There’s more than one way to goof up a good vacation…
To Disneyphiles around the world, Walt Disney World is the Most Magical Place on Earth. However, many visitors don’t remember their visits with quite so much affection. While things can certainly go wrong on any vacation, Disney fans might find themselves quickly losing patience when they hear the familiar complaints of coworkers, family, and frenemies who ruined their own Disney vacations.
Yup. We’re going there again.
“Disney World is so lame. I waited four hours just to ride a fiberglass elephant!”
“Why would anyone over the age of 10 ever want to visit that place?”
“Disneybounders confused my kid and ruined my life! And the fireworks were too loud! And I had to pay actual money to eat at the restaurants! UGGGGHH!”
Buckle your seatbelts and hop onto the controversy train. Earlier this year, we explored ten ways that guests can inadvertently ruin their own Walt Disney World vacation and how to avoid those missteps. Entries included assuming Magic Kingdom is the only park, visiting during peak season, and even just having a lousy attitude. We’re back with six more ways even well-intentioned guests can ruin a Walt Disney World vacation.
And don’t worry, faithful Theme Park Tourist reader. This article definitely isn’t about you. That one guy you know, however…
1. You followed the crowds
Image: Disney
One of the biggest factors that makes the difference between a great and frustrating Walt Disney World vacation is timing when you visit. We mentioned this in part one of this series, focusing on making an effort not to plan Disney vacations during peak season. However, even if you visit during one of Disney’s ever-more-rare off-seasons, crowds can still put a wrench in your plans if you inadvertently follow their trends and spend your whole trip trapped in a sea of humanity.
Most days of the year (with the exception of Super Bowl Sunday or the day before an apocalypse-level hurricane), guests flood to Walt Disney World’s busiest attractions in a predictable pattern. Magic Kingdom generally attracts the most guests followed by Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Waking an entire family up in time for opening gate at 9am is hard enough—let alone for Extra Magic Hours. Most families seem to arrive at the parks between 10:30 and 11:30. By lunch time, attendance at Disney’s busiest parks swells to shoulder-bumping levels. Lines fill up and stay that way until later in the evening. Weirdly enough, all those people who didn’t make it to Extra Magic Hours still decide to visit that same park.
Image: Disney
Parades are crowd magnets, particularly in Magic Kingdom. Any time a parade is coming, you can expect to find hordes of people waiting and Disney cast members hard at work detouring pedestrians. In Magic Kingdom, parades can actually cut off access to certain parts of the park, so if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, good luck.
Crowds become particularly scary the hour before the first run of Magic Kingdom’s evening fireworks. Guests fill Main Street and the plaza in front of Cinderella Castle, all trying to stake out a good spot. After the fireworks, most of these families shuffle out, blinking blearily and wondering where the day went.
Following traditional crowd trends can definitely mess up a good Disney trip, particularly if you are introverted or just don’t like crowds. Instead of following the traditional pattern, shake things up. If possible, arrive at or before opening gate. Hit as many rides as you can first thing in the morning then leave the park to take an afternoon break when lunchtime crowds arrive. If you aren’t particularly attached to parades or fireworks, skip them and take advantage of shorter ride queues. If you do want to catch the fireworks, watch the latest show. Many families with small children will have left the parks before then.
2. You weren’t prepared for the walking
Image: Disney
Walt Disney World can be one exhausting place. The average guest walks a whopping ten miles a day! For the unprepared, this endless exertion can easily ruin a Walt Disney World vacation with blistering feet, cranky family members, and brutal shin splints.
Fortune favors the prepared, and that is definitely the case for minimizing walking pains at Walt Disney World. We found all sorts of hacks you can use to treat your aching feet. For one thing, wear comfortable tennis shoes instead of anything dressier. As much as I love my Ecco walking sandals, they left my feet battered and blistered every trip. Things went much better for our family when we all switched to comfy tennis shoes and socks. Plan regular breaks throughout the day, and it certainly can’t hurt to do some walking and light exercise before your trip. You can also pamper your feet with moleskin patches, foot lubricant, and even something as simple as changing your socks midday.
If the blister blues still strike during your vacation, don’t feel like you have to power through it. Stop by Walt Disney World First Aid. They have a great treatment for blisters ready to go for any guests who need it!
3. You didn’t give yourself any margin of error
Image: Disney
In part one, we mentioned that lack of planning can ruin a good Disney vacation. Even if you’re the spontaneous sort, Fastpasses and dining reservations can evade guests who fail to plan. However, there is another side to this coin.
Overly strict planning can prove just as stressful as no planning at all.
In a place as busy as Walt Disney World, you are going to run into some snags. The kids might have to use the restroom. Dad’s legs might cramp up. Maybe your route to a Fastpass attraction gets blocked by a parade route or the raising of the bridge in World Showcase. If you left no margin for error, the whole family is suddenly angry and stressed out over potentially missing a reservation—or five or six, depending on how many activities you packed into the itinerary.
