OK Experts: What's the biggest Disney mistake you have made?

[Lumiere Lover]

This last vacation was the first time I felt I overplanned. Our itinerary for every day was layed out in advance well before we left. The only time we had for spontaneous adventure was on a Monday evening, but then the dessert party came available, and I went and book that also. Because of this, my DH decided we were going to do DTD on a Sunday, which I had earmarked for HS. With ADR's, we really couldn't divert too much from our plans.

Leave some downtime for you and your family to enjoy yourselves. Next time I will leave at least 1/2 day open for relaxation.

 

[KJay]

My biggest mistakes have involved parades- not planning well enough to avoid them and/or their crowds! I will do my homework better next time, and plan routes better at those times of day...

 

[schriverl]

I am pretty sure i have done something totally like this

biggest mistake

after pirates I came out and grabbed our funky little stroller and realized that someone had stolen our bag which we had a camara hidden in!
I was mad, we marched all the way down to town square to put in a report and complained the whole time and blah blah,
and then when we walked out giving up on our stuff, realized "I" must have taken the wrong muliti colored stroller with the Continental airline carryon sticker on the handle.

I sprinted all the way back to Pirates to find a very nice and understanding mother with an identical stroller with my bag in it.

OOPS!

I am telling you they were identical in every way.

 

[RockAndRollBallerina]

Gone on New Years day/Eve. That was too much people for my liking.

 

[SusanMomOf2]

This thread is too funny... I have done at least half of these! Here are some of my Big Mistakes:

Going in HOT July.

Not planning enough days for our vacation.

Not giving ourselves enough time to get to Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner!

Going in HOT July.

You know that song, "Bossy" by Kelis? My nephews and husband dedicated that song to me on our HOT July trip. We were all irritated by the heat and long lines. I guess if the shoe fits...

Spending too much. In particular, I hired a babysitter through Kids Nite Out... and she came in the park with us. She slowed me down big time and wasn't much of a help! I had to buy her ticket, too. EXPENSIVE!

It's definitely not a good idea to go in HOT and CROWDED July.

I also advocate Tour Guide Mike... wonderful stuff... had us doing Magic Kingdom very easily! Doing Disney World without TGM is definitely not worth saving $20.

I'll add more if I think of any!

 

[Havok]

I got the whole family up at 6am to get to our 7amish breakfast at Chef Mickeys. Arrived just in time, waited in line for about 15 minutes and when we got up to the hostess I gave her my name. She looked at me and said So sorry sir but your reservation is tomorrow morning.

That was 3 years ago and to this day my wife now makes all our dining reservations. I'd like to say my plan worked perfrectly to get out of doing it. But I just plane got the days mixed up...

 

[sunnysideup3]

We had a couple mistakes:

#1. We stayed off-site. It was a pain (and expensive) to drive in and pay for parking each time. My DH and I were also on a different schedule than his family, so we often took 2 cars. We've never stayed on-property before, but will when we go in December 2011.

#2. We parked at DTD and took transportation into the park. Getting back that night after the Epcot fireworks, we were tired, it was dark and we were waiting for our bus. Decided to get on a bus for SSR and it was a haul (after walking all that way earlier that day) and no stroller for a very tired and crabby 2 yr old.

#3. No ADR's. Misery trying to get 7 ppl in a restaurant.

 

[smidgy]

I got the whole family up at 6am to get to our 7amish breakfast at Chef Mickeys. Arrived just in time, waited in line for about 15 minutes and when we got up to the hostess I gave her my name. She looked at me and said So sorry sir but your reservation is tomorrow morning.

That was 3 years ago and to this day my wife now makes all our dining reservations. I'd like to say my plan worked perfrectly to get out of doing it. But I just plane got the days mixed up...

sorry, son't mean to laugh at your expense. not disney related, but once I fasted for a blood test, was there at 10 AM (as per appointment), and my apt, was for one week later!

I BEGGED them: how long does it take to take blood. can't you fit me in?....nope, too busy. sigh. I went straight to the first family restaurant and ordeerd a huge breakfast!

