Anyone just go without a plan?

[javs4evas1298]

I was just curious if there is anyone else on these boards who are like my husband and I and go to Disney without a plan of what they are going to do from day to day. It seems like everyone plans what parks they are going to go to on what day and what rides they will ride and in what order. That would drive me absolutely crazy. The only thing we have planned is what day we are going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and that is only because we had to purchase the tickets in advance. :lol: I see a lot of people complain about how exhausting Disney is but I don't feel that way at all. I am wondering if maybe that is because we just plan as we go rather than trying to cram a bunch of things into one day or one trip. So, anyone else here who just vacation with the "go with the flow" mentality?

 

[foreverbelle]

The only thing my husband and I plan is our ADR's other than that we don't exactly have a plan. I know people that go on the first ride and all, but we just like to go with the flow when it comes to that sort of thing.

 

[Monty]

I plan a TS meal per day, selecting a few favourites and adding a few new ones. Then I work out what parks lend themselves to which restaurants for getting to/from ADRs and set up so we hit all the parks "in concert" with our ADRs. Never specifically plan ride order other than making sure we hit the ones we want.

I'll sometimes adjust to take advantage of EMH at AK, we love Everest at night.

 

[harveyt0206]

I whole heartedly admit to being an avid trip planner when it comes to Disney. I do draw the line at the order we ride attractions (although, I do try to make sure Haunted Mansion is always the first and last ride). The rest of it I plan, plan, plan. ADRs, what park to visit on what day, parades, fireworks and anything else that I can plan ahead of time. For me, I simply enjoy the time that I put into planning. It's half the fun for my trip.

I do have to give props to everyone who goes to Disney and wings it. I think that sounds fun.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

fail to plan plan to fail.

Another fine Sak-ism for the book. :ROFLOL:

 

[harveyt0206]

Another fine Sak-ism for the book. :ROFLOL:

We should start a thread: "The Daily Sak".

 

[gallerie]

I like just going and doing as it comes, but today if you dont plan your dining you wont get what you want when you want it, and I think that is sad.

 

[Bluewaves]

The only things we planned on our last trip down were when we were going to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour and a couple of sit down meals, beyond that we just went with it, only day we knew exactly what park we would be in other the the KTTK tour was on 10/2/07 as that was Epcot's 25th and I knew exactly were we would be most of the day

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

huge planner....

I am a HUGE planner. That being said, I do not plan out every minute of every day. We do ADR's cause I'd rather not chance it and I plan on what day we go to which park so we may avoid the crowds. Oddly enough we have yet to have the same plan repeated the times we've been. I don't want to get into a routine at all, that's what life is like, especially when the kids are in school. I see Disney as our down time - just relax and have fun!

 

[GeoDonJac34]

I would be sad without planning. I have so much fun looking up all the EMH hours and menus for ADRs at new restaurants, etc. that I feel like I would miss out.
I agree with you, plus it is nice to have an ADR in a park that is open late. I think this also helps to avoid too much time on the buses.

 

[fosse76]

I was just curious if there is anyone else on these boards who are like my husband and I and go to Disney without a plan of what they are going to do from day to day. It seems like everyone plans what parks they are going to go to on what day and what rides they will ride and in what order. That would drive me absolutely crazy. The only thing we have planned is what day we are going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and that is only because we had to purchase the tickets in advance. :lol: I see a lot of people complain about how exhausting Disney is but I don't feel that way at all. I am wondering if maybe that is because we just plan as we go rather than trying to cram a bunch of things into one day or one trip. So, anyone else here who just vacation with the "go with the flow" mentality?

I NEVER plan. But I always go alone, so it's relatively easy to change plans. On my last trip, I decided to go to the Magic Kingdom one day, but as soon as I got off the bus I changed my mind and headed to the TTC to go to Epcot. But the it was very crowded, with lines filling up almost every square inch of the TTC so I took a bus to DHS instead.

Usually I am indecisive even in the mornings. I try to plan, but then I never stick to it.

 

[brifraz]

We always plan. And, yes, we plan which rides to do in what order. But we always travel during peak times (spring break, mid-summer, and xmas) and don't like waiting in lines. Between using EMH and FP and our knowledge of crowd behavior and ride capacities, we can usually do 10+ attractions by noon and be relaxing by the pool after lunch.

We have extended family who just visited this summer and did not plan anything. Then, they complained when they spent most of their day in lines and missed out on lots of attractions.

 

[javs4evas1298]

We have extended family who just visited this summer and did not plan anything. Then, they complained when they spent most of their day in lines and missed out on lots of attractions.

It bugs me when people complain about standing in long lines. You can stand in lines for ten minutes or less and still ride everything you want. We never stand in long lines. If the ride we are walking past is too busy then we skip it and come back later when it is not so busy. Seems like standing in a long line is such a waste when there is so much other stuff to do.

 

[Xethis]

We usually plan out our ADR's & try to group them by park/area so we're not wasting time travelling from one side of the World to the other. After we have our days arranged by park, we tend to just wander, get the high demand rides out of the way early if possible, and then play everything else by ear.

