I like to feel I am more go with the flow. We enjoy just being in the moment and enjoying our walks around WDW with he occasional stop to ride a ride. Most of our 'planning' starts with ADRs. Once those are booked, everything just falls into place. We always do ParkHoppers, just so breakfast / dinner ADRs don't really interfere with our days much. We do spend a few more evenings in EPCOT just due to the great table service offerings that are there, but we make sure to not do all of our ADRs there.
A few guidelines we follow the booking ADRs is checking if there is a party during the week we are there (
MNSSHP,
MVMCP, etc) we will pick one of the nights if we want to go and make sure to schedule around it.
Another thing we have always done is EPCOT our first night there. Being that we can't get into Orlando until around 1pm due to flight times, then allowing 2 to 3 hours for DME / snack / checkin / bus waits, we usually get and ADR for around 5 or 6pm and unwind walking around the World Showcase that night.
The rest of our ADRs are really just what types of food we would like to have / try.
After ADRs are set, we usually throw a quick plan together around what days we want to be at each park. And these are just plans to make sure we get to each park. This can take into account special shows (Fantastic, Wishes!, special parades, etc.) But when it comes down to it, all we really need is to have fun, and show up to our ADR that morning / afternoon somewhere.
FP+...these things....they are nice, but they have put a whole new level of hassle that just wasn't there with the paper passes. I don't know 60 days out what the weather will be like or what rides will be busy, they make me feel like I have to plan my day out. We have learned to book the big rides early in the day, and then use them as late as we possibly can. We will book FP+ for our favorites and that way we know will get to ride, which is nice, but it could have turned out that we didn't need the FP+ at all. We will usually use them as a double / triple trip on our favorites. For example my boys LOVE Big Thunder Mtn Railroad. So we will book at FP+ for 10am for that. Around 10-ish we will mosey over there and ride 1, 2, 3 times (depending on standby times) without using our FP+, Then just before 11 we will use our FP+. This strategy has been quite successful, and the kids seem to enjoy riding multiple times. It really cuts down on the trips ALL THE WAY BACK ACROSS THE PARK to ride it again later. The other thing that FP+ seems to add that I don't like, is people think that they can't ride the ride without one. We have friends / family that have gone with that were really bummed they didn't get a FP+ for a particular ride. It isn't a ticket, it doesn't make the experience different, and really, skipping the standby queues DOES eliminate experience on some rides.
For the reasons above, the FP+ is my least favorite part of the trip. Like I said, we do it, just because we can, but many times our 60 day picks are changed the morning of anyways, just because of how we are feeling or what we actually end up doing that day. But our 60 day picks are usually 1) EARY, 2) Our Favorite Rides Only, 3) Close together. This gets us on our favorite rides fairly early (we don't usually deal with Rope Drop, we like to stay up late) and having only our first few hours planned is enough for me. The rest of the day is usually wide open leading up to our ADR / party.
As I type this, it appears that I do put quite a bit into planning, but I do know that it never feels stressful, or like much of a plan except around booking the ADRs. Our plans often change the morning of / evening before and we just go with the flow. WDW is a great place to relax and let the kids explore, try new foods, and live in a fantasy world for a while.
