Mistakes, I've Made a Few....

[SuzieBell]

Pretty much the same - overpacking/overplanning! Not a mistake - but a lessoned learned but more with the airlines. We always go in late summer. I usually do all the laundry early am 2 days before we leave so I won't have to do much when we get home. Last trip a torrential downpour/thunderstorm hit MCO and our bags were left outside in the rain! Neadless to say everything was SOAKED! I had to re-wash everything - some clothes were ruined. Luckily our paper souviners (maps, etc) were in a plastic bag. So from now on I will bring garbage bags and pack everything in them!

[MouseHouser]

Indytraveler, we did the same thing - didn't check the official Disney site, and showed up at the park for a 9am opening, only to find it had been open since 8am. During busy season, that's an important hour. We've come to learn that Disney park hours are very much subject to revision.

And who knew being around 1,000s of cheerleaders could be a bad thing, right? From all reports, seems it can wear on ones nerves. However, unlike lots of posters, I am not bothered by the packs of Brazilian high school kids.

[MrPeetrie]

Speaking of park hours that reminds me of another mistake I made, regarding planning:

In 2011, we scheduled nearly all our ADRs (and consequently which park we visited) around parks with extended hours. We tried to maximize our times. As it turned out, those parks were packed and attractions had long waits. We did not enjoy much of our time in parks (or bus stops) as we fought crowds each day.

In 2012, we did the opposite. We stayed away from parks with extended hours. We scheduled the Magic Kingdom on days where it closed early for MNSSHPs. We rode EVERYTHING with little wait. Our buses were lighter each morning, as well. It worked out real well.

[ransam]

I think the biggest mistake i made was back in 1999. I took my gf and brother for a trip. We had plans to see Sea World, Disney, Universal, and cape kennedy just like i did when i was a kid.

on the first day we went to Cape Kennedy.
I loved that as a kid, but didn't like it when we went. I realized then that i was so much looking for dIsneyworld that made me anxious and not appreciative to Cape Kennedy. so now Disneyworld is always the first thing i do.

[emerzmom]

Not sure if this counts as a "mistake" or not but thinking that I should wait a few years in between trips
I get so "home sick" in between.

Julie

[DVC2004]

Oh I'm sure over the years there have been many. We invited my sister and her family with us the first trip back after we bought into DVC. Our families spent the entire trip together and that was not good. She complained the whole time and told me on the plane ride home she would have liked to had more of a say in planning (even though I asked her before any plans where made where she wanted to eat, what they wanted to do, etc and we did all of the things she said!). I won't go back on a trip like that again, if they join us we will go our sep. ways and meet up for dinner. Too much togetherness!

I agree about the water rides. I have skipped so to not get wet and then rode and gotten really wet, too. I also hate walking around wet all day.

The first trip we took with the kids, who were very small at the time, we didn't rent a car and boy were we sorry. Now we always rent cars because we feel (for us) it's more convenient just to get in and go when we want.

[Katzateer]

Made lots of mistakes over the years. Visiting the parks with kids we always carried an extra pair of shoes and socks in case it rained. And we always brought a large trash bag to cover stroller when going into rides. Too any times we have gone in with sunshine and walked out to a soggy stroller seat.

[luvkatiebug]

Have made many mistakes as I am an OCD planner and probably over schedule us, but the biggest is always related to pushing my kids when they are tired. We are going in July this year, and I know it will be hot and crowded and the mantra I will repeat over and over again is "you don't have to do everything, and you need to leave when the girls get cranky!" Even though they are 12 and 8 now, I know we will have to take breaks during the day at the pool and have some days off from the parks. Keep reminding me of that!

[EJS-Houston]

Our first trip we never made ADRs. Our travel agent didn't mention we could and as a result we had super long waits at restaurants.

I've had just the opposite problem...Disney vacations where I made ADRs every night, and found myself locked into a schedule and a locale every night of the vacation. We corrected that by making no ADRs in advance this last November, only making two reservation on the day-of, and winging it with counter service the rest of the time...and I found I was MUCH happier doing that.

[My2Sons]

Hello! This is my first visit and first post to this board. From my reading, it seems like a nice discussion group. My two biggest mistakes - one involves new sneakers. I knew I'd need good sneaks for all that walking. So I bought a nice pair - they were a hair snug, but I hadn't broken them in just yet. Well - by the end of our first day I could barely walk. I kept slipping my right shoe off every time I sat down. My more practical husband encouraged me to buy a pair of Crocs they sell in their gift shops. They were pricey but worth every penny - I had a much more comfortable trip from that point in. Note - break in new shoes well BEFORE going to the parks! Second mistake - we switched travel agents and she shorted us a day. Our old TA would get us 6 nights - but 7 day tickets. This TA got us 6 nights & 6 day tickets. Don't know how I missed it, but when we went to MK for our traditional "one last half-day of fun" - we couldn't get in. My kids were so disappointed, as was I, and I felt so badly for not having caught that. Second note - always double check ALL arrangements before going to WDW!

