does anyone do the parks without a schedule

[gatripletmom00]

Sorry, but we are new to this.....and all this planning is getting the best of me.

I am reading and reading, how do you plan all of these days? Does anyone just go without a plan?

If you would like to help, please give me some advice.

 

[Perditamarie]

It can be overwhelming!

It is handy to begin w/park hours, if they are available. If you are staying onsite, you can take advantage of extra magic hours and figure out which park you want to attend on which day. I like the am emh, but not so much the pm - I think it makes the parks more crowded in the afternoon.

After you know what the park hours are, determine if you will be dining at any table service restaurants....I like to coordinate the restaurant to the park to minimize commute time and so I end up eating where I am at. If you are getting the dining plan, I think it is critical to plan where you want to eat and call for your adrs at the 90 day window.

It kind of all falls into place after that! You will get a lot of great info on these boards!

 

[Berlioz70]

I don't have a plan usually and that is better for me. I usually go in knowing which attractions/entertainment I want to see but never pre-determine the order. I start the day by getting a FP then wing it from there.

I find it much more relaxing and I can hit unplanned events without throwing a schedule off.

 

[MHSweb79]

You can absolutely go without a plan and have a wonderful time. I am a planner by choice.
The main factor is when are you going? If you're going during a very busy week, you will most likely need some kind of plan in order to avoid waiting an hour or two in line for every major attraction. If you're going off-season, then you should be able to fit everything in without a detailed plan.
Here's a very basic plan: Get up early and get to your park of choice by rope drop, EMH if you are able to get up that early. Ride all the popular attractions, which will take you until about 11:00 if you got there for EMH. Go back to resort for a rest, and head out to a different park or back to the same park for the evening. This is what we do and IT WORKS.
To choose your park for the day, you'll need to get the park hours from the Disney calendar. Check the sticky to see when your park hours will be posted- it's about 90 days out. This will let you choose the days you will want to hit each park, depending on whether you are planning to use EMH's or avoid them, and whether you want to hit a show like Fantasmic which is only shown a couple of times a week. So if you're going for 7 full days, you can sketch out a morning park & afternoon park per day, which will also help you decide where you want to make restaurant ADR's, if you are planning to eat any sit-down meals. I usually leave a few afternoons blank, for "winging it." Yes, I actually do schedule in unscheduled time.....

 

[Perditamarie]

It's good to have a plan w/kids so you can maximize your time....and you can tell the kids what to expect! It is also good to read a good guidebook to give yourself a depth of knowledge about the World and what you can expect...I like the Unofficial Guide.

The typical touring plans w/young kids is get to the park at rope drop, tour until lunch then go back to your resort for a break/swim then come back to the parks for more touring and dinner. The kids really love the pool as much as the parks, so it is important to get that time in! Also, we make sure to visit the playgrounds at every park to let the kids have plenty of running around free time!

I like to schedule a late breakfast/brunch so we can still get in the am touring with a super character meal. Otherwise, we like an earliesh dinner....but never more than 1 restaurant per day! I try to keep the kids to pretty much the same schedule at home so they are not little crabs the next day. I always bring a cooler bag w/drinks and snacks to have on hand for lines and shows. It saves time and meltdowns to have the stuff on hand....I have a hard time finding juice at WDW when I really need it. We also eat breakfast in the room (bagels, waffles, cereal) while getting ready....saves time and sanity and even $$.

 

[SRUAlmn]

We sort of plan, but nothing like we've seen on these boards. We make note of park hours and EMH days for each park, but that's about it. We normally eat mostly counter service, so we don't even really make ADRs.

I LOVE the planning part and I actually do make little spreadsheets and read tips on here, etc... but once we get there, it all goes out the window I just enjoy biding my time before our trip by fake planning! We just aren't people who can say 3 months in advance where and what we're going to feel like doing or eating on an arbitrary date in the future

 

[mdoc]

I go without a formal plan, but I've been to Disney many times, so the plan is in my head already. Basically our plan is to do the most popular rides early before the crowds get too big, to use fast passes as much as possible, and to pick the right park on the right day. For the latter, we use TourGuide Mike, although there are other services out there, and it's possible just from info collected on these boards to figure it out yourself.

