Do you plan your day or just go with the flow?

[DJ7203]

Do most of you plan out your entire day at the parks or do you just go & see what happens? I want us to make the most out of our 2 days there. But I'm not sure if we should plan everything we do ahead of time or just go & see what our daughter wants to do once we get there.

 

[ShookieJones]

You're only going for two days? What parks are you visiting? Where are you eating? When are you going?
Hmm...sounds like you need to some planning.

In all seriousness if you're starting out by saying "i want to make the most of our 2 days there" that screams -
you best be doing some planning

 

[DJ7203]

You're only going for two days? What parks are you visiting? Where are you eating? When are you going?
Hmm...sounds like you need to some planning.

In all seriousness if you're starting out by saying "i want to make the most of our 2 days there" that screams -
you best be doing some planning

The only dining we have planned is reservations for breakfast at the Crystal Palace on our 2nd day there. Other than that I figured we would eat at whatever random restaurants are in the parks. I wanted 2 hit 2 parks a day, so maybe Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios one day, Epcot & Animal Kingdom the next. I don't know how realistic this is of course. Also let me say this won't be a once in a lifetime trip for us. We only live 3 hours away & we just bought season passes, so I plan on us visiting MK several times over the next year. This is just the first time we have been to the park in probably 4-5 years, but I want to visit a lot more often now. We are going Aug. 29th & 30th. Staying at Movie All Stars.

 

[PARichards]

I wanted 2 hit 2 parks a day, so maybe Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios one day, Epcot & Animal Kingdom the next. I don't know how realistic this is of course. Also let me say this won't be a once in a lifetime trip for us. We only live 3 hours away & we just bought season passes, so I plan on us visiting MK several times over the next year. This is just the first time we have been to the park in probably 4-5 years, but I want to visit a lot more often now. We are going Aug. 29th & 30th. Staying at Movie All Stars.

If you will be going often, don't overdo it. Find the recommended parksfor those particular days and get there at rope drop to give yourself a chance to enjoy doing popular things before the lines get too long and then enjoy strolling thru the park the rest of the day- makes for a nice balance between planned/structured and relaxed oark touring. Also, August is ickysticky in the afternoons- use your pool and take a middaybreak since you're staying onsite, and might not have that luxury on your next several return trips. Not sure how many are in your party, try asking everyone for ONE must-do thing in the park of the day and start your touring plans there- make sure you can hit what you must and the rest will be icing on the cake.

 

[ShookieJones]

Gotcha! 2 to 3 hours away and visiting again soon? I wouldn't kill myself planning too much.
To be honest in that scenario I wouldn't even try getting to all the parks and spend most of my time in MK and one of the other parks, depending how old your daughter is and what she's into you could omit Epcot, DHS or AK and just do MK first day and then split the next day between the other two parks.

 

[NiarrNDisney]

I tend to have a general idea of what we will do during the day with a small list a suggestions when it comes to CS menus around the parks but other than that no I am not much of a planner! I figure so many things can happen that could change even the best laid out plans so why bother trying to predict the unpredictable. Just go with the flow and enjoy your time with your friends and family!

 

[FitzherbertFreak]

I usually plan what park(s) I'm going to each day, and if there are any specific shows I want to see that day. Also, planning helps with FastPass+. Other than that though, I play the rest by ear in the parks. You may have a plan for that day, but you're attitude may totally change once you actually get to a park.

 

[belledream]

We plan in advance for dining because we are total foodies, but other than selecting FP+s for the headliners/favorites, we enjoy going to the parks and seeing what surprises await us. We hop into short lines when we stumble upon them, and take our time around the shops out of interest or to kill time before shows/FP.

I'm not sure if you're planning on eating QS or TS, but just be aware that you might not be able to just walk up to a restaurant without a reservation.

 

[SMS55]

We'll plan what park we go to. We'll get fast passes for some of the bigger rides and then go from there. If we go to MK we do the loop around starting at Adventureland. We don't make reservations. We do quick service and sometimes we'll bring some sandwiches instead. Our one rule is get there early. We have to be there for rope drop to make the most of the day and get on some rides before the crowds start.

 

[DJ7203]

Thanks so much for all the replies! We plan to be there for the rope drop, I've never been there for that so I'm very excited to be one of the first people in the park! Oh & when I say we will be eating at restaurants at the park. I mean just the quick serve ones I guess they are called? The only *restaurant* we are planning to eat at is Crystal Palace & we do have reservations for there

 

[DJ7203]

We'll plan what park we go to. We'll get fast passes for some of the bigger rides and then go from there. If we go to MK we do the loop around starting at Adventureland. We don't make reservations. We do quick service and sometimes we'll bring some sandwiches instead. Our one rule is get there early. We have to be there for rope drop to make the most of the day and get on some rides before the crowds start.

