does anyone do the parks without a schedule

[Piglet4Ever]

The only plans DH and I make are what park we are going to what day. We do CS meals at the parks so we don't make ADR's and we always have a great time.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Get yourself a copy of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2009.

It'll have everything you need to know.

 

[KigerKat]

We basically plan out our days, but not to the last detail. There really is no way to predict the crowds or the weather, and we never really know exactly what time we want to get to the parks in the morning. (It's only DH and I, so we usually like to sleep in a bit.)

But, I do like to make my ADRs as early as possible and we plan our park days around where we are going to eat. We'll plan our ADRs around parades and shows that we want to see and sometimes EMHs factor in as well. But as for using something like Ridemax to layout every single ride in a given day is a bit much for us. There are just too many factors that can change those plans at the last minute and I might feel disappointed because my meticulous plans had fallen apart.

 

[eliza61]

We are also "non-planners". The only plan I'm doing this year is to know when fantasmic is showing. Last time I was there (May 08) it was showing almost every day.

Anyway, for my family of 4, every time we did a plan we spent more time trying to adhere to the plan than actually enjoying ourselves.

We generally don't rate our vacations based on the number of rides we do so it takes the pressure off of us to "do every thing" as people here say.

I use to make adr's but we never seem to keep them so now I make 1 or 2 and call it a day. We always have a car so it's a little easier for my family because we can just toss the kids in the car and get a great meal offsite.

Any way,
don't stress to much if you have studied TGM or planned to the nth degree. Its very possible to have a great vacation on the fly.

 

[pjhootch]

We plan which parks we want to go to, make sure we know the park hours, and if we're staying on property we keep an eye on the EMH. If you're going at a really busy time of year it is very helpful to use one of the crowd calculators to figure out which parks to avoid when. We've been doing it that way from the beginning. We never make dinner reservations because it is just too stressful trying to time everything.

We are also in the minority (here ) because we don't worry if we miss something. I'd rather wander around and explore and it keeps the whole family relaxed if we just go with the flow.

We usually wind up having to go at a busy time of year, and believe it or not, this strategy has worked even at Christmas time. Here are some important tips from a non-planner.

1. Use a crowd calculator to avoid the busiest parks, and if you must do Magic Kingdom (we always must) try to find the least busy day.

2. Don't sleep in! Rise early, and then quit early if people get exhausted.

3. If hopper tickets are in your budget, use them. We can't always afford it, but they come in handy sometimes. If you have little kids hopping is not always worth it because they just get too zonked.

4. Figure out the fastpass system and use them.

5. Don't worry about missing something. If the trip is enjoyable, you'll be back.

 

[brandylouwho]

I'm a former planner who is slowly becoming less of a planner. I am often on the boards gathering info, but I don't think we'll ever follow a specific touring plan or approach the parks commando style again. But we do usually start with some sort of general idea.

For example, this year we are going with friends who only have 4 days left on their non-hopper tickets. So, we picked one day for each park and made a few ADRs accordingly. The other days (their off park days) we will wing it. We'll probably lounge around with them, but since we have APs we may drop by a park for a few hours, or to catch a specific attraction, whatever.

We are rope drop people, mainly because our kids wake up at the crack of dawn anyway. We do get a lot done in the first hour or two after park opening though.

We are doing a split stay & decided to use the DDP for the first part of the trip. Coincidentally, free dining starts the day after we arrive, so it was important to plan & schedule our ADRs right away. We had to plan for that (or change our minds about the DDP).

This year we plan to have the dads be fast pass runners (run ahead with everyone tix to gather fast passes) while the moms push the strollers loaded down with the kids.

But that is the extent of our plans. I like it that way, with my 2 little kids having a set schedule is just asking to get frustrated anyway. Something always comes up to change plans.

 

[Derek&Ashley]

I do a little planning. We check park hours and even though we stay on-site, we try to avoid EMH. Once we know which parks we have planned for a certain day, we just decide what our first two or three moves are, then we just wing it. My wife and I both are used to waking up early for work so we make it to the parks for rope drop without a problem. I can't remember the last time we slept past 7:30 anyway.

At MK, if you have kids, I understand going to fantasy land first. If not, I would suggest picking left (pirates, splash, thunder mountain) or right (space, buzz, monsters laugh floor), and then touring the park in a circle.

