I think if you are disappointed you are doing it wrong or didn't really want to go. There's always something that doesn't go right - like a ride is down or it rains - but that is with any travel. It is expensive, but so is everything - a concert ticket seems to start at $100 now, a ticket to a football game is more. The parks are open all day, you can do a mix of fancy restaurants and packing lunch. You can pick some top things to do and then easily roam around for the rest of the day.

Anonymous wrote:Money makes everything easier. Spring for all the lightening lanes. Do the lesser advertised paid experiences at Animal Kingdom and Epcot like Wild Africa Trek and scuba diving in the aquarium. Do make sure to stay on property and get restaurant reservations when they open. You can always cancel later.

The more money you can spend, the less planning you need to have a great time. Sucks but true.

Yes. Also every day doesn’t need to be 12 hours long and some of the best experiences are in hotels or in hidden corners, no formal lines. We love riding all the different forms of transportation, checking out all the various hotel theming, eating at off the path places and just taking our time. But we go often and are not trying to check off some list of accomplishments.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Here's how we'd do Chicago. Priorities: Shedd Aquarium, The Art Institute, and Maggie Daley Park. I'd look up days they are open and reserve aquarium event tickets for anything that sells out. Figure out whether The Art Institute is easy to get into last minute. If it is, have a day in mind but probably wait to reserve tickets until we're in town. Keep in the back of my head to go to the park when the weather is good.

That's the level of planning I like to do, but we'd end up wandering around Chicago and seeing/doing much more.

Does picking 2-3 top attractions and then wandering around work at Disney, or would we essentially end up only able to do those few things and nothing else?

Yes, you can do that. We went last June to Epcot and AK (Yes, June! It was hotter in DC that week. We brought fans and cooling towels but it wasn't unbearable). We went to two parks over two days, bought 1 LL ride each day and then wandered around based on wait times on the app. But because it was June, lines were only long for the best rides. We went on the safari at AK on a 10 minute wait. My kid loved spaceship earth so we rode it 3 times. Lines at MK are always long so its easier to wander at the other parks.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Here's how we'd do Chicago. Priorities: Shedd Aquarium, The Art Institute, and Maggie Daley Park. I'd look up days they are open and reserve aquarium event tickets for anything that sells out. Figure out whether The Art Institute is easy to get into last minute. If it is, have a day in mind but probably wait to reserve tickets until we're in town. Keep in the back of my head to go to the park when the weather is good.

That's the level of planning I like to do, but we'd end up wandering around Chicago and seeing/doing much more.

Does picking 2-3 top attractions and then wandering around work at Disney, or would we essentially end up only able to do those few things and nothing else?

This would be way cheaper than Disney. I am not sure what the PP is talking about when they said they spent Disney level money on recent trips to Chicago and Texas. I don’t know Texas as well, but there are plenty of reasonably priced hotels in Chicago, public transportation is inexpensive, and there are plenty of cheap delicious eats. Sure, you could drop hundreds on a Michelin starred meal but unlikely if you’re traveling with kids.

Money makes everything easier. Spring for all the lightening lanes. Do the lesser advertised paid experiences at Animal Kingdom and Epcot like Wild Africa Trek and scuba diving in the aquarium. Do make sure to stay on property and get restaurant reservations when they open. You can always cancel later.

The more money you can spend, the less planning you need to have a great time. Sucks but true.

OP here. Here's how we'd do Chicago. Priorities: Shedd Aquarium, The Art Institute, and Maggie Daley Park. I'd look up days they are open and reserve aquarium event tickets for anything that sells out. Figure out whether The Art Institute is easy to get into last minute. If it is, have a day in mind but probably wait to reserve tickets until we're in town. Keep in the back of my head to go to the park when the weather is good.

That's the level of planning I like to do, but we'd end up wandering around Chicago and seeing/doing much more.

Does picking 2-3 top attractions and then wandering around work at Disney, or would we essentially end up only able to do those few things and nothing else?

It was just too crowded and too complicated for us. I didn't have much in the way of expectations but it's definitely not our vibe.

Universal is a little better for our family dynamic.

