A Walt Disney World vacation isn’t cheap. You save for years, and once you can visit, you don’t want to make any mistakes. To help with your planning, we have a few major mistakes that you won’t want to make when planning your Walt Disney World trip.
By sharing these significant mistakes that we have seen other Guests make or made ourselves, we hope that you will avoid them during your trip.
Choosing the Wrong Walt Disney World Resort
The first significant decision most of us have to make once we decide we are going to Walt Disney World is where we want to stay. It is excellent that Walt Disney World offers so many different Resorts to choose from; however, this can also make it difficult.
Walt Disney World has three main categories when it comes to Resorts. A major mistake that Guests make is picking the wrong Resort. They might choose a Resort that someone has told them about or one they read was wonderful but isn’t what their family needs.
Don’t make this mistake. Take time to research and look at the different Disney Resorts. Start by digging into the three categories (value, moderate, deluxe), what they offer, and the price point of staying there. Knowing this information can help you determine which category might work best for your family.
Think about what your needs are when it comes to your Walt Disney World Resort. Are you planning a few Resort days where the pool and dining will be important? Then it would help if you considered staying at a deluxe or moderate Resort that would provide you with more of these accommodations.
Will you spend most days at the Parks only heading back to sleep? If that is the case, spending extra money on a deluxe Resort might not be necessary for your family.
Can your family survive in one Resort room the whole vacation, or would having more room be necessary for everyone to survive?
Think through these options before booking your Disney Resort.
Forgetting Your Park Pass Reservations
After you have booked your Walt Disney World vacation, don’t forget to make your Park Pass Reservations. Guests need to not only have a valid Theme Park ticket to enter one of the main Disney Parks, but they also need to have a Park Pass Reservation.
Guests can do this by logging into their My Disney Experience account on a computer. From there, they can select specific Parks they will visit each day. This is important to do as soon as you have your trip booked. Park days book up, and you don’t want to be blocked out of your Park of choice.
You won’t be able to enter the Park without these, so don’t put it off. Get these made quickly, so you no longer have to worry about it. Typically, you can adjust or modify if needed, but don’t wait until the last minute, hoping Parks will still be available.
Booking Too Many Dining Reservations
There are a lot of fantastic table service restaurants throughout the Walt Disney World Resort Property. Guests make a major mistake when preparing for their vacation: they book too many of these reservations trying to fit them all in.
Although we love these restaurants, they take up a lot of time, and it is a lot of food. If you are focusing on rides, having a lot of reservations can limit your time in the Parks. These meals can last an hour to two hours, depending on the restaurant. With limited time in the Parks, you might want to spend only one meal throughout the day at a sit-down experience.
These meals are also a lot of food. Even though you can share and limit what you order, it is typically more than what we are used to. Having multiple heavy meals can make traveling around the Parks miserable, especially during summer.
Disney offers fantastic quick-service meals that don’t take as much time and are great for smaller meals. Consider mixing those into your dining plans.
Buy Genie+ Everyday
While we do think that Genie+ is a great investment at Walt Disney World on some days, this doesn’t mean it is needed every day or at every Disney Park. Take time before you purchase Genie+ to dive into what it is and how you can use it. Think about this information before you decide if you need it for your trip.
When looking at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, there are currently a limited amount of rides available. Because of this, you might not need to purchase Genie+ if you plan to rope drop or aren’t thrill seekers.
Don’t assume you will need it each day of your trip. Think about how you will tour the Parks and whether Genie+ would be helpful or not. In EPCOT, if your goal is to enjoy the festival or the countries, you might not want to purchase Genie+ that day.
On the other hand, having Genie+ for your Magic Kingdom day might make a lot of sense. Because of all the rides available with Genie+, you might find it a better investment at this Park.
Purchasing Genie+ for every day of your trip might be optional. Think about what your goals are in the Parks and go from there.
Those are the four most significant mistakes you don’t want to make when planning your Disney vacation. We hope that sharing them with you will help you as you plan a magical vacation. For more tips and tricks, head to How to Disney.
