curious about other planners

[KyGirl]

We're a month away from our next trip so of course I'm basically obsessed with the details of Disney these days. We've had five trips in the last eight years, even before we had a little girl, and I've spent countless hours reading these boards and other websites over those years to plan our trips to a probably unnecessary level of detail.

Anyway, in the past it always shocked me how many people seemed like they were flying blind at Disney. I could never spend that much money on something and not do a little research but to each their own. The thing that used to always surprise me was how little the average visitor seemed to know about the old FastPass system. You would get so many evil eyes going through that line passing everybody and it seemed like many many people did not understand it was available to everybody. And then you'd hear so many of the comments, "We spent x amount of dollars on this trip and all we've done is stand in line!" After you heard that a few times, you had to feel pretty glad that you'd put in your planning time.

Our last trip was December 2013, so we had magic bands and FP+ (with no tiers!) and could still pull old fastpasses, with both our ticket cards AND our room keys. It was so awesome. We ended up not even using the legacy fastpasses very often but it was a nice option a couple of times for smaller things. Anyway, one of the things I remember about that trip was that SO many people were asking us what our "colored bracelets" were for and where we got them. Of course, back then only onsite guests got them so that was fair enough but still. It was big news all over the internet.

So for an actual question, do you still think that most of the people traveling to Disney just load up the kids and buy tickets at the gate or do you think more and more people are catching on to the planning required? It seems like there is SO much information that is so easily available that it would be harder to ignore it than to read a little. Plus it seems to me with this trip that Disney itself is really pushing the planning more than ever before. They sent a Dumbo magnet with all the different dates to book things and we've gotten a couple of other reminders in the mail and by email. You would really have to be trying hard to avoid all that.

At what point will the tide turn that so many people are "in the know" that all our careful planning doesn't really give us any advantages? If EVERYBODY knows all the tricks are they really tricks anymore?

And just to be clear, I'm not talking about cheating the system OR any other guest. Just trying to make choices that will maximize our experience during our hard earned and long awaited Disney time!

Oh, and I'm super nosy about other people.

 

[tink9702]

I think that the majority of on-site guests know what they are doing with FP+ and some planning of ADRs at least. I think the off-site guests aren't as well off if they aren't planners.

As far as when everyone knows - well it depends on what "tricks" we are talking about. I'll give some examples.

RopeDrop - I think even when everyone knows about it there are many many people who don't want to get up early on vacation and won't take advantage so I'd guess this will still be a great "trick" to use.

Touring Plans - The majority of people do NOT want to plan this much so I think it's another thing that will remain a "trick" to use.

FastPass+ - I think this is less and less of an advantage as more people realize it exists.

ADRs - as more people know, they become harder to get at that 180 day mark for certain venues. I do think they become easier to get at that 60 day mark (as people drop them based on FP+ acquisitions, and then again the week of the trip too as people drop more so that's a "new" trick to look for.

 

[UncleMike101]

When we went to WDW waaaaay back in the 80's & 90's we just made reservations on the phone at an on site hotel, bought our tickets when we arrived, went to the parks, (both of em) and had a great time.
You could make reservations at each parks restaurants by using the NEW, Magical, touch screen kiosks, that even let you see and talk to a CM about your plans.
Now we make reservations and buy our tickets on line, then we spend a couple of months making ADR's and FP+ reservations to be sure that we don't just spend our time walking aimlessly around the four parks looking for a place to eat or something to do.
I've seen thousands of people do exactly that in recent years because they aren't skilled toward, inclined to, or have the free time to make the future plans and commitments needed to enjoy the parks.
Fortunately my DD and I are well versed in the art of pre planning and logistics and look at the preparations as just another necessity of life today.
And, since I'm retired, and she's a stay at home mother, we have the time to get together and make our plans.

 

[dkrauss]

If you look at the current status of ADR's and FP+ enough folks are "in the know" to make planning an important aspect of any WDW vacation. The "best" ADR's, at the best times (for us) usually fill right away (180 mark) and for onsite guess a FP+ for 7DMT or A&E is a crap shoot at 60 days. I try to not to think about others when planning, keeping in mind I could get "frozen" out (pun intended ) of an ADR or ride/M&G...........

