Do any of you just wing it?

[TiffanyA]

I never do more than book ADRs and make fastpasses. Even then, I feel like it's too much! My family like to take their time and just do things if we have the mind to. I remember the days of pulling paper fastpasses and yearn for them. But since those days are gone and I have to plan or be relegated to the back of every line, I try to build time in to the plans I make to let us meander - see the Chinese acrobats, listen to an xmas storyteller, have a drink/popcorn/etc.

I do find our days in places like MK and DHS are much more structured because there is less to just "see" while EP and DAK, I actively try to build time in between our FPs and ADR. Those parks also take more time cause things are spaced further apart. MK and HS and more compact and I plan our FPs so that we hit them in logical order.

 

[TiffanyA]

I totally agree; their parks, days, FPs and ADRs are all planned. To me, "winging it" means you do whatever you feel like, at the spur of the moment; no plans at all.

Totally agree with this!!!!

 

[loves to dive]

We usually don't know what park we are going to until we get up in the morning so we rarely even make FPs any more in advance that the night before. We never book ADRs in advance, just day of walking around the parks. On our first two days we get up and go to the bus stop and hop on the first bus to arrive. We do split stays with the first two nights in a moderate then the last part of the trip at an Epcot resort so usually those days are Epcot and HS. We really do wing it.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Growing up we never had a plan - we used to just decide our park each morning while we ate breakfast. Then my mom would stop at guest services at our resort to book an ADR for that day. EVEN CRT. Those were the days!

We do (reluctantly) book just a few key ADRs now and our FPs simply because I know if we want certain experiences we should. It still makes my skin crawl to need to have a plan so far ahead of time without a weather forecast or any clue what mood we are in! I guess that is why we have started to love Disneyland so much!

 

[Nancyg56]

and by that I mean, I know which parks and which days, and I have my FP+ and my ADRs already booked, but aside from that, how many of you just go with the flow from that point on? We are leaving on June 3rd - it's me, DH and DSs (16 and 14). DH has never been and DSs were too little to remember most of it, so it will be like a first time for all. I want to make sure everyone has a good time, but I don't want to run everyone ragged either! Can you have a relaxed time without a "plan"?

This is planning and is how we roll. We do research ahead of time so that when we arrive we have a basic idea of where in each park we should start. If there are shows we want to see, I make sure I have the times so that we can meander in that general direction.

I think that knowing the parks and the shows in each parks comes from research unless you are a frequent visitor, and while we do not have detailed plan in place, we have been often enough to have our routine be our guide.

Personally, I think that if you do not research or have a general plan in place, but enter blindly you will run the risk of running the family ragged. Planning does not need to be a structured spreadsheet that breaks down every day to the minute. For us, planning involves a little time researching which park to choose each day, where we want to eat after we choose our park, and if we want to plan the meal around fireworks, parades, or shows. We find out what has changes since our last trip: are there any new attractions or shows, what has closed for refurbishment, and are there are any events we need to consider? Book our FP when it's time. After that? We are good. If we did not have that basic information we would end up exhausted and frustrated.

I do not think everyone needs ADR's and I do nto think everyone needs to plan park days, or even FP. I do think that most of the folks who do not already are comfortable with each park and have realistic expectations of what they will or can accomplish and how they will do that.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Blasphemy!

Planning is part of the fun.

 

[Kriii]

I just make FPs and meal reservations. I know which rides generally have the longest lines so am pretty good about navigating around them once we get to the parks. I can't imagine having a list of rides to follow. That seems too much like work.

 

[SaintsManiac]

You can pry my spreadsheet out of my cold, dead hands LOL

 

[Shanti]

When I took my son in January 2009 I mostly winged it. Crowds were very low, and he was too little for the thrill rides, so we did just fine. Had some ADR's, but never used or needed FP at all. I don't think WDW will ever have crowds that low again, however.

In 2017 I don't recommend winging it at WDW unless you don't mind standing in long lines (& by winging it, I mean choosing your park the day of, showing up whenever you feel like it, not making FP+ in advance or making ADR's.) We would miss so many opportunities by touring WDW that way, I have no interest. Maybe if you have a long stay, or if you're a local who can drop in anytime, it's no problem, but we rarely have the opportunity to take long trips and we live several states away.

I always build down time into our plans. It's one of the things those pre-planned ADR's and reservations at nice resorts are so useful for. Planning doesn't have to equal nonstop commando park touring.

 

[PlainJane]

I remember when we would decide the day of what park we were going to.....

I'm not sure what we'll do for our next trip. I don't really want things down to the minute. We're not planning on ADRs, just CS and meals in the room, so that leaves some flexibility in the day. I'll probably decide which ride to start at and then try to ride popular attractions as we come to them and then working through the rides that have short to no waits and shows in the afternoon. I might just decide to do everything we'd want to do while we're in the land, besides shows, even though it's not the most efficient plan. It's probably still what would annoy my husband the least.

 

[artinlife]

and by that I mean, I know which parks and which days, and I have my FP+ and my ADRs already booked, but aside from that, how many of you just go with the flow from that point on? We are leaving on June 3rd - it's me, DH and DSs (16 and 14). DH has never been and DSs were too little to remember most of it, so it will be like a first time for all. I want to make sure everyone has a good time, but I don't want to run everyone ragged either! Can you have a relaxed time without a "plan"?

