Dumb things you did on your first (pre-Intercot discovery) trip

[A Big Kid]

Going, and thinking I'd never go again.

[azcavalier]

My Mom actually planned our first trip to bring all of her kids and grandkids, about 11 years ago. Here's our mistakes:

1. Thinking that we could do it in two days. Yikes! We spent half a day at MK, a few hours at AK, a few hours at DHS, and ate dinner both nights at Epcot.

2. NO ADRs. Period. We did manage to get into Teppan Edo the second night, which was great, but the first night all we could get was Biergarten, and we hated it. We do, however, now want to try it again. But that night, we hated it.

Honestly, that's all I remember. We did stay on site, and we actually got to do a lot, as this was before free dining, and it was in December, before Christmas. So it wasn't incredibly crowded, IIRC.

[ANG]

Not making ADRs!!!

[Quadstriker]

Not sure if it was dumb, because at the time it seemed like a good idea, but my first trip to WDW was wedding planning (wife had been there years prior), so I was making a whole list of travel times on how long it took to get from one place to another so I could give our guests (some who had never been there) an idea of how long it would take to get where they needed to be.

The next day during our planning session at Franc's, we decided on renting a motor coach for our guests making my whole list moot.

My list was filled with things like this like this (copied from my iphone):

Car boardwalk to wedding pavilion 11 min

Monorail MK gate to Grand Floridian 15 min off peak

Walk Grand Floridian to Wedding Pavilion 5 minutes

[phillydan]

Here are my painful memories:

1. Hey - look at that! There are great seats right in front of the castle for the fireworks! (saw nothing)

2. Let's pack lots of snacks so we don't have to buy lunch every day! (which lead to the Great Granola Bar Revolt on day 3).

3. A rental car really makes sense so we can get around to each park easily! (sat in the parking lot all week; forgot where it was parked!)

4. A 7:00am Chef Mickey ADR is fine - the kids will be up early anyway! (let's just say that our room was not the Happiest Place on Earth when I tried getting everyone up at 5:45am)

I am sure there are many more..these ones seem to be seared into my mind...

[tdk316]

Carried not only one, but two backpacks around for just two adults (no kids yet) with everything anyone might need for a medical emergency (we were both in mid-twenties and healthy), weather change (rain, sleet or hail? I had it covered!), you name it, we lugged it around in our packs. I took every "you might want..." list and packed it all. Ugh.

Now our packs are lighter than that first time and we have two kids' stuff in there (one is still in diapers)! When DH and I go alone into the parks we might each bring a bottle of water and that is it. We've finally figured out that Disney is more than willing to provide and quite frankly, if it means that I don't have to lug that bug bite kit around the parks I'm willing to let them!

[MrPeetrie]

Wow, I was so naive on my first trip. In 1999, my wife and I took our first trip to Walt Disney World. Here are some of our many mistakes. We:

• ..did absolutely no research. Why would we? We've gone to theme parks before. Why would we need to research? Big Mistake.
• ..stayed off property. It was part of a time-share promo. Thankfully, I paid extra and was allowed to miss the "hard-sells." Still, we lost countless minutes traveling back and forth.
• ..scheduled only three days to see all of Walt Disney World. We were told to skip Animal Kingdom and focus on the other parks. "You should be able to see it all."
• ..made NO ADRs. (Actually, we didn't know about them.) We ended up eating only counter service.
• ..didn't know they had a Downtown Disney.

I remember driving up World Drive, so excited like a little puppy. I followed the many cars to the sign that read Magic Kingdom. We parked and began walking. I was expecting to see the park entrance, but instead it was some kind of transportation mecca.
"Where's the Magic Kingdom?" I asked.
"You're getting close."
"Do I have to take one of these trains?"
"Or boat," she answered.
We boarded the ferry and finally Cinderella Castle came into view. I could not believe someone had designed such a spectacular way to enter a park. I knew this was a place to which we'd return often.

When my DW and I entered the Magic Kingdom, I began taking a panaramic video of Town Square. I wanted to record as much of this place so I could revisit it later. When we returned home to watch the tape, we realized I videoed my wife standing there awestruck. I was too much in a Disney stupor at the time to notice. (I wish I could show you that video. She was truly blown away.)

When Fantasy in the Sky ended and our three-day adventure was over, she cried terribly and I promised her I'd take her back. I scoured the net to learn how to better enjoy this place. I joined Disney webrings. I (thankfully) found this place.

I cannot tell you how much this place has improved our visits. I have learned so much here just reading other posts and reviewing their ideas. Moreover, it has become therapy for me when I need a Disney fix.

We leave in less than three weeks and hopefully this trip will be as "Magical" as all the rest have been. Thank you to everyone for your great insights.

[disneymom2000]

Didn't research the cost of food. We thought a counter service would be similar to the cost of a McDonald's or Jack in the Box. What an eye opener. Had no idea there were restaurants that served character meals (we just stumbled into one, one morning). Didn't look at the layout of the parks so we kept backtracking which took up a lot of time. Oh so much stuff newbies need to know.

[janebanks]

2. Let's pack lots of snacks so we don't have to buy lunch every day! (which lead to the Great Granola Bar Revolt on day 3).

That one is cracking me up!


I make the same big mistake every time I visit a Disney Park:
I "forget" how cold it might become and "forget" to pack a sweatshirt, and then, oh darn! I'm forced to buy a new one to keep from freezing to death.
I'd ask you not to tell my DH, but I've noticed him doing it, too.