Anyone else feel this way? Chasing rides?

[Brian Noble]

Anyway, I need to stop cramming everything in - for every old favorite we don’t see, it’s because we’re doing something new.

This is closely related to a quesiton that sometimes comes up from first time visitors. What are the things I absolutely have to do?

My answer: nothing. Nothing is a must do. There is not a single thing at WDW that will make-or-break your trip. On the flip side, almost everything there is fun. Some things might be more enjoyable than others, but that is going to be different from person to person. Whatever you choose to do will be fine.

 

[LoveDaisy]

We are the complete opposite there is nothing I have to do. We take our time, enjoy the atmosphere, snacks, people watching and ride a few rides. We rope drop and usually leave around lunch. We park hop later but only for dinner, I don’t think we have ever ridden a ride after dinner. I have no desire to chase rides, to me they are a part of the experience not the experience.

 

[Lumpy1106]

We are the complete opposite there is nothing I have to do. We take our time, enjoy the atmosphere, snacks, people watching and ride a few rides. We rope drop and usually leave around lunch. We park hop later but only for dinner, I don’t think we have ever ridden a ride after dinner. I have no desire to chase rides, to me they are a part of the experience not the experience.

This is how Walt envisioned us enjoying the parks BION. That's why the entrance fee to get in the parks was low and you paid extra for ticket books. That all changed when they got rid of the ticket books.
NOT that I would ever want them to bring back the ticket books. People generally hated them and they were such a pain. I was one of the first to use the "Passport" pass that allowed us on all the rides (my Dad got them through his work) and people were constantly asking us how they could get one.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We usually go every 2-3 years so I have felt like I'm chasing rides because there's so much I want to do since we don't go often. Once we started going for longer trips, 9-10 days/nights, we would go hard the first 3-4 days and then the second half was a more relaxed pace. This is the way to do it if you don't go often. It helped us find balance.

DD is doing DCP right now and I have been down 4 times this year with my 5th and final trip planned for December. It has really slowed down my pace and I really enjoy it. I still hit RD since I'm up early anyway (and I love the morning vibes in a park) but it's a whole different way of doing Disney. For this December trip I won't even be buying lightning lanes and we are going to hit a few must do attractions and the rest just take in the atmosphere, Epcot booths, Candlelight Processional. We were there last week and one morning while everyone slept I grabbed a coffee and sat by the lake relaxing and just taking in the morning. It was lovely.

It's easy to tell people nothing is a must do when it may be a once in a lifetime trip or they don't go very often.

 

[jinkies04]

I really feel this original post as I'm the family planner! Headed at the end of the month with my sister, niece, and niece's friend. Trying to balance getting them the rides/experiences they want without losing my mind. I feel the pressure to make it a "great" trip with everything they wanted which is not realistic.

My current plan is to have it pre-planned up to a certain point then we do as we please. We do have park hoppers since we are only doing 3 park days and all four parks. Plus, the girls are teenagers and we may skip the afternoon break back to the hotel.

 

[brockash]

We go to WDW once or twice a year and I am the planner and controller of the trips - the ADR’s, the LL’s the ILL’s, making things work with dining reservations and trying to avoid any major overlaps. I keep up with the systems and changes so I know what to do when our next trip is planned. I enjoy it - love planning and getting those hard to get reservations and watching it all go so smoothly - we barely wait for anything and have good trips.

After the last few times, I’m starting to feel like we’re chasing rides - I’m constantly picking the next ride/show after we all tap in and not enjoying the queue, or anticipation of getting on the ride. No, I don’t want to wait an hour or two for a 3 minute ride, and won’t go without some type of skip the line system in place. But, I feel like I’m missing out on atmosphere while being on the phone. Also, LL skips some themed queue’s so you miss that. I think part of it is I want to make sure we all have a great time, but also get our money’s worth out of these extra’s. It does cause a little anxiety about scheduling throughout the day.

We’ve stopped park hopping - there’s no way I’m scheduling for two parks and I think we’re done running around like that at this point.

I really want to make it easier on myself next time but hate the idea of only going in a few rides while walking by ridiculously long lines.

Does anyone else get like this? I feel like I need to slow down and change my expectations at this point.

Yes...the constant booking the next ride and refreshing for a better time is a lot and takes away from the experience...I've noticed it too. I don't have a good answer though.

 

[TheBigErn]

I miss the old days of pulling fast passes from kiosks. But Disney couldn't monetize that.

 

[_19disnA]

Disney parks are huge and always have large numbers of people who are there. No amount of advance planning will change that. If you have NEVER been to Disney before, you likely wouldn't know what parks/rides/shows you like best so planning in that case would be difficult. If you go FREQUENTLY to Disney, then likely you already know what you/your family likes to do best. The most popular rides will tend to be the most crowded. We have never felt like it has to be a constant race from one ride to the next but we have also been to Disney many times in the past. I think some see the need to cram in as much as possible due to how expensive Disney has become.

We like to do things in one area of a park and then move on to the next. If some line is too long or a ride is temporarily down, then we do something else instead. If your family is the go-go-go type vs others who want to experience Disney in a more leisurely fashion also makes a difference in what you plan to do or how many rides/shows you consider necessary on any one trip.