Are you a planner?

[Jennifer S]

Didnt want to post on Theme park board because I think all the answers would be a yes!

We have a trip in May and so far all I did was make the hotel reservation and reserve 3 meals.

I hate to be tied down to certain times so I dont want to overplan.

Are you guys planners or just go with the flow while you are there?

 

[busyshrew]

I plan... a little bit. Flight, hotel & car of course. Then usually one, maybe two dinner reservations (we did CRT this trip, for example), and I short-listed two or three rides for MK and Epcot that our family missed on our last vacation. That was it.

When we're there, we tend to ask our DD what she would like to do. And sometimes her opinions really surprise me! She wanted to do Peter Pan TWICE and Small World TWICE (DH and I tossed for who had to do that one with her ), I never expected that she would enjoy them so much.

 

[cuethemusic]

we book the flight and room, and get a general gameplan of how we will be spending our days (like X amount of days for disney, X amount for universal, etc) but that's it.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

We did that last year - went in August so had to book all of our TS meals way in advance. We will never do it again. It was our worst trip to WDW.

In May, we have only 1 ADR, for 'Ohana. We will wing the rest. If that means that we miss out of some of the better restaurants, so be it...

 

[suejai]

We have gone twice in May and the most planning we have done is of course all the intial bookings - condo, car, tickets. We decide what we are going to do the night we arrive on the flight down. We have never made a restaurant reservation, however we did make the determination that we would eat at off times eg 11:30 for lunch or 4:30/5:00 for dinner. We usually just walk in. Having said that we have also never gone to a character meal, which I would book in advance.

We decide which park we are going to visit the night before based on the weather etc.

However, I researched and researched, and then researched some more until I understood what was available. I had a file folder to organize everything. We also brought a laptop so I could refresh my memory about each place we were going the next day.

IMO the only way to successfully go with the flow is to be very well researched and have a very general game plan of how you will approach things, but be flexible and recognize that it will likely change.

Is this your first trip? How exciting!

 

[DMickey28]

I have not done a TRUE vacation to WDW in over 10 years so I have to say no. Usually they are quick weekend trips or a few nights during the week when we lived in S. Florida. We are doing our first full family vacation in December 2010. Obviously, flight/car/hotel will be booked. A rough idea of when DH will be playing golf and what parks when will be in place. I will schedule one or two character meals and one nice meal for DH and I.

 

[Jennifer S]

that's the way I look at it but sometimes reading all the plans people make ahead I didnt know if I was missing something.

Funny - the person that said when they planned the most it was their worst trip.

Guess I'm all ready then. I am going to get that app for your phone that tells you wait times for attractions

 

[2binak]

We have a trip in May and so far all I did was make the hotel reservation and reserve 3 meals.

I hate to be tied down to certain times so I dont want to overplan.

OP - we do exactly what you are doing. We reserve our room, our flights and 2 or 3 sit-down meals for the week and then just go with the flow when we get there. If we make our ADR's great...if we decide to do something different that day, we cancel the ADR we had and maybe try to make a new one at the park of our choice, but not always and that's ok too. It's just a more relaxing way to vacation for us. Hope you have a wonderful, relaxing trip!!!

Also - we only plan what rides we'd like to go on, not what order we'll go on them or what time to go on them, etc. It's vacation...our lives are dictated by schedules every day. In my home & work life, I'm a planner, both by profession & by nature. When on vacation though, I like to unwind, relax and leave the planner in me at home.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I plan the important stuff and then kind of wing the rest.

 

[LaraK]

When I'm with my family...I plan heavily. I have to use table service because of my son's allergies and I add in breaks and such. I actually do a spreadsheet with the targeted attractions/parks/meals/reservation numbers etc. I shrink the spreadsheet and carry it with me each day.

When I leave the family at home I go simple. I wake up in the morning and decide what I'm in the mood for. I do try to hit the early openings, but after the first hour I hop and then go where I want to go.

That said, I'm a planner by nature. I need to know what I'm doing in advance for most things...I have a hard time "winging it" in general. I'm a type A+

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Hotel, Airfare, Car Rental and all of our table services, we do not plan out the parks too much because we always have hoppers.

 

[luvmy3]

We have only been once so far and I came here and was overwhelmed with all the things that I thought I should plan. I ended up just planning what days at what park and ADRs, and what resort. There were things we knew we wanted to do, but we just pretty much went with the flow. Thats pretty much how we operate for any vacation so its what works for us. There are people who plan every hour of their trip and it works for them.