Nice to meet you all! Hope to figure out how to make a cool signature for my posts... See you soon!

[MouseHouser]

Hey My2Sons, welcome! I feel for you with the ticket problem. I can picture how that could easily happen. On the brighter side, at least you did have 6 days - a nice run!

Btw, you might try Magical Journeys for booking. They happen to be affiliated with this website, but to me this is not a reason for making the referral. It so happens my experience transacting with them has always been positive.

[January-2007]

Great thread! We went to Disneyland once in January and didn't bring any warm weather clothes and there was a heat wave, in the 80s every day and none of the stores had anything but winter clothes! Also waiting so many years to try Disney Quest and Blizzard Beach- the two best discoveries of our last trip- so fun!

[JerseyDad]

....biggest mistake we ever made is sort of a "two-part" one, and, it was basically going to WDW with a GROUP (3 other families) of friends that:

1. On one trip, were staying off-site near Downtown Disney ....and therefore they were late for every event / meet-up / dinner reservations because of their non-accessibility to the standard Disney transportation ...and they were not eligible for Extra Magic Hours.

2. And on a separate occasion, the same group decided to actually stay on-site at POP with us ....and all I heard the ENTIRE stay was "what a cheapo place" the resort was because of the lack of things like slides at the pool, coffee in the room, no spa services or hot tubs / steam rooms / sauna ...etc. For this group...the hotel was the most important facet of the vacation because they were accustomed to room-service type accommodations. You cannot believe how much someone's constant negative energy and whining can bring down your level of vacation enjoyment.

What I learned ....very quickly ...was NEVER AGAIN will I vacation with an entourage.

[irish1967]

My biggest mistake was allowing myself to become tour director for our group (3 families + "Grandpa" - 12 people) one year during our extended family trip.

One year, both of my brothers wanted to have one family dinner with their own family apart from the big group. No big deal, but they both kept changing their minds about where they wanted the special family dinner to be and what time. I ended up calling Disney Dining about 18 times for a 4 day trip.

Now, Grandpa and I decide where the dinners will be and I send out an email asking who will be joining us. I make the ADRs online for those meals. If anyone wants to go on their own, they are told - "the phone number for Disney Dining is ... and I recommend that you call early to ensure you get the ADR at the place and time you want to go."

Ha ha - one year my older brother decided I didn't know what I was talking about and they decided that they would "wing" their family dinner that year. They ended up at Casey's Corner for hot dogs because they couldn't get into any restaurant that appealed to them before 9:00 p.m.

[MrPeetrie]

I've had just the opposite problem...Disney vacations where I made ADRs every night, and found myself locked into a schedule and a locale every night of the vacation. We corrected that by making no ADRs in advance this last November, only making two reservation on the day-of, and winging it with counter service the rest of the time...and I found I was MUCH happier doing that.

EJS-Houston, I whole-heartedly agree. Two years ago, (mostly because we tried the dining plan) we had ADRs for every night. That "Locked" us into a park or location and we couldn't adjust if the park was crowded.

In 2012, we made very few ADRs (and used the Tables in Wonderland Card instead) and had much more flexibility!

Nice observation!

[Canuck Park Hopper]

Lessons Learned?

What has worked: Minimal Planning. Check park hours and generally plan for your days, but stay open and flexible. Minimize ADRs and build 1 hour travel to/from a park as a minimum (more if you know it is going to be a gong-show day).

What has not worked: Offering to co-ordinate in large parties. As others have mentioned, you can't please everyone all the time - so don't burden yourself trying.

Also -and this was entirely our own fault- agreeing to meet people from other parties at certain times & places. No one shows up on time and we ended up spending half our days waiting for so-and-so in order to go on ride or see show. From now on - we just suggest starting out together for the whole day or going separate ways and meeting for evening meal.

[texas211]

I chose a value resort and didn't rent a car...

Now, moderates or better and usually get a car. IF the bus wait is too long, in the car we go.

[darthmacho]

Plenty, I'm sure, but here's one that popped into my head right away:

Making early reservations for Crystal Palace, enjoying a nice breakfast, and then getting a jump-start on the line for Dumbo while most of the crowd is still having their bags checked at the gate: A RESOUNDING SUCCESS!

Making early reservations for Akershus, enjoying a nice breakfast, and then getting a jump-start on the line for Soarin' while most of the crowd is still having their bags checked at the gate: AN EPIC FAIL! Why? Too much distance between the two for the benefit of such a plan. We had a great breakfast, don't get me wrong, but by the time we got back to Soarin', we had criss-crossed the park twice, and there was already an hour wait!

[BrowncatP]

Love reading about everyone's lessons learned. I too made the error of getting new sneakers and wearing them without a breakin period.

[tiggerbuddy]

Me too !!

had to learn the hard way...

Love reading about everyone's lessons learned. I too made the error of getting new sneakers and wearing them without a breakin period.
__________________