Learn From My Disney Planning Mistakes
There’s so much to plan when you’re visiting Walt Disney World that you can sometimes make unintentional mistakes. Here are three big mistakes that I’ve made in the past that I’m hoping you can learn from in your own planning!
Not Making Time to Enjoy Your Resort
If you’ve made the choice to stay at a Walt Disney World resort, you should absolutely plan for time to enjoy the amenities available to you. The first time the four of us visited, we had park tickets for every day, including arrival day. We spent as much time as we could riding all the rides and taking in all four of the Walt Disney World theme parks.
When it came time to leave, we realized we’d only spent minimal time at our resort and there was a lot that we missed. We wished we would have factored in a break day to not only rest but to spend more time at our awesome pool and to take part in some of the activities we had onsite.
Since that first trip we’ve added in that break time and it’s made a huge difference in our vacation. A Walt Disney World vacation isn’t necessarily relaxing, but with even one morning or afternoon to take it easy at your resort you can squeeze it in.
The pool at Port Orleans - Riverside Resort
Overbooking Dining Reservations
This one also got us on our first family vacation. With so many amazing restaurants to choose from, including meals with our kids’ favorite characters, we absolutely filled our eyes before our stomachs in making dining reservations.
When we had reservations for both lunch AND dinner, we found that we weren’t that hungry with the amount of food you’re given at a Walt Disney World restaurant or buffet. And when it came to sit down for a breakfast, my family (ok, my husband) was so antsy to get into the park that we felt really rushed.
When I had the chance to do it over again, I limited us to one reservation a day. We also only scheduled a sit-down breakfast if we could get in before park opening or if it was a break day when we didn’t have anywhere else to be afterward. This gave us some opportunity to try different places to eat, but not feel like we had overdid it.
Meeting Sleeping Beauty at Akershus breakfast
Forgetting Myself in the Planning
While I can say that I learned my lesson right away with the first two mistakes, I’ve got to say that this one took me a little bit longer to rectify. When you’re the person doing the majority of the planning for your family and hoping you are lining up activities that they’ll enjoy, it’s easy to forget that you should also factor in what YOU want to do, too!
The big mistake I made was thinking that I’d just incorporate what I wanted to do on the fly. And then in the moment when we’re busy running around in the parks, the things I was hoping to do got set aside.
On our last trip to Walt Disney World, I finally made it a priority to factor things that I wanted to do into our plans. And lo and behold, we did them! Even something as simple as taking a break at Nomad Lounge for a drink and a snack made me so happy and feel like I was getting MY vacation time in, too.
So if you’re the planner of your family’s trip, don’t forget that what you want to do is just as important as everyone else’s needs, too!
If this amazing Steakhouse 51 burger is in your wish list, you need to plan for it!
I’m hoping that sharing my mistakes helps you to avoid making the same ones when you plan your own trip. As a travel advisor, I’m here to help you plan the vacation you’ve been hoping for and be aware of things that can trip you up.
Reach out to me directly or complete the quote request form on the About the Memories Travel website if you want to discuss your travel plans! I’d love to hear from you!
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