real mad hatter
Well-Known Member
Curious as ever how other Disney people go about planning their WDW vacation.From the start of picking your resort,what is your most important things you take into consideration.?:wave:
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The Planning Schedule.
- Thread starter real mad hatter
- Start date
DisneyDebNJ
Well-Known Member
We may be different than other families, but first and foremost, is tradition. (depends on time of year, etc) We normally book 9-12 months in advance, for our room, then, peruse the board for restaurants or any extras, then plan airfare. When that is all set in stone, we plan any extras. When it comes down to it, there's no wrong way to plan Disney vacation :sohappy:
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Crush Dude!
Back from WDW!Counting down to DLP in November!
Has to start with resort, then a close second is def the Restaurants :sohappy:
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disneygirl76
Carey Poppins - Nanny and Disney Enthusiest
Hey there!
So here is what we do. We first figure out when to go and can we get anything - i.e. room discounts or free dining.
We try and travel only when we can get something so this trip, we picked free dining.
We then determine where we are going to stay. This trip we picked Poly, then realized it was just not going to happen so we made a switch to PORS and then added 3 days! :sohappy:
Then I start the spread sheet. I figure out where we want to dine, then what days we will be where and I put it all in the spread sheet and determine the hours at which parks each day. If we are then 180 days out, I make the dining. And then I tweak and add from there! :sohappy:
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Susan Savia
Well-Known Member
We decide when and for how long and
then call our offsite and book our room.
Done. Other then that the only planning
we do is go to Epcot on the first day and
on the last day. Everything in between
depends on EMHs and we work around those.
We do not book any dining (used to, but
have since found booking a bunch of meals
causes us to have to schedule too much.)
Its a vacation after all.
then call our offsite and book our room.
Done. Other then that the only planning
we do is go to Epcot on the first day and
on the last day. Everything in between
depends on EMHs and we work around those.
We do not book any dining (used to, but
have since found booking a bunch of meals
causes us to have to schedule too much.)
Its a vacation after all.
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Weather_Lady
Well-Known Member
We choose time of year first (based on school schedule, etc.), then consult crowd calendars for that week, and book our resort of choice (value or moderate) 8-12 months ahead of time. Once airfares are released on our preferred carrier (the one for which we're saving up points on our credit card), we book that, too. (Our carrier releases the lowest fares first, so buying early is to our advantage.)
Once the park hours/EMH schedule for our travel week is released (usually over 6 months ahead), we figure out which parks we plan to visit on which days, always beginning and ending with the Magic Kingdom per our own family tradition. Once a generalized touring plan is in place and we know where we'll be each day, we plan our ADRs around that -- 3 or 4 table service meals for the week if we're paying out of pocket -- making our reservations online first thing in the morning 180 days out.
Now that we have the ADRs, we then develop an attraction-specific, step-by-step touring plan around our "park schedule," and those ADRs. We make sure that it provides for a lengthy nap each afternoon, and has enough "wiggle room" that we can make some changes to it spontaneously. We leave the final partial day (before we have to get on the plane) unplanned, so we can park-hop and revisit everyone's favorite attractions one more time.
What this means is: by 179 days out, everything is set and we're left twiddling our thumbs for several months, occasionally checking online to see if any discount offers have come up that we can apply to our booking. Last thing before we leave, we'll update the touring plans to incorporate any additional attractions, ride refurbishments, changes in showtimes and park hours, etc.
I love, love, love to plan, so this is all one big joyous adventure for me! To paraphrase Nathan Hale, my only regret is that I have but one Disney vacation to plan at a time!
Once the park hours/EMH schedule for our travel week is released (usually over 6 months ahead), we figure out which parks we plan to visit on which days, always beginning and ending with the Magic Kingdom per our own family tradition. Once a generalized touring plan is in place and we know where we'll be each day, we plan our ADRs around that -- 3 or 4 table service meals for the week if we're paying out of pocket -- making our reservations online first thing in the morning 180 days out.
Now that we have the ADRs, we then develop an attraction-specific, step-by-step touring plan around our "park schedule," and those ADRs. We make sure that it provides for a lengthy nap each afternoon, and has enough "wiggle room" that we can make some changes to it spontaneously. We leave the final partial day (before we have to get on the plane) unplanned, so we can park-hop and revisit everyone's favorite attractions one more time.
What this means is: by 179 days out, everything is set and we're left twiddling our thumbs for several months, occasionally checking online to see if any discount offers have come up that we can apply to our booking. Last thing before we leave, we'll update the touring plans to incorporate any additional attractions, ride refurbishments, changes in showtimes and park hours, etc.
I love, love, love to plan, so this is all one big joyous adventure for me! To paraphrase Nathan Hale, my only regret is that I have but one Disney vacation to plan at a time!
