Worst Mistake You Ever Made

[EmmasGrammy]

Not wearing the neck strap on my swimsuit while riding May Day Falls @ BB. Long story.... Bad Ending!!!

 

[jgates]

EmmasGrammy....didn't we read that story on another thread?

Mine was 'inviting' one of my best friends along with. We are still best friends but it was still a difficult trip. 26 hours driving both directions! Sharing a room except for one night. Good thing we are friends or we would have killed each other! My worst experience was when she convinced me that doing the Crystal Palace Character Meal was a waste of $$$. I still regret that as we missed out on it last trip too due to construction starting right after we got there.

 

[TDC Nala]

re: all the posts about the Alamo offsite shuttle:

Alamo is now located in the terminal at MCO (it seems to have merged with National and they share a fleet of cars).

They still have some honkin' long lines at the desk, though.

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by EmmasGrammy
Not wearing the neck strap on my swimsuit while riding May Day Falls @ BB. Long story.... Bad Ending!!!

That is one of the funniest stories I have ever read. My family & I still talk about it. Thanks again for the laugh!

 

[Tess]

4. Trusting a TA to make reservations and believing we got the "best deal". (Year #1)

3. Buying a package and then realizing you can't cancel it within 45 days of arrival and knowing there are better deals to be had, e.g., Magic Kingdom Club discounts, AP rates, general public discounts, etc. (Year #2)

2. Using Mears for transportation to and from the airport! Cattle call service to the resorts and pick-up times that are ridiculously early for your outbound flights. Our first (and last) Mears experience had them picking us up at 1:00 p.m. for a 7:00 p.m. flight. This goes hand-in-hand with #3 above, TA arranged. We also had "Be Our Guest" (the old UPH) passes we didn't use on the last day because of the early pick-up time.

1. Finally, not using the UPH or PAP passes to the fullest. We now arrive early on check-in day and leave late on check-out day to take full advantage of our time at WDW. Never again will I pay for a day on the front and back end of a vacation that we aren't using. Sometimes this means we fly in and stay at another resort prior to checking into our resort of choice (Polynesian) and/or we stay at the airport hotel the night of our check-out. We will spend every last minute we can enjoying the parks!

 

[Luvtomickey]

Ours was leaving with the crowd after Sectro and getting caught in all the bus crowds. It was so scary I kept thinking a fight could start at any time the way people were pushing snd stepping over strollers. My husband will never stay for another parade in MK again he was so tramatized

 

[ms_flo]

EASY question -- My worst mistake was...
When we were 4 1/2 I got separated from my sister while we were trying to see Dopey. I got "all turned around" & then tried to find my family on my own instead of asking a CM for help.
My BEST decision ever was to NOT cross the street by myself. My parents never allowed us to cross the street alone. After a while I came to an "intersection", so I turned around, went back in the original direction & eventually found my mom.

The "Then Some Confusion Happened" story in The Unofficial Guide is near & dear to my heart. The experience probably should have ruined WDW for me, but it didn't! I can't wait to go back! But I do harass my kids about not running off for ANY reason--not even the chance to meet their favorite character. My DS got sick of hearing this story before we took him... "I KNOW Mom" (He did stick close when I told him to though.) I still worry, but all in all I think WDW is probably the safest place in the world to get lost.

 

[shatzjsl]

Is Mears really that bad? I have them for our trip in June. I don't want to be at the airport more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours before our flight.

 

[Tess]

Mears will tell you when you will be leaving and not vice versa. Ditto the trip from airport to hotel--you will wait until Mears is ready to leave and follow its agenda on how you will arrive there, e.g., which hotel gets dropped first, second, etc.

You may get lucky and be transported in a small van with only a couple of stops OR you may end up in a Greyhound like bus with 7-8 stops. You can roll the dice with Mears. You will also pay more for the privilege--I think it's up to $28 per adult and $23 per child versus $90 r/t with a taxi or limousine service to a MK resort, less to others.

 

[Muziqal]

I suppose the biggest mistake was going down there with the intention to live and play in Disney World for a year and then have it turn into a fraternity type setting. In the last 6 months of my contract, I barely went to the theme parks and got caught up in the commons lifestyle.

I regret it now...I should have gone to the parks/resorts every free moment I had!!

I'll make up for it on this trip, for sure!

 

[RickinNYC]

Originally posted by shatzjsl
Is Mears really that bad? I have them for our trip in June. I don't want to be at the airport more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours before our flight.

If you're on a budget, Mears is not a bad way to go if there are ONLY two of you. My partner and I did this for the first couple of trips, when $$ was tight. But no longer. As other posters have said, you're at the mercy of the Mears schedule.

