Am I the only one that likes to "wing" it

[BethC1952]

For my 17 day trip last year, I told all participants that I would be printing a calendar with time schedules, reservations and an activity for every hour of the day and that I expected them to follow it.

I printed the calendar, which included our two PS's for dinner, our Illuminations cruise, arrival and departure times for the limo to the airport and the bus for the cruise, and in every other slot on the calendar I printed "Have fun!". We followed that plan without deviation!

When I'm on vacation, I refuse to follow any kind of a schedule.

Beth

 

[Suziequz]

I'm a planner. I buy the Unofficial Guide every year as soon as it comes out - even if I don't have a trip scheduled. I map out an itinerary on what park to go to what day and what nights to see the big shows (Fantasmic, Illuminations, etc). The night before we go to a park, DH and I sit down and map out our strategy on the Park Map. That way, in the morning, we know exactly what order to visit things in and we don' t have to spend time deciding.

I have never scheduled my PS's before my trip (except V&A on my Honeymoon), but for this next trip, I plan to schedule them all.
Our trip this year is 10 nights and it's in August. Two of the people in our group of 6 have never been to WDW. One of the others hasn't been since Epcot was under construction. I feel like it's important to have a plan so these folks can get their money's worth.

That being said, I also leave room for downtime. We have two completely unscheduled days on our upcoming trip. Do what you want, my make sure you're back for the Yachtsman by 7!

I admire people who can "wing it", but at the same time I fear for my sanity if I tried to go that route!

 

[Serenity]

I always semi-plan. We go off season so this is possible. The only thing I know ahead of time is which park which day. But I also make sure that we are at the park prior to opening to make the best of the really slow times. Then we just do things as we come to it. We finish one "land" then move on to another. We walk enough as it is, I don't want to walk from one side of the parks to the other doing the "major" attractions in early hours and then go back again to do the less popular stuff in peak hours.

However, if I were going in peak season, I would have more of a plan because there is NO WAY I am going to stand in any line for 60 minutes.

Rushing to see everything, may help you get in all the great rides. But it is not worth it if it leaves you feeling rushed and you miss the magic in the little touches. The rides are great, but the little things are what really makes a Disney trip memorable and what makes us want to keep going back. - Like reading the windows on main street, enjoying the different architecture in the different sections of hte parks, listening to the "Janitors" in the middle of Innovations, watching the talking trashcan interact with guests in Tomorrowland, tasting the different cokes in the cool station at Epcot, playing in the play areas, going early to B&B to watch the warm up act, sitting and talking with the CM from around the world in FW, (I could go on and on).

So whether you 'wing it' or 'plan' , just make sure to make time for the little things.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Defiently a winger here, sometimes we don't even know what park we are gonna go to when we get in the car in the morning. We get to WDW area and then pick, sometimes it's for a specific ride or whatever, sometimes just because. Of course we only live an hour away and we have passes so we don't feel cheated or disapointed if we park hop and only get on one ride at each park, etc. But even if we came "down" for somewhere I don't know that I would plan to a T either, hotel, plane, tickets, of course... but not a set in stone shed for each day. I like the changing pace, like to jump on a ride we walk by because the line is short, etc. We often make a PS as we are walking to the restraunt.

 

[Kaycee]

I plan and plan and plan and plan before every trip. Then, when we get there, the majority of my plans go out the window and we just go with the flow!

I plan for two reasons. For one thing, I enjoy planning because it helps to pass the time between trips. The other reason is because we have to travel during busy times, so it helps to fall back on some plans if we run into huge crowds.

We do follow some basic touring rules to avoid wasting a lot of time - we arrive at park opening, take advantage of EMH several times each trip, use fastpass a lot, take afternoon breaks, then return to a non-EMH park for the evening.

I make several PS's beforehand, especially for our favorite restaurants. We keep most of them, but we end up canceling at least one or two and making one or two new ones each trip, based on what we feel like doing at the time.

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

our first trip i tried to get every thing done, also we went to Sea World and Univ. then the next few trips we relaxed a little more. the last 2 summers we just take our time. but i really have to go to the MK the first full day, even if it is a mon. its something that we have to do. also we leave to go back to the hotel to have lunch or swim for a while, we usually go in late August . years ago we went in Jan. and Oct. so now we at least get to enjoy the Hotel , cause before we were like never at the hotel other than to sleep.

 

[sters]

No. I'm a planner. I like to know exactly what I'm going to do, where I'm going to eat and do not find going with the flow "relaxing," as so many others do. I like to squeeze as much in as I can. My husband is a winger and enjoys messing up my well-laid plans (brat!) I do recognize that many plans have to be tweaked because of cranky kids or weather.