Worst Mistake You Ever Made

[Jockaroo]

We can laugh about it now, but...

A few years ago, we drove down for me to attend a conference and have our vacation. Planned to stop and spend the night in St. Augustine area. But we were making such great time, we decided to drive on through and get a room in Orlando for one night before checking into the Swan. BIG mistake. Bike-tober Fest was going on in Daytona, Senior Olympics and a PGA tournament in Orlando, huge physician and pharmacist convention and some type of Little League World Series were also going on. We ended up driving nearly to the gulf coast to find a room. We had been in the car for about 18 hours--6 hours looking for a hotel room. No supper and exhausted. Located a nasty Howard Johnson someplace off the interstate--don't remember where, it was 2 a.m. This place was so bad we slept in our clothes on top of the bedspread with our jackets and the bathroom towels. Didn't even shower the next morning because the bathroom was so dirty. YUCK!!!

We learned our lesson. Never show up without a reservation.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Well, I wish we had planned a day just to hang around the hotel at AKL. Heck, AKL is so great, we probly should have set aside 2 days there.

 

[marcyinPA]

Using a travel agent who "talked us into" staying at Holiday Inn Maingate East...on our HONEYMOON! ( I say she talked us into it, but we were on a tight budget) The place was loaded with kids everywhere, they had Raffi playing on the loudspeakers when you pulled up under the overhang, they had clowns roaming the property and a gingerbread check-in for kids.

Great place if you have KIDS, but not when you are on your HONEYMOON, for goodness sakes!! You'd think the travel agent (AAA Disney Desk!) would know better and put us somewhere else more grown up!

 

[videogal1]

Originally posted by CaliforniaDreaming
Well, our worst mistake may be during our next trip, we'll be staying offsite at Gaylord Palms.

I'm not so sure you're worrying about what's likely to go wrong...In January I met several people stranded by a transport company in the middle of a Dis. parking lot (freezing wind). Even with all the misery they talked about how much they liked their accommodations (Gaylord Palms). If you are renting a car or will be using anything but contract transportation, you should have, barring disasters, a great time.

 

[marksor]

My biggest mistake was very similar to that of dixielander- my wife used Amex travel in 1998 for our first trip and she even purchased the pre-paid meal plan that was available at that time (I don't believe it is available any longer- at least not how it worked back then). We had a certain credit for food/beverage for the week essentially at any place on the property but the catch, of course, was that there would be no refund or credit for any unspent money. I realized sometime on the second day that we would not possibly use our credit during our stay. so what did I do? I ate extra heavily myself and pushed the rest of my family to eat more. I suggested deserts everywhere and my father-in- law fought over who would pick up each meal since he and my mom-in-law paid for the same plan. One thing that also came out of this was that we became spoiled with character meals because we went to many that week- we went to Cape May at the Beach Club almost every morning. At the end of the week I left a huge tip for the last server we had at Beaches and Cream as we waited for the shuttle bus to go back to the airport. As dixielander also stated, our trips to WDW in 2000 and 2002 both cost us less than that first trip by using the internet and holding out for deals on resorts, tickets, etc.

 

[Steffy]

My worst mistake was arriving at WDW in July with twin toddlers. Must have been nuts! Stood in the HOT sun for 90 minutes for Figment and Captain EO.

This was before the moderates and values were built, so of course we were staying offsite. After that first day, I learned, no matter how far the hotel was, we were returning for swimming and naps. Made all the difference in the world.



And also learned, never stand on line for more than 20 minutes with toddlers.


Also learned it is hotter than h e double hockey sticks in Florida in July!!!!

Also learned to take half the luggage I think I'll need and twice the money....

 

[SuzyQue]

Worst mistake we ever made.... staying with mom-in-law and "visiting" Disney. After that trip it was stay onsite and visit mom-in-law!! ~~

 

[wilderness01]

Our worst mistake was moving from resort to resort too many times over a 2 week period. We wanted to get the "flavor" of each resort but instead were exhausted from too many moves.

Our second biggest mistake was booking through a travel agent and getting the ultimate length of stay pass. These were a waste of $ for us at that time since we usually drove, arrived late the first day and left first thing in the am the last day. Live and learn!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Originally posted by videogal1
I'm not so sure you're worrying about what's likely to go wrong...In January I met several people stranded by a transport company in the middle of a Dis. parking lot (freezing wind). Even with all the misery they talked about how much they liked their accommodations (Gaylord Palms). If you are renting a car or will be using anything but contract transportation, you should have, barring disasters, a great time.

Glad to hear that (well, the part about how well they liked Gaylord Palms!). And, yes, we will have a car; from what I've heard, GP is very close to the Disney entrance.

