do you have a strategic plan for the parks or do you just wing it?

[buckeyegator]

how do you decide your plan of action?

 

[DisneyfanMA]

My basic plan is

1)book a popular ride at 7am with Genie+ (if you search strategy blogs they list out the top rides per park)

2)buy ILL for avatar, rise, and SDMT. I think I'm gonna skip GoTG as I heard someone I know saying how dizzy she got and my and wife I both get dizzy easy now.

We'll arrive at park right around regular opening time. We'll aim to make regular closing time or at least the night time show before heading back. No park hopping, no heading back for a rest mid day etc. Other than that not gonna stress and not gonna criss cross the parks running from thing to thing to cram in the max rides. We will have 3 children with us and will enjoy the parks, the shows and parades and whatever rides we can make it on, plus 1 sit down meal (mostly late lunch or early dinner) per park to rest and take in the themeing.

 

[networkpro]

By the time of the year of course! Flower and Garden, Food and Wine are necessarily Epoct centric tapering down to whom will be the narrator while we make our December trip.

For us, Hollywood Studios is back to a half day park year round, Animal Kingdom during hot weather is only half a day as well, but December though March a full day destination.

We do what we enjoy and don't Disney Death March.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Our trips are mostly 2 weeks of fun. The first week we plan things for doing lots and and try to stick to the plan to get everything in that we want. I’ve got everything planned down to the minute. As we get into the second week we start to ease up and wing it a lot more doing things we want to repeat or try some new things we may not have thought of at first. The two weeks gives us the luxury of doing both. And still we get to the end of the trip time and think of more we could have done and note those things for the next trip back.

 

[wendysue]

We used to just show up on the ME, unpack and get on the first bus that appeared at the bus stops and go from there. NOW....there is not much spontaneity at all! We have paid for tickets (AP) and the room, so I refuse to pay extra to go on rides or be on my phone all day. Obviously the fun days for us are gone but hope to go at least once more to experience our last Christmas there before the AP's expire.

 

[dreday3]

We make a loose plan of what parks on what days. Fast pass made us stick to those plans a little better, but even still, we pretty much throw all plans out the window after 4th day and wing it!

We aren't so ride-centric anymore. We definitely want to get on all our favorites, but once or twice (for each favorite) is enough for the whole trip (9 nights). We are the people who can spend days in the parks happily only going on a few rides, but browsing shops, eating, soaking up the atmosphere. One of us (or both if we want to go early) will be up at 7, book a genie + if we plan to purchase that day, or just purchase a lightning lane.

I'm also willing to throw money at lightning lanes up-charge rides and after hours, so that helps us get on the rides we want.

We had an easy time switching park reservations day of last trip, but maybe will be harder next time. We have hoppers, so we always end up somewhere different than we start.

This trip we are only making a couple dinner reservations then just plan to see what the day brings us while we are there. Be it a sit-down, bar/lounge...we are very easy-going travelers.

 

[Weather_Lady]

We don't visit often, our time is valuable, and we hate standing in long lines if they can be avoided with a little planning and forethought. We've always had a strategic plan, although we use it as a starting point, and build in enough flexibility (and make sure we have enough touring knowledge) to change it on the fly -- at least, as much as parkhopping restrictions and the burden of park reservations will allow. The only time we've ever been able to throw our plan completely out the window was when we visited in August 2021, when crowds were so low we could literally do whatever we wanted with a minimal wait.

Planning will be more difficult next time because we refuse to purchase Genie+/ILL, but we'll make it work.

 

[Nottamus]

We used to plan. But always had more fun going off script.

So what worked for us was making less plans or just loose ideas for places to visit while there.

We live in the “other” 50% of people who don’t Genie, so we try to ride our favorites when times are down, and not against doing ILL a couple times a trip for the biggies.

It’s just 2 of us so having close to no plans is easier.

We are there next week and the only thing in my plans right now is dinner at Yak and yeti on Wednesday. (My birthday)

 

[dreday3]

We used to plan. But always had more fun going off script.

So what worked for us was making less plans or just loose ideas for places to visit while there.

We live in the “other” 50% of people who don’t Genie, so we try to ride our favorites when times are down, and not against doing ILL a couple times a trip for the biggies.

It’s just 2 of us so having close to no plans is easier.

We are there next week and the only thing in my plans right now is dinner at Yak and yeti on Wednesday. (My birthday)

I'm going to agree - being just 2 of us, everything is so much easier. We can do things on a whim much easier than larger groups.

 

[Nottamus]

I'm going to agree - being just 2 of us, everything is so much easier. We can do things on a whim much easier than larger groups.

Just an example -

Couple of years ago when SWge opened - we happened to be there that week.

One day, headed to MK, decided we wanted to see Xmas decorations at wilderness lodge. So took a boat over Stopped in Geyser point for lunch and a few beers, then to disney springs to see Xmas stuff, then on a whim, headed over to Coronado springs to Dahlias on top of tower

Great view from up there, and there were two guys in suits setting up video camera aimed at SWge. I started talking to them and they reluctantly admitted it was for the short lived x wing drone show

So - we got a really good vantage point that night ( and a nice buzz) from just having no plans.


