Better to have a detailed plan or just wing-it??

[kaa1187]

For our Disney trip in September, I have created a Disney binder full of need to know info during our stay. Im still working on it, and to be honest am a little overwhelmed! Does anyone here find it better to have a plan of action in place, or do you just go to the park and wing-it? I havent been to Disney in years, and this will be the first time for both my husband and 2.5 year old son. Thank you!!

 

[AaronInWI]

We take a hybrid approach. We'll start the day with a list of 2-3 things we want to see and do that day. Once those 2-3 things have been accomplished, we'll wing it the rest of the day. It makes me feel like I'm not wasting my time there, while also providing us an opportunity to stop and smell the roses and enjoy just being there. It seems to work for us. Now, we haven't been since the introduction of FP+, so we'll see how that affects us. In my glass-half-full point of view, it should help us since we'll already have our 2-3 experiences scheduled ahead of time and won't have to worry about anything outside of that. We'll find out in 139 days how right or wrong I am.

 

[redsbe]

We always went with a more general plan, which parks on which days, book meals or have list of best counter service, key shows/meet and greets, and top rides to go on my first. Could literally keep list on small piece of paper in my pocket each day. But were always flexible depending on weather,crowds and how we were feeling. Need to now pre book FP+s is going to make that planning a little more fixed.

We certainly do not try to do everything or plan every step, minute or hour.

 

[crazyventures]

I think it's a good idea to plan ahead! Having an Excel spreadsheet might help with organizing ADRs and FP+ reservations. I'm also using mine to keep track of the open/close times for each park and will add the crowd predictor/recommended parks when the EasyWDW info becomes available.

I did a pre-FP+ Christmas/New Years WDW trip without really planning (besides ADRs) and it was a little overwhelming. Looking back, I wish I would've done more research.

I think a spreadsheet/simple plan is helpful because we're DLR vets and not really used to planning ahead or the FP+ system. The binder is helping me organize all the information that's out there!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

In Sept, no need for a detailed plan. We are going for 2 weeks in Sept and plan on winging everything but a couple of meals. ADRs for restaurants kills your ability to "wing it" for some places if free dining is available.

 

[TinkerElsasMom]

Overall, honestly, it is entirely dependent on what kind of traveler you are. Me? I'm an excessive planner because I always want to ensure every single headliner is ridden, and all major characters are seen. But, my style doesn't work for everyone. If you hate plans than feeling like everything is mapped out is going to drive you nuts.

I do have a suggestion if you're of a mind to "wing it." Download and subscribe to the ap "lines" it is more accurate than the WDW ap as users post real time updates and changes to wait times for all rides. This enables you to see the sb lines and choose what you're going to do accordingly. At least make sure you have ALL information if you're going to wing it. Know show times and where to see certain characters. Knowledge is key when you don't have a plan.

Again no one way is the absolute best for everyone because everyone is different. I cannot imagine going to the park without a plan. Others cannot imagine having one. It is entirely up to you and the experience you wish to have.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I always like to plan everything ahead and be very detailed. I honestly don't see how people can now not plan ahead at all with all the changes at Disney. I highly recommend at least making your ADR's in advance as well as reserving your fastpasses and then work everything else around those or just wing it in the parks as long as you keep your ADR's and fp reservations. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[ZoZo]

I'm a "middle of the road" planner. I don't have a detailed, down-to-the minute plan. That would drive me crazy! But I do pick which parks on which days (using easywdw.com recommendations) make a couple of ADRs well in advance, and make my FP+ picks. (This is what we did for our February trip this year.) Then, once I get to the parks, I decide what I want to do as I go.

But it's nice to have lots of flexibility when planning. In February, I had put together a plan of which parks, which days. Then that all flew out the window when we realized that our very first day should be our water park day (based on the weather forecast). So I had to do some major switching around. Luckily, it was pretty easy to change our FP+s, because we were going during a fairly non-crowded week and we were staying on site (so we could make our FP reservations ahead of time).There was good availability for moving our FPs to different times.

