Anyone miss Disney-style planning when doing a non-Disney trip?

[Mikie]

i know, I know! Many of you assume I'm drunk at an unreasonable hour to ask such a thing. Regardless of the LEVEL and time frame of Disney planning that can get irksome, even for a planner like me, I'm really missing it for two long weekends and a weeklong trip to nearby cities I'm working on for this summer.

At least with Disney, I've got a handful of amazing web sources for lots of planning info (DIS, easyWDW, Disney's own site, etc) and I can find attraction hours, reviews, hotel, dining AND most important of all, up-to-date comments and descriptions of things like construction and attraction changes.

The detail "required" by Disney can be bothersome, but in comparison I'm going nuts trying to find accurate info on construction at attractions where I know there's been work going on recently, reliable reviews for hotels, good detailed lists of what attractions/sights are available at my destinations. . . Blech, I am spending a very disproportionate amount of time planning these quickie driving trips compared to my multi-generation Disney trip last fall.

 

[larryz]

Yeah.

 

[Jennytoon]

Use the thread tools to edit the title.

 

[Mikie]

Use the thread tools to edit the title.

You're awesome, thanks. I was probably going to get super-jealous of month long trip veterans coming here to tell me about their fabulous trips!

 

[NJlauren]

Yes, sometimes I try to plan as much for non Disney vacations it doesn't happen and can be a let down.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Non-Disney trip? What's that?

Seriously, our next trip, to California, is only about half Disney. The DLR portion won't require as much planning, but the trip as a whole might, since we will be going to Vegas, San Diego and Anaheim, with various modes of transportation.

 

[JZCubed]

i know, I know! Many of you assume I'm drunk at an unreasonable hour to ask such a thing. Regardless of the LEVEL and time frame of Disney planning that can get irksome, even for a planner like me, I'm really missing it for two long weekends and a weeklong trip to nearby cities I'm working on for this summer.

At least with Disney, I've got a handful of amazing web sources for lots of planning info (DIS, easyWDW, Disney's own site, etc) and I can find attraction hours, reviews, hotel, dining AND most important of all, up-to-date comments and descriptions of things like construction and attraction changes.

The detail "required" by Disney can be bothersome, but in comparison I'm going nuts trying to find accurate info on construction at attractions where I know there's been work going on recently, reliable reviews for hotels, good detailed lists of what attractions/sights are available at my destinations. . . Blech, I am spending a very disproportionate amount of time planning these quickie driving trips compared to my multi-generation Disney trip last fall.

Some of us remember the days before the Internet when gathering detailed information was quite burdensome.

Then the early days of the Internet still required a great amount of work.

Then content filled the Internet and blogs became more prevalent. Data became crowd sourced for some of things I used to plan.

For those of us who used to plan before the Internet, the new electronic way(s) is far better.

But to answer your question - I used to go to music festivals and planned my details with the same precision I do today for Disney….before the Internet made both much easier.

 

[AquaDame]

I find its about the same for me whether or not Disney is involved. I still book hotel, airfare, rental car and event tickets and research hours of tourists spots and dining reviews. The only thing that is annoying me about planning our Europe trip is having to wait until we are 12 weeks out to book train tickets... I'd rather book them now and have it over with!

 

[Mikie]

Some of us remember the days before the Internet when gathering detailed information was quite burdensome.

Then the early days of the Internet still required a great amount of work.

Then content filled the Internet and blogs became more prevalent. Data became crowd sourced for some of things I used to plan.

For those of us who used to plan before the Internet, the new electronic way(s) is far better.

But to answer your question - I used to go to music festivals and planned my details with the same precision I do today for Disney….before the Internet made both much easier.

Funny you mention that - I'm no spring chicken & did plan pre internet. We requested tourist brochures by mail and through AAA. Funny, the lack of info may have actually been less stressful for me! I found out what i could and then showed up. Now if there's anything i dont know or missed (what day the museum is closed, discount days, special parking, etc) I feel like I'm going to get scolded for not doing my homework!

 

[JZCubed]

Funny you mention that - I'm no spring chicken & did plan pre internet. We requested tourist brochures by mail and through AAA. Funny, the lack of info may have actually been less stressful for me! I found out what i could and then showed up. Now if there's anything i dont know or missed (what day the museum is closed, discount days, special parking, etc) I feel like I'm going to get scolded for not doing my homework!

TripTiks anyone?

And you'd get a brochure for January-June for your summer vacation….before the data in the brochure was updated (and changed) to reflect summer hours.

When I visited Disney as a child, we would wait online at a podium to get our names on a list for….wait for it….same day seating at Cinderella's Castle. Of course, there were no princess to meet-n-greet inside the restaurant in those days. Instead, what felt like hundreds of people were crammed into the lobby.

Mikie - some of us used to contact the Bands to get their unpublished tour data and send it to one person who would manage a spreadsheet that was subsequently publicly available. Of course, some of us had better inside sources than others and this used to drive the person managing the spreadsheet to pull out their hair. Now I'm old fat married and with a young child - those music festivals are a thing of my past.

 

[MainMom]

We have a few trips in the works for summer and beyond. Some are weekend. One is for spring break/Easter week. None are Disney. We have a weekend getaway in 2 weeks. I have the hotel/waterpark booked and a magic show one evening. That's it. Vegas for DH & I, hotel & flight booked, don't know where to start for the rest. It's overwhelming. That must be what Disney newbies feel like when they come to this board.

