Don't Want to Plan My Whole Trip

[eeyoreland]

We leave December 7 for 8 nights. Staying at AKL. I have a few ADRs, MVMCP, but that's about it. I'm tired of planning and think I want to just go down and "wing it". Traveling with DH and DD12. Do you think I'm crazy or do you think we'll be okay?

 

[buckylarue]

As long as you're prepared to eat counter service if you can't get into any TS restaurants, you should be OK.

 

[karenh1127@h]

I am with ya! I hate to plan everything so precisely! We have a few ressies so we will pretty much do that park on that day but no particular plan. Some just plan every second of the day and I just have no interest in that. Have fun! We go on the 7th too!

 

[UrsulasShadow]

You won't starve. There is always CS, and a good chance that if you want to eat TS and aren't picky about place or time, you can call when there and get an opening somewhere. If you do have a craving for TS, try for late lunch times at the venues that offer lunch hours. Good luck, and have fun!

 

[Kim1964]

When we went in August, I made ADRs for the places that really mattered to us. I did not have reservations for every meal, but we had a rental car, so we strayed "off campus" a few times for meals. I had "uber-planned" our 2004 trip and it was a disaster....everyone was stressed trying to keep to my timetable, so this time we were a lot more relaxed. That worked best for us, but I really think that the answer to your question is pretty subjective. Some people love to have detailed touring plans and ADRs for every meal, and that's what makes them happy. Whether or not you will be happy winging it depends on your personality. As for the ADRs, a realistic approach seems to be NOT to expect availability at a table service restaurant without one. If you hit some places at off-peak times, you might get lucky, but as long as you aren't counting on it and have a Plan B, you should be OK.

 

[Doc CW]

Winging it should be fine you should be able to get around fine, although you should have some stuff planned not much but stuff like when your eating and making sure you go to each park once thats all. Good luck.

 

[jayandstacey]

Agree with the others - you'll be fine.

I did the same. My planning was spent understanding things before going - how rides loaded, neat things to look for, traffic patterns, etc. I also (like you) went when the crowds were really low, which is as good as precise planning on a crowded day. The idea was that when we got there, I followed the kids but always had some good advice. It worked great.

An example: We saw a late morning showing of Beauty and the Beast in MGM. It let out about 11:20ish. We also wanted to eat at the 50s kitchen place. So we made an ad hoc plan to sit near the show's exit, then made a beeline for the food. We were immediately seated to eat by 11:30, no ADR. 10 minutes later I got up for the bathroom and the lobby was PACKED. I didn't pre-plan that day, but once we were going, I was able to maximize our efforts.

You are spending too much money to have to feel 'obligated' to plan. Its a vacation, not a chore IMHO. Enjoy!

 

[OHIODISNEYFAMILY]

We wing it to a point. I map out the opening and closing times for the parks, the EMH days (we want to avoid them), times for parades and shows we don't want to miss. I make myself a spreadsheet to bring along.

Otherwise, we go with the flow. I will say though that we are not big on food or eating. We eat when we're hungry, but maybe only one sit-down dinner during our week trip. In all our trips, I've had only one ADR (breakfast in the castle).

 

[KristinBelle]

I love winging it.

 

[Kick Save]

Winging it depends...if this is your first trip, you'll waste a lot of time winging it. If you've been to WDW at least once, and preferably more than that, you probably know the lay of the land well enough to wing it and pull it off without a hitch. Then again, Dec 7 - 14 will be good winging it crowd levels.

Our typical stay has an ADR for each dinner, but we love sitting down to eat at the resturants there, so don't view it as "structure" so much as guaranteeing our meal. We also plan to use a touring plan in each park one morning. The rest of the time, we just pseudo wing it. Psuedo because we've been there enough to know how to get around to see what we want and not waste a lot of time looking at a map and planning our route. Overall, four or five commando mornings, big swim breaks around lunch, and then liesurely touring in the afternoons works great for us.

 

[behappy]

We (Me, DW, DD (13), DD (9)) just got home ( 2 hours ago) after a wonderful week at the World! Our 'planning' consisted of 3 ADRs:

Mon AM: Chef Mickey's (a "must-do" for us)
Mon PM: MVMCP (had a great time...haven't been to MVMCP for about 5 years)
Wed PM: O'hana (probably the last time we'll do it...to much food for us)
Fri PM: Le Cellier (another favorite!)

Everything else as just 'go with the flow'. We decided which parks to visit at breakfast in the AM, sometimes we'd split up and do different parks (Me w DS and DD w DW and DMIL who joined us at WDW). Sometimes we would meet up during the day, sometimes we wouldn't. Sometimes we'd criss-cross the park 4 times in one afternoon, just riding what we wanted to ride next without considering what was close-by. We've been to WDW about a dozen times in the past 10 years, and have never done any rigorous planning. We ALWAYS have a great time! While driving back to NC today, I was commenting to DW how I find it hard to believe some of the nightmares people report....but, I can see how it happens. I guess we're just lucky! Already looking forward to next year's visit!

