I now realize how I take for granted how well I know WDW in Florida and underestimate how uncomfortable it can be when you don’t know what you are doing at a busy theme park.

Honestly, going to Disney without doing any planning or research in advance is not the experience it should be.

You’ve already heard about my trouble just getting into the park, but once through the turnstyles it wasn’t perfect. There we were, standing there looking into the crowds of people and we literally didn’t know which way to turn, so I grabbed a map.

The maps aren’t as easy as they should be if you are just looking at them for the first time because the paths are kind of winding.  We were trying to get to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and ended up on the wrong side of the lake. Then when we actually found it, the line to get fast passes was really long and the regular wait time was over an hour.

We only got in one ride before we had lunch, and since I didn’t know anything about the restaurants, we had no idea where to go. At this point, we were getting hot, cranky, and tired of the crowds and could only agree that we wanted a place that served alcohol.

I love that they have the restaurant inside the POTC like in California so we went there - and that was cool, but the food was, uh, let’s just say “not good”. But it was expensive, so there was that.  There are probably better places with better food, but I hadn’t done my homework, so I don’t know.

After some wine we felt renewed to try the park again, and the alcohol might have made us a little more relaxed but not any smarter, so we only managed 2 more rides and then we left.

I’m glad we went. I loved seeing it and I really wanted the experience, but this trip was more like a reconnaissance mission  than a vacation. Poor Brian - it must have really sucked for him. He definitely gets the “Good Sport Award for 2008”.

Mostly, I will be even more committed to making sure no one I knows goes to WDW without having first done a little planning (made the reservations, thought about what they wanted to see, familiarized themselves with maps, understood the transportation, etc). After DLP, I am reminded that people who say that they hate Disney may very well have just had bad experiences because of being unprepared and overwhelmed.