Noob Mistakes You Made During Your First WDW Visit

[Raineman]

Is there anything you did or didn't do during your first WDW trip that you look back on now and think "What was I doing?"
The first park I ever visited was MK, and I did not grab a park map as I went in, and, believe it or not, I could not find HM or BTMRR-attractions that, even without a map, I could have found just by walking around the entire park. I must have avoided that corner of the park entirely, but I did spend time in both Adventureland and Fantasyland. At this point, I could probably walk around MK with my eyes closed and find everything.

 

[JoMarch]

As a kid, I went with the flow. As an adult, on my very first trip, I wish I knew all the restaurant opportunities - as I stuck more "themed" and basic.

 

[European1992]

Is there anything you did or didn't do during your first WDW trip that you look back on now and think "What was I doing?"
The first park I ever visited was MK, and I did not grab a park map as I went in, and, believe it or not, I could not find HM or BTMRR-attractions that, even without a map, I could have found just by walking around the entire park. I must have avoided that corner of the park entirely, but I did spend time in both Adventureland and Fantasyland. At this point, I could probably walk around MK with my eyes closed and find everything.

This is what nightmares are made of.

The first mistake I made was going with my parents. I was not even 5 so I guess I was not able to choose.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Waiting in lines.

 

[ppet]

trying to do everything in 3 and a half days. We came really close, but i was worn out for a couple of weeks afterwards.

 

[Heppenheimer]

I was a kid with no control over the itinerary the first couple of times I visited, so I can't claim that any of these are my mistakes.

But for some reason, my family always went straight to Country Bear Jamboree when the park opened. I still love this attraction, but I admit, it's not the best use of your time to head here first thing.

We then compounded that error by booking the earliest showing for the Diamond Horseshoe Review (a favorite of my parents that us kids barely tolerated). For some reason, my parents were afraid that we would get stuck on another attraction and miss our reservation, so between the Country Bear Jamboree, waiting for the Diamond Horseshoe and actually watching it, most of the morning was already gone. And for some other reason, my parents decided that the food at the Diamond Horseshoe was too expensive (it probably was, but likely no more than anything else at the park at the time), so we chewed up even more valuable park time by having to lunch somewhere else.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Not so much a mistake, but rather naive in not knowing all that was there. We didnt realize how vast the property was and all that was available to do and was confused on how the transportation worked. We didnt have the computer sites back then to get detailed info or tips. I believe we had a Birnbaum guide book but I dont remember getting enough out of it. And I didnt bring enough money to buy all the souvenirs I would have wanted to bring back with me.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

My first visit was before I can even remember.
As a kid my parents always got a late start and we never seemed to arrive until like 10:30am so as an adult when I started going with my sister we always hit RD and I have even gotten my parents to realize how great it is to get there early.

 

[AndyS2992]

Hmm.. can’t really think of any. My first trip in 2008 went perfectly. The only thing that does come to mind was on our first night at Magic Kingdom we got to Main Street as Spectromagic was scheduled to start and of course all the spaces were gone so we had stand behind the crowd and my mother was getting annoyed as we couldn’t see anything. Though we stay for two weeks so on our next Magic Kingdom day for a few days later we were much better prepared. But that’s about it really.

 

[Fox&Hound]

I was a kid with no control over the itinerary the first couple of times I visited, so I can't claim that any of these are my mistakes.

But for some reason, my family always went straight to Country Bear Jamboree when the park opened. I still love this attraction, but I admit, it's not the best use of your time to head here first thing.

We then compounded that error by booking the earliest showing for the Diamond Horseshoe Review (a favorite of my parents that us kids barely tolerated). For some reason, my parents were afraid that we would get stuck on another attraction and miss our reservation, so between the Country Bear Jamboree, waiting for the Diamond Horseshoe and actually watching it, most of the morning was already gone. And for some other reason, my parents decided that the food at the Diamond Horseshoe was too expensive (it probably was, but likely no more than anything else at the park at the time), so we chewed up even more valuable park time by having to lunch somewhere else.

I love this story. It strikes me as a cool chapter of a book. Thanks for sharing =)

 

[Phonedave]

First time as an adult I left all my credit cards home. family of 3 at the time, and staying for a week. Had about $200 cash on me. Even back then around 2000 or so, it was not going to work. I was able to call home, have somebody fax a copy of my credit card to the front desk, and they added it and I was able to charge things to the room

 

[crazgurl]

First trip as an adult (so I was in control of my planning).... we had breakfast reservations at MK, had plenty of time to get there from All Star hotel.... the line for the bus was INSANE. We could have waited in it and still been on time, we were very early, but decided to run to epcot and monorail it because it would be more fun... naturally, the monorail died as we got there

 

[KG_WDW]

As a kid in 2007, forgetting to use Fastpass and waiting 2 hours for Kilimanjaro Safaris.

 

[graphite1326]

Me thinking the parks were close together.

 

[Graham9]

We had absolutely no idea where anything was, where to do, what to see. We just blundered around completely overwhelmed and totally confused. We never really had any specific plans or schedules. What we did do is make a note of everything we did and were more than prepared next time.

 

[zurgandfriend]

Our Disney moon a long time ago my DW would not wear a hat and did not like the taste of the water resulting in her passing out. After the first day she did hydrate and wore a hat.

I don't know if it was a mistake but we also managed to produce a little souvenir we named Jake.

 

[mgf]

Waiting so long to realize the fun of a resorts and restaurants only trip. There is a lot of fun to be had outside the parks -- especially if you still have that ticket money in your pocket.

(Edit to acknowledge that this was not a first trip error.)

 

[mgf]

My first time driving as an adult, I realized I had no idea what any of the roads were on property. I was used to being driven (either parents or bus). I knew landmarks and general areas, but definitely wasted time driving around lost on our honeymoon.

 

[thomas998]

My first time driving as an adult, I realized I had no idea what any of the roads were on property. I was used to being driven (either parents or bus). I knew landmarks and general areas, but definitely wasted time driving around lost on our honeymoon.

This... we arrived at night and came from a state where road were very much like the ones in New York City where all the blocks are square and numbered in order or given alphabetical names depending on whether they are north/south or east/west... yet these road at night appear designed to confuse anyone not having GPS and my first trip as an adult driving there GPS wasn't something you found in cars or on phones. I think we drove around for more than an hour trying to figure out the confusing roads on property that often aren't marked with names or where exit signing saying exit next right actually mean the second right and other odd quirks.

 

[Slikke]

My first visit to EPCOT was when I was 9 or 10 I think around 1983.. EPCOT had just opened a year or two earlier and we split the park into 2 days. One day for Future World, One day for World Showcase..

As an uninterested-in-history-or-culture kid, that World Showcase Day was the worst.. This was long before Frozen and even before Norway was built.

Thankfully our next trip was when I was 15 and my parents were nice enough to let me go nuts with my World Hopper ticket (I think that's what they were called?) and I only had to "check in" for dinner at a pre-determined location..