Advice on happy touring without FP? (gasp!!!)

[Mrs~Incredible]

The time: Nov 9-16, 2018
The locale: staying offsite, 1 mile away
The players: myself, DH, and 7yo DD
The tix: 7 day park hoppers

This will be our 6th trip since my DD was born. We are experienced trip goers and I am usually an Uber planner- think excel spread sheets and dis-addiction and knowing all the tips and tricks. My philosophy has always been that planning is helpful to free up some spontaneous time. Only at Disney do you plan to be spontaneous lol.

We were at wdw this same week last year and the first few days were shockingly crowded, then it lightened up. We are expecting big crowds again, at least for the first few days.

For this trip, DH wants to handle it differently. He says (and rightly so) that we have been on most attractions dozens of times. He says he would rather soak up the moment with us rather than (me) constantly looking at my phone, refreshing, arranging FPs. He says he would rather not go on something if that’s what this trip would mean- he would rather float around to whatever looks fun and has a shorter wait. I may be able to talk him into a few FPs for things we’d really want to do that it would be really helpful for, but in general he kind of just wants us to go down and play.

I’m surprisingly feeling the same way. Our best moments from the last trip were the spontaneous moments that were unplanned. And not getting on something won’t be the end of the world for us. But I’m conflicted, because the planner inside me is screaming!

I want to embrace my inner go with the flow girl. I want to let go of my Uber planner girl. I’ve always enjoyed the planning, but even my daughter last trip asked me to put my phone away!

Looking for advice, thoughts, tips, tricks from anyone who’s had this kind of trip and lived to tell a happy tale

Thank you!!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Do you park hop? Midday breaks?

If you do you could always do your 3 FP+ for the evening park and the mornings you don't have to even look at your phone. Just ride everything standby. This is what we did on our last trip. We never pulled additional FP's. We did AM RD, midday break by the pool and our PM park with FP+. Granted at that time you still had to get additional ones from a kiosk so we figured why stand in a huge line just avoid the ride line.

Even if you don't park hop or do midday breaks I would still book 3 FP+ and just don't mess with them. Leave them as is and go with the flow. Book them for midday. Starting around 12. And just don't touch them or get additional ones.

I wouldn't give up a perk that comes with these very expensive park tickets.

 

[sponica]

My only experience "winging" it was in late 14, we did a 2 day whirlwind trip through 4 parks and bought the tickets the night before at disney springs....and we didn't know they had changed from paper FP to the FP+. I think we just went with the 3 preselected ones and decided which lines were worth the wait and which ones werent. We crammed A LOT into two days. If I had a week, we would have been able to slow down the pace.

Even if you "preplan" with the 3 per day, spread them out through the day based on how you meander through whatever park, if you use them great, if not oh well....

 

[meagarunt22]

I would just say, obviously, rope drop to get more done early with much more time for relaxing and going slow afterward when it gets busy.

I'm exactly like you, but I've also noticed the level of anxiety that comes with being an extreme planner really takes some of the fun away.

DD 7 and I went on a trip last February and we had our 3 fastpasses, but other than that she led the way, and we stopped so many times to look at the water and count Disney Ducks, we sat in rocking chairs in Liberty Square, played checkers in the store in Frontierland, etc. All things I wouldn't normally stop for. Also my best memories.

 

[NJlauren]

We some what do this. We book our 3 FP but we don’t always get additional and we kinda do what DD wants. I usually have an idea of what I think we should do and plan it out but as soon as she sees the carousel or the tea cups it’s out the window. In DL last year we rode the carousel 4 times in a row! Whatever it is what it is. Winnie the Pooh line in WDW we spent 20 minutes letting people pass us, whatever! She is only 3 so a bit different but you get the idea.

So my advise would be plan the 3 FP have ideas but don’t keep refreshing the app, don’t race from ride to ride, just do what feels right. But no reason not to book the FP worst case you don’t use them. (Maybe you want to book them for the new Toy Story rides, pandora and 7DMT and that’s it) but I think not booking them is silly, you don’t need to use them but they can be there incase.

 

[tlmadden73]

I am going the same period this year.

I expect it to be crowded Nov. 9-12 due to the Veteran's Day holiday weekend (it's why we are going .. I am off work and my son is off school that Monday), but I plan on hitting the majority of the parks 13th-15th.

Here is how I've gone in the past few years, and how I will probably due it this November.

Just do rope drop and book three fast passes for the hours before lunch (one after the other) in the same "area" of the park. No need to be checking your phone because your morning is planned out. Hit nearby rides between the fast past times. If you think you'll miss one ... just let it be. It's OK to miss a fast pass (you didn't pay for it). Let the rest of your day be flexible. If you are looking to go on a ride in the afternoon check for a fast pass, if not, no big deal, but no need to be on the phone all the time trying to be efficient.

Fast Passing can get tiring if you find yourself running from one to the other .. across the park. Not fun.

