So... how carried away do you get with your WDW trip planning?

[Cowboy Steve]

Just how obsessive and disruptive to normal daily life is your pre-trip planning regiment? Being an analytical and compulsive planner, it was only natural that I would start to get a little carried away with the planning stages of our trips. Each trip my planning gets a little more involved. I'm sure I am an entry-level Disney pre-planner so I'm looking forward to what other folks do to organize and plan their trips! As we only can afford to come, at most, once a year, I try to make sure we maximize our experience!

Disney vacations are a family tradition for us. We first visited WDW in 1972 - I was 6 and my sister was 2. We lost count of the early visits, but we figure we are at around 14 visits - including 3 visits since 2011 (this year will make 4). Our recent return to Disney vacations was my mother's idea. She enjoys vacationing with my sister and I. And since we love to plan the vacation, she just sits back and let's us handle the planning. All the recent trips have been between Thanksgiving and Christmas - with the last 2 being the week after Thanksgiving. This year's trip will be the same time. We have learned a lot from those recent trips!

Mom always wanted to see the parks decorated for the Holidays, so in 2011 she planted the idea of going in December. Turns out we loved that trip sooo much, we have returned during that time period every trip since!

STEP ONE - Resort selection. In 2011 we stayed at the Port Orleans - French Quarter and LOVED it! We returned in 2012 and stayed there again. In 2014 we wanted to try something new and selected Coronado Springs. We didn't care for that location only because of the distance we were from the food court, front desk, store etc. For this year's stay we started our trip planning by making a 'short list' of new resorts we wanted to try. I, of course, made a spreadsheet. Complete with links to the various resorts:



After a long and somewhat exhaustive 'family meeting', we selected our resort for this year: Caribbean Beach Resort! Our first choice was going to be our first time at a Deluxe Resort - the Wilderness Lodge. But, after finding out the pool area would be closed during our trip, we decided to go with option 2 - CBR. We are rarely at the hotel, so it was hard to justify the cost of the Deluxe Resorts... but with a full 'rest day' scheduled in the middle of our stay, we thought we would try one. A day to rest around the pool is just what the doctor ordered on an 8 day trip! Since the pool at WL was going to be OOS, we opted to go back to a moderate resort. We went with a 'Preferred' room so we could be close to the main buildings (pool, food court, store, etc).

So... how nutso am I? My next post (if there is interest) will cover the current 12 tab spreadsheet and the lengths we went to selecting TS meals and making reservations for the trip!

Please! Share your pre-planning process! Please let me know I'm not alone... lol

 

[PinnySmart]

All of that work and you chose Caribbean Beach? YMYV I guess. But in all seriousness it does seem a huge waste of time when that same info is readily available without copying it over to a spreadsheet.

 

[Cowboy Steve]

All of that work and you chose Caribbean Beach? YMYV I guess. But in all seriousness it does seem a huge waste of time when that same info is readily available without copying it over to a spreadsheet.

lol thanks for the positive feedback

The purpose of the spreadsheet was for ease of comparing information for multiple locations on one page... and not having to jump around on the website with multiple windows open (how much was Animal Kingdom for a single again? Where was that tab...). Not everyone in my family had time to spend hours on the Disney website doing research. This allowed us to sit in the same room, using my mother's flat panel TV as a monitor, and compare multiple resorts and options all at once. Prices, restaurants, links to each resort and food options at that resort all on one page. There was no way to compile this information into one page on the Disney site. This particular spreadsheet included all the information we wanted to see to assist with the final decision.

As we wanted to try someplace new, and given the budget we tried to stay within, the CBR was the best option for us on this particular trip.

NOTE: someone who was less than friendly was banned for a nasty post... this was in response to his first post that is now gone.

 

[gobstoper27]

lol thanks for the positive feedback

The purpose of the spreadsheet was for ease of comparing information for multiple locations on one page... and not having to jump around on the website with multiple windows open (how much was Animal Kingdom for a single again? Where was that tab...). Not everyone in my family had time to spend hours on the Disney website doing research. This allowed us to sit in the same room, using my mother's flat panel TV as a monitor, and compare multiple resorts and options all at once. Prices, restaurants, links to each resort and food options at that resort all on one page. There was no way to compile this information into one page on the Disney site. This particular spreadsheet included all the information we wanted to see to assist with the final decision.

As we wanted to try someplace new, and given the budget we tried to stay within, the CBR was the best option for us on this particular trip.

I totally get the analytical approach and dig your spreadsheet. Its a no brainer to have all your information organized and in one location rather than constant clicking, bookmarks and etc.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

! You're thorough to say the least!

