Going to WDW with no plan or strategy!

[excitedfamof4]

I am enjoying reading all these post from people that have detailed plans and prior dining reservations etc..but was just curious if there are people that go with out any plans?

I have looked into when the princesses will be at different locations in the parks, etc....but our family is the type that we like to not have a schedule, we want to be able to come and go as we would like. We do plan on eating out some, mostly quick service food at the parks for lunch, but also have a full kitchen at our condo, and plan on relaxing by the pool at Bonnet Creek and eating at their restaurants on-site for dinner or in the room

Just want to see if there are others that don't have a schedule! Thank you!!

 

[mesaboy2]

I am enjoying reading all these post from people that have detailed plans and prior dining reservations etc..but was just curious if there are people that go with out any plans?

I have looked into when the princesses will be at different locations in the parks, etc....but our family is the type that we like to not have a schedule, we want to be able to come and go as we would like. We do plan on eating out some, mostly quick service food at the parks for lunch, but also have a full kitchen at our condo, and plan on relaxing by the pool at Bonnet Creek and eating at their restaurants on-site for dinner or in the room

Just want to see if there are others that don't have a schedule! Thank you!!

Plenty, though most of them are not on these boards. But there are some here who just wing it too.

 

[BeerMe]

We never make plans anymore. We play everything by ear. The next trip will be number 50. Well actually that's a guess. We lost track a few years ago........

 

[PSUGuy]

We planned in detail and went Commando when we took the 3 kids many times and once when I treated a party of 9, but now that WDW is as familiar as home and it's just the two of us, no more. We'll make a short list of things we missed in past trips and trinkets to buy, but other than that we get to a park at rope drop and play it by ear. Smell the roses.

Bill From PA

 

[jpessa]

I keep reading that 75% of people visiting Disney don't have a plan.

I have been lots of times without a plan and loved it. Now I plan which days I plan to do which parks and book reservations at restaurants I know I may not be able to get if I do not book in advance.

There is no right way to do Disney. Only what is right for you and your family.

Enjoy!

 

[natfrac]

We make very few plans. We relax and see where the journey takes us. In doing do, we find that we see the small, special things that we might otherwise overlook. We do make some dining plans. DH is diabetic/on dialysis and has to regulate his meals, so if we want to eat TS in a park we will make a reservation.

 

[Melchiour]

We only plan out the park for the day and a few Dinner reservations. The rest we play by ear, including a day or two with nothing planned at all in case kids want to do something twice.

It helps having been a few times before. Having general knowledge of the parks and rides etc can help a ton if you wing it.

 

[excitedfamof4]

Thanks for all your posts! This is our daughters first trip to Disney (age 9 & 6) so I think with or without a plan its going to be a blast! I am thinking for our next trip we may have more of a plan when we know more about what we want to do at the different parks.
Thanks again!!

 

[kay1864]

LALALALALA I can't hear you ::fingers in my ears::

(just kidding)

Seriously, you can visit without a plan, especially if you're a WDW veteran. But if you walk in the front entrance at 11 am instead of at rope drop, you'll face much longer waits (and hence fewer rides).

We use RideMax, and we never wait more than 15-20 minutes, even in late July when crowds were high.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We quit making plans many year ago... We're not commando nor dining plan users.... No ADR's at all.... Trip 48 coming up and the only thing we've planned is catching the Flower Festival it's last 2 days.....

 

[abner1776]

My DD (who is a certifiable WDW nut) is a planner right down to knowing where every bathroom is at any of the parks. I on the other hand show up at the resort with no set plan for either which park to visit or where we are going to eat.

I have always found that the weather and how I am feeling has too much of an impact on where I will be and where I want to go to, to make ADR's so we always wing it for meals and I have never gone hungry at WDW. I remember having to leave a park early because we had made an ADR at another park and it was just a real pain.

My DD has restaurants she just HAS to eat at every time she visits WDW but for me...whatever...a meal is a meal.

 

[jrtoastyman]

It depends upon what you mean by a "plan." Can I tell you now what attractions I'm going on, in what order, and where I'm eating every meal? No, I can't, and there will not be a time when that changes.

