Do you plan your days at the park or do you just do things on a whim?

[PrincessKell]

I Know long title. haha

But as I sit here with my lists upon lists and planning each day. I think should I just plan the Major things we want to do and see and then do what ever comes to mind around them, OR do we plan each day totally.

What do you do?

 

[JollyHoliday23]

My mom and I have always planned to go with the flow. We do the obvious things...like getting to the gates early, doing popular/long wait rides first, but basically just decide as we go what we want to do. The plans change as opportunities arise and we have fun.

I am thankful that the two of us have enjoyed that luxury. I'm sure I will miss it when I am taking my own kids and probably need a little more planning.

I think Fastpass definitely helps too. I remember my first trip when I was five and we waited 2 and 1/2 hours for Star Tours. In most recent years we have a rule. If the posted wait is more than 45 minutes...we come back later, or remember to do it early the next day.

It all depends on your situation.

No matter what it's all about FUN! You can't plan everything but you can plan to have fun

 

[deletedpenguin]

Personally, I'm on vacation, so I don't plan much. We're usually in a small group, so the only planning that's done is "what's next"?

 

[PrincessKell]

We have a five year old daughter with high functioning autisim, so some planning is a must for her. But otherwise we could be able to do most things flexable around our "mini plans" We also have some planned character breakfast, lunch and dinners in our four day trip.

 

[JollyHoliday23]

That sounds like a lot of fun. Have a wonderful trip

 

[Sienna]

For the most part, we do things on a whim, but only after coming up with a general plan. How's that for an answer?

We took our 5-year-old daughter to DL last fall. My husband and I hadn't been there in quite some time, as adults but before we had kids. Bringing a child to DL added a new dimension for us, so I did a lot of research before we went. The Fastpass system was new for us, so I got up to speed on that. Parades and shows were only on certain days or times, so I wanted to be informed about those things. Which rides had height restrictions, etc.

When we went to the parks, we had a few attractions we knew we wanted to hit that day, but we didn't have a route in mind. We grabbed Fastpasses early in the day to minimize wait times later in the day. If a parade or show was scheduled on a particular day, then we planned that a little bit. Let's do dinner now so we can see the parade later, that sort of thing. But we *never* came up with an itemized itinerary for each day. "We'll do this ride, then that ride, then grab a snack, then shop in this store on the way to that attraction..."

 

[DisneyPhreak]

You know we've tried going by "The Plan" but when we got goin "The Plan" ran away and took a one way flight to a town called Heck. So I guess our plan went to heck.

In spite of the best of intentions, plans never work for us so we go by recommended guidelines and see how it goes. Its more like we lean towards the whim thing.

 

[mommaU4]

We definitely do things more on a whim. Even with four kids, it works out fine. Or maybe because we have four kids it works out fine, I'm not sure.

I think it depends on your situation though. We have APs and are able to go back to do the things we didn't do the last time. If I was going for a once a year trip, then I'd put more effort and planning into it since it would be awhile since I could go back.

 

[PrincessKell]

Yeah I am thinking that if we pick the things that we "must" do then we will be able to plan those things in the three days we are at DL, and then go on a whim. We plan for one day at DCA.

 

[DangerMouse]

I wish I could just do things on a whim at DLR, but I'm completey OC about a schedule. I do my own "DangerMouse-max" plans and have just about every minute planned out.

For this upcoming trip I am attempting to just plan the mornings and leave the afternoons more open for free-whimsical fun. But when my family turns to me to ask "what's next" and I say, "I don't know, what do YOU want to do?" they'll look like this

 

[tracer]

We are half and half. Half is planned out on ridemax and the other half is go with the flow and do whatever. We have certain things we always want to hit, food places, rides, shows...so as long as we get in the things we want the rest is a whim.

 

[PrincessKell]

Call me silly but what is 'ridemax'?

 

[jakoky]

HI there, before we leave i am a huge planner...but i plan which days in the park, which day is early entry, which day to see fireworks(all 3 of our disney trips have been 9/10 nights)...we show up early to the parks and know which park we are starting in and we know which rides we want to do, but we go with the flow...My dad was a planner on our trips and every second was planned out and i really didnt like that much growing up soi dont think i could have every minute planned, i like that we can kinda do what we want...we move fast though, gotta get to as much as we can...If we had every moment planned, we wouldnt have been "dreamed"...We had planned to go into DL one of the days we were there in september, but we got there 35 minutes before opening, and the DL line was all the way to CA ..(this was a weekday morning) so we decided to head into CA and were dreamed with fastpasses within an hour ...Have fun on your trip with whatever you decide...I wish i was going back soon
sharon
me, dh, dd-16-, ds- 14-, dd-12-
WDW-Dec 04-first disney experience for my DH, DD, DS, DD and first time at WDW for us all- 9 nights at Pop Century
DL-MAY 06-first time at DL for DH and kids , and my 9th(but the first 8 were all by the time i was about 13) so it was all new to me- 10 nights at Candy Cane Inn
DL-SEPT 07-another amazing DL trip and we got "dreamed"-fastpasses for the day- 10 nights at the HoJo

