Disney Planning...do you do it...and stick to it?

[lorapinky]

Hi everyone,

I have never done a disney plan before and am wondering if it is worth doing?

I notice that some of you plan what you are going to do in advance i.e. Day 1 - Mk, day 2 - MGM etc Some I have seen have been really detailed.

I thought about doing one myself but I an unsure if it is worth it, as we tend to wake up and do whatever takes our fancy.

So my questions are:

1) Do you do them? If so do you stick to them?
2) What are the benefits / disadvantages of doing them

please do offer any other advice that you think maybe useful to be and other Disers.

Thank you

 

[natalielongstaff]

im a planning addict im afraid i plan what parks on what days and where we will eat
i also do a loose touring plan of the parks ... so we get to ride as much as possible

i buy a notebook as soon as the holiday is planned and just fill it up as i go along.

im not too rigid with the plan its impossible with two kids but generally the planning works for us

 

[juttawdw]

I only plan the sitdown meals and for the rest we see what we will do.

 

[wideeyes]

I am doing a touring plan for our trip in October, especially at MK as my DD likes to go on slow loading queue builders

 

[Jets fan]

We only plan sit down dinners so that we do not have to worry about making reservations on the day. I like leaving the parks until we are there so that we can just do what we fancy that day.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

I always do a very simple spreadsheet and tend to make a park/activity choice and a restaurant choice for each day - that is about it.

It is good to have a high level plan - so that you get done everything that you feel you must get done, but we also need "relaxing days" (where you don;t do much) and to be flexible too (so if you wake up and feel like you want to do something else, you can swap things around in your schedule).

Some things require reservations - so some restaurants or activities. We don't tend to do much of this (maybe a meal booked at Shulas, but the rest we will probably do on a "walk in" basis). Might look at doing the EPCOT Segway tour this year - tried some Segways out in Mexico last year and could quite fancy that.

Some people do details plans, some do rough plans (like me), others don't plan at all. Different things suit different people

Boo

 

[Giddy Kipper]

If you are going at quieter times of the year there`s perhaps no need to plan for which parks which days...but if you are going at peak times and really want to go on the headliner rides its perhaps wise to plan and find out which days are going to be busy for which parks...needless to say We are planning for our July trip

 

[Camac]

We went for three weeks over the Christmas 06/New Year period and I did draw up a plan indicating the best parks for each day, allowing for EMH etc, times of fireworks, parades etc which then allowed us to choose the least crowded park for a particular day. This worked well for us and allowed for flexibility. It is very difficult to guage just how tired everyone will be on a given day and to be flexible is very important in the overall enjoyment of your holiday.

Even after three weeks we came back saying that we had not done this or that even though it had been planned and everyone agreed we should do it but there where some days and nights when we were just too tired to go out!

Remember it is a holiday and you can always do those things you missed the next time 'cos you will go back!

 

[Danauk]

To me it depends on when you go. When we went for the last 2 weeks of August we had a plan of what parks to do on what days etc. However we changed the plans as we went along, but our changes were made based on knowledge we had learned before the trip and the fact that it was no where near as busy as what we thought it would be.

Our Christmas/New Year trip was a whole different game as we knew it would be super busy. We planned out 2 weeks very carefully and stuck to our plan. In doing that we had an amazing trip, didn't wait in line for anything and did all that we planed to do.

For future trips I would make a plan, but at the same time do a lot of research in the knowledge that if we wanted to change the plans for what ever reason we would be able to do this knowing we are making the best decisions.

 

[jen_uk]

Every time we go I make a detailed paln and then never stick to it! We usually follow it for about 3 days and then just do what we fancy.

 

[2Pirates_1Princess]

I think if you are interested in TS dinning it is worth it. If you plan to just eat CS and go by the seat of your pants it might be a waste of money. If you do the DDP make reservations at TS places you are interested in eatting at. You can always cancel them or change them later.

 

[Haworthfamily]

We always have a plan - done my me lol.
I work out which parks we are visitng on which days according to my 'Brits Guide' are quieter.
On some days I have water park/lazy day and then back to main park in the evening for fireworks/parade with an ADR made.

We try and stick to it, I also take my 'Brits Guide' to refer to in case we change our minds.

Last year me and DH caught tonsilitus that came on during inbound flight! DD had it before we went, but my parents managed to keep to our plan.

I love planning, even if we don't stick to it.
Sarah

 

[natalielongstaff]

We try and stick to it, I also take my 'Brits Guide' to refer to in case we change our minds.

i do that too

 

[Madjock]

Yes I always make a plan. I find it just helps with my lot to have a plan otherwise I know we would get up and spend so much time dithering over where to go and what to do that half the day would be gone, besides I'm the one that always ends up making all the decisions anyway! but our plan isn't cast in stone and at some point we always go 'off plan' even with meals we have booked.

And half the fun of a WDW holiday is the planning

 

[jockey]

I love planning, helps me get excited about the trip. I plan what parks we will visit on what days and usually book all our TS meals 180 days out. We usually just decide what rides to do on the day. We roughly stick to the plan.

 

[lorapinky]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for your responses!

I think I will do a rough plan as there are some meal reservations we need to book etc.

Also its sounds fun! It doesn't matter if we don't stick to it.

Thanks again

 

[jns]

Plan a few dinners ,but that is about it
like yourself , get up in the morning and see where the day takes us

sometime we just head where ever the first bus goes too

 

[fizz13]

I think if i didn't have a schedule mapped out i would have a panic attack sometimes I have to know which park on which day, have all my meals booked, and even use touring plans around the park. having said that, i subscribe to Tour Guide Mike, so he pretty much does it for me if I am just at WDW, now when I incorporate Universal/ Seaworld into it, well it is hours of fun for me ( I tell you I need more of a life!)

Hi, my name is Claire, and I am a control freak!!!!

 

[Lizzybear]

Well this upcoming trip is my first one involving ADRs and the dining plan so i'm going to have to be more organised this time! Also i've always travelled with family before so I didn't have as a big a hand in planning.
In 2002 my mum did a plan for where we were going each day and we always got to the parks early so this meant we did practically everything we wanted to. We also had a couple of character meals but they were booked with the TA not Disney.
In 2005 it was more of a last minute trip (the money came from an inheritance) and we just decided the night before what we wanted to do the next day. I know some may balk at this idea but combined with early entry it worked well for us and, again, we did practically everything we wanted to. I just wish we could have booked a few ADRs (only TS we ate at was Sci-fi which I didn't really enjoy) but we didn't go hungry, just ate more offsite!
This time I already have my itinerary done in Excel with ADRs planned (ready to book 17th March!) I probably won't bother with a plan for each park though, I figure since we're onsite we can come and go as we please more easily than in previous trips where we stayed offsite.

 

[carolfoy]

I do plan a few days around ADR's, if I've a ressie in Le Cellier I will make that a whole Epcot day -park hopping takes so much time and is unnecessary a lot of the time, but I will be as flexible as I can be