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?

 

[fosse76]

We always plan. And, yes, we plan which rides to do in what order.

That's a bit much, but I do have an order of preference and I usually stick to it each trip. For instance, at MK, I ALWAYS visit Tomorrowland first. I made an exception once, and that was because Space Mountain was closed for its "refurb." It's a "touring plan" that works for me, so I rarely ever visit any other way. At DAK I ALWAYS go to Kilimanjaro Safaris first (and either grab a FP or get in line) and work my back to the front. It's just a plan that works for me to get through a lot in a shorter amount of time.

 

[soin2disney]

Never plan...

Hi,
We have gone 11 times, we use to plan, NOW the only thing we plan is going to Chef Mickey's....other then that...we wake up in the morning and just GO It is so much LESS STRESSFUL that way. If we are at the parks and we are HOT or/and TIRED, we go back to the hotel, swim take a nap, and go to a different park at night. Once you try it without planning, you will NEVER plan again

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

If visiting a theme park causes stress how the hell do you cope with modern living. :goodnevil

What I cant quite square is given the amount of threads about folk not being able to get into restaurants or other activities like cruises what type of activities do non planners actually do?

Or dont they?

 

[soin2disney]

If visiting a theme park causes stress how the hell do you cope with modern living. :goodnevil

What I cant quite square is given the amount of threads about folk not being able to get into restaurants or other activities like cruises what type of activities do non planners actually do?

Or dont they?

I didn't mean visiting the theme parks were stressful....I meant planning every moment of your vacation could be stressful

 

[Flower'sChild]

I like to do a lot of things at will. So I don't plan all that much I guess. I do plan some. For example I like the last night extra magic hours so I plan on doing those. But as to what parks I will go to on what days well I don't really plan like that all that much.

For my birthday I kinda feel like going to Magic Kingdom and maybe Epcot so that could be one of the days that I kinda plan what park I will go to. Now I like to stay 2 weeks for my birthday vacations and most of those days I don't plan what park I will go to and what I will do. I could just swim in my resort. I could go to one park. Maybe I will go to 2 parks. Maybe I will just go to the bus stop and get in the first bus I see that is going to a park.

I also don't always book a meal for every day. I might book some meals that I really want to go to are that are some of the hardest to get in. But a lot of times I just go to a restaurant as a walk in. I have been taken in to a lot of disney restaurants as a walk in (some of which had been booked for days and weeks).

 

[GenerationX]

Not to get too We Are the World here, but every family has what works for them. Certain factors (length of trip, time between trips, expected crowd levels, number and ages of kids, tolerance for lines, preferred speed of movement) will pretty much dictate how much planning is required for everyone to have a good time. Newbies need to take into account those factors + two other important ones: where everything is and what they really want to see. To that end, I've helped friends by giving them park maps and a list of attractions their particular family should probably have in the "Must See" category.

We typically go in the summer with three kids and have no tolerance for lines. I'll plan park tours to make sure we hit our Must Sees and have several nearby "sounds fun" attractions in my back pocket if we have time.

 

[surfsupdon]

We don't plan either. Usually we decide which park for the morning the night before, afternoons are always at the Resort, and that's when we decide what we feel like doing for dinner and which park to go to.

 

[ErickainPA]

On my mommy only trip I don't really plan anything since I usually only buy 2 day tickets for Night of Joy and that's the only parks I will see that night. During the day it's all mine to do as I want for 3-4 days. This trip coming up I am a bit more planned since going to do 2 table meals and also go and see my Aunt and Uncle. The trip with the kids I have mostly down to what park we are going to on what day and booking table meals. Since we are also going to Sea World and Busch Gardens for 2 days as well.

 

[brifraz]

Too Much Planning

I mentioned earlier how we plan everything. Now, if things don't go as planned, we don't fret it - just roll with the punches. That being said, here's an example of our plans for our upcoming trip:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=609320

For our family, the planning is a big part of the fun. Starts on the ride home from the previous trip with the What did we miss or want to do again? discussion. Every month or so, we plan a little more. Then one night, about 6 months out, I'll go crazy and stay up half the night making plans (which DW and DD are quick to edit and change).

But, again, that's just us!

 

[dizzney]

I will admit to being a spreadsheset person - which I carry daily with me - We always sit down as a family or as a couple (for planning our anniversary trip next month) and decide where we want to eat so we can make our ADR's; and if anyone wants to do something particular - In our New Years Eve trip the Osbourne Lights were on everyones list so we planned an ADR dinner at Mama Melroses and then to see the Lights; we will pensil in park hours and EMH hours. Where we eat will determine what park we might go to in the morning or evening. This coming trip we added the Keys to the Kingdom tour since we've nevr done it and always wanted to, so we adjsuted our schedule to go with that BUT we NEVER make a lsit of rides and the order we will go on them in. Even for a spreadsheet person and planner thats too much. We'll go with the flow in the parks ands kip longlines, do FP's, and just have fun. Afterall, we are on vacation to have fun!

