How To Have A Bad Time At Walt Disney World

There are millions of tips and tricks on how to have a good time on a Walt Disney World visit. But what about the things you shouldn't do? I've compiled a list of 6 ways to ruin your Walt Disney World experience:

Don’t plan anything at all
I used to work at the front entrance of Disney's Animal Kingdom, and the amount of times a whole family would saunter off the bus and ask a coworker or I “So…what’s there to do here?” was astronomical.  There are A LOT of things to do at Walt Disney World. Take one look at the list of attractions or the sheer size of the parks and it's enough to overwhelm anyone. It’s difficult to wrap my mind around shelling out so much money for travel, hotel, and tickets just to not know anything about the place you’re traveling to.  Some people don’t even know there’s more than one park in Walt Disney World before they go!

Of course, asking the Cast Members for advice or suggestions isn’t a bad idea. But having a Cast Member plan out your whole day will eat into your park time, and you will miss out on a lot of experiences.  

I’ve seen how a lack of planning can cause people to miss out on the most quintessential Disney World experiences. Once, I had a family complain to me as they were exiting the park that their day was ruined because they couldn’t find Mickey Mouse. They thought he was just supposed to be wandering around the park. If they had looked online prior to their vacation or even picked up a map at the beginning of their day, they would have seen that Mickey and Minnie meet together indoors on Discovery Island. I tried to hand them a map and direct them to where Mickey was. Unfortunately, the family was so frustrated that they just wanted to leave. You can’t just blindly walk into Walt Disney World and expect things to happen a certain way.  You need to do a little bit of research.

Plan too much
I know, I know. This sounds like conflicting advice. Planning every single thing down to the minute is even worse than not planning anything at all. The truth is, you will never be able to do every single thing you want to do on a WDW trip (unless you’re there for like a month). Along with crowds, there might be rain or ride closures or monorail breakdowns. Plus, if you’re constantly running around the parks, you’re going to become tired easily. If you have such high expectations about how things must go, you’re going to become extremely undisney-like when things eventually don’t go the way you want. 

My suggestion is to mark down the top 3 or 5 must-do things in every park, and leave the rest of your schedule up to whatever. If you’re traveling with a large group or have older kids, have everyone pick out their number one must-do whether it’s a ride, a show, or a character meet and greet. Then you can build a rough schedule around those must-dos and leave the rest of the time available to going with the flow.

Push your energy levels to the limit
This ties into over planning. If you plan to do too much, you can exert too much energy running all across the park. No matter your age or fitness level, you will be worn out at some point during a Disney trip. It’s important to take breaks frequently. Little kids especially will be tuckered out after a long day. If you start at rope drop and go all day, don’t be surprised if little ones fall asleep during the fireworks. 

I suggest against too much park-hopping. Walking from the back of the park, to the park entrance, to a transportation stop, and then waiting on transportation, walking to the entrance of another park and spending time walking around that park is draining. If you find yourself done with a park for the day, go back to the hotel and rest up for the next day's park. 

Lots of people suggest taking a mid-day break out of the park. I suggest that if you are a night owl (and the park is open late) sleep in a little bit. Go after the morning rush has dispersed and stay until closing. Sometimes rope drop is more crowded than closing time. 

 
Lose your patience

You’re going to spend the majority of your visit waiting. Waiting for your hotel room check-in time, waiting for the bus, waiting for the monorail, waiting in line, waiting for your dinner reservation or FastPast time slot. It's easy to become annoyed and frustrated at everyone around you. The last thing you want to do on a Disney trip is lash out at your family or random strangers. 

Try to keep the mood happy. You're at Disney! The happiest place on earth! Look around and take in the theming around you. Be appreciative of the time you are spending with your loved ones. If you find yourself becoming especially frustrated, try to remove yourself from the situation and take a break. 

You can prepare for the waiting. Play a game on your phone. Take pictures. Talk to your family. While waiting in line for a ride, I like to plan out which ride I'm going on next.  

Break the rules

Disney parks always have rules that guests need to adhere to, but they are easy to follow.  Basically, just be respectful. Do not cut in line. Do not antagonize other guests. Throw away your trash. Always follow what Cast Members ask you to do. If you break the rules, you may find yourself banned from Walt Disney World entirely. 

Overlook attractions that seem lame

Some of the best times I've had at Disney were during attractions, shows, or activities that I'd previously brushed off. Be open to experiences. If you have time to kill before your FastPast time, why not wander in a nearby attraction you haven't been on before? Let kids run around the park with scavenger-hunt games like the DuckTales World Showcase Adventure or the Wilderness Explorers at Animal Kingdom. Exploring everything the park has to offer keeps visits exciting. You'll never know which experiences you end up loving. 

Your Opinions

Do you have any advice on what not to do at Disney? Do you have any vacation regrets? Share your advice with others below!