How do you plan?

[DISNEY FIX]

How do you guys plan out your vacations? Do you plan out the park to visit first then the restaurants? Wing it? Dinner reservations first? How do you do what you do? EMH?????
Thanks
Chris

[Deb & Bill]

We use EMH mornings to help us make our schedule. We always go to MK the day we arrive. If it's summertime (warm weather at least), we'll plan on hitting the waterparks for their EMH mornings, too. Maybe every morning that we don't go to MK for EMH morning.

Then we might decide where we want to eat and plan the rest of the parks around our ADRs.

[Lenc324]

I always plan around my dinner reservations. :rotfl:

[searlproudbottom]

We check out touring plans for the least crowed days, then make dinner reservations. Just google touring plans and you will find the link.
Searl

[OKW Lover]

I always plan around my dinner reservations. :rotfl:
Actually, this is pretty much what we do. Our planning process has evolved over the years to selecting some favorite and new restaurants we want to dine at. We then decide what nights to go there based mostly on when we can get reservations for (since we typically don't plan 180 days out). Once we know that, we plan our park time.

[Inkmahm]

We check for EMMH first and I plan our park schedule that way. Then we plan lunch and dinner ADRs around the planned park schedule. We always reserve at 180+ days so I rarely have a problem getting the ADRs we want.

[chevyAZ]

Check the Touring Plans for the least crowded days at each park.
Decide what park we'll visit each day and if we will be there all day or split between parks. We might do AK in the morning and afternoon and EPCOT in the evening.
Make ADR for restaurants at the park we expect to be in.



I hate to say it, but I do have a spreadsheet. My wife thinks that I'm a geek, but it definitely helps to plan.

[Deb & Bill]

Check the Touring Plans for the least crowded days at each park.
Decide what park we'll visit each day and if we will be there all day or split between parks. We might do AK in the morning and afternoon and EPCOT in the evening.
Make ADR for restaurants at the park we expect to be in.



I hate to say it, but I do have a spreadsheet. My wife thinks that I'm a geek, but it definitely helps to plan.

My husband makes me start working on our spreadsheet at least 6 months before the trip starts so we can get our ADRs. I thought every good Disney guest had a spreadsheet.

[monami7]

I have a spreadsheet too! I start planning as soon as we know were gonna go!
Heidi

[Pennyguy23]

We really don't think about it. I try and get lecellier(SP?) for one night and then we just get what other ADRs we want then just WING IT!!. We go way to often to have a spreadsheet. Not making fun, I know you all go ALOT too but I just figure we will be back in a couple of months so whats the rush. BUT!!!, we do ALWAYS go to MK when we arrive, First thing after check in. But we just planned an October stay and we don't arrive until Midnight so that wont work this time but first thing in the morning. :thumbsup2

[Kathi OD]

I always plan around my dinner reservations. :rotfl:

I more than resemble this plan of action!!:rotfl2:

After that we just kind of wing it. Now that the kids are grown, DH and I do things on a leisurely basis; no more commando for us. We know we'll be back in the next year or 2, so if we miss something this time around we know we can see it next time or the time after that. I think we were to Epcot 3 times before we went on TT. The first two times all the FPs were gone by the time we got there and the standby lines had too long of a wait time. I know that our way isn't for everyone, but it works great for us.

[DMKEDM]

We don't plan at all. Well, that's not true. I plan "to the max" just like everyone else. But DS and I both know full well that my plans are just for the fun of planning. Rarely do we actually do anything I've planned at the time I've planned for us to do it! Only "special events"--e.g., MouseQuest last May, a Cinderella's Castle visit w/my four-year-old "almost-grandaughter" (DD of a former nanny who's like a daughter to me) this past August--influence what we actually do...

Thanks to DVC, we're now going 3-4 times each year. I do make ADRs a few weeks ahead of each trip (and learned the hard way last year to make T-giving Day reservations early!), but we almost always wind up redoing those dinner plans once we arrive. We just go where we feel like going at the time...we have meal reservations that we decide to keep or cancel, based on our mood of the day. The joy of 5 - 8 days at Disney every 3-4 months! Works for us...

[dznymom1]

PLAN? We don't need no stinking plan :rotfl: Honestly, we make a couple of ADR's for the week and half the time we end up cancelling those. Sometimes we just wander down to the bus stop and get on whichever bus comes first.

