How much do you plan for WDW vacation?

[k.hunter30]

How many meals do you make reservations for? Do you plan which park you'll visit every day that you're there? How much do you just do as you go?

A group of 8 of us are going to WDW for 7 days. While I LOVE to plan ahead, I usually only make 3 dining reservations per 7 days and then just wing it once we're there. This trip (using the Dining Plan) I've made 5 table reservations and, for the first four days, planned which park we'll visit. It seems like a lot of planning ahead to me... how much do you all like to do?

 

[scorp111]

Let's just say that I know which park we are going for each day to for our 8 day April trip and our 9 day September trip.

We usually plan one TS per day.

This doesn't mean we aren't flexible when we are there, but we usually stick pretty close to the plan.

 

[sbkline]

Let's just say that my wife jokingly asks me if I scheduled bathroom breaks for her in there. And my Dad asked me the same question. :ROFLOL:

Needless to say, I plan quite a bit. I don't plan our counter service meals, but I do plan the table service meals for every day of the trip...at least this trip where we are on the dining plan. In our past off property trips, I had tentative plans for table service meals, and I kept some of them, but changed one or two of them. But I have planned out which park to visit on each day, as well as which days we are more likely to play mini-golf and do the carraige ride at the resort.

 

[Kristia]

I have already made reservations for the table service meals and know which parks we will go to, on which days for our August trip. We have the dining plan and will be there for 7 nights. We don't plan our counter service meals, but I want to be sure we are able to get reservations for the places we want to eat. I left 1 full day with no reservations so we can catch up on anything we want to do and not be tied to a timetable.

With 8 people, I would definitely plan for all my table service reservations because tables for 8 maybe tough to come by while you are on your trip.

 

[k.hunter30]

With 8 people, I would definitely plan for all my table service reservations because tables for 8 maybe tough to come by while you are on your trip.

LOL! Oh, I'm definitely not doing all 7 table service meals with the whole group of 8! We've only made plans to eat together three times (Boma, Cinderella's Castle, Le Cellier). DH and I are looking forward to the chance to eat just the two of us! Thanks though! :animwink:

 

[Teenchy]

As we have had the opportunity to visit about 3-4 times each of the past 3 years(annual passes) we have become much more flexible and love to just be Disney snobs and wake up and decide what to do for the day . Or if we want to go to England or Japan just for lunch!

But we have found with the new dinning plan that table service restaurants are much harder to decide to just go to at the last minute. And there are usually just the 2 of us. With a larger group I defintley recommend as much planning as possible for sit down food.

Also if you or others in your group are new to WDW or have not been in a long time it helps to plan things out if you want to "See it all", fast passes, etc.

 

[Alztybrn]

As far as planning and dining go....I always have my ADR's for the park with the evening EMH's. The park we go to during the day usually consists of one of the parks without morning EMH's.

 

[jonesenon4]

:sohappy: we have ressies for oct. and we all sat down today and picked out what restaurants we wanted to eat at today. we also plan what parks we are going to coincide with the restaurants makes your trip go alot smoother. also like someone else said if you want sit down make your ressies the first chance you get or you might be left searching for a place to eat.anyway have a great trip and kungaloosh.:sohappy:

 

[Robfasto]

We pretty much wing it almost all the time. If we plan anything it is 1 meal at Chef Mickey's and that is about it. Depending on the number of people in our group we normal do the same for the parks.

 

[goofy0101]

For me, planning is half the fun. I love all the reading, research, and going through websites like this one in preparation for any trips. My friends give me a hard time about being such a planner but they're always grateful in the end when we're able to get in nearly everything that everyone wanted to do - and go to where everyone wanted to eat.

 

[ELopez]

Planning our Disney trip is my favorite hobby. It's an obsession really. I plan every last detail, but then we are very flexible when we're actually there.

 

[KaliSplash]

We have a plan for every day, generally broken down by the hour.

Which is not to say we always follow it. But we always start with it. Sometimes you get ahead, sometimes you get behind. You adjust accordingly.

But yes, my group likes to plan each day and we generally decide which restaurants we'll eat at on which day.

 

[fizzle75]

For me, planning is half the fun. I love all the reading, research, and going through websites like this one in preparation for any trips. My friends give me a hard time about being such a planner but they're always grateful in the end when we're able to get in nearly everything that everyone wanted to do - and go to where everyone wanted to eat.

I agree that planning is half the fun,it gets you so pumped and excited about your trip. We looove planning.

My wife and I are both organization freeks so naturally this carries over into our WDW obsession. First I whip out some paper,a ruler and some sharpies and I make a graph showing each day of our trip,the date and which park we will be going to that day(this is usually based on which park is having EMH) and a section for each meal so I can write in where we are going ,the time of the reservation and the confirmation # for the reservations. We usually make reservations for ALL of our dinner meals and MOST of our lunches and some of our breakfasts(if it is a character event).

I know to some this sounds nuts but it really works well for us and in no way detracts from our ability to relax and have fun. We have already made out our schedule and made reservations for our April trip and are in the process of doing the same for our October trip. We took my sister,my nephew and my cousin with us this past December and before we left they made fun of us mercilessly about our extensive planning but once we got there they were glad we did and realized the benefit of planning ahead.

 

[JeffC]

I certainly agree that planning is half the fun. Although we're not the veterans as some of you, I've found the best thing to do is plan the first 3-4 days, then wing it after that. Usually at that time, it's a matter of doing what was missed because of time, weather, etc - and doing them then.
Either way, it's great time

 

[sbkline]

I certainly agree that planning is half the fun.

At least until you plan almost everything you can, and do so way before the vacation, and then there is nothing left to do except sit in your house on a winter day, watch the snow and sleet fall, and think that your spring vacation can't get here soon enough. :lol:

 

[Pan]

I too am one to plan out every detail of the trip. Sometimes though, I think you can overplan. There is something to be said about the joys of spontaneity.

The key is to be very flexible once you are at WDW. Be ready to throw the plan out the window. I must admit I'm not very good at this, and it has caused some problems. I thought there would be some divorce papers filed by my wife after our last trip.:lol:

 

[sbkline]

I too am one to plan out every detail of the trip. Sometimes though, I think you can overplan. There is something to be said about the joys of spontaneity.

The key is to be very flexible once you are at WDW. Be ready to throw the plan out the window. I must admit I'm not very good at this, and it has caused some problems. I thought there would be some divorce papers filed by my wife after our last trip.:lol:

The strength of being an ardent planner is that, IMO, if you don't plan, you're more likely to waste precious time trying to figure out what to do as you go along, whereas if you have a plan, it saves you time because now you can just go do it.

On the flip side, the drawback to that is, if you plan too much detail, then something might pop up that you would be interested in doing, but you've already made out your plan and find yourself unable to work other things into it.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

With 8 people to dine at once - planning should be done. Its going to be far easier for a restaurant to seat 4 without reservations than 8. You don't have to stick to your plan if you suddenly change your minds

 

[Robfasto]

I am the type that doesn't even carry a watch on vacation... I am on vacation to enjoy myself and not be 'watching the clock' all the time.

 

[wdwforus]

We usually plan about 4-5 meals both Character and others. We plan on being at those parks on those days for most of the day but the other days are flexible. We try and plan those days out but they are not set in stone, just an idea as to how to get all the parks and rides in that we want to see. Meals on the flex days are flex also although this time we will be camping and we plan on eating more meals at the campsite to help save on the cost. When we went in 05 at Christmas we had no set plan on the everyday meals and we spent more then we probably should have.