28 days we we arrive!!!!

I

 

[PrincessSparrow]

The past 2 trips, my fiance' and I did not go with a plan. we would decide what we would do before bed for the following day. I loved it that way!

In Oct we are going on our honeymoon and have 7 out of 10 days planned out. I feel quite uncomfortable about having such a rigid plan but because of dinner reservations, dolphins in depth, fantasmic, and 2 trips to the halloween party, our honeymoon is planning itself...

 

[Nemo14]

I used to plan much more when our kids were young. We never did table service dinners then anyway, so ADR's were never an issue. I'd plan 1/2 days for each park (opening one and closing another), so we'd basically be in 2 different parks each day with a break in the middle.

Fast forward 15+ years and DH and I take our first Disney trip without kids. We planned absolutely nothing. Literally we'd go to the bus stop in the morniong and just get on the first bus that came along. If a ride had a long line we'd skip it, if a park seemed too crowded we'd hop to another. We had an absolute blast - most relaxing vacation ever!

Now when we go, we occasionally make one or two ADR's if we really want to try something, but other than that, we just relax and take things as they come and just enjoy ourselves!

 

[disney1077]

The only planning I do is the night before. We usually go to which ever park has the morning extra magic hours. Then head back to the resort in the afternoon. And at the resort we decide what to do for the rest of the evening. I mean I would have the parks schedule, menus, emh schedule printed for reference to help me decide the night before.

 

[NYwdwfan]

I will admit to being a spreadsheset person - which I carry daily with me

Funny - I don't remember writing this...guess there's someone else out there Excel obsessed like me!!

Slightly off subject - but I think DDP changed the way a lot of people approach a Disney vacation. When I was little there was no DDP and we just woke up, decided where to eat, and my mom called the concierge and made a reservation. Now with DDP people know they have a certain # of sit downs and want to make sure they get their favorite restaurants without having to wait an hour for a table.

 

[L2DAVI]

We did a year ago. The only thing we had "planned" was our dining. Everyday we would just pick a park and just wing it. I found that this was our most relaxing vacation we ever had. It also had to do with we had our 4 yr son so our schedule was gonna change at the drop of a dime. Son was a trooper though.

 

[thewhitequeen]

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:

We're going to try this next time.

We like to relax on vacation so we do very little planning and we always have a great time.

 

[lbrad]

I plan almost everything out. We drive a long way & spend a fortune so I want to be sure to get my $$$ worth:ROFLOL:

 

[SAV]

Honestly, I think the more you go or have been to WDW, the planning is not needed as much.

Our planning consists of using Touring plans to determine crowd levels and which park we want to go to for the days we are there. We don't do TS restaurants, so we aren't tied to ADR's. We eat when we are hungry.

Experience tells us which rides to go on first and what to do and what not to do. A first timer wouldn't know that, so they would need to plan out more of their day. Research and follow a touring plan.

If you consider doing TSM first because it is crowded later is planning, then I guess we "plan" that too. We know that SSE is walk on later in the day, so we know to avoid that first thing...as well as Soarin' FP's go quick to get those first. Is that "planning"...I guess, but I consider it more of something I know to do do maximize my day at the park.

 

[goshdarnstud]

I don't care how many times I go I plan a RIDICULOUS amount. We start planning in earnest about a year out, then, after we get the newest unofficial guide in August before we go, it's on like Donkey Kong. We start by mapping out which parks on which days and when we hop between. Then we do ADRs. Then we'll plan attraction order, especially for the first couple hours. Since we go in the summer this is very important. I have a little fold with a sheet for each day that has our ADR numbers, plus what we are doing when. Now granted things can and do change if need be or desire, but we usually don't stray to far. My wife and I are so indecisive when it comes to the day of things (like picking a place to eat) we would spend all day just wondering around trying to pick a place to eat.

Plus to our sick and twisted minds, that amount of planning is fun for the months leading up to the trip!

 

[diddy_mouse]

There are certain things I'll plan for, like a couple of ADRs, but that's about it. My husband and I tend to let things roll but we have a few traditions we stick to...MK on the first and last day, EPCOT in the morning of the second day, and at least one nice dinner.

One thing I love doing at the Studios and AK is instead of taking the bus back to the resort we'll take whatever theme park bus shows up first. We did this on our last trip and had a late lunch at EPCOT, took the monorail to the TTC, then the ferry to the MK.