First timer here! Print-at-home planners??

[MollieW]

I know exactly the kind of planner you are talking about. There are similar ones all over etsy. There are some good resources in old threads here on the Dis. And, you don't have to pay for them!

I have done a lot of different planners for Disney trips over the last few years. I find it fun and like SaintsManiac said you can use it as sort of a scrapbook too. I love this aspect of the planning and have almost as much fun with it as the actual trip!

Here is a link to one I made using a composition book and Disney-themed stickers and scrapbook paper. This was fun and I added photos later.
http://disneyscrappers.ning.com/photo/albums/disney-2012-smashbook-2

http://www.disboards.com/threads/my-disney-planning-binder.2115381/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-planning-sheets.2903292/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-planning-spreadsheets.2524111/

Here is the Disigners Forum found at the bottom of the list of Disboard forums (there are also forums for Universal down there)
http://www.disboards.com/forums/creative-disigns.105/

There is also a Facebook group for people that use planners IRL (it's a huge thing these days) and they share how they set up their planners for their Disney trips. There are also a lot of etsy shops that create stickers for these planners too.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/disneyecplanning/

You may end up with a combination of methods. Track the more complicated stuff in spreadsheets, then as they get finalized you can print those to put in a full binder, or you can shrink them down to go in smaller binder, or like ElizabethG said, save them all as PDFs and send them to your iphone or ipad. I have done both too. Just make sure you have them uploaded and working properly before you leave. Other people take their final plans and copy them onto index cards as the final step and that is what they carry to the parks with them.

One last link that I think would help you as a first timer, is the ************** site. http://**************.net/

Keep reading the boards and asking questions (but always read a little upstream on a long thread before asking) and don't get sucked into the ones where people are moaning and groaning. There are lots of changes going on at Disney right now that have long-time repeat visitors in fits (myself included on some) and the recent delays with the whole River of Light show has been very disappointing and has created havoc for those of us that were planning around it. The Dis can be a very supportive community, especially if you get on one of the threads for a specific resort you want to stay at, or for a specific event like the Christmas Party or MNSSHP Party (although both of those groups are kinda antsy right now too because Disney hasn't released prices yet for this year!).

I could keep babbling on this stuff all day, but hopefully this will help you!

Thank you!! This was so helpful!!

 

[MollieW]

Hi
my name is Mel,,I am one of the DISigners on the Creative DIS Design forum(second last forum on this page)
I have some planning pages that you can download --look in my Photobucket
link in my signature
Hugs Mel

Thank you!!

 

[need2travel]

I'm old school too, I just have a binder, loose leaf, a hole punch & a really good pen. It's all I need, I just print out maps & stuff online then move over to the loose leaf. I make a page for Dining Musts, another for Dining Maybes, one for Must Do's (can be anything-parks, rides, golf, etc) & one for Maybe's (horseback riding, boat rental, etc). Then I start narrowing it all down plugging different things into different days until I know what I want to do on what days & where I want to eat. Before we leave I take out the map of each park & write the rides we want to do on the back w/ any FP times & the page w/ our dining info & we're off to Disney

 

[mindeola]

I just use a notebook to jot thoughts and work out plans and ideas. I finish off with an excel spreadsheet.

 

[redsbe]

I use small index cards, one for each day that I simply put into my back pocket each morning. List hours, FPs, meals, parades etc... with key times. Also have used notebook function on my phone (index cards as my backup in case phone dies). Never plan as detailed as hourly, but only the key highlights as we remain flexible as needed for rest of days activities. Without young kids getting to point where we avoid carrying much if anything into the parks.