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wolf359
Well-Known Member
For me every trip has been a bit different. From short weekend "commando" trips up to a week-long stay on the 14th floor of the Contemporary, and everything in between. Some planned around a favorite time of year, or working within school vacations. Once or twice we picked a time based on a special promotion, but for us that's pretty rare.
We really prefer longer stays at value resorts over more expensive rooms, so All-Star Music is always our go-to place to stay. I've never had a bad stay at the All-Stars, so I've never been too worried about staying anywhere else.
Once the dates are set everything else is planned around Extra Magic Hours, with dining reservations going in last once I have a plan of which parks will be seen on which days. I love seeing the parks at night, so I always plan on being in the latest closing park every night. I also limit park hopping to just two parks per day, starting in any park that doesn't have morning EMH, and ending at the park that has evening EMH.
One of the newest changes to our usual touring plan has been to add a "no theme park" relaxation day into the middle of the trip. We shop, resort hop, and perhaps go to a water park or swim in our resort pool (weather permitting) and the difference to the overall quality of the vacation has improved significantly.
We really prefer longer stays at value resorts over more expensive rooms, so All-Star Music is always our go-to place to stay. I've never had a bad stay at the All-Stars, so I've never been too worried about staying anywhere else.
Once the dates are set everything else is planned around Extra Magic Hours, with dining reservations going in last once I have a plan of which parks will be seen on which days. I love seeing the parks at night, so I always plan on being in the latest closing park every night. I also limit park hopping to just two parks per day, starting in any park that doesn't have morning EMH, and ending at the park that has evening EMH.
One of the newest changes to our usual touring plan has been to add a "no theme park" relaxation day into the middle of the trip. We shop, resort hop, and perhaps go to a water park or swim in our resort pool (weather permitting) and the difference to the overall quality of the vacation has improved significantly.
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LuLaSue
Well-Known Member
It all revolves around the hubby. He is retired but took on a new job that only gives him 2 weeks vacation. (Total culture shock) We go to Aruba every other year and on the off year we go to another beach destination. The second week, one year we go to Disney the other year we go any place else. On the off year we always fit in a long weekend at the World.
We pick the time of year first, usually off season October/Early November. (Not this year, we are traveling with my brothers family and his girls have school, so the last week in August it is!)
Then we pick our resort, always on property. We have been trying out different Deluxe properties. August - Board Walk and December - Grand Floridian.
Next up, dining... I plan, plan plan....180 days out. I try and pick a restaurant in each park or cooridnating resort.
Touring would be next. I base what park we will be attending around our dining reservations. We always purchase a park hopper, allows us to be more flexible. We get the dining plan if it for free if not, we skip it. We usually book club level which gives us a nice breakfast and some snacks for the day. Club with the DDP is way to much food.
Funding...
Well, I work full time and teach Yoga on the side. What ever money I make from teaching Yoga goes in an account. There you have it, my love for Yoga allows me to enjoy my love for Walt Disney World! Life is good.
I worry about discounts after we book. I keep tabs on what becomes available. If it works out that we get a PIN or free dining , it is just the icing on the cake.
We pick the time of year first, usually off season October/Early November. (Not this year, we are traveling with my brothers family and his girls have school, so the last week in August it is!)
Then we pick our resort, always on property. We have been trying out different Deluxe properties. August - Board Walk and December - Grand Floridian.
Next up, dining... I plan, plan plan....180 days out. I try and pick a restaurant in each park or cooridnating resort.
Touring would be next. I base what park we will be attending around our dining reservations. We always purchase a park hopper, allows us to be more flexible. We get the dining plan if it for free if not, we skip it. We usually book club level which gives us a nice breakfast and some snacks for the day. Club with the DDP is way to much food.
Funding...
Well, I work full time and teach Yoga on the side. What ever money I make from teaching Yoga goes in an account. There you have it, my love for Yoga allows me to enjoy my love for Walt Disney World! Life is good.
I worry about discounts after we book. I keep tabs on what becomes available. If it works out that we get a PIN or free dining , it is just the icing on the cake.
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Wow!Cool.
Hey!Really organised.I agree the planning and costs are the most important in a WDW vacation,if you can get that right it takes the pressure off the rest of the stuff,great to read other folks ideas how they go about it.:wave:
Hey!Really organised.I agree the planning and costs are the most important in a WDW vacation,if you can get that right it takes the pressure off the rest of the stuff,great to read other folks ideas how they go about it.:wave:
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graphite1326
Well-Known Member
We decide when to go based on everyone's schedule. This year it ended up being mid-August. I then plan our daily schedule based mostly on the EMH schedule. Sometimes I go to a park that had the EMH the night before. They tend to be less crowded. Then, if possible, we park hop to the park that has EMH that evening. Of courser this doesn't always work out that way. But it gives me place to start.