We were there May 6 to May 13 and one thing I realized is that you pretty much can't do DW without a smartphone. We missed rides we wanted to do as I made no fast passes beforehand and we didn't get into the parks early enough to just wing it. Lesson learned. That said, I had the My Disney Experience app on my iPhone and it really helped with our dinner reservations. I had made them back in January but we switched one the day before (California Grill to Flying Fish) and there was no problem. We did that a couple times and it was great. We are going to The Yacht Club next year (mostly for the pool) and I will make my FP +s way ahead of time, though I really hate to plan that far ahead of time. Oh well... live and learn.

 

[ArwenMarie]

This is an excellent point. Everyone has their comfort and not everyone can handle just winging it.. but you don't know that until you try it.

Yeah we've tried winging it. It didn't go well lol! We learned that there is definitely a more minimum level of rides we all need to feel like we had a "good" day and planning helps us get to that

 

[ArwenMarie]

After thinking about it some, I can understand why a lot of you 'do' plan and research things out in advance.
We have been going to Disney since MK opened, so we have sort of 'grown' with Disney, so each new trip just basically needed a slight refresher course as each new park was added and we were fine.

As newbies and even not so newbies, it could be very overwhelming with 4 parks and all the things that have been added/changed in the last 10 years especially. Winging it would be very hard indeed in that respect.

But, for us, we can't vacation that way, but then we don't have to as we know the parks mostly inside out by now. We're not happy about most of the changes of the last 10 years, but we accept, and move on.

This is very true. The more often you go, the less you feel a need to get a certain amount done. And four parks is a lot to see on a once-in-a-lifetime trip or if you won't be back for a while

 

[carcam51]

I wouldn't say I'm a super planner, but rather a super researcher if there's a difference?!

I keep informed about what park is recommended on a particular day by looking at the crowd calendars and then choose the park for that day and make our ADR's and FP's based on that. However, once in the park we'll just go to whichever ride we fancy as long as the wait time isn't excessive (30-min standby is our limit). Although, because of prior research and experience we do have a 'strategy' in mind to make the best use of our time throughout the day and which attractions are best to target at what time.

Also, if we decide to change parks on any particular day, I'll look at moving around our ADR/FP's that day using the MDE app so we're able to remain flexible and not stick to a rigid plan too much.

THIS is what I'm talking about!!! I've been the excessive planner-right down to carrying around the daily, laminated note card telling me which ride to ride at what time; which way to walk to avoid crowds in each park; when and where to eat, etc. Grant it, we accomplished a lot during that trip. I love researching and keeping up to date on all that's going on, I just don't want to cause myself stress by planning every little step this time! My kids are older and I know they will want some time to tour on their own too. I think we have a good foundation. We know which parks and will plan to come back mid-day to relax and swim and then hit another park in the evening. I'm really looking forward to trying this trip by just taking it easy and seeing what we want. I know we will have a great time. Thanks again for all of the great feedback!!!

 

[Delirium]

Last October, my 10 year old's unscheduled bathroom break at 4:17 in the afternoon on our third day absolutely destroyed our schedule for the remaining nine days of our trip.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

We roughly plan what park we will be at, ADR's (some days we make none) and now FP's. We have been known to wake up and change parks that day. Once we had a CRT breakfast reservation but knew we didn't feel like spending the day at MK as planned. We went to the reservation but then left and went straight to EPCOT. We usually make a mental list of things we want to achieve that day at the park (rides, characters, shows) but unless it's our last day in that park, we don't worry if we don't get to it all.

 

[Jaybrad]

We have "winged it" on 40 trips since 1973 from Texas. Had stays from 5 days up to two weeks. Never had a bad trip. We have always treated our travels as a vacation. Not a trip to be tied to a specific schedule.

 

[Klayfish]

As I mentioned in another post, my 30 day window to make FP+ opens tomorrow. We're lucky in that our trip is over 2 weeks long. This past Saturday, DW and I went to Dunkin' Donuts and got a cup of coffee. In less than the time it took to drink it (about 45 minutes), we had all 2+ weeks mapped out. We took a piece of 8x11 paper, wrote down "Mon, Tue, Wed, etc..." and picked the parks we wanted to go to. Only reason we did that was so that we can start picking FP+. No logic behind what we picked, just making sure we rotated parks. That's the full extent of the planning we do. Even more than 1/2 of those plans are likely to change while we're there.

DW said to me while we're planning "I don't want to have a schedule beyond what our FP+ are. I want to be able to walk around and do what we want. If we see a street performance that we want to watch, I want to be able to stop. If we pass a ride with a short line, I want to be able to stop on a whim." There's a reason I married her...

 

[Delirium]

There are different degrees of 'winging it'. For example, assume that you have ADRs and FPs in the late afternoon and evening. 'Winging it' could entail hopping on the first bus that comes to the park. There's nothing wrong with enjoying an unscripted morning.

However, if 'winging it' means riding that bus for 20 minutes and getting to the destination park and still not having a clue at all of what you're going to do, then you've crossed an imaginary line where you're paying Disney a lot of money to stand around just inside the park entrance deciding what to do. Complicate it by crisscrossing the park 3-4 times jumping from one random attraction to another and you've now wasted a lot of time, which is in this case, also a lot of money.

Given the same scenario about catching the first bus, but coming up with a common sense game-plan while on the bus of what you're going to do, then it can be an exciting and adventurous morning.

 

[BigredNole]

Disney has eliminated the "winging it" philosophy.