10 Rookie Mistakes to Avoid in Disney World

there are a bunch of brand new ways to get tripped up in disney world that just became issues in the last six months or so so even if you think you're an expert this is worth a watch [Music] hey everybody it's aj for disney food blog and it's time to problem proof your next disney vacation spending much more than you have to missing out on things you want to do and hitting huge time sucking issues in your disney world day that could easily have been avoided are regular occurrences for rookies in disney world but with so many changes to the most magical place on earth in the last few months i feel like we're all rookies again now we've made all the mistakes my friends and we're ready to help you fool proof your trip now we're talking about some of the most important newest and most problematic issues in the video today but if you want to make sure you're problem free on your next disney world trip head on over to disney foodblog.com more rookie mistakes to get a pdf of 20 more rookie mistakes they didn't quite make the cut for this video but are still great to protect yourself against all right let's dive right into the first one and that is not booking a hotel early enough but there's a twist this time okay so there are lots of reasons to book your disney world hotel early your preferred hotel might sell out they might sell out of a certain discount you want or room type and once you have your hotel settled you can start planning park days and transportation etc but we've got another good reason to book those hotels early lately disney has been allowing hotel guests only to book special events earlier than everyone else hotel guests got first crack at booking mickey's not so scary halloween party and mickey's very merry christmas party this year and it seems likely that disney will continue to give priority to hotel guests when it comes to booking popular events and you want to be a part of that world especially if you want to go to events that are likely to sell out like mickey's not so scary on halloween next rookie mistake buying genie plus too late or when you don't really need it we got a lot of new additions to the rookie mistakes party and this is a big one gd plus can feel really scary if you haven't used it and don't know how to get around its quirks and problems and we've got plenty of videos to help you with that so go watch those here but i personally have had a few rookie errors the first few times i use genie plus and you should learn from my mistakes just like i'm trying to first buying genie plus for a park that doesn't need it so here are a few circumstances when that can happen parks that don't have that many long lines in the first place well our research has shown the best parks to buy genie plus for are magic kingdom and hollywood studios they have the biggest concentration of rides in general and the most rides that have long lines all day long epcot and animal kingdom in contrast don't have that many super popular rides and the rides they do have on genie plus often keep relatively short wait times except for one or two so if you can prioritize those popular rides first thing in the morning you shouldn't have very long waits for the others throughout the day another thing to take into consideration are seasonal crowds on days that the parks just aren't that busy you may be able to get away without buying genie plus so understand how busy the parks are predicted to be on your visit fyi the more you have to pay for your ticket or your hotel stay or how booked up the park passes are are all good indicators and you can make judgments accordingly now the second genie plus mistake i've been making is buying genie plus too late in the day so genie plus has two time elements involved how long you have to wait before booking another lightning lane and how quickly lightning lanes sell out for the day if you buy genie plus later in the day you're just kind of up a creek no matter which time element you're concerned about now i've done this twice because apparently i like to just throw money in the ocean instead of using it for things i need and you're subject to a couple of problems here first more popular rides selling out for the day or not being available until very late at night potentially after you and your family want to still be in the parks and second not being able to book as many lightning lanes due to forced time requirements let me explain once you book a genie plus lightning lane you cannot book another one until one you tap into the first lightning lane you booked or two two hours go by this is the infamous 120 minute rule so if you buy genie plus later in the day these time elements mean that you're limited in how many rides you may be able to feasibly ride depending on when the parks close so moral of the story buy genie plus at midnight the night before you go to the park or buy it first thing in the morning if you know you want to use it my two mistakes happened on days i flew into disney world and disneyland and couldn't help myself when i finally got to the park in the afternoon but on your first day in the park if it's already late just skip it and buy it tomorrow morning instead okay next rookie mistake not knowing the important secrets now this isn't really a mistake how can you possibly know right and obviously there are tons of secrets to visiting disney world successfully that's why you watch this channel but there are a couple that we rarely talk about that could make a big difference especially if you're new or newly returning to disney world so did you know there's a back entrance to epcot it's called the international gateway and it can make a big difference on how long you wait to get on remy's ratatouille adventure and how you get to the skyliner the international gateway is between france and the uk and world showcase and if you enter through this back entrance you're basically just