Theres Planning..Then Theres Planning!!!

[real mad hatter]

Good Morning All..Had a wee chat with a neighbour yesterday who asked me when I was going back to WDW.I told her 2015 but the planning was already in action..Only in so much that we've decided on October instead of our usual July,and were going to book our flights separate from a package tour,and book our resort direct with WDW.Now when it comes to planning,I told her we book our ADRS and write down which days have extra morning & late hours.Now Mrs Hatter hates my commando style attack on the mouse.( alarm set for 6.30am ) But what amazes me is some folk plan each day like an military assault..Example..Day 1...Get up at 6.30am..Breakfast at 7,00am..Get bus to MK for rope drop..Start at Fantasyland...lunch at 11.30am CHH...Leave around 3.00pm..head back to resort for swim & chill out period..Get bus for Epcot at 6.00pm..Do Spaceship Earth,then MS,,followed by,etc,etc..Dinner at Rosé & Crown for 8.00pm,etc,etc...Then day 2 has another military assault..Is there anyone out there that does this type of planning?.. Come forward now,and tell us if you would do it again,or ease off on exact times for each day..

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

Ours are definitely planned but not every second. I also pick a direction in which to do a park so that our lunch and/or dinner will (hopefully) coincide with the section we're in. I'd find it a waste of time to to have to go across the park for an ADR. I like there to be a "flow" to the day. But it's not like this:

8 am breakfast (30 min)
8:30-8:50 bus to park
8:50-9:05 walk into park
9 Spaceship Earth

 

[Mukta]

Yes, I am a military to the minute planner.

I have never left an item at home while packing, I have never missed a snack or ride that I wanted to try. I take a newbie with me on almost every trip, and I am a tour guide at Disneyland, so it is my nature to organize and follow a plan.

I know it doesn't suit most people, but it suits me.

 

[lifeguard1020]

I will be there in three weeks, and we don't have a THING planned. We have Resort Reservations, Tickets, and that's it. Never in my 40+ trips in my life, I don't think we have ever had a plan. When I was young, we would have a breakfast reservation on our last day and that was it. Now that I am taking my own family, it's even less scheduled. I can't imagine deciding what I want to eat for lunch on the third day of my trip 180 days out. I don't even know what I want for dinner tonight! My older sister is the EXACT opposite. she has her next TWO trips planned by the minute. I have convinced my wife that since this is a vacation, we should treat it like one and make things up as we go...

 

[IWantMyMagicBand]

I'm SUCH a planner! I have Excel spreadsheets showing every day, the park hours, the time of nighttime entertainment (Fantasmic, Wishes, etc..) predicted crowd level... I even have little notes indicating what time we should get up each day and approximately what time we would be in bed each night so we know how much sleep we would be getting. I have a big manilla folder with hotel and airline confirmation, copies of our ADRs (just in case!) and a list of all my dining and which souvernirs I want so I don't forget anything! Oh yes, I'm a big planner! lol but not to the extent of having everything down to the minute planned out.

Me too! I have a binder that is filled with the most recent park maps, restaurant menus from Allears etc. I have a copy of my spreadsheet at the front that gets printed again when a change is made.
It is split into: bfast/AM activity/Lunch/PM activity/Dinner/Evening activity
I have to make ADRs for every day of my stay as we get the free Dining Plan, all planned out ready for the 180 day countdown.
But fastpass+/my magic+ is going to drive me potty, I can just feel it! Especially if I can't match up dining to rides!

 

[Graham9]

Planning is good and I have an Excel sheet with what to do on proposed dates along with Park Times, reservations and stuff. But planning isn't everything and sometimes it's good to have a day where there is nothing planned (we will be having two days like this) and decide what to do on the moment. It will be a case of decide what to do when we wake up with a list of options. Maybe go for a drive, wander around some resorts, check out I-Drive, do some washing, go to a water park or just keep it in reserve in case something is cancelled and we can catch up.

Planning is good, but its nice to have a little bit of spontaneity.

 

[LucyK]

I plan park days, ADRs and CS restaurants and we try to go to the heavy hitters right after rope drop. I say try because I refuse to zigzag across the parks for fastpasses or run from say Adventureland to Tomorrowland because waiting times are low. Our goal is to have fun and not run around like maniacs.

I have a publisher file I take with me everywhere plus we use both MDE and WorldMate to keep track of our reservation numbers, EMH, park hours and special events.

Keep in mind we're 433 days before our trip and things will change when Easy WDW releases their November 2014 crowd calendar, but this is how my Publisher looks so far:

 

[epcotisbest]

I plan park days, ADRs and CS restaurants and we try to go to the heavy hitters right after rope drop. I say try because I refuse to zigzag across the parks for fastpasses or run from say Adventureland to Tomorrowland because waiting times are low. Our goal is to have fun and not run around like maniacs.

