Lessons Learned - What will you do differently when planning your next trip to WDW

Minniegirl621 · Nov 8, 2015

I just finished my trip at Disney, and one of the things I'm definitely not doing next year is driving 14 hours from Pennsylvania. I am also not going to over schedule us since we were running from place to place and never got to relax. Universal is off the list for me, because my family just did not have a good experience there and magic time was lost from Disney. I definitely want to take more time to go to Disney Springs and the pool. Also, we are going to try not to hold back on the dining plan since we were left with so many quick services and snacks that we didn't get. I'd love to go to Epcot and Animal Kingdom more. Next trip will go a lot differently!!

phillymummer · Nov 9, 2015

I will not go to the park on our arrival day again. I have done it twice and it just doesn't work well for us, especially when we are up at 4am to make a flight. Also, I will not go without PHs. It took this trip to make me realize the benefit of PH. I cannot spend a whole day in Epcot, AK, or DHS. I will plan for down time. Getting up early/ going to bed late is just too exhausting!

Minniegirl621 · Nov 9, 2015

phillymummer said:
I will not go to the park on our arrival day again. I have done it twice and it just doesn't work well for us, especially when we are up at 4am to make a flight. Also, I will not go without PHs. It took this trip to make me realize the benefit of PH. I cannot spend a whole day in Epcot, AK, or DHS. I will plan for down time. Getting up early/ going to bed late is just too exhausting!

I never have went to the parks on the first day-- relaxing on the first day is a must for my family and it is actually worth it. The park hoppers are a real help when it comes to your trip and I do reccomend them. Those two factors in the trip can really make it better !

phillymummer · Nov 10, 2015

Our trips are short, so I felt the need to go on our arrival day just to give us another day at the parks. but I do agree with you that relaxing that first day and starting out fresh the next day is the way to go.

I was so against PH bc after my first trip, I thought it was such a waste. we only hopped on one day and it seemed like it so long to travel between parks. Also, there was so much I had not done at the parks or wanted to do again and I didn't feel the need to hop. But this trip I had PH's as park of a performance package and I actually was happy about being able to hop. After spending spend a morning and afternoon in Epcot, I realized there is only one ride I like (TT) and the countries are neat, I don't need to spend all day there. The same with DHS . The only rides I feel the need to go on are TSM and ToT. PH's on the next trip!

alliecat523 · Nov 10, 2015

Agree with never doing the water park again.

Also keep our ADRs limited. I like to know I have a decent sit down meal every once in awhile, but I don't want to rush every day thinking I have to make it to X location to eat when we are enjoying ourselves where we are.

Skip the rope drop. We are not morning people and were exhausted by dinner.

dlavender · Nov 11, 2015

alliecat523 said:
Agree with never doing the water park again.

I have never done a Disney water park. Why would you never do them again? Just curious.

Shellyb84 · Nov 11, 2015

dlavender said:
I have never done a Disney water park. Why would you never do them again? Just curious.

I guess the thing I disliked most about the water parks are the lines. There's no FP+ there so you have to wait in long, long lines for everything. Also, the heat seems worse at the water parks to me for some reason. Many of the resorts have such nice pools with water slides, it's really a waste of money to me. All my daughter wanted to do was the kiddie slide and the lazy river, both of which we had at the pool at our resort (BC).

MrsSkellington · Nov 11, 2015

This was our first trip with our son (2y/o), so I've learned a lot. Next time I'll plan fewer ADRs. They took up so much time and I hated having to be somewhere at any given time. I even cancelled a couple along the way. I will keep Trail's End though. Loved it!

I would probably leave the parks earlier, rest and relax at the hotel, and go back in the evenings. We tended to wait until our son was already tired, and he fell asleep on the way to the bus/monorail a couple of times. Waking him up to get him out of the stroller was a nightmare!

quagmire0 · Nov 11, 2015

Less buffets. When you have numerous, younger kids they are a hassle. One adult is always up getting food for the kids or themselves and we don't really spend time sitting down together and just enjoying the meal. I especially noticed this with Biergarten. Our first trip was with two kids and that was fun. Second trip was with three and it wasn't as fun as the first. Out next trip we'll have 4, and I'm not even considering it.

I think I'm going to stick to sit down meals that are either family style (a la 'Ohana) or table service.

In relation to the previous poster who mentioned not going to the park on arrival day and how they leave at 4am. - Book later flights, if possible. I've learned that with family vacations, especially with younger kids. Look for that 9/10am flight that still gets you in around 1/2/3pm. We always enjoy going to the parks right from the airport. But we also treat that day differently. We go to the park for the hour or two and just kind of play it by ear. Then we get dinner and go check into the condo.

apwagner · Nov 12, 2015

mindeola said:
I don't think I will pay for Disney Dining again. I've done the math for our past two visits and it just is not worth it for the way we eat. For our next trip, I have figured we can save about $500 not purchasing the Dining Plan.

We did the DDP one year and the next went with the Quick Service plan and just paid out of pocket for the one sit down meal we had. I worked out great for us, 2 adults. We split a lot of meals and got to try a wide variety of options which we really enjoyed. When we go back in May with DDs we are going to do the same thing.

KSR0330 said:
I agree with less ADR's. It will me nice to not be tied down to a time that we HAVE to get to dinner. We will have a couple, but not one every night like we did last trip.

I totally agree with this. With having to be here or there for FP+ then having to be somewhere for ADRs I just feel like Im completing a list of tasks rather than enjoying my vacation!

Stefecatzz · Nov 26, 2015

I will never get the QS DDP again. Even with the help of a CM friend's discount, it was not worth the cost for me. (I always drink ice water w/my meals & never order dessert).

I will never eat a big, filling sit down meal for lunch again. It did not feel good walking around in the sun after that for the rest of the day, I just wanted to go lay down.

I will never again make the mistake of not hydrating enough while drinking around the world, especially knowing that you can get a free ice water at any full service lounge or QS!

I will never agree to go to the parks with someone who is hell-bent on doing every single attraction at every park in a few days. That was an unfortunate mistake & not worth the tension between friends for a weekend that was meant to be fun.

ZoZo · Nov 26, 2015

dlavender said:
I have never done a Disney water park. Why would you never do them again? Just curious.

I'd definitely gve a water park a try if I were you! After three trips without a water park day, we finally went to Typhoon Lagoon and loved it! We always schedue a water park day now. I think if you go during the summer, it could be realy crowded with long lines, but we go during "medium crowd" times. We go at opening and ride the water slides for the first couple of hours, then when lines start to get long, we move to the lazy river and wave pool. Love Typhoon Lagoon!

brownhaired_girl · Nov 26, 2015

When I do our schedule I look at the night time things we want to do and how to split them up. I don't plan an early morning after a late night. Sea World is always Saturday since that is the busiest day in the parks.

SM101 · Nov 30, 2015

I will always rent points through DVC to get a villa on a longer trip (usually 10-14 days) - easy and a lot cheaper than through Disney directly. Mini kitchen and laundry in the room make it so much easier, because I can make simple meals for when I'm tired of eating out and pack far less clothes because it's easy to throw a load in. I will always rent a car because while I'll bus it to the parks, I will NOT attempt to use the bus system to go to another resort, plus I need grocery and wine runs (maybe not in that order ;-)).

I've given up completely on getting dining plan. While I like food being "pre paid" and we enjoy sit-down dining and we enjoy signature restaurants, I'd just rather we ordered what we want when we want it. On longer trips we also get tired of eating out.

No buffets other than breakfast, and then only maybe 1-2 per trip IF it's somewhere with characters my daughter really REALLY wants. I hate buffets. No Chef Mickey, ever again.

No split stays. Pick a hotel and stay with it. It's entirely too much trouble packing, moving, settling in somewhere else halfway through.

1983DisneyFanatic · Nov 30, 2015

DisneyDahling said:
I think I've been waiting for this thread since my vacation ended on the 8th!
This was our first time with FP+ and our DS's first trip ( He is 4.5). So while we are not newbies to touring, these two items sure made us feel like we were!!

I would not put all my FP+ in the mornings with the idea that we would add on as soon as that 3rd was done. It NEVER worked and caused too much stress with scheduling and running around the park. Our last day we had a FP+ at 10:30, one at 12:30 and one at 5 I think and at the end of that day we thought, man, this was a perfect day.

why didn't it work? Were they no fast passes available after you finished your third?

2pinwheels · Nov 30, 2015

We just returned from a wonderful trip. Our party were three adults, two kids (6 & 8).

