Any MISTAKES made on past trips?

[Drizzo67]

Over packing is the first big mistake we made on our first trip. Each one of us (4) had a large suitcase bursting with clothing and each one had a full-sized carry-on as well as a backpack for my and DD. Way too much stuff.

Secondly, overplanning. I left no time for relaxing on our first trip. I wanted to make sure my kids saw it all, did it all, ate it all. At the ages of 5 and 8 they were way too tired to enjoy the second half of any day.

Thirdly - not getting my kids to WDW sooner in life. It has now become the only place they want to go on vacation and we are in the process of planning our third family trip (including extended family). We have told the rest of our family our basic itinerary and we have stressed that once at the parks we are all free to do at our own pace.

 

[psiprez]

bippity-boppity-BUMP!

 

[psiprez]

yet another BUMP.

 

[bub]

Great thread.

I agree that family and friends need to be willing to split up. When we have visited with extended family, we usually plan one thing a day together, whether it's starting at the same park, a meal, or an evening. The rest of the day it's optional to be together. We learned this the hard way during my teen years when my parents, brother, sister and I all ended up yelling at each other in World Showcase late in the day on a commando vacation. Once we figured out that we could be apart sometimes, we all got along much better.

Another lesson learned the hard way: don't keep little ones in the park too long. My DD at 2 1/2 had a complete meltdown one day getting onto the bus after visiting Epcot. She had been great in the park, so we didn't leave until 3:30. Once on the bus she yelled "I hate you Mom" and hit me all the way back to OKW. We were so embarrassed we got off at the first stop, no where near our room, and then had to walk to the back of the resort in 90 degree temps. We try now to take our mid-day break around lunch time, and return to the parks around 4 or 5, as another poster mentioned.

We have also given up most of our commando style touring. A vacation is far more enjoyable if you get some days to sleep in, or an afternoon at the pool, instead of non-stop running around in heat and crowds.

 

[goodeats]

Hmmm, my *learning experiences* from our fabulous 9 day trip were:

1) Wasting time doing Fantasmic! and planning on spending the entire day at MGM. I just did not care for it. Could also be exascerbated by the fact that this was the only day we did not take an afternoon break. So next trip we're doing two half days there.

2) Spending too much $$ by doing a package. This was before I knew about room discounts. It was a great trip, but we probably spent $1,000 more than we had to! That's a lot!

3) Character Meals are not my cup of tea. Food and service are mediocre and the price is always high. One a trip is certainly enough for me.

4) Not to take coffee on the buses, as you are apt to spill on your white t-shirt and cause you to spend $30+ on a new one at Epcot that you hate.

 

[Gabriel&Nana]

It was a "medium" mistake, only

I had planned not going to any park at MLK day to avoid the crowds.

But ... a friend of mine, who lives in Orlando, asked me to join her and her family to MK !

I tried to convince her against it, but at the end I went with them

And it was really packed - the only day like this in my entire 20 day stay !

 

[Tenorsinging]

Hmmm, my *learning experiences* from our fabulous 9 day trip were:

1) Wasting time doing Fantasmic! and planning on spending the entire day at MGM. I just did not care for it. Could also be exascerbated by the fact that this was the only day we did not take an afternoon break.

OMG, Fantasmic was one of my most favorite things we did!!!! I loved it. Course, I am more of a little kid sometimes than my little kid, AND it was my very first trip to MK, EPCOT, and MGM ever.

Lynne

But so's to be not too much off topic:

Things I learned: Maybe plan meals a little better. Seems like everytime we got really hungry and wanted to sit down and eat somewhere, all the ressies were gone.

Lynne

 

[Melanie459]

I just wanted to say this is a great thread! Very interesting.

 

[lisajl]

OMG, Fantasmic was one of my most favorite things we did!!!! I loved it. Course, I am more of a little kid sometimes than my little kid, AND it was my very first trip to MK, EPCOT, and MGM ever.

Lynne

But so's to be not too much off topic:

Things I learned: Maybe plan meals a little better. Seems like everytime we got really hungry and wanted to sit down and eat somewhere, all the ressies were gone.

Lynne

Oh my gosh! I love Fantasmic too!! We videotaped it and I am whooping and hollering having a great time. My kids were soooo embarrassed!!!!!

My mistake...not taking enough time to enjoy my DH and kids in the park.
We are going in Dec and I promise to slow down....I promise...really!

 

[DiznEeyore]

My mistake...not taking enough time to enjoy my DH and kids in the park.

Oooh...I've been guilty of that, too! Thanks for the reminder! After all, that's the best part of being at WDW!!!