 

[ZoZo]

I am no expert, however, my no-no/big mistake is important...

My 1st Jan. visit was nice an warm... in the 70's so the next time I went in Jan. I decided it would be a waste of luggage to pack lots of clothing for frigid temps because it does not get cold in WDW. I turned into a popsicle that trip since temps were in the 30's the WHOLE time!

My tip for winter travel is to pack layer-able clothing. Some mornings can be near freezing while the afternoons are comfortable warm. The next day may be freezing and the day after that... warm. You just don't know what to expect for weather.

This Jan. I am wearing yoga pants, a tee, and then a sweatshirt that I can tie around my waist if needed. I am also bringing a pair of cotton stretch gloves and a stretch headband made for covering ears. The gloves and headband are lightweight and small.... virtually take up no packing space

That's really good advice! I had the same trouble in OCTOBER of last year! We had record-high temps (90+ for several days with high humidity). But at the end of my trip, we had record-low temps! I had brought mostly shorts, sleeveless tops, and sandals -- one pair of long pants and one light jacket. It was very windy, and even tho I was wearing yoga pants, my legs were freezing. I was desperately looking for warm knee socks (finally found something at the Japan pavilion at Epcot - the socks you wear with Japanese shoes with the toe divider!). What I wouldn't have given for a sweatshirt, warm jacket and some gloves! But I wasn't about to spend WDW prices for that stuff two days before my vacation ended.

So I say, always bring a little bit of everything, just in case!

 

[18sprint]

1) Not giving enough time to get to an ADR. Our last trip was the worse...I was totally off on my times for everything. Had 8:30am ADRs for Kona Cafe and didn't leave OKW until 8:00am. 45 mins late and the CMs were not happy with us. (1/2 our group was on-time).

2) Booking our flight home way too early in the am. I have no idea what I was thinking a couple trips ago, but when setting up our flights, I booked a departure time from Orlando at 8:00am...that means when you are using ME, they pick you up at 5:00am....which of course means we are up at 4am getting ready. Ruined the night before since we were getting up so early.

3) Too many ADRs. Again, a couple trips ago I went into "over-planning" mode. I love to plan, it's part of the fun. Anyway, I booked ADRs for everyday, lunch and dinner. We felt like prisoners since we always had to be some place at a certain time. By mid week, we canceled all the remaining adrs we had and "winged" it.

 

[YukiPhnx]

This is a great thread! Looks like a lot of mistakes have to do with ADRs and entering parks during parade times.

I've made one mistake that I definitely will not be repeating.

On my most current trip, I made a reservation to join the Pirate's League cause they were having a sale. Because I wanted to make the most of my face make-up, I made it for the morning, but I tried to plan to ride Splash Mountain before my reservation. So I made a few mistakes regarding this.

1)Booking this in the morning, and choosing the Multi-eyed Jack face. That make up covers a large part of your face, not as full as the Cursed Pirate face, but still pretty much. I'm a girl, but I decided to get the beard as well.

First of all, my trip was in August, which made it very hot and my sweat from my forehead dripped into my eye make-up. It covered the parts of my face that I realized I touched A LOT. Scratching my nose, touching my cheek, and so on. The make up came off very easily, so my hands got pretty dirty and it got smudged from the sweat on my face.

2)Doing this before lunch. Eating lunch with the make-up was very difficult because I tried not to get any of the face paint on my food.

3)It was a very hot day, and the make-up started to itch after about 4 hours, and there was the rest of the day!

In the end, I couldn't take it anymore and went back to my room to wipe it all off. I DID get a lot of wear out of it though. 11am to 4pm. I DID get a lot of looks and lots of comments. I loved the attention!!

So this is a warning for the families that plan to join the Pirate's League. Choose to do this in the afternoon, after lunch. If your child or YOU tend to touch your face often (you may not even notice you do), then choose the faces that don't cover your face too much. You don't want to get white or black make-up all over yours or your child's clothes.