An example of my "flexible" fast pass use from my trip with my 3yo and his cousins in 2015:

I planned my 3 morning fast passes simply based on how I want to tour the park (the direction I want to travel).
So I did this last trip to MK, for example.
Do EMH -- head to Tomorrowland and spend the first hour there, hitting Buzz, People Mover, Speedway, Teacups, and Little Mermaid (see how I am starting to work towards Fantasyland?).
Once EMH is over, do my fast passes:
1) Belle .. then hit things like the carousel, Philharmagic, while waiting for next one.
2) Peter Pan (while the girls hit Fairy Tale hall), hit Small World or Pooh in between or check out some shops, get some snacks.
3) SDMT
Lunch at Be Our Guest.

That was our morning. No pressure .. no running to get to a FP before it expires (since they are all right there). Did some quick rides, etc.

It rained in the afternoon so we went back to resort for break, came back before dinner and just "winged" the rest of the evening. Dinner, Dumbo, Goofy, Buzz again, Incredibles dance party, watch the fireworks, etc. We stumbled upon the Incredibles Dance Party because of this flexibility. I didn't really know it existed, nor did I have it planned. We just stumbled upon it because my son wanted to do Buzz again. It was probably the highlight of the day as the little kids just enjoyed the music while the parents enjoyed the joy on their little faces.

 

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

The time: Nov 9-16, 2018
The locale: staying offsite, 1 mile away
The players: myself, DH, and 7yo DD
The tix: 7 day park hoppers

This will be our 6th trip since my DD was born. We are experienced trip goers and I am usually an Uber planner- think excel spread sheets and dis-addiction and knowing all the tips and tricks. My philosophy has always been that planning is helpful to free up some spontaneous time. Only at Disney do you plan to be spontaneous lol.

We were at wdw this same week last year and the first few days were shockingly crowded, then it lightened up. We are expecting big crowds again, at least for the first few days.

For this trip, DH wants to handle it differently. He says (and rightly so) that we have been on most attractions dozens of times. He says he would rather soak up the moment with us rather than (me) constantly looking at my phone, refreshing, arranging FPs. He says he would rather not go on something if that’s what this trip would mean- he would rather float around to whatever looks fun and has a shorter wait. I may be able to talk him into a few FPs for things we’d really want to do that it would be really helpful for, but in general he kind of just wants us to go down and play.

I’m surprisingly feeling the same way. Our best moments from the last trip were the spontaneous moments that were unplanned. And not getting on something won’t be the end of the world for us. But I’m conflicted, because the planner inside me is screaming!

I want to embrace my inner go with the flow girl. I want to let go of my Uber planner girl. I’ve always enjoyed the planning, but even my daughter last trip asked me to put my phone away!

Looking for advice, thoughts, tips, tricks from anyone who’s had this kind of trip and lived to tell a happy tale

Thank you!!

i went the same time last year as well and i had NO problem with crowds whatsoever! but that all depends on what parks you pick! we were able to ride essentially everything, a lot with no FP+. some FP i had we didn't even use. mainly because we rope dropped every day and i was very diligent on what parks to go to! i think if you do those two things, you won't need to worry about FP!

 

[Skippyboo]

How about make your 3 fast passes and then when you are in the parks- your hubby has your phone. What about random trip planning- put 4 parks in hat, pull out a park, then have the attractions for each parks in separate hats. So you pull AK, then pull Dinosaur, Nemo, Safari- that’s your fast passes.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Although we make fast passes, we no longer plan down to the minute where we are suppose to be. We allow the day to wash over us.

It does make for a much more relaxing trip.

 

[AngiTN]

I don't understand why you can't make ANY FP.
Even if you make them that morning on your way to the park. No way would I go without any at all. There's a far cry from planning each minute to wasting unnecessary time just because you refuse to use FP which will save time. The way I look a it, I spend a lot to be there, why waste time (which is wasting money too)?

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

Do you park hop? Midday breaks?

If you do you could always do your 3 FP+ for the evening park and the mornings you don't have to even look at your phone. Just ride everything standby. This is what we did on our last trip. We never pulled additional FP's. We did AM RD, midday break by the pool and our PM park with FP+. Granted at that time you still had to get additional ones from a kiosk so we figured why stand in a huge line just avoid the ride line.

Even if you don't park hop or do midday breaks I would still book 3 FP+ and just don't mess with them. Leave them as is and go with the flow. Book them for midday. Starting around 12. And just don't touch them or get additional ones.

I wouldn't give up a perk that comes with these very expensive park tickets.

Usually when we tour, we do rope drop, park hop, and later day FPs.

I actually don’t mind the seemingly out of FPs, and there have been certainly times we cancelled them and didn’t worry about it, but Dh kinda just wants to wing it and book that day, maybe. Hence my anxiety lol.

