The unneccessary planning and scheduling

[mesaboy2]

I am going to risk the flames and defend the OP.
I too saw the post yesterday that she is referring to and I also thought she was way over planning and there was something about her post that just seemed 'odd'. Her post went something like this:
9.47 line up for Dumbo
10.02 get on ride for Dumbo
10.05 finish riding Dumbo
I can't remember what her actual question was and interestingly enough I can't find that post this morning, which makes me think it may have been a troll and the post has since been deleted?

It wasn't a troll, they were honestly curious how this would work without MNSSHP/MVMCP tix (the times were around 7:00p).

Lots of people do this, or follow TPs that give this level of detail. That's fine for them, but this down-to-the-minute stuff is waaaaay too much for me.

 

[Postal68]

I but this down-to-the-minute stuff is waaaaay too much for me.

exactly, there is NO WAY POSSIBLE that it would work out anyway.

Do you schedule set times to go to the bathroom? What if someone has to go when you are scheduled to be in line for Peter Pan? Tough luck, hold it????

 

[bearlyanne]

I saw the post too. In fact, I am guilty of sending the link to a friend to prove that my "obsessive" - in her eyes- research could be a lot more intense

and then I had a nightmare based on that post

I don't like Mickey nightmares only a few weeks before I leave...and the issue of getting thrown out for the Christmas Party won't happen on Labor Day weekend....but I have to admit, her post left a lasting impression on me!

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

The rhetoric and word choices used by many on this board can be a bit dramatic, I don't see why we are slamming the OP for her opinion and word choice when many will say that those who don't plan, make ADRs, etc are CRAZY and stupid.

I've seen the extreme time planning increase over the years, but if that is your thing, great. If you are not a planner, great. If you go to or don't go to rope drop, great. Just be happy that you are experiencing your vacation your way and know that others are just as happy with their vacation.

We come the the Dis and express our opinions and get others take on things. We have a good time gathering ideas and info and discussing somewhere we like to visit.

This, well said.

 

[glammadiva]

I plan, but the extent of my planning is determined by my companions. If my grands are with me I plan more. Adults not as much. Doing a solo next week and testing out MB. I planned more than ever and had a blast doing it!!

 

[LilyWDW]

On my first trip to Europe, I didn't plan at all. I just went where the tour guide took us and then didn't have a single clue as to what to do during the free time. It wasn't always the best experience and I had a miserable time in a couple of beautiful cities. I swore the next time I went back that I would have a plan and, when I got to return, my experience was much better.

If anyone thinks my planning for Disney is "insane", then they would have a heart attack if they saw my plans for my Europe trip or a trip to NYC. I research the heck out of those more then I even do Disney. Then again, the Europe trip was 6 cities over Christmas and New Years (nothing like celebrating Christmas in London and New Years in Aachen or learning to snow board in the Alps, though I missed home).

 

[Mad Hattered]

I've described myself the same way. I go into the trip with a park planned for each day, and my ADRs set. But from there nothing is really set in stone. I research here, not so I can plan which rides to do in which order, but so I can make informed decisions on the ground on the day of our invasion...... errrr..... visit.

Exactly the way we toured. We were big park hoppers, though. We've been so many times that we know what we want to do where when we get there (that's a lot of W's in one sentence!). We've been known to hit rope drop at AK and FP/ride/watch what we need to, hop to MK and FP/ride all the biggies (and some for nostalgia's sake), hop on the monorail and have lunch at The Wave, continue on to Epcot and ride the few rides they have (we skip Snorin'), enjoy some drinks around WS, attend our ADR for dinner and stay for Illuminations. And watch out if DHS has a 10:30 showing for F! No seriously, we've done that. (and yes, I'm aware that's a huge run-on sentence but I was in Commando mode).

It was a basic plan that we made on the fly or the night before, not 60. The only exception would be the one ADR we made for dinner for that day.

Edit: and we ALWAYS have a rental car.....you can't miss out on the other Orlando parks or enjoying a day in Clearwater.

 

[Missytara]

Some of my greatest and most memorable moments are those that were never planned.

One particular one comes to mind on my 3rd land/sea trip when I asked my mom. She was not much on the parks, but she loved the cruise part.

On our Mk day, there was a bench near Splash Mountain. We sat thefe for about an hour and she delighted in watching people screaming coming down the last big drop. In between, she told me about the night I was born and the first day she took me to school.,

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

It wasn't a troll, they were honestly curious how this would work without MNSSHP/MVMCP tix (the times were around 7:00p).

Lots of people do this, or follow TPs that give this level of detail. That's fine for them, but this down-to-the-minute stuff is waaaaay too much for me.

Agreed. If I want a mickey bar, I want it now and don't want anyone telling me that I have to wait 23minutes and 42 seconds because thats when its scheduled.

Like others have said, we have our ADRs set and know which park we are going to (although, calling an audible and switching parks that morning isn't unheard of) and usually know what we want to do first, but thats really it. Of course if there is something special we want to see we will plan for that.

 

[juliebug1997]

Agreed. If I want a mickey bar, I want it now and don't want anyone telling me that I have to wait 23minutes and 42 seconds because thats when its scheduled.