One of the greatest things about DVC is that after a few years it's actually a wonderfully relaxing vacation because the planning is all behind us!

[jdvm]

We have a number of traditions that probably fall into the planning category. We always eat dinner on the first night in the same place. Always hit the same same park first. If it's a busy time, we'll make dinner reservations. When we arrive we'll check the EMH mornings and avoid them like the plague. Once at a park, we generally have a routine that works for us. We'll also have a list of special things to do that we never make it half way through.
John

[JimC]

We usually have our first night's dinner at the resort, then schedule other dinners based on the resort we are at. ADRs are typical for all dinners. For example:

- AKV (Jikos) or OKW (Olivia's) then our other nights are more likely to be at DD.

- WL (Whispering Canyon, used to be Artist Point but we have been disappointed with the food and service quality there recently) then we focus on Poly, CR and MK.

- BCV (varies), then it is Epcot, Studios and the resorts in between.

- VB (varies), then mostly off property.

We usually avoid the park with EMH in the morning as they tend to be the most crowded. Lunches are park based and usually without ADRs or they are made that morning. Afternoons are usually enjoying the resort with some boating, shopping, miniature golf depending on how the day is going.

[eporter66]

We come from New York, so we like to use our arrival day to relax, have a nice dinner and hang at the pool/resort. So, we usually make dinner reservations for our first night at our resort. Once we are in the room, I will take a drive to the store to pick up food/snacks/drinks for the room while DW and DD go to the pool. We get a 1 bedroom, and usually do breakfast in our room every day. This seems to help us get started, makes sure our daughter is ready to go.

We have a 3.5 yr old, so we dont like to plan too much, we just go with her flow so to speak. We have been to WDW a number of times, so nothing is really a "must do" anymore. When there is an attraction we want to see (Finding Nemo and Turtle Talk for this trip), we try to hit that first.

Parks - We plan around our daughter. This trip we are having breakfast in Cinderella Castle - so we are going to do MK that day since we are already going to the park. So EMH has no bearing... We want to do Playhouse Disney at MGM, and that only runs Th-Sun, so we are going on Thursday. We do try to get Fastpass to the rides we love (TOT, RRC, Soarin, Mission Space...), but after that we just enjoy the park. Love this time of year for EPCOT, just stroll around, sample food, listen to music and enjoy. The F&W fest is great!

Dining Out - We usually eat fairly early with her b/t 5-6pm, so a lot of the restaurants do have availability at that hour. We dont usually find that we wait long or get turned away. We also are staying at SSR, so with DTD right there, plenty of places to eat that dont require a ressie.

I enjoy planning and my wife leaves it up to me, the only thing she asks is for our travel day to be at the resort, which is fine with me. I must admit when we first started going to Disney I did a ton of reading and planning on which parks on certain days etc..., but for whatever reason (luck?) we usually make out really good, and not feeling like we missed anything. I think the best part is that we actually come back relaxed. Again, probably due to the fact that we go yearly, we never feel the urgency to do something in particular.

E

[BroganMc]

I plan by ADRs and usually with a framework of every other day leaving the days between for winging it. Our ADRs are based on places we like to revisit and new things to try.

We have started one tradition in recent years. Our first full park day involves a trip to Magic Kingdom's barber shop. My dad likes to get his mohawk trimmed and shaped. Sets off his whole vacation if he does that.

[newholidayx2]

Late afternoons & nights are spent in EpCot - whenever possible right in front of Off Kilter
I try to avoid early morn hours and do each park at regular opening time. The other mornings are for tours (well except this Nov I put aside the morn after my 50th birthday to just chill)
AR lunches are at the parks before I switch over to EpCot or I may leave the parks and start the EpCot afternoons w/AR there

[DVCJones]

Check the Touring Plans for the least crowded days at each park.
Decide what park we'll visit each day and if we will be there all day or split between parks. We might do AK in the morning and afternoon and EPCOT in the evening.
Make ADR for restaurants at the park we expect to be in.



I hate to say it, but I do have a spreadsheet.



