Does anyone just "wing it" anymore?

[Disneyof3]

We plan only 1 or 2 ADR's and that's it. The rest is winging it all the way. I usually know which day I'm going to MK because we want to make sure we get to see spectro but that's it. I go to relax and enjoy the rides and don't want to always be checking my watch to see where I have to be in so many hours. Our meals also are all over the board when were on vacation , we never eat at normal times.


POR and WDW Feb.2007 or March 2007

 

[lsutigger2]

We are winger's!! I don't even make ADR's Who knows what they will feel like eating three months from now.

Some days DH and I have just gotten on the first bus that arrives.

Our next trip we are bringing family, so we will probably do whatever they would like to do most. My DB hasn't been to AK ever, so I'm thinking we'll send some times there. He does have a list of things he wants to do. I just so happy to be at WDW, I really don't care!

DH does plan his golf games.

 

[princess pooh]

I'm a big time winger! I think I made 2 ADRs for our trip in August and even those were difficult to choose. I usually make them from my hotel room! I hate knowing I have to be at a certain place at a certain time when I'm on vacation, I find it stressful. I'm sure I miss out on stuff but I have no regrets

 

[MycatlovesEeyore]

We wing it all the time. We plan a few favorite meals and parades but pretty much go with the flow other than that. As members of DVC we know that we will be coming back so we truly relax and enjoy the kids.

 

[Swimnoid]

I'm glad to see there are so many other wingers! I thought we were the only ones! I usually make one ADR for something like the Candlelight Processional or one special dinner. Our major planning revolves around which park has late EMH. We LOVE to be at MK until 3 am!!!

 

[zipuzee]

Okay! Ya'll are making me feel so much better. I has planned previous trips to the last detail and really just wanted this one to be a relaxing "whatever we do" kind of trip. Then I start reading these boards, the people who plan meals six months out and such, and I can't decide what I want for dinner tonight, let alone dinner in two months. That said, is it really possible to get tables at the last minute at the end of June? I'm not talking in an hour or two, but within a few days span. Like, when we arrive on Monday, can I make some ressies at that point for the rest of the week, or will I have trouble. See, I'm still worrying over it!~!

 

[goofyernmost]

Wing it??? I should say so...always.

I plan a trip. If I'm going to Florida, I plan and schedule my time, flight and car rental. Most of the time I plan where I'm staying (always off site) but I have been known to just go and find a place after.

I do not know until I get up and have breakfast and sometimes head out what park I'm going to or even if I'm going to a park. I have been known to get to intersections and decide then where I will go.

What attractions I go to depends on my mood, the length of the line and the desire I have to experience it. I have a few set routines like, for example, if I go to Epcot the first thing I do is ride Spaceship Earth and the last thing I do when leaving is ride Spaceship Earth. Other than that, whatever. I never know what I am going to eat until I get hungry and then it is which ever location I am closest too.

Family members ask me how I can enjoy things that way and I cannot truthfully tell them other than to say, how can you not enjoy doing whatever strikes you at that moment?

But that's just me and as you know, I am Goofyernmost!

 

[2DIZNY]

We always wing it! Of course, it helps that there are only two of us going now, we go every summer, and we always go for 12 nights! The ultimate wing-it is to go to the bus stop and take the next bus that arrives, regardless of where it is going.

 

[Suzanne74]

I don't think any first timers, even second timers should wing it. I also think it is hard to wing it with kids under 7 yrs old. We try and go a lot and I get caught up on planning more for the excitement but find when we are there we stay very flexible. WE too leave a day or two completely open at the end for whatever we need to catch up on. With the DDP, it is hard to wing it as well, which leads other people without the DDP to have to make ressies too so they don't get turned away by winging it.

 

[RussH]

Another winger here I don’t plan anything except a room reservation. No ADR no tours just get up and go. Sorry but I don’t see what the big deal about eating at as many WDW restaurants as possible is. Maybe because I traveled for 20+ years full time for work that a restaurant is just a place where someone you have never met cooks your food and there are no dishes to wash.
Next trip is in late May to POP again for the 6th time and wont even think about room location until I am standing at the counter to check in.

Life requires some mystery and surprises if I started to plan every minute of vacation time I might as well have stayed home and gone to work.

 

[brer rabbit 28]

we have booked a few ADR,s. But this is only because they are places we really wanted to try.We also planned which parks on which day because we are following TGM,but thats as far as it goes.
I have picked up loads of tips on how to dodge the queues and busy parks but if we want to break the planning rules then we will.At the end of the day its our holiday,not a military operation!!!

 

[Hobbes]

Oh, but its so much fun to plan everything.For my last trip I spent all one day working out what day to visit which parks-factoring in busiest days, EMH,park hours and firework/parade times. I created a beautiful timetable for morning, afternoon, evening for each day. I laminated it, packed it in my bag and even packed blue-tac to stick it to the wall of the room when I got there. Then after 3 days I realised it was loads better to do what you fancied, when you fancy it, so I ignored it for the rest of the time-but it was so much fun planning it......

 

[penguin087]

I spend a lot of time on the Dis (like the rest of you) Mostly just to get my Disney fix but for the most part I like to wing it.
I make a few ADRs and maybe plan which day, which park kind of thing. Nothing is really carved in stone though. To be honest the things we enjoyed most were things we stumbled upon.

