Dumb things you did on your first (pre-Intercot discovery) trip

[Mendelson]

I was talking to a woman I know who just did her first trip with her family, with precious little research ahead of time. She was telling me some decisions they made, which just puzzled me, but I figured to just chalk it up to newbie error. What stupid thing(s) did you do on your first trip, before you became a Disney expert?

My first trip as an adult was about 10 years ago and I remember literally carrying the massive “Idiot’s Guide” through the parks; in hindsight, we were considerably underprepared, though I can’t think of anything particularly dumb we did. This stuff makes the list, I guess.

Stay off property (which is not entirely dumb, depending, but we really didn’t do the research to know to stay on site, which we should have)
Eat at Denny’s and generally plan for way more time off-property than necessary
Not claiming a parade spot far enough in advance, and then expecting that by sitting on a curb a crowd of people three deep wouldn’t stand in front of us.
Not taking time to explore resorts
Not packing warm clothes in March (one day it didn’t top 50 degrees)
And then some attractions we went to, which were clearly a waste of time for us (but we were trying to take in everything, I will say, given it was our first trip), such as the Country Bears and The Circle of Life AK movie
Being unaware of little stuff, like hidden Mickeys, detailed effects, the party-line payphone and raining umbrella-type things, and cult food favorites like Dole Whips, etc.

I remember as a kid – my very first trip and obviously I wasn’t in charge – we got to the park like, two hours after opening and left each day with several hours still remaining for the parks to be open. At the time I wondered why we were leaving, but as a sixth-grader, didn’t have much say. We’d leave and get in our hotel pool. Sigh, Dad and Mom!

[laprana]

Stayed off property and ate dinner at Sizzler! :ack:

[tazlikesrobots]

Not getting to the parks till 11 am.
Not being prepared for the mid-afternoon showers (at least we got lucky and were in a store when the monsoon hit!)

[CzepielCrew]

We ran, ran, ran.
I didn't know when I was coming back. We needed a vacation after the vacation.
:mickey:

[PopPhan]

Let's see....It was 2003...I had never been to a Disney property, nor did I have any real draw to visit, but my wife had been to WDW in her late teens (>20 years prior) and wanted to go back...For our 5th anniversary, I gave in and booked a trip, through AAA.......

In my ignorance, and, to be honest, lack of interest, nothing was planned other than the lodging and ticket portion of the trip.

I did not even do any research prior to the trip. I am a programmer and had been internet savvy for years prior to this. I knew how to do research, I just didn't. (Very unlike me, as I research EVERYTHING!!!)

We got checked in to Caribbean Beach, checked out the room/resort for a few minutes, then headed to MK for my first indoctrination to WDW....What an awakening!

We didn't even know where to eat - Counter Service?? Table Service?? Pull out the map and find something. At one point, we were getting very hungry in EPCOT and had no idea where to go - ended up at Coral Reef, waiting almost an hour for a table. Tired, frustrated, we did not enjoy our meal or the aquarium setting at all. We didn't even know that there were restaurants in World Showcase!!

Downtown Disney?? Boardwalk?? What are these? Never heard of them and they were only briefly glossed over in the brochures.

Extra magic Hours? (Whatever they were called at that point) They meant nothing to us.

We basically walked around the parks, rode rides, watched shows, oblivious to all we were missing.

We STILL fell in love with the place!!!

Upon our return, I started doing my research for our next visit and I was amazed at how much we had missed out on. Now, I am almost obsessed with keeping track of all the happenings at WDW!!! And INTERCOT is my main source of information!!!!

Sorry for being so long-winded!!!! :D

[MargaretMessler]

Not necessarily a "first timer" mistake, but definitely I did not plan well enough for potential cold weather in January. I did bring a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, but ended up having to re-run the jeans and buy another sweatshirt and gloves when it ended up being one of the coldest Januarys on record (2003).

[Jeri]

My 1st trip I took my 2 yr old son in 1999. My husband couldn't come with so I asked a co-worker and her middle school aged daughter. BIG mistake!!