And because we don't make a ton of ADRs, it was easy to switch parks on the fly, without worrying about cancellation penalties.

 

[VACamm]

We plan all lunches and dinners which in turn plans what park we are in for the day as we never buy park hoppers. Also we plan from park opening until lunch to make sure we utilize the shorter lines. Then we go to the resort pool or meander around the park until dinner.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Like with most things, I believe in having a detailed plan of what I want to do, but also having the ability to scrap it on a moments notice and "wing it".

A plan to rigid with no flexibility is no better than showing up and not knowing the difference between Space Mountain and Figment.

 

[Skywise]

I started going regularly last year. I was a complete and total neophyte. Oh, I didn't realize that at the time... I'm a hep kinda cat and knew my way around several amusement parks... So I could get around Disney easy-peasy without any planning.

And I DID! Or... at least I thought I did...

I was going to take a special trip with my family but I went out on a solo trip a few months early just to fulfill some long held dreams. I planned out the rides I wanted to ride and mapped out the path through the park I was going to take but had no knowledge of anything else (including the old fastpass at the time). I was completely overwhelmed, encountered a parade in the middle of my path (they have parades during the day?!) only did half the rides I wanted to, couldn't figure out where to eat for the area I was and when I did they were packed Quick Service because Table Service was booked up for hours, killed myself trying to get a decent spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade (ended up in Liberty Town) that I wanted to see, was walking to another decent spot for the Wishes fireworks at Main Street when the castle projection show started (*** is THAT?!) had a lousy view for the fireworks (trees) then walked around the park only to discover that they repeated the castle projection show AND the Parade (got a killer view for the 2nd parade on main street - I was at the entrance snapping some photos of the castle when they walked by me with the rope...)
It sounds bad but I had a LOT of fun. So when I got home I did a little research for the family trip and turns out I had only done like 10% of what was possible! My parents are older and I didn't want them running into the problems I did with food so I promptly started researching best restaurants and dining reservations. I figured I'd setup key dinners and breakfasts because I didn't want to overplan but as the day drew nearer I ended up just reserving dining for EVERYTHING. This ended up being GREAT because we were guaranteed seating, knew where we had to be and when and didn't have to figure that all out when we were all grumpy and tired. FP+ wasn't fully up yet but my family isn't big on "big" rides. I really didn't want to plan everything down to the minute either (aside from the dining) so I worked up a couple of "routes" through the MK for rides with the endpoints setup for our dining. We had breakfast at CRT and late lunch (1pm) at Liberty Tree Tavern - So I worked up a couple of routes through the park where we could start at fantasy land in the morning and end up in Liberty Town or go through adventureland then the train to fantasy land and down to Liberty Town, etc; We ended up going to the Tomorrowland racetrack first then through Fantasy Land. We spent the afternoon back at the hotel (a trick I picked up here) and then came back at night for dinner and to catch the fireworks.

I'm still very much against planning except for "must do's". But for as much as you're going to spend on the trip - planning is the only way you can really make efficient use of your time/$$$.

 

[worm761]

For our Disney trip in September, I have created a Disney binder full of need to know info during our stay. Im still working on it, and to be honest am a little overwhelmed! Does anyone here find it better to have a plan of action in place, or do you just go to the park and wing-it? I havent been to Disney in years, and this will be the first time for both my husband and 2.5 year old son. Thank you!!

I going to be honest, you have a two year old. How often do your plans change because of said 2 year old? Don't plan too much. Its going to change anyway and you will just get stress when it does. Have a basic plan of what park on which day, make any dining reservations you want, and then know what is toddler friendly and what isn't. Have a plan of what you are going to do with the non toddler friendly rides.

We are FL residents and buy seasonal passes. The parks are easy to do in September. The above is how we plan. I know what park on which day. I know what rides DD 4 can and cannot go on.

 

[mom2cinderella]

With a 2 1/2 yo, I think you are better off with just a general plan.

I did a mommy-daughter trip with my then 5 year old. Got there and she was scared of every ride but Dumbo, The Carrousel and The Jungle Cruise. I am not exaggerating. So plans went out the window. And it actually ended up being an amazing trip.

