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

[soniam]

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!

There are shore excursions and possibly pay restaurants on the ship. However, I know what you mean. Have a good trip.

 

[Mikie]

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!

Exactly!! In addition to missing some of the fun of planning, there's the sheer difficulty of finding thorough, reliable info. . . Definitely no DISboards for Chattanooga, TN!

 

[soniam]

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!

I have really liked using the Rick Steve's books and website/forum. However, I completely understand how overwhelming it can be.

We have been to Germany a couple of times and are going back for Christmas. I can't help much with Eurail, because we have either rented a car or done very limited train trips. We did do the Chunnel from London to Paris. We have done some flying between countries as well. However, depending upon where in Germany you are visiting, I may be able to help.

 

[MainMom]

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!

Have you asked on the community board? They might be able to help your out there.

 

[soniam]

I am starting to wonder if this is part of the appeal of Adventures by Disney. I have felt a little negative towards it, until this thought crossed my mind. However, I expect it's the complete opposite end of the spectrum, where there's absolutely no planning for you to do

 

[lindsmom]

We went to DC this past (April) vacation, and I spent over 6 months planning it. People thought I was nuts, but WE had the White House (and Capitol, and Monument) Tour, WE had the Metro tickets ready to use, WE had reduced parking for our Hotel (which was reserved at the lowest price possible), and we had a short list of about a dozen restaurants matched up to one block within each museum / monument that we were visiting. LOL!

I had a friend actually say to me "Oh, I'm more of the wing it kind of person. We've never been to the White House, though". That may be because you have to be vetted up to 6 months before your visit, which won't happen if you wing it. Mwah hah hah!

The obsessive Disney planning thing comes in handy, but I did find myself looking for more stuff to plan. I do similar for our annual trips to NH even though we have been there several times.

 

[agavegirl1]

We are taking a "road trip" for our honeymoon and the "plan" is not to have a plan. We did this in 2012 when we drove the Pacific Coast Highway in California from the LA area to the Oregon Border. We had a blast. For this "road trip" I do not even know where we are going yet, just that we will be gone about 10 days. It will not be WDW or Orlando.

 

[marthachick]

Last year we flew from NC to Vegas. Rented a car & drove to Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Four Corners, Durango, Arches and finally to Denver. Almost 1500 miles. In a week. While on our trip, we rode a train, mules, and trolleys. We saw a MLB game and ate at our first Brazilian Steakhouse. Then flew back to NC. The 'experts' on Trip Advisor said we couldn't do it. And no, we didn't hike every trail, see every canyon or stop at every tourist attraction. But we had a blast and we have a list of things we missed for our next trip.

 

[Crispity]

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!

It is definitely hard (if not impossible) to find this amount and quality of information for other destinations! Though they aren't as active as the disboards, the tripadvisor forums are quite helpful for international trips (and non-Disney US destinations). When DH and I went to Japan, those forums helped me find everything from rail passes to luggage transfer services to a Japanese travel agency to book a night a traditional inn. I also found them really helpful on a recent short trip to London. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already!

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

You could plan a cruise. Same style there.

 

[Ambear]

Yea I definitely miss the planning involved for other vacations. I'm going to Florida in November to a timeshare so it's not a theme park visit (though we might go to seaworld). I keep thinking I want to make a schedule of all the stuff to do but then remember that we're supposed to be relaxing by a pool and not rushing all over lol.

I love the TripIt app and try making schedules there but every time I've done it, my vacation buddies don't follow it! It's annoying. . At Disney they have no choice mwuahahaha.

 

[dsnydaddy]

Tripit is the best! I've been using it for quite some time and really like it's ability to keep everything organized.

 

[cluvsdisney]

When we don't go to Disney, we go someplace new so there is still some planning & researching to do to get an idea of what's around such as restaurants, attractions, things to do, etc. But I like not having to plan out days based on park hours, fast passes and ADRs.

 

[PSUGuy]

For many years I've created a calendar of our Disney dates in Word. In each day I have our itinerary, any reservation numbers and times, shows etc. On our Myrtle Beach vacation of 10 days each July I do the same and it's not that this vacation needs a lot of planning it's that the calendar helps assure we don't miss anything we want to do.

BillFromPA

 

[Mikie]

OP here - I just spent last evening with 5 14-year-old girls who I'm taking on a Girl Scout trip to Chattanooga. There's definitely planning to be done, which for me enhances the fun and anticipation! But I'd give my left arm for some of the great tools available for Disney planning, specifically "one-stop-shopping" sites like DIS or EasyWDW where you can find many different types of reliable info in one spot.

Despite the very smart girls I'm working with, and their tech-savvy ways when it comes to texting and social media, it's a real chore to get them through the process of looking up trip info from many varied sites for this trip. My type A self is crawling out of my skin! But since it's a scout thing, it's important that I get the girls responsible for the process (unlike a family trip where everyone will ignore me and let me do everything until the day we leave and ask - so what are we doing!)

 

[dalmatian7]

I agree. I think what I miss most is finding trip reports for other places that have the detail that disney ones do. You often learn alot of of "duh" stuff from the details.

 

[Jess_S]

I always do lots of planning and read lots of reviews for all of my trips. The planning stage is a huge part of the fun for me. The ability to find tons of accurate information, photos and trip reports definitely adds to the planning fun for WDW though.

 

[gtpoohbear]

Ha, I always do "Disney-style" planning, no matter where we are going! I agree that the biggest frustration though is not having the wealth of knowledge available like we do for Disney. It requires a LOT more searching, and still sometimes comes down to educated guesses.

It always surprises me when we arrive at a vacation, and as soon as I "check-in" ofn facebook, several friends will suddenly post tons of suggestions for where we should go and what we should do there. I'm like, don't you know I have every single day already planned down to the minute, attraction tickets bought and reservations already made? All for things I have thoroughly researched, of course. It's like they think we just show up at the hotel then start searching for things to do. Does anyone actually vacation like that??? Probably people that have never gone to Disney, lol!

 

[starsweeper]

I do a ton of planning regardless of whether it's WDW or not. We leave soon for Yellowstone and I've been planning that trip for 9-12 months and am still fine tuning a few minor things. I've also got an October 2015 WDW trip I'm working on and a summer 2016 trip to Acadia I'm just starting to plan. I do miss having all the resources available for planning that you can find for WDW.