I have to say-it may look crazy to some, but to you its fun and needed to fully understand the options and subsequent plan, therefor making a better trip. Weighing all the options and evaluating all the numbers helps make the best choice for you and your family. I get it. Rock on!

My mom planned all our trips growing up, before the days of hype over dining ADRs and Fast Passes and even still she was quite thorough. Once DH and I started going, I took over the role of major planner. Many trips after, I've become so much more relaxed with planning but definitely still enjoy doing lots of research. It's part of the whole fun vacation experience for us. We like to be easy going and as spontaneous as possible.

To us, our daily lives at home are so planned that we really enjoy going easy and slow while vacationing. We have a few ADRs and definitely FP+s but no alarm clocks, no racing to rope drop unless we're awake and ready to go and it happens to work out, we take time to go slow and look into all the shops and take the paths less traveled to see different sides of WDW. It's lovely for us!

 

[Mrhappyplace]

But in all seriousness it does seem a huge waste of time when that same info is readily available without copying it over to a spreadsheet.

\

I don't see it as a waste of time at all. This thread showed me that my wife's Disney trip planning isn't as bad as it could be. Thanks for that op!

 

[JIMINYCR]

Everyone does it differently. I'm a planner. I like getting as much details as I can. I'm clicking through a thousand sites, pouring over several guide books, going back and forth comparing details. Altering, modifying, adding in things. I thoroughly enjoy the process.
If your planning and analyzing makes you feel more comfortable about having everything at your fingertips and it helps you feel like youre better prepared then do as much as you like. Some people go at the drop of a hat without anything planned and enjoy it that way. It would drive me crazy. I'm happy planning up to the minute I leave.

 

[Weather_Lady]

There is no such thing as going overboard with Disney planning! Especially for families like mine (who visit once every 3 years or so, meaning there are huge changes in between visits), the more knowledge and planning we have ahead of time, the more unpleasant surprises we avoid when we're at WDW. I love your spreadsheet. I myself already have a 2" binder of charts, lists and calendars in preparation for our trip in a few months. For me, planning is a beautiful and joyous thing!

 

[SSH]

I love your spreadsheet! We go the same time every year that you do: early Dec. I do a lot of planning...including checking park hours, all the resort rates (including anxiously waiting for WDW Fla resident discounts to be announced, then doing comparisons with Orbitz regular rates) figuring out which days will have EMH evening hours to work around all the early party closings...decisions on whether to get a 3 or 4 day this time or is this the year we do an annual pass. What extras do we want to splurge on? Candlelight dinner package or MVMCP? Moderate or stick with value?

The one thing we always skip is ADRs. We probably do 1 TS per trip, if that. Our trips are only 4-5 days at most since we live 3-4 hrs away. We have so many signature restaurants in our area, that we just don't feel the need to splurge on sit down meals at WDW and I actually like the QS variety. We'll either take a park break and relax at a TS meal out of WDW since we drive up or we'll check while we're in a park that day to see if any interesting TS places have availability and more often than not, someone canceled and they do. That's the one thing I just can't bring myself to plan - don't want to guess at what we'll feel like eating or what time we'll want to eat 6 months in advance - especially with that 24 hour cancellation fee.

The best way I can put it: I plan down to the day - but never down to the hour. I keep everything about the day itself (other than FP+ ressies) very loose. Once I get there, planning is done. I zone out and relax, letting the day evolve on the fly. Too often, weather, last-min hours changes by WDW or something else happens, and I don't want to feel like the "plan" is ruined.

 

[RKSteel]

Awesome, what's not to love about using a spreadsheet for planning.
Mine's not as comprehensive as yours. Since we are a family of five, our resort options are limited; but we prefer the POR.
Mostly I choose a few potential resorts, calculate length of stay, discounts and cost of tickets, types of tickets, to determine what is best. We don't do ADR or the dining plan so I skip those costs. After park hours are announced, planning begins for what park of which day, what day for breaks, fast passes, etc.
I enjoy the planning process, it builds anticipation for the trip.

 

[Cowboy Steve]

! You're thorough to say the least!

I have to say-it may look crazy to some, but to you its fun and needed to fully understand the options and subsequent plan, therefor making a better trip. Weighing all the options and evaluating all the numbers helps make the best choice for you and your family. I get it. Rock on!

My mom planned all our trips growing up, before the days of hype over dining ADRs and Fast Passes and even still she was quite thorough. Once DH and I started going, I took over the role of major planner. Many trips after, I've become so much more relaxed with planning but definitely still enjoy doing lots of research. It's part of the whole fun vacation experience for us. We like to be easy going and as spontaneous as possible.

