Welcome back to another My Disney Top 5. I realize it’s only been about two months since I was walking happily through Walt Disney World, but as each day passes, I miss the place more and more. Granted, I’m always planning the next trip in my head, but we have no concrete plans as of yet. Sooner or later the next trip will be made clearer to us and we’ll start actually planning it and I can’t wait for that. I love the planning almost as much as I love being there. It pumps up the excitement level, keeps the place fresher in my mind and builds up the anticipation of the magic to come.
But that got me thinking. We don’t plan our next trip right away, do we? Come to think of it, we don’t book our dinner reservations 180 days out either, do we? “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” to quote from the book of Seinfeld. No, there’s nothing wrong with how we plan our trips or when we plan our trips. They’re our trips. We can and should plan them the way we see fit.
There’s so much information about planning your Walt Disney World vacation out there. Stop by your local Barnes and Noble and head to the travel section. The Walt Disney World section is usually the largest on the shelf. Sites like MousePlanet exist because people love to write, read, and share the Disney experience.
There’s nothing wrong with booking your next vacation while you’re currently on a vacation. If you’re able to do that, then more power to you. There’s also nothing wrong with waking up at 6:00 AM, exactly 180 days out and dialing Disney Dining at exactly 6:59 in order to score your reservations at Cinderella’s. We just don’t do things that way. To use the kid’s terms, “it’s not how we roll.” (I think that’s still a kid’s term anyway.) I just don’t get booking dinner six months in advance. Come to think about it, there are a lot of things that have become pretty commonplace when it comes to Walt Disney World that I just don’t get. And that fact brought me to today’s list.
There are a million ways to do Disney and, as they say, different strokes for different folks. We certainly buy into the magic hook, line, and sinker. However, there are certain things we just don’t get when planning and experiencing our Walt Disney World vacations.
I don’t usually write negative articles, and perhaps this isn’t really a negative list. Perhaps, to quote the kids one more time, it’s just “how we roll.” Judge for yourself with my Top 5 Things I Just Don’t Get at Walt Disney World.
5 – Booking Waaayyyy in Advance
I’m in the education business, so I pretty much know when I can get away for the rest of my working life. My wife, on the other hand, runs her own business. Time off is much less predictable for her and therefore our vacations have been much less predictable. We have typically gone to Walt Disney World in August, but we have also gone in September, December, April and May. No matter when we have gone, we’ve never booked more than four to five months in advance. Typically it’s less. That said, we have always been able to stay where we want. We’ve also done quite well on airfare, even booking as little as two months out. Maybe we’ve been lucky, but considering all of the trips we’ve taken, luck can’t possibly figure into it.
Despite having a teacher and three school-age children in the family, we have never traveled to Disney during the major school breaks. I don’t think you need to, and quite frankly, I don’t think you should. Two years ago, we booked less than three months out for a long weekend in April and got a great deal. We got the resort that we wanted—Disney’s Wilderness Lodge—at a great price. Our airfare was reasonable. We ate in all of the places that we wanted to without calling for reservations six months ahead of time. I’m not knocking long range planning. I’m just saying… don’t feel like you have to book Disney so far in advance in order to have an amazing vacation experience. The view in the picture below was booked less than three months out.
The view of Bay Lake from the Wilderness Lodge. Photo by Chris Barry.
4 – The Disney Dining Plan
Our first and only experience with the Disney Dining Plan was the first time that they offered it for free. We were there for ten days. Five of us eating free for ten days? It really couldn’t be beat. However, when all was said and done, we really didn’t like being on the Dining Plan. First of all, we ate so much more than on previous trips. We just felt like, “We’re getting all of this food for free, we might as well eat it.” I would have to imagine that if I actually paid for it, I’d have felt even more compelled to eat. The bottom line was, it was just too much food. How many carrot cakes did we end up storing in our Riverside room fridge only to throw them out at the end of the week?
We also felt it was too restrictive. We like having the flexibility to cancel plans and order a pizza poolside at the resort without having to worry about blowing our credits. Sometimes, if we’re in one of those great park grooves the last thing we want to do is interrupt it and head for a restaurant. How many times have I turned to the group and said, “We have a dining reservation in an hour. Anybody else feel like cancelling it and grabbing a bite somewhere later? “ The answer is almost always yes and we’ve had some of our best moments that way. I can’t imagine that cancelling and altering plans is so easy when you have to worry about using or losing meal credits that you’ve prepaid for.
We cancelled a Kona Cafe breakfast reservation on the last day of our trip this past August. We ended up sitting quietly poolside at the Polynesian looking out across the lagoon. There were two or three people in the typically packed pool. It turned into one of my favorite moments of the trip, and we owed it all to being able to cancel our reservation.
The empty Polynesian volcano pool at breakfast time. Photo by Chris Barry.
As great as it was to have all of our meals for free on that vacation, the trip became mostly about restaurants. We worried too much about the dining plan when we had it and we ate too much food. Don’t get me wrong, dining at Disney is part of the whole experience, but it’s been five years worth of trips and we haven’t used the dining plan again and we haven’t missed it. I’d rather get a great price on a room than have the free dining plan any day.
