5 1/2 Mistakes We Made on our First Visit to Disney World

Hey everybody, I'm Josh.

And I'm Rachael.

And we just went to Disney World for the first time and we came across 6 mistakes that we feel like we made on our first trip.

Yeah, and we hope that you don't make the same ones. Let's go! So one of the first mistakes we made, which we didn't even realize was a mistake until we got here, is we should have bought more Disney gift cards before coming here.

Yeah, so some friends of ours did let us know about a month out that you can go to Sam's Club or Costco and you can buy these gift cards. And at Sam's Club, which is where we went for ours, we ended up saving 5% by doing upwards of $200 gift cards, which we didn't think that we would spend spend as much. So we only ended up doing a few hundred dollars worth, and by a few hundred I mean over $500. So we still had plenty of gift cards, but we ran through those pretty dang fast. I think I was nervous that they weren't gonna work everywhere, and—

They worked everywhere.

I would say 98% of the time they worked. Yeah, there were a few random machines where it didn't work, but when you're there, I think it was $190 for a $200 gift card. was the best price I could see. And so at that point, you're talking about 5% off.

Which, any money-saving tips when you're headed to Disney are probably well worth looking into.

Yeah, for every $1,000 you're gonna spend here, which can be dining, drinks, or apparel, you're talking about $50 saved. Who doesn't wanna save $50? So I think we should have bought a few more of those. And it's something that you can buy throughout the year rather than just right before you get to the park.

Or if you know you're coming and people wanting to know what to get you for Christmas or a birthday, ask them for that, 'cause it was truly The next mistake we made is not booking a cheaper hotel.

Yeah, so we ended up staying at Boardwalk Villas, which was a great hotel. It's fantastic location. The amenities are wonderful. We had a coffee maker in the room. We had a fridge. We had a microwave. And we didn't need it.

No.

We also had a great pool complex which we never got to go to.

No, we didn't use it.

Tons of dining venues. Never made it to. We ended up planning our trip around going to the parks and being at the parks the entire time.

Yeah.

You know, from rope drop to fireworks. And so with that in mind, we just did not get to spend enough time at this hotel to truly take advantage of the reason why you're spending so much money. So we ended up spending about $2,800 for 2 days in the parks, single passes, and 3 nights here at the hotel.

Yes, and I do believe there are cheaper options. Would I recommend still staying at a Disney hotel? Absolutely. Because the amenities such as your transportation and early entry into the parks itself, to me, makes up for even a quick Uber ride here. So I think yes, still go to a Disney park, but you don't necessarily have to. I think BoardWalk is considered a deluxe hotel, and I don't think you need to stay in a deluxe hotel.

As long as you have that Disney transportation to get you to the parks, I think you're fine. So whether you're on the Skyliner line or if you're taking the buses, That would save you a lot of money. I think upwards of almost $400 a night if you wanted to save some money that way. And we would.

Yeah.

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Next one. Did we actually need MagicBands?

We bought them.

We bought them night one.

I, yeah, I don't know. Maybe we just don't totally understand the whole reason behind them.

In my mind, I think the MagicBands were worth it. I relate it to using your SeaPass card on a cruise line where you can do everything. You can do everything on here. You can charge to your room. You can connect it to a credit card. It opens your room doors. It also helps you get to the So do I think it was worth it? Yes, but it's also very convenient. Now, do you need it? No.

No.

Because you can do a lot of that on your iPhone or on the My Disney app, depending if you don't have an iPhone. And also, if you have an iPhone with an iWatch, I think it pretty much is the exact same thing. So you really don't need it then. But for us, I say it really wasn't a mistake. I think it was very convenient and very useful to have. Now, the key is we got fancy ones. You can see mine is Minnie and Josh got the villains. You don't have to get the fancy ones. There were plain colored ones as well.

See, I'm going the opposite of Rachael.

Yeah.

And I thought that's where we were going when we made up this list. But I don't think that they are needed because you're talking about $40 a pop and it's the convenience of not having to take your phone out or it's not, you know, not having to use your phone to get into your room. You can do all these things on the app. I think the big difference for me is going to be if we come to Disney more. Because this was our first visit. On a first visit, did I need a MagicBand? Probably not. Because what if I'm never coming back? I just spent $40 so I can like tap into my room rather than tap into my room with a phone.

Or key card. I believe they give you key cards too.