Planning is all about alternatives.......which is even more important given all the modifications with MDE, FP+, etc. I always leave some flexibilty in my plans to change an ADR or even a park for a particular day to maximize the experiences we're looking for on a particular trip.

I'm already looking at a trip for December 2016..................what week do we go..........what would be the impact of Pop Warner week............there's hundreds of scenarios. Keeps me engaged in Disney stuff during the year of Sad.......... No WDW trips in 2015

Doug

 

[DaisyLou2]

A friend of mine went with her family last fall and stayed offsite. I sent her the link to this board and let her know about planning certain things ahead. I never heard back from her until she saw the photos from my family's awesome trip this past February. She called me and said they had the most horrible time. They couldn't get on any rides without waiting in super long lines. They walked up to several restaurants to eat lunch and couldn't get in anyplace without at least a 45 minute wait. The kids hated, they all hated it. She was jealous of all of the stuff I was able to plan for my family and asked me to plan their next trip for them. Well....you can plan it yourself if you take the time. Or, you can pay me to do it!
She just had no clue and didn't think it was necessary to do any kind of research. I don't think this is the majority though. Just an example that they are still out there! Most people know enough that if they are going to travel that they can find any information about their destination online.

 

[jomass]

I am willing to bet that the majority of people know very little about all of the planning Disney entails. Just look at any attraction with a 90-120 minute wait, and all of the people in those lines. You can rest assured that you won’t see too many from Disboards, touringplans, etc.
I was just thinking about all of the poor people who just book their rooms, buy their tickets and not give it much other thought. At least not beyond looking at the Disney site anyway.
You’re absolutely right though. Every year there are more and more who are “in the know” and at some point the gap between them and us is going to close pretty tight. I’ve already seen it to a great degree since my first time there 27 years ago. I remember discovering the “Unofficial Guide to Disney” and how effective it was long before the internet took off. Then every year I went, I saw more and more people walking around with these books.
Because there are so many people that come from all around the world, I suspect that it will still take some time. And there continues to be new ways to stay ahead of the curve. I’ve learned a couple myself over the last few weeks. There’s one trick that I just discovered that virtually guarantees no wait to see the most popular attractions (A&E, 7DMT, etc.) without FP. I’m sure once the cat’s out of the bag on that one, either the loophole gets closed, or so many figure it out, that it’s no longer an advantage.

 

[jomass]

We're a month away from our next trip so of course I'm basically obsessed with the details of Disney these days. We've had five trips in the last eight years, even before we had a little girl, and I've spent countless hours reading these boards and other websites over those years to plan our trips to a probably unnecessary level of detail.

Anyway, in the past it always shocked me how many people seemed like they were flying blind at Disney. I could never spend that much money on something and not do a little research but to each their own. The thing that used to always surprise me was how little the average visitor seemed to know about the old FastPass system. You would get so many evil eyes going through that line passing everybody and it seemed like many many people did not understand it was available to everybody. And then you'd hear so many of the comments, "We spent x amount of dollars on this trip and all we've done is stand in line!" After you heard that a few times, you had to feel pretty glad that you'd put in your planning time.

Our last trip was December 2013, so we had magic bands and FP+ (with no tiers!) and could still pull old fastpasses, with both our ticket cards AND our room keys. It was so awesome. We ended up not even using the legacy fastpasses very often but it was a nice option a couple of times for smaller things. Anyway, one of the things I remember about that trip was that SO many people were asking us what our "colored bracelets" were for and where we got them. Of course, back then only onsite guests got them so that was fair enough but still. It was big news all over the internet.

So for an actual question, do you still think that most of the people traveling to Disney just load up the kids and buy tickets at the gate or do you think more and more people are catching on to the planning required? It seems like there is SO much information that is so easily available that it would be harder to ignore it than to read a little. Plus it seems to me with this trip that Disney itself is really pushing the planning more than ever before. They sent a Dumbo magnet with all the different dates to book things and we've gotten a couple of other reminders in the mail and by email. You would really have to be trying hard to avoid all that.

At what point will the tide turn that so many people are "in the know" that all our careful planning doesn't really give us any advantages? If EVERYBODY knows all the tricks are they really tricks anymore?

