What I'm curious to know is this...from both first time planners and veterans....so I have decided the where the when...the places we want to eat...how long we will stay...all the basics.....so NOW....how much planning does everyone do? I mean...down to the minute or much more casual than that?
We prefer to really have a nice relaxing fun vacation. We don't care to go 90 miles per hour.
We know we cannot see it ALL in 8 days...and that's ok.....but how much should we plan???
Once you have the basics done....how much more do you really plan???
I'm afraid even thinking through this answer it got lengthy so apologize in advance if this is lengthy. My response is basically what lamb616 said with some expansion.
Personally, I am spending tons on this vaca and we will probably never go back (though my secret hope/goal is for my kids to sort of beg my DH and then plan a Christmas trip, teehee). I am planning with the idea that we won't go back in mind. I am also planning with the mentality that we can't do it all, but I want to do everything we can.
With that in mind, I want to DO as much as possible and not WAIT as much as possible. If you visit touring planning sites, you will learn there are generally 3 sets of people. There are those who planned and go to the rides that develop long lines first and therefore don't wait too long to go on the ride, getting those attractions out of the way early, not waiting 50+ minutes later for a 5-10 minute ride. Those rides are not necessarily the popular ones but could be slow loaded, low threshold rides.
Then there are those who just show up and go from 1 ride to the next in order or look at the map and say "what do you want to do next?" and when you get to that ride there's a long wait. So you either wait or wander to another ride that hopefully doesn't have a long wait.
I realize it's WDW and I may have to wait for SOME things, but if I can plan a little beforehand AND be flexible once I'm there, I believe I can see more with less waiting, which I know will keep my entire family happy. Then we will have more time to relax and will have definitely gotten more for our money.
I guess it's the difference between waiting 30+ minutes and doing 6 rides or 15 minutes each and doing 12 is the way I look at it. Which 1 would your family be happier with during the day?
I was told at easywdw that once you have planned like this you start to learn the rides, which 1s you need to do early, so you can adjust your plan accordingly "on the fly" so to speak, in the park should something go wrong, ride shut down, etc. You don't have to be running from place to place or crisscrossing. You can make a plan that accounts for not wanting to do that. It's all up to what's best for your family because it's your plan.
One last thing I forgot to mention learning the best way to incorporate FastPass into your plan.
Sorry for my longwinded and opinionated response. I've been accused of being opinionated in the past!
I just think as much $ as we're all spending we should get the most out of it and allow for the most leisure time as possible to recoup for the next day. It's amazing how much you can enjoy and then have pool time too.
PS.If you're interested in seeing my plans, could post them for you.
ADRs are made and trips just about paid off. We're going from 5/22-5/29.