Like others have said, we have our ADRs set and know which park we are going to (although, calling an audible and switching parks that morning isn't unheard of) and usually know what we want to do first, but thats really it. Of course if there is something special we want to see we will plan for that.

One of my favorite moments was on a Sunday in MK in March. We were leaving MK at 11 AM to go back to the Contemporary to get ready to get on a bus to go to our cruise. We were walking down Main St and there were the Dapper Dans. DH and I both got our pictures taken with them and they even sang me a little song. It was something we hadn't planned on doing or even looking for, but we will stop when moments like these pop up. We did the same thing as we were trying to get to Merida last summer and the mayor was out.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Because some folks love to butt into other people lives

Personally, I think what's uncalled for is to gang up on other posters when you don't agree with them, which happens too often on here and is happening yet again in this thread.

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

One of my favorite moments was on a Sunday in MK in March. We were leaving MK at 11 AM to go back to the Contemporary to get ready to get on a bus to go to our cruise. We were walking down Main St and there were the Dapper Dans. DH and I both got our pictures taken with them and they even sang me a little song. It was something we hadn't planned on doing or even looking for, but we will stop when moments like these pop up. We did the same thing as we were trying to get to Merida last summer and the mayor was out.

Yep, its those little magical moments that make a great trip unforgettable!

 

[spruce]

The first time onsite for my wife, son and I at WDW in 96 I had developed an insane plan to follow. 2-1/2 days into it she's crying on main street saying, I can't do this!
I threw the plan away, have been many times since and make no plans any longer other then adr's. We do know what we like to do and understand park strategies and tour with that knowledge.
Many first time and even repeat guests do plan in a way that for us is insane. We've found that it's more fun to just go and drink in the atmosphere and commando touring is for other people, not us.
One final note, we have gone with family, as many as 19 people, they look to us to show them everything in 6 days. It can't be done, we show them the highlights with no plan other than which park on which day and you need to see this, follow us. This is as close to commando as we get and it is no fun for us.
We're going down in a few weeks by ourselves for 4 nights and can't wait. We don't have a plan, just the idea to have fun.

 

[JMars]

Yep, its those little magical moments that make a great trip unforgettable!

We were in the middle of a rainy, rainy week in may 2010 and were leaving MK. On our way out in the town square building, unplanned and unadvertised was Pluto and Chip and Dale with no line at all (they must have been scheduled for the Main Street Square entrance but moved inside. One of those little things that mass a miserable time fun for us and our 4 yr old. Lots of interaction time because there were no guests there.

 

[UNCFanatik]

I got to love how some people describe themselves as just "researchers" and do not plan what rides to ride but somehow always seem to hit TSMM first and then over to RNRRC and TOT as if they had some kind of "plan" for rides in DHS. I never hear these same people saying they couldnt get a FP for TSMM because as they finally wandered over to TSMM the FPs were gone and since they would not wait in SB lines over 20 minutes, they didnt ride TSMM their entire trip. Just a mystery how that all worked out.

But some people love to plan. It is part of their enjoyment for their vacation. It gets them excited for the trip before they go because they visualize as they plan. And for those that only go to disney once every five years or more, they plan because they want to fit everything in that they can because they know it will be a while before they return.

 

[bumbershoot]

I have been going to Disney World almost every year since 1980 when my parents first started taking us.

I've gone to Disney every year for the last 25+ and have never planned anything and always saw everything and had a wonderful time.

All those years of visiting ARE your insane/unnecessary touring plans. You KNOW the parks, you know them well. You know how to get from one place to the other, you know what you like. You know where the bathrooms are. You know everything (until things change), so you don't *have to* have a touring plan.

Guessing the schedule you saw was a RideMax printout. Great program, actually, as long as you understand that falling off the to-the-minute schedule is inevitable, and not a cause for panic.

Exactly. That or touringplans.

Just because the computer tells you certain times it doesn't mean the person HAS TO follow them, or they will be true at all!

On our last trip I did some touringplans, and as soon as we got off track (bathroom, extra long line, oh yeah we DO want to ride the teacups) I just added in whatever it was we were doing and hit refresh/optimize and boom, new schedule. With new exact times that might or might not be something we could/would follow.

I'm actually getting MORE structured in our days, because WE cannot stand it when we are standing around wondering what to do next. Those are moments wasted for us. And those magical little moments described in a few posts just don't happen when we're standing around being annoyed because no one has an idea of what we should do. They happen when we're DOING something, and then we take that time to experience the little moments or the long break on a bench or whatever, then I hit refresh/optimize again, and we continue along.

My family likes doing a LOT at the parks. We don't like being at a park all day with only a handful of things getting done (or experiences). Those intense-looking plans help us do that. And all it takes is "refresh-optimize" when something changes our plans.

 

[dansyr2514]

OP ..I'm with you.
I plan to a point but leave some things to chance. I do believe everyone has different ways of planning. In my opinion planning your day to do anything minute by minute is insane. However, whatever planning style makes the other person happy is ok by me....as long as I don't have to travel with them.
I know my non Disney friends think I'm insane for deciding where and when I'm going to eat 180 days ahead of time. But you know what...that's ok with me.

