The 3 Disney planning mistakes I made

so you won't.

Yes, I made planning mistakes. (Sigh.)  You would think by now I would have perfected the planning aspect of a Disney trip and, for the most part, I have, but I'm still human and not a robot so mistakes can happen.  I suppose it's possible for robots to make mistakes too.  Anyway, I'm sharing this you so you don't make the same mistakes.




1.  I didn't order extra luggage tags from Magical Express.

We flew Southwest, which meant we could check in two bags per person without an additional fee.  Our plan was for each of us to check in one suitcase and then we had our carry-on bags with personal items.  Anna's cathing supplies take up quite a bit of room.  We always carry on several days worth of cath kits and then we spread out the remainder in all the other suitcases.  This way, if a suitcase goes missing, we are only down one day's worth of kits, or it may not be an issue as I always overpack medical supplies.

The girls and I all have smaller suitcases that can be carried on, and those suitcases were cram packed.  The night before we were to fly out, we realized that we had a whole bunch of supplies that we couldn't fit into our suitcases.  Not a big deal. We'll just pack up an extra suitcase and there won't be a fee to check it in.

Problem:  Magical Express only sends one luggage tug per person with your confirmation letter.

We could have checked in the extra suitcase, but it wouldn't have been picked up by Magical Express.   That means we would have been responsible for waiting for it at the baggage carousel which would have (mostly) defeated the purpose of having Magical Express pick up our other suitcases.  We ultimately opted to carry on the suitcase, which wasn't ideal.

You can request additional luggage tags from Magical Express.  The night before our flight was obviously too late to do so.  I had seen the luggage tags in the envelopes when we received the confirmation letters but I hadn't counted out how many were in there and it hadn't been an issue before.  


2.  I didn't make all possible ADRs early enough.

When at Disney, we typically eat one table service meal per day.  I made ADRs at the 180 day mark but I had left two days open because I wasn't quite sure what we would be doing.  We had not yet booked our flight to Orlando so I didn't make an ADR for our arrival day and we had discussed doing a half day at Hollywood Studios and then spending the afternoon at one of the water parks, so I didn't make an ADR for that day either.

This was a mistake.

It is so much easier to make a reservation and then cancel if it's not needed versus trying to make a reservation later in the game, most especially when free dining is being offered.  So, yeah, Disney announced free dining for the dates of our trip and if you've ever tried to make an ADR when there's free dining, you know how difficult that can be.  About two months before our trip, after I had made our FastPass reservations, I began to look for open ADRs and I wasn't having much luck at all.  I noticed there were plenty of options open for July, when we weren't going, of course, but I checked anyway.

I didn't give up though because I knew that there would be cancellations.  There are always cancellations.  Less than a week before our vacation, I was able to find ADRs for times that worked for us at Chef Mickey's (one of the hardest to reserve) and 1900 Park Fare.  The only hassle was that I had to keep checking for open ADRs.  I will give you this tip - I found the best open ADRs at 6:00 in the morning.  When I would hear Rich get up for work, I would check for ADRs on the My Disney Experience app on my phone (no need to get out of bed) and then I would roll over and go back to sleep.  I also want to note that I did call Disney's reservation system a couple of times and they didn't have anything different from what was online.


3.  I was the only person planning.

So here's the thing.  I don't mind planning Disney vacations.  I actually really enjoy the planning side of it and have helped friends and family with their vacations.  It's what happens after we arrive at Disney that can make me a little crazy.  I was the keeper of the schedule, which was fine, but then I was also filling in the spontaneous parts as well.  While there's a schedule to follow for FastPasses and ADRs, you also have the spontaneous side.  Which rides shall we go on before our next FastPass window?  Is there enough time to do this and this before the FastPass window for that ride closes?  What are we grabbing for lunch?  What do people want to eat?  Is anyone sharing food?  HOW MANY CHILI CHEESE FRIES DO WE NEED?

I was the one constantly checking wait times on my phone while formulating future plans.  I'm Type A and this is what we do, but throw in heat and exhaustion and an introvert needing some quiet alone time.  I was done.  I told Rich I was done and he jumped in and took over.  While you don't want too many cooks in the kitchen, handing the reins over to someone else is a good thing.