What advice would you give to someone doing WDW for the first time in 16 years?

I’m ridiculously excited to be returning to WDW in March–April 2022, sixteen years (!) after my last visit. This will be my first adults-only Disney trip—I was there with both my kids plus extended family in 2002, and with my son in 2006. I know a lot has changed at Disney since then!

We are three women who love rides and hate waiting in line. We also love to eat and are not very interested in character meets or merch. We’ve already booked transportation and accommodations (Dolphin). We have 7-day Park Hopper tickets (including our two travel days) and will spend one additional day at Universal (mostly for the Hagrid ride, since we did the whole Universal thing in 2017). We have (tentative) park reservations.

So send me your Disney wisdom! If it’s covered in the bible Unofficial Guide, no need to repeat it here. :wink:

Girl, you’re gonna need a more directed approach. There is so much to cover that without knowing specifics it would be hard to answer your very general question.

1 Like

A very open-ended question, I know! But some people have a favorite tip that they like to share with newcomers and long-absentees!

Like, if someone asked me, I would first say Read Unofficial Guide cover-to-cover, but I already ruled that out! So my next tip might be to avoid Mission Space if you’re concerned about motion sickness. (Yes, they cover that in the UG, but in kind of a wishy-washy way, so I did it anyway, to my regret.)

I’ve got a tip that may or may not be covered anywhere else: let a theme be your guide to the World.

You already know you can’t do everything.
You already know you don’t want to wait in lines.
You already know you love to eat.

Spring Training comes to mind, given your trip time frame. I don’t know what can be done with that. It could lead to other theme ideas.

Another thought: since it’s been 16 years, seek out all the rides/attractions that came on line from 2007 to 2018 which won’t have lines as long. (Catching up. Y’all will have so much fun you’ll be back soon for the newer stuff) Also, have a ‘that’s too long’ limit on line waits. Ours is 30 minutes. We’re ok with missing a ride; we’ll still have a great time.

Build into your schedule extra time and monitor the really new rides. If one has really low wait times, add it in, spur of the moment.

My last tip is that most of our favorite memories don’t involve rides while our greatest regrets are the photos we wish we’d gotten.

5 Likes

This is great advice, thanks!! I think we’ll get Memory Maker this time around!

1 Like

I’m assuming you don’t need help choosing Restaurants, but since you have not been to any since back in the day, thought I’d ask.

Late March/early April is peak spring break, so I would for sure plan on adding G+ every day and probably some IAS too.

2 Likes

I picked these days (Mar 29 thru Apr 5) because TP’s predicted crowd levels are fairly low (mostly between 3 and 6). Hope I didn’t goof in that regard. :neutral_face:

1 Like

Probably will do this, since line-avoidance is high on our priority list.

1 Like

Well that may be accurate with Easter being late. Plan for high crowds, and if it winds up moderate, that’s a bonus!

2 Likes

I did a girl’s trip in 2019 and it was amazing! One of the biggest highlights was doing the fireworks party at Magic Kingdom - we loved having VIP seating and desserts.

I highly recommend Memory Maker. My friends were not in favor of buying it, so I did it as a present, and we all enjoyed the photos of all of us together. We made a special effort to take a lot of photographs, and I cherish these. Also the ride photos are priceless.

I would recommend having one dining reservation at least a day so you have a chance to rest.

On our last day, we decided to go to Epcot instead of Hollywood and looked at what lunch options were available. I read out all of the ones, and to my surprise, my friends picked Princess breakfast at Akershus. We had a blast. Even if you are adults, I would still recommend one character meal for the fun of it.

2 Likes

Might not be a goof regarding crowds tho the weather could already be brutal.

One of my least favorite temperature related trips was our mid April trip. We were looking forward to the Flower and Garden Show - or whatever its called.

Maybe the weather was abnormally warm and humid. :thinking:

1 Like

Let me know how the Tron light cycle is! It should be open by then.

Oh, the thread title doesn’t mean you’re going in 16 years? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

5 Likes

Low 80’s for highs are the norm that time of year. Consistant 90’s would be non-typical.

2 Likes

Weather in late March/early April is SUBLIME. I believe they call it “Chamber Of Commerce Weather”

Humidity starts to hit at the very very end of April

1 Like

I bleeve we got the humidity specially for us!

And I was so looking forward to Epcot then.

1 Like

I went eleven years between trips. Missed it so much I packed activity into every available hour. While my husband insists it was the best vacation he ever had (he went once in 1972), it was just too much for him. We had an early ADR at BOG, which meant waking up at 5:30. He said “We have to wake up at 5:30 on vacation?” :laughing:
I understand there will be a longing to pack in as much as possible, but take time to smell the roses (My husband is in no hurry to go back to WDW with me.) :blush:

4 Likes

This is just my general tips for everyone:

  1. Something, at some point, WILL GO WRONG. Let it. Rolling with it can yield amazing returns that would surpass your original intentions. Taking frustrations out on cast members or your own party members will just lead to a ruined day. As the saying goes: “Pack your patience”

  2. Learn how to use your camera if you don’t know already. Even though you said you’ll have memory maker, taking your own photos is going to be just as important. Especially if it’s a cell phone camera. I’m not talking your basic “point/shoot” functions, but things like Night Modes and slow motion video. How to activate and how to deactivate (just as important). The holidays are a great time of year to practice your low-light photography.

  3. Put. The. Camera. Down. Taking a ton of photos and videos is absolutely suggested, but don’t become a slave to it. Don’t film shows or rides unless you’re the subject of the video/photo (for example you’re filming someone in your party’s reaction to a show). Whatever gear you’re bringing to Disney to take photos/video of a ride/show, someone already has taken a video of it with, very likely, MUCH higher end equipment. So put the camera down and enjoy the show, don’t worry about capturing it for later. If you’re not going to personalize the video/photo you’ll be able to find on youtube or elsewhere on the web later.

12 Likes

That is the single best piece of advice I’ve ever heard.

6 Likes

Don’t sell the character interactions short. We’ve found that you frequently get what you put into them. I’ve found the characters to be pretty good at reading folks. So, if you just stand there for a generic shot, they’ll probably give it to you. The more you interact and see them as the character instead of someone in a costume, the greater your chance for some fun.

Hopefully the interactions are back to normal by then. Also, you don’t need to see or interact with all of them. Pick your favorites and go from there. Also, there is usually a photopass CM nearby, so you can get some group shots if you want.

1 Like