steps from remy's ratatouille adventure so it should be very easy to jump in line for this headliner ride early in the morning without walking across the whole park like you'd have to do if you use the front entrance now how do you get to the back entrance well it's very close to the boardwalk in yacht and beach club resorts and swan and dolphin resorts so if you're staying in any of those it's just a quick walk to the ig if you're not staying at those hotels but you're desperate to jump into line for remy without a weight consider taking a minivan a ride share or a taxi from your resort to one of the hotels just mentioned and then walk in depending on how big your family is this might still be less expensive than buying genie plus for everybody and the ig is also where you'll find the disney skyline or epcot terminal so if you're traveling to epcot via skyliner from hollywood studios or any of those skyliner hotels you'll wind up at the international gateway oh and another quick transportation trick that not a lot of people know about there are two ways to get to the magic kingdom by monorail the express monorail and the resort monorail the resort monorail stops at all of the hotels around seven seas lagoon as well as magic kingdom and the transportation and ticket center it might have the shorter line from the ttc in the morning when everyone is taking the express monorail to magic kingdom and in the evening when everyone is headed back to the ttc from the magic kingdom after the fireworks always good to check that one out next rookie mistake is riding a water ride too early in the day or waiting to ride an outdoor ride until it's too late so this one can end in tears or at the very least being very soggy be careful when you plan to ride certain rides because the effects could be significant when you're doing your planning ahead of your trip or choosing your genie plus rides in the morning remember that riding a water ride like splash mountain or collie river rapids might mean a shorter line in the early morning but it can also mean soggy clothes for a few hours during the rest of your park touring lions get long for these rides in the early afternoon when the sun is offensively hot in orlando so riding in the morning could mean a shorter wait but be prepared with fresh socks for everyone for sure and if you're choosing genie plus times see if it makes sense to hold off on these rides until early afternoon now speaking of afternoon in orlando let's talk about those outdoor rides that can shut down all together if there's rain predicted or lightning in the area this is another one to be careful of when planning because if you have a kiddo who absolutely loves test track and you save it for 4 pm on your epcot day in the summer there's a good chance you won't be able to ride so outdoor rides think big thunder mountain splash mountain test track to maryland speedway and any other out in the open attractions are likely going to close when the rainstorms are passing through so be prepared and prepare your fam the good news if you have a genie plus lightning lane scheduled while the ride is closed you'll automatically get a lightning lane put into your account to use on one of several rides in that park including the one you missed later in the day so plan to stick around and ride it later right our next rookie mistake is not watching the park hours because they change and some parks stay open lots later than others so as a rookie you might think that disney world's theme parks open and close all at the same times every single day that would make sense right it's what other theme parks do but no you have to keep your eye on the park hours at disney world like a hawk park open and closing times vary even for the same parks magic kingdom might open at 8 one day but 9 the next day it might close at 11 one day but nine the next the variations happen enough that even i don't go to disney world thinking i have a steady lock on what's happening with park hours and i really do check them every day but when this is most important is when you're figuring out your park hopping schedule if you schedule to start your day in a park that opens at 9 or 10 when others open at eight then end your day in a park that closes at eight when others close at nine or ten or even midnight you could be missing out on literally hours of park time and if there's a special event in a park like mickey's not so scary halloween party and magic kingdom the park which closed at 11pm last night closes at 6 pm tonight 5 hours lost if you didn't pay attention to the park hours it's easy to find park hours on the my disney experience app so keep an eye on them when you're planning but also when you're in disney world park hours can change closer to the date a good recommendation is usually to start your day in animal kingdom or hollywood studios which usually open early and close relatively early especially animal kingdom then end your day in magic kingdom or epcot which both usually close a little bit later epcot regularly closes at 9pm all right we talk about this a lot on the channel so this rookie mistake i will make brief taking bad advice can tank your trip just because aunt susan says you have to stay at all star sports or jon from accounting said chef mickey's was his jam and everyone goes there doesn't mean that you have to listen to advice use it as a resource to fuel your research but don't heed it mindlessly perfect example i am fully aware the connections cafe in epcot is not the best restaurant in epcot i know there are dozens of places i'd rather go including sunshine seasons over at the land pavilion i have eaten everywhere in epcot many times i'm very clear on the rankings but when my son and i were in epcot and we had a lightning lane reservation for guardians of the galaxy in 30 minutes and all he and i let's be honest wanted were chicken fingers and fries we went to connections cafe and it was lovely