She couldn't afford much so I never looked into staying on site, so stayed off site in a nasty hotel.

We ate Mc Donalds every meal, again she didn't have much money.

Went in July, didn't get to the parks till 11am, and left by 2.
Only rode a couple things, and saw the show with Bear in the Big Blue House.

Didn't research it enough. If I had I would have gone alone with my son, instead I asked her and she drank like a fish all day and night and was doing drugs I found out too.

Never again, we always stay onsite & I have a real of no Mc Donalds while down there.

[Disnamic Duo]

First year my wife and I went I planned the trip (but didn't plan very much). We stayed offiste (it wasn't bad...but onsite is much better IMO). We had NO ADR's - didn't even know you could make them. I had NO idea there were actual restaurants inside WDW. Last time I had gone I was 13. (I remembered eating CS.)
We ate 1 table service meal - Plaza Restaurant. When we asked for a table they asked if we had a reservation. I was surprised. When we said "no" they looked at us like we were from Mars. They got us in anyway (15 min wait).

THEN...I discovered Intercot. Boy, has it been different (better) since then...

[DVC2004]

Well, the first time we went as husband and wife in 2001 we were overall pretty lucky, but those were the days you didn't need ADRs for anything.

I would say we ran from morning to night and came home exhausted. Didn't take any breaks. We arrived home so tired. We also stayed only 4 days, which was not enough but we were on a tight budget then.

[Itchy]

Those are bad and did most of those, but the worse thing I did was plan and make reservations without INTERCOT and MAGICAL JOURNEYS..:bang:

What was I thinking.

Well that is fixed now..:thumbsup:

[SBETigg]

We planned pretty well, but we did make the mistake of avoiding the Counter Service restaurants for too many trips, missed out on some Disney staple treats.

[Gator]

Oh, man. If it weren't for all the stupid things I did on the first trip, I'd have never found Intercot and posted.... holy cow, I've posted how many times?

* Never made an ADR before the trip. The only ressie I made was a dinner at Crystal Palace, and I made that the morning of. Hard to believe there was a time you could do that.

* Came in June. We'll never do that again. Hot and crowded. I may face crowds again one day, but never in that heat and humidity.

* Stayed at Alligator Bayou at POR. A travel agent told us it was quiet - and with good reason. Why would anyone want to stay in an apartment complex in south Birmingham.

* Paidn full price. Never paid full price again, or at least never paid full during anything but the value season.

* Didn't take enough pictures. When we got back, I was mad that i didn't have a bunch of pictures of the attractions and icons. I've since remedied that - by a lot.

[dizneydeb22]

We did absolutely NO planning on our first trip, our Honeymoon. I realize how lucky we were! We went during Thanksgiving week and we were able to get the Cali grill on Thanksgiving and the Luau about 1 hour before show time! We only did 4 days, because we went on the Disney Cruise also.

We stayed at the Polynesian and didn't explore at all. I am thankful that we are able to go every year now and can make up for all that we missed!

[Main Street Jim]

Not my first trip, by any means, but...

Taking the family to Magic Kingdom, single-day visit, Christmas week, 1998.

I was still in the military then, and we were on "vacation" to visit my and my (ex) wife's families, who both lived about an hour or so away (from the parks). We had always taken trips up as kids, three or four times a year, but, it was one of those things where my aunt worked for a company that had bought out the park, so we had no need to really plan (late '70s - early '80s).

Anyways....on leave for the holidays, so we decided to see if the families wanted to go to Magic Kingdom during the week - not *ever* knowing what the crowds were like for the holidays. We figured, "It can't be *that* crowded, everyone's celebrating at home", and, the Christmas parade - which was still shown live from the park at the time - was three days prior to our visit.

How wrong we were....LOLOL...

