anyone not do a touring plan?

[TwoMonkeys]

No plan for us and we don't even do ADR's. Although, we live in Florida and have been many times. If we want to eat somewhere like Crystal Palace or Cinderella's Table, we just go to make a ressie when we get to the park and then go on with our day. We thankfully have never had a problem with getting a ressie when we've made it that day. Ride wise, we use the fast passes and work around our fast pass times (and ressie time if we made one) for the rides without them. We're way too "play it by ear" to follow a schedule, especially with children along. We are going to plan what park we go to on what day by avoiding the ones that have EMH (we never get out of the hotel early enough to do the early hour and we're too tired to stay late) hoping it will be a little less crowded that day but that's the only set plans we'll make. But like I said, we've been many times so we really don't need a plan. I would suggest making some sort of plan if it's your first trip though so that you can make sure that you get the rides, restaurants, shows, etc. in that you really want to do.

 

[CleveRocks]

My wife and I took our then-5 year old and 2.5 year old last May. We were born-again first-timers, as we were last in WDW in 1990. I definitely did NOT want to have to conform to any kind of plan or schedule. Our lives are like that 7 days a week, and I wanted freedom from that. We both work full-time in professional, stressful jobs with lots of responsibility, plus there's also that little parents-of-two-preschoolers-thing.

I just used my brain.

And here's something to make many of your heads spin and have purple heffalumps fly out -- we let our 5 year old son decide which park we went to each day.

In the months leading up to our trip, I had a great time learning everything I possibly could about WDW. Thank goodness for DISboards. I also went to MANY other websites and some other message boards. I studied the Unofficial Guide and Birnbaum's like they were the Bible itself. I gathered every piece of knowledge that was gatherable (is that a word??!!), plus got a lot of opinions along the way, from the DIS and the other places. I got all the info I could possibly get except what I could get from actual experience.

My 5-year-old ALSO had an encyclopedic knowledge of everything a 5-year-old wants to do. He watched that WDW planning DVD every night for about 6 weeks leading up to our trip. He could tell me from memory what attractions and rides he wanted to do in each park. Star Tours excited him more than anything, so on our first day in Florida we got to MGM by about 5:30 p.m. based ONLY on his preference. Later that night when we asked him, he said he NEEDED to go to MK the next day to ride Goofy's Barnstormer and do Mickey's Toontown Fair. With that info in mind, I prepped him for what we'd be able to do that first time in Mk and what we would have to wait for another day during the week (as we weren't into being absolute commandos).

I had some generalizations in my head, such as avoiding a park on EMH day (if not using EMH), not waiting in a long line for Spaceship Earth at the beginning of the day, the ins and outs of FASTPASS, and other ideas and thoughts obvious to we who are well-versed in WDW knowledge.

Basically, I learned the information BEHIND what goes into making a kick-a$$ touring plan, and I knew how to use it. I was able to make decisions on-the-fly, and it worked perfectly. We did and saw EVERYTHING we wanted to, in a very efficient and FUN manner, because when I was presented with any situation I knew how to assess all the available data and devise a really good plan for what to do over the next few hours.

We had a dinner ADR (then called PS) for each day, but that was a "just in case" thing -- we're more the counter-service type on vacation, anyway. I canceled each ADR when I realized we wouldn't be in the "right place." We did do Hoop Dee Doo Revue, and since I'd already paid so much money for it I was pretty motivated to make that appointment. We also kept one ADR for a character dinner (we really only wanted to do one, anyway). And you know what, my wife and I felt kinda stressed having to time it just right to get to that ADR. Even with a good touring plan, there are uncontrollable variables such as transportation delays, long lines at rides, not wanting to wait around too long ahead of time, etc.

To me, it was fun, it was like being a detective, or an artist. It was a really fun challenge, I enjoy mental puzzles. And this was one with a good cause -- my kids' smiles.

 

[Callalily6]

I am wondering if anyone doesn't have a touring plan. Who just goes with their ADR's and has an idea of what they want to ride, but no specific touring plan. How does that work for you?

That is exactly what we do and it works great. We go to the kids fav rides before they crowd and wait for them to clear out at night. Did you know Dumbo is almost lineless after 9pm? I was shocked. I thought it broke.

