Did planning used to be easier?

[smallworldnh]

This was without a doubt the hardest time I've had planning. Not just FP+ but even the free dining effort was exhausting, not to mention trying to get ADR's!! I'm still trying to tweak the times I did get for FP+ and probably will still be doing it while I'm there! Totally worth it though (I hope!)

 

[smallworldnh]

Certainly was. Grew up in FLA and I've even been passholder for both WDW and DL while living in the Midwest. Good

How I miss the old fastpass days and all the other "simplicity" with those times. Speaking of which , doing the original FP in DL last year was so nice.

In any case, the spontaneous aspects are all dead for the most part. That isn't to say I'm done with Disney, it's just a different animal now.

They keep getting our money through. We are headed back in a couple of weeks for 2 weeks and we'll be getting ap's again. That said my youngest qualifies for the DAS and without that the current system would never work for us.

I do feel for first timers or others who simply don't realize how much up front time and effort goes into making a successful WDW in 2017.

I have several friends and colleagues from work who hate Disney and will never do it again because of these last few years.

I have a coworker who was planning to go for the first time, but after listening to me and some other experienced Disneyers, she said forget it - not interested. I told her she doesn't know what she's missing and we'd help but no dice. It does sound very daunting to a first timer (even to those who go often!)

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Yes.

But then, I also used to stand in line over an hour for one of the headliner rides and consider it normal.

You win some, you lose some.

 

[StrawberryChan]

maybe i'm in a minority but i think FP+ is a ton easier than the original FP system, if only because i'm not a morning person and i can get the fastpasses i want in advance rather than having to go to the booth and pull a ticket that might be several hours out. maybe it's because i'm still young and tech-savvy. it's probably easier if you're a passholder since it gives you more time to learn the ins and outs of the system, i can imagine it being a lot tougher if you're planning a big vacation from out of state

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I remember the days when you would just show up and get in line. No FP+, no ADR's. I mean, you can still do that, but you really can't maximize your time doing that anymore. I agree, there seems to be something new every week. If I didn't read these boards or subscribe to Disney Parks Blog there is no way I could keep up.

 

[ZoZo]

What I miss is the spontaneity. Before Fastpass Plus, you could go to the night before or the morning of, the first bus to come to the resort, not deciding on anything in advance like Fastpass reservations or even dining reservations. Park hopping was easy, since you didn't have to know where you were going in advance. now, to avoid standing in long lines, you have to plan at least something pretty far ahead even if you rope drop. I miss the good old days!

 

[loves to dive]

It can be as easy or as hard as you want. Personally, we book a room about 2 to 3 months out and that's it. We don't book ADRs in advance any more than a day before, more often than not the day of. We book FPs maybe the night before, more often than not the morning of since we rarely know which park we are going to. If we want to do express transportation, we decide on the fly, we don't do the holiday parties and have only done one dessert party and decided right then and there not again. We usually do one kind of big thing on each trip and decide maybe 2 weeks in advance, I've been known to get on the phone the night we arrive and book diving at the Living Seas for the next day.

 

[Aurora0427]

It's not you. I tried to do the whole touring plans thing for our upcoming trip, and just quit. We are taking our youngest daughter, who is 18 months, so everything is unpredictable. Will she sleep in? Will she nap for 90 minutes or 3 hours? Just those two things alone are enough to say forget a plan. We are hitting the parks with an 8am EMH since she'll nap about 1. That's the extent of my plan. I booked these darn fast passes to the best of my ability, but even that irritates me because I couldn't get the times I wanted for some of the big attractions. We've booked our favorite restaurants but even that's up in the air!

 

[squeezle]

When we first began there was no home internet, certainly no DISboards. It was guidebooks and pencil and paper. I still have my circa 1988 edition of the Unofficial Guide Sure, there were fewer options to worry about but there was also much less access to information.

I was actually excited when Disney began taking dining reservations (Anyone else remember running for the Castle or the tele-kiosks at Epcot?) via phone!

My first trip was in 1998, and I remember they had a very different dining plan. You paid a certain amount per person/per night into a dining account and it worked like a declining balance, and that money could be used at any restaurant for food and wine, drinks, and tips. It was simple and easy, and you didn't end up with more food than you could eat at every meal.

 

[DeterminedOne]

I agree with the OP, but only as it relates to FP+. I have always visited in the off season, so nothing ever seemed particularly difficult to plan. A bit time consuming - yes, but difficult - no. Nowadays with this whole FP+ system it's downright frustrating!! I am hoping it's all a ruse. Like I said, we are visiting in what use to be the off season. Although I have FP's reserved - I'm hoping we won't need them for most rides.

