Commando or No

[DaniB]

AND wear shorts/trousers that are made of a thick cloth and stay off the rides where you might get wet.

Otherwise you might show more than you intended.

My wife helped a lady in the bathroom near the KRR. The lady had gotten soaked and was wearing very thin capris while going commando. Once the capris got wet she might as well have taken off the pants.

The DW "shielded" the lady while she tried to try her pants in the hand dryer.

Whoops - thanks for posting! I never thought about the material of my clothes. That could have been embarassing!

 

[dd50]

I usually only plan what park on what day and that is it. I don't have a problem if I don't get on a certain ride.

I first went in 1984 without a plan and had a fabulous time. Did we get to go on every single ride. No, but that was OK because I thought we would do those next time.

My kids are teens now and they have a few favorites that they want to go on and we get them done. I think when people are rushing to the next ride that you miss so much that Disney has to offer. Some of my fondest memories are of one of my girls trying to see where the squirrel went. If I was rushing we wouldn't have taken the time.

Every one is different and every one has to find the balance that works for them.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

To me, commando/research has a lot less to do with rides, because, obviously, the rides are all there, you can see them. It has MUCH more to do with getting a seat at Rose & Crown at the right time for Illuminations, stuff like that.

 

[damren]

Well, I think you will reduce chaffing and irritation if undergarments are worn while at Disney World. If you do decide to go Commando, I would recommend lots of powder.

There it is! I was hoping I wasn't the only one thinking this

 

[catne]

first -- what time of year you're going. If you're there during a major holiday week, or one of the years when Easter/traditional spring breaks/passover all fell in the same week then you better plan on either going "commando" or doing about 4 attractions a day. And eating counter service only if you've not booked any reservations for table restaurants. But if you're going at a slower time of the year (like a couple of weeks ago) then not much planning is needed. Last week, though, they may have had a completely different experience (huge crowds with spring break)

The other key factor, IMHO, is who are you touring with and what the goal is...if it's just you or with people that have been there many times, then there's little or no pressure to "do it all" and much easier to just go with the flow, heading for favorites in a relaxed manner. But if you're acting as "tour guide" for folks who rarely or never go...and they want to get the maximum possible Disney experience then again you better have a very good plan.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We've done both.

We've gone with plans, ADR's ect. and we've just winged it. And sometimes we take breaks and sometimes we go, go, go.

While we had a good time either way, now that I'm older I prefer to take breaks and have ADR's.

I've gone often enough that I really don't need much of a plan except for having which days are better for which parks.

I'm glad your in-laws had a great time.

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

I relayed this story on a previous thread but it applies here . . . I went to WDW the April after they opened in October, and did not get to go back until after I graduated high school. When I first started going to WDW as a "grownup" with my future husband, we had no idea that the Contemporary and the Poly were hotels. And yes, we rode the monorail many times. We didn't know a lot of things, but we had a blast. I think with the right attitude, ignorance can be bliss.

I'm pretty sure we walked by the entrance to Pirates that trip, too, not knowing there was a ride in there.

 

[MM27]

Personally, I could never plan the way some people do that I read about here. I don't know what I want to eat for dinner in the morning on the same day. I couldn't imagine planning meals months in advance. On my last trip I made a total of one dining reservation for the week. For everything else we played it by ear. If we wanted to eat and couldn't get in somewhere, we went somewhere else. No biggie.

I'm sure people will cringe at this, but I also don't plan out my days. When we get up in the morning we decide which park to go to. I figure I'm paying extra for park hopper tickets so it's not a big deal if I decide later on to go somewhere else.

I can't enjoy a vacation that is overplanned. My goal is to have fun, not to keep to a schedule.

 

[dolphindan1]

some people only feel that running and seeing and doing everything is the only way to enjoy themselves and get there moneys worth...I was like that my 1st 2 times down...I still plan but I go and just enjoy myself now not running ride to ride...FP has really eliminated the need.

I am sure you can go to Disney without any plans...Just get up and Say Epcot today...and still have a great time...plenty of fun and good counter service meals to be had...

we still feel that we have to be tired when we leave to have really enjoyed our vacation. park open to close, but now we sit down and people watch and do the rides we wanna do...it makes, FOR US, a much better vacation

 

[-Hope-]

Okay, don't throw tomatoes at me when I say this BUT... our upcoming trip may very well be our ONLY trip to WDW.

Shocking, I know! But let me explain. I'm a traveler at heart, born with wanderlust, etc. etc. I have a list that is long as both arms and legs of all the places I want to see in this world. Therefore, as amazing as I think Disney is, in the future I'd rather go someplace I've never been since I only get one vacation per year. Sooo...

I want to soak in as much as I can on this trip. I know that my plans might not work out and that's okay- it will be because we were caught up in the moment not because we were caught unprepared. In other words, if we miss a show because the line for a fave character is short okay. If we miss a show because we were standing around wondering what to do next, not okay.

Besides. I planning. As long as I remember in the park that it's a guide and to go with the flow then the plan only EXTENDS and ENHANCES my fun.

