Am I the only one that hasn't planned?

[dkal95]

I see all this posts about itineraries and plans and meal reservations...
The only thing I have planned is our air travel, our condo, our rental car and 1 character breakfast for our 10 day trip.

I figured we'd just wing it the rest of the time. Could our trip wind up in a huge fiasco because of my lack of planning? It's not that I didn't get the chance to plan, I just chose not to. I kind of wanted to just relax and vacation and not worry about schedules and set plans.

I thought with a 6 year old and a 16 month old, it might be really hard to stick with set plans.

Did I set myself up for disaster?

 

[homeschooler]

You will be fine. I have never been in the end of September and you will probably get larger crowds than we do in January/February but just remember to stay away from 'prime' hours. i.e. Don't stop for lunch at noon. Either try 11 or 1:30. I read somewhere a long time ago that you go to the left because people naturally go right. I find that I go left when shopping, etc. So, when you enter the parks, go left. Fewer people.

I tried 'planning' and then the littlest DS wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear 4 times in a row. So much for the plans anyway.

 

[Amirah95]

Yes, I'm sure there are others who don't plan. I only plan when it comes to WDW because if we don't watch it we can really hurt ourselves. I setup a plan more for budgetary reasons.

 

[BevS97]

I like a plan of which parks on which days - but I don't plan where we will go within each park. try winging it for the first few days, and if it's not working, then scribble yourself a plan while you are there.

Personally, I like to know that we wil fit in everything we want too - which is not to say that every second is programmed, just that there are quite a few things we want to try and without some sort of plan we will get to the last 2 days and realise we haven't done things we wanted too.

 

[1stimewkids]

Hey Dkal95
Did I post this, because we sound so much alike. I have 2 kids 6 and 16 months. Ih aven't really planned except for makingthe ressies for room and a character meal. With kids this age we fly by our pants. We are going to be there at the same time. Hope you have a great trip.
Amber

 

[CapeCodFam]

We also just wing it. I like it that way I feel we have more freedom. Also we(dh, ds8, ds6, ds2, me)love just to wake up and do whatever we feel like doing that day. My boys love to have a say in wich park we are going to that day. The most important thing is just to have fun, weather you love to plan your days ahead of time or you love to fly by the seat of your pants.

Have Fun,
Joy

 

[jxgriffi]

You're definitely not the only one...I have been to WDW quite a few times, so it's not that critical to get everything in. This next trip will the be the first with our DS7 and DD2.5. We are going to let them do the "planning" when we get there.

As funny as it sounds, the only thing we really plan is NOT to go to the park with EE that day. We usually go the opposite way!

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

Even if you don't want to make specific plans, I highly recommend buying a guide book so that you know what WDW has to offer. This will make it easy to figure out what you want to see and what you don't want to see. With a little planning, you will get alot more out of your vacation. Have a great trip!

 

[ValerieK]

No you are not the only one.
I haven't planned very much for our Sept. trip either. I keep putting it off. I am not too concened though. It will just be me and DD most of the time, she is pretty flexible.

Have a great time.

 

[JaxCon]

This site stresses me out sometimes, I feel like I havn't planned enough! I have planned which parks which days but that is about it, we too just go with what hits us. I feel like we do proably miss somethings but I would rather relax than worry about it. Besides we can always go back!

We will be there about the same time!

 

[mrsschlep]

We are going in January and are going to buy the kids the WDW For Kids, By Kids book. It has pictures of every ride in all the parks. They will be able to pick out a few must do rides in each park, then what ever else fits in we'll do. Our youngest will be 16 months when we go also. We are just going to relax and enjoy ourselves. Why rush? If you don't see it all you can always come back.

 

[KathyPem]

We have a general idea of which dats we are going to which parks but even that is negotiable. I printed out a list of the best days to visit each park so we can go on a no-so busy day. The two other times we have gone the not busy days worked out really well and were right on.

 

[hokiefan33]

Planning? What's that? I'm not sure I've ever heard the word!!