 

[epcotty]

I still don't like FP+ and think the old FP was better (it definitely was implemented better) . I still think it's crazy to have to plan things out that far ahead

 

[thevolcanogod]

What I don't like is spending more time with my eyes on my phone while in the parks massaging my fastpasses instead of looking around.

 

[Cinderella94]

It is more "difficult" in that it's more involved, absolutely. I enjoy it though so don't really see it as difficult. It's stress, but the good kind of stress because I'm so excited to be going . But some things that others worry about never even make it to my radar, like crowd calendars. I've never looked at one. We love morning EMHs so I don't think crowd calendars are made for people like us. But, our best Disney friends love checking the crowd calendars. To each their own!

 

[Veronique]

I also think it depends on access to information and personality. Plenty of person book with a company and just follow their plan or show up the morning of and have a great day. Before you might not have even known there was a show or dessert parties. Now you can choose to get as inform as you can or just let it go. I feel most people on this board can't let it go lol self included!

 

[DeterminedOne]

What I don't like is spending more time with my eyes on my phone while in the parks massaging my fastpasses instead of looking around.

I agree. I have been practicing mindfulness the last few months. The idea of having to massage fastpasses instead of being in the moment makes me queasy.

 

[mtemm]

I'm mixed. I don't mind planning ahead because that is part of the fun for me. And I love FP+ and the ability to get continual fp on the fly right from my phone. We had never been in summer or when it was busy before so this made things much more doable for me and my crowd hating self.

However, dh and I both commented about how much we missed the old days (Mid-late 90s especially). We always went in October, back when fall was still slow/value season. Our last visit was 2008 prior to this year. It was never crowded, we walked on most rides or had very minimal waits. Enough people around to feel festive but not be overwhelmed by. We loved going land by land and just soaking it all in. And of course weather was perfect.

With our trip last week, it was summer so hot and crowded and if we hadn't planned or couldn't add fp on the fly, we wouldn't have done half of what we did. It was a quick 4 day trip which also didn't leave much wiggle room for us. We had a great trip but it was very different. I really felt for this one family we saw while we were heading to our noon plaza ADR. They were heading into adventureland with a map and had clearly never been before. They looked so confused and I heard the mom say, "well, I guess we will just go land by land and see what there is to do as we go." I seriously wonder if they did more than a few things by the end of the day. But dh and I both commented that we missed doing just that.

 

[fbb]

It's what you make of it.

It can still be incredibly easy or meticulously difficult depending on what you're looking for.

Agreed. It's gotten far easier for me.

 

[chiburple]

Yes. Back in 1971 we just drove down, went to the gate and got a ticket to the Magic Kingdom when we felt like it, and stopped by the resort hotels if we wanted to eat at one of those (even Christmas week with no reservations, maybe a 20 minute wait). We would first thing going in to the Magic Kingdom go over to the castle and make a lunch or dinner reservation -- It wasn't character dining, but fun to eat in the castle (good food and reasonable -- three fixed price choices). We'd just walk over after getting into the park same day.

When we first began there was no home internet, certainly no DISboards. It was guidebooks and pencil and paper. I still have my circa 1988 edition of the Unofficial Guide Sure, there were fewer options to worry about but there was also much less access to information.

I was actually excited when Disney began taking dining reservations (Anyone else remember running for the Castle or the tele-kiosks at Epcot?) via phone!

My first trip was in 1998, and I remember they had a very different dining plan. You paid a certain amount per person/per night into a dining account and it worked like a declining balance, and that money could be used at any restaurant for food and wine, drinks, and tips. It was simple and easy, and you didn't end up with more food than you could eat at every meal.

I love these stories of past Disney times. They sound so magical! Like a movie. It's hard for me to imagine.

 

[OThopeful35]

Planning for me gets difficult when I throw the FP+ in the mix. Dining Reservations and park days are easy but those darn fastpasses.

 

[Auntie_Maim]

I don't find it more difficult. But then, a lot of the stuff that's mentioned as making planning problematic isn't an issue for my upcoming trip. Minnie van? Don't care, as we'll be walking or using boats for most of our destinations. Nighttime shows? Not interested. I think there's a feeling that if we don't do everything exactly right and plan every tiny thing, our trip will be ruined, RUINED. Which is not the case. Also, the parks aren't going anywhere. If you miss something this time, come back again another time. I'm giving Pandora a miss this upcoming trip because I don't feel like dealing with it and am not all that interested. I'll visit it in a few years when the hubbub has died down.