EDIT: I forgot my metaphor! The first time I made spaghetti sauce from scratch it was pretty good. We all liked it and enjoyed it. I made it that way several times and no one ever had complaints. Then my best friend's Italian grandmother taught me to make REAL red sauce. I wrote down her instructions and I've tweaked them for our tastes over the years. So, yeah, in our ignorance we did okay but man, we were missing out.

 

[JoShan1719]

I spend months making a plan. I make ADRs, plan when we're going to get fastpasses, which park we're doing on which day. And as soon as we get there we change about half of the plans. And I'm totally fine with that! I like having a plan, but I'd annoy the crap out of myself if we always stuck to them. Example: our last trip (September) I planned to take a break from the parks every day...go back to the hotel, take a nap, watch a movie, whatever. We did one day and it just ruined our momentum. The other three days we were there for rope drop and stayed all the way through to the fireworks and loved every minute of it. I think you should do whatever works for you. I imagine if we had kids we would be begging to go back to the hotel for a bit...but maybe not? When I was a kid we didn't leave. Once we were there we were staying.

 

[Carl Fredricksen]

Ohh, I agree with this!!!

From a NEWBIE'S point of view (having never been to WDW before), I am SO glad I found this board and started researching. I've learned so many things that I'm sure will make our trip that much richer than if we went in total ignorance. In fact, I'm sure going in total ignorance would have had us disappointed...

I'm aiming for a happy medium! We don't want to go all-out commando! We researched & arrange our ADRs and selected our park days. Realizing we may have to switch due to bad weather (doing 2 waterpark days).

As for the parks - again, major research but this way we know to be at RD every morning. And we learned about FastPasses. In fact, I had decided to donate our GAD vouchers until I found out about GAD FPs. Sorry, but that won over considering it's our first time...

First we crossed out each ride at each park that we just do will not do - for various reasons.

Now we'll spend the morning hitting our MUST DO attractions & rides, spend the afternoon for the ones we would like to do at a more relaxed pace, and IF there's still time the ones that are a "if there's time".

Researching ahead of time meant we discovered the "extras" that can be done at WDW. So we had a chance to pick a "must do" and rule out others. With researching, we would have found out about these later and be disappointed we could not do them then.

The only thing undecided still - is which resort to stay in! We have POP booked but may upgrade to CSR. I'm torn between the two. Waiting to hear about free dining.

Ohh, and when I saw "we researched" - I mean "I researched" LOL

Thanks Dani, this explains exactly my method as well. Now I don't have to type it out!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I just try to stick to the low crowd park/s for each day and night and it works well. If I have a tour or some other 'special' attraction or event, like a party, etc, I will usually have that set in advance. Additionally, meeting up with folks from here, some I have set up in advance, some set up while there.

 

[W.E.D.]

Just a Bump to see if anyone else has anything to say.


Once again, thanks for all the replies everyone!

 

[DaniB]

Thanks Dani, this explains exactly my method as well. Now I don't have to type it out!

Glad I could help

 

[dmccarty]

I wonder if anyone needed to plan as much as they do now until the internet got involved?

Personally, I don't know, because my first real trip was in 2003. But I keep hearing about how you used to be able to walk in to restaurants without ADR's, etc. I think now people know soooo much more about WDW due to the net, so it makes it harder (more competitive) to do everything.

I think the Internet has really pushed the planning. Which is really a good thing for the most part. When we went to WDW on our Honeymoon we did not get anything special since we did not tell Disney. We did not get the funny hats.

My mom is pretty sure we went to MK when in opened in '71. I thought I knew quite a bit about MK because I was there a couple times a year. At least once in the summer and usually at XMAS. But I learned quite a bit at MK and EPCOT on the Internet.

When we did go to WDW on our Honeymoon we did my dream stay at CR. As a kid we would take the monorail through CR and I always wanted to stay there. The place was just sooo cool. So I finally did but it took a couple of decades. We did not know about ADRs and we kinda needed them since we went to California Grill every night for dinner. There were no ADRs available but we were late riser's and eaters so we would just go later in the evening and close the place down.

We had some great conversations with the servers and the cooks. We used to sit with Yoshi and we got treated real well especially when we went back a year later and they remembered us. We have had the same server since then. We ask for her every trip and we get her at least once during our stay.

But we needed ADRs. Did not have them. But delt with it and came out for the better to be honest.

Now days we do plan and make ADRs. The trips with kids made it more important. We could just take things in stride and do whatever. With the family we do want to make sure that certain things happen.

Later,
Dan

 

[LSUfan4444]

Is there a happy medium between going Commando-style and going free-style?

This thread had some serious potenital, but then I remembered this is a FAMILU DISNEY site.

 

[brandylouwho]

There is definitely a happy medium. I love to research & plan, but would never want to do a true touring plan (first do this, then that, etc.) But research to understand which rides you really want to do and how fast pass works, etc. is important IMHO. Also, we aren't heartbroken if we can't fit EVERYTHING in one trip. If we had a step by step plan I am 100% sure we'd never stick to it anyway, so why stress about it?

I like to know which park I plan to do on which day...and go from there. I like to have a few ADRs (usually character meals for the kids), but we don't even eat a TS meal every day.

And my favorite way to do Disney is at least 10 days...with mornings in the parks, afternoons in the pool and some nights back in the park.