I have a publisher file I take with me everywhere plus we use both MDE and WorldMate to keep track of our reservation numbers, EMH, park hours and special events.

Keep in mind we're 433 days before our trip and things will change when Easy WDW releases their November 2014 crowd calendar, but this is how my Publisher looks so far:

Very cool. The 17th is my kind of day!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I do some planning...I mean, many of you know I enjoy an ADR packed trip...but I refuse to plan out too much of our park time ahead of time. I don't even trust crowd calendars after 2x of having Touring Plans be way off. So, here's what we do...

I make a list of where we want to eat then map out our days based on the park calendars...specifically EMH and hours. From all of that- I decide which parks we'll be at on which days and work in the ADRs based on that and timing of things like park opening/parades/fireworks/etc. As for attractions in the park, we may hit TSMM or TT first due to FP demands, but beyond that it's "what do you want to do now?" Yes, we'll pull FPs for things we want to do in the area we're in and do things with lesser waits in the meantime...but there is no regimented plan. I tried doing an Excel file one time, but it reminded me too much of my life at work...and there's just no place for that in my WDW trip planning.

 

[lifeguard1020]

I see that I am in the minority here...
We don't even know what park we are going to visit on what day...

 

[englanddg]

I see that I am in the minority here...
We don't even know what park we are going to visit on what day...

Sometimes we don't even go to Parks...

I just don't care anymore. We are just gonna have fun.

 

[lifeguard1020]

Sometimes we don't even go to Parks...

I just don't care anymore. We are just gonna have fun.

Well, I finally feel a 'little' bit better about myself...

 

[englanddg]

Well, I finally feel a 'little' bit better about myself...

My checkbook cares.

My "lets have fun and do what we want" side of me overrides that...

 

[Sparkle81]

We always plan for rope drop and out ADRs at least 180 days in advance. That being said I don't plan the exact order we'll be doing each and every ride, but we do plan our first 3 or four rides for each day and know which ts we plan to visit on which day and we even schedule in a few goody stops along the way. My boys are commandos so I try and schedule in some rest during the day, COP, HoP, EUE, FOLK, BATB etc.

That's exactly how we work

 

[DJMoore2011]

Our first trip we did no planning at all not even 1 ADR, we thought it's the 2nd week of Nov, the crowds shouldn't be to bad we should be able to go and sit down without to much delay, 30 minutes wait time we could deal with no biggie. We get there on our first night and are told by several places that without an ADR the wait times were over an hour and you MIGHT get in. So we had Cosmic Rays quick service, which I loved the show for it. When we went back to our room Dear Hubby got online and booked ADRs for what he could get for the rest of the week there. We didn't do too bad, other then a couple of times we had to leave one park to get to another for the ADRs. But that made park hopper even nicer

This trip we are planning our ADR's right up front. I have a list of things for each park that I really want to try and there are a couple of places we went to go back to. But I do not have a step by step plan. My Darling Daughter needs to know which park we are doing on what day and what time we will sit down to eat so she can take her night meds. To help her have some of the routine that we have home to prevent melt downs.

We loved how we went through the Parks our first trip. Taking our time, looking around and if a line was short enough hoping on a ride or to meet someone. So that will be our game plane in 2015.

 

[sgtmgd]

Hi, my name is weather lady. ("Hi, weather lady.") I'm here to confess that I am a park commando. I'm trying to get better, but it's difficult because I enjoy planning vacations SO MUCH.

The thing is, though, we use the plan as a guideline. Does it have every park, every land and every attraction listed in the most minute detail, along with the "alternative" attractions in each slot for those who don't meet a height requirement or don't "do" rollercosters? Well of course, it does! Does it list where we're stopping for a snack and when? Does it have bathroom breaks? Does it plan every day down to half-hour increments? Well, yes! Does it get double-checked, every-which-a-way, through the touringplans website in order to maximize attractions and minimize walking? Darn straight it does!

But do I insist on sticking to it? Of course not! We show up for rope drop every day but one, and follow the plan about 75% of the time. It makes us pretty darn efficient. The rest of the time, we pause to see a street performance, wander off to snag the snack someone just HAS TO HAVE at that moment, take in a passing parade, or jump in an unexpectedly-short line for an attraction that wasn't on the list.

My family actually enjoys feeling like we "know where we're going," and my children love the "adventure" of trying to follow the plan (they like to hold the list and point the way) and become instantly overwhelmed if they are confronted with too many choices. We're also early risers, so it's never difficult to coax the family out of bed for rope drop.

In short, going commando works for us.

Kindred spirits we are..

we follow a similar methodology..we have an ADR for dinner each day so we plan are advetnures around that..and do it in a logical fashion..there is plenty of room to make adjustments if needed..one thing Im doing a bit different this year is 2 character breakfast's in Epcot and AK before opening so we are already on the ground in the park pre-rope drop...for AK in particular Im interested to see how being at Kilimanjro Safaries right at 9 works and then working our way clockwise around the park..

