Different Trip Planning Personalities

[TinkandAriel]

A friend of ours tripped to Disney the same time we did...her flight out was the flight before ours, and vice versa on the way home. When we came back and were talking, you'd have thought we went to different freaken planets. She had everything planned out to the minute, day to day. I mean, she had a list for each day "at 10:15 we'll be here and then at 10:25 we have to be here..." Where, we were so laid back we were practically horizontal. She had a miserable time. She said she was stressed the whole time, worrying that she wouldn't get to this or that that they had ressies for, whatnot. Missed the big events here and there because of planning misjudgements. We had the time of our lives. We never rushed in the morning, and our first day out we managed to snag a bus to Magic Kingdom without any wait, got there for opening ceremonies, stayed til 7ish where we snagged another bus back to the resort without waiting, ran upstairs to get our coats and long pants, ran back down, snagged another bus without waiting, and got a seat right under tink's flight from the castle only waiting a half hour for the show. Our whole entire trip was like that, without planning a thing, everything just fell into place. I wasn't even thinking of the 3 o'clock parade when we wandered right onto a front row spot not a half hour before the parade started.
So, I guess my rambling point is, don't overplan to the point where you stress yourself sick and ruin your vacation over trying to do every single thing there is to do...it's Disney, and hopefully it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Becca

 

[PottersMom]

I don't think there is anything wrong with planning things out- we are going to try using the touring guides from UG for this trip. DH wanted to "wing it", but I like to plan. I told him we would try the first park or two according to the plan, and if it wasn't working out, then we would try it his way. I think the most important thing is to be flexible if necessary.

 

[cybrkitn]

No wonder they didn't have fun and were stressed. They overplanned and kept to a strict time schedule. That takes the fun out of a vacation right there! They definately need to learn to RELAX and enjoy their vacation.

Glad you had fun!

37 hours until a much needed and well deserved VACATION with The Mouse! Sheesh, I'm gonna need a vacation from our vacation !

 

[izzys4]

I agree with "winging" it at times.....we sometimes put all the brochures on the bed and let the kids take turns picking where we're going that day. And we do park hopping so if we're at one and they want to go to another park we sometimes just say OK!!

Only 16 days till we leave!!

 

[javaonline]

I planned for months for our vacation...had an itenerary for every day. The preparation helped us to be knowledgeable enough to be flexible with what we did...

We rested when we needed rest...we repeated rides as necessary...and adjusted to the kid's preferences. My son liked the "big 3" rides in EPCOT so much we devoted 95% of our time to FW and didnt really even scratch the surface at the world showcase.

I think there is a case to be made for plenty of planning up front...then knowing when to toss the plan, or adjust it when needed...especially with kiddos.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I agree that planning down to the minute produces too much stress. But if you're on the dining plan, you have to have your ADRs made in advance and that dictates which park you go to that day. We especially don't want to miss out on any of our meals since we're paying for the dining plan on our Dec. trip. I planned how many/which days to spend at each park and made the ADRs accordingly.

Once we get to a park, we'll decide what do to first, next, etc. I don't want to plan out down to the minute! We have some idea of what we all want to do and what we plan to skip.

 

[calliemom]

On our last trip I only planned to the point of what order we should go on the rides to omit long waits in line. It worked so well as we did not wait in line at all on our entire stay. We were out of Magic Kingdom before lunch every day and left happy and stress free. I'm doing the same this time around and agree that a little planning goes a long way. Its time consuming but when we are at the parks there is no stress.

 

[TinkandAriel]

yup, flexible. that's the elusive word I was searching for...my poor friend wasn't flexible in her planning at all. I wasn't suggesting that the planning was the problem..I guess it was just "over" planning, if you will.

 

[Aidensmom]

I plan a few things (like which rides to get to first before there are lines), and I may make an ADR here or there, but if I had things planned down to the minute I would not be able to enjoy anything! I think some of the best times we have had is when we have no plans and let DS5 guide us around.

 

[LoriMistress]

Oh man, that's a bit controlling. On our first trip, I did a lot of research and I planned the park by which park we would go to each day and which rides to ride first. That was it. Now we're planning a trip for December 2007 and around that time the parks will be more busy around that time of year so I'll have to have a bit more planning and structure. I'm going to make ADRs for most of the restraunts and use TGM for which rides to go on.

 

[we3disneygo]

we did a little of both and had a great time!! the one thing we did is get out of the park to eat and swim and then go back it made for a nice trip!

 

[boxer]

Don't you 'overplanners' feel like you're still at work when you detail the day on a hour-by-hour basis? I would----and I HATE work.