Anyway, we noticed stuff like Tomorrowland at MK is less crowded in the morning. So we tended to start over there and work our way back around. My DD loves BLSS - so we rode that about 5 times in a row with no wait.

My favorites are pirates and SW - those seem to have no lines at open and then pirates seems to have a lull around 3-4 pm.

So I guess that isnt a total touring plan - we just move away from the lines and go during off season so we dont have 3 hour waits.

Have fun!!!

 

[MissMichelle]

I ALWAYS go with a plan. I hate to say it (because I don't need to many to follow suit! LOL) but I use TGM and NEVER wait in more then a 10 minute line, NEVER. It is awesome and I get what I want done, when I want to do it easily.
I even think once I have been 50 times I'll still do a plan, since things change so often and I like to try all seasons which makes it harder to judge what I can get done.

 

[Geologist4hire]

DW and I are just picking what parks we want to do and our ADR's. Do we really need to plan more than that.

 

[DVC Mary]

If you are not extremely familiar w/Disney I would make one w/ some wiggle room. If you suddenly see a short line that someone would like to go on again, just do it.

I plan which parks based on events at those parks & crowd levels. Check out tour guide mike's free info to get a feel for that. We also NEVER stay at the EMH morning park for very long b/c the crowds get bigger & stay. Park hoppers were invented for a reason. Hop on over to a less crowded park. For example if a park has EE morning the next day, that park may be less crowded the night before. We prefer EMH evenings.

We plan our starting point rides, straight to Mission Space, Test Track if line is not too long, over to Soarin to wait in line, Figment if there's time & then back to Test Track. I don't have to think about this, I just know crowd levels on early days & then plan/adjust on the spot accordingly.

Find your own groove that makes your trip fun for your family's style!

 

[Mom to a Princess]

I would never reccomend a first timer going without a plan. That being said I am not a first timer and have spent many hours doing research and combing the disboards (gotta love the dis!). While I do not have a formal plan I do make my ADRs and generally know which park I will go to when. DD loves the characters. We often spend a great deal of time "playing" with them. I find that most of the plans (from Passporter, TGM, ect..) do not leave room for random character greetings. Right now this is the most important thing for her and what makes her the happiest. Well as the saying goes when she is happy then I am happy. I will use the knowledge I have obtained from my research to avoid long lines but if we do not get to a certain ride or whatever I do not get stressed about it. Afterall this is the one time a year when I get to truly spoil my dd and myself!

 

[shyjade]

No "official" plan for us! I have made ADR's and I know which parks we will be going to on which days. I also know which rides we will hit first, and which rides/attractions are "must do's". But as for paying someone to tell us which way to go? Nope. Not that I think it's a bad idea, but it's just my DD8 and I so our schedule is much more flexible than those with a larger family with more needs to meet. We've discussed in depth what we want to do while we're there (LOTS of pre-planning and DIS surfing!) but once we're there, it's all about the fun.

(This will be our first trip in over 5 years)

 

[Disneykat]

ADR's and wing it!

 

[tripplanner]

I originally wanted to answer this with "No touring plan for us", but when I think about it - maybe we are operating by a plan.

1. We get real familiar with the layout/rides of the park before we go. We also get familiar with the location of any new shows/rides we want to see.
2. Once we arrive at the park, we get any fp's for "important" rides like Test Track, Space Mountain, etc.
3. We do what we want (kindof)- trying to stay close to any rides where we have close FP times.

We do choose the park we are going to each morning at breakfast, usually the kids decide. We also don't try to get there when it opens and stay until closing, we kindof play it by ear. Sometimes staying late sometimes leaving and going back.

 

[pkp]

I've never had a plan or ADRs before we leave. The only schedule we will stick to is going to EMH. I have to plan too much at work - the last thing I want to do is be on a scheduled vacation!

 

[kenny]

ADR's are the extent of our planning. We always get the park hopper pass so it does not make much of a difference what park we do during the day. We can always hop over to another for dinner.

That being said we play our ADR's by ear and sometimes have skipped them if we were having too much fun and did not want to leave to go eat.

