What Did You Wish You Knew Before Going?

[disneygirlsng]

Do people really stay in the park for over 12 hours? This has always amazed me when I hear "rope drop to close" visitors.

I once did 18 hours in MK on a solo trip. 7AM-1AM the Saturday before Christmas. It was amazing. And this was the last day of my trip after rope drop-close the previous 5 days. Mid-day breaks aren't for me. Now if I went in the middle of the summer, that may be different with the heat.

 

[DisneyFive]

There is no replacement for good research and planning IMO. I think a lot of the success of our trips came from the vast researching on this board, and touringplans.

My steps go like this:

1. Determine which dates we'll choose for our Disney trip (based on a lot of factors, including crowd levels, offers, temps, etc...)
2. Schedule which days we'll be at which park based on touringplans crowd calendar and spacing out our park days so that we don't go to the same park back to back days (we typically go 8-9 nights)
3. Schedule our ADR's. Go to the dining forums and check out reviews of the restaurants you are considering before making ADR's.
4. Review what rides are scheduled to be closed or refurbed
5. Schedule our desired FP's (first three typically between the 10am-1pm window)
6. Go in with a happy flexible mindset, and have fun!

Some of our learnings:

• We now pretty much schedule all of our ADR's as dinners (5-5:30pm tpyically). If we decide to stay in the parks, it is a good break from the heat and time to unwind. If we go back to the resort during the afternoon, we have a nice ADR waiting for us when we return to the parks.
• If you want a prime seat for a parade or nighttime show (FEA, Illuminations), be prepared to stake out a spot 1 hour early.
• While it's fun to visit all of the attractions, make sure you do your favorites. Our second trip, we vowed to do all of the attractions we missed the first trip. After about the third day of doing this, we realized that we just weren't having as much fun. We then realized it's because we were going on all of the "non prime" attractions. The headliners are the headliners for a reason. They are the best, and most fun! We switched back to headliners and BAM, back in business. Now we sprinkle in non-prime attractions as we can, but don't make them a priority at all.
• Don't wear new footwear on a Disney trip. This is just asking for blisters. Once you have them, you're screwed. (my FIL learned that the hard way. twice!). Wear shoes or sandles that you are used to.
• Let yourself be a part of the magic. Embrace it, and all that WDW has to offer. Go in with a happy, open attitude, ready for fun!

Dan

 

[shan981]

Maybe your husband is like me. On my solo trip in November, I intend to be in the parks for 10-12 hours a day for the nine full days plus a few hours on my arrival and departure day. Since so many husbands seem to be anti-Disney, I think many people assume that's the way men are. There are some of us men that are as Disney fanatic as anyone else. I can't wait to get as much Disney as I can.

Yes, he is a Disney fanatic for sure! And there's definitely nothing wrong with wanting to spend 10-12 hours in the parks, I just think he is grossly overestimating the stamina of the tiny humans who will be accompanying us this time.

 

[Ed J]

Drink more booze.

Bring Xanax.

Bring patients, lots of patients.

Repeat after me "yes honey, whatever you want to do is fine".