 

[Lglchick]

1st mistake: trudging through Epcot while it rained and trying to get in as much as we could. UGH! We all ended up with colds, me being the sickest in the group. Fortunately, I had one of those just-in-case thoughts and packed some NyQuil/DayQuil gel tabs. Believe you me, it saved our trip.

2nd mistake: dinner ADRs too early. At home, we normally eat around 6pm and our ressies were anywhere from 5 to 6, which we thought was great. However, we hated leaving the parks just to go eat and when no one was really hungry. Next trip, I'll be making ressies for 7 or later.

3rd mistake: not packing really warm clothes. We live in the midwest and I honestly thought that a long sleeve T and jeans would be okay for Florida mornings/nights in March. Um, no. I ended up spending $60 on a jacket because I was f-f-freezing.

I'm sure there are more, but my husband's not here to remind me.

 

[Massillon Dad]

and having to wait 2 hours for "free transportation" bus

 

[FindingFigment]

During our last trip, we brought DD4 for her 1st visit and she had to meet and greet every character we came across. In fact, we spent so much time doing that and getting their autographs, that I joke about her autograph book costing us $2000 (the price of our trip).

The MISTAKE I made was not following through on a tip I read somewhere on the internet about taking pictures of the back of each Photo Pass so I'd have record of the Photo Pass Number. That's all you need to retrieve the pictures once you get home. But I thought, "No problem, I won't lose them". And sure enough....*BAM* I lost BOTH of them!



There is a place on the Photo Pass website where you can submit a request for them to help you find them. You have to describe one picture, in lots of detail. Once they find that one, they get the number and can then find all of them on the Pass. Fortunately, they've been able to find the pics on one card and they're still working on the other. I'm sure it's not an easy job.

I'm hopeful though! Please past the Pixie Dust!

Stephanie

 

[klacey1]

Our biggest mistake from our last trip was not planning our CS meals in advance. We ended up at Liberty Inn in Epcot and instantly regretted it-- bring on Sunshine Seasons next year!!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

If you ever forget your phone charger again- Go down to the front desk and tell them your situation. They sometimes have "extra" phone chargers that you can use for your stay. I don't know if they were left behind or bought for this purpose, but we have learned this one form experience!

Phone chargers are one of the most left-behind (forgotten) chargers left in the rooms, so Lost&Found usually have a variety on hand

 

[honeydiane1953]

One yr loooog ago we went in the Summer. That was the BIGGEST mistake and haven't made that one again. July and WDW puhleeeeze.

 

[KateB]

I over planned our first trip and it made us so tired and cranky that we barely enjoyde ourselves. We spent so much time bickering that we ended up have a huge fight in the middle of the night.

The next day I got sick and then felt terrible about ruining all of the plans I made for us. The good thing was it made my DH want a sencond trip a little over a year later.

Our honeymoon was fantastic but we did have a few over planning moments and I had to step back and slow down.

We are going in January with my parents for their first trip and I am desperately trying to NOT over plan!!

 

[Revan]

This December - not realizing that it gets cold in Florida in the winter and not packing warm enough clothing. Disney stores loved us.

2008 - not realizing how long it would take to settle in to the hotel on the first day and heading to AK too late - one ride before the park closed.

 

[sophie832]

If the boat isn't sitting at the dock, don't wait for it unless you have plenty of free time. Biggest mistake on this past trip was waiting for the boat from MK to the TTC, instead of hopping on the monorail. We had a dinner ADR at Akershus in Epcot, and I thought 40 minutes was plenty of time to get there, but it wasn't. When we arrived at the boat launch, it was just about to leave (already roped off so we couldn't get on). We waited for the next one, and had to run to the Epcot monorail, during which time I lost a stuffed animal I was carrying. Then DH had to run to Akershus from the Epcot entrance because I was too exhausted. It was the low point of our trip, and sadly on our last night.

Other instances when we took the boats, it always seemed to take longer than we thought, but at least we had plenty of time to kill. So...don't take the boats if you really need to get there on-time!