 

[stinkerbelle]

our worst mistake was staying concierge during our honeymoon trip.

we're addicted now. heheh

But really - our biggest mistake is not realizing until 7/7:30pm that we are hungry. We end up waiting until nearly 9pm (or eating counter service back at the hotel) for dinner.

I get very very cranky if I don't eat...hehehe. DH learned his lesson well on our last trip.

 

[cindyfan]

they had Raffi playing on the loudspeakers when you pulled up under the overhang, they had clowns roaming the property and a gingerbread check-in for kids.

Just the picture in my head of this..... makes me think it was like a Nation Lampoon "Vaction" movie.

staying with mom-in-law and "visiting" Disney. After that trip it was stay onsite and visit mom-in-law!! ~~

Some of these are TOO FUNNY!

The only mistake I can think of......was going to WDW during Grad Nights AND Star Wars Weekend!!
OMG.......I coundn't figure out what planet we were on!

 

[goodferry]

Oh no! We are going to WDW during Star Wars weekends (June 4-11) Am I going to be adding this to my list of "learning experiences"? Any advice?

 

[MELSMICE]

Worse mistake EVER!!!!!!!!! - throwing away PHP tickets before we returned home that still had days on them. It's still makes me sick to think about it!

Also, not joining DVC sooner & not finding the DIS sooner. I thought I was a Disney pro until I found these boards. What a humbling experience.

 

[Eeyore1954]

Originally posted by SuzyQue
Worst mistake we ever made.... staying with mom-in-law and "visiting" Disney. After that trip it was stay onsite and visit mom-in-law!! ~~

On a similar note -- taking MIL on a Disney vacation. Yeah, it sounded like a good idea when we were planning it and we got a 2 bedroom villa so she could have her own room.

Reality: it was a nightmare! Ask her what she'd like to do, see, ride, eat -- always the same answer: Whatever you want. We finally got her to express an opinion about 1 meal and it was Biergarten in Germany! Sorry fans of the place, but I thought it was just awful.

Lesson learned: Disney trips are for DW and I only.

 

[NancyIL]

Originally posted by Divamomto3
I prefer to think of them as "learning experiences."

1.) Not paying $250 more for the week with a code to stay at the Beach Club Standard view vs. Swan Resort View w/ balcony at nurses rate plus the resort fee plus the rollaway bed fee.

2) Not having dinner priority seatings every night. We like sit down dinners and if you do not have PS's, often you are left with either counter service or gross sit down food like at Gullivers Grill.

3) Not building more resort days into our trip. Hiking it through the parks all day and evening long every day of your trip is too hard for adults and the 3 kids alike.

Great thread...

I get the impression you didn't care for the Swan! I love the Swan, but then - I haven't stayed at the Beach Club.

 

[goofy4tink]

Traveling with another family and the dh just wasn't into Disney in the least!! Nothing made him happy and it colored the trip for everyone. Never again.

Used a TA for the first trip. Then found DIS and never looked back.

Not buying DVC sooner. Took 3 trips before we did it.

 

[heffalump9]

Using Mears shuttle on our trip in 1996. Now we only use towncar services.

 

[IndyDisneyFan]

On our first trip in 1997 we used AAA and paid full price! We only stayed for three days, and walked around totally in awe of everything. We never even had time to swim in the pool! We have come a long way since then, now being passholders and never paying full price for anything! And we always stay longer than three days!

Laura

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Wasting 3.5 days on our trip going to Seaworld and US/IOA.

Seaworld was nice, but we had planned a day there and the way it worked out that was the only day we could go. Well...

It was literally about 38 degrees and we had amiserable time.

Then, we wasted the next 2.5 days at Universal. Never again. US/IOA is good for a day (split between the two parks)...

Sorry fans of this place, but we did not like US/IOA at all. With the exception of 2 or 3 good attractions we just did not enjoy it. We were so bored there on the last day (our departure day...we ha da late flight , around 7:30 at night) we ended up so bored that we left US and decided it would be more fun to hang out at the airport.

Now we know...

 

[curlyjbs]

Worst thing? Used the 5th day on the hopper. We should have saved it for a quickie return trip.

Bought a 5 day hopper, used it mon-thurs. What a great time we had! The weather was perfect~No crowds~the kids were great!! Saw and did most everything in the parks~ It was a perfect 4 days! Should have quit while we were ahead and saved the last day. We didn't and had the worst time on that last day. The parks were HOT & CROWDED and we were all tired and grumpy. Sigh.
We are going back this june to do universal.......sure wish I had that one day left to bounce around WDW.

All in all it was still a GREAT vacation!!


curly