Sounds like we will be doing about the same thing! And you are going the same time that we are too! Hope you have an amazing time!

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

if you're going to be visiting often, definitely don't kill yourself planning. i'd think you could go one of two ways - either spend one day at MK and the other day doing something else (epcot OR DAK/DHS), or try to squeeze in MK and DAK on one day, epcot and DHS on the second day. you're going to waste a lot of time traveling though. i think i'd probably do MK one day and then epcot another day. if one park had EMH at night, i might hit that park one night. we tend to plan where we're going around where we want to eat lol.

 

[Master Yoda]

It depends on the trip.

Trips during special events where there is a lot to do tend to be fairly extensively planned out. (eg Christmas, SWW, etc)

Short trips that are "just because" tend to be more go with the flow. At most we might plan to see a new or modified attraction or show, maybe set of a TS dinner, and then just take the rest as it comes.

 

[Weather_Lady]

With only 2 days, you'll need to plan very carefully. Honestly, I think trying to do all 4 parks is a big mistake. I'd drop Animal Kingdom, spend a full day at MK (which has more than twice the number of attractions of any of the other parks) and half a day each at HS (you'll have to skip most of the shows) and/or Epcot (you'll only be able to cover about half of the park, so either devote yourself to Future World or skip half of it and do a quick run through World Showcase -- or better yet, skip 2 of the parks and do only MK and [your favorite out of HS OR Epcot]: save the rest for when you have sufficient time for them.) In your case, I'd say a touringplans.com subscription would be well worth it -- you can make personalized touring plans, customized for your dates and incorporating your ADRs, FP+s and park hours, and will have a good idea of how much you can and can't do with the time you have.

That being said, since my family's trips are more like 6-7 days, we do a combination of planning and "freestyling": I plan the entire day ahead of time, but only the first few post-rope-drop attractions and FP+ attractions are considered "set in stone." If we see something we want to do that isn't on the list and has a short line, we readily depart from the plan and do it.

 

[Weather_Lady]

BTW, here's a sample of what you might expect to get done in 2 days, based on my family's touring plan on days with a crowd level of 5 out of 10 and regular park hours. If it's more crowded when you visit, you'd have to delete a couple of attractions from each day or else take advantage of EMH. For both of these, you must plan to arrive no later than 30 minutes before rope drop:

Day 1 - HS -
TSMM
Rock 'n Rollercoaster
Tower of Terror
Great Movie Ride
Star Tours
Muppets
Disney, Jr. and Mermaid show, OR Beauty and the Beast, OR Indiana Jones
If time, One Man's Dream
[Lunch - Starring Rolls]

Hop to Epcot -
Spaceship Earth (if line is over 10 min., save until later)
Character Spot and/or Club Cool
Journey to Imagination
Living with the Land
Soarin' (w/FP+)
[Dinner - Sunshine Seasons]
Tour World Showcase OR do Seas with Nemo,Turtle Talk, Mission:Space and Test Track (single rider line) - be aware of which Future World attractions close early.
If desired, Illuminations

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom (hopefully with a morning EMH)
Rope drop - 7DMT, Peter Pan, Pooh, Dumbo -- whatever you can squeeze in
[Breakfast at Crystal Palace - don't know time of your ADR]
PeopleMover
Carousel of Progress
Pete's Silly Sideshow, if desired, and if time permits
Little Mermaid
Enchanted Tales with Belle [w/12pm FP+]
[Lunch - Be Our Guest (w/FP), or if everybody's full from breakfast, Dole Whips at Aloha Isle instead]
Swiss Family Treehouse
Magic Carpets
Tiki Room
Jungle Cruise [2pm FP+]
Pirates (line will be long, but it can't be helped -- if desired, get a FP+ for POTC instead of Jungle Cruise and skip Jungle Cruise altogether)
Splash Mountain [3pm FP+] (then go to kiosk and get 4th FP+ for BTMRR)
Country Bears
Haunted Mansion
Hall of Presidents
[Dinner - Columbia Harbor House or Pecos Bill's]
BTMRR (whenever FP+ is, afterwards attempt to get a 5th FP+ for Space Mtn or Buzz)
it's a small world
Mickey's Philharmagic
Prince's Regal Carrousel
Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain
Electric Light Parade (or skip it and use the temporarily crowd lull to visit popular Tomorrowland/Fantasyland attractions, including anything you missed in the morning)
Wishes

 

[Poofiesdream]

We plan on which parks for which days and do fastpass, but we kind of go with the flow of the day and if we don't make the fastpass, oh well. We too live 3 hours away and go a lot so if we don't see it this time will see it next time. Already have done almost everything once anyway.