I WANT TO GO BACK, I WANT TO GO BACK, I WANT TO GO BACK

 

[tracer]

Call me silly but what is 'ridemax'?

ridemax is a program you can purchase for a one time deal or a yearly subscription. It would be best to check out their website to get all the info you need. Basically you tell the program what day you are going, the time you want to enter the park and leave, as well as lunch or break times. Then you tell it what rides you want to ride during that day. It will then calculate it out and tell you what order you should ride the rides, the times you need to get in line for them, how long the ride lasts and how long it will take you to walk to the next ride. People have done research and know when to avoid certain rides and when to get on them. I had two kids under 4 in March and I will tell you, we never waited in line longer than 15 minutes. We saw sooo many people waiting in hour long lines and we just chuckled. Kids don't do well in long lines, heck neither do adults!! Anyhow, that is just a basic idea of what it is but I will tell you the money that you spend on your vacation, the little extra fee of ridemax is sooooo worth it!! HTH

 

[tinkermell]

I wish I could just do things on a whim at DLR, but I'm completey OC about a schedule. I do my own "DangerMouse-max" plans and have just about every minute planned out.

For this upcoming trip I am attempting to just plan the mornings and leave the afternoons more open for free-whimsical fun. But when my family turns to me to ask "what's next" and I say, "I don't know, what do YOU want to do?" they'll look like this

This would be me!!


Wanted to add that I love Ridemax! Very easy to do, and it works!! Went to DL about 3 years ago on Dec 27th, for just one day. There were eight of us in my family, and I was in commando mode with my Ridemax itinerary in hand. My DH said "there is no way this is going to work today," since it was sooooooooo crowded. Well we got in 18 rides, plus watched Fantasmic and the fireworks. I think our longest wait was for 20 minutes. No kidding!
Even though I have saved all of my Ridemax info, and I know alot of stratagies by heart, I still think it's fun to sign up everytime we go. And DH wants to know if I will have it in my hand! He is a firm believer now.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We kind of plan. I mean we know that we want to hit FL first, then grab fastpasses ect... But after that we kind of go with what we feel like doing. Sometimes that will be Pirates twice in a row.

I don't think we could stick to a full out plan where every minute is already planned out. Part of the fun for us is deciding what we want to do next. But I think it's a VERY good idea to plan the first part of the day, to miss long lines.

 

[CoolPool]

Whimmer here.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I am half and half. I have all my days planed with one or more big things.
1 meal each day. welcome tour,holiday tour, I have planed when we are going to fantasmic. I have planed when we are going to see the holdiay parade (only couse special seats with tour) I have birthday thing planed at plaza inn.
I am going to use fast passes.
I have brakes planed in to the trip and a full day brake in the middle
But as for rides we usely say ok what part do we want to do now. the day before and mark on the map what rides we want to make sure we do.

 

[ballarinamom]

I think more important than a plan, you need to have a handle on the layout of the park. For example, know the pastpass rides, the slow load rides, the whereabouts of each ride and place to eat. Know where you want to go right at rope drop. We get the closest pastpass to our chosen ride by sending one person to get the fastpasses while the rest of us get to the ride. Usually, Peterpan, Dumbo, Nemo. The fastpass collector will join us. After that, we will generally plan one ride ahead of time. If we are in line for Peter Pan, do we go straight to Dumbo but if the line is crazy, then Storybook Boats. We never ask after we get off a ride where to go next. For one reason it can take a while. But more important, I hate people who just stand around looking lost and confused! And if we are hungry, we know what options we have in that area, get a fastpass for something nearby and get in a food line or make our ressie time. Have a tremendous trip

 

[bumbershoot]

I wish I could just do things on a whim at DLR, but I'm completey OC about a schedule. I do my own "DangerMouse-max" plans and have just about every minute planned out.

For this upcoming trip I am attempting to just plan the mornings and leave the afternoons more open for free-whimsical fun. But when my family turns to me to ask "what's next" and I say, "I don't know, what do YOU want to do?" they'll look like this

ha ha. Sounds familiar.

DH is getting a clue, but basically he, and my brother and sister in law, think that we just go on whims, when actually I have quite a bit of planning behind our days.

I think it's a good idea to know what's going on, so that you can "safely" go on a whim and not mess things up completely in terms of line "management".