it fit the build the cast members were wonderful we had our chicken tenders and a light and bright and comfortable atmosphere and we went over to ride the ride end of story checked all the boxes your perfect day in epcot can be different from everyone else's and that's okay by the way my son asked later in the trip if we could go back to his favorite restaurant with the chicken tenders and guess what we did okay want to not spend money you don't have to spend me too do i still keep spending money i don't have to spend yes so here now we both stopped making this rookie mistake when you make an advanced dining reservation in disney world for a sit-down restaurant you are committing to pay disney 10 per person if you don't show up and you don't cancel the reservation the day before hard stop so if there are four of you and you no show at ohana which is a crime in several states without cancelling the day before then you pay disney 40 for the privilege of holding your spot so if you're thinking you're not gonna make it as dr seeker says pop into your my disney experience account the day before and cancel or modify that reservation now there's a fun tip modifying if you didn't cancel your reservation and you're currently on the day of the adr and you're realizing that the meal is gonna be a no-go like i often did when my toddler chose chaos instead of wanting to go to dinner it could still be early enough to modify your reservation this can be helpful if you just need to push it back an hour or move it to tomorrow it's always worth a try but if things are looking sketch for a dining res you made for tomorrow consider canceling before it's too late now this next one has to do with going to disney world with a big travel group and if you find yourself in this situation then we need to sit down and have a much longer talk than this but let me start you out with one quick rookie mistake you shouldn't make don't even think about it do not let aunt susan talk you out of this be open to splitting up the group if needed it's that easy but we all have family members who simply don't agree they think everyone should stay together all the time no matter what so here are a few good suggestions that might change their minds maybe the whole family can stay together at a vacation home rental where you all have a pool a game room a barbecue area all kinds of opportunity for togetherness in the evenings and on non-park days but if you want to split up into individual nuclear families at the parks on a couple of the days that's cool next maybe you can all do your own thing in the parks but come together for meals like brunch one morning dinner one evening etc and there are lots of ways to make life easier on yourselves if you're planning a group trip you should consider them for everyone's sake but if you are taking a group trip you should definitely also take a look at our seriously adorable family tees that we just dropped in the dfb t-shirt store these are currently best sellers and are perfect for anyone and everyone in your fam okay there's my shameless plug for these super cute t-shirts next is another early planning rookie mistake that lots of folks are getting wrong since disney world reopened and that's park passes okay okay you know how to book a park pass you just buy your tickets then go reserve your park passes for the days you're gonna visit those parks after checking park hours of course like we said before but there are a few more mistakes to avoid in this process than you might know about before you buy your tickets make sure there are park passes for the park you'd like to go to on the day you want to go there park passes can sell out quickly for holidays ride opening days and special celebration days did you know that october 1st 2022 is epcot's 40th anniversary park passes go quickly on days like that and when tron opens in magic kingdom which there's no date announced yet mk park passes will be impossible to get within 10 minutes of that announcement also watch out for christmas new year's eve and new year's day overall book your park passes early they can usually be changed if needed and they don't cost anything to book and without them well no disney world park entrance for you all right so over packing is always a problem when going to disney world and i know you're saying aj you talk about over packing all the time enough but there have been a few changes lately that make it even easier not to make this rookie mistake i don't know about you but during the pandemic i got real good at instacart and shipped and amazon fresh deliveries and you can take that new skill set all the way to disney world with you i can remember lugging dozens of diapers bottles of formula baby wipes galore when i went to disney world with my baby and my toddler i've also been known to pack my own diet pepsi since i know it doesn't exist anywhere on disney world property but it is a new day my friends and you no longer have to pack all of your week's provisions the way you used to using services like shipt you can do your target run right there in your disney world hotel and it's honestly not that much more expensive certainly not as expensive as having to pay overweight luggage fees at the airport so when you order from these delivery services be sure to reset your address in the app if you already use it at home and reset the store you're shopping from and in the little specific notes delivery box let your delivery person know to drop off the items at the front desk and send you a picture and the name of the person who accepted them that way even if they go missing or someone new comes on shift you can let them know which person took the delivery and they can ask that cast member where the items were placed this happened to me on my last disney trip and they couldn't find the delivery they said nothing was delivered and i said yeah it was delivered it was you know it was delivered to joe and