 

[Weather_Lady]

Kindred spirits we are..

we follow a similar methodology..we have an ADR for dinner each day so we plan are advetnures around that..and do it in a logical fashion..there is plenty of room to make adjustments if needed..one thing Im doing a bit different this year is 2 character breakfast's in Epcot and AK before opening so we are already on the ground in the park pre-rope drop...for AK in particular Im interested to see how being at Kilimanjro Safaries right at 9 works and then working our way clockwise around the park..

We go again in May 2014, and I'm really interested to see how Fastpass+ is going to change our experience. We're actually going to have to plan even MORE, treating Fastpasses like ADRs and other "fixed-time events." I hate Fastpass+ and how its going to reduce the number of times we can experience our favorite attractions without a long wait, but it is what it is. If there is an upside, it's that I now get to spend even more time planning!

 

[IWantMyMagicBand]

Kindred spirits we are..

we follow a similar methodology..we have an ADR for dinner each day so we plan are advetnures around that..and do it in a logical fashion..there is plenty of room to make adjustments if needed..one thing Im doing a bit different this year is 2 character breakfast's in Epcot and AK before opening so we are already on the ground in the park pre-rope drop...for AK in particular Im interested to see how being at Kilimanjro Safaries right at 9 works and then working our way clockwise around the park..

We did Tusker House at 8.15, left our table at 9, got on the second truck going out. All the animals were out, and it was brilliant, and everyone was thoroughly entertained by my 3 year old's hysterical laughter going over the bumps
We also did Cinderella's at 8a.m for the very reason that is in this photo: My "Cindy" in front of her castle, with not another peasant in sight

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

We definitely have our days planned on which park, our tables service restaurant, and our park opener attractions but we like to go with the flow a little. Sometimes towards the end of our trips we've even been known to let the Disney buses decided where we go that day, as in whatever bus shows up first that's where we go. Planning it to the last minute detail doesn't sound like much fun to me.

Plus If you don't have any plans they can't go wrong

 

[Graham9]

I see that I am in the minority here...
We don't even know what park we are going to visit on what day...

Some people like to plan down to the minute, some not at all. I would suggest in order to get the most out of your time, look at what parks are around, what time you have and pencil in where you intend to go for each day. On our first trip to the 'World, we didn't do this - against strong advice and we lost an awful lot of good park time messing around and hesitating trying to decide what to do. Since then, we always plan each day with just the name of the park we intend to visit. It doesn't take a few minutes to make a quick list and can save hours of the day.

 

[disneygirl76]

Good Morning All..Had a wee chat with a neighbour yesterday who asked me when I was going back to WDW.I told her 2015 but the planning was already in action..Only in so much that we've decided on October instead of our usual July,and were going to book our flights separate from a package tour,and book our resort direct with WDW.Now when it comes to planning,I told her we book our ADRS and write down which days have extra morning & late hours.Now Mrs Hatter hates my commando style attack on the mouse.( alarm set for 6.30am ) But what amazes me is some folk plan each day like an military assault..Example..Day 1...Get up at 6.30am..Breakfast at 7,00am..Get bus to MK for rope drop..Start at Fantasyland...lunch at 11.30am CHH...Leave around 3.00pm..head back to resort for swim & chill out period..Get bus for Epcot at 6.00pm..Do Spaceship Earth,then MS,,followed by,etc,etc..Dinner at Rosé & Crown for 8.00pm,etc,etc...Then day 2 has another military assault..Is there anyone out there that does this type of planning?.. Come forward now,and tell us if you would do it again,or ease off on exact times for each day..

I do both. I start like you, what the hours, EMH times and where, ADR's set. Then what? We pick our days to go to which park and then plot out the day. For example, if we want a rope drop day, then we plan to be there by rope drop. That means, alarm, figure out breakfast, then hit the transportation to catch rope drop. We have a way we navigate the park that works for us. It does tend to be that we get up the same time, hit the parks at the same time and eat at the same time. For example, we grab lunch early - to avoid crowds. So on our spread sheet, it looks like it is to the minute planned out, but its not. Its a way of organizing the day in my head so we hit each day what we want to hit. A sample of a day will be up at 7 to be at park by 9. Either grab bfast at resort or once in park. Then navigate the park the way we do. If we are at MK, then we head to the left, hit Adventure Land and Frontier Land and eat around 11:30 to avoid the lines. Then off to the rest of the park and we tend to go back to the resort around 2 or 3. Rest, pool, change, and then hit park for dinner, say Epcot. So it looks really blocked out but it just tends to be our normal pattern. And we tend to go in order of rides based on past experiences. But that doesn't mean at 11 a.m. we have to be at splash mt. but we tend to hit it around 11 a.m. Actually, this time, i'm thinking of doing it differently so the experience is different. Maybe using touring plans or just starting in a different order.