 

[DJ7203]

BTW, here's a sample of what you might expect to get done in 2 days, based on my family's touring plan on days with a crowd level of 5 out of 10 and regular park hours. If it's more crowded when you visit, you'd have to delete a couple of attractions from each day or else take advantage of EMH:

Day 1 - HS -
TSMM
Rock 'n Rollercoaster
Tower of Terror
Great Movie Ride
Star Tours
Muppets
Disney, Jr. and Mermaid show, OR Beauty and the Beast, OR Indiana Jones
If time, One Man's Dream
[Lunch - Starring Rolls]

Hop to Epcot -
Spaceship Earth (if line is over 10 min., save until later)
Character Spot and/or Club Cool
Journey to Imagination
Living with the Land
Soarin' (w/FP+)
[Dinner - Sunshine Seasons]
Tour World Showcase OR do Seas with Nemo,Turtle Talk, Mission:Space and Test Track (single rider line) - be aware of which Future World attractions close early.
If desired, Illuminations

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom (hopefully with a morning EMH)
Rope drop - 7DMT, Peter Pan, Pooh, Dumbo -- whatever you can squeeze in
[Breakfast at Crystal Palace - don't know time of your ADR]
PeopleMover
Carousel of Progress
Pete's Silly Sideshow, if desired
Little Mermaid
Enchanted Tales with Belle [w/12pm FP+]
[Lunch - Be Our Guest (w/FP), or if everybody's full from breakfast, Dole Whips at Aloha Isle instead]
Swiss Family Treehouse
Magic Carpets
Tiki Room
Jungle Cruise [2pm FP+]
Pirates
Splash Mountain [3pm FP+] (then go to kiosk and get 4th FP+ for BTMRR)
Country Bears
Haunted Mansion
Hall of Presidents
[Dinner - Columbia Harbor House or Pecos Bill's]
BTMRR (whenever FP+ is, afterwards attempt to get a 5th FP+ for Space Mtn or Buzz)
it's a small world
Mickey's Philharmagic
Prince's Regal Carrousel
Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain
Electric Light Parade (or skip it and use the temporarily crowd lull to visit popular Tomorrowland/Fantasyland attractions, including anything you missed in the morning)
Wishes

Thank you so much for sharing this with me! It looks like great days with plenty to do. I'm going to print it out & see if we can follow it too. Thanks again!!!

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

Plan. And no we don't worry about "planning our vacation around ADR's", it's all just a part of the entire experience.

 

[epcot2004]

We went for 2 non-consecutive days in March, was part of a longer trip doing other things than Disney. No planning for the first time ever! We were actually more relaxed and still covered all of EPCOT and MK. Had Hoppers and did not even use, made more sense as far as time went to stick with one park per day on such a short trip. We figured that if for some reason the plan went bad we would be in big trouble time-wise. Now our Fall trip is another story - work on planning several times per week since we booked! All of our long, on-site trips are planned in detail. Keep in mind that we are fortunate enough to go at least once a year every year since '95.

 

[JillC LI]

The only dining we have planned is reservations for breakfast at the Crystal Palace on our 2nd day there. Other than that I figured we would eat at whatever random restaurants are in the parks. I wanted 2 hit 2 parks a day, so maybe Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios one day, Epcot & Animal Kingdom the next. I don't know how realistic this is of course. Also let me say this won't be a once in a lifetime trip for us. We only live 3 hours away & we just bought season passes, so I plan on us visiting MK several times over the next year. This is just the first time we have been to the park in probably 4-5 years, but I want to visit a lot more often now. We are going Aug. 29th & 30th. Staying at Movie All Stars.

If you plan to return often, and this is your first trip, I wouldn't try to do more than 1 park per day. And I would have at least a loose touring plan so you make sure to hit the attractions you most want to see. You'll be fine winging it with counter-service meals. Make sure you do MK on your second day since you have the ADR there at Crystal Palace. Perhaps hit DHS on your first day? Or maybe ANimal Kingdom in the morning followed by whichever park is open later that night. I wouldn't do more than MK on your second day.