 

[Dismom+two]

I am going in just 5 days and as much as I like to read, read and read...and plan, plan, plan....I just have what days we are going to what park. Other then that I just wing it. I do not have any ADRs scheduled at all. I like to just go with the flow, I do however have some basic plans as far as getting to the parks at opening and doing the heavy hitters first thing and then relaxing the rest of the day and doing whatever in the park.

 

[Renee1061]

I was beginning to think I was strange because I didn't make any ADRs for our trip. I'm glad to know I am not the only one! My daughter did decide last week that she wanted to go to Chef Mickey's for breakfast, so I called but there was nothing available. I will probably try again once we get there....which will be tomorrow!!!!

 

[erikthewise]

While not completely "winging it", we're more relaxed than we used to be. Because we like to make ADRs, we do have a which park-which day plan. If we are going to a park, I still like to be there at park opening, but we often leave after lunch.

After several years of studying touring plans, I don't feel that I need to use them directly. I feel I can just walk into the park, take a deep breath, and sense what's going to work well that day.

Last year we were waiting to get into Epcot at the International Gate behind a family all of whom had attached to their gear full-color laminated park plan cards listing in order all the attractions and meals they had planned out for the day. Clearly hundreds of hours of planning had gone into this! Compared to those people, we wing it! They were nice people and we actually ran into a day or two later and yes, they had done everything on their plan! Plenty of room for all types at WDW!

 

[dragonfly75]

We tend to start out with a plan, and then end up winging it. It's a lot less stressfull to just wander around the park, deciding what rides to go on as you go.

 

[CleveRocks]

I love to plan, but I also love to wing it a little. As the years go by, I notice more people have every meal and every day planned to the minute.

I like to leave a couple days open to do whatever comes up.

Anyone else wing it some?

May 2005 was my first trip to WDW since 1993, and back then I had no idea that planning was in any way helpful. Needless to say, I've "converted" since then.

HOWEVER ...
We totally winged it for our May 2005 trip with our two pre-schoolers. I made ADRs (then called PSs) for dinner each day, but used only one of them (plus Hoop Dee Doo).

In about four months leading up to that trip, I filled just about every non-working and non-parenting waking moment filling my head and heart with all things WDW. I asked questions and read answers on this board and others, hit lots of other informative websites, and read the Unofficial Guide more closely and more passionately than Donovan McNabb and Tom Brady read their playbooks.

I emerged with a Ph.D. in WDW. I knew it all, at least on paper. I had an encyclopedic knowledge of recommended "best days" for parks and attractions (and more importantly, WHY those recommendations were made by others), what sorts of things to do at certain times of the day, the layouts of each park and logical strategies for doing things, etc.

Each day, Sunday through Saturday, we had no pre-planned agenda for what we HAD TO do on what day, except for our pre-paid Hoop Dee Doo reservations. I was totally able to go with the flow and pursue whatever whim we wanted. When I made my PSs, I just totally guessed what park we might be at on what day, but it was total guesses, and I was usually wrong. This wasn't a problem for us because we're usually happy grabbing counter service meals, anyway, not having to conform to an exact schedule or exact appointment.

Because of my months of fun study, I was able to guide us through a week of both efficient AND care-free fun in WDW. My knowldege of the EMH schedule and parade and fireworks schedules allowed me to guide us towards and away from certain places at certain times, but for the most part our 5 year old, our oldest, decided what parks on what days either the nightr before or first thing in the morning. Once we were at a particular park, I was able to craft a fun, efficient, non-commando touring plan. That it itself was fun for me, not work at all.

 

[TN Traveler]

I haven't read all the postings here but did want to make a quick comment.

Our one and only trip (so far) was May/June 2004. Altho I had been to Disney 2 other times before, our family had never been. With Parks as big as the Disney parks are, I felt we needed to have an idea of what we wanted to see and do. I asked my daughters (ages 12 1/2, 8 and 4 1/2 at the time) to go through all our brochures and pick out at least 2 rides they absolutely HAD to ride in each park. I also asked them to write a list of what characters they HAD to see. With this information, I developed a plan of what Park to be in on what day. Once we got there and found out what time the parades were and where the main characters were, we worked our other plans around that. So in a way we were planned and then again we weren't. The last day of our trip is the day we made up for the rides or characters we didn't get to see. The one thing that I will do differently is make a true effort to take advantage of EMH. We were so exhausted every day, we slept until 8 or so and NEVER made it to the parks for Early morning.

I would probably do this same plan if/when we get to go back. The company DH works for is moving to Mexico and sometime in the next year, he'll lose his job so our trips to Disney are over for a while.

Karen

 

[CrazedDisFan]

We are semi-wingers.

I plan all our meals that require ADRs. I also look through the DIS and Unofficial Guide for best days for which parks. Also, I look at the parade and fieworks schedules to be certain we can see each one time during our stay. I note the park hours for each day.

Then I sit down with my family and discuss what days would be best for what parks and which meal to have which days. We then work out a very simplified daily schedule with one day in the middle of the week with nothing planned at all.

BUT... with all that being completed, it just gives us an idea of what we will do each day. We do OFTEN vary from our schedule if we can rework days. I don't plan what rides to ride, etc. Our unscheduled day has been spent at Typhoon Lagoon, Downtown Disney and any of the 4 parks. We have also been known to leave a scheduled park and go to another or just go chill out at the resort.

I don't think we could ever just get there and not have any plans.