And just to be clear, I'm not talking about cheating the system OR any other guest. Just trying to make choices that will maximize our experience during our hard earned and long awaited Disney time!

Oh, and I'm super nosy about other people.

BTW...excellent topic!

 

[jrandall]

All the people I seem to know in real life would never think of reading a message board like this or planning. So I'm thinking although there are enough of us who do plan & book up all the adrs and fast passes there are probably even more that just go and expect waiting in lines like we used to in the 80's. My parents never planned. We would just walk around aimlessly with a map seeing whatever didn't have a long wait and that was that. Kind of like visiting a zoo for the day! Now Disney is an entire experience! But I still think a lot of people still think of it that way. They get to the hotel and say look it's an early entrance day lets go to that park today!

 

[dkrauss]

I am willing to bet that the majority of people know very little about all of the planning Disney entails. Just look at any attraction with a 90-120 minute wait, and all of the people in those lines. You can rest assured that you won’t see too many from Disboards, touringplans, etc.

Excellent point!!!

Doug

 

[BayouMickey]

We don't plan like we used to. I think when you go as much as we do, it becomes second nature knowing the ins and outs, so we don't have to. We make our adr's and our FP+ ressies and that's the extent. I think the strategies are ingrained into our brains at this point.

 

[tlmadden73]

Ignorance is bliss ...
In general .. most people are lazy .. or don't like/want to plan that much ..so there will always be efficiencies gained with planning over the rest of the crowds.
But I think if you don't KNOW you could plan to those levels of details you may not care.

I think that Disney does well advertising what level of planning you can do, but some may not care.

My sister-in-law's family is joining us in August and they are amazed at the amount of planning I was suggesting. If it wasn't for me they probably would have just bought the tickets .. arrived and gone to the parks and just hit things that catch their eye as they pass by (or on the map) (You know .. just like most of US probably did with our parents when we went ages ago before planning resources even existed besides the map you'd get when you arrived).
I bet they would have still had a magical time if they didn't plan .. though probably shocked at the standby times.

I think Disney though needs a bit of a balance planning. Plan an "efficient" day .. but don't overplan so you feel like you are rushing from thing to another. Yes .. you may get in 2 or 3 more rides than "non" planners .. but what did you MISS? I like to take my knowledge of the layout of the parks and previous experiences on rides/shows and have that plan my day .. but still be "loose" about it. Leave time between fast passes .. don't have things scheduled for opposite sides of the park near the same time .. etc. There are so many things to experience without going on a "RIDE" that you want to be able to just let things happen. When I last went .. we didn't get on a huge number of rides .. but we stopped and smelled the roses a few times (see the Dapper Dan show on Main Street as we came in.. saw a clown show in Storybook Circus .. stood in line for characters that we just ran into without knowing they would be there.

 

[jthornton94]

I totally agree the masses do little to know planning, and they are also the ones who return and complain the loudest. My friends think I am obsessed and I even consider myself more of a casual planner, only because we probably decide 4-5 months out that we are going. My brother's story is similar to the above. I offered to help them plan, but who needs a plan, it's just an amusement park. They came back and had the same complaints, plus a few really dumb ones(there were no thrill rides, it was expensive).

I research every vacation, the more it costs, the more I plan. Unfortunately that is not the norm. I'm surprised how many people I meet who still think disney World is only one park!

But I do get some evil pl

 

[mullysisters]

We have been about 10 times and we plan pretty quickly. It's almost like not planning since it takes so little time. I can even pull my itinerary from last year and just fiddle the dates. Once I know my dates from my airline ticket (1st decision) I block out 7 days in hour increments and fill the parks in when hours become available. Then ADR's and FP+ when available. All this takes about 30 minutes total time! Of course then I "tweak" away at it until the week before I go.

 

[kgoodb00]

I have wondered this many times. I take so much time planning, and tweaking the plan to fit our needs. I have a friend who goes almost every year for a day trip to MK. She doesn't stay on site, and they go from RD to close with no breaks and she really doesn't know much about FP or FP+ for that matter. She always comes back with stories about how much fun they had and mentions the that they had to wait only an hour for space mountain or whatever ride they went on! I honestly think she has no clue about what planning could go into it. I tried to get her to come on a long weekend trip with me to experience all of Disney, but she says her day trip is just fine!

