First-timers w/ no pre-planning horror stories?

[DLBDS]

Just what kind of experience do these folks have that do no pre-planning ahead of time? Not sure I will get any replies as everyone here is pretty much 'in the know'. Probably just those that can share the stories of others, I guess. What are their strategies going in, if any? It just seems impossible to me that someone could just, on a whim, decide they want to take the fam to WDW next month and actually enjoy it and have a magical time. It's kinda sad really, when you think about it. Knowing the experience they could have had compared to the train-wreck-experience they actually had. With the introduction of FP+ you have to really sit down and formulate a literal plan of attack. And it's not easy! Kinda takes 'going commando' to a whole new level. Anyone?

 

[siskaren]

Even without FP+, I don't think you could go for a first time trip without any pre-planning. I did my first trip in '93, booking only about 6 weeks in advance, and I bought a guide book and followed their itinerary suggestions.

 

[NavyDad]

Just what kind of experience do these folks have that do no pre-planning ahead of time? Not sure I will get any replies as everyone here is pretty much 'in the know'. Probably just those that can share the stories of others, I guess. What are their strategies going in, if any? It just seems impossible to me that someone could just, on a whim, decide they want to take the fam to WDW next month and actually enjoy it and have a magical time. It's kinda sad really, when you think about it. Knowing the experience they could have had compared to the train-wreck-experience they actually had. With the introduction of FP+ you have to really sit down and formulate a literal plan of attack. And it's not easy! Kinda takes 'going commando' to a whole new level. Anyone?

I posted recently about the experience of a couple I work with and their two boys:

No idea which parks they were going to each day. Bought tickets at the gate. No FP reserved. No ADR's - just walked up and ate wherever "looked good". They did plan to get to the parks early each day which was good. They made their hotel reservations about a week before they left and it was Spring Break. I was horrified and their lack of planning. I tried to help and they looked at me like I was crazy LOL

They had a great time though. Rode everything they wanted. The whole family LOVED the food (Pizza Planet LOL). Spent a lot of time at the pool. Basically had fun and relaxing, stress free family vacation.

I did all of the stressing for them

 

[NavyDad]

On another note when we did our first trip years ago we spent the first 3 hours looking at Main Street, the Castle and only rode 1 ride before Noon. By 1 PM we figured out FP and we were set for the rest of the trip

 

[BudgieMama]

I could tell you in a few months. My brother is going on his honeymoon. They have nothing booked, despite my explaining about ADRs, FP+ and crowd calendars, etc. My brother is planning to just turn up at whichever park they decide the day before.

 

[Monykalyn]

On another note when we did our first trip years ago we spent the first 3 hours looking at Main Street, the Castle and only rode 1 ride before Noon. By 1 PM we figured out FP and we were set for the rest of the trip

Haha - this sounds like our first family trip in 2004-we got there early (RD) because my husband had it set in his mind that he absolutely needed a haircut in the Barber shop on Main street. Now this is not a 15 minute clip but an hour+ long production with singing, telling of tales etc. Quite entertaining once I got over being annoyed that we were there at opening and spent > hour for his haircut As it turned out-that was back when the characters all met around the square in front of City Hall-my daughters got to meet, greet, hug many many characters they probably wouldn't have seen otherwise! No need for FP or even formal lines.

But we did catch on to fastpass at Epcot-especially once we figured out we only needed 2 fp and do a rider swap with the baby.

Course this was "back in the day" of actual low crowd periods (absolute dumb luck on my part-we just set a week without research at all-turns out the week after President's day -when we went-is very slow)

Because of my obsession (and planning last year) I don't think my kids really understand that most people expect to wait in lines at the parks. The longest wait for us was 40 min at BTMR (and that was only because Splash had just gone down and a couple tour groups rushed the line before we got ourselves in line).

 

[Jennytoon]

I think it depends on the expectations and the length and time of stay.

I've commented elsewhere about being an OCD planner, but on our first trip with kids in 2009 we decided to go three weeks in advance -- backstory there, not interesting -- and did no planning other than where to stay (off-site), how to get there (drove from MA), how long to go for (two weeks) and what tickets to buy (10-day hopper w/ water parks). That was it. DH and I had been before a couple of times in the foggy distant past, so far as to be the pre-FP, pre-DDP era, so I think it's fair to say that we were functionally first-timers or close to it.

