What Are You Doing Wrong at Disney?

No vacation goes perfectly. That’s part of the charm of the experience.

We all dream about getting away for a while. Then, once we arrive at the new place, we realize we’re still the same people with the same tendencies.

Photo: Disney

The location may be different, but we haven’t changed. However, our expectations have increased since we’re paying a lot of money for the trip.

That’s why the longstanding relationship joke of “Why do we always fight on vacation…” feels so familiar to all of us.

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Well, I’d like to save you from some of that stress. I’ve visited Disney many, many times. So, I know what I could do better.

Also, I talk to lots of people about their vacations. So, I know what you are doing wrong at Disney. Let’s talk it through. No judgment.

You Do Too Much

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Here’s the worst Disney mistake you can make, and I’ve learned it the hard way.

Whenever I discuss overreaching, I can’t help but think back to one fateful trip I had many years ago.

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I planned a Disney vacation with my wife, and then a family member heard about it. So, they decided they would join us.

We booked different hotel rooms, but we tried to meet up regularly throughout our trip, just as we’d done several times before.

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This vacation worked differently because a close friend also learned we were traveling to Disney. So, they scheduled the same dates as well.

What happened was that my wife and I would shuffle between the two parties and sneak in our own fun times at the parks.

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We spent every minute of our vacation rushing somewhere for an attraction, a meal, or a meet-up.

According to our Fitbit (remember those?), we walked more than 70 miles in five days. Oh, and did I mention it was our anniversary?

Photo:visitorlando.com

Yeah, it wasn’t very romantic. That’s the thing about a Disney trip. You want to see and do it all, which causes you to think too big.

I swear that you don’t need to do everything at the parks during your visit. Simply highlight a few attractions and experiences that you consider must-dos.

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You’ll have a better time because you’re relaxing more and savoring the experience rather than rushing everywhere.

You Don’t Plan Ahead                

Photo: Disneyplanning.com

This is a surprisingly divisive topic in some circles, as plenty of people prefer to be impulsive during their vacations.

The thought process circles back to what I just discussed. Rather than being tied down by an itinerary, they’d rather not have firm plans.

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Folks, this is a mistake. A huge mistake.

The totality of entertainment options available at Disney theme parks is truly mind-boggling.

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I guarantee that if you and I listed the ten things we must do during our Disney vacation, we’d have very little overlap.

That’s the beauty of a Disney visit right there. It’s so open-ended. But there’s a catch.

With hundreds of thousands of guests on the Disney campus each day, you’ll face a staggering level of competition for all the popular activities.

As such, anyone who fails to plan ahead is doomed to spend the majority of their Disney trip standing in line.

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Again, this circles back to creating a list of high priorities. However, you should NOT wait until you’re at Disney to make this list.

At a minimum, plan four months ahead of time. That way, you can research everything to learn which activities live up to the hype.

Just as importantly, you’ll discover which ones will be the most popular.

This information will help you decide on things like Lightning Lane, park arrival times, restaurants to prioritize/avoid, and much more.

You Forget to Check the Weather

Photo: Playbuzz.com

Eek. You know you’re in Florida, right?

If Florida weather were someone you dated, you would have dumped them long ago and blocked them on your phone AND social media. Mercurial is bad, mkay?

Clouds during Spring Break

One minute, you’ll be walking at a Disney theme park and thinking, “Gee, it suddenly got cloudy.”

The next minute, you’ll be drenched worse than after a Frozen Ever After ride gone awry.

Cinderella Castle in foggy weather

Five minutes after that, the sun will return with such angry fury that it’ll blind you.

As you grab for your sunglasses, your first thought will be, “Did my sunscreen lotion just wash off?”

Nothing can put you in the downward spiral at Disney like ignoring the weather. And once you know it, you must use this information correctly.

You Pack Wrong

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I love my wife with the ferocity of a thousand exploding suns, but I bite my tongue when we’re packing for Disney.

She spends her time contemplating which shirt will match which Mouse Ears, and then she’ll start all over again when she remembers the color of her MagicBand.

Disney Store

That’s the Easy version of The Packing Game. She’ll switch to Hard Mode on days when she feels like DisneyBounding. I just go downstairs and hide when that happens.

What inevitably happens is that I don’t spend enough time packing because I’m ducking her.

Then, I get to Disney and remember that I brought the wrong shoes, I forgot to bring a second pair, these swim trunks don’t fit, and I left several medications at home.

I’d like to think that my physical well-being is more important than whether we pull off the perfect Lilo & Stitch color scheme in our pictures…but here we are.

Photo: Amazon

There’s a life lesson in that. When you’re packing, please don’t prioritize the fun stuff over the important stuff.

When you’re at Disney, you’re going to need an umbrella/rain slicker, some sort of phone charger, and the applicable charging cables.

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You’ll be miserable if you lack comfortable shoes, breathable outfits, sunglasses, or suntan lotion.

How you look in your pictures is less vital to your vacation enjoyment than whether you’re stopping every few minutes to readjust something because you’re miserable.

You Park Hop

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The next two mistakes don’t require much discussion, but you should definitely avoid them if at all possible.

I’m a Park Hopper. However, when friends ask for vacation advice, I always tell them to avoid this practice.

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Why? Most people don’t visit Disney often. So, they shouldn’t be trying to bounce from park to park to experience everything.

A much better practice is to visit a single park a day. Presuming you’re visiting for at least four days, you’ll have plenty of time to do everything on your list.

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When you Park Hop, you’ll waste time riding from park to park and having to go through park entry procedures again. It’s just not a good use of your team.

I fully encourage those of you who are Disney veterans and frequent park guests to Park Hop, though.

You Shop Too Early

Here’s a mistake I still make far too often.

We’ll enter a Disney store within an hour of the start of our park visit. Something will catch my or more likely my wife’s eye.

We’ll know that we need this item. So, we’ll go ahead and buy it. And that’s idiotic.

Now, we’re stuck holding the bag (literally) for the rest of our visit. Whenever we board a ride, we must store the bag somewhere.

Once we get aggravated, we inevitably debate getting a storage locker, which costs money. So, we’re effectively paying more for the item.

What a smart person would do is wait until they’re nearly ready to leave the park to shop for merchandise.

Photo: Disney Vacation Club

I’m not a smart person at Disney, and I have poor impulse control to boot. Thus, I don’t do it, but I’m guessing it works. I really should try it sometime.

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