Do again:
-- Go in November - great weather
-- Uber between resorts -- even with UberX (to get the bigger car), it was only $10-$12/trip
-- Eat at Biergarten
-- FastPass+ was worth it; it allowed us to decide each day whether rope drop made sense; we could actually be more relaxed
-- Tom Sawyer Island with boys these ages is great; a little unstructured play went a long way

Changes:
-- Limit ADRs: we liked it better on days with more spontaneity
-- BOG: not worth it for us

DisneyDahling · Dec 1, 2015

Exactly, after we finished our third, the ones we wanted FP+ for were gone. And every single time we were at the exact opposite of the part where a kiosk was, so it was a bit of a PITA to trek to get to a kiosk to find out that everything was gone.

cleopenn · Dec 8, 2015

mindeola said:
I don't think I will pay for Disney Dining again. I've done the math for our past two visits and it just is not worth it for the way we eat. For our next trip, I have figured we can save about $500 not purchasing the Dining Plan.

I waffled on the DDP, ended up not doing it and that was probably the best for us. It came up in conversation with a couple of CM (servers) and they shared that they also thought it was not worth it, that it seems to be structured in a way that frustrates guests. Mostly that people always seem to want what they can't get under their plan, like wanting a cinnamon roll (a snack) for breakfast or wanting to swap an appetizer for a dessert under a certain plan.

toni nicole said:
If I have an extra day, I will make the relaxing resort day our last day, not our first. Last time, we decided we could afford one more night in a hotel, but not another day in the park. We booked an extra night in the beginning of the trip and checked in and relaxed that first day. Our last day there, the depression of leaving and the extremely exhausting drive home told me we this should of been our resort day. Our upcoming trip in January, consists of all four park days, but our last day we will sleep in til 12, and only go on rides we have fast passed and then head home.

I will make sure to have a non park day as well. We needed a break but didn't have "time" for one. I over-scheduled and that exhausted everyone.

DisMommyTX said:
Don't pay more for a room, expecting it to better. We went all out for our first stay on WDW property --club level Polynesian. It was ok, but never felt like it was worth what we paid for it. Expectations were just too high.

We stayed CL at the Polynesian last week. For the price, the rooms and service (with one exception) was far below non-Disney resorts of similar cost. I wonder if I would have felt the same way if we stayed at the Grand Floridian or other deluxe resort....?

My other "do differents" next trip -

I never needed the backpack I took 3 of the 5 days in the park. By day 4, I realized my small, cross body purse was sufficient.

Avoid early days. I thought my family would be ok with get up and out early in the day so I scheduled early events and FP+. That turned out to be a mistake for us.

piglet1979 · Dec 8, 2015

I would add in more rest time. Our first 2 trips (first trip was with a 4 and 5 year old) we were in the park at opening and stayed until closing. This last trip (kids were now 8 and 9) we decided to take breaks. We stayed in the parks until about 12 or 1 and then were back by 4 or 5 for dinner. This next trip we are going to the park in the morning and leave by 11 and back around 5 for the night. We are also going to spend more time at the pool.

MouseMum · Dec 9, 2015

1. No dining plan for us ever again! We spent FAR less paying OOP on our last trip than the previous year with DP.
2. Less ADRs.
3. More down days. 3 park days:1 non-park day
4. Continue afternoon breaks. Loved pool lounging and resting up for the night time!
5. Rope drop and late nights do NOT go hand in hand. So be more attentive to this when planning.
6. Have a touring plan but plan less for each day. We've only gone for longer vacations, so this should be easily doable without sacrificing any experiences.
7. Do pre-park open BOG breakfast again, but only if I am able to get an 8:00 ADR. Later than that would be rushing to get to 7DMT. We had the 8:05 in August and were held up by inaccurate meal selections, so it did create a little rush, but loved riding 7DMT, PP and Pooh by the time rope droppers got to our end of the park!
8. DON'T do pre-park open CP breakfast! I would have loved to sit for longer and enjoy the meal/experience to its fullest, but we foolishly ran out to be at our rides. Will do a lunch instead, for sure, since it's a beautiful spot to eat.
9. Continue to let our teens go out on their own, but insist they be home early enough to rest up for the next family morning.
10. Spend more time exploring the countries of Epcot.

Lessons Learned - What will you do differently when planning your next trip to WDW

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