We expected to wait in some lines, and we did, but if we felt like they were too long, we just skipped the attraction. We expected to not see absolutely every last thing, so we didn't mind when we skipped some things because of long lines -- we would either get them on a later day since we were there such a long time, or not and that was fine with us. We expected to not spend all day in the park, because we went in August and our youngest was 1 1/2 and still needed to nap. We didn't actually expect that we would rarely come back after naptime, but that was how it turned out - if we had been there for only a week we probably would have made more of an effort to come back in evenings. We didn't expect to eat in TS -- we did try to walk up once at Coral Reef because DH really wanted to, but when they didn't have space we shrugged and moved on. We didn't expect it to be fast to get food at CS right at lunchtime -- so we used the same strategies we use with museums, other parks, or any other place that experiences crowds around popular eating times, and they worked great. We did figure out FP- on our first day, but due to our touring schedule (arrive at RD, leave by 12:30-1), we didn't really use more than 1 or 2 at most per day and weren't reliant on them.

We had the most amazing time. It was so good that I was afraid to go back in 2011, because I was worried that it wouldn't be as awesome and would tarnish the memory of that first time.

Do I think that same experience is possible today? Yes, yes I do. I think the three important factors that helped us to have such a great time were exactly as I stated in the beginning:

• Length of stay -- we had a long time there, but could easily have had a great experience in a shorter time given that we measured our experience by what we did do, and not by what we didn't do.
• Time of stay -- we didn't go at 9/10 crowd level, we had 5-8 our whole trip.
• We had reasonable expectations, based on relatively common knowledge of people logistics at any kind of amusement park or tourist attraction, and because we weren't aiming for an unattainable standard, our expectations were more than exceeded.

 

[Boski]

Well I just booked our trip this week for the end of May. Basically everything lined up and we said lets do it. I can tell you I've experienced some pain and I've got a fairly good idea of what I'm doing. I can't imagine what those who don't have a basic idea of how everything works manages it.

 

[crewsn]

This is not from me, but a casual friend, ya know the kind. From my high school now just talk some on Facebook. We talked a lot about disney since we were both going last year. I tried to help some.. Pointing her to planning sutes, per booking. Nope.

Her and her family decided to go during spring break. Did they have to, no because their child is not in school yet. She just thought it would be a good time of year to go. She made no real plans, but did get the regular meal plan. She thought there would be no issue getting in to character meals or dining.

When she came back she told me how the crowds were heel to heel walking. They only got to ride 2 or 3 rides a day due to the waits. So she obviously never did fastpass either. The crowds were so bad she had wait 30 mins to an hour for buses because a lot of the buses would be full when coming to pick up. They did luck out and get two dining spots that opened up trying yo wait, but she talked about how they spent a lot of the time trying to book things once they got down there realizing they couldn't get in places and were just wasting the credits.

Felt bad for her especially based on costs she paid, but I don't understand how you can book such a trip and not do any ore planning or at least somewhat look into things.

 

[Jfsag123]

I know of 3 people who went on family trips with no pre-planning. They all came back complaining that it was crowded and all they did was stand in line. I was careful to bite my tongue. They didn't want my advice before the trip, so I'm sure they wouldn't want my "told ya so" after the trip.

I feel sad for the uninformed masses, but also grateful to them, as their lack of knowledge is what allows my family to go during one of the highest crowd periods of the year and barely wait in any lines.

 

[williamscm3]

A coworker of mine showed up for a day at MK with her kids during spring break at around noon and said it was hot, crowded, there were no fast passes left for any headliner, and they only rode a few rides. She comes back to tell everyone how horrible Disney was and how no one should visit there. I asked why she waited till noon to show up and her response was that she figured by then most of the people in the park would have left for a nap already! Geez

 

[xlsm]

Most of the people I know personally know that you need to do a little planning. Mainly because if they're first timers I tell them they need to at least do a google search. I try not to get involved in planning unless someone asks me directly, because I can't handle disorganized Disney planning. To each their own, just don't talk to me about how the lines were long and you didn't know about ADRs, LOL!!

DH works with some people who have made recent trips, and one guy didn't even know you could go to resorts you weren't staying at and eat. His parents take them every year for the last 7 years and they have never been anywhere but Magic Kingdom and Epcot!! They only eat at the same few restaurants. He thought all rooms onsite cost over $500/night. We opened up his eyes. Another couple goes every year or two and didn't know you could book anything online or that you can book ADRs 180 days out. To me that's 100 times worse than someone who has never been before. I can't imagine traveling to Disney that frequently and being that clueless.

Editing to add: It only bothers me because the latter couple comes home and complains about how they can't ever get into any restaurants they want, and how they never get to do anything. I'm not sure why they keep going if they come home so miserable??