We're taking a COMPLETE last minute trip tomorrow for 5-days, and I didn't plan ANYTHING out except ADR's.......and even at that, I made 2 ADR's per dinner in case I want to change my mind.

But then again, our usual trips are for 10+ days, so we can be a little 'lazy' and still see everything?

 

[cardaway]

The only panning we do is making ADR's and getting to the parks when they open allowing us to avoid the lines later in the day.

We make ADR's because we don't want limit the time waiting for a table and we really enjoy the breaks that we get when eating at full service places.

We do the ride planning so we can be have our afternoons and evenings free to just wander and hit shows which don't require as long of a wait as rides. It's amazing what you can do in a few short hours if you get to teh park at opening.

We also usally have a seond day and the bigger parks to hit the things we missed on the first day.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I think it takes a few trips of crazy planning to learn how much more fun it is to slow down. I can hardly believe now that I was a total commando my first few trips! Now I am the total opposite!

 

[TheGoofster]

I'm glad you had a great time, but, for every story like your's, there are three or four just the opposite.
"Well, we went to Disney and just did whatever". "Oh, did you see this", "Uhm, no". "Hey did you get to eat at this great restaurant?" "No, we tried, but they were all filled up, so instead we ate a hot dog." "So how many rides did you do?" "Only a couple of the big ones, and a handful of the smaller ones, because the lines were so long." "Gee, that's too bad, we did every ride we wanted to four or five times." "Hey, how many autographs did your kids get?" "Just a couple, we never did know where to find most of the characters". "Wow, that's a shame. My kids filled up their entire books", etc...

Don't knock planning. I agree that you need to be flexible, but I also think that the better prepared you are, the easier it is to be more flexible.
And besides, for most of us on these boards, planning the trip is half of the fun.

 

[Polyfor30th]

I think the most important thing is to be flexible if necessary.

Yep, me too!
DH is a serious commando planner, but we usually use it as a guideline. If something isn't working, we alter the initial decision. I think he does the spreadsheet thing (and even prints color-coded mini sheets for his pocket when we are in the parks ) for the fun of it first, strategy second--(perhaps being a scientist has something to do with it ) I also believe it's his way of building up the excitement. I just have to chuckle when he brings home an "update" to add to the folder of Disney wisdom (otherwise known at the Passporter) to which I respond "did you actually get to eat your lunch or was it all spent rearranging the spreadsheets "

 

[rie'smom]

We plan but not to the minute. There are the least crowded park plans and the park tour plans. Were the parks real crowded? It's very hard sometimes to just wing it when the parks are busy.

 

[WI_DisneyFan]

My dad was the same as your friends. He used to use what I call "The Clark W. Griswold Method of Planning". Everything was planned in 15 minute increments. I blame his advanced degrees in engineering on that. But he always felt that if things weren't planned in that manner, that we'd miss out on a lot of stuff. So from his perspective, I can see how he'd want his kids to experience as much as humanly possible. And quite honestly, if it wasn't for my DW I might attempt to do the same thing. But I told her once that if I ever get too detailed and rushed in my planning, to just tell me "don't be like your father". And that usually helps to snap me out of it.

I think we found a happy medium last year. We had a general idea where we wanted to go every day, but 1/2 way though the trip, even that general plan was out the window due to bad weather. So we would sit in our room at night and decide where we wanted to go the next day. Then we would look at our Passporter book and decide which attractions and shows we really wanted to see/experience at that park. The only times we were controlled by a schedule is when we had ADR's to get to. Otherwise we would look at our watch on occasion, and if there was a parade or show starting soon we'd go to it. But for the most part we just played it by ear. And since we determined going in that we wouldn't be able to do all and see all, we weren't disappointed when we missed a few rides or show. It just gave us reason to go back next year!

 

[Philagoofy]

I love planning trips, the spreadsheet thing sounds like me. But the plans usually go out the window for various reasons. I don't mind though, cause it's part of the fun and anticipation.

But a question, we last went to Disney in 2004. I've never made ADR's and never will because I don't know where we will be & when we'll be hungry. With all the ADR talk, is it now necessary to make ADR's or you have to end up eating hot dogs?

We ate at Alfredo's last time, might have had to wait awhile, but there's things to see while waiting. Is that a thing of the past, is it impossible to eat at a sitdown restuarant without having made ADR's?

We have no plans yet but if we did go it'd be in May or Sept.

 

[accarson]

We plan but because I'm the slowest at WDW about shopping, taking photos or just sitting enjoying the surroundings. The schedules are usually in the backpack until we get back home. Don't even do ressie's now that kids are older only on special occasions like Christmas dinner. You just have to be flexible or you could miss out on some magical moments/memories.