3 – Downtown Disney
Beautiful view but…I still don't get it. Photo by Frank Anzalone.
This one may come as a surprise to many of you out there. I just don’t get Downtown Disney. There are some great shops there. There are some great restaurants there. But, whenever we have gone there, I can’t wait to leave. I think it’s too busy. I think it’s too congested. It has completely popped my “Disney bubble” many times.
We live 45 minutes from Manhattan. We can go to Planet Hollywood anytime. Why would we want to go there when we’re in a place as special and unique as Disney World? Don’t even get me started on Pleasure Island. Good riddance. I walked through it once. I practically ran out the other side barely escaping the bad ’80s cover band playing outside with my sanity intact. Sorry, but the only memorable part of any of our excursions to Downtown Disney was the boat ride to and from Port Orleans when we stayed there. That was nice and peaceful and unique. However, docking at Downtown Disney was always a big disappointment.
2 – The Swan and Dolphin
The Dolphin Hotel. Photo by J. Jeff Kober
I remember the first trip that my wife and I were going to take to Walt Disney World together with our then four-year-old daughter. The teacher discount at one of these hotels was pretty sweet and we were almost going to book, when a friend talked us into Caribbean Beach instead. Thank goodness for that. I know these two hotels have their fans, but really…I just don’t get them. I haven’t stayed there, so maybe my opinion isn’t totally justified, but to me, they are a physical intrusion on the otherwise beautiful Boardwalk area. Think about the architecture of the Yacht and Beach Clubs and the Boardwalk Resort. Now follow your eye around the picturesque Crescent Lake and then…you hit the Swan and Dolphin.
I’ve read about Michael Eisner’s notions for these two resorts—the whole entertainment architecture thing, and I sort of get that. What I don’t get is where they are. They stand out like sore thumbs and I hate that you can see them from World Showcase. You can’t see the Contemporary from Main Street for a reason. It’s intentionally blocked. They painted the Hollywood Tower Hotel at Hollywood Studios a certain color so that when you were in Morocco in Epcot and saw it, it blended in. How, exactly, anyone let these two monstrosities get built in this location is beyond me.
1 – Disney’s Hollywood Studios
I do enjoy the brooms. Photo by Frank Anzalone.
Here’s an even bigger shocker for you all. For the most part, I really don’t get Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I will go on record as saying; I have enjoyed some of my time there. The Tower of Terror is amazing and maybe the best Disney attraction anywhere. I love Toy Story Mania. It’s a total blast with a really fun queue. Star Tours? I’m a big fan of the old version and the new version. My beloved Muppets have a home here. And I’m a total sap for the Little Mermaid. So, it may sound like I actually like the place…and I’ve tried…and there are things I like about the place…but I just don’t feel it when I’m there.
I think it’s the whole Hollywood entertainment industry thing. I’ve been on real movie and television sets and stages for 20 years. It’s not a big deal for me. It’s work, and I don’t want to think about work when I’m on vacation. My wife, also affiliated with the entertainment business, feels the same way. She doesn’t even want to go to the Studios and she’s managed to avoid it on our last three trips.
Plus, just because I’m a major Disney fanatic, doesn’t mean that I’m a major ABC fanatic. The huge billboards for whatever latest hit show is on ABC take me right out of the magic and make me think of being home watching TV, and quite frankly, that’s a little depressing when I’m supposed to be escaping into Disney World. I was a huge fan of LOST; still am. But despite the whole ABC/Disney connection, LOST isn’t Disney. It’s separate. It’s not what I’m going there for. I don’t want to see a LOST billboard. I’ve always found this self-promotion to be an intrusion when I’m strolling around this park.
At the Magic Kingdom, we’re off to Neverland. Transport me to Africa or Asia in Animal Kingdom. Let me stroll through an authentic plaza in Germany at Epcot. Just don’t make me stare at a giant Good Morning America billboard at the Studios. Yuck! I’m sorry, but like I said—I’m totally buying into the magic when I’m at Walt Disney World, and the Studios just aren’t that magical to me.
Remember, these are just my things. The whole beauty of a place like Walt Disney World is that a thousand people will find a thousand different things to like or dislike about it. There’s so much variety. There are places that I will stop and admire that the next person never would. There are things that I don’t get that you will. I love that about the place.
I guess my whole point is…find out for yourself. Make the place yours. People say that you have to book really early to get what you want. Sometimes true, but not always. People may say you have to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s a must. Well, we’ve gone entire trips without setting foot there and never felt like we were missing something. I can’t go on a trip without “it’s a small world.” Other people certainly wouldn’t get that. To me small world is Disney and it’s the kind of thing that I can only get when I’m there.
Read the books. Read the sites and the message boards. Talk to experienced people that have been there. But most important, don’t forget to make the trip your own. Don’t get bogged down thinking that everything is a must see. Do Disney your way and you’ll quickly find what you “get.”
I’d be curious to hear if there are things in Disney World or Disneyland that you just don’t get. Do you agree or disagree with some of mine?
That's My Disney Top 5 for today. What's yours? Click on the “Discuss this article on MousePad” link below and share your list!