To us, our daily lives at home are so planned that we really enjoy going easy and slow while vacationing. We have a few ADRs and definitely FP+s but no alarm clocks, no racing to rope drop unless we're awake and ready to go and it happens to work out, we take time to go slow and look into all the shops and take the paths less traveled to see different sides of WDW. It's lovely for us!

Totally agree with your last paragraph... mostly... lol! Our entire intent with all this planning is to minimize how many decisions we need to make once we are there... so we can just relax and enjoy our days. If we know what day we are going to what park, and what/when our TS meals are, and what our FP+ times are, it really frees us up to just wander the park and do things at our leisure. We will have a list of things that interest us at each park... but we won't have a minute by minute schedule. Oh there is a parade in 20 mins? Yeah, let's go watch it... or meh... let's skip it lol. The only thing I will try to do is discourage running back and forth across the parks. Nothing wears you out faster than dodging strollers and scooters trying to get to a show or reservation on the other side of a park...

 

[Cowboy Steve]

The one thing we always skip is ADRs. We probably do 1 TS per trip, if that. Our trips are only 4-5 days at most since we live 3-4 hrs away. We have so many signature restaurants in our area, that we just don't feel the need to splurge on sit down meals at WDW and I actually like the QS variety. We'll either take a park break and relax at a TS meal out of WDW since we drive up or we'll check while we're in a park that day to see if any interesting TS places have availability and more often than not, someone canceled and they do. That's the one thing I just can't bring myself to plan - don't want to guess at what we'll feel like eating or what time we'll want to eat 6 months in advance - especially with that 24 hour cancellation fee.

The best way I can put it: I plan down to the day - but never down to the hour. I keep everything about the day itself (other than FP+ ressies) very loose. Once I get there, planning is done. I zone out and relax, letting the day evolve on the fly. Too often, weather, last-min hours changes by WDW or something else happens, and I don't want to feel like the "plan" is ruined.

We like having a nice break in the middle of the day or early evening with a TS meal. My sister and fiance are mid 40's, I'm hitting the big 50 this year, and my mom is 70. So it is a nice chance to get off our feet and relax. We don't really live near anyplace with what I would call signature restaurants... so it is nice to splurge and have the DDP. Last trip we only did the QS dining plan as while we stayed the entire week at CSR, we rented a car and spent 3 days at Universal (had not been there for 15 years - my sister and I are big HP fans, so wanted to see all the WWoHP stuff). But as this year is a strictly Disney 8 day trip, we like having some nice meals sprinkled in. We also have a 'rest day' scheduled in the middle of the trip. Hang out at the pool... go shopping at DS... maybe hit a park we had to skip because of weather or something. Our last full day there is a floater day as well. What I found interesting was the price difference between a 6 day park hopper and a 7 day was a whopping $10... so it was a no brainer to get a 7 day. Gives us lots of flexibility without stressing if we lose 1/2 a day to rain.

I totally understand the philosophy behind your last paragraph... to a point. So as to not wear ourselves out, we 'kinda' plan out the day - just enough so we don't exhaust ourselves criss-crossing the parks. So we may time what area we are at in a particular park around any meal reservations/FP+/Shows we want to see. But we don't get carried away with it. The whole point of doing a lot of this pre-planning is so we minimize the decisions we need to make while we are there... so we can just relax and enjoy the day.

 

[Cowboy Steve]

Awesome, what's not to love about using a spreadsheet for planning.
Mine's not as comprehensive as yours. Since we are a family of five, our resort options are limited; but we prefer the POR.
Mostly I choose a few potential resorts, calculate length of stay, discounts and cost of tickets, types of tickets, to determine what is best. We don't do ADR or the dining plan so I skip those costs. After park hours are announced, planning begins for what park of which day, what day for breaks, fast passes, etc.
I enjoy the planning process, it builds anticipation for the trip.

Exactly! We are 174 days out, but we know what days we are going to be at what park based on things like EMH, MVMCP, etc. Like I stated above, we had a 'family meeting' and threw this spreadsheet up on Mom's 60" flat panel so we could all see it. I added the links just to speed up if we wanted to see a menu or something. By having all the cost options spelled out we could easily see the cost differences between the 4 resort levels. Really wanted to try the WL... but the pool being under construction killed that. We though about AKL... but it is just so dang expensive for no longer than we would be in the rooms. Maybe on a future 8 day trip where we might only plan on 4 or 5 days in the parks we might look at them again...

And like you, My sis and I LOVE the planning process!