Took us an hour to get from US192 to the parking lot. Ended up parking in the grass out by the WDW Speedway. Went and bought our tickets - 45 minutes in line there. Took another hour and a half just to get on the Monorail and to the front gate. By now, it was about 11am. I think we got on *maybe* about seven rides all day - and then got caught up in the night parade mess in the Hub. Keep in mind, this was all pre-FastPass.

It was *miserable*....LOL

By far, the *worst* visit I've ever had at the parks. :blush:

[Sam&Alex&Josh'sMOM]

I grew up going on visits with my parents, we always ate counter service. This was back when the ONLY resorts were Poly and Contemporary. We stayed off property a bunch of times, and then in one of the garden wings of the Contemporary a few times. I think the ONLY time we EVER ate at a restaurant was Kona. Honestly the only thing I rememer is AMAZING bread (very sweet) that they brought to the table... mind you I was in about 6th grade - 9th grade and I turn 40 this year. I NEVER knew there were resturaunts other than CS in any of the parks. Again back then there was only MK and EPCOT.

[Tink#64]

I did research & I did plan our first trip! I planned alot! We stayed on property, had a character meal, visited all the parks, I had a proposed itenerary for each day with attraction listings & a touring plan! BUT I planned a park a day! No breaks - arrive at park opening & pretty much stayed until park closing it was early May so parks weren't open late & this was before Extra Magic hours! By day 4 we hit "The Wall"! Wow, were we tired, & sad that we'd planned such a short trip! Even with all my planning, I didn't get it! The sheer size & exciting adventures & surprises at every turn! And I wasn't prepared for how much time we were going to spend waiting in the Meet & Greet lines for all those character's autograph's! WOW! One day per park now - :funny: Now we know better & we know that we like to revisit our fav's, we take breaks every day & we don't shop until after lunch when it's crowded & no point in hurrying along anymore! Now we stay as long as possible, enjoy a day off mid trip and another sleep in day to recharge, enjoy our resort pool and head to Epcot WS in the afternoon - wow I think that day is always a favorite - every trip! Just leisurely & relaxing! Nothing like that first whirlwind trip when DH & I had each had a DS's hand literally running from Adventureland to Tomorrow land to ride one more thing before the park closed - at 7 pm! I remember this so clearly! :blush:

[disneykidsince1970]

great thread!

I hae been going to Disney since its opening day - I was 10 months old. Like many of you - I couldn't begin to count the number of times. I have loved Intercot since 2003 (I think?).

So...you would think that the first time I went with my KIDS, I would be SO prepared!?!?

NOT. I remember that trip - 2009 - my daughter was turning 4 and my son was 2. I guess overload of flying, jetlag, work stress?? I don't know...but Nikki and I planned the trip that we thought the kids would like w/o thinkging about what they would need (NAPS?!) We also stayed at Ft Wilderness cabins for the first time and underestimated transport time. It was also first family-style trip for my husband and well, I forgot to plan for his needs too! (Casey's hotdog on the fly doesn't cut it!).

So... a whirlwind trip and thank goodness we took pix but what I really remember is that my overplanning mode hadn't really kicked in yet!!

[Mendelson]

Tink, we did something similar. For us it was actually a nine-day trip and each day was open to close in a park. Five at WDW, three at Universal, and one at Sea World. I look back at that and just shake my head (and am in kind of awe of my younger self as well). My poor eight-year-old daughter! We were so completely wiped out.....

Disneykid I think you have been a member since 2003....August of that year, if memory serves. :mickey: (it's beside your name in your post header)

[disneynarula]

In all honesty I love Intercot for new information. I enjoy dining reviews information about new attractions and resosrts.
I also appreciate being introduced to Magical Journeys.

Otherwise...we have always tacked our WDW trips with fun and efficency.

[EJS-Houston]

My first trip as an adult was in September '95. We stayed off-property (I'll never do that again), and ran ourselves ragged, trying to take everything in in one trip.