At DHS you kind of have to go straight back to midway mania if you want to see it. Now you need to decide how many times you want to ride midway mania. If once is good enough, I would skip the fastpass and just get straight in line.

The last time I went there, I was talking a very nice guy waiting for rope drop. We both went straight back to the attraction. My wife and I got in line for the ride. He went and got fastpasses while his family waited for him on the side. We actually got off the ride and walked out the building as he was just finishing getting fast passes. The lines for fast passes can be really bad.

After that ride we go back to TOT and RNRC. We fastpass one and ride the other. After that we just wing it.

At Epcot, I would go straight to Soarin'. Here also, we skip the fast passes and just get in line. If you are there at rope drop, it takes no time at all. Then we go to TEST TRAC, where we get fast passes and then get in line for the ride (its our favorite in epcot). After that, its back to our laid back touring style.

AK, I probably won't be a huge help. While we do like it, its our least favorite park. Last time there, we just went back to Everest. It wasn't a very crowded time of year but we were able to ride it 3 times in a row, never waiting more than 10 minutes. After that we just go ride Dinosaur and watch ITTBAB. Then we hop somewhere else.

This is how we've been doing the parks for years, and we see no reason to change.

Another thing, we also know when and where we want to be for the fireworks/nighttime shows.

 

[arjones31]

I plan around my ADRs. Seriously. I know there are certain places we want to eat, and whenever we can get those ADRs are the days we visit those parks. Crowd calendars - who needs 'em? Bring on the food!!

 

[harpinjean]

While I like to plan what I want to do, I don't try to plan the trip out minute by minute. I know what rides I want to hit in each park and then decide if I want to make it to the EMH or not. Usually we hit the late night EMH because we think the parks are cool at night. They look different and it makes the outside rides different when in the dark. I might try to make it to one early EMH for DHS but we aren't much on getting up early while on vacation, so we will see. Remember it is VACATION, have fun and don't worry about trying to plan everything out.

 

[vcgirl925]

We do loose plans. We'll (ok...I) decide based on crowd levels and park hours which parks we'll go to on what days and leave one day up in the air to decide when we get there. We plan restaurants and make ADRs and that's about it. We keep in mind rides that are musts for us to see that trip but we don't make a detailed ride itinerary. We just FP like it's our business and go on non-FP rides in between. We always stop and smell the roses, if we see something that catches our eyes we stop and enjoy it.

 

[redrosesix]

because our trip is always in Feb. and always includes Pres. Day. We have a few things planned in advance -- usually 1 ADR and a couple of golf tee times (which are often rescheduled), but we decide which park which day based on the schedules we get at check-in and the weather forecast (especially important for water park days in Feb.) Any shows we want to see are noted at that time.

We also make up a must-see list and a a must-skip list before we go. We intentionally leave some things to do another year. We prefer the CS restaurants because it's easier to eat healthy that way (we can pick and choose from several locations) We also do evening EMH, sometimes am EMH and usually get to the park in time for rope drop on park days. We leave any park that is too crowded to enjoy, often hopping to another park, but sometimes just going back to the resort until after supper.

Should add that we often do our favourite rides again and again, even if it means skipping one that we've never done.

 

[marmar]

we are empty nesters just back from our 11th trip (only 4 of those with DD as she was growing up). On our second trip DH demanded I make Dining Ressies. He claimed that I would just keep him going all day and he would starve if his dinner time & place were not planned. I swear I did not starve him the first trip. So now I make ADR's immediately after I book flights (or at90 days).

As we are disney pros, we now do special tours and activities on every trip (backstage tours, segway, imagineer lunch, etc). So the planning I do is based on those. We also do mid day breaks so mornings & evenings are at different parks. The evening park is based on Dinner ADR. The morning park is based on the tour or EMH. We NEVER do one park ALL DAY.

We also know we will be back next year, so if we miss something, that's OK. We have yet to do Toy Story Mania, even after 2 trips to WDW. We'll wait for the lines to be more reasonable.

There is only one ride that we plan for a specific time. We only ride the Jungle Cruise after dark.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I am the queen of non - planning, except for meals! We never know what we are going to do, going to ride or anything, we just know the important stuff and that is where to eat

 

[DisneySweetheart]

Never! That's just crazy talk to us!