 

[disneyvoice]

We take an extremely laid back approach to our trips now but we still schedule FPs. The difference is that we don't care if we actually do the FPs or not. So if we end up feeling like going to a completely different park, we don't care that we might be getting rid of prime FPs. If we are on the other side of the park or want to do a different attraction, we just cancel the scheduled FP. Same goes with ADRs. We typically know at least a few hours in advance if we feel like eating where we have an ADR. If we don't then we just reschedule it so we won't get charged. If for some reason we can't reschedule it we just cancel it and accept the cancellation fee. We would rather pay $10 per person to cancel than make ourselves spend more money to eat where we no longer want to eat. Sometimes we decide that something else sounds better or we might not be hungry.

The key is do any pre-planning knowing there is a high likelihood you will NOT be following those plans. There are many days we have actually cancelled all 3 of our FPs and only done a few rides the entire day. We typically evaluate our plans the night before and it's common for us to change or cancel FPs and ADRs the night before.

As someone who used to be an uber planning myself, I must say I enjoy the laid back trips we take now MUCH, MUCH better. The first time I took this approach I was a bit worried it would stress me out but it was surprisingly enjoyable! I think you will find the same!

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

i went the same time last year as well and i had NO problem with crowds whatsoever! but that all depends on what parks you pick! we were able to ride essentially everything, a lot with no FP+. some FP i had we didn't even use. mainly because we rope dropped every day and i was very diligent on what parks to go to! i think if you do those two things, you won't need to worry about FP!

Yeah, I think we made some mistakes with Park choice last year the first few days- we were salmon swimming upstream!

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

For this trip, DH wants to handle it differently. He says (and rightly so) that we have been on most attractions dozens of times. He says he would rather soak up the moment with us rather than (me) constantly looking at my phone, refreshing, arranging FPs. He says he would rather not go on something if that’s what this trip would mean- he would rather float around to whatever looks fun and has a shorter wait. I may be able to talk him into a few FPs for things we’d really want to do that it would be really helpful for, but in general he kind of just wants us to go down and play.

I don't understand why you can't make ANY FP.
Even if you make them that morning on your way to the park. No way would I go without any at all. There's a far cry from planning each minute to wasting unnecessary time just because you refuse to use FP which will save time. The way I look a it, I spend a lot to be there, why waste time (which is wasting money too)?

I'm betting that her husband doesn't want her staring at her phone, trying to get the best timing for the fast passes.

I've watched may families on the bus to the parks. Easily 90% of them are staring at their phone. He sounds like he is tired of seeing his wife do that.

 

[AngiTN]

I'm betting that her husband doesn't want her staring at her phone, trying to get the best timing for the fast passes.

I've watched may families on the bus to the parks. Easily 90% of them are staring at their phone. He sounds like he is tired of seeing his wife do that.

Booking 1 set of FP doesn't require constantly looking at phone and refreshing FP

 

[lovethattink]

We often just wing it. I do make 3FP. Though we don't always use them and end up cancelling or I change it to something else.

It's nice to relax and stop to smell the roses.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

How about make your 3 fast passes and then when you are in the parks- your hubby has your phone. What about random trip planning- put 4 parks in hat, pull out a park, then have the attractions for each parks in separate hats. So you pull AK, then pull Dinosaur, Nemo, Safari- that’s your fast passes.

That is a fun idea!

 

[Gentry2004]

I wouldn’t give up the 3 initial Fp’s per day but you can totally have a relaxed fun time without additional FP. Especially everywhere but MK. We usually don’t even bother with 4th FP’s at parks other than Mk.

But don’t give up your initial 3. I’d book them at 10, 11, and 12.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

I don't understand why you can't make ANY FP.
Even if you make them that morning on your way to the park. No way would I go without any at all. There's a far cry from planning each minute to wasting unnecessary time just because you refuse to use FP which will save time. The way I look a it, I spend a lot to be there, why waste time (which is wasting money too)?

Yeah, I think I’m all reality we will have a few FPs for a couple of high priority rides, and then maybe once we know where we are headed we can schedule a few more
Dh just doesn’t want to feel tied to our FP ressies. Even though we’ve altered from them in the past, I think it’s a mental thing to just have a wide open day.

I think the biggest issue is me constantly refreshing and getting FPs in the Park once we are there. It’s fun for me, almost like a game- but I would like to see If I can be more in the moment this trip without my nose in mde all the day long.

 

[MainMom]

I think the biggest issue is me constantly refreshing and getting FPs in the Park once we are there. It’s fun for me, almost like a game- but I would like to see If I can be more in the moment this trip without my nose in mde all the day long.

I’m a little concerned, if you will, about this for our upcoming trip. I will definitely try to get more FP’s after the initial 3, but I don’t know that I want to try for 15+ minutes unless I’m standing in a que or waiting for a family member to be done with a ride. I want to enjoy just being there and the atmosphere. It’s harder to do with your head in a phone.