We do the same thing:thumbsup2

[chevyAZ]

We really don't think about it. I try and get lecellier(SP?) for one night and then we just get what other ADRs we want then just WING IT!!. We go way to often to have a spreadsheet. Not making fun, I know you all go ALOT too but I just figure we will be back in a couple of months so whats the rush. BUT!!!, we do ALWAYS go to MK when we arrive, First thing after check in. But we just planned an October stay and we don't arrive until Midnight so that wont work this time but first thing in the morning. :thumbsup2

True. We come in from Arizona, so our trips are not that frequent. A lot of planning is required to make sure we get the most out of our vacation. I think that if we lived closer and could go more frequently, I'd wing it a little more.

[lsutigger2]

We pretty much wing it also. For our trip in Oct. we are bringing friends with us so we do have a few ADR's, DH has golf tee times, and we have Keys to the Kingdom booked. Everything else will be whatever we feel like doing.

[DVC Grammy]

We tend to wing it, too. The one exception, and I'm not sure this is exactly planning, is for our F & W trip, our schedule tends to be determined by which seminars we want to attend. :drinking1

:lmao:

[Granny]

PLAN? We don't need no stinking plan :rotfl: Honestly, we make a couple of ADR's for the week and half the time we end up cancelling those. Sometimes we just wander down to the bus stop and get on whichever bus comes first.

This is very close to what we do. Sometimes we do play "Theme Park Bus Roulette" and let the next bus decide our destination. :)

Usually we make very few ADR's and even then not until we arrive at WDW. Usually just a Fantasmic Dinner Package somewhere along the way and maybe one other for a typical 7-10 day stay. The exception to this was when we went during Christmas week. Then our entire schedule did revolve around ADRs and though we loved being there at Christmas it confirmed that we would probably never do the DDP or make a lot of ADRs if we didn't have to.

Aside from that, our only planning is trying to avoid the park that had morning EMH. :)

[zackspal]

start with ADR's, than EHM & any thing else that is schedualed while we r There. After that we just wing it & always have a great time. Our next trip is week after Thankgiving. Will be 3rd visit this year :cool1:

[DISNEY FIX]

To those of you who wing it, I am jealous! I would like to but the German in me comes out. Our family needs a little more structure to get moving.
I posted this question to find out a different or better way to get my group moving in the any direction in a timely manner. Through this I have also learned that the first full day needs to be at MK. Since we know our way around MK it is very easy to have a great start to a trip. We will have to learn our way around Epcot a little better it get me a little disoriented at times. Since DD(2) needs a nap during the day we can dine anywhwere then move onto the PM activities.
As much as I would love to take advantage of the EMH, getting my bunch out of bed (enough with the hair and makeup already) and ready is aggrevating enough......I just thought of, maybe next trip I drag DS(6) out of bed early and leave DD(2) and the wife behind.....hmmmmmm does anyone currently do this????
Thanks
Chris

P.S. do you guys know of a good stroller that will lie down flat so DD(2) can nap in?

[rkandmjsmommy]

For us, we plan, then change then plan then change, then make ADR's, then change them, then plan no park days then change to a park or 2 everyday, basically all I do is plan:)

For our Dec Trip we used the christmas stuff to plan, first we picked our MVMCP night, then our CP night then decided to throw in Osbourne lights. We try to plan our park days and then eat dinner where it fits in. Planning is fun

[xipetotec]

Our method up to date has been very specific for specific reasons.
so far, we've gone every two years and managed to do it on frequent flyer points with Air Canada. That being said, 356 days in advance, we book our flights. Once we have dates confirmed, 11 months in advance, we book our rooms.

Then we wait for park hours to be published. Once those are out. we base ourselves on Evening Magic hours first cause we *love* the parks at night. So meals are booked accordingly. And the rest we just kinda "wing it" and let it fall into place as it will.

[TinkGirl]

My family likes to have input on where we go each day. Ready-made spreadsheets wouldn't work with us. I am in info-gathering mode for our June trip right now. First, I get the EMH for each park. At 180 days I will make some dining reservations and try to avoid making ADR's on days the parks have extra magic hours. I've already polled my husband and kids on where they'd like to eat. I'll also throw in a new restaurant to try. I will have lists of all the events/times (like parades and fireworks) and emh when we go. We'll decide what we'll do each day based on that. Of course, I'll be ready with that spreadsheet in my head and make persuasive suggestions. :)

[mikron]

We wing it, depends how busy the parks are and the weather, it can rain without notice.