[Pally]

Having my husband carry a very heavy pack which contained way tooo much stuff that I thought we might need. It nearly did him in. Heat was wicked. We had left cold Spring weather and went to 90+ degrees. Lesson learned, minimalize what you need. You carry what you want. At that time our kids were 8 and 9. Went the following year and we all carried our own water bottle, snacks etc. Made for a much better and lighter trip.!:mickey:

[EeyoresBestFriend]

My 1st trip I took my 2 yr old son in 1999. My husband couldn't come with so I asked a co-worker and her middle school aged daughter. BIG mistake!!

She couldn't afford much so I never looked into staying on site, so stayed off site in a nasty hotel.

We ate Mc Donalds every meal, again she didn't have much money.

:funny: OMG, that brings back memories of our first trip to DL! Our DBIL & GF spent all their money shopping the second day, so we had cereal for breakfast every morning and hotdogs for EVERY other meal. Never again!!

Though, for first WDW trip ~ we made alot of the above mistakes and missed a TONNE of stuff, but I still loved it! I wouldn't change a thing from it as it was such an amazing first impression. :magic:

It let us know that we wanted to return to see more. . .

[WDW&MK]

It was our honeymoon. I hadn't been to WDW since I was 7 years old, so we planned nothing. Luckily, back in the day, you didn't need ADRs so we were able to eat at a few TS that we happened upon. We basically wandered around and in and out of stuff not really knowing where we were going or what we were doing. I am sure we missed a ton of stuff, but it seemed magical anyway. We were able to walk right on rides, get seated for dinner and wander into things as they were just starting. This was even in early August and the crowds didn't seem bad at all. I guess we had some pixie dust for our honeymoon :mickey:

[Sam&Alex&Josh'sMOM]

Our first trip bringing the kids my oldest wasn't 3 yet, and my middle daughter was 9 months ( My son wasnt evlen thought of)... and we had no hopper and did a park each day every day. The baby would nap, but we never really stopped for my oldest. (who didn't nap anymore, but could have used some down time!) By the last day we were rushing to get in some last minute part time before rushing back to POP to catch ME... and she turned to us and started crying and just said "I want to go home... not POP... HOME!" The poor thing was exhausted! We have since learned... that naps or no naps... down time is needed for all of them. Even if itis just sitting and coloring for a little while in the room.

[TheVBs]

Great thread!

DH and I went for the first time as a couple in 1999. We'd both been before once or twice when we were little. We did stay on property, but didn't plan anything else. Our biggest mistake was not knowing what was in the parks and what we wanted to do, so we had a lot of those stand around "What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" time waster moments.

We didn't take enough pictures. And I didn't keep a travel journal. :( There is so much that I forget if I don't keep a journal. I don't even remember all the rides we went on or what or where we ate. Also didn't stay long enough, thought the 4 or 5 days (can't remember that either! :blush:) we stayed would be enough. Did the power vacation too, always on the move, hit the exhaustion wall. Boy were we disappointed when it was time to leave. But, like others, we fell in love with it too! :mickey:

[IloveJack]

My first trip was in 1998. I wasn't necessarily in charge, as it was my parents, my brother, and me; but I was allowed to make a few decisions, since it was my graduation present. We did 4 days at Disney, 1 day at US (IoA wasn't around then), and a day at KSC, staying at CBR. The total for the trip was around $7000!!! (and we didn't fly). I didn't know how to research then, my parents assumed it'd be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and we had no clue about saving money.
Since then, I've done ALL the planning. My dad still swears it's a ridiculously priced place, but I have gotten them to return once or twice, and showed them it can cost much less.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I love this thread - it was a great idea :)

My first Disney trip was in 2004, (I got smart and joined icot before our 2005 trip) and we had no idea what we were doing.

I didn't know to make ADR's, and when I finally figured out to make one, I got into LTT, but it turns out that it was during the parade. Oh well.

We stayed off site, and only gave 2 days for Disney, so all we did was the MK. We had no idea how cool Epcot was, or how much fun DH would have at DHS.

Oh well, we've been back many times since then, and learn something every trip!