I honestly think there are MANY people out there like her. They do day trips here and there and really don't have anything to compare it to. I think the people that stay on property are more inept to plan in more detail because they are subjected to Disney's marketing about FP+ and ADRs more than someone coming in for just a day trip. My next trip is going to be my 5th trip in the past 5 years, and I have found that I am not planning it out in as much detail as the previous ones! So, we will see how that goes!

 

[Ladcassidy]

Experience is the best planning tool of all.

 

[kjs1976]

I remember going on our first two trips from rope drop to close. Although it was fun to just be at WDW for the first time and try to see everything, I remember collapsing into our off-site hotel bed and literally not being able to get out of bed! Granted, I was 15 and 16 and had the energy, but geesh! waiting in line for two hours for the Maelstrom?! I remember Splash was somewhat new and there was a three hour wait and I said no way!

I plan because of boards like these and other trip planning sites that make it easy and fun. We didn't plan much for our honeymoon in 2001 or short family trip in 2002. I remember coming back from that '02 trip and planning a mock trip for the following year because I felt we had missed so much and could've planned so much better. From that trip on, we have gradually planned more and more.

I agree with other posters in that if you're paying that much money, you should be able to get what you want and then some. We used a touring plan site for the first time in 2006 when my parents went with us. My dad, who hates crowds, actually commented on how dead MK seemed and how much we got to enjoy. Now having a DD who hates to wait in line, I find so many other reasons to enjoy my trip planning. To me, it's also the excitement of the pre-trip, like many others, that we get to read up on and plan. If we know when/where we are going and in what order, we can make the most of everything and have as much fun as possible.

 

[threeboysmom]

You could make reservations at each parks restaurants by using the NEW, Magical, touch screen kiosks, that even let you see and talk to a CM about your plans.

Haha! I remember those dining kiosks! We thought they were so modern back then, lol.

 

[Mrs. Max Goof]

I went to Disney three times as a child, and I know that my parents did not plan nearly as much as I do today for my trips with my bf. I can very specifically remember waking up every morning and deciding which park to go to that day, even for our big Christmas trip. We typically arrived to the park relatively early, but I never experienced rope drop until my first adult trip. And I have nothing but absolutely fantastic memories from those trips!

Now, I love the planning! We use touring plans because we are able to see every attraction we want, sometimes even twice or three times, with little to no waiting. We enjoy planning meals and developing a strategy for tackling the park. For two somewhat broke young adults, it's the only way we can validate the expense of a Disney vacation. We get the most of every second we are in those parks!

I think FP+ forces many people who wouldn't typically plan to really map out their days, especially those who stay on-site. However, I still think there are many, many guests who simply don't do their research of what to plan, or those who choose not to...their choice, I suppose, but with the crowds and prices increasing, I can't help but feel that our family is at a huge advantage and are truly getting our money's worth vs. those who come to the park with no plans.

 

[kaetra]

Amongst my own friends, family and coworkers I'm amazed how many people go to Disney World and do almost zero planning. I think some of them try to plan, but then get overwhelmed. Many simply do not believe they need to have a reservation for restaurants, and that they can just walk up and get in anywhere. Many will only go during school breaks. (Most do seem to be aware of the FP+ system because Disney promotes it fairly well.)

Very recently, one family planning their first trip was super excited to tell everyone about the awesome cups they're going to use to "get free drinks in all the parks." Some people are so misinformed I can't bear listening to their plans, it makes me twitch.

When they ask me for advice, I recommend a travel agent. It costs them nothing and saves me both the hassle of explaining everything to them and any after-trip "blame" for anything that didn't go their way.

I honestly don't know how I would have gotten through my first trip without The Dis. I don't even remember how I found it. But man am I glad I did!!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I think most people don't plan very much. At least, none of the people I've given Disney travel advice to in the past have ever seemed to have done any of their own research. I'll never forget one co-worker: "We're planning to go over Thanksgiving because there should be low crowds then as everyone stays at home with their families!" Umm....no. I disabused him of that notion right away.