Are touring plans really needed?

[Happy Mom2]

I have a question ....

We will be in Disney the week after Thanksgiving (Mon-Fri), and I'm wondering how important it really is to have a touring plan. I've been reading the Unofficial Guide.

We have two small kids (will be 5 and almost 3 by the time of the trip), and I am going to plan which parks and restaurants we will go to each day, but do I really need to plan which attractions we will see in the order we will see them?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. TIA!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Only if you don't want to wait in line.

I've used touring plans, gone during June or July three times, and only waited in line more than 20 minutes once.

It's not that hard, really. Since you have the book, I'd suggest giving it a try the first day and if you don't like it, try doing it however you want.

 

[twokids0204]

I have a question ....

We will be in Disney the week after Thanksgiving (Mon-Fri), and I'm wondering how important it really is to have a touring plan. I've been reading the Unofficial Guide.

We have two small kids (will be 5 and almost 3 by the time of the trip), and I am going to plan which parks and restaurants we will go to each day, but do I really need to plan which attractions we will see in the order we will see them?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. TIA!

A general plan is suggested... (which you already have).

Along with the Plan (which parks on what day, and ADR's) Maybe setup a goal of the top 'x' attractions you would like to see. And not necessarily what time's or order.

Make sure you identify which attractions, have Fastpasses, and decide whether those attractions are important to you.

Good luck, have fun, and be sure to report back how it went.

 

[tskover57]

we always plan our ADRs and what parks we want to go to throughout the day, our plan is always subject to change based on the crowds and what we feel like doing at that moment. We do not plan ride to ride, but I feel like if your doing RD you need to have a plan of action to be effective. I think it would be a waste of time to get to RD and then the park opens and you have no idea which ride you want to do first or get fastpasses for. Not that this really needs to be planned out step by step, but just a general idea before the actual RD. But this is just how my family does it and it works well for us!

 

[korie]

I printed out the touring plans for parents w/small children from touringplans.com. I liked having them b/c it took the guesswork out of it for me. I didn't want to be wasting time standing around trying to decide where to go next. I just kept checking my list and off we went, no questions. It was our first trip, so we weren't really familiar with all the parks. It eliminated alot of zig-zagging around the parks for us, which was really helpful with 2 five year olds in tow.

Having said that, there were certainly some things that we did out of order or skipped for whatever reason, but having a basic plan in hand was fantastic.

 

[vettechick99]

The last time we used them, it was a low crowd time. They still worked great! We were able to see at least a half dozen rides before the crowds started coming in around 10-11am.

 

[JoanGirardi]

When we went the first time, we didn't necessarily have a touring plan so much as an idea of the rides or attractions we most wanted to do. Of the, say, 5 things we didn't want to miss, we knew where we were going the head first when the parks opened. From there, we kind of winged it. After that first time, we had a better feel for the park layout and what attractions we could do without, and the "touring plan" came about naturally. We usually do the parks pretty much the same way every time, now, but the first time we kind of felt our way and had a blast. Make sure you take advantage of Fastpass on the rides where that's available, but you're going to do fine without a detailed list of what you must do next.

 

[jparc]

I would say you don't need an official touring plan per say but as a previous poster stated come up with a list of attractions you most want to see and I would add ... familiarize yourself with the park map in advance so you know where you are heading and what attractions are near one another. Then with children your age go with the flow....its hard to plan for some things such as meet and greets that may materialize, small things that may catch their attention, or moods swings.

 

[Happy Mom2]

Thank you all. I guess it won't hurt to have a touring plan for attractions. We can always wing it if we decide we don't want to use it. I'm type A and love to have a plan for everything, but I am really trying to take a relaxed approach to this trip. I know with two small kids, some things just aren't going to go as planned... and that's ok.

 

[twokids0204]

Thank you all. I guess it won't hurt to have a touring plan for attractions. We can always wing it if we decide we don't want to use it. I'm type A and love to have a plan for everything, but I am really trying to take a relaxed approach to this trip. I know with two small kids, some things just aren't going to go as planned... and that's ok.

You get an A for Attitude.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Only if you don't want to wait in line.

No, and I don't wait in long lines either.

Part of teh easiest trick is to simply say, "Okay, we're going to ride just about everything, but we're not picky about order." The second thing is to et a sense of the crowd level inthe park, and what kind of lines are out there. That may be a bit tricky ofr a first timer, but eveyone can read the wait time boards at teh front of eah park. Again, if it's your very first tiem at WDW, you might not know which are the eadliner attractions. After your first visit though it's not too tough. Disney does pretty good job of making the headliners, "fastpass" attractions. There are a few non-headliners that have fastpass - but hey - some fo thsoe may be your favorites. I can think of cseveral non-headlinrs that are among my favorites. So you kind of have to ride something to know if you like it.

I really despise the idea of being locked into a tight set of rules when it comes to touring WDW. Our family has a hard enough time making it to ADR's on time. I know if I told my family a specific ride order they had to tour with they's just rebel. Again, I have a hard enough time getting them to an ADR - and they've been many times! (Inerestingly enough, I've had pretty good success with getting us last minute ADR changes as well - even when we're a large party of nine.)

