Anyone else beyond the planning thing?

[HayGan]

We are 2 short months away from our two week trip. Sure I have my 2 BR at AKV booked but beyond that nothing, nada, zilch! I've never gone as far as having every minute planned out but in trips past I would have a day by day plan laid out long ago. Not this time - haven't even looked at a crowd calendar (Heck - I haven't even been on the Dis since November!) Can't bring myself to do it. I'm excited but I just can't seem to get moving on doing anything resembling a plan for this trip. Sure having 15+ trip in 5 years makes you a little more prepared for a Disney vacation but I can't help thinking that being a DVC member kind of lends itself to a more laid back approach to Disney vacations.

I can't be the only one where the "plan of attack" method of WDW vacations has completely gone out the window! Anyone else think that DVC membership comes with the added benefit of more relaxed vacation planning (or lack thereof?)

 

[TLinden16]

I definitely find that I don't plan nearly as much as I used to now that I go two or three times a year. I do make some dining reservations, but that's about it. And half the time, I end of cancelling the ones I make.

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

We are one week away from our trip. This one is adults only and we are planning nothing! Our winter was relatively stressful for both of us so we are looking forward to pool time and just hanging out, the two of us!

I agree that planning has become less pressurized as the years go by. If we have friends or family coming then I do the planning thing and enjoy the novelty of it for a time, but knowing that there will be other trips definitely takes the pressure off.

 

[Techtravler]

Other than accommodations and what parks we are going to I never have a plan for Orlando. When I say which parks I mean Disney or Universal. This is usually based on which annual pass we currently have.

Part of being on vacation for us is not being on a schedule. We do have an advantage of being able to go almost whenever we want. We are 2 hours away, but any vacation we take is like this. We may have a short list of some things we want to get to, but that is it.

I cannot tell 6 months in advanced that I will want to go to Animal Kingdom on Sept 18th 2011.

 

[perpetualplanner]

My family is used to waking up and asking me where we were going. A few trips ago I looked at them and said IDK? We have since started playing bus roulette - whichever bus shows up first is where we go (unless we were there the day before). They really were astounded that mom didn't have a plan for them. Heck - we've even taken almost full pool days since then

 

[jekjones1558]

If we are bringing guests I usually check to see which days have Fantasmic, which days have a MK night parade. This fall our group is doing MNSSHP, so I am checking those dates. And the above dates will determine which dates are left for Cirque. We never do ADRs. I hate having meal reservations dictate our vacation and we have come to think of Disney food as mostly overpriced for the quality. We always have a car so we either eat quick service or go off site for food and we usually eat breakfast in our room. One exception to our no-ADRs is if we need a character meal. So I guess I will be stuck with an ADR for our group of 20 at Chef Mickeys. We learned early on in our DVC membership that the trips we really enjoyed were those that were the least planned and most spontaneous.

 

[crazybones27]

We just did our 1st dvc trip this past Sept/Oct and I already find myself looking at our future trips as what ever happens, happens. I made our ADR's at 180 days in advance for this trip we have at the end of the week and I still don't know what day we're doing what except for meals. We just made our sit downs at places we wanted to eat and the rest is up to whatever we feel like. We're really looking forward to enjoying the pool and relaxing actually. I can see how becoming a DVC member just makes you feel more relaxed!

 

[sdzimm]

I leave for Disney in 36 days

I must admit my planning so far has been no where near in my past trips.
I have taken the time to see when the EMH days are, but nothing past that.

It could be that this is my first solo trip. I am between excitement and trepidation. I am always the one to map out the "when and where" part of the trip.

Maybe I will try the bus roulette system. It sure can't hurt.

 

[cseca]

I wish I could go past the planning thing.

If I don't plan our food, groceries, transportation, etc. we would pretty much not have a vacation. Actually I tried that once (left DH to plan the whole trip - not to Disney), we ended up not speaking at the end of the trip...

Although the level of planning is a LOT less than 10 years ago, I still have to plan the whole thing

 

[RocketEAR99]

Yup. I plan for other people. In may I've got my room, air, ground and meal plan all set up. Beyond that I'm just gonna wing it!

 

[rcgal2]

Since joining DVC, I am definatly done with the planning stage. I figure if I miss something "this time", there's always "next time"

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Never had a plan. Never intend to. It's my down time. I go with the flow and most days we are already in the truck/car and on the road before it's even mentioned, "Where do you want to go?"

I wouldn't have it any other way. I have enough stress in my real life without artificially creating it for myself on my vacations. I can't even imagine the disappointment these people set themselves up for planning their trip down to 5 minute intervals. Forget that. I get that at home!

The family has AP's. We have our own transportation. We're planning on coming back. A lot.

 

[DenLo]

We call it the Hitchhikers Guide to the World (versus Galaxy) method when we take which ever bus shows up first. My DSIL just shivers every time we mention we'll take the first bus or that we don't have any set plans except for a few ADRs. She a commando type.

 

[gkrykewy]

The only planning we do (or have ever done) determined by where our ADRs are and where the EMH is that night.

 

[HayGan]

Glad to see I'm not the only one

Planning in the past has mainly about crowd avoidance. I think because we are such pros at that now I find little need to review the calendars. We know where "they" will be and try to avoid them as much as possible!

ADR planning used to be a "must do" but not anymore". Because we drive now, we enjoy eating off-site much more than at the over-priced and over-rated Disney restaurants. We have a few must-do's but most of those are counter service!

 

[Mrs Hobbes]

Now that we know we'll be back we definitely have a more relaxed approach although saying that I am having to slowly wean myself off the planning because I love it and it builds the excitement for me. We have gone from using ridemax and knowing where we will be every minute of the day to just knowing what park we want to be in. we also make less and less dining reservations with each trip. For our next trip in Feb 2012 we are going to go with a completely unplanned approach. We know when we're going and where we're staying and thats it.

We're doing the QS DDP so the only dining reservation I plan on making is Chef Mickey for breakfast and our first full day as it is now quite the family tradition.

 

[jimmytammy]

Other than booking ressies for place to eat, thats our only plans. And we are perfectly fine with that. After so many trips, we lost count, commando touring is way long gone. And you are right, DVC lends itself to making you that way.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Outside of checking park hours and EMH for our dates, I don't do anything anymore. Sometimes we schedule an ADR, but only if we have guests and it's important. We have had no problems getting reservations last minute since we travel at less crowded times.

 

[Checkers]

There was a time.......but not any more! When it is just me & DH we don't plan a thing other than a few ADRs and half the time we cancel them. Hey, we're on vacation and do/eat only what/where we want.

Now........when we go with my DD and her family that's a different story. She is a commando type but little by little we are breaking her down! We keep telling her that we have many years ahead of us to enjoy and do everything we want and I think it is slowly sinking in.

 

[WolfpackFan]

I find with each trip we take my interest in planning seems to be declining. Basically now I get the ressie and that's it. I might or might not make an ADR or two, but I've even lost interest in doing that for the most part. In fact, we're thinking seriously about making our November trip this year a non-park trip. Just go and check in OKW and relax around the resort and maybe do some Florida stuff and that's it.

PS - A question, when was the last trip you picked up park maps as you enter a park? We stopped about 5 years ago.