 

[Iluvthemouse]

1. Not going for longer time -we went for 8 days. Next time I would like to do 10 days

2. Not taking time to slow down and enjoy DD and DH (as another poster had said). It wasnt like we rushed but the whole trip seemed to be over in a blink of an eye.

3. Overpacking. I did laundry but still had things I didnt wear.

4. Not taking more photos. I am still printing out what I did take but I realized I didnt take much at MGM. I only took about 200 pix.

5. Not taking more comfortable shoes. I still ended up with 4 blister and DH with 5. I had to go to Target nearby just to get shoes that were comfy for the rest of the stay.

 

[TAKitty]

My biggest mistake was not doing enough research for my Dh's first WDW trip. He really hated everything about it. It was very crowded, we arrived to the parks late and didn't take advantage of early touring, the CBR was just too spread out for Dh, and we only went to the Magic Kingdom. Needless to say, a 30+ year old guy did not find this trip enjoyable!

I have convinced him to return this December. I have taken a lot of time planning this trip. I am even ordering "treats" from the Disney Florist to have delivered to our room. My husband considers junk food a necessity. I hope that taking this time beforehand will win my husband over to Disney. Oh, we are also touring more parks, too!

 

[_pretty_pixie]

We were standing on Main St. getting pics with the charcters and my then three year old sister just walked off to go see pooh and didn't tell anyone. We turned to look for her a she was gone. We found her with pooh secoends later but it felt a lot longer. I know a low of people, my self included, look down on kid cuffs but know where your child is all the time is worth it.
Sister is now 5 and I'm still trying to get my mom to by a kid cuff.

 

[katedrew94]

Yes, we took our SIL. LOL.

 

[psiprez]

The Pooh story just reminded of another mistake:

It was our first day in the Parks, and we just exited our very first ride, "Small World". DD3 went and sat herself down in the stroller, and we headed across to "Peter Pan". We were on line there for a good 10 minutes before we realized DD was not with us.

In our excitement to go on the next ride, all four adults forgot to bring the stroller! I ran over, and she was sitting right there, happy as a clam (and thankfully oblivious). Plus, we didn't lose our place on line!

 

[Superman]

bringing my wife!

 

[Shagley]

Being 19 and stupid and in-love while at WDW. All I could think of was my boyfriend back home, and I tried to go back to the room every 5 min. to call him (I wasn't fortunate enough to have a cell phone), and I couldn't wait until the end of the vacation to be back home with him. Well we broke up 6 months later. And I missed all of my vacation.

That's so funny, because my biggest mistake was going with someone who was 19 and stupid in-love. Unfortunately for all of us, she DID have a cell phone - and was on it 23+ hours a day with her boyfriend back home. Every time we had to wait in line, our entertainment was listening to her tell her boyfriend all about what we had just done 2 minutes before.

The best part of that trip - when her cell phone fell out of her pocket on Space Mountain.

The worst part - about 5 minutes later, someone found her phone still in the seat that she sat in on Space Mountain, even though that same car had made two more trips through the ride. Apparently the phone slipped to the back of the seat and people sat on it so it never flew out of the ride. Good luck for her, bad luck for the rest of us who were thrilled that she lost that #@$!! phone.

 

[poohfan]

When our DD was 4, our mistake was taking her to see It's a Bugs Life before seeing any other 3D show. She was totally freaked out after that and refused to go into any other show that gave out glasses. She refused to see the Muppetvision 3D and I really regretted her not wanting to see that.

One trip we totally went overboard with the buffet meals and desserts. I ended up gaining 8 pounds!

Our last trip we spent a day at AK. It was hot and the kids didn't enjoy the park as much as MK, Epcot or MGM. Next trip we might skip this one all together. I need to stop feeling like we have to visit every park on every trip we make

 

[Momerath]

We have made little mistakes...not taking enough breaks, not drinking enough water, packing too much or too little, but the biggest, grand-daddy of them all mistake was made this past August: WE WENT TO THE WRONG AIRPORT! We parked in economy parking at Regan National, and we when we get to the sky capp he circles 3 little letters: IAD. I had booked the trip out of Dulles, not Regan! DH and I argued for about 5 minutes about whose fault it was on the way back to the car. But then, on the drive over to Dulles we just started cracking up! I've hardly told anyone about this screw-up, but it's funny to me now! We were able to catch another flight out of Dulles on stand-by with no problems, so we didn't have to pay extra $$$ and it only delayed our trip about 2 hours.

 

[Kimmielee]

bringing my wife!

One must assume she is an ex wife by now?