Right. So from my standpoint, I would say that it was a mistake. For the first time. Now, do I think that we'll be back in Disney? Probably. So I think it's going to work itself out and we'll be fine with having them, but I don't know that I need to spend $40 to have it on my wrist rather than in my pocket.

The next mistake was the single Lightning Lane versus the MultiPass, especially when you're able to do rope drop.

Yeah, which that's one of the big perks about being— staying at a Disney property is you can get into the parks 30 minutes before opening at rope drop to get in your line, get, get to the ride that you want to go to. And so I think for us it would have made more sense both days to rope drop to the ride that we wanted to, which was Guardians of the Galaxy at Epcot and Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios, and then have the MultiPass for the rest of the time.

Yeah.

We were there at opening both places and we were some of the first people in line for all the rides that we Or the 2 rides that we got to at rope drop. So I don't know that we really got enough out of our single line usage at Guardians. I take that back, our single line usage definitely paid for itself.

Yeah.

But I think we could have had a better time strategically and value-wise by doing a multi-pass because it was similar price. It was $32 at Hollywood Studios versus $20 for the one ride over at Epcot. So I think that That's the big key. If you're not, if you're not rope dropping, then I can understand doing the single ride line. But if you are rope dropping and you're gonna get to those really big attractions right away, then yeah, I think the MultiPass makes more sense.

Yesterday, this one was a key that we probably should have done some research on a little bit more, is using the mobile order for food and beverages at Epcot.

Yes, so we ended up eating at every country and then some yesterday. And we did not mobile order once, which meant we spent a lot of time standing in lines.

Yes, and they got long. Some of those got really long.

They did. Yeah, we had probably upwards of 30 minutes waiting in line in France, I think. And so if we had done a little bit more research and understood what places had mobile order and how to use it, I think we could have saved ourselves upwards of like 2 hours.

Yeah, I agree.

So Take a little bit more time, do some research on that. We didn't. We got a little overwhelmed with all the other things to research.

Yeah.

So that mobile order did not go into it. Now, speaking more about food, I feel fine that we didn't do the dining plan.

I agree.

I think the dining plan is something that is great if you have a family and you're trying to budget your full trip. We liked having the flexibility of being able to go up to anything and paying as we go.

Yep.

Rather than the dining plan, which limits you to a couple meals per day specific items and stuff.

And back to the very first mistake we made, if you're planning on going on a specific budget, get those gift cards ahead of time.

Yeah.

And then only use those so you are aware of where that's lying. Last mistake, and probably the biggest mistake we made, was skipping Magic Kingdom and not booking a longer stay.

Yeah, I— it's the one thing that people have been a little bit shocked when we said we are only doing 3 nights and 2 parks. So you check into your hotel— our check-in was at like 4 o'clock. We couldn't have got here any earlier, so we didn't want to do a park day that day. So we ended up going to Disney Springs instead, had a good dinner, had some drinks over there, did some shopping, but we skipped a park. And then we only had 2 full days, so Epcot and Hollywood Studios helped because where our location was.

Yep.

As well as we had heard that they are the most adult-focused, which we do not have any children with us. It is just the 2 of us. And so we wanted the adult-focused trip.

And I say they both were. They were great selections. The piece is, it's similar to when we went to Venice and I just wanted one more day. And maybe we just want one more day. But there is reason now to come back as well. We know that Animal Kingdom is currently going under a renovation in certain areas. So we'd like to come back when that's finished. Also at Hollywood Studios, they are building a Monsters, Inc. themed area, and we would love to come back and see that because Monsters, Inc. is one of our favorites. So it gives us multiple reasons to come back.

It does.

And the next time we'll probably not skip Magic Kingdom.

Now thinking about the extra cost that comes along with that extra day, we basically talked about when you include the 2 days in the park as well as whatever the heck we're gonna buy, because we're gonna buy a bunch of stuff probably, and one more night in the hotel room, you're pushing $1,000 to $1,500.

Yeah.

Pretty easily. And so that is part of the thing that we were looking at when we were first booking this and saying, I don't know that we need to do this or not. But yeah, I, I would have liked to be able to check it off the list and say, yes, we did the 3 big parks all in one trip and it was awesome. But like Rachael said, it basically just gives us a reason to come back.

Yeah.

And we've never been to Disneyland either. So, you know, we now have MagicBands so we can go and do these things.

Absolutely. I hope that you guys learned a little bit from us on our first trip to Disney as adults and that you don't make the same mistakes we did.

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All right, bye!