they're like oh hey joe where's this delivery and joe's like oh yeah i put it back here and they found it so that's super helpful to leave those little notes in the dual delivery box section and if you get a regular delivery from like amazon prime they may actually bring it right to your room for you what is this paradise okay you know how marathon runners are out there every morning with their little water bottles on their hips and their weight backpack giving resistance that's gonna be you well not really but kinda when you're planning on taking a disney world trip for the first time your body is not used to it when i go to the gym after being away for a while i feel it the next day and sometimes it takes a few days to recover and disney world is a workout there have been 15 mile days for me 30 plus thousand step days and the overwhelming heat your body anyone's body just is not used to that so don't assume no matter how good of shape you're in that it's gonna be easy for you start taking daily walks getting used to hydrating regularly and break in those shoes make this an activity for your whole family you can all do it together as you train for your trip trip training it makes a difference next here's another one that i personally am so so grateful for having learned and that's how to get around disney world especially when it comes to bathrooms but let's save that for a second as you know if you watch this channel disney world is over 40 square miles of glorious fun it's huge the size of two manhattan islands the parks aren't next to each other not by a long shot and your hotel can be pretty far away too doing the research ahead of time on the fastest way to get from here to there is going to be priceless for you especially knowing the time is money in disney world and every minute spent waiting for a bus or driving aimlessly around orlando because you took a wrong turn this is of course being said from personal experience because i feel like i take a wrong turn every single time i'm at disney world those are minutes you're not getting use out of your expensive park tickets so figure out ahead of time the transportation options that are going to be fastest and least crowded for your trip based on where you're going and when and it'll make a big difference to your bottom line but also your emotional bandwidth oh and like i said bathrooms study the my disney experience app maps and find those bathrooms ahead of time also watch our best bathrooms and disney world videos so you know our favorites this next rookie mistake is a little assumptive but i'm working off my own experience here y'all don't make the mistake of thinking this is gonna be a relaxing vacation unless you're planning it that way for example if you're working in lots of pool days sleeping in and long relaxing dinners but most of us do not plan a disney world vacation that way so be aware of that ahead of time it's a lot of walking in the brutally hot sun unless you're lucky enough to go during those precious months when orlando stays under 80 degrees you're standing in lines and being surrounded sometimes a little too closely for comfort by thousands of randos for days on end and then you get sunburned it can be magical there's no denying that but give yourself the best possible chance of having that magical time work in at least one of those pool days or at least a pool afternoon let everyone sleep in once or twice and schedule one lovely relaxing dinner with a bottle of wine maybe you'll all be better for it and you'll enjoy your trip so so so much more okay next we're back to the not spending money we don't need to spend a lot of disney rookies don't know that they should never pay rack rate for their hotel they can get great discounts on food and merchandise if they know the right tips and should always be aware of the deals disney's making available to them on their trip and i've got two tips for you that'll help with that besides the fact that we've given all of these tips like 50 times on our channel so it's definitely out there for you first our dfp guide to walt disney world dining ebook if you haven't picked this up yet now's the time it has hundreds of pages of tips food reviews budget recommendations and yes every single discount we know about you can pick it up at dfbstore.com don't forget to use code youtube for a discount hey look at that another discount and remember that it's a money back guarantee if you don't love it we'll refund it no questions asked doesn't happen that much honestly so we don't really have a lot of questions and secondly you can always use the services of a dedicated disney expert travel agent we work with small world vacations and those agents book disney trips full time like 24 7 so they know all the tips and discounts and can actually rebook your vacation with a new discount if one comes out so we've got a link in the description for you if you'd like to get a quote from them and remember if you want 20 more rookie mistakes and how to avoid those head on over to our newsletter link in the description to sign up for our free newsletter and we'll send them right to your inbox believe me i make a lot of mistakes all right are we ready to go of course we are i keep making mistakes in disney world so you don't have to and i hope these tips are helpful thanks for listening and thanks for watching if you have your own rookie mistake stories please share them in the comments because we're all here to laugh and sometimes cry with you not at you as always this is aj for disney food blog and we'll see you real soon [Music]

Channel: DFBGuide

Views: 267,662

Keywords: disneyfood, disney, disney world, disneyland, disneyvideo, disneyvacation, food, disney parks, disney travel, disney tips, disney guides, disney planning, disney trip, disney how to, disney vlog, disney vlogger

Id: _0RfHodyS2Y

Length: 19min 24sec (1164 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 09 2022