 

[cheshirecollector]

I go to a weekend Beatles convention most years, and I'm always disappointed that there isn't much to do leading up to it. Guests are announced 3 months prior, and the schedule one week(!) prior. Very little to plan or discuss ahead of time.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Yes!!! We're taking an adults only trip to the islands this fall and the plan is essentially to throw our bodies on a beach, have many cocktails and bake in the sun. No real planning there! And every reservation for dinner is pretty much easy to make within the week we're there. What fun is that???? Where's my Magic Band decision, where's the ADR stalking, where's the FP decisions????

 

[KathyM2]

Funny you should say that...I was actually considering making a Disney style spreadsheet for an upcoming trip to Washington, DC....now you've made me feel better about it...and I may actually do it!

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

I still make an itinerary, complete with hotel reservation numbers. And packing lists. My husband laughs at me until I smugly point out on the way home that we're running on schedule.

 

[amg35]

Me!!!!

We are going on Freedom of The Seas near the end of the year. All we had to do was book the cruise, pre-cruise hotel, shuttles and that's it! Last year I spent the year geeking out getting ready for our October WDW trip, picking restaurants, rides, etc., getting fun stuff in the mail...

This year, we booked it and, um, done. No fun mail, no anticipatory planning. I joined cruise critic, and it has good information, but it's not the same as planning a WDW trip. Even our ports of call didn't take much time to plan. The excitement just doesn't build as much as a WDW trip - Disney has a way of making the vacation feel like it includes the months leading up to it too(probably because they keep you planning all year, ha!), but maybe that's a good thing, no real expectations going in for this cruise.

Don't get me wrong, very excited for this cruise, but I (secretly) can't wait to start the planning for our WDW trip in 2017.

I do think when we start planning for our trip to Italy - it may rival my WDW planning....

 

[dsnydaddy]

Absolutely! Disney has made me a consummate vacation planner. But that said, I get really fustrated when trying to plan a vacation that doesn't include Disney. The DIS boards have spoiled me. When I try to research a Europe vacation, my head swims. There's no "DIS Board" for Europe. Who do I talk to about the types of hotels I should look at... Who can I ask about flying from country to country vs taking the train. What Eurail pass is the best for the type of trip that I'm taking? What are the best attractions in this part of Germany? Digging out information is tiresome!

 

[soniam]

Me!!!!

We are going on Freedom of The Seas near the end of the year. All we had to do was book the cruise, pre-cruise hotel, shuttles and that's it! Last year I spent the year geeking out getting ready for our October WDW trip, picking restaurants, rides, etc., getting fun stuff in the mail...

This year, we booked it and, um, done. No fun mail, no anticipatory planning. I joined cruise critic, and it has good information, but it's not the same as planning a WDW trip. Even our ports of call didn't take much time to plan. The excitement just doesn't build as much as a WDW trip - Disney has a way of making the vacation feel like it includes the months leading up to it too(probably because they keep you planning all year, ha!), but maybe that's a good thing, no real expectations going in for this cruise.

Don't get me wrong, very excited for this cruise, but I (secretly) can't wait to start the planning for our WDW trip in 2017.

I do think when we start planning for our trip to Italy - it may rival my WDW planning....

You do know that there's an RCCL forum on this board, right? I don't know how active it is, but it's better than nothing.

 

[amg35]

You do know that there's an RCCL forum on this board, right? I don't know how active it is, but it's better than nothing.

Yes, thanks!

There's just not much to plan when it comes to cruising - our plan is to drink, eat, watch the ocean and hit the beaches!

 

[soniam]

i know, I know! Many of you assume I'm drunk at an unreasonable hour to ask such a thing. Regardless of the LEVEL and time frame of Disney planning that can get irksome, even for a planner like me, I'm really missing it for two long weekends and a weeklong trip to nearby cities I'm working on for this summer.

At least with Disney, I've got a handful of amazing web sources for lots of planning info (DIS, easyWDW, Disney's own site, etc) and I can find attraction hours, reviews, hotel, dining AND most important of all, up-to-date comments and descriptions of things like construction and attraction changes.

The detail "required" by Disney can be bothersome, but in comparison I'm going nuts trying to find accurate info on construction at attractions where I know there's been work going on recently, reliable reviews for hotels, good detailed lists of what attractions/sights are available at my destinations. . . Blech, I am spending a very disproportionate amount of time planning these quickie driving trips compared to my multi-generation Disney trip last fall.

I was just thinking this. I recently planned a trip to Colorado Springs and another to Santa Fe. I am currently planning a trip to Nuremberg, Germany, for Christmas. I bought guides books, but it's still hard to plan. How do I pick the hotel or rental? There's so many, and sometimes the location isn't a big deal, which makes it even harder. Colorado Springs and Germany are family trips, so there are not too many/if any meals to prebook. Santa Fe was another story. There were a bunch of restaurants that I had to research. The worst is attractions. How do I decide what day to something on? There's no crowd calendar for the Royal Gorge, and no extra magic hours to help make my decision. I actually find Disney planning easier in a lot of ways.