip. Resort hopping and relaxing to enjoy the decor is tops on the list. I also got MM so I can be in the pictures! Hope the plan to take it easy comes to pass.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

My regret on our August trip was rushing from FP+ to FP+ and not taking the time to enjoy what we encountered along the way. We liked having guaranteed FP+ for our favorites, but felt like we were constantly rushing to make a FP+ window. We're going to try to go more with the flow on our Thanksgiving and Christmas trips and take the time to soak in all the details.

Previous trips I felt like DH spent the entire trip behind a video camera. Hated it so much that I've refused to let him bring it on any other trips since then.

 

[parkluvr]

I regret not booking a bounceback. I looked at the card and hedged back and forth and finally decided we wouldn't be making a trip in '15. Oh well, plans change.

 

[ariane37]

I agree, lunch ADRs in the park in the summer are the way to go.

We usually go in August and we do our one table service meal of the day for lunch in the park. It gives us enough rest and AC to keep going for a bit more. Then the day usually falls apart mid-afternoonn between the storms and the heat and we grab whatever for dinner, but at least I am happy at that point we got enough in.

Oh, the lunch ADR's were definitely better than dinner for the summer! I just wish I had made them at park restaurants rather than resort ones I expected the storms to end some of our days too, but strangely enough we only got one afternoon of rain that started around 4:00 (and we were on our way to U. Citywalk at that point for dinner) and then a quick sprinkle right before we hit MNSSHP! I don't think I would have felt so bad about my planning decisions if my kids had actually swam more than twice.........it just totally killed me to have them sitting in the room playing on their phones, when nobody had been complaining about the heat at the park! But since I'd told them we were going to take a break, I wanted to stick to my word

 

[si-am]

I always regret being grumpy or snippy with my family. Travel can be stressful and I sometimes forget to just relax and go with the flow rather than get upset or angry when plans change/don't work out. I always regret it when I get home!

 

[hsmamato2]

It makes sense to me! I've been trying really hard lately to not miss out on experiences by taking too many pictures.

My son and I were reading "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg a few months ago and this paragraph stood out so much that I actually stopped and read it twice with him. I've never done that before.

"The adventure is over. Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough. Except the part you carry with you. It's the same as going on a vacation. Some people spend all their time on a vacation taking pictures so that when they get home they can show their friends evidence that they had a good time. They don't pause to let the vacation enter inside of them and take that home."

And that was written 47 years ago! Times don't change I guess. Though in today's world I suppose "pictures" could be replaced with "cell phones"!

I.LOVE.THIS. I now have a new quote for my life. YEs, I am the guilty one, I take pictures a LOT. But I had to learn over many years that pictures aren't everything,they are a way to 'freeze time' for just a second,and capture a memory, but they don't take the place of actual experiences.

 

[disnut8]

I regret letting other guests' behavior bother me. Unless it's being harmful personally to me in some way, I need to ignore it. I don't know them at all and I'll never see them again.