I'm guessing the original poster had no malice towards the person she was speaking about and was in no way going to interfere with their plans. So those of you who started pushing the troll button right away better re-think if everything you've ever typed anywhere could/would not be found offensive by anyone ever!

 

[davedmaine]

I don't get it. I saw one woman who had their schedule set to the minute that they are going to get in line for Dumbo and how long it will take them to get on the ride and off(like that is really going to happen) I don't understand why people can't just enjoy it as it comes.

I have been going to Disney World almost every year since 1980 when my parents first started taking us. We have NEVER had a set schedule except for dinner show reservations, have NEVER done a single rope drop and I don't think there was a single trip that we didn't do everything that we wanted to do.

I can understand having a playbook to go by, especially if this is your first or only trip to the World, but many of those who do this crazy planning are repeaters.

Last trip: family next to us at Indiana jones. The mom never looks up from her iPad as she feverishly works on her daily schedule - she's swearing under her breath the whole time. Halfway through the show she announces they need to go get fast passes for TSM. So out they go; her son bursts into tears. Sorry, she says, but they have a schedule to keep.

 

[kathy884]

I'm guessing the example is just someone who is using a touring plan. These give predictions of how long each attractions will take and a recommended order for keeping lines to a minimum. I personally think they are very helpful and great fun. And it's not like someone is going to have an issue if they can't get everything in and need to change plans. It' more like, gosh if I get there at rope drop it looks like I can get all five attractions that I want to do done by noon. Great, then I can go have lunch and a swim, etc. And if Dumbo takes longer than that and we want to be at such and such a place by noon, then based on the plan, it looks like skipping such and such a ride would be a great choice. But always if something cool comes up, make sure to stop and smell the roses and be flexible for the unexpected. I think that's a given, though, on any vacation and even in one's work life.

I tend to vacation with large groups and go high season and I find detailed planning ahead of time works so much better in this case. Too many people otherwise saying what do we do next, what do you want to do is just not fun. What we do is plan a detailed itinerary that some of us are going to follow in advance and invite the big group to participate in some or all of it if they want or to do their own thing. It works pretty well. We think it's great fun to have 10 - 14 of us running around the park together starting at rope drop. Maybe we are all OCD. lol. But every single person in our group gets a copy of the touring plan the general group is doing and we run around from ride to ride together. I got a kick out of my nephew saying. Aunt Kathy, "This is so much fun. What are we going to do next?" Note: Ages in our party now are 17 - 76 (teens to in shape seniors). Ever since we got our first copy of the Unofficial Guide, we have been touring like this. And OMG, my personal opinion is that Christmas week without a plan is not fun at all (lines are crazy long, you hardly get anything in, we gave up and left the park). With a plan it's a blast (night and day difference). Just my personal experience doing it both ways, so I know what I like.

 

[CaliKT]

While I agree that planning down to the minute is beyond excessive -- I saw the post this is referring to and raised an eyebrow -- I will say that I think that Disney requires more planning than other vacation spots. DH and I really love to travel, and generally when we do non-Disney destinations, we reserve a hotel and do some research into things in the area we might like to see, but we leave our day-to-day schedule up in the air and leave plenty of time to make new discoveries.

I personally do not think this strategy works very well for Disney newbies or infrequent visitors to Disney. I do not think you need to or should plan your schedule down to the minute, but I think it is helpful to have more of a game plan. I agree with the Unofficial Guide here: "The operational definition of self-discovery and spontaneity at Disney World is the 'pleasure' of heat prostration and the 'joy' of standing in line... We aren't saying that you can't have a great time at Walt Disney World. What we are saying is that you need a plan. You don't need to be compulsive or inflexible; just think about what you want to do before you go."

For instance, my SIL went to WDW for the first time this spring and didn't plan. Someone told her that the Cape May character breakfast was a must do, so she booked it. She was staying at the Wilderness Lodge. She wasn't exactly sure where the Beach Club was, so she took the monorail over to Epcot, then got confused because there weren't any hotels near the Epcot front entrance, so waited for a bus to take her to Hollywood Studios, and then asked around until someone gave her walking directions. She was stressed about missing the meal the whole time, and her two-year-old was hungry and fussy. By the time they got to Magic Kingdom (where they planned to spend their entire day), it was noon and crowds had picked up. They managed to get on three rides the whole day.

Did it ruin their vacation? No. But could they have had a much nicer and less stressful time had they planned more? Heck yeah.

I do not like to plan every aspect of my vacation. On my last trip, I had one ADR and ate quick service the rest of the time. I buy parkhoppers and decide the day before or the day of what park to visit -- and sometimes we change our minds midday! I choose to take my kids out of school so we can visit at a time of year when there are low crowds and short lines, allowing us to have more flexibility.

But I'm not foolish enough to believe that if I got to HS mid-day, I'm going to ride TSMM without at least an hour wait, or that, say, if my kids had their heart set on eating in the castle (either Cinderella's or the Beast's), I could walk up without an ADR. It's a balancing act, and I think most people here plan more than they think... they just already know Disney so well, they don't really even have to think about it.