The average first-timer's research for a visit?

[DoleWhipDrea]

I was recently riding the Monorail when the family sharing the cabin with us struck up a conversation. They were visiting for the very first time and were asking us things. It was their last day at WDW, and it was clear by those questions that even after spending several days there, they had missed a lot - so much so that they didn't know what attractions to visit at the Magic Kingdom. While walking around the park later, I also overheard comments from various guests indicating a similar lack of basic knowledge about the park they were visiting.

I don't expect most visitors to know as much as I do about these parks, as just being a poster on this forum indicates my level of fandom being more unique, but the lack of general knowledge/understanding was really surprising to me. When I go on vacation I try to at least learn of some most-dos...if I'm going to spend a lot of money visiting a place I haven't visited before (and who knows if I'll be able to visit again,) I want to know what I'm spending my money on!

Is that unusual for a first-time guest? What was your personal knowledge about the parks when you went for your first visit? Does anyone have any sort of knowledge about statistics for this sort of thing? I'm really curious!

 

[ppete1975]

You should be able to go a theme park without doing weeks/months of research. In fact im sure thats what walt meant for the parks. Sadly you have to research, plan 6 months ahead and stay up to date or youll be lost. I think this message board and amazing contributors does an amazing job to keep us all up to date.

 

[arich35]

We planned our first trip for Dec 2019 I think about 11 months in advance but I was doing research before even booking to get an idea of what we wanted to do and where to stay. I am glad I did because I truly didn't realize how big Disney World was and wasn't prepared for the amount of research and planning there would be. We also went with a travel agent who really helped us plan, now I feel like comfortable I can do it myself.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I think many first timers go in unprepared for what Disney has and what is necessary to prepare for. Sure if you’re going to just any local amusement park you could go without much planning but Disney is vastly unique and so extensive that planning is necessary if you really want to do most of the attractions and shows. A good TA should advise a client properly and help them along. A newbie who goes in clueless and unprepared will definitely miss most of what’s there and waste their money.
Our first trip was not as planned out as much as it should have been but we still did our research and knew the basics. Our next trip was even more planned and we prepared better. Each successive trip has been better because we’ve gone in wiser.
With all that’s available online now and all the guidebooks to help set up a trip it amazes me that still many go and get disappointed because they aren’t knowledgeable about even the very minor things. I don’t know where the stats might be but I’m sure they would amaze you with the numbers of ill prepared travelers.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I think a decent amount of newbies show up without doing much research and think it may be like showing up at a regional theme park, or think they will wing it and learn what they need from their park maps. People have this philosophy for many locations not just Disney parks

Personally I can't get around planning any trip anywhere without doing some research. I'm not the type of person who will just show up for vacation. I like to have a basic plan whether it is Paris, a National Park, Disney, or a weekend away I want to know something about where I'm going and what I will be doing. Sometimes I wish I was more of a spontaneous person but I'm not.

 

[ppete1975]

this brings up a question, for the older timers when disney world was new.. how much planning did you have to do? I know it was just MK at that point but where did the swap happen, to me it might have been fast pass, or dining reservations? Park reservations sure arent helping or the current park hopper.

i remember when we went in 83 my parents didnt even know what epcot was. We just went with the flow, and its one of my 3 fav trips ive ever taken there.

 

[dmw]

My theory is that some guests just don't understand the size of WDW, the fact that there are four theme parks, two water parks and the shopping/eating area (Disney Springs). We took our new son-in-law with the family on his first visit a few years ago and he could not believe the size of the entire WDW area (he had previously only been to Hershey Park). At first he did not like that I had planned out the visit in advance, but later appreciated the fact that I knew how to use the rider swap with our new grandson, and had FastPasses booked for our first three rides and knew how to use them for other rides after that. And that we had a choice for eating - not just burgers and chicken fingers.

For the first trip I planned for our young children and my parents in the late 90s I knew a bit about WDW and that there was a LOT to do, many places to stay, etc. I bought two guide books, one of which was the Unofficial Guide. It was that book that opened my eyes to the planning that was needed to get the most out of our visit. The internet was just growing at that time and I quickly learned about the rec.arts.disney.parks newsgroup which prior to this fan site was the most useful source of information outside of books. And, I learned a lot about the on-site hotels from the TA I used for that trip.

Should a vacation to WDW require so much advance planning? I think Yes. Consider that WDW is almost the size of San Francisco. Would you visit SF without some research and planning?

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Unfortunately, many “newbies” think WDW is like any regional Six Flags park. Our first time there was on our “Disneymoon” in ‘93…other than using a travel agent, we flew by the seat of our pants…back then, you were able to do that even with 3 parks…now, unless you do your homework, you’ll miss A LOT…for the amount of $$$$ you spend, you need to do the same (if not more) amount of research as you would buying a car or other large purchase.

 

[ppet]

The turning point was this screwy thing called the internet. Prior to that research for this or most trips at least for me was to get the AAA guidebooks and look thru them. My first trip to Disney in the late 90's was AAA and Birnbaughs book. (Not sure of the spelling). Today's resources just make it so easy to plan.

 

[Jon81uk]

Without FP+ it should be possible to "plan" everything just using the park map but Magic Kingdom is such a large park its hard to see everything in one day.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Part and parcel of my everyday job is performing exhaustive research into things, so I'm probably not a good example of the "average" Disney visitor.

I had a decent background knowledge of WDW from some childhood visits and one adult visit in 2005, but when DH and I decided to plan our first-ever trip with our children in 2012, I did the whole 9 yards. We booked a year ahead, checked out our local library's copy of Frommer's, ordered the Unofficial Guide and subscribed to touringplans.com, started reading forums like this one, and learned all the ins-and-outs of the parks. My feeling was, if we were going to spend a fortune on this (how quaint that I thought the 2012 prices were a fortune -- how naive I was!), and use precious vacation time (of which DH and I had very little then - only 2 weeks a year), we wanted to get the most out of it that we could. Not only that, but with 2 youngsters - aged 4 and 6 - I knew there wouldn't be a great deal of patience for standing in long lines.