I agree with a poster who said ignorance is bliss, because the fun is what you make it. If you don't know what you're "supposed" to do, and just embrace being in the middle of the magic, you should have a good time

 

[loutoo]

My first adult trip was my honeymoon January 2009. We picked parks on a whim, had no ADRs, toured at our own relaxed pace, had no idea what a crowd calendar was and used only one FP the entire trip. It was magical and what led to my current love of WDW. Sure, my current knowledge allows me to accomplish more than I did on that trip, but nothing can replace the awe of discovery from that first unplanned trip.

 

[MinnieLovesMickey]

DH and I took our first trip in December of 2007. The only planning we really did was our ADRs and that our first park was going to be MK. For our first ride, we actually put all of the attractions in MK in a hat and drew one out, it was Stitch's Great Escape. The only kind of research I did was the Passporter book, Birnbaum's Official Guide, and All Ears for the menus, I was not really familiar with The DIS at the time. We also paid rack rate for our trip!

 

[Abbey1]

My husband and I travelled to WDW about 5 years ago with no planning other than our hotel reservation and park hopper tickets. We didn't use a single fast pass and never made a single ADR. We still had a fantastic time!

Sure, now that I've read the guidebooks, blogs, forums, etc, I realize that we weren't utilizing our time the best. But I think Disney World is pretty amazing no matter how you do it.

That being said, now that we have a 3 year old, I plan EVERYTHING! I think it's fun both ways.

 

[KathyM2]

I think whoever said it's all about your expectations of what you hope to get done in a day, hit the nail on the head. If you do no planning but expect to have to wait some, and not expect to get on every ride, you will still have a good time. That said, who I really pity are the people who do no pre-planning AND also have a language barrier to deal with. It would really suck to not understand what's going on at Disney. But even though I'm a planner and enjoy the OCD'ness now required to plan a WDW vacation...sometimes I do long for a bit of spontenaity that is pretty hard to achieve these days. Like waking up and going "I feel like going to AK today" even though that's not what you thought the day before.

 

[SillySallySews]

The first time we went to Disney as a family I did very minimal planning. I booked our resort less than three weeks from when we left and made some ADRs, only because the CM who booked our stay recommended doing so. A friend of mine who has been to Disney a lot more than me gave me three tips:

1. Get there at RD
2. Look for FP's (old paper ones) on Tom Sawyer's Island
3. The crowd levels are going to be 8's so have a good plan

My thoughts (at the time) on those tips:
1. Yeah right. Get up early on vacation?!
2. FP who? What? Huh?
3. Have a plan? WTH does this even mean?

I ignored everything she said. We slept in, didn't use a single FP, we stood in lots of long lines, we backtracked all over the parks doing things in no particular order, we tried to drive everywhere and got lost eleventy billion times, and it rained every day. None of that mattered! We still had a fabulous magical time. But we were also blissfully ignorant. We didn't "know" everything we know now.

I think it's still totally possible to have a fun trip with minimal planning, so long as you have realistic expectations. I knew going into that first trip it was going to be stupid hot and humid in July. The Weather Channel told me to expect the rain. I knew it would be crowded because, duh, summer vacation. I expected my kids to be overwhelmed and melt down at least once a day. I expected to get lost driving around because if there was an award for that, my husband and I would be world champions lol. My expectations were low and I was pleasantly surprised. I've kept that in mind ever since and have yet to leave Disney feeling disappointed, other than being disappointed I have to go back home of course.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

If a family goes w/o any plan or knowledge of what lies ahead, I think 2 things will make or break the vacation.

#1 Are you a glass half full or a glass half empty kind of family.
#2 The heat and humidity level.

 

[Mikie]

I think to some extent, the folks who don't like to plan but still know about the level of planning others do are at the biggest disadvantage. They know what's out there, but don't want to jump through the hoops to do it a the "best" time in the "best" way. The totally clueless visitor doesn't know what they're missing and therefore, many times doesn't feel they missed anything!

I had a friend who's OCD planner in daily life, but a *total* kick-back relaxer for vacation, so wanted to hear NOTHING about my planning suggestions. They went in 5-8 level crowds, knew to arrive early at least a couple days and had a great time! No ADRs, the usual gripes about high prices of amusement park food, biggest complaint she readily admits was a mistake on their part pushing too hard past everyone's "happy point" to where everyone was past tired and past hungry and they wandered around looking for food in full on meltdown mode.

When asked what kinds of things they did, their list left out a lot of things I think their family would have liked, but they didn't know about them, so they have no idea they "missed" anything. Their days were action-packed, they waited in lines like any reasonable person would expect to do at a theme park but only got into lines with tolerable (to them) posted wait times, and came home exhausted but happy!

 

[Veggie]

Ignorance is bliss! I had two friends go with their families on a whim. They had all had a very good time, however, they both said they would plan more for the next trip. They didn't understand until they went there.