 

[limitdis]

better to plan....unless you are going when there are no crowds.

although, if you don't know when crowds are in disney world, you might be in trouble....

 

[kaa1187]

Thank you all for your opinions and advise! My binder thus far is just a general plan- what parks on what day, rides that my son is tall enough to go on, hotel info, etc.

 

[darkwing818]

I going to be honest, you have a two year old. How often do your plans change because of said 2 year old? Don't plan too much. Its going to change anyway and you will just get stress when it does. Have a basic plan of what park on which day, make any dining reservations you want, and then know what is toddler friendly and what isn't. Have a plan of what you are going to do with the non toddler friendly rides.

Pretty much sums it up, for us as well, when our 2 DDs were young. Add in the weather & our "general plans" were always changing . But we always had a good time. I'm a big planner, booking Reservation way in advance (DVC 11 months out, with pre-planning another 6 months before that), making a couple dining reservations as early as possible (on property & off). But I don't get "into the weeds" when planning our trips, we just try to plan the big stuff, what rides in what parks & whether or not we want do late hours or not. Seems to still work for us 20+ years later.

 

[MrsNesbit2014]

I just got back last week.. hadnt been in years.. and first time with husband and 2yr old as well. I planned everything in 15 min blocks from rope drop til naptime which was 12pm.. we then returned around 430pm and I just had a list of things to do and our 2 last passes. The evening was not as structured as the morning. 2yr old saw everything I thought he would love, the issue was my husband complaining it was too structured. My response to the complaining was we waited on no line longer than 10 min due to my research and being there early with a plan that flowed.. I was even one of the folks that was not able to get fast pass til day of and worked that into the morning sched.

Downside for me was we missed the new parade because of nap, and didnt get back around to see it on a different day... at least my husband did not end up anti Disney.. we will prob be back when our son is 5. I did agree for next trip to plan alternate structured days and let my husband plan the in between days of "winging it"

 

[heybravo626]

I say better to have detailed plans. You can always wing it to a certain degree when you get there.

 

[GenevieveRaqs]

FOR ME, having a big binder/Excel spreadsheets/etc. is overkill. And I'm a big-time type-A, control-freak, plan-a-holic (in general, not just Disney)!

I save my e-mail confirmations for ADRs. They are also available in your My Disney Experience profile. We do one ADR per day at most, so it isn't difficult for me to just have those in mind, with the e-mails saved in my inbox should I need to cross reference. (I should note we don't do the multi-week trips some here do...it's 5-6 nights max for us. My method might not work for longer time periods.)

In order to make my ADRs, I do plan out in advance what parks we'd like to go to, taking into account crowd predictions as well as personal preferences, such as a desire to start and end our trip with MK, putting AK in the middle as a "slow down" day, etc. But since ADRs are made, I don't feel the need for any separate method of tracking which park we're going to since we don't hop.

Having been to WDW a number of times, we have a pretty good idea of a) which rides tend to have long lines and b) what our ride priorities are. I don't make any kind of structured touring plan that requires print-outs, etc. But I do know, for instance, that for our trip this summer we'll plan to cover Adventureland and Frontierland on our first MK day, riding Splash and BTMRR first then back-filling with the other attractions in those lands. We'll do the same with Tomorrowland and Fantasyland on our other MK day.

So, basically, I have plans--some set (like ADRs) and others loose (like attractions). But most of it is simply a game plan in my head, the same way I approach all the other areas of my life. I don't need a binder to get through my weekend to-do list. But I do have in my head that first I need to get groceries; then I need to clean bathrooms and mop; when I get hungry I'll take a lunch break; and if I have time I'd like to get started on repainting my deck furniture before our dinner reservation at 6. Same concept!

But, again, this is what works FOR ME and my family--it may not work for everyone. I just think you need to find an approach that helps you without stressing you out. It is a vacation, after all!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Detailed is better at WDW.

I've never said that I overplanned for WDW. Things change of course and you have to be flexible once you are there. But I think that planning everything is helpful.