 

[gatripletmom00]

thanks for the info so far.....it makes me feel a little better

We are going the week after July 4, so it will be hot and crowded, we know this! We also have decided not to do any ADR and just probably eat CS meals or back at the cabin (this will save alot of $$$)

I will check out the park hours and start with that.

Is staying late at some of the parks, nice? Like less crowded, less hot, etc...
Rides still open, that kind of thing?

thanks!!!
Kris

 

[SRUAlmn]

thanks for the info so far.....it makes me feel a little better

We are going the week after July 4, so it will be hot and crowded, we know this! We also have decided not to do any ADR and just probably eat CS meals or back at the cabin (this will save alot of $$$)

I will check out the park hours and start with that.

Is staying late at some of the parks, nice? Like less crowded, less hot, etc...
Rides still open, that kind of thing?

thanks!!!
Kris

We always go the week after July 4, but have chosen to go the week prior this year to aviod some 'certain tour groups.' We always get to the parks later in the morning (around 10:00 or 11:00,) go back to the resort to rest/change clothes around 4:00 (due to being a sweaty mess,) and then go back in the evening for PM EMH. We have never had a problem seeing everything and doing everything. Don't let some of these threads about rope drop and long lines stress you out. Unless you're only going for 4-5 days, you should have plenty of time

 

[Perditamarie]

Here is a handy place to order groceries:

http://gardengrocer.com/

 

[snow.white]

I am not a planner and maybe for that reason I have missed a lot of things to do at the parks ,but I just see it as something new for my next trip. Another thing I will admit that I did not like was the whole ADR thing, I hated knowing exactly what time and where I was going to eat, I would much rather eat when I'm hungry and whatever I am in the mood for even if that means counter service food..

 

[buckirj1]

Nah, I don't plan much. However, I use the experience of past visits to know what sort of things I like (MK and Epcot) and can miss (AK and Studios) on a particular visit.

For example, I know (and my work schedule dictates) I won't be able to get away for more than 5-6 days toward the end of the year. I'll buy a 4 day pass without hoppers. In no particular order I'll spend 2 days in MK (Frontierland one day and Fantasyland the next...or not...depending on if something piques my interest), 2 days in Epcot (toward Mexico one day and toward Canada the next...or not), and 1 day resort-hopping, monorail-riding, DTD'ing and generally hanging out. Eating? Meh, it's Disney--there's always gonna be someplace to eat!

 

[Guest-expert]

sure! we do it all the time. The key is pick the things you really want to do and plan around them. but the best is not planning anything, and see what happens.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

While my family and I don't plan which parks we want to visit 6 months in advance, we usually plan what days we want to visit the parks after arriving at WDW. Plus since we always try to visit them when they have the Morning Extra Magic Hour, by then we should know what days they are happening incase some last minute changes are made to the park hours.

 

[meghanlea]

we plan our meals around the park hours and days of EMH, and other than that just go from there. If we want to take a break we do, if not we keep going. we don't plan which rides we ride or anything like that, just kinda take it as we get tehre. works for us.

 

[ajleone]

I hate to plan, it's to much like work to me. That being said, because we've been using the DDP I'm forced to make ADR's so I now have to plan those, but that is the extent of my planning.

 

[tink519]

I like the Unofficial Guide as well. And we tend to follow the "lazy" plan or whatever it is called. We haven't done rope drop, although considering it for MK this time around so we can check it out. We find that getting there by 9:30 am we still end up having little to no lines on some of the big rides.

I definitely say just take it all in and enjoy yourself!

 

[sewer]

Sorry, but we are new to this.....and all this planning is getting the best of me.

I am reading and reading, how do you plan all of these days? Does anyone just go without a plan?

If you would like to help, please give me some advice.

We usually don't plan.. it's a vacation, and time to relax!

 

[seadd67]

Oh I love to plan all the way down to the last minute from the time we land untill the time we have to leave!!. But following that plan,,,well thats another story!! we leave the plans at the room. For maybe the adr and what park we start out at Its really up In the air. Its just the fun of makeing It up, but every one must do what makes them feel like there haveing fun, But keeping a list of time of ebents should be a must,at the very least.

 

[mom22bless]

I'm a planner. I had all my ADR's/BBB/Child Care ressies made,and Groceries/Disney Florist delievered to the room.

I looooovvved my Deluxe Passporter!!! It has awesome plans all made out!! Plus great envelopes.