The last time we went was 15 years ago with kids. The ticket prices were astronomical back then and I can only imagine what they are now. I felt ripped off when considering how few rides we could ride after waiting in lines. But taking the financial piece out of it, we had a lot of fun without a fancy game plan. We didn’t do any of the expensive extras because we had a tight budget. In my experience, those aren’t that important to the kids. And with kids, I always wanted to avoid over scheduling or being inflexible with our plans. I realize times have changed and maybe you have to plan out your rides to have any hope of getting them in but also keep in mind that there are always people who go overboard and then tell you that their way is the only way. It was that way even when we went. We knew two families who took annual jam packed trips and their kids didn’t appear to have a better time. Instead parents came home with stories of melt downs and tantrums.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disappointment is a function of expectations. I’m not a Disney fan, but I’ve been 4 times and had a great time each time. I knew what to expect, what my kids/traveling companions liked to do, and made plans keeping all that in mind. Plans doesn’t have to mean a minute-by-minute itinerary.

OP here. Totally agree disappointment is a function of expectations. I'm very good at applying that to other vacations. I'm just not sure I could at Disney, given what I'd feel (self-imposed) pressure to get for the relatively high cost.

Curious to hear more of how you approach Disney.

It’s not that much of an additional cost. What are you usual vacations?

Primarily domestic cities recently.

If your kids like traipsing around cities, going to museums, seeing a skyline, maybe visiting a park, then just do that. If your kids like and want more stimulation Disney is not bad for the price considering you can be there 12 hours a day and not run out of things to do. It's crowded enough, you don't have to go if it's not for you.

For my family, I've found we enjoy Disney World best when we don't overdo the planning. We decide a few must-dos, prioritize those, and freestyle the rest.

Be flexible-if for some reason you can't do something you want to (ex. ride is down) then go do something else. There is so much to do. And if you are traveling with young kids-know that you may need to call it a day at a different time than you expect. But it can still be lots of fun.

As far as heat-ok I live in Fl so I'm probably more used to it, but if you are there in hot weather, one idea is to get there really early and do stuff before the hottest part of the day, leave after lunch or so and go back to the hotel to rest/swim, head back around dinner time and close the place down.

Expectations: for me, the experience has only gotten worse in the past 15 years and to have the same experience you need to pay 6-8x more.

Cost: it's always been expensive. I don't think I've paid less than $500/pp/day for hotel, tickets, etc. We do 1-2 nice meals a day and it's very, very expensive. That said, with these new lightning lane packages it ups the price considerably but you also can't get them because they are in such demand.

We're on day 2 of the parks and teenager wants to sleep in until noon, elementary kid is having fun but melted down by 2pm and toddler doesn't care. Without strollers in line, it was 60 minutes of wrestling and entertaining I could have done without. I'm also on day 2 of picking up some kind of awful illness so there is also that to contend with. Today I'm not going to battle lines for any rides. We'll do short waits or LL and call it a day.

Yes, I'm very disappointed when I don't run into the Plus Size Park Hoppers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/travel/plus-size-park-hoppers-disney.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disappointment is a function of expectations. I’m not a Disney fan, but I’ve been 4 times and had a great time each time. I knew what to expect, what my kids/traveling companions liked to do, and made plans keeping all that in mind. Plans doesn’t have to mean a minute-by-minute itinerary.

OP here. Totally agree disappointment is a function of expectations. I'm very good at applying that to other vacations. I'm just not sure I could at Disney, given what I'd feel (self-imposed) pressure to get for the relatively high cost.

Curious to hear more of how you approach Disney.

It’s not that much of an additional cost. What are you usual vacations?

Primarily domestic cities recently.

Ok. I am pretty sure I spent almost as much on my trips to Chicago and Texas recently. Main difference being more expense airfair and hotels in those places, plus price of transportation and activities, and more expensive food. I could have done those cities cheaper but that would require honestly the same level of planning as Disney. The issue with Disney is actually that there are so many options that it takes a while to decide how to prioritize!

Good to know. Thank you for responding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disappointment is a function of expectations. I’m not a Disney fan, but I’ve been 4 times and had a great time each time. I knew what to expect, what my kids/traveling companions liked to do, and made plans keeping all that in mind. Plans doesn’t have to mean a minute-by-minute itinerary.

OP here. Totally agree disappointment is a function of expectations. I'm very good at applying that to other vacations. I'm just not sure I could at Disney, given what I'd feel (self-imposed) pressure to get for the relatively high cost.

Curious to hear more of how you approach Disney.

It’s not that much of an additional cost. What are you usual vacations?

Primarily domestic cities recently.

Ok. I am pretty sure I spent almost as much on my trips to Chicago and Texas recently. Main difference being more expense airfair and hotels in those places, plus price of transportation and activities, and more expensive food. I could have done those cities cheaper but that would require honestly the same level of planning as Disney. The issue with Disney is actually that there are so many options that it takes a while to decide how to prioritize!