 

[ZachnElli]

I'm a planner. I like one table service dinner a day. It gives us a chance to sit down and relax, rest a little and eat a good meal. Our other meals are usually a simple breakfast and sandwiches in the room. We are a family of 5, so if we stay onsite it's deluxe w/ a small fridge or offsite with a kitchen. We have missed some ADR's, usually one a trip, but I see ADR's as an option, not written in stone.

 

[Sorsha]

I am a mega-planner, and I admit it.

We are going back at the end of September. I already know when we are going, where we are staying and for how long, what parks we are doing on what days, where we are eating, what things we are doing outside of the parks, and where we are renting our car from. I have even started collecting clothes and outfits with matching accessories from Gymboree for my youngest 2 DDs to theme with each of our days.

For me, planning is about half the fun. By the time we go I will have a perfectly filled out Passporter, print-outs and back-up-print-outs for all of our flights, reservations, ADRs, and daily itineraries. I plan my meal times around crowd flows, EMHs, parades and fireworks. All the planning helps me pass the time until my trip, and as soon as I get home, a new plan will be in the works for next time.

My family laughs at my obsession, but they all thank me for it when everything works out and they have an enjoyable, effortless vacation.

 

[LuvOrlando]

YES, planning is half the fun for me because it give us stuff to get excited over.

My Excel spread sheet is nearly done!

I guess it all depends on your personality but I didn't plan much for our last trip and it was our least favorite. We have come to like meals in particular places and not waiting on ridiculous lines for what we want to eat so the hours of waiting last trip really ruined things for us. BTW, we don't like counter service so I suppose if you'll eat anything anywhere then it might not be a bother. For our last trip the funniest part was my DH who typically teases me for my thoroughness but was all when he'd say "Where to?" and I didn't have a response

 

[AristocatFan]

To us a vacation is a time for relaxation and spontaneity. I plan out everything in every day life. Our time at WDW or anywhere else is a time for flexibility and spur of the moment fun!

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

We plan...at least we pre-plan for a big trip such as a trip to WDW because there is so much to see. If we go to places like Las Vegas, not so much, we sort of go with the flow. We have our favorite places we know we will go to but that's about the jest of it. For WDW, DH has spreadsheets regarding ADR's and what we can do at each park, that way we don't miss anything. Now I do have to say that DH does plan everything to the last wire if possible, he is "SPREADSHEET MAN, Man, man...!" (I swear one of these days I will buy him a shirt that says that with some sort of spreadsheet in the background that will look like the superman emblem or something ) Anyway...but we know that if things don't go by the book it's not the end of the world. I say, do what your comfortable with. We've only been to WDW a couple of times and this time we are going with some who have never been so I think that adds to the reasoning behind the planning.

Did any of that make sense? Sorry a little sleep deprived.

 

[MIGrandma]

I'm a planner before the vacation. I do a lot of research on where we want to stay, how we're going to get there, etc. before we make any concrete decisions. But once we get there I go with the flow. I would not do the dining plan, I don't want to be enjoying myself on the rides/attractions and then have to say to DH, "oh, we have to go to such-and-such restaurant for our reservation." Some people seem to enjoy that, but I wouldn't. When we're hungry we're more apt to do a counter service meal so we can get back to enjoying the parks. Or pick up something at the food court when we get back to the resort.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Yes, I am a planner. I make BB reservations while we are on a current trip. I tweak and change up until the allowed change window. I just changed my BB w/free dining from August 19 to August 15 which means I can make my ADRs tomorrow! So I need to go and make plans for 8 dining reservations by tomorrow morning! Gotta go now!!

ETA: even though I am a planner and have my days planned as far as which parks on which days, we always seem to change. This doesn't bother me at all.

 

[minkydog]

I plan a little. For WDW I probably plan more just because I want to make sure we have our ADRs. Don't wanna go hungry.

In 2007, however, we took our kids on a 6,000 mile cross-country RV trip. We knew the general direction we wanted to go and some sites we wanted to see and just took it one day at a time. Every morning we got up and said to each other "Keep going or go home?" The answer was always the same: What's around the bend? I swear, in the old days we would have been pioneers on the Oregon Trail. The only reservation I made before we left home was for 10 days in Yellowstone. They can be hard to get in the summer time. Otherwise we either just showed up at the campground or called 2 hours in advance to let them know we were coming and we never had a night when we couldn't get a space. It was a 2-month act of faith.