I guess you never have a sit down meal while on vacation then. :shrug:
All of my meals are "sit down" meals, even though I don't make reservations, am not am "foodie", have an "unsophisticated" picky diet, and almost always eat "counter service". This is because I usually eat between 2 and 5 PM, when there are likely to be tables available in the counter-service eateries. So, I always find a place to "sit down"!
To answer the original question, I'm not a big in-park planner, and I allow for a lot of spontaneity. I go at a pace that is relaxing to me, and I enjoy taking in all the details, music loops, live performers etc. Yet some people may find my pace "commando" because I am a hardcore "parkie" who loves doing open-to-close full days. I tend to not get tired during a full day if I've had enough sleep the night before. At worst, a 20 minute catnap in an indoor show like HoP usually does the trick, rather than leaving the park and coming back, which for my taste is a killjoy and would cause me to miss what I consider priceless time in a theme park. Because for my taste, there is nothing outside of a theme park that I enjoy as much as being inside of a theme park!
Also, since I enjoy nearly all of the attractions at each park, they are ALL "full day" parks to me, so I stay at my rope drop park till closing before park hopping to another one. Leaving a park early for me is like the theme park equivalent of leaving a movie before it is over, or stopping a CD before the last song is over, as I wouldn't get the "full story" of the park that way.
As far as planning where to go each day, I generally pick which park to go to on a given day based on a combination of what the best hours are for that park that week, combined with mood. Luckilly I enjoy the vast majority of attractions at all 4 parks, so I can usually go with the flow of what's being offered to help me decide.
For example, I always feel rushed for time at AK when they close early, so if I see they are closing at 5 PM but will be closing at 6 PM a few days later, I'll wait for the 6 PM. (Of course, 7s and 8s are even better!) If the Studios isn't running Fantasmic!, I'll put that off until the next night that they are. And if it's a choice between a night with one show vs two, I'll go for the 2 shows, so I can walk into that second show right before it starts, rather than wasting a TON of time making sure I get a seat on a one show night, when I could be spending this time on rides/attractions on a 2 show night.
Same for the MK. Any night without MSEP or Spectro I usually do another park, regardless of how empty I know the MK will be that day. And I'll go for a 2 parade night over a one parade night, to enjoy the empty, more "private" feeling of that second parade. Nights with 2 parades are also treasured because this means the park won't be closing with the fireworks, and unless the park closes with the second parade, there is also time for more attractions AFTER the second parade!
On nights when the hours/offerings at AK, Studios, AND MK are all disappointing, Epcot is always a dependable choice with their consistent 9 PM close.
As far as "touring plans" I do carry a Times Guide with me that I pick up at opening, to keep track of when shows and events in the park take place that occur at limited, set, times (fireworks, parades, shows, etc)
But other than that, I never "pre-script" a "touring plan" but am always able to do everything I want by using FP and using my knowledge and experience of touring strategies that maximize time. Like another poster said, "informed spontaneity". I tend to subconsciously be able to think a few moves ahead, like when playing checkers, without having to stick to a firm "script" or "playlist".
Little tricks like, it's noon and I can now use my Space Mountain FP. Which also means I can get another one. If the next one I want is for Buzz, I'll grab it before I use the Space FP, which puts it to work more quickly than if I didn't get it until after I got off the ride. Which means I can use it faster, and also get the one after that earlier, as well. The same strategy works for other FP attractions that are close together, such as Splash and Thunder.
Or, let's say it's 25 minutes to closing (on a night the park doesn't close with Wishes) and I am out of extra FPs for my "encore rides". I want to do one more ride on Space Mountain, plus an extra spin on a few quick-cycle Fantasyland dark rides. Let's say the FL rides are all visibly walk-ons. If you do Space first, you won't get off until (at the earliest) 10 minutes before close even if it's a walk-on, limiting your time.
On the other hand, if all are walk-ons, you can do Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White, and Pooh, starting at 25 till, and still have 10 minutes to get into the Space queue, since the queue entrances don't close until the park is officially closed. This means any wait you may encounter in the Space queue is on the park's time (after close), rather than on your time. This is a strategy I've been using in theme parks since I was a little kid - save a long wait/long cycle time to the last ride of the night, and rack up on shorter waits/cycles during the time you would have been wasting in the long line.