Seriously, though, here is a list of everything I plan when we go:

1) The dates we are going
2) Where we are staying (on-site of course, is there any other way?)
3) To eat a lot and eat well
4) To have a magical time with my wife and kids, while they still like being with us all day
5) To not commando the trip to death, and go with the flow

Those 5 things are all I need. We have only been twice as a family, July of last year and this year, due to budget constraints and the fact that we're 10 hours away. Neither time have I gone down there with any more plans than what you see above. Last time, I made PS for the Princess Breakfast in Norway while I was down there, and narrowly missed Cindy's breakfast by a few minutes, though we did manage to make it to dinner in the castle. I was able to make dinner reservations at the 50's Prime Time Cafe at MGM, and also at the Garden Grill in Epcot, no problem. No calling 90 days ahead and worrying like crazy about whether I got my reservations, just smooth sailing.

We went to AK one morning, it was hot as fire and the safari was broken down (never to reopen that day, from what we heard), so we left. I mean, if one of the main rides (and there aren't many there) are closed, every other ride was going to be swamped! And you know what? It was the best move we made as a family. Kids were happy to not have to stay there, due to the heat; I was, too. And we got another day at MK that we didn't think we'd have. We didn't plan any rest times, either. If we got tired, we typically went into a sit-down restaurant and just relaxed and cooled down for a while. Didn't want to waste the time to go back to the hotel for a swim, and by renting a stroller, the kids weren't so tired by walking that they couldn't function; they made it to 10 PM every day, at the ages of 8 and 5, and loved it.

Bottom line, I don't plan any of the trip except what I must to ensure we have lodgings and tickets. Beyond that, we go where the magic takes us!!

 

[alicenwonder99]

As far as planning, I think that if you each pick one ride that is a must-do and just make sure you get to that ride on your trip, then that's great. For the baby, just pick IASW for him/her...lol.

Another thing you can possibly plan is where you want to eat. If there is a restaurant that you really want to go to, then you may have to plan that in advance.

I hope your family has a wonderful time!!!

Mary

 

[all4fun]

I agree with all of the above. We know we will be returning so we don't stress about it too much. Our last trip we were with extended family (plus our ds1 first trip) and didn't get nearly as much in as we normally do, but we weren't stressed about it because we'll just catch what we missed the next time. If you're going to return soon or going during the off season, then you'll definitely be fine just winging it. However, if you think you won't be able to return for a long time, (and/or are going during a really busy time) then I highly recommend getting a guide book. Two that I recommend are the Unofficial Guide to WDW and the Passporter . We find the itineraries to be very helpful and I actually have felt less rushed when we have used them in the past. WDW is a big place and can be a little overwhelming to a newby, so I found it helped to have at least a general idea of the things we wanted to do and the itineraries helped us figure out how to fit it all in without being rushed. But whatever you do, Don't Stress! This is vacation after all.

 

[CindyAnn]

I think you'll be fine as you are. I like to organize, so we have a more detailed plan, but that's largely a function of personality, rather than necessity. Having said that, though, I think you need to plan more for things like:
- large groups
- people with special needs
- travel during busy times of year.

In many ways I think the most valuable part of planning is the byproduct of information acquisition. For example, it can be very helpful to know that Spectromagic may only be operating during one night of your stay, that MGM will be crowded because it's Super Soap weekend, that a Fantasmic dinner package may help you to see a show more easily with young children who won't appreciate a long wait, etc, etc. So, even though you might not PLAN those things, KNOWING about those things could help your vacation to be even better. If you already know a fair bit about WDW, then you shouldn't have any problem at all. Otherwise, reading a good guide book is probably a good idea.

IMHO it's kind of like asking myself if I'll enjoy a football game more if I know the rules, or if I can only view it as a field of chaos where big guys spend a lot of time inexplicably bashing into each other.

For me I'm a "knowing the rules" kind of person (but those football guys ARE just bashing into each other for no reason at all).

Have a great time!

 

[Lisa S]

I think you are smart.

I planned and planned before our 1st trip in 2000. I left my carefully typed pages at home! I then, started to bark out orders from memory, go here, go there.

This year, I'm not planning. I'm noting a few highlights we don't want to miss. I think we (mostly me) will have more fun with winging it!!

Have fun. Stop and smell the roses, I know I will be this time.

Oh yeah, when we got home I found my type pages in a pocket of our suitcase, we had it the whole time.

 

[newholiday]

In 01 I had detailed plans - which ride when, where to get fastpasses, etc.
When we found ourselves in WDW on a 22hr notice in 02 I brought along those 01 plans.
This yr? I have an idea which park, which day. I jotted down what has changed since our last visit. But no idea how we'll spend the days. DH said "Thank God!"