As for park planning, during dinner we discuss what park we want to go to the next day and what time to "attempt" to get there. We have favorite rides at each park so we usually start their, but then go to whatever ride we feel like next. We are the family you see going from Haunted Mansion, to Buzz, to Peter Pan. Yes it does waste time but heck, I am vacation and like to do the rides when I want and not in some order because this one happens to be next to that one.

I think you just need to think what works best for your family. Planning may work for some and not others. Any way you cut it, YOU'RE IN DISNEY! YOU CAN"T NOT HAVE FUN!

 

[ItGirl753]

Well my BF already thinks I am a Disney Freak and he thinks I am too anal on trips. So all we did was plan which park and which attractions/rides to hit first,. Other than that I had to just be flexible, but we were only a couple not a whole family! I would like to check out the planning features everyone is talking about. We did learn that we have to make ADR's next time (and I am trying so hard to get him to go before school starts up)! We didn't know that before we went.

 

[Disney_Fanatic]

All we do is look up the EMH and plan our ADRs. We uses the dining plan and DBf has a couple of reatarants that he really wants to go. We have a nice printed schedule that lists the park and ADR times (just easier for me to update). We've been to WDW many times and we know what rides we want.

We love ADRs coz they give us a time to sit down and relax for a nice meal. I'm pretty sure we'll be running around for rides if we don't have ADRs.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I've never used a touring plan and I never will. Heck, I just discovered ADR's last year! But then again, I used to live in FL so have been many many times. Even though Disney is constantly changing, we get along just fine without a plan. In fact, I like it better without a plan, because then things can't go "wrong". We just go with the flow and always have a great time.

This is exactly our philosophy (except for the fact we've never lived in FL - although we'd like to some day!)

 

[Jen_in_NH]

No touring plans for us either!

We usually figure out what parks we want to go to on what day ahead of time, but other than that, we ride what we want when we want. I've only made 1 ADR in many trips (big group of people)

That being said, we usually go in the winter, and it's not too crowded.

Jen

 

[deekaypee]

Well I'm a bad person to ask about not having a plan. My plans were colour coded When I read this thread I almost had a heart attack! I couldn't imagine not having a plan....but then again I have a type A personailty

Oooh, me too. I love touring plans, make them up just for fun.

That said, I've been to the parks often enough that I don't necessarily follow them once we're in the parks; there's plenty of room for improvisation. Like playing good jazz--once you know the structure, you can add your own riffs.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

In the past I always make a plan and never use it! Works out great for us, we like the freedom to go to any park, any ride on any day. We usually don't make many ADR's (except charector meals), either, but we have dining plan free in Oct so I had to plan out the whole week and it is killing me. I'd say I will end up cancelling some of them to keep my freedom. We leave tommarrow for WDW and I have no idea what we will be doing from one day to the next. I know we check in on Sunday and our Thursday and that's it.

We also usually tour in off season so crowds are not unbearable. Next week is going to be a culture shock, but I know that if I don't get to do something I'll be back in Oct, so its not that big of a deal.

 

[pepe of ohio]

No touring plans for us either!

We usually figure out what parks we want to go to on what day ahead of time, but other than that, we ride what we want when we want. I've only made 1 ADR in many trips (big group of people)

That being said, we usually go in the winter, and it's not too crowded.

Jen

We do about the same thing, no big plans, maybe just what parks on what days for EMH's. We also plan to eat where we're visiting for the day to cut down on travel. We're very flexible, no planned ride routes. We usually stay on property 10-12 nights, have AP's and been to the World over 35 trips so its a rather casual vacation. Spend alot of time at the resort pool, picnics, shopping at DTD or resort shops, spend alot of time at FW, CR game room and just plain hanging out, enjoying the sights, smells and relaxation of WDW. Its a vacation, we're coimng back and leisure is the name of the game.

 

[MissMichelle]

My wife and I took our then-5 year old and 2.5 year old last May.

To me, it was fun, it was like being a detective, or an artist. It was a really fun challenge, I enjoy mental puzzles. And this was one with a good cause -- my kids' smiles.

HEY ERIC!!! I was sitting here reading this post and I kept thinking "The style and content in this writing reminds me of Eric from AOL DTA board. I get to the end and see your name written in the *signature* way as you do on the other board. Fancy meeting you here