With that said, I also don't walk into the park at 11:00 a.m., grab a map, and just decide at that very moment that I'd like to ride Space Mountain. I think once you've got some familiarity with the parks, there's a sort of order to things that becomes ingrained in you that compels you to ride certain things at certain times, use FP efficiently, and avoid riding headliners via standby in the middle of the day. I can't revert back to completely winging it, because I know that winging it is a bad way to move through the parks when it comes to minimizing the things I hate, like long lines.

 

[DavidNYC]

Of course you can go without a plan. Just depends on how flexible you'll be when you're there. When my wife and I went alone, we maybe made 2-3 dinner reservations and that was it. We didn't care if we ate at 6pm or 9pm. Illuminations and Fantasmic in one night? No problem!

Now, with 3 year old twins, and a nanny, we need a detailed schedule and a lot more reservations way out if we want to make sure to get character dinners we want at the times we want. We now take a lot longer to get from point A to point B. And make sure we set when the nanny will take the kids to give us some free time . . . lot more moving parts now that we have to take into account.

It's all a personal choice and what priorities you have.

 

[pattibehan]

This will be our 14th trip, and I am a semi-planner ! My DH is diabetic, so I have to plan around meals..we let our teens sleep in every other day while we do what we want those days. Then,on early days I usually have either a lunch ADR or an idea where to eat. I plan out what two parks are good for any given day, and if we have no ADR, we go where we feel like going. We do talk about where to start once we get to the park, what attractions we want to do and let the day guide us. Some days we stay for hours, some days we leave after two or three hours..Last year, we had 33 days in Florida and have AP's, so we know we will be back.

BTW, our first trip many years ago, was 4 days, three nights, planned to the minute..we did all four parks, a waterpark, LaNouba and Quest thinking it was our first and last trip !!!

You have to do what is best for your family !

 

[Kristian]

I know that there are plenty of people who do Disney without a plan and have a great time...it can and is done. I think it's all about you and your families expectations and also your flexibility. I think if you go into a Disney vacation knowing what to expect as far as crowds, weather and whatnot go that you can have a great time with very little planning.

I plan which park we will be in each day and our ADR's, but that's about it. I make a general list of what we want to do from RD to noon and we generally get through it well before then. This will make our second year going in September, so the lower crowds do affect us differently and it allows us to do more, which I'm aware of. However, if you set your expectations and make a list of 'must do's' for each day that are realistic in terms of the time of year your going, then I think that you can have a great time no matter what.

 

[BuzzNwoodY0824]

I would love to go and not have to plan. Unfortunately, I am a serial dining plan doer. So I at least need to plan food and kind of what area we need to be in at that time. I don't think I could plan any less than that. I think my anxiety would be through the roof lol I wish i could just wing it. Maybe one day ....

 

[BuzzBelleMom]

DH did a few trips when he was a child/teen without a plan. He thought I was insane for wanting to plan.

One morning in a park, he looked at me and said that we had already done more in a few hours than he had done in a whole day with his father.

To each their own, I say. Plan, don't plan - just make sure you have fun.

 

[Peachkins]

Like others here I've been to Disney World several times. Basically the only thing I do is decide what parks to do each day, and make any ADRs that I need to. I do both because they kind of go hand in hand. We don't get park hoppers, so we're going to eat in or near whatever park we're in that day. Once in the parks, we do whatever, although there are certainly some attractions we make sure we get to.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Thanks for all your posts! This is our daughters first trip to Disney (age 9 & 6) so I think with or without a plan its going to be a blast! I am thinking for our next trip we may have more of a plan when we know more about what we want to do at the different parks.
Thanks again!!

Um...I am a super crazy planner. That being said I learned many trips ago that the best plans can go while on vacation.

I don't know when you are going..but I would plan (even just a little tiny bit) for the first trip for a 9 & 6 year old.
I know..I know...there are tons of people who have very happy trips without planning..but I can't help myself and say... Do you have *any* plans??
Even if you make a list of things they really want to see or a few must do meal reservations.....

 

[Neesy228]

My BFF is going without a plan for the first time! With two kids and a husband who doesn't like heat or walking....in JUNE. Can I tell you how much this pains me?! She doesn't want my help, so I'm trying very very hard to be quiet! It's not easy.

As for my family, we go with a vague plan. I do our ADR's at 180 days, but we don't plan every day or every park or every ride. We've been there enough that we are also in that "smell the roses" phase.