I think its a good idea to plan a loose outline, but planning to the minute could lead to plans going off track & stressing you out more.

We also leave a day or two open, to relax at a water park or to revisit things we'd like to do again.

 

[Susan Savia]

We do very little if any, planning regarding being in the parks. In fact our up coming trip in January, we may skip doing any ADRs. We don't know where we'll be on any given day or time. We do know that our first park is always Epcot as well as our last park we visit in a trip and we tend to do the same pattern of touring. For example in MK we always go left thru Advertureland to begin, ending in Tomorrowland and back down main street. No criss crossing one side to the other, no breaks to run back to the room to sleep or eat. Most days we will hop to another park when we've seen and done what we wanted in the lst park. We'll decide what park at that time. Wherever we are when we are hungry we seek out food or wait til we leave the park and find a restaurant. When we're on vacation we are free spirits, unlike the rest of the year when its meetings, appointments and deadlines.

 

[njDizFan]

The title alone gave my heart palpatations. Planning for me is essential. From ADRs, special plans(pirate cruise etc.), resort hopping, days I will be at each park. I usually don't go as far as a mapping out ride sequence but I usually know what I want to do first. But I do bring my spreadsheat with me every day.

 

[WDW 3]

Not too much planning for us either. Usually only a couple ADR's for 7 - 10 days and reservations for tours & shows. We are fully aware of EMH and book show tickets around them. My family would hate being tied down to a schedule just because of ADR's. What if the stand-by line was 0 min at RnR and we had to walk on by because we had to get someplace because we made a reservations 180 days earlier. But that's my family

 

[slappy magoo]

I don't plan as much as I used to; I used to be quite precise as to the order I'd like to do things, and taking a break was for wimps. Now that we go more often, I'm not nearly so about things. Like most of you, I do book adrs, and what reservations I get and when may dictate the park(s) we visit that day, and I do try to avoid the MK on the weekends. And I have an idea in my head on how best to tour any given park on any given day, but it's not written in stone.

I will share this one story about "winging it." Last trip out, I was kinda hoping to get to the Studios as early as possible, with Toy Story Mania being so new. In fact, I wanted to get there at opening. My dear Slappette decided we'd be better off resting that morning. Besides, last few trips, it always seemed like the Studios was a ghost town. Not wanting to cause friction, I agreed. We arrived to the Studios about 90 minutes after opening, there was a posted 2 1/2 hour wait, and Fastpasses were for the end of the night. Wound up getting FPs for, like 8:55 at night, figuring we'd do a few things now, rest, have dinner and come back (though the original plan that night was to take it easy, too). When it came time to go back, we got on a "Studios" bus after waiting a half hour, and we were the only ones to get on the bus at that stop, it turns out the bus driver made an announcement BEFORE we got on that instead of the Studios, this bus was going to MK. And he changed the lettering on the bus AFTER we got on. So when we got to MK, needless to say, we were miffed. The only thing the driver would do was take us to TTC where we waited over a half hour, where we transferred to the Studios. Got there about a half hour before closing, and our FPs had already expired. This was one time I was grateful that they usually don't check end times on Fastpasses. We finally got on (and yeah, even by my old fart standards, it was awesome), but I did go to Guest Services to complain. I prefaced my complaint with "I know it's not your fault, but I have to vent..." the manager was sympathetic, especially since we wasted so much time waiting for a bus not going to our destination, then waiting for another bus that would. He gave us bonus FPs for everything at the Studios...that we wound up not being able to use anyway. Wound up giving them to some kids at the Saratoga Rec Center.

So...I don't see a problem with planning. Had we gone to the Studios as planned, much of that would've been avoided.

 

[wendysue]

When we arrive at WDW, we get settled in our room, and then we get on the first bus that arrives and that's how we decide where to go first. So far, it has always worked out well. (except that one time, when the first bus at CB was the internal resort shuttle....) then we took the second bus. :ROFLOL:

 

[klineski96]

We probably fall right in the middle of the "no plans" vs "everything is planned" groups.

We have a few ADR's lined up for our long anniversary weekend in August, and we've got a general idea of what park we're going to hit each day, but absolutely nothing is set in stone except for the ADR's.

We put more of an emphasis on awareness than all out planning. We're aware of park hours, parade/firework times, a.m. and p.m. Extra Magic Hours and our ADR times.

We're aware of what we want to see and what we want to ride, I'm also very aware that my wife wants to have plenty of pool time and a brownie cheesecake from the bakery at the Boardwalk :lol:

 

[tigsmom]

We probably fall right in the middle of the "no plans" vs "everything is planned" groups.

We have a few ADR's lined up for our long anniversary weekend in August, and we've got a general idea of what park we're going to hit each day, but absolutely nothing is set in stone except for the ADR's.

We put more of an emphasis on awareness than all out planning. We're aware of park hours, parade/firework times, a.m. and p.m. Extra Magic Hours and our ADR times.

We're aware of what we want to see and what we want to ride, I'm also very aware that my wife wants to have plenty of pool time and a brownie cheesecake from the bakery at the Boardwalk :lol:

Probably the most important of all!! :lol: