Any MISTAKES made on past trips?

[Maryr1]

Took my DD7 on a surprise trip for her birthday-packed all her stuff, my stuff and DH's stuff-did great until on day 3 we noticed DD's sneakers did not match-not even close-2 different sizes too!!! She never said a word as she was just so happy we did this trip for her!!! I still laugh about it, but now I always double check the shoes!!!

 

[jmminarik]

We never make mistakes, we just have learning experiences...and we're still learning.

Though, in light of the thread, the biggest learning experience we had was never go with friends who plan around where they want to eat. For us, the restaurants aren't the purpose of our trip and rushing around from one park to another just for dinner or lunch is just silly, especially when we have better restaurants in Philly.

-Joe

 

[TENIA66]

not taking more than one pair of shoes in the parks for the water rides, sandals or thong shoes were needed.

not packing in tylenol or film, very expensive at park

trying to carry around water and snacks you can buy in park

not spending much down time, although I don't think I could stand relaxing spending all that money, i'll relax and rest at home for free!!

 

[mickeysaver]

Yeah, we had a mistake. The last trip was saved for over a period of several months. I found that Disney Dollars were great in that buying them kept me from robbing cash in my savings before the trip. We kept the Disney Dollars in my partner's safe at home. I don't know where she keeps her safe, I don't have a key to it, it's her thing. I am respectful even six years into our relationship about her things being hers. I guess it's the only child in me, but I digress. Gabby is really careful with her money, so I knew that she was going to do better at saving real money and Disney Dollars than I would ever be able to do. So, we packed the car, went over the packing list several times, and chose to head off down the road. Just outside of Valdosta, GA, roughly half way into our road trip, I turn to her and asked playfully, "Did you get the Disney Dollars out of your safe?"

"Holy $#%&!, No!"

It was at that moment that Brad Paisley's song, "Little Moments" quite possibly saved our relationship. I chose to laugh at the situation. We turned around and drove home. Luckily, we were going to be staying with some of her family in FL for a few days prior to WDW, so it didn't do anything other than cost us more in gas. She still will tell you that it's my fault for not reminding her about the over $700 in Disney Dollars in the safe before we left home, but when a woman is as careful about money as she is, it's on her. lol

So, I hope that everyone here that travels with Disney Dollars will make a point to add them to the packing list! Maggie

 

[newtowdw1]

Our biggest mistake was not listening to the Dis about transportation. Once we started to drive to teh parks, we were all much happier!!

 

[sandiegosusie]

1. We packed way too much for our vacation. 2. Also we tried to maximize every bit of time we had. We split our vacation one day before the cruise at the Magic Kingdom. After our cruise we spent two more days at the Parks. Big Mistake! Never again...our next cruise will be a family reunion in Nov. 06. Cruising first, then 3-4 days after at the parks.

 

[scrappinmom]

"Holy $#%&!, No!"[/QUOTE

OMG I know it's not polite to laugh...but I almost had diet coke coming thru my nose just now! I'm so glad the 2 of you were able & are now able to laugh about it! wow! That's a journaling page for a scrapbook if I've ever heard one!!!!

 

[mickeysaver]

"Holy $#%&!, No!"

OMG I know it's not polite to laugh...but I almost had diet coke coming thru my nose just now! I'm so glad the 2 of you were able & are now able to laugh about it! wow! That's a journaling page for a scrapbook if I've ever heard one!!!!

It's ok, laugh! And yes, while I haven't completed our scrapbook from that trip yet, I have it all down on paper just ready to journal away. lol Maggie

 

[can'twait]

"Holy $#%&!, No!"

LOL!

I already have my measly Disney Dollars in my backpack, thank you!!!!!!!!

 

[aprild]

Could someone explain to me what Disney Dollars are?!? i have never heard of this.

 

[can'twait]

aprild,

You can buy them at the Disney Store. You can use them at the store like gift certificates or any place on Disney property - to buy park tickets, souvies in gift shops, and restaurants. $1 regular money = $1 in Disney Dollars. If you pay for a $1 item with a $10 Disney Dollar you will get $9 regular dollars in change. They are pretty cool. They look like currency with colored pictures of characters on them.

Check out this thread for my saga regarding Disney Dollars....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=916738

 

[Jynohn]

One of our mistakes was planning too many park days and not enough "off" days. I should have known better, we go every year and there's no need to cram everything in, but I still feel like we need to see almost everything in every park each visit (that includes Universal and IOA too!) On our last day we had time to kill before the airport and spent it just wandering around Fort Wilderness for a few hours. This was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable days of our trip!

Another mistake was making too many Priority Seatings. There were so many restaurants we wanted to try and we ended up scheduling at least two big meals each day. We ended up being too full to really enjoy many of them. That was a big waste of time and money.

I hate to say it, but my biggest mistake on my last trip was going with extended family. DH was deployed and I had already signed up for the marathon, so I asked my parents, sisters and their kids to join me and my kids. That's an experience I won't be repeating soon.
I love my family, but it's just too frustrating traveling in a large group. Not to mention that we all just have really different ideas of what makes for a good vacation. I'd rather travel with just my husband and kids from now on. At least they know who's boss

 

[fitgirlFL]

Putting my sunglasses in my bag and then putting the bag behind my back when I got on rides. That's a recipe for broken, cracked sunglasses.

Spending two weeks in a rented house with my sister, her husband, their 2 year old son, my brother, his wife, their two kids, my mom, my dad - it was too many people in too close quarters for far too long. We needed more space and more privacy. And it was an even bigger mistake trying to tour the parks as a group. Everybody needs to go their seperate ways at some point. Too much togertherness isn't pretty after awhile.

Keeping a chocolate covered cereal bar in my bag all afternoon in the heat. Yes, that chocolate will melt. Not a good idea for a portable snack when its really hot out.

Not staying long enough. But really, I don't think any trip could really be long enough. I just never want to leave.

 

[aprild]

Thanks cantwait. now, i really don't understand what the point of this is? could someone tell me?? i mean, if Disney Dollars are just like real dollars, then why buy Disney Dollars?? maybe i'm not seeing the big piture here!!

 

[can'twait]

aprild:

Cuz they are really cool and colorful and the kids like them... Even us big kids!

Here's what they look like:

http://www.disneycenter.com/disney dollars.htm

 

[aprild]

Aww, how cute!!! i didn't know if there were any advantages to using them. look like cute souviners(sp), too!! THANKS!! My 3 yr old will love those!

 

[Tenorsinging]

wanted to subscribe to keep thread handy...i'll have to think and post mistakes later...

Tenor

 

[psiprez]

Here's another mistake:

Crayons + Bottom of my Handbag + August Florida Heat =
ONE MELTED WAX LINED BAG!



So, I bought a new handbag. Here is the follow-up mistake, made at breakfast one morning:

"Mom, put these unopened syrups in your bag for later."
(Any guesses what happened?)

 

[Kimmielee]

Thanks cantwait. now, i really don't understand what the point of this is? could someone tell me?? i mean, if Disney Dollars are just like real dollars, then why buy Disney Dollars?? maybe i'm not seeing the big piture here!!

It's also a way to "save" money for the trip and NOT be able to spend it!!! I call it my "trip insurance, part two"! Insurance to make sure we have spending money when the time comes!!!

And like the OP said... the kids LOVE them...

 

[Jen D]

Jus a few:

1) On our first trip to WDW we stayed at the Boardwalk and our first park was Epcot. We went there in the late afternoon on arrival and entered through the International Gateway. This is a very underwhelming way to enter your first WDW park and lacks the grandeur of the front entrances of other parks. Honestly, I think everyone should go to MK first on their first trip. No greater welcome than Main Street.

2) We were there when Hurricane Jeanne approached. We knew it was coming Sunday but assumed since we flew out Saturday we'd be beating it and we'd miss it. Stupid. We got back to our room after a fab dinner at V/As Friday night and discovered the airport would close early Saturday. We couldn't switch flights. We had to stay two extra nights which was expensive. (Although I can't say I entirely regret this mistake... it was expensive and temporarily stressful while we were trying to decide what to do, once we resigned ourself to staying we had a great time. The day we spent confined in the room was a much needed relaxation day at the end of our vacation! )

3) Never leave a man behiind. My dd and I had a great mother daughter trip once (before she had a brother.) My dh rarely shows interest in planning a Disney trip and was buried in work. We had the opportunity in the middle of the winter for a quick getaway and I proposed it to him but he was swamped, but encouraged us to go, thinking he could get some work done while we were gone. He was totally okay with us going. Then two days before we left he got depressed. I wanted to priceline him an airplane ticket to join us but he refused. He was really sorry to be missing out We had a great trip but felt really bad we did it without him. Now that we have done WDW a few times I remember that dh only gets excited about the trip about 24 hours before we leave and not to worry about it one way or the other. But we're never going without him again.

4) When my dd was barely 4 we took her to It's Tough to be a Bug. On the way in we ran into a familyexiting the attraction with a little boy about 5 bawling, I mean, really panicked and hysterical, although his sibling seemed fine. Stupidly, I asked the mother, "Do you think this attraction is okay for my daughter?"

"It's great!" she told me. "We loved it. I'm sure it's fine. He's just...." she said, indicating her son with a shrug, as if to indicate her son was a werid egg.

So we went in, my daughter was completely hysterical by halfway through the movie, and we couldn't get her to sit down in any theatre-type attraction again for the rest of the trip (this was day 2 of 7.) D'oh!

This is just a few. I'm sure I have more!!!