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Jenna
Well-Known Member
We have to go during the Summer holidays from school...My stepdad and I are both teachers and my 2 sisters are still in school.
We basically don't plan very much, we book a villa and flight altogether. As long as the villa is in the Kissimmee area we don't mind
Everything else we take it as it comes, we buy our park hopper tickets and take it from there.
We basically don't plan very much, we book a villa and flight altogether. As long as the villa is in the Kissimmee area we don't mind
Everything else we take it as it comes, we buy our park hopper tickets and take it from there.
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SMS55
Well-Known Member
We basically don't plan very much, we book a villa and flight altogether. As long as the villa is in the Kissimmee area we don't mind
.
Neither do we. We live in Florida so we can go pretty frequently. We get seasonals and go a few times a year for 3-4 days. It's better than one long trip. We get our fix every few months. We try to go during slower times, but long weekends where the kids have a day or two off. We'll book the hotel, usually a value resort and that's about it. If the finances are good, then perhaps a character dinner or something. We wing alot of it because it's a vacation. We've been to DIsney plenty where we'll skip some stuff and we eat quick service or sometimes off site. It saves more money for the next trip which is only a few months away.
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radev104
Member
We always go in June or July so it depends on how many day people (my parents and fiance since my sister and I are in college). We chose the week of 4th of July because my fiance has off the 4th and wants to save some vacation days for when I'm in the DCP this fall.
We decide what resort we want based on how much we can spend. We are staying at the POP again this year. We don't do ADRs. We might do one this year.
On the way down, we drive, we plan out what we really want to do. Its a 20 hour car ride so we have plenty of time. We just plan what days to go to what parks. We never plan out what rides to do when we just wing it. We hit a lot and have a great time-even if we have to wait an hour to ride Space Mountain. Its a vacation and planning too much just makes us stressed.
We decide what resort we want based on how much we can spend. We are staying at the POP again this year. We don't do ADRs. We might do one this year.
On the way down, we drive, we plan out what we really want to do. Its a 20 hour car ride so we have plenty of time. We just plan what days to go to what parks. We never plan out what rides to do when we just wing it. We hit a lot and have a great time-even if we have to wait an hour to ride Space Mountain. Its a vacation and planning too much just makes us stressed.
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Sunshineglow68
Active Member
It all depends on the kids. This year we had originally planned to take all 3 kids, 22, 20 & 10 but the older one just graduated from college yesterday... YEAH :sohappy: the middle one works full time and the younger one is in school so what we decided to do, as a family, is hubby and I go with our youngest (taking her out of school) and plan a cruise next year with all 5 of us.
We first look at dates, Free Dining helped us with that and we are going Sept. 24-28, then looked up several on site resorts and picked the one that grabbed my attention and this year it was WL. After booking all of that including airfare, I started booking the meals. That's all done now and the rest is just reading and trying to make out our schedule as to which parks to go to on which dates as to not miss anything.
Good Luck to you!
We first look at dates, Free Dining helped us with that and we are going Sept. 24-28, then looked up several on site resorts and picked the one that grabbed my attention and this year it was WL. After booking all of that including airfare, I started booking the meals. That's all done now and the rest is just reading and trying to make out our schedule as to which parks to go to on which dates as to not miss anything.
Good Luck to you!
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sgtmgd
Well-Known Member
Well I just got back from paradise over New Years..and we are already planning the next trip. Christmas 2013..dates are open yet....probable not until July or August. We have already figured 12-15k for the trip are setting aside 7-800 a month to pay for the trip. Boardwalk Villas (2beadroom) is the preferred choice, if not available we will look to the other villa options. Deluxe Dining plan built in to budget..as well as spending..park hoppers. I also will arrive a day early and stay at shades of green 1 night so the morning of my reservation at the "deluxe" resort Im there early..this usalyy bodes well for room assignments and makes day 1 a smooth transition>
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Gabrielle123
New Member
First we look at each other and say, "Do we really want to do this?" Of course that's a rhetorical question. We then research flights. (we normally go in August) This trip we had hopes on going August 15th, but a work trip took that idea out of our minds (and cheaper flights), so we book the following time, of August 19th. This has it's good and bad...Good is that the Grand Floridian's value season *drops in room rates* are during that time and Disney has the 20% off rooms, so that was a definite in booking the GF. The BAD was the airline tickets! It shot up in price in one day from $286 to $406. So we had to figure out times for flights. We ended up with $361 each.... So our second and third steps are comparing prices for flights and resorts and then giving that a thumbs up. We also think about concierge and dining plans and what would be the best to do in terms of eating. My 16 year old son is a food machine. So we look at menus and decide from there as to a dining plan.
