Craziest thing you've done in the name of planning

mdcpr

Well-Known Member
I had everything planned. ADRs every day, a perfect schedule to maximize the number of rides we could do on a daily basis, an early morning to late night schedule, then...we went to Hershey Park last week. In one day I learned that the most my family lasts at a park is 7 hours, more than that we all get snappy. My special needs child lasted 150 minutes waiting for a ride, my typical child lasted 40 minutes, my husband lasted 20 minutes, this means that I’m rearranging how long can we wait in line for a ride if there’s no FP. We did about 6 rides in one day but everyone would have been happy with 3, so the plan is to use the 3 FP and we’re done. We all agree we hate park food, so unless the ADR is for a unique experience (BOG, CInderella’s Table), everything else gets cancelled. Also, hubby is going to SGE by himself; Hershey Park was part of a road trip and I learned that he needs a drink after 3 days of intense family fun, SGE will be his break. So yes, I scrapped all the initial planning and I’m getting 3 FP everyday day for whatever is available working around the 3 ADRs I’m keeping, I will try to keep park time at 6 hours max every day, everyone gets to shop every day, and sleep in if needed.
 
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larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
I had everything planned. ADRs every day, a perfect schedule to maximize the number of rides we could do on a daily basis, an early morning to late night schedule, then...we went to Hershey Park last week. In one day I learned that the most my family lasts at a park is 7 hours, more than that we all get snappy. My special needs child lasted 150 minutes waiting for a ride, my typical child lasted 40 minutes, my husband lasted 20 minutes, this means that I’m rearranging how long can we wait in line for a ride if there’s no FP. We did about 6 rides in one day but everyone would have been happy with 3, so the plan is to use the 3 FP and we’re done. We all agree we hate park food, so unless the ADR is for a unique experience (BOG, CInderella’s Table), everything else gets cancelled. Also, hubby is going to SGE by himself; Hershey Park was part of a road trip and I learned that he needs a drink after 3 days of intense family fun, SGE will be his break. So yes, I scrapped all the initial planning and I’m getting 3 FP everyday day for whatever is available working around the 3 ADRs I’m keeping, I will try to keep park time at 6 hours max every day, everyone gets to shop every day, and sleep in if needed.
I'm pretty sure Stitch's Great Escape is closed.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
I debated for awhile whether to post this here or in trip planning. I decided to put it in here because trip planning seems to mostly be for tips and advice, and I'm hoping for this to be a discussion and swapping battle stories. But if it needs to be moved I understand.

For me, dining was the part where I really went crazy. I spent two days looking over menus and reviews, making and revising notes on quality, food choices, and unique qualities of all the restaurants at the parks, DS, and the WL that were on the DP. As I went through reviews and menus I would slowly remove restaurants for reasons like quality generally being bad until I had a list of about 2-6 places for each area if WDW. Then I organised them based on what meal times I wanted to eat there and what my priority would be when doing my ADRs, as well as noting second and third choices in case my first choice fell through. I also included a list of what QS spots and stores would be a good place for snacks and what some good options were. Overall it took me about two solids days to work through all of it. I was so, so sick of reading food reviews when I was done haha.

So, now that I've shared my shame, what about you guys? What were the crazy efforts you went to to plan your dream vacation?
I’m still looking for the “crazy”??
 

DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
I don't think my planning is that crazy... I just check out past years crowd levels at the time of my trip and use current crowd projections among other factors to decide which park is going to be the best for us to visit on each day. Then from there I decide where we want to eat each day depending on where we are. Of course I'm up at 6am right on the dot to make ADRs when my 180 day window opens. Then I plan my fast passes around dining times. Again I'm up at the crack of dawn as soon as I can book. Totally normal right?

I ,may have contemplated calling in sick/ switching hours with a co worker at my old job so I had time to book everything before work lol Luckily it didn't have to come to that.
 

KikoKea

Well-Known Member
Which of the restaurants count as the fun ones?
Prime Time Cafe (waitress tried to hook our older son up with a girl at another table & we bored regaled our sons with stories of TV when we were their age), SciFi (fun movies, cool decor), Akerhus in Norway (great food and lots of princess pictures for later laughs- Mary Poppins admonished my younger son to eat his vegetables, Jasmine had our older son blushing), and Cinderella's Table in the castle (pretty cool to eat in the castle...plus Captain Hook and Peter Pan were running around outside and would look in the windows) were the most fun.
 

zurgandfriend

Well-Known Member
I used to make a spreadsheet of every article of clothing I was bringing. I would put extra changes of shirts in case I spilled on one etc. I found i was bringing way too much stuff. Now I pack my carryon and plan on a laundry trip. Those $30.00 bag fees were killing me.
 

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