Touring plans for the "relaxed" crowd

[JennyDrake]

As someone else who likes this strategy I unfortunately think those days are long gone.

Its a shame that those of us who like to go with the flow are now forced to either plan every minute or wait in line.

DITTO!!!

I go 3x/year, so I'm not under pressure to see and do it all, but I can tell you that I'm there at RD Every. Single. Day. The crowds at MK and AK build starting at 11 am and are simply miserable by 1 pm. DHS is not a lot better. I am not there during peak seasons, and last year as well as this March and May, wait times at ToT and RnRC were 50 minutes at 11 am.

 

[Nancyg56]

Same with us. You know, I never thought about it until I was posting in this thread, but I think that going at rope drop is what enables us to just go with the flow. I think if you show up later, it's more critical to have a plan, depending on what you want to get done.

I agree. We tend to RD now that my DGD is older. She used to be a nightowl so we used a different strategy when she was a tyke. We do have FP planned but that is because I am not standing in 80 minute lines for any Princess, or attraction, but because we have a few "Must Do" attractions, I use what works for us.

We know that we will stick to one area at a time, will skip any attractions that have astronomical lines, and have lunch close to whatever we are when we are hungry. We never worry about what we don't do. We concentrate on what we are doing, and enjoy that. Somehow, by the end of the trip, we managed to stumble through everything that really matters to us, have eaten meals we love, relaxed at the resort enough to feel we got a value from it. I think that minimal plan is what helps us to relax the entire time, and RD ensures that we get on those attractions that have lines building by midmorning.

OP- I think a relaxed trip is what you make it. We are not commando planners, and never made a touring plan that we used. I do check out the crowd calendars and try to schedule parks accordingly, but honestly, if our plan is a direct contrast to what the calendar suggests, we still do what works for us.

I would plan a park and FP for each day, but be prepared to toss em if something better came up. Try to go for RD< but if not, at least you FP'ed three attractions. I would try to book meals if there were some I really would not want to miss. But after that, just enjoy your trip.

We

 

[3CW]

There are plenty of ways to maximize experiences with a more relaxed touring style. We have never been rope droppers, and my SO has back issues that mean commando touring is literally painful. Said issues also limit the amount of time we can spend in the park before he's just done for the day, even when taking it easy.

Here are some of the things we do.

- Try to go during less crowded times of the year.

- If your "going with the flow" doesn't involve waiting to pick a park that same day, definitely aim for the most recommended park each day. More people heading to another park for EMH or Fantasmic means fewer people ahead of you in line! If you want to hit a non-recommended park, use park hoppers and only stay there as long as you have to. If you want to wait to select a park day-of, pick your FPs and ADRs as soon as you get in the park (or on the way, using your phone, if you're not doing the driving). You're probably not going to get BOG or Anna and Elsa, but there are many fine headliner ride times and dining choices that are still available same-day.

- Make the most of parade and firework times. If you want to watch them, do so from a less-popular place that's ideally right near the next attraction you want to hit -- like watching the parade from Frontierland and then immediately heading to Splash.

- If you can (it's becomingly increasingly hard for us to do this one anymore), take full advantage of late hours. And be sure to get in line for something right before closing time. Even on a non-EMH night, we were able to ride 7DMT with a 30 minute wait by getting in line at 11:59 before a midnight closing. Posted wait time was 90 minutes, so that was a nice bonus. But even if it had taken that long (and we were prepared to wait), it would have been 90 minutes post-closing, instead of eating into park time that could be spent riding other rides.

- Eat at off-peak times if you can, and take advantage of slightly smaller crowds during normal meal times.

- Use single-rider for the rides that have it. We don't do this, because we'd rather spend the time together (even if it's waiting in line) than fit more attractions in our schedule...but if you don't mind it, that can definitely be a time saver.

- Save shows and FPs+ for the crowded afternoon hours. Any headliners that you plan to ride standby, try to do with one of the above strategies/times.

...

But ultimately, yeah, more relaxed touring still means dealing with increased wait times. So we people watch while in line, or download a book we've been looking forward to reading onto our phones. I will never understand the people who hadn't experienced TSMM at all before FP+ because they didn't do rope drop and weren't willing to put up with the long wait. Like...really? You weren't willing to do the wait even once? Though I'm sure they probably don't understand us having never done BOG dinner yet, because we've never had solid plans for a trip made by the 180-day mark!

Best of luck to anyone trying for a more relaxed trip! It can indeed be done.

 

[dprincessmom]

Ugh. This is our first visit and I'm actually becoming a bit bummed the more I read about what an awful time people tend to have if they don't plan every second. We are pretty relaxed people, and while we knew it would be busy, we didn't realize it would be insane like so many other people seem to be reporting. We are going in October, but from what I'm hearing that still won't save us from probably having to be Anal Annies with our scheduling. Boo

Please don't get discouraged - your trip will not be a waste if you aren't an AA ) . My advice would be to talk to your travel mates and find out what are the must dos at each park. Once you have that information get FP+ for 3 of the must dos. Decide a general time you will arrive at the parks and then figure out where everyone is headed and go the opposite direction. You can still go with the flow, you just might have to sacrifice some "extras."

I am a planner to an extent, but I by no means have a master plan for the rides, shows, etc. If we are headed to something and can do it we will. If we want to take a second drawing class then we will. For an example for our July trip, I have two dining reservations and the fast passes for our 5 day stay. That's it, we will hit those times and see everything we care to see at the parks.

 

[Octoberbaby]

Our family has done everything that there is to do at Disney and we still go to RD... We can sleep at home. I also plan our park days according to the crowd calendar and book our FP+, but that's it. Everything else is random. I am trying a new approach though on our next trip by only booking our favorite ADRs and trying walk ups or QS for most of our meals to make our trip more relaxed. A balance between planning ahead and spontaneity is the key. Don't over do it, but don't go in without any type of plan.