Favorite Trip Planning Tools? Share your spreadsheets, etc!

[noisykid]

Hello magical friends! Just wondering what everyone uses for planning their days at WDW. Typically my family uses a Google Sheet or similar to plan out our day basics. We're not super-strict with our days as we like a more go-with-the-flow approach, so we usually just add the main attractions we're trying to do as well as our dining locations, then once we have it pretty-well thought out we use that to book dining reservations and the like and get as much as possible into My Disney Experience, but I know that's not how everyone works!

So let's share our favorite tools for planning here! If sharing a Google Sheet or similar, make sure to make a copy and remove any personal info, then share it in Read-Only mode. If someone shares their Google Doc/Sheet, please do "File>Make a Copy" and save the copy to your Google Drive so you don't try to edit their file directly.

 

[VGCgroupie]

This is a really cool topic! Right now I have spreadsheets but only for my DVC points. For my trips I am so old school I print out a calendar for the week and write everything on there.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

I either write it down on a paper or use a notes app in my phone

 

[kylenne]

I still use spreadsheets but tbqh most of my organizing gets moved into apps for use when I’m actually there. I use TripIt and pay for the Pro subscription because I find it invaluable in terms of keeping track of flights on travel days. I always get notified by TripIt way before the airline app pings me in the event of gate changes or flight delays. But even beyond that, the free features for keeping track of your daily itinerary I find it much more practical to quickly access at a glance than a spreadsheet, like when we are out and about. You can have it automatically pull confirmations from your email or forward them manually to add to your plans in the app.

Flighty is another one I love to use, specific for flying that’s a bit more avgeek focused as it also keeps track of your stats, like how many times you’ve flown a specific airline or on an aircraft.

For packing I use one called Packr that allows for custom lists depending on your activities. I have a Disney one for example that includes things like ears, cooling towels, etc--stuff that’s park specific and I don’t typically bring on other vacations. Not sure if it’s available on android as I’m an iPhone user but it’s a godsend.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I still use spreadsheets but tbqh most of my organizing gets moved into apps for use when I’m actually there. I use TripIt and pay for the Pro subscription because I find it invaluable in terms of keeping track of flights on travel days. I always get notified by TripIt way before the airline app pings me in the event of gate changes or flight delays. But even beyond that, the free features for keeping track of your daily itinerary I find it much more practical to quickly access at a glance than a spreadsheet, like when we are out and about. You can have it automatically pull confirmations from your email or forward them manually to add to your plans in the app.

Flighty is another one I love to use, specific for flying that’s a bit more avgeek focused as it also keeps track of your stats, like how many times you’ve flown a specific airline or on an aircraft.

For packing I use one called Packr that allows for custom lists depending on your activities. I have a Disney one for example that includes things like ears, cooling towels, etc--stuff that’s park specific and I don’t typically bring on other vacations. Not sure if it’s available on android as I’m an iPhone user but it’s a godsend.

WOW! The Tripit sounds really cool. I will look into it. I have ran through MCO Home Alone style to not miss my flight. I arrive at the gate to a sea of people, after standing there 15 minutes Delta finally alerts me my flight is delayed.

 

[kylenne]

WOW! The Tripit sounds really cool. I will look into it. I have ran through MCO Home Alone style to not miss my flight. I arrive at the gate to a sea of people, after standing there 15 minutes Delta finally alerts me my flight is delayed.

TripIt is fantastic. I hate to sound like an influencer shill but it’s so worth the nominal cost of the subscription. Even the free version is great just to keep all your plans organized but the pro is worth its weight in gold on air travel days. I was sold on it one time when I was coming back from Toronto and there was bad weather in the NYC area, tons of delays. TripIt told me about the new gate ages before the airline app did so I picked up and moved way before everyone else at the gate. People were left scrambling for seats. I’ve also been able to rebook flights and still go home the same day because I knew about a massive delay way before everyone else thru TripIt.

The other week coming back from Disney my flight home was delayed like 4 times. No surprise, last flight out of the day from MCO and weather was a factor. TripIt was on the ball and told me way before Delta did each time. I just chilled out stress free at MK.

 

[VGCgroupie]

TripIt is fantastic. I hate to sound like an influencer shill but it’s so worth the nominal cost of the subscription. Even the free version is great just to keep all your plans organized but the pro is worth its weight in gold on air travel days. I was sold on it one time when I was coming back from Toronto and there was bad weather in the NYC area, tons of delays. TripIt told me about the new gate ages before the airline app did so I picked up and moved way before everyone else at the gate. People were left scrambling for seats. I’ve also been able to rebook flights and still go home the same day because I knew about a massive delay way before everyone else thru TripIt.

The other week coming back from Disney my flight home was delayed like 4 times. No surprise, last flight out of the day from MCO and weather was a factor. TripIt was on the ball and told me way before Delta did each time. I just chilled out stress free at MK.