 

[Prairiemom]

The way I see it I'm at Disney for the attractions and as long as I have an idea of what I'm doing each day I don't really care all that much about planning my meals as I know if I'm really hungry there will be someplace to eat. It is hard to planning every minute of the day and to do so it would stress me out even more then I already am. This is our first trip and I have been doing alot of reading to understnad how the parks work and the times for the shows and EMH and when everything is open. That I didn't want to add in when I was going to sit down to eat. The way my family is I figure when we are starting to get hungry we will then decide what to do. I have heard about how you can try and get TS that day if you want but it may work and it may not. But the way my family eats we will be fine with CS as that is fine too! I don't know how people plan there dinner into thereday as who knows where you will be and what if your kids want to ride on another rise instead of sitting down to eat?

 

[MulanMom]

If you have realistic expectations, you'll be fine. We make a few ADRs and/or book a few activities, get an idea of hours, etc. before we go and have a general idea of what parks to hit (or avoid) each day. We tend to work around the more important ADRs and activities, but tend to go with the flow when we are there. The key is to have the knowledge to say to ourselves, "we don't want to do such and such today, but we know we can see it this other day". When a plan is too detailed, it's difficult to take in the whole picture and let go of the plan, when necessary.

I dislike the dining plan because it has resulted in the restaurants being more booked with ADRs than before the plan was offered. I dislike trying to figure out 6 months before my vacation where I'm going to be and at what time. So many factors come into play, the crowds, my mood, the weather, my kids' temperament, my husband's temperament. I force myself to sit down and lay out a framework knowing I'll probably end up changing it close to or during my trip.

So, no, you are not crazy. If anything, you are trying it at a good time.

Have a great vacation!

 

[720L]

Be sure to plan time to explore the AKL. There are a lot of things to do there. We never plan our whole trip. We only eat CS unless we do a character meal. I think its much more relaxed not having that dinner reservation that you have to work around.

 

[slkant]

We will also be staying at AKL on our trip, which will be our first family trip to Disney. I have probably done a lot more planning than is really necessary, but here are the essentials of what I did.

I made a list of days when we would be at Disney. I then figured out the best days to do certain activities that we knew we wanted to do. This naturally led to figuring out which days we'd be in which park. I then filled in some ADRs, typically one per day so that we had at least one table service meal each day. (usually at dinner-for us that was important because we have a lot of food allergies to deal with.) I scheduled afternoon breaks as well as one evening where we could hang around the hotel so that we could enjoy all of the activities at AKL. The goal of this schedule was to have a plan but hopefully not be "overplanned" so that we have some built-in flexibility.

 

[eeyoreland]

Thanks for all the input. I feel much better now about "winging" it. We have been to WDW several times and we do know which parks we want to go to every day. So I have done some planning, not just down to every detail. Thanks again! Now if I can just decide on a backpack!

 

[Prairiemom]

I hear you as I'm also trying to decide on what type of backpack I want to take as I don't want a big one but then again my dh and children have decided they don't want to carry anything so I'm not sure how big I may need but I'm thinking about getting one that isn't really a backpack but kinda a sling that goes sideways around your body and isn't to big. I wish you all the best and hope you have a great trip

Thanks for all the input. I feel much better now about "winging" it. We have been to WDW several times and we do know which parks we want to go to every day. So I have done some planning, not just down to every detail. Thanks again! Now if I can just decide on a backpack!

 

[pepe of ohio]

We've been to WDW quite a few times and just to pass our time away before we go, I create alittle plan of parks and some dining. I ask wifey where she wants to eat and where she want to go and we compare and create a little plan together after combining our picks. Thats it! We're fine with CS and we tend to enjoy eating at our resort, that why we picked a certain resort. We do groceries and always have cold cuts on hand for the picnic pool lunches and libations and its nothing for her to pop over to FW and grab some of that delicious chicken and bring it back for an evening repast.

Ony really must haves are the Hoop Dee Do, Prime Time 50's and Yachtmans Steakhouse. We spend 8-12 nights on property and there are a ton on CS and TS places just to pop into for a meal. Do not like being tied down to a meal time schedule. We know the parks and places to eat and if we're hungry, we eat. No big deal.

As for a backpack, while we both like walking around uncumbered, the less the better. We each have a small hip like pouch and only things we take are camera, tickets and few dollars, thats it. If it rains we duck in a store or attraction, if it looks like an all day rain we take our ponchos or hit DTD, shop and catch a movie. We drink park water, no water bottle carrying so we can hit the parks hands free and no sore shoulders.

 

[STEAMBOAT209]

If you plan on dining at TS, I would make those ADR's, if not; you should be fine to wing it using CS.

 

[linskypens]

Last year we had a plan for every day....ADR's for meals ,reservations to parasail, eat at HnV to get a better seat for Fantasmic, We ran around like fools and didn't get to do a lot of stuff we wanted to , and felt rushed because we always had to be somewhere at a specific time...as in No honey we don't have time for you to get a hair wrap because we need to be MGM in 20 minutes.....
Make a few ADR's for places you really want to eat...and then take the time to really enjoy the parks and the atmosphere.Too much planning causes stress if somethings goes wrong, and it places too much pressure on everyone.Pick a park and have a touring plan sure, but be flexible enough that if things change or something pops up you want to do, you can do it