What did you do differently?

[mi55pink]

I’m in the process of booking our May 2020 holiday which is going to be our 2nd visit.

First time round I found the dibb invaluable for planning information but now I’m wondering what those who have been more than once have done differently from their previous visits.

So far I’ve decided to be less rigid with the daily itinerary (although I will still do one just not stick to it so much) and also we won’t do any of the more expensive ‘must do’ Disney dining. We paid OOP for garden grill and BOG but it wasn’t really for us. With no DDP and staying off site we didn’t think it was worth it. Plus we’re not really that into characters!

So what have you changed in subsequent trips to Orlando?

[Mr Tom Morrow]

We totally changed once the children became teens and had done the Parks multiple times. We still kept a rough plan but became a lot less intense and more relaxed.

They are now in their 30's so it's just us now and sometimes 1 Grandchild. So the only plan we have is to do 3 Parks per week and sunbathe the rest of the time. Even that is flexible!

Lets be honest. If staying offsite Disney dining is an expensive option and you can't even say the food is better as it's not.

We are DVC Owners so have the luxury of 'pre paid' accommodation. If we didn't I would never stay onsite. Far too expensive and for a lot less money you can get a big Villa plus pool.

But to your question. be loose with your plans, accept that it has been done before and don't lose heart muscle over failures to do certain things such as FOP etc.

Enjoy the holiday.

As an aside we have the 8yr old Granddaughter with us in August so our 'loose plan' will become a lot more structured as the holiday is for her not us. We can do what we want to in November when we are back again

[Connorsmummy]

What we have done different is:

Staying on site AKL (This will be a one off)
Booked DDP (Came with the package)
I will plan a bit more - mostly around where we are eating.

1st time we went (my BF and I). we done Universal, IOA, wet n wild, sea world and MK one day.

2nd Time our son was 3.5 years old so it was split between Disney and universal wet n wild and sea wold - we done 10 days straight at parks and it almost killed us (Not all day).

This time it will be All Disney and maybe a day at sea world our son will be 10.5 years old and absolutely loves animals hence why AKL.

[ohpair]

We planned not to plan - but have ended up with a plan 😂
Staying Disney delux with dinning plan, so booked different meals.
We are not doing certain things again, like meet and great with Gaston - was brilliant last time so don’t want to ruin it.
This time we plan on doing gatorland 🐊 Kennedy and possibly a day at the beach all things we didn’t do last time.
No doubt the plan will change - always does 🙄

[lottiesmum0]

I would say I’ve almost gone the other way and become more structured! As the kids have got older we have started to stay onsite (this will be our second onsite visit) as we’ve found that onsite and having ‘prepaid/free dining’ helps and also they are old enough to walk to the pool/drinks/games facilities independently.
We’ve found lots of pleasure in planning and talking about where we want to eat and parks to go to!
That’s not to say we can’t or won’t be flexible with our plans if needed

[JLH]

2nd trip dropped disney , did more other things such as beaches and state parks as well as universal seaworld etc.
3rd tripped did sort of the same as 2nd trip but more rest days plus added night at universal hotel.
4th trip we went to Anna Maria for a week then five days in Orlando but with no universal or disney or any parks .
This trip back to universal ,seaworld etc and one evening at disney but still hoping to fit beach in.

[mi55pink]

I’m actually feeling more pressure to get it right this time round.

Although nothing was wrong first time I feel like I need to better the first holiday! 🙈

Initially I wanted to make it different with a trip to the gulf coast and we were going to drop Disney. First time we did Disney and universal so we were going to do the seaworld parks instead of Disney. Now somehow Disney has made it back in and we’re actually doing more parks this time! 😂

Obviously gulf coast has now been postponed until maybe a third visit when daughter is a bit older!

Why is there so much to do there?! 😩😂

[cornishfrogboy]

We have gradually moved from one extreme to the other. We began with a Disney on site vacation in 2005 with just a single day outside at Seaworld. We did not enjoy it.

We then found on our return in 2009 that we preferred Hotels outside of the bubble as we had found the bubble claustrophobic, discovering Universal and Discovery Cove in the process. We also had started taking a night in a premium universal.

We then tried Villas and found ourselves preferring them to Hotels and also started hiring cars and driving, going further and further afield.

We then started going further, the keys, the gulf etc and doing maybe 12 in Orlando and 5 elsewhere, also using further flung airports. We were starting to enjoy the State Parks. We were starting to multicentre!

We them dropped Disney altogether as our boys grew and had a preference for the bigger rides in other parks. Our 'elsewhere' legs were becoming Washington, New York, Pensacola etc, often 5 or more different overnight accommodations during the one vacation.

We then dropped Florida and went for a California N to South, our best US vacation to date..

This year we are up to 21 nights, with Boston, NY, Dayton Ohio and then 3 different accommodations in Orlando including a villa for 10, nights before a last night in Naples and a departure from Miami.

As our experience and confidence has grown (largely through DIBBER advice), we have become ever more adventurous to the extent that we now do none of what bought us to Orlando in the first place. Once our boys have left the nest, theme parks (other maybe than DC and Seaworld) will probably go the same way.. or even Orlando!.

I still expect however to remain a regular Florida visitor. It will probably become a smaller part of any vacation and in any case we now have a preference for the panhandle as we weigh up a drive from San Diego to Pensacola.

[JLH]

Originally Posted by mi55pink

I’m actually feeling more pressure to get it right this time round.

Although nothing was wrong first time I feel like I need to better the first holiday! 🙈

Initially I wanted to make it different with a trip to the gulf coast and we were going to drop Disney. First time we did Disney and universal so we were going to do the seaworld parks instead of Disney. Now somehow Disney has made it back in and we’re actually doing more parks this time! 😂

Obviously gulf coast has now been postponed until maybe a third visit when daughter is a bit older!

Why is there so much to do there?! 😩😂

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To me my 2nd trip was better anyway , 1st visit we thought would be our only visit so consequently did stuff every day until we realised we weren't enjoying that much anymore. Second time around we didnt feel the need to get everything done so took it more easy and it was so much nicer.

[Markmilward]

Chill , that would be my biggest bit of advice ! We have been 6 times now and each time gets better and I would say it’s because we are much more relaxed about what we intend to do whilst out there