This is long winded, but my point is it just works for us.

 

[eliza61nyc]

We have not used genie plus yet so my response is based on that.
Generally the only thing we pick is the park. I use touring plans so I have a guesstimate of what parks have the lowest crowds.

We stopped being park commando and we're never tied to our phones.

Basically we try to do our favorites and then by the late afternoon we're winging it

 

[jloucks]

Big time planners. Not a big fan either, but what choice?

We typical visit WDW and Uni per visit to the area. General guidelines...

• No MK on a weekend
• Reserve Restaurants asap
• Get all the afterparty options possible
• Get all the fastpass/genie/whatever possible
• Uni first, then over to MK

 

[graphite1326]

I never buy Disney +. I do, however, use the early entry for disney guest. When I do go in early I head to the ride that is open (not all rides are open at early entry) that I want to do the most. Then By that time the other rides are open and I head to another popular ride I want to do. Example: MK - Buzz Lightyear is one of the rides that is open during early entry. I do that ride first and then go directly to line for Splash Mt or Thunder Mt. After getting off either one of those rides the line is usually still not that bad and then get on the other ride (if I ride Spash first I get off and go directly to Thunder Mt,) We then work our way forward in the park as everyone else is making thier way back. It usually works out that we can get on all the attractions we want to get on. HS we go to Smugglers Run first and then RotR. I will admit the line for RotR can get long but it's still manageable. Then over to one of our favorites, Toy Story Mania, which with the opening of the Star Wars area is manageable also. We don't do any other rides in that area and go thru out the park riding what we want including RnRollercoaster and ToT (You just have to watch the waiting times and these two always seem to have a time when the wait times are shorter). Like I said I never buy Disney+. I just don't want to bothered with it and have my nose in my phone all day.

 

[mkt]

Yes.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

When we were new to the parks we always had a plan so we could do everything we wanted, now that we’ve been dozens of times we wing it, we’ve done everything so we don’t care if we miss a ride, a parade, a show, a restaurant… now it’s more important to have a relaxing vacation than to do everything.

We have a couple must do’s but for the most part we wing it.

 

[Doberge]

Our youngest is on the spectrum so that's limiting what rides he wants to do. We don't use DAS. At HS my wife and daughter will use G+ and son and I do things like Cars. At MK we'll usually do G+ for all one day and wing it another. Sometimes G+ at EPCOT and never at AK.

On G+ days we usually pick something furst we want to do together like Jungle Cruise. After that we just book what we want until about 1pm returns and then start stacking for the evening, taking a break away parks in middle of the day. Between reservations we're popping into stuff like Carousel of Progrss, Country Bears, One Man's Dream, Imagination Fountains, Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth games, etc.

We've been visiting 2-3 times per year so we have a good idea how crowds usually ebb and flow so we work with that and snacking around and enjoying the atmosphere. I don't like G+ but it forces us to have these casual days meandering and honestly they are my favorite days. Riding Tomorrowland Speedyway over and over, while it sounds horrible to most, is something my spectrum kid loves and I love that, and I don't need to pull us around from FP reservation to FP reservation from plans made months ago. These days are also more likely ones we'll decide we'll skip morning or evening park visit in favor of resort time, Disney Springs, etc.

On short trips that we might get one day in a park we'll each pick one "must do" and then fill in rest around that.

And regardless of what exactly our goals are in parks, I'm usually following along Touring Plans to have an idea of realistic wait times and suggestions.

 

[aaronsloan1971]

My basic plan is

1)book a popular ride at 7am with Genie+ (if you search strategy blogs they list out the top rides per park)

2)buy ILL for avatar, rise, and SDMT. I think I'm gonna skip GoTG as I heard someone I know saying how dizzy she got and my and wife I both get dizzy easy now.

We'll arrive at park right around regular opening time. We'll aim to make regular closing time or at least the night time show before heading back. No park hopping, no heading back for a rest mid day etc. Other than that not gonna stress and not gonna criss cross the parks running from thing to thing to cram in the max rides. We will have 3 children with us and will enjoy the parks, the shows and parades and whatever rides we can make it on, plus 1 sit down meal (mostly late lunch or early dinner) per park to rest and take in the themeing.

That is a shame bc GoTG is a fantastic ride!

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Epcot was my first strategic day after which I just winged it wherever the mood I was in...Now I have to figure it out and be lucky I can get a dag gum reservation for the park I want to go to....But, until they decide to remove the reservation system I can give my thoughts and cares to Universal and Sea World since they dropped their reservation system.

 

[Ben_since_1971]

I use TP to set up an initial agenda for each park day, then when I get in the park I let current conditions dictate if I call any audibles.

 

[DisneyfanMA]

That is a shame bc GoTG is a fantastic ride!

Does it spin and make you dizzy? Teacups makes me dizzy. Which is worse?