The one thing I simply won't do is wait in an especially long line. Get a fastpass, keep walking. It alos helps to know a few small things - like at HS, the hot ne ride for now is TSM. In that one park, if it's busy,the fastpasses run out early.

However, even there - everyone rushes to it first thing. Ona recent trip - the line at 10am was fairly long. I came back an hour later and the line was MUCH shorter. that won't happen spring break week AND teh sign posted out front said longer than the actual wait. that happens at WDW too. I've been at attrations wher ethe poasted wait time was 70minutes when really it was more like 5.

I woudl also say, you can see and do EVERYTHING at WDW. You'll probably see most of it,but not EVERYHTIGN. Everynight, more or less, there are two fireowrks shows at teh same time. You have to make choices and be happy that you are having fun. If you're not having fun, do somethign different. It's not life or death - it's a vacation. Ithink sometimes DISers get to wrapped up in their vacation choices.

 

[bemery1963]

I think if you really are a type A personality and you are a first time visitor you should have a touring plan. I think it will help greatly with just knowing where things are. You don't have to follow the plan, but at least you can get the general idea where things are and the easiest way to get to them.
I ithink a lot of first timers spend quite a bit of time just trying to find the rides they want to take.

Type A personalities like to be efficient.

 

[bicker]

The first rule of planning is that the plan (any plan) is valid until you begin executing it. At that point, the plan must change to react to the reality you encounter.

The point of a plan is not to fastidiously follow the plan, but rather to have gone through the process of planning, and have thought through the contingencies, so while your feet are on the ground at WDW you're not thinking through what to do and how to react to what you're encountering (a syndrome folks typically refer to as "deer caught in the headlights"), but rather what you're doing is integrating together thoughts that you have already had, things you thought about while you were going through the planning process.

Now, to be clear, you do need ADRs, and therefore you do need to decide which parks/which days. What I'm referring to in the paragraph above is with regard to more detailed planning than just ADRs and which parks/which days.

 

[Happy Mom2]

You get an A for Attitude.

Thanks. It's taken me a while to get there. No so much with this trip, but in general.

 

[Happy Mom2]

The first rule of planning is that the plan (any plan) is valid until you begin executing it. At that point, the plan must change to react to the reality you encounter.

The point of a plan is not to fastidiously follow the plan, but rather to have gone through the process of planning, and have thought through the contingencies, so while your feet are on the ground at WDW you're not thinking through what to do and how to react to what you're encountering (a syndrome folks typically refer to as "deer caught in the headlights"), but rather what you're doing is integrating together thoughts that you have already had, things you thought about while you were going through the planning process.

Now, to be clear, you do need ADRs, and therefore you do need to decide which parks/which days. What I'm referring to in the paragraph above is with regard to more detailed planning than just ADRs and which parks/which days.

I will definitely plan with ADRs and parks on which days. I actually have most of that done.

 

[seadd67]

I for one love to plan but not stick to It. But my own planning,the ones out there are ok and even great If you are under a strict time limt or just want a plan set up for you and not much fussing. But I find that when I am doing It on my owen theres not as much effort to stick with It and If i had a outside source do It I would feel more obligation to follow It. I crunch all the numbers,figuring where we will be,down time eating time shows that we want to see(thats always the toughest one for me matching up the park and the show times) and because we do have park hoppers It doesmake It a little easyer to movie around and not trying cram It all Into one day.

 

[Happy Mom2]

I for one love to plan but not stick to It. But my own planning,the ones out there are ok and even great If you are under a strict time limt or just want a plan set up for you and not much fussing. But I find that when I am doing It on my owen theres not as much effort to stick with It and If i had a outside source do It I would feel more obligation to follow It. I crunch all the numbers,figuring where we will be,down time eating time shows that we want to see(thats always the toughest one for me matching up the park and the show times) and because we do have park hoppers It doesmake It a little easyer to movie around and not trying cram It all Into one day.

Where do you find show times?? It never even crossed my mind that I had to coordinate show times!! I have so much to learn!!

 

[twokids0204]

Where do you find show times?? It never even crossed my mind that I had to coordinate show times!! I have so much to learn!!

Check Steve Soares website (to get an idea, as he only goes a week or so into the furture).

http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/

 

[ses1230]

I agree with most PPs, a down-to-the-minute plan is probably not necessary but I would have a list of what you think "must dos" are for your family, and what things have fast pass. A go with the flow attitude is great, especially with little ones!

 

[UncaDonald]

Ok, so this is going to be our first trip to Disneyland. We are flying to LAX on March 27 and will be in Anaheim until April 3. We have 4 day park hopper passes and are staying at a hotel about a mile from the park gates. We do not intend to rent a car, so we are limited to public transportation for anything that is not within walking distance.
That is the extent of my plan! After reading the responses on here, I am feeling very unprepared. What am I missing?
It will be me, my wife and a 9 year old daughter and a 4 year old son. I am open to suggestions, but would like to keep the trip as economical as possible (read cheap).