I realize that's probably not the mindset of most visitors -- but I'm not sure what shakes out to be the "average" first-timer. I've been shocked at the attitudes of some first-timers I know, who did so little research into Disney World, it's a wonder they even found their way to the front gates. (One family of acquaintances -- 2 college-educated people who seemed intelligent, and their 3 preteen kids -- took the cake when they got back after a week and glumly said they hadn't had a good time and were sorry they'd wasted time and money visiting, because all of them have just "never really been into rides or shows," and they didn't want to spend any extra money on meals or shopping, so there wasn't much for them to do. I've been wondering ever since, what did they actually think Disney World was!??!)

 

[LuvtheGoof]

You should be able to go a theme park without doing weeks/months of research. In fact im sure thats what walt meant for the parks. Sadly you have to research, plan 6 months ahead and stay up to date or youll be lost. I think this message board and amazing contributors does an amazing job to keep us all up to date.

While you certainly don't need months of research, people do need to research a place that they have never been to. Your statement about Walt is completely false as he never envisioned a resort with 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a Disney Springs area, and 30 resort hotels on property that over 50,000,000 people visit every year. He designed only 1 park.

You do not have to plan 6 months in advance right now at all. 60 days for ADRs and that's only if you want a sit down dinner at the more popular places. Checking for Friday in September, there are almost 30 different sit down restaurants with availability for dinner. If people can't find something they like in 30 different restaurants, then I feel sorry for them.

People can just wing a theme park without any planning, but they simply would have a better time with at least some planning. We've never been to NYC, but will at some point, and we will be doing a ton of research and planning to ensure that we at least get to do what we want to do. WDW, being larger than NYC, should be no different.

 

[EnjoyingLife]

Before my first trip, I was fortunate to have a close friend sit me down and emphasize the importance of planning. I’m an over-planner anyway, so I took his warning to heart and learned as much as I could. I’ve known a few people who had a terrible first experience to the point of never wanting to return, and the recurring themes were no planning and lack of awareness (i.e. they weren’t expecting it to be quite so massive, crowded, expensive, and hot).

Recently it seems like everyone I know who takes their first trip is aware enough to do some planning themselves or travel with a planner. I always feel bad for new visitors, especially kids, when I can tell their parents are overwhelmed and frustrated in the parks. Some of my most aggravating park moments occurred when witnessing parents being unnecessarily hateful to, or impatient with, their children.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Honestly not enough.
Many people seem to think MK "IS WDW".
They treat it like a trip to their local amusement park.
One family I know literally flew down just to go to MK and then left at 3pm because they were hot and tired and her daughter's flip flop broke.
Its shocking that it seems like people don't even visit the WDW website before going.

 

[Michaelson]

It doesn't just happen at WDW.

I was at Universal Island of Adventure a couple years ago and overheard a couple lamenting the fact the park had spent so much time and effort re-creating Kings Cross station, but there was no entrance to Diagon Alley.....and 'SUCH a 'missed opportunity' for the park' etc. (Unquote)

They had apparently just ridden the Hogwarts Express over from the other park and had simply walked out the exit of the station.

Thing was, they were standing directly in FRONT of the entrance TO Diagon Alley.

No, I didn't just walk by. I stopped and pointed out the hole in the wall, and they were ecstatic........but seriously?

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Nottamus]

My first trip in 98 I went with no plans
(Also no underwear as I forgot to pack it..that’s another story

we missed one whole side of MK, one whole side of EP, but you know what?…I saw enough to convince me it was a very awesome place and that I needed to go back! The things we DID see blew me away!
It did take 16 years to go back- but it’s been 2 times a year since. (Excluding last year )

so…no need to see everything in one trip, which probably is too much anyway…

 

[OneofThree]

Too much prep ruins a lot of the discovery, IMO. There was no internet when I started going, and seeing so much, for the first time, in person, is a really special experience.

 

[jonnyc]

Too much prep ruins a lot of the discovery, IMO. There was no internet when I started going, and seeing so much, for the first time, in person, is a really special experience.

We first went in 2000 - we didn't do a mass of research but we did study both the WDW and Universal planning videos on recommendation from the travel agent, so we knew the scale of the resort, had a plan of where we were going to go each day and knew all the big attractions but the fun element of discovery was there.

If I encounter a WDW newbie now, I try and give them a similar minimum level of knowledge and guidance so they can still go in relatively blind (in a good way!) and not miss out on the key experiences.

 

[JAB]

I think a lot of posters are spot-on when they suspect that many first-timers have no idea how big WDW is, and just assume it's like any other theme park. It reminds me of someone I know who was hosting college exchange students from Germany. They had no concept of how large the US is and thought they could take a day trip from Wisconsin to the Grand Canyon (for the non-US readers, the US is roughly 4700 km coast to coast, and central Wisconsin to the Grand Canyon is about 2700 km or a 25-30 hour drive - if you don't stop for food, bathroom breaks, or sleep).

As a planner, I can't fathom not doing at least some basic research about somewhere I'm traveling, but I also have friends who absolutely refuse to plan anything about a family vacation because they want to be "spontaneous."

 

[uncle jimmy]

WDW could maybe go back to sending every resort guest a Planning Guide Video!
They could also bring Stacey back for the Must Do's at WDW!

I'll add that part of our fun in going back to WDW is to do things we missed or didn't do the trip(s) before and def hit-up the things we love!