If there are more than two of you, do NOT ever use them or any other similar service! Rather, call ahead and use a towncar service. It comes out to about the same price for three people and even less for 4 or 5 by far. And they pick you up coming and going at YOUR schedule. Plus, it's a nicer way to begin and end your vacation with a touch of class.

 

[shatzjsl]

Well Dagnabit! I already paid for Mears with my package. (sigh) Guess I could just eat the $50 and get a towncar. That's what a girl gets for not doing her research! Didn't find DIS until after plans were made.

Thanks for the information!

 

[crow11ad]

Yeah we had to eat the money for Mears. But now we have a town car and it's our honeymoon..hence didn't want to wait and ride with others. Get the town car. This is our first trip to Disney and I believe it will be that more magical simply because we are getting the towncar. They are meeting us at baggage claim with our name on a sign......

 

[RickinNYC]

Originally posted by shatzjsl
Well Dagnabit! I already paid for Mears with my package. (sigh) Guess I could just eat the $50 and get a towncar. That's what a girl gets for not doing her research! Didn't find DIS until after plans were made.

Thanks for the information!

Isn't there any way you can change your package and remove that option? Rather than eating the difference, save yourself a few bucks!

 

[jmommy]

My biggest and worst mistake made is to not enjoy and appreciate all the wonderful moments and memories while they are being made. We were at WDW for 10 days this past Oct. and I felt like I was ready for the trip to end---but once home for a while, I am ready to go back. Just wish I could learn to relax and enjoy all of the moments--even if the kids are complaining, the rides have waits, and the crowds are terrible!! It is WDW afterall!

 

[disneyjunkie]

My biggest mistake was getting PHP pass instead of UPH pass. I read on the budget board about how much money I could save by getting a 5 day PHP with 4 plus options instead of the UPH. This way we'd be able to spend one day hanging around the pool. The days we didn't go into a major park we could use a plus for a water park.

All of this sounded great while I was planning. However, it turned out that we wanted to enter a major park everyday. We were done with BB by 2:00, but we couldn't go to the MK because we would have wasted a day. By 3:00 on our rest day we were ready to hit a park but again didn't want to waste a day. My son wanted to go to Disney Quest, but it wasn't included with the PHP passes.

After that trip I promised myself we'd never go to disney without having tickets that covered everything.

We're going back in 2 weeks. This time we have the 30 day Fun in the Sun passes so we'll be free to come and go as we please.

I think having the freedom to do what you what is much better that saving a few dollars.

 

[auntpolly]

Using the buses to get to and from the Hoop-de-doo-Review! Never again! That was a 2 hour ordeal, trying to get back to the Dolphin!

 

[SamanthaL]

Not buying into the Vacation Club on our Honeymoon 11 years ago! Now with the house and the kids and me being a SAHM there is no extra money for stuff like that.

 

[DaveK]

Reading some more experiences above reminded me of several more errors in judgment I've made at WDW in the past:
(1) Using Alamo - their horrible, old, off-site rental location was guaranteed to take at least two-hours of your time getting a car.
(2) Fighting the crowds after Spectromagic to get on a monorail, bus or ferry boat. What we've done several times is drive to the Contemporary, park there, visit the arcade and shops for awhile, walk to the MK for the parade/fireworks and then leisurely walk back to the parking lot to return to the Poly or other resort. Likewise, we usually return by car to EPCOT in the evening to see the fireworks show and then enjoy a peaceful walk back to the car for a relatively easy trip back to our resort, while others stampede to get in line for a bus or monorail.
(3) Getting too worried about minor details, like not being able to get a PS for a certain breakfast, or being too picking about which resort building we wanted, or struggling to get the perfect spot to view a parade, or letting the weather spoil things. These things were distractions from what was really important, namely being able to spend some time fun together as a family and create some neat memories to look back on as the years go by. Every time that I get the chance to visit WDW, I try to consider that it might be my last time there, and this has really helped me to enjoy each moment to the fullest and avoid getting bogged down in worrisome details. Even dealing with the occasional long lines or crowds doesn't seem to bother me as much as it once did. Maybe that's one of the benefits of getting older - learning how to have a better perspective in life!

DaveK

 

[HunnyPots]

My biggest mistake was thinking that if you fed a 12 year old boy all the pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs he could eat at 10 a.m. he wouldn't be hungry again till late afternoon. WRONG! No matter how much he ate at breakfast, he still got hungry within three hours! So no more late breakfast/substitute lunch meals for us. We will eat three meals a day at our regular meal times and snack whenever anyone needs or wants to.

Another one was making the kids drink the free ice water from the parks no matter how bad it tasted. Now, I know its perfectly safe to drink and all that, but it tastes TERRIBLE! Not this time; I will fork over the money for bottled water or soda.