Wise planning is good, but an overly strict trip plan can exert unnecessary stress on your vacation. You might be a rock star trip planner, but if other members of your party aren’t always good at keeping to that schedule, don’t try to fight it. Instead, plan margins for error and space for spontaneity into your vacation. This can prove especially helpful for large parties with family members who dramatically disagree on how to plan a Disney vacation.
4. You fell into the Magic Kingdom parking trap
You wouldn’t think something as mundane as parking should be able to ruin a Walt Disney World vacation. Angry Redditors would disagree, however.
Before I lived in Florida, I had been warned about never trying to park a vehicle at a Walt Disney World park. I heard story after story from flustered friends and family who swore either never to visit again or at least never to bring a car. When we moved to the Sunshine State, I expected the worst when we finally brought our vehicle to Epcot.
I was shocked how simple and convenient the parking actually was. What was the big deal? Why do so many people hate parking at Walt Disney World so much?
The answer lies very specifically in the Magic Kingdom—well, not so much in Magic Kingdom as outside of it.
The Transportation and Ticket Center is a vortex of frustration where hope is often abandoned and the thin threads of the human psyche are tested to breaking. It is, quite possibly, the unhappiest place in the Happiest Place on Earth. If Disney made a theme park attraction monumentalizing tedium and torpidity, it would be The Transportation and Ticket Center.
Why is the TTC such a banal place? On light days, it isn’t terrible, but on any modestly busy day, guests who get sucked into this unavoidable time sink are likely to lose 20-40 minutes just parking your car, passing through security, and waiting to board either the monorail or ferry to Magic Kingdom proper. It is not an easy place to get through and failing to take into account the extra time needed to pass through it can lead to some very grumpy families. Oh, and if you failed to note where your car was parked, you can expect to spend a long, long time searching through the lot hoping to find your lost vehicle when you leave the parks.
While the TTC definitely sucks, it doesn’t have to ruin your vacation. If you are staying on property, resort busses take guests straight to the front of Magic Kingdom. If you must park at Magic Kingdom, try to arrive early and make sure your family is prepared for the wait. Take a picture of your car and the nearest parking sign so you can find your way back later. Bring activities for the kids to do in line or an audiobook to pass the time waiting for the monorail or ferry.
5. You trusted Florida’s weather
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega (@mykingdomforamouse Instagram)
It’s easy to assume a place called “The Sunshine State” would have lovely weather. After all, who wouldn’t be stoked to jet down to beautiful Florida while other states are covered in snow or being drenched by grey rain? A Walt Disney World vacation should be an excuse to grab your sundress and Bermuda shorts and cut loose!
Unfortunately, Florida can be one temperamental lady when it comes to her weather patterns.
Weather at Walt Disney World is unpredictable at best. Sure, it’s easy to guess that summers in Florida are likely to be hot and sopping humid, but the rest of the year isn’t so simple. Rain is a regular part of the Floridian experience, so it’s always wise to bring a cheap poncho (buy before your trip to save some money) or a windbreaker. The Sunshine State can also prove surprisingly cold during the winter months, especially around Disney’s many waterways. Florida thunderstorms can prove downright terrifying to even the most stalwart adults, and Hurricane Irma demonstrated that even Walt Disney World isn’t completely immune to Florida’s most violent storms.
The best thing you can do to ensure Florida’s wacky weather doesn’t ruin your vacation is come prepared. Bring a versatile wardrobe of comfortable layers that can adapt to a range of weather patterns. Don’t stress about hurricanes (they really are rare in the Orlando area), but do keep an eye on weather reports before your trip to make sure nothing unusual is brewing in the Gulf or Atlantic. Florida’s weather might be weird, but it doesn’t have to wreck your vacation. Some attractions even have shorter queues if you embrace the rain!
6. You didn’t research
Image: Disney
Now, let’s clarify that this one is somewhat ridiculous for you, dear reader. After all, you’re here at Theme Park Tourist! You know your stuff. Like the other items mentioned, this isn’t for you. This is for all your friends who can’t stop going on about how they hate Walt Disney World without having a feather of a clue what they’re talking about.
“I had to wait three hours just for my kid to projectile vomit on the tea cups!”
“There’s no roller coasters with straps for newborns!”
“Disney World is FAKE. It’s a conspiracy to lure people to Walt Disney’s swamp castle. Disneyland is SO MUCH BETTER! #notmypark”.
If you want to fly completely blind on your visit to Walt Disney World, that is your prerogative, and you certainly can still have a fabulous trip doing things off the cuff. However, some modest research can really help take most Disney trips to the next level and help your family avoid pitfalls that can unnecessarily put a damper on your vacation.
Winging it doesn’t always work for Walt Disney World vacations. It’s an expensive place, and you want to get the most out of your time and money. At a minimum, do some basic research to determine which parks you want to visit, some basic tips on how to use Fastpass+, dining reservations, and My Disney Experience to your advantage, and choose what attractions you plan to visit wisely. Most of the items we mentioned in this article and part one can all be avoided with some research. Here at Theme Park Tourist, we have tons of content to get you ready for your next vacation, from trip hacks to up-to-date park news. Take your trip to the next level!
What are some other ways you’ve seen people ruin their own Walt Disney World vacations?
