Do you plan for other trips like you plan for Disney?

[BriannaRuth]

Last night, when I brought our tentative vacation schedule for August down to dinner to discuss our itinerary with my family, they all somewhat enjoyed making fun of how much I plan for these DL trips. (I'm an ex-travel agent.) It occurred to me that I do plan for DL much more than I plan for our other vacations. My RideMax plans seem to especially amuse them. But I really do feel it's helpful at DL to have a plan (which we may or may not stick to).

We switch Disney out with some other kind of vacation every other year. Last summer we did Scotland and Ireland and while I did make a daily itinerary, I didn't really include times ("be in line at 7:30 AM") like I do for Disney, with the exception of if we had a reservation somewhere or when we needed to leave for the airport.

I do more detailed itineraries for other trips now that I've become such a DL planner, but still not as much. How about you?

 

[DahliaRW]

My dh is a go, go, go type of guy when it comes to vacation. He doesn't plan exact times for when we visit places when we have big trips, but he has a plan, with usually too much to fit into one day and it's stressful and I hate it. He was better on our last trip because we forced him to be.

For DL, he is the planner. I don't think he has times for rides, but he has an order. I'm more of a go with the flow person. A rough plan of when to go grab major FP and such, but I'm fine just doing whatever works.

 

[pinkprincess30]

Same here! But timing can be the difference between an AWESOME trip to DLR and an "ok" trip. I am not a "go, go, go!" vacationer type. I honestly would prefer laying on a tropical beach over island tours, countless activities and parties...I'm definitely more of a "we'll see when we get there" type.

But not at DISNEY!!!

 

[22Tink]

Nope! My beach vacations are always all inclusive and we don't book excursions or anything till we get there. Once we book our resort and flights we really don't do much else to plan. That said, I really don't plan much for DL either, aside from hotel, flights and maybe a meal or two. It's just so easy to go there. WDW is a totally different ball game though!! I plan meticulously for months on end when we go there!!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I plan like crazy for other trips too. Made a whole binder for my honeymoon even My thought I can rest and sleep at home for free on vaction I want to do things I cannot do at home and I want to make sure I am getting the best deal. So that requires lots of planning and research.

 

[GatorChris]

Nope! My beach vacations are always all inclusive and we don't book excursions or anything till we get there. Once we book our resort and flights we really don't do much else to plan. That said, I really don't plan much for DL either, aside from hotel, flights and maybe a meal or two. It's just so easy to go there. WDW is a totally different ball game though!! I plan meticulously for months on end when we go there!!

This is me. Most trips are pretty laid back. DL, I'll plan some places to eat, and we all know what we're going to hit first on our first day. But it's at WDW where I'm the super planner. I've not been back there since FP+ started. But even before then, I'd have a reservation for a sit-down everyday, then I'd know exactly where we'd eat a counter service and plan the rides accordingly. There's a part of me that missed that - in fact, once I book the hotel and tickets, I find myself fidgeting, wondering what else I can do. And I can't do squat until 60 days out. But there's a part of me that's happy I don't have to plan so far out. Especially for ride...that to me is sooo dumb.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Yes, every trip I go on, I plan just like I do for Disney. My most recent non Disney trip was to Jersey in the British Channel Islands. I did all the same type of research, travel and transport, hotel, shopping, restaurants, things to do, places to visit. I had each day planned out, same as I do for Disney.

 

[HydroGuy]

Depends on the trip. Went to NYC in April for our anniversary and it was about the same as a Disney trip for planning. Going to Europe next month and am planning way more for that than for Disney.

Our Disney trips are not planned that precisely. DLR is of course less planning than WDW. For DLR we have dining reservations (usually one per day, sometimes two) and the days I plan for us to see certain major shows. Usually I have in mind which park we will start at each day. And then I have all the other things I want to do (rides, other experiences) which are not set on a schedule just that I want to do them sometime that week. Usually we make 80-90% of those but always seem to miss out on something!

 

[ClaraOswald]

I plan the same for all types of trips, basically. I never do a minute by minute or hour by hour itinerary or anything though. I just like to have an idea of what we'll do each day of vacation. We don't always stick to it though. It's more like a rough guide. The extent of an "interary" would look like this for us....

Wednesday - Travel day.
Thursday - Disneyland/DCA
Friday - Disneyland/DCA
Saturday - Break day - beach.
etc. etc.

And for a non-Disney trip (using the Black Hills as an example)....

Wednesday - Travel day. Badlands.
Thursday - Mt. Rushmore. Crazy Horse
Friday - Reptile Gardens. Cave tour.
etc. etc.

So yes, same types of planning for each trip.

 

[AquaDame]

Not as much, no. We have a general idea of what we want to do in a given place but don't do nearly the planning we do for Disney. I'll check the hours something is open, the price, and how long it'll take to get there but thats about it. FWIW, at DLR we basically do the same thing. I may reserve a meal, but all the other hours are whatever we feel like doing at the time.

