I’ve tried just about everything at Disney World, and not everything is worth spending your time or money on. Now, I refuse to do the following things as I plan my future trips.
If you’re planning your family’s Disney World vacation, you need to know that it’s impossible to do everything. Your Disney-loving friends, including the team here at Dad’s Guide to WDW, may seem excited about absolutely everything, but the reality is that we’re just super excited for you, planning the best trip ever. We want you to see and do and try everything we’ve ever done, and we want you to love it as much as we did.
The reality is that as your family grows, there are things that you have to let go, at least partly in the interests of trying the things you didn’t get to last time (or the time before that, or even the time before that). If you’ve already visited once or twice, you know that there’s only so much magic you can squeeze into a Disney World trip. I’m not here to talk you out of anything, but I am sharing my list of things that made my “must-do” list once upon a time, but won’t again.
Letting Tradition Dictate My Day
Photo by Laurie Sapp
A Disney World trip is like getting an extra Christmas, no matter the time of year you go. And just like that Most Wonderful Time of the Year, it’s easy to let a mountain of memories take hold of you…and make your next adventure a little hidebound as you try to recreate previous visits.
For example, on my family’s first-ever morning at Magic Kingdom, because we didn’t really know what we were doing, the first attraction we rode was Magic Carpets of Aladdin, while waiting for our Jungle Cruise Fast Pass (oh, Fast Pass, how I miss you!). On our second trip, my kids insisted on repeating this rookie mistake, doing things in the same order as we had the first time, in spite of the fact that, at a low-occupancy, rope-drop time of day, there are better targets on which to unleash your efficiency (like all of Fantasyland!).
Nostalgia may keep us coming back to Disney World, in part, but if you’re trying to experience as much as possible, a little strategy goes a long way over simply repeating your old patterns.
Buying the Disney Dining Plan
Unpopular opinion time! I know many Disney friends who swear by the Disney Dining Plan, and I’m not suggesting that they are wrong in any way. In fact, my family used the dining plan during previous trips. However, now that everybody is older, I’m much more content to not be managing every crumb my kids put into their faces every minute of every day.
The Disney Dining Plan often seems like a smart investment, but it requires a lot of planning and research into where and how you can use your credits… and how they add up or even potentially go to waste during your visit. As a result, it isn’t always the best investment, particularly for kids who are in that “in between” phase of being too old for a kids’ dining plan yet young enough to want to dine off the kids’ menu.
Your mileage may differ, but I have calculated my last Snack Credit. (Caveat: If Disney World offers the Disney Dining Plan as a free add-on, I reserve the right to return to the dining plan fold, like an overfed swallow returning to Capistrano.)
Riding Mission: Space
You know how I said I wasn’t here to talk you out of anything? I lied. I am here to talk you out of the starflight simulator and electronic barf machine that is Mission Space.
Perhaps you really do have the iron constitution necessary to avoid motion sickness and emerge from your Mars mission heroically unscathed. Or perhaps you will ruin a perfectly good day at EPCOT finding out. Would it help you decide if I mentioned that the ride comes with an actual barf bag? It’s just not worth it.
Taking a “No-Park Day” (or Resort Day)
Photo by CJ Ayd
I’ve always been envious of anyone who lives less than a day’s drive to Disney World, who can eat the elephant that is the perfect Disney trip one bite at a time. For my family, who often journeys across the continent like some kind of “Oregon Trail” L.A.R.P., the length of the voyage tends to provoke an extended stay, which has, in the past, provoked us to try one or more “No Park Days” (or resort days, as some call them) to mitigate the fun-related exhaustion that sets in after awhile.
As time goes on, however, I love these “break” days less and less. (Caveat: It isn’t a “No-Park” day if you’re going to a water park. See how the word “park” is right in there?). It isn’t a bad idea to rest up, and you might give it a try, but I can only enjoy so many hours bumming around the world’s classiest outdoor mall that is Disney Springs. Plus, it’s cruel to bring me within sight of the Magic Kingdom and not take me to the Haunted Mansion at least once a day.
Trying to Outsmart the Crowds
When my kids were little, we homeschooled, and that opened up a lot of low-occupancy vacation possibilities for us. As a result, we got a little spoiled. We could pretty much always visit and avoid crowds.
When that all changed, and we needed to go to Disney World when pretty much everybody else does, we got into a little bit of trouble confusing what the crowd calendars said with what we wished they said. If there is any intersection between when the parks are likely to be less busy and when you can plan your next adventure, that’s where you’ll find out!
Luckily, we’ve put together simple, straightforward crowd calendars right here that will help you map out your plans…and hopefully avoid as many crowds as you can.