This was the first time I booked EVERYTHING through Disney online. It was faster and I had a cast member in a chat window answering questions. This is great for budgeting as well, because there is no pressure of talking to a cast member and then upon hearing the price saying, "no thanks"...all you have to do it hit "cancel" or keeping searching for the right hotel/dining plan/flight for your budget.
We then research flights. (we normally go in August) This trip we had hopes on going August 15th, but a work trip took that idea out of our minds (and cheaper flights), so we book the following time, of August 19th. This has it's good and bad...Good is that the Grand Floridian's value season *drops in room rates* are during that time and Disney has the 20% off rooms, so that was a definite in booking the GF. The BAD was the airline tickets! It shot up in price in one day from $286 to $406. So we had to figure out times for flights. We ended up with $361 each.... So our second and third steps are comparing prices for flights and resorts and then giving that a thumbs up. We also think about concierge and dining plans and what would be the best to do in terms of eating. My 16 year old son is a food machine. So we look at menus and decide from there as to a dining plan.This was the first time I booked EVERYTHING through Disney online. It was faster and I had a cast member in a chat window answering questions. This is great for budgeting as well, because there is no pressure of talking to a cast member and then upon hearing the price saying, "no thanks"...all you have to do it hit "cancel" or keeping searching for the right hotel/dining plan/flight for your budget.
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jlsHouston
Well-Known Member
Well, I spend way too much time on the WDW website whether I have a vacation booked or not... but it all starts with the saved vacation scenarios I do. Then I try out different resorts and at some point I make some extra money in my business and bingo I book some place! Then the real planning starts. When it all began a year ago with vacationing at the World we knew we had only a few days, we had no interest in doing anything but MK and character dining and we used the resort for sleep and shower only and POP was perfect for all that. The next trip we went with another group (boyfriend's kids) and so we ended up in a moderate with free dining, and I didn't much care for CBR. Discovered the food & wine fest though on that trip and LOVE Epcot now! By the time we were leaving WDW last October I knew we would return for easter so in Feb I put my 200 dollar deposit on CSR, which is a resort we always wanted to try and we loved it and we had a fantastic time over Easter. Really looking forward to next week. WE have 9 days and hope I don't return home with the disney withdrawl depression that my boyfriend says I get, but I have already booked and paid for a weekend at the Dolphin in October for one of the F&W events so I have that to obsess over when this vacation ends!
whether I have a vacation booked or not... but it all starts with the saved vacation scenarios I do. Then I try out different resorts and at some point I make some extra money in my business and bingo I book some place! Then the real planning starts. When it all began a year ago with vacationing at the World we knew we had only a few days, we had no interest in doing anything but MK and character dining and we used the resort for sleep and shower only and POP was perfect for all that. The next trip we went with another group (boyfriend's kids) and so we ended up in a moderate with free dining, and I didn't much care for CBR. Discovered the food & wine fest though on that trip and LOVE Epcot now! By the time we were leaving WDW last October I knew we would return for easter so in Feb I put my 200 dollar deposit on CSR, which is a resort we always wanted to try and we loved it and we had a fantastic time over Easter. Really looking forward to next week. WE have 9 days and hope I don't return home with the disney withdrawl depression that my boyfriend says I get, but I have already booked and paid for a weekend at the Dolphin in October for one of the F&W events so I have that to obsess over when this vacation ends!
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We are DVC so we decide when we want to go. Our home resort is HH so at 7 months to the day, we make resort reservations. We usually arrive on Saturday and stay to following Friday. We always get DDP because we enjoy a nice TS meal everyday.
Based on crowd level predictions and hours of operation we decide which parks which mornings, using park hopper for afternoon and evenings in other parks. based on all that we decide which TS restaurants in parks or resorts. If grandchildren are along we hit one character dinner, maybe one breakfast. We usually have breakfast in villa. Every couple years we hit Hoop de doo as well.
My sons and I like the Bass fishing as well so that is always considered based on other things we want to do.
We drive from PA in Van or large SUV so there is lots of room for food and snacks going to and for gifts and souvenirs coming home
We will only book one TS that is Signature so we don't burn up the DDP meals
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bethymouse
Well-Known Member
I guess cost and time of year ( hubby hates the hot&humid summer time). We search for bargains, and I like to go to a different resort each time so I can meet my goal of staying at all of the resorts!
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disneynut4u
Active Member
I have a method to my madness. I always put the park I spend the least amount in (AK) first. Any money left over, I carry over to the 2nd park (DHS), then MK, then Epcot. I always spend the most in Epcot. Any money left over from the previous days carry over to my last day. Once I make my schedule, I make my reservations for meals. Works for us!
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