Thank you for influencing me

 

[noisykid]

I still use spreadsheets but tbqh most of my organizing gets moved into apps for use when I’m actually there. I use TripIt and pay for the Pro subscription because I find it invaluable in terms of keeping track of flights on travel days. I always get notified by TripIt way before the airline app pings me in the event of gate changes or flight delays. But even beyond that, the free features for keeping track of your daily itinerary I find it much more practical to quickly access at a glance than a spreadsheet, like when we are out and about. You can have it automatically pull confirmations from your email or forward them manually to add to your plans in the app.

Flighty is another one I love to use, specific for flying that’s a bit more avgeek focused as it also keeps track of your stats, like how many times you’ve flown a specific airline or on an aircraft.

For packing I use one called Packr that allows for custom lists depending on your activities. I have a Disney one for example that includes things like ears, cooling towels, etc--stuff that’s park specific and I don’t typically bring on other vacations. Not sure if it’s available on android as I’m an iPhone user but it’s a godsend.

Does TripIt have any Disney specific stuff like parks and rides?

 

[kylenne]

Does TripIt have any Disney specific stuff like parks and rides?

It’s not a “pick a thing from a list” type of app, itinerary items are highly customizable and any kind of plans you can create one for. Either from an existing confirmation email or totally manual. Like for example I have it pull automatically from my email so when I make park reservations (I’m an AP) it will put those in my trip itinerary without me having to do anything. The main thing I find it useful for is pulling in things I would normally need to make manual notes for in MDE like certain recreation things (resort cabanas don’t show up in it and neither do spa appts), and third party dining I book on OpenTable. Also it’s synced to Calendar so I get the reminders of “hey! it’s time to start heading to ____”. Here’s a redacted screenshot so you can see what I mean (I cropped the times off too fyi but they show up on the left).

 

[daae3]

Thanks for this thread…I have been old school in the past and just list everything in a note…. but I’m going to try both these app!

 

[pooch]

By the time I’m ready to go, I’ve obsessed over my plans so much, I have them memorized!! I’m my own spreadsheet/app!

 

[SteveAZee]

I'm a spreadsheet person to help organize my days at Disney. This year I'm throwing things at ChatGPT to optimize some of the more complex aspects of planning and it's helping.

 

[Headless]

I use a google spreadsheet from the initial 'hey what days should our next trip babe' up until the day we leave. I've been honing mine for the past couple years. It's grown across a couple tabs that help me organize but also prompt me not to forget something.

cover gives when we are going, where, flight info, who is coming with us. If there will be parties when we are there what date am I aiming for and what date can I book it. do I have my tickets booked. I put check marks on this page.

Next tab is broken down calendar for the days we are there. It's all color coded by the parks we will be at for that day. For my wife and I that just means what park we are starting in because we will hope away on a whim. Top of the day shows what resort we are in as this is where I track my split stays then if I have a dining reservation for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I also put after hours parties here so I don't overlap an ADR at a time I need to be clear in another area. I also have boxes open for 'special things' like if we book a safari.

The next two tabs are more brainstorming. I track what I think I want and when I want an ADR as well as keep notes on grocery lists that my wife or whoever is joining us wants.

I love doing it on google docs. I can add or reference wherever I am and like with this trip when we have people coming with us I can send it over to them so they can see and do there bits accordingly. When I first started looking for a planner the ones I found where either not what I wanted or went to deep. I saw some which went hourly and that seems like overkill.

 

[pooch]

Wow and my family thinks I’m an obsessive planner!!

 

[noisykid]

I use a google spreadsheet from the initial 'hey what days should our next trip babe' up until the day we leave. I've been honing mine for the past couple years. It's grown across a couple tabs that help me organize but also prompt me not to forget something.

cover gives when we are going, where, flight info, who is coming with us. If there will be parties when we are there what date am I aiming for and what date can I book it. do I have my tickets booked. I put check marks on this page.

Next tab is broken down calendar for the days we are there. It's all color coded by the parks we will be at for that day. For my wife and I that just means what park we are starting in because we will hope away on a whim. Top of the day shows what resort we are in as this is where I track my split stays then if I have a dining reservation for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I also put after hours parties here so I don't overlap an ADR at a time I need to be clear in another area. I also have boxes open for 'special things' like if we book a safari.

The next two tabs are more brainstorming. I track what I think I want and when I want an ADR as well as keep notes on grocery lists that my wife or whoever is joining us wants.

I love doing it on google docs. I can add or reference wherever I am and like with this trip when we have people coming with us I can send it over to them so they can see and do there bits accordingly. When I first started looking for a planner the ones I found where either not what I wanted or went to deep. I saw some which went hourly and that seems like overkill.

Would love to see a copy of this!