Do you still hit the parks "commando style" ?

[noname70]

Do you still hit the parks "commando style" (no not THAT commando style)?
Before DVC, I would drag my wife thru the parks from dawn to dusk-wall to wall-seeing everything. I kind of enjoyed the sense of accomplishment-not so much the exhaustion. Has this changed for you? Is this change a good thing?

 

[bgraham34]

When my wife and I go on our own, yes we do. So this trip coming in Sept. we will go commando style and we are looking forward to it.

 

[DVC Jen]

no we do not do that - never have.

 

[jdvm]

DVC and annual passes have changed our habits completely. And, at least for our family, the change is for the better. With DVC, we think of the room as a place to stay and enjoy instead of just crash. Some days we don't even go to the parks. My wife an I even get away for a few days and NEVER go to a park.

John

 

[dvcdisney]

We did go non stop all day before we owned DVC.

Now, we are quite leisure in our Disney vacation. And it's a good thing.

 

[wildernessDad]

Nopers, but we are strongly considering a touring plan to show Disney newbies around this coming May.

 

[tfc3rid]

'Commando Style', come on there are kids in the parks!!! None of that now!!

LOL

We never go commando style anymore... In fact, it is a rarity for us to even go to a theme park...

 

[DiznyDi]

Nope, not us either. We still may to dawn to dusk: dawn in the hot tub and a show at dusk. The pace is much more leisurely. There are a few things that we simply must do in each park: Buzz Lightyear at MK, Soarin' at Epcot, Safari Ride at Animal Kingdom and The Lion King at Hollywood Studios. And a few others, too. But no more commando style. And a lot more sitting and watching others go commando style while eating down a dole whip!

 

[lovinthemouse]

We no longer go like that. Since buying DVC we have completely changed our vacation habits as well as parks. We take our time now. We know we will be back very soon.

 

[the who #3]

we still go pretty strong, but since dvc we don't have to be afraid that we will not be able to come back again. we now know that we will and thats a great feeling. especially since my body is older and does not "commando" very easily anymore.

 

[mearshon]

We have always hit Disney commando. We purchased DVC earlier this year and now we are hoping that we can take it a bit more leisurely. Although it might just be in our blood to go commando in Disney. We will find out in November

 

[njmeisje]

We definately don't. DVC has really improved the quality of our vacationing style at WDW. Now that we know (and can afford) a lovely vacation every year, we take the pace of it much slower, and enjoy what we DO do, rather than running to DO everything. We so much enjoy the "break" back at the resort in the middle of the day. We hardly ever stay the whole day in one park anymore. We usually have a morning plan, and an evening plan, and that fabulous hour or two where we lunch at the pool and float around Stormalong Bay.

So much more enjoyale than before DVC.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Generally, our commando days are pretty much over, unless we have guests who have never been to Disney (yes, apparently it does happen). Sometimes, though I don't really like it, you have to take one for the team and "do everything", what we do for family and friends! Thank goodness that's not too often.

 

[DVC-Don]

No commando for years now for us.

 

[RumpleMom]

We used to do the parks commando style. We figured why sleep at Disney when you can sleep at home.

Now we have a short trip planned and will only be doing Aquatica and no Disney.

We have slowed down a lot and it is so enjoyable.

 

[PSC]

We used to do commando style visits to the parks, but are using a more modified commando style now. We generally get to the parks early and try to do a lot, but don't wait in long lines or kill ourselves for fast passes that are too many hours out. We usually go back to our room early afternoon and enjoy the pool and resort. If we have and ADR at a park for dinner, we'll go to dinner and tour that park a bit, but don't stay until closing.

If we treat newbies to a trip to the world with us, we try to slow them down a bit rather than revert back to full commando touring mode.

 

[noname70]

I find myself still touring commando style but I just won't wait in long lines anymore.

 

[BroganMc]

I much prefer improv planning these days. Kind of a "Ferris Bueller Does Disney" style. So far that has meant:

- "Plan a Day Around an ADR" where you pick a place you've never eaten before, get the ressie and throw in activities surrounding the area before or after. I make sure I dress for the occasion and no that doesn't mean high heels and professional make-up. But if I'm going to someplace in AK or AKL, I pull out my animal prints. If I'm doing something at Poly, I go tropical. Grand Floridian or something on Main Street, then I do Victorian. This is especially fun when touring a resort.

- "Resort Hop" where you live like a local and eat, shop and lounge at a resort. Especially fun around the Lagoon or Boardwalk. It can also be fun at SSR and OKW with trips to DTD, the Community Hall (or Spa) and taking the ferry thrown in. (I stay at SSR so for me that is more a resort day anyway.).

- "Early Morning Hookey" where you wake up early and hop the first bus to a park. Ride the favorites or whichever has the shortest wait. Grab a snack for breakfast and see just how many things you can do before the cell phone rings from people missing you back at the room. I had a blast at EPCOT last April. Started out at 7am and went until noon before guilt brought me back to my travelling party.

- "Night Out at the Park" is where you head to a park solely for the special evening events. May be the Halloween, Christmas or Princess parties. Could just be Spectromagic and/or fireworks. Point is you relax all day and save your energy for night time.

When it is just my dad and I travelling I try NOT to plan too much. I know when park hours are and what's open. I plan a few ADRs during the trip. But I do not plan every minute of the day weeks beforehand. We never know how each of us may feel on a given day or what the weather will be like. We also know most everything there is to do so we can just improvise a lot. And if something closes down, we get sick or something throws off our plans, we know there's always another day and another trip. The point of our trips, like Ferris Bueller, is just to stop and smell the roses of life.

Now when we take newbies and part timers (those who go once every few years for a few days only), we tend to do more commando style. There's a great temptation to spend 8-10 park hours when you have 5-10 day passes only. You want to get every dime of worth out of those passes. But with Annual Passes, every day you go is cheaper.

 

[christianweecare]

We have differing touring styles according to the company. If it is our short 4 night trip with the extended family, we go commando. If it is just DH & I we stay longer and tend to go slower.

 

[kimberh]

For us it us to be a 5 or 6 year trip, so we did hit it all, I do mean it all. From opening to closing. One trip we were actually the last family out of Epcot, they had to call the tram back to pick us up. We had strolled out, litterally. Now, we plan our days around our favorites and where we are eating. I have tried to make it more of a experience. We start later, still stay late. I love the evenings. We know when the next trip is going to be, if we miss something, we know we'll catch it next time. When we take the whole family, it is a completely different trip. I tell them to start without us. We do end at the same time. They don't go as often as we do, so they are still trying to get it all in.

I try to do something new on each trip. The last trip was completely different from anything we had ever done. We did two safari's, a tour with a concierge stay. It was so different from any of our previous stays.