[OKW Lover]

Late afternoons & nights are spent in EpCot - whenever possible right in front of Off Kilter
I try to avoid early morn hours and do each park at regular opening time. The other mornings are for tours (well except this Nov I put aside the morn after my 50th birthday to just chill)
AR lunches are at the parks before I switch over to EpCot or I may leave the parks and start the EpCot afternoons w/AR there

That pretty much describes our plan of attack. Except for the Off Kilter part - never developed a taste for them. Must be the bagpipes.

[pbharris4]

I used to plan, plan, plan. Now I just plan..some. We do 2 parks each year and whichever park we decide on we go on EMH (morning EMH). Pick a restaurant at the park and as far as the actual park itself..the kids let me know what rides they really want to do and we plan the park outing around that. I only plan 1 ADR per day depending where we want to go. I never wing it with ADRs. I did once or twice and got lucky the one time. I find it a little more relaxing if I don't plan too much.

[DisDaydreamer]

:eek: I'm surprised at all the planning. We don't plan anything ahead, except the arrival time and the departure time. Everything else is.... as it comes. We're empty nesters, so we enjoy taking it as it comes. Makes for a very relaxing time. And I think very quality time, since we can change our schedule ongoing. We have never scheduled our stay around eating. If our kids were still young I would probably think differently.

[DISNEY FIX]

I am fairly certain we haven't head from our planners who have things down to the hour I know your out there or there wounldn't be half of the questions on these boards. Cmon' fess it up.
Thanks

[MyDizneyBoyz]

P.S. do you guys know of a good stroller that will lie down flat so DD(2) can nap in?

Highly recommend the Maclaren Triumph or Quest - both are lightweight, sturdy, a dream to push and hold up to 55lbs, and very comfy for a wide range of sizes/ages. They also have carry straps for quick "fold up and go" events (such as getting on trams! LOL). Both lie almost completely flat - enough so that either my 14mo. old or 3.5 yr old can sleep comfortably.

[JodyTG]

I'm the planner in our family. Basically once park hours and EMH are announced, my fun begins.

I first plan our park days around EMH...night is worse than day but I try to stay away from them both. (Pre-DVC was different though. We didn't go as much and tried to make the most of every minute.)

One I get the parks decided then we pick restaurants for ADRs. We don't make as many of these as we used to. Fast food is perfectly fine for most of the days. Like others have said, we usually end the day at Epcot.

[BroganMc]

I am fairly certain we haven't head from our planners who have things down to the hour I know your out there or there wounldn't be half of the questions on these boards. Cmon' fess it up.
Thanks

Ok, I do get into hourly schedules once I'm down there. But it mostly depends on the weather forecast, how I'm feeling physically and what latest cool thing I've read about here.

I can't imagine planning like that 3-6 months out. So much changes. Then again if I had no plan at least the night before, I'd sleep in every day, find half my favorite rides completely jammed and wait 2 hours to eat (or subsist on junk). By dinnertime I'd be in such a foul mood from the disappointment I'd pick a fight with my travel buddies and be in serious danger of being fed to the aligators.

The trouble with planning comes when you are living for the schedule and miss the chance to improvise. So all my plans carry a disclaimer of "May change if I feel like it or my group riots."

One thing I always experience is that no matter how often my travel group says they want things "laid back and unplanned", they are always turning to me to ask "what do we do now?" Or worse, they ask me the plan for tomorrow just when I'm climbing in to bed. I then take the next hour jotting down notes and possible schedules worrying about who likes what, whether it will rain and how long can I exist without sleep before I'm too exhausted to do any of it.:scared:

[dianeschlicht]

We used to be very detailed trip planners for Disney, but DVC has changed all that. Now we make our ADR's and write them on a scheudle so we KNOW when and where we eat each day. Then we mostly go to the EMH mornings and then to the least crowded park the rest of the day. Our days are also filled with lots of going back and forth to the villa, so it's all very relaxing unless we have guests with us! When we have guests, we plan the parks to do each day, and once we get them started, we take off about noon and "do our thing". Then we meet up with them again toward evening in the villa and either have our meal or go to our table service spot.

We always plan to have at least 3-5 days at the end of a trip without guests! That gives us time to "do our own thing" more, and we usually spend it hitting our favorites over and over again! We spend a lot of time at Epcot, and Animal Kingdom!