 

[Lucky'sMom]

I plan for every trip pretty much as detailed as my Disney trips. Planning is truly half the fun for me.

 

[amyg1975]

I obsessively read the boards (more than other travel resources for other vacations), and I book reservations for meals, but that is it. I never plan our days out, we just go with the flow!

 

[cleophus12]

Yes, I'm a planner and frankly, I think the planning is half the fun of any vacation. If it's a cruise I research every port. For our recent trip to Aulani, I read three guide books on Oahu. For WDW I still read these boards and make my plans for every trip even though I've been so many times I don't even count anymore. And for DCA I felt like a complete newbie planning for that trip. I think the planning pays off in the amount of time saved and the lack of unpleasant surprises.

 

[Congo Queen]

Yaz, Congo Q is a planner, though the level of detail does vary with the destination and how many times we have been in the past. Like Hydroguy, when we went to Europe I was in intense planning mode. For ex, I wanted to take the bus sometimes in London (can be more efficient than the Tube at certain times), and so in addition to pouring over route maps, I found that someone had put online videos of commonly taken bus rides in the city. It was great to watch those to see what the streets would look like as we passed and at the bus stops where we wanted to get off. On the other hand, we are going to Kauai this summer and have been about 5 times before. I know the things we will want to do (i.e., snorkel at certain spots, get a shave ice, hike in Waimea Canyon) and so once we are there we can figure out the days we want to do them.

At Dland, I plan certain moments of the day and swing in between those. The planned moments are which park to start in per day (EMH), where to have lunch, and getting a FP for our post lunch wet ride (Splash or GRR depending on which park we are in.) Then we go back to the hotel for break. After that I will plan either a dinner or an evening show per night. All the rest happens more organically.

 

[Indiana Scott]

I don't plan for Disney at all, that would take away the relaxed touring of the park and kill the fun having to stick to some kind of schedule.

 

[PoohsFan1]

I plan the same for all types of trips, basically. I never do a minute by minute or hour by hour itinerary or anything though. I just like to have an idea of what we'll do each day of vacation. We don't always stick to it though. It's more like a rough guide. The extent of an "interary" would look like this for us....

Wednesday - Travel day.
Thursday - Disneyland/DCA
Friday - Disneyland/DCA
Saturday - Break day - beach.
etc. etc.

And for a non-Disney trip (using the Black Hills as an example)....

Wednesday - Travel day. Badlands.
Thursday - Mt. Rushmore. Crazy Horse
Friday - Reptile Gardens. Cave tour.
etc. etc.

So yes, same types of planning for each trip.

This is pretty much how I do it for our Disney and non Disney trips. I never used to plan out our non Disney trips but ever since we have been going to Disney, I have had the same mind set for any type of vacation we take. Last June we went to Williamsburg VA and I had the same sort of itinerary as I do when we go to WDW, but that is because Williamsburg VA has a ton of things to see and do that we didn't want to miss any of it (if we could help it), plus we were taking first timers there (we have been there many times before) and I wanted to make sure they saw all the important stuff too.

 

[kathy884]

Absolutely. // The one thing I do for Disney that I don't do for others though is put together a touring plan. I subscribe to touringplans.com and for Disney do a ride schedule of attractions we want to hit.

 

[peachiepie]

I do plan, but maybe not as much as I plan for Disney. We are off to Sweden in July and I've looked up things to do whilst we are there and sorted out travel tickets ect. But we are off to DL in Sept and I've made plans for where to eat, what to do, considered timings and everything else. My non-Disney holidays are in no way disorganised, as that would stress me out, but they are not as planned as Disney ones.

 

[Tikkat]

I'm the complete opposite depending on a Disney vs any other type of holiday.

A Disney holiday I research and plan from day one that I decide to go which being from Australia requires planning and saving so that is months away. This year it will be 10 months between deciding and actually going. Almost everyday I put to reading the dis and other sites and think what I want to do.

I don't think I've ever had another holiday that's been longer than a month in between the deciding and going. I'm more of a decide and pack and be there in 24hrs kinda girl.

I really like both ways of travel but I can't think of a destination that I would plan like crazy like I do Disney.

 

[Frozen2014]

I never planned before our WDW trip in October 2014 (not that we travel much). With that, I did full research of rides for our kids (different ages, and personalities) and came up with a whole touring plan. But we booked 9 months out and I loved every minute of planning (love that they have message boards to discuss). Our last big trip was a cruise and we booked 16 months out. So yes, I did tons of planning as it was a long wait (this was a ship where you pre-booked your meals if on that kind of dining and shows). Now we're looking at DL for next summer (so about 15 months out from when I started planning) and I'm back on these boards. I love the planning as it helps with the excitement.
Having said that, DH and i are doing a mini trip to NY end of the month and aside from booking a show, I've barely done any research.