[Gator]

We stayed off site, and only gave 2 days for Disney, so all we did was the MK. We had no idea how cool Epcot was, or how much fun DH would have at DHS.



Ouch, now that's painful. I remember on our first trip, we only went to Epcot one day - which was our last day. Wish I would've gone there earlier and then returned. But I've made up for it since then :D

[Mendelson]

Methinks this would make a good podcast topic!

[kakn7294]

Our first adult trip was for our honeymoon in 1993. Our mistakes were fairly minimal and turned out well anyway. We had booked at least 6 months in advance but we were bumped from our flight home - from a nonstop to one with a connection. We didn't investigate as to why or ask our travel agent to fight it. When we arrived at the airport to head home, we discovered that there was NO connecting flight home. We had a plane to Charlotte but there was no flight from Charlotte to Pittsburgh (flight apparently was cancelled some time before - we weren't notified) and since we were on a late flight, there wouldn't be a flight available until the next day. Lucky for us, there was a nonstop flight - turns out it was our original flight - but it was fully booked, except for a 2 seats in first class which they gave us at no extra charge. We also rented a car which we left sitting in the lot most of the trip - only used for the day we went to Universal - we could have saved that expense and only rented for a single day. I also didn't take enough film (yes, I said film - no digital cameras in 1993!) and extra film in the parks was super expensive but with the car, we just stopped at KMart on our Universal day.

[Mousemates]

biggest mistake was trying to have our two year old daughter try to do the morning to late night thing...she did not enjoy it, and made sure we didn't either...lol...we learned the value of an afternoon break early in our WDW travels.

[Cinderelley]

My first visit was a "once in a lifetime" family reunion trip, so I researched more and did more planning for that trip than any other. ;) I joined Intercot a year before that trip just to learn things, and everyone was so nice, I couldn't leave. :)

[BugeyedMuggy]

Our first trip in 1995 we were on a bus to Epcot . My DH announces "there's the Wilderness Lodge" very proudly to impress as we are driving past the Dolphin Hotel. Now everytime we go past someone will point out the lodge. We also went to the Country Bear Jamboree. That was pretty dumb. Live and learn and educate others.

[Joannelet]

Our first trip in 1995 we were on a bus to Epcot . My DH announces "there's the Wilderness Lodge" very proudly to impress as we are driving past the Dolphin Hotel. Now everytime we go past someone will point out the lodge.

That is so funny! I love listening to newbies talk on the bus and hear them call everything by the wrong name. It is so amusing to me and makes for a good ride. :)

I don't know if my family ever made horrible mistakes as I have been going since 1977. We did stay off property but only The contemporary and poly were there and they were deemed expensive back then. The only restaurant I remember eating in was The Crystal Palace with birds flying around the room. Lol but I remember doing a lot. My mom always had a method in tackling Magic Kingdom. That was before all the books were written how to conquer the parks. She got us on every ride even way back then. She was a line free queen. :) i should call her pre-fast pass Mom :)

[WDWgoofy]

My first trip was relatively unplanned and I didn't know what to expect. Key mistakes

- July
- foreign tour groups
- HOT
- paid list price for hotel and park tickets

The good news was this was a one day visit to MK as part of a family vacation within a Florida business trip.

However, I vowed never again and a WDW freak was created:mickey:

[kcrc]

We didn't plan much for our 1994 honeymoon (we didn't know to!), but we seemed to do ok then.

So, we assumed the same would be true when we first took our children in 2006. Wrong! We didn't know about ADRs or all that had been added! We did have a wonderful trip, but finding Intercot and learning so much more made the second trip with the kids even better!

The other thing is that now, on ANY vacation we take, we attempt to do the same type of research we do for Disney!

[disneylovinmom]

We also knew nothing of ADR's and had a week full of fast food. The second time around we made ADR's and had some good meals. We just didn't know you needed them. I hadn't been since 1986 as a child until then and we didn't know anybody else who had been.

[mom2morgan]

1. Didn't plan enough TIME - came for 5 days. That's one for each park and one for Seaworld, right? Good thing it was a slow time of year, but we still ran around like crazy people, missed things, and were exhausted.
2. Only planned 2 table service meals. Have since learned that we really like one nearly every day.
3. Skipped things that sounded "lame" like Country Bears and Tiki Room. Now know that we have to do EVERYTHING at least once in a lifetime ;-)
4. My husband's big "oops" - took TONS of pictures and videos of the attractions...but very few that included our family members actually enjoying them! If I want photos of the inside of Splash Mountain, I can get better ones on line ;-)

It could have been worse - I did use my favourite unofficial guide book so we still accomplished most of the crucial things - but I really thought it would be our ONLY trip so I felt disappointed after.

LATER trip mistakes - just to prove it took a few tries to get it right:
1. Going back to a park to "do our favourites" on the day we are leaving. Feels rushed and stressed with one eye on the clock,and don't enjoy it much. Better to hang at the resort, or maybe just go somewhere for a character breakfast.
2. One INSANE time I got a "great deal" on a flight that required us to leave at 1:00 am. Ridiculous - and silly to pay for a room we barely slept in!

[Cinderelley]

41. Going back to a park to "do our favourites" on the day we are leaving. Feels rushed and stressed with one eye on the clock,and don't enjoy it much. Better to hang at the resort, or maybe just go somewhere for a character breakfast.


We hit MK the morning before we leave on every trip. I guess one person's hell is another person's heaven. lol

[Dsnygirl]

Hmmm... if I were to think hard enough, I'm sure the list would be crazy long, but here are a few things, and not all were on our first trip.... :blush:

* Trying to run, run, run and see everything (with a 4 & 7 yr old, and my MiL) Like so many others have said, came home needing a vacation from our vacation...

* Trying to hit too many parks in one day and losing WAY too much time in-transit...

* Planning too many ADR's, and feeling WAY over-scheduled...

* Again w/ the ADR's - planning too many across property from where we were - learned quickly that time to keep our meals close to our planned parks/activities, or vice-versa!

* Not enough downtime, whether at the pool or just sitting back and soaking in the ambience... learned this on our first "couple's trip" and never looked back!

* Missing out, at first, on all Epcot (esp the WS) has to offer... once we started really getting INTO the countries, it was a whole new world!

I could go on... but the bottom line? Everything I learned I either learned by experience or learned here... so I tell EVERYONE now to plan ahead to some degree, even if it's "scheduled" downtime. They might laugh at first, but they come back happier! :)

[A Big Kid]

Going, and thinking I'd never go again.

[azcavalier]

My Mom actually planned our first trip to bring all of her kids and grandkids, about 11 years ago. Here's our mistakes:

1. Thinking that we could do it in two days. Yikes! We spent half a day at MK, a few hours at AK, a few hours at DHS, and ate dinner both nights at Epcot.

2. NO ADRs. Period. We did manage to get into Teppan Edo the second night, which was great, but the first night all we could get was Biergarten, and we hated it. We do, however, now want to try it again. But that night, we hated it.

Honestly, that's all I remember. We did stay on site, and we actually got to do a lot, as this was before free dining, and it was in December, before Christmas. So it wasn't incredibly crowded, IIRC.

[ANG]

Not making ADRs!!!

[Quadstriker]

Not sure if it was dumb, because at the time it seemed like a good idea, but my first trip to WDW was wedding planning (wife had been there years prior), so I was making a whole list of travel times on how long it took to get from one place to another so I could give our guests (some who had never been there) an idea of how long it would take to get where they needed to be.

The next day during our planning session at Franc's, we decided on renting a motor coach for our guests making my whole list moot.

My list was filled with things like this like this (copied from my iphone):

Car boardwalk to wedding pavilion 11 min

Monorail MK gate to Grand Floridian 15 min off peak

Walk Grand Floridian to Wedding Pavilion 5 minutes

[phillydan]

Here are my painful memories:

1. Hey - look at that! There are great seats right in front of the castle for the fireworks! (saw nothing)

2. Let's pack lots of snacks so we don't have to buy lunch every day! (which lead to the Great Granola Bar Revolt on day 3).