 

[KikoKea]

Wow! Not sure how I get by with just a sheet of notebook paper divided into columns for each day. I note the park hours for each park at the top. Under each day, I note which park we'll be at, a.m. and p.m. along with notes about times for EMH, FPs, ADR confirm #s, party, etc. (But, we always stay at Shades of Green, so there's no comparing other resorts.) On the back, I make a note of stuff we want to look for this trip- like where the satellite was in SM or a new hidden Mickey.

 

[Cowboy Steve]

Wow! Not sure how I get by with just a sheet of notebook paper divided into columns for each day. I note the park hours for each park at the top. Under each day, I note which park we'll be at, a.m. and p.m. along with notes about times for EMH, FPs, ADR confirm #s, party, etc. (But, we always stay at Shades of Green, so there's no comparing other resorts.) On the back, I make a note of stuff we want to look for this trip- like where the satellite was in SM or a new hidden Mickey.

The above sheet was just for choosing which resort to stay at. The current spreadsheet is 12 tabs long. A tab that summarizes all our confirmation and reservation numbers (flight, rooms, meals, FP+), a tab kind of like yours that shows the entire stay including what park we are going to each day and the hours, then a tab for each day broken down by hours so we can list reservations... show times... any items of interest for each day. Again, this is just for planning purposes so we have an idea what we might do each day. Won't really be for daily use in the parks. Just helps us visualize what each day holds so we don't schedule too much... lol...

 

[Gemma89]

I'm a planner full stop! I need to be with my job lol but I'm currently planning mine and my boyfriends two week trip next October (2017). I have an actual planner diary (well two) and in my personal home planner I've sectioned my weeks into what park were planning on going to, wether it's a late stay for a show/fireworks or an early one. What restaurant we wanna go to and time frame and then the rides we'd prefer to hit so we're ready when the dates come up to book everything.

 

[RKSteel]

Exactly! We are 174 days out, but we know what days we are going to be at what park based on things like EMH, MVMCP, etc. Like I stated above, we had a 'family meeting' and threw this spreadsheet up on Mom's 60" flat panel so we could all see it. I added the links just to speed up if we wanted to see a menu or something. By having all the cost options spelled out we could easily see the cost differences between the 4 resort levels. Really wanted to try the WL... but the pool being under construction killed that. We though about AKL... but it is just so dang expensive for no longer than we would be in the rooms. Maybe on a future 8 day trip where we might only plan on 4 or 5 days in the parks we might look at them again...

And like you, My sis and I LOVE the planning process!

Maybe I will try the TV aspect. I usually print out the park hour spreadsheet for the DW and DDs so we can all brainstorm where to go; the response I get is, you are the expert just pick the park/days.

 

[TXDisney]

Plan enough that you maximize your time, but not too much where you're controlling others and aren't flexible with times. When I plan for my whole family I do a group text and ask what people want to do each day for FP and dining. Generally we all can come to a conclusion via text. But I leave it very flexible. Really at the end of the day missing a FP isn't the end of the world, so stressing out about it isn't worth it. Dining is the bigger issue bc you get charged if you don't show up, so people have to commit to those 24hrs in advance.

 

[Cowboy Steve]

I'm a planner full stop! I need to be with my job lol but I'm currently planning mine and my boyfriends two week trip next October (2017). I have an actual planner diary (well two) and in my personal home planner I've sectioned my weeks into what park were planning on going to, wether it's a late stay for a show/fireworks or an early one. What restaurant we wanna go to and time frame and then the rides we'd prefer to hit so we're ready when the dates come up to book everything.

Thanks for the comments! Since this is, at most, a once a year trip for us, we try to maximize our opportunities during the trip. The curse of spending as much time there in the past as we have is knowing how much is there that we want to see and do! With all the technology now associated with a visit to WDW you really kind of have to stay on top of things like park hours, special events, dinner reservations and FP times. We did a short notice (short for us lol) trip last time, and our options were really limited as people with a 3 month head start on us had a lot of the reservations at restaurants or eating times gobbled up that fit our schedule. It didn't make it a bad trip as we loved our time there! But you spend that kind of money on a trip you kinda want to eat where you would like and at lease close to when you would like... lol

 

[Second Star to the Right]

Bring on the next spreadsheet! I love this and don't think it's crazy at all. Yes, all of that information is out there, but having it listed out in an easy-to-read table makes a world of difference. My planning began with a notebook and a pen and then evolved into the spreadsheet. Food, parades, fireworks and shows are some of the most important things for us on our trip, so it's so nice to be able to see the times listed out and plan from there. Excellent work!
Also, it will be very interesting to compare the price increases from the previous years in black and white.