Top 5 Mistakes I Made on my First Trip to WDW

We all make mistakes.

When we traveled to WDW back in 2017 it was the first time I had been there as an adult as well as Rob and Sofia's very first trip! I wanted everything to be PERFECT. Of course we hit a few snags along the way. But mistakes make really good learning opportunities. So I'm going to list the top 5 biggest mistakes we made on our trip so that you can learn from me and avoid running into the same problems we did!

5. Not Bringing a Stroller

So much happier in the stroller!

For our trip in 2017 we had a 4 year old. We had no idea how little she would actually want to walk. But she was MISERABLE pretty darn fast the first day. Since we hadn't packed or rented a stroller from a third party site like this one we had to rent a stroller each day in the park. The price tag on that added up FAST and there went a good chunk of our spending money! 

My advice here would be to either bring a stroller with you or to have a rental lined up with a company like Kingdom Strollers. If you're flying, packing one may not be the most convenient thing so that's why I'd suggest a third party rental. Just keep in mind that there are new rules for strollers at Disney so make sure you double check that before you bring your own stroller or rent one. If you don't want to do either of those options and you don't mind paying park prices, Disney does offer multi-day rental prices that are slightly discounted from single day rates. 

4. Bringing Too Much in my Park Bag

Before our trip I had read SO many different tips blogs that gave lists of what to pack in your park bag. Going off those lists I compiled my own list and meticulously packed parks bags for Rob, Sofia and myself. Yep! You read that right! My 4 year old had her very own little backpack. BIG mistake!!! By the end of the day every day her bag was stuffed in either Rob's or mine which totally defeated the purpose of even having those bags because you couldn't get anything out without removing a ton of stuff and both adults had aching backs in addition to the sore legs and feet from all the walking. It was miserable!

Totally Cute but Totally Unnecessary Backpack

Going forward we will only have 1 bag for all 3 of us. You really don't need a lot in the parks. Obviously if you plan to bring food or snacks in with you, you'll need to make room for that. But the bare necessities would be a water bottle ( a small one for everyone if you don't like to share), ponchos that roll up small when not in use, money if you're not using your magic bands to pay, and an external charger for your phone. If you're going at a time of year when it's a little cooler in the morning and evening you may also want to bring a light sweatshirt. For my upcoming trip where I'll be by myself I plan to only carry a small cross body purse.

My advice would be to make a short list of your absolute necessities. And I mean give it a really long hard look and make sure that everything on that list is something you know you will for sure need that day. Then put it all in a bag and imagine carrying it around with you for 8 hours. You'll be doing a ton of walking and standing around so just keep that in mind.

3. Not Preparing for Illness at WDW

Being sick at the happiest place on Earth is NO FUN! Trust me! We lived that reality for half of our week long trip. We traveled in the Spring after a particularly nasty cold and flu season up here in North Dakota. I should have known that those germs were still floating around but I guess I wanted to hope for the best. Call it stupidity or naivety but either way it almost completely ruined our trip. 

The Sunday before we left we sat next to a visitor to our congregation and her daughter. The little girl was clearly REALLY sick and probably should have stayed home. We're talking runny nose, coughing, sneezing...the works! I remember jokingly saying "watch us get sick now". It wasn't so funny on our third day at Disney when Sofia started to get sick. She was absolutely miserable for the next few days and Rob and I soon followed. But when you spend thousands of dollars on a trip you've been planning for 2 years, there's no taking a sick day. We powered through but it wasn't the fun trip we'd been envisioning.

Since I had not planned for getting sick on our trip we had no supplies. Usually I rely heavily on my essential oils diffuser, Vick's Vapo Rub, and cold medicine when we get hit with a bug but we didn't have ANY of that with us. So we were forced to go to the gift shop at our resort....and pay gift shop prices. $$$ Thankfully they do have some over the counter medicines and travel packs of tissues.  Once again, there went a BIG chunk of our spending money.

Here's my advice. If you know you've been exposed to something before you travel, make sure you bring a few supplies with you. You may not even need it but if you do, it will save you a few dollars for sure! Keep in mind, if you're traveling by airplane, you're in a metal tube with hundreds of people all breathing the same air. If there are airborne viruses you'll definitely be breathing it in. You're also going to be in a theme park with thousands of people and touching LOTS of surfaces other people have touched. So wash your hands often and well!

2. Not Purchasing Memory Maker BEFORE Our Trip

Photo Taken by a PhotoPass Photographer

Memory maker is where you're able to purchase all of the photos taken in the parks by PhotoPass Photographers and on rides. Here's what it includes:

• Unlimited digital downloads of all your Disney PhotoPass photos and videos

• Select Attraction photos and videos

• Select Character dining photos

• Discounts on prints of your photos

• Magic Shots – featuring Disney Characters and more, added to your photos

The price tag is a little large so we opted to skip it on our trip back in 2017. I figured with all the cameras we had between Rob and I, my parents and my grandparents we would have the picture department covered. What I didn't realize was how amazing those PhotoPass pictures would look! The quality is so much better than my camera and the photographers are able to get better angles and some great candid shots. They even took candid shots of Rob and I while we watched Sofia meet her favorite characters. After seeing the great shots they took I knew we needed them!

Luckily you can access your photos even without purchasing them using the My Disney Experience App. But the photos are watermarked so they won't do you much good without purchasing Memory Maker. For me, this is now a MUST HAVE for future family trips!

I really recommend purchasing BEFORE your trip because the price is slightly discounted. The price goes up once you arrive at the parks. Memory Maker purchased 3 or more days in advance is $169. You are able to purchase Memory Maker the day of your arrival and within 45 days of the date the photos were taken at a price of $199. So purchasing in advance will save you $30!

1. Over-Planning

I know. I know. You're probably thinking "well wait! I thought this was a travel PLANNING blog?" But hear me out! I'm definitely not saying you should just show up to the parks and wing it. Unless you are able to go often that is. If you're like us and only able to go once or once every so often, you should definitely have some sort of game plan. Make your advanced dining reservations and fast pass reservations for the busy rides! Definitely do those things! But be flexible and willing to change some things around. 

I spent 2 years planning our trip. So I had every day completely mapped out and had it in my head that we would be able to stick to that plan and everything would be great. Wrong! Unexpected things are bound to happen. For example, our very first day we had dinner reservations at Via Napoli in Epcot. I had allotted an hour for dinner because it's a table service restaurant. It took much much longer which messed up the rest of our timeline and we ended up speeding through and missing several parts of the World Showcase. Another example was our first day in the Magic Kingdom. We had breakfast reservations at Crystal Palace. But the bus ride to the park took so much longer than expected and we ended up missing breakfast completely. 

Looking back, I realize that we needed to be much more flexible. Being so rigid and having every hour of every day planned out caused us unnecessary stress and sucked some of the fun out of the trip. In the future, I'll still have a general idea of what our day will look like. I'll book my dining reservations and fast passes. I'll have a bucket list of things we want to do. But we'll be more willing to change things if needed and take more time to rest and enjoy the experience of being in the happiest place on Earth.

So there you have it!

My top 5 biggest mistakes from our last Walt Disney World vacation. I'd love to hear from you! What mistakes have you made on past vacations? What things would you want to do-over?