3. A rental car really makes sense so we can get around to each park easily! (sat in the parking lot all week; forgot where it was parked!)

4. A 7:00am Chef Mickey ADR is fine - the kids will be up early anyway! (let's just say that our room was not the Happiest Place on Earth when I tried getting everyone up at 5:45am)

I am sure there are many more..these ones seem to be seared into my mind...

[tdk316]

Carried not only one, but two backpacks around for just two adults (no kids yet) with everything anyone might need for a medical emergency (we were both in mid-twenties and healthy), weather change (rain, sleet or hail? I had it covered!), you name it, we lugged it around in our packs. I took every "you might want..." list and packed it all. Ugh.

Now our packs are lighter than that first time and we have two kids' stuff in there (one is still in diapers)! When DH and I go alone into the parks we might each bring a bottle of water and that is it. We've finally figured out that Disney is more than willing to provide and quite frankly, if it means that I don't have to lug that bug bite kit around the parks I'm willing to let them!

[MrPeetrie]

Wow, I was so naive on my first trip. In 1999, my wife and I took our first trip to Walt Disney World. Here are some of our many mistakes. We:

..did absolutely no research. Why would we? We've gone to theme parks before. Why would we need to research? Big Mistake.
..stayed off property. It was part of a time-share promo. Thankfully, I paid extra and was allowed to miss the "hard-sells." Still, we lost countless minutes traveling back and forth.
..scheduled only three days to see all of Walt Disney World. We were told to skip Animal Kingdom and focus on the other parks. "You should be able to see it all."
..made NO ADRs. (Actually, we didn't know about them.) We ended up eating only counter service.
..didn't know they had a Downtown Disney.


I remember driving up World Drive, so excited like a little puppy. I followed the many cars to the sign that read Magic Kingdom. We parked and began walking. I was expecting to see the park entrance, but instead it was some kind of transportation mecca.
"Where's the Magic Kingdom?" I asked.
"You're getting close."
"Do I have to take one of these trains?"
"Or boat," she answered.
We boarded the ferry and finally Cinderella Castle came into view. I could not believe someone had designed such a spectacular way to enter a park. I knew this was a place to which we'd return often.

When my DW and I entered the Magic Kingdom, I began taking a panaramic video of Town Square. I wanted to record as much of this place so I could revisit it later. When we returned home to watch the tape, we realized I videoed my wife standing there awestruck. I was too much in a Disney stupor at the time to notice. (I wish I could show you that video. She was truly blown away.)

When Fantasy in the Sky ended and our three-day adventure was over, she cried terribly and I promised her I'd take her back. I scoured the net to learn how to better enjoy this place. I joined Disney webrings. I (thankfully) found this place.

I cannot tell you how much this place has improved our visits. I have learned so much here just reading other posts and reviewing their ideas. Moreover, it has become therapy for me when I need a Disney fix.

We leave in less than three weeks and hopefully this trip will be as "Magical" as all the rest have been. Thank you to everyone for your great insights.

[disneymom2000]

Didn't research the cost of food. We thought a counter service would be similar to the cost of a McDonald's or Jack in the Box. What an eye opener. Had no idea there were restaurants that served character meals (we just stumbled into one, one morning). Didn't look at the layout of the parks so we kept backtracking which took up a lot of time. Oh so much stuff newbies need to know.

[janebanks]

2. Let's pack lots of snacks so we don't have to buy lunch every day! (which lead to the Great Granola Bar Revolt on day 3).


That one is cracking me up!


I make the same big mistake every time I visit a Disney Park:
I "forget" how cold it might become and "forget" to pack a sweatshirt, and then, oh darn! I'm forced to buy a new one to keep from freezing to death.
I'd ask you not to tell my DH, but I've noticed him doing it, too. ;)