Frequent visitors. How do you reign yourself in from overplanning?

[eeyoresmom]

Ok so I am in charge of planning for our trip next month. DH doesn't want anything to do with it. I love Disney and go at least twice a year. DH likes it's but goes around once every year and a half. I'm getting less and less excited about the trip as I keep adding park days and ADRs We are going for 4 nights and 5 days and originally I had planned on 2 park days, then 3 and now with the new dvc ticket, 4. At first I think "we will skip AK and only do a half day at MK this trip." Then I think "I can't miss Wishes and Kilimanjaro Safari. ...." The more plans I make the less excited I am for the trip it seems. Anyone else like this? Any advice?

 

[bwvBound]

Ah, so consider this trip a break-over point. It sounds like this trip is partly shaped by your ticket selection ... but perhaps it to be the last trip of its kind for the time being. Allow the next trip to be more "freeform, go-with-the-flow" where your only plan is: DO LESS. Look forward to more spontaneity anchored with a small selection of "must do" dining or attraction choices.

Its OK to 'do less.' Many of us are doing that and enjoying it!

 

[SarahInMN]

Ok so I am in charge of planning for our trip next month. DH doesn't want anything to do with it. I love Disney and go at least twice a year. DH likes it's but goes around once every year and a half. I'm getting less and less excited about the trip as I keep adding park days and ADRs We are going for 4 nights and 5 days and originally I had planned on 2 park days, then 3 and now with the new dvc ticket, 4. At first I think "we will skip AK and only do a half day at MK this trip." Then I think "I can't miss Wishes and Kilimanjaro Safari. ...." The more plans I make the less excited I am for the trip it seems. Anyone else like this? Any advice?

I married into a Disney family - so my first few trips I planned and scheduled and went overboard. From trip three going forward, we started scheduling our favorite meals (mostly dinners but a few lunches) and did everything else on the fly. It was much more relaxing and we've done things that we wouldn't have done in my overplanning days: like snacking our way around the MK food carts for example.

I don't know how to tell you to let go of the bulk of the planning but I think you'll find the trip more fun. Make short lists of "must dos" for each park and just work around those plans.

now with the new dvc ticket

What is this new DVC ticket? I must have missed something: I've been off the boards for several months because we didn't have an upcoming trip (but now we do so I'm back)

 

[DizBub]

I have given up on making too many plans. Too stressful. We've been there so many times and go often enough that if we don't do something this time we will hit it on the next trip.

On our up-coming trip after Thanksgiving we have 1 ADR and I just spent some time setting up FP+ for a few days......it made me cranky and stopped halfway through. Realized I would have to know what park I may want to be in on any certain day and get FPs for things I don't want to do just to get 1.

We enjoy our trips more when they aren't too structured. Try it, you may enjoy yourself more just winging it.

 

[ElizabethG]

I like to plan everything. It's a personality trait of mine (it's a gift and a curse). I get as much enjoyment out of the planning as I get out of the trip itself. However, if I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it. If I were you, I would try a trip where you just play everything by ear. The thought of that would have me waking up in a cold sweat at night, but some people really enjoy it.

get FPs for things I don't want to do just to get 1.

FWIW, you can cancel the FP+ reservations that you don't want to leave yourself with only one FP+ scheduled.

 

[ElizabethG]

What is this new DVC ticket? I must have missed something: I've been off the boards for several months because we didn't have an upcoming trip (but now we do so I'm back)

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3328373

 

[El&Asmom]

I used to plan every bit of our trip. And that was when our kids were babies! Now I just go with the flow. Part of it is being DVC, we don't eat out a ton as it's too expensive with a family of 5 soon to be 6 with our son coming home from China this winter. The kids don't appreciate the overpriced food, and it makes more sense to make a quick meal in the villa in between visits to the pool and parks. Without ADRs every day, we can play it by ear much easier. We have only had one trip with MB and that was when they were still rolling it out so you didn't have to book FPs weeks in advance like you do now.

I want to relax on vacation and planning months in advance is not fun anymore. Especially now that our kids are old enough to have input so we decide what they want to do when we are there.

 

[com_op_2000]

DW and I have always been go with the flow vacationers.
FP+ & ADRs seem to force most people into planning the whole trip ahead of time. I find that to be too much.
We prefer to just sit back and do what we want when we want. We have never made an ADR nor will we. There are so many options to eat at WDW that if I can not just walk up and have a seat, then I will go somewhere else.
FP+ is a headache to me, planning which park to be in days/months ahead of time. Advanced FP+ planning is taking all the spontaneity out of our trips and part of how we enjoy the parks.

 

[disneynutz]

On vacation or running to your next event or ADR? Disney isn't going anywhere and you will be back in a few months so what's the rush?

We stopped planning for the most part. A couple of ADR's and a few park days (maybe) based on crowd projections. We try to stay flexible and do what we want, when we want. Some days we sleep in, other days we just do our favorite rides and attractions and come back to our resort.

We learned early on that we can't control everything, rain, heat, people, delays, attraction breakdowns, poor service, bugs, dirty rooms, stuff happens. Having these things pop up that aren't on your schedule just makes things more stressful and a luxury vacation shouldn't be stressful.

Bill

 

[eeyoresmom]

Thanks everyone. I'm feeling a little better about it today. There's just so much great stuff that DH doesn't see regularly (Osborne Lights, etc), that I am finding it challenging to experience and have adequate downtime. As far as the dvc special ticket (which got me started on the over planning ) here's my thinking: At an average cost per day over just $50 it makes financial sense to use this over the $80 per day nonexpiring ph we already have. I am going to change all of our fp's to late morning. That way if we feel like taking a whole afternoon and or evening off we can and I won't feel like we are wasting an expensive ticket day.

 

[eeyoresmom]

Ok, so I did change all the FP's to late morning or very early afternoon. We are ropedroppers anyway so now there's a bit more potential for free time in the evenings if we choose. Also switched our TS dining to two on our arrival day Saturday ( Sanaa lunch and Boma dinner,we are just hanging around AKL all day anyway), and Biergarten dinner on Monday. Thats it for ADR's. Feeling a little better. Someone else mentioned it,but with FP and ADR's you have to plan....I don't mind getting shut out of certain attractions or restaurants myself, but DH doesn't ho as often so I feel compelled to plan

 

[eeyoresmom]

On vacation or running to your next event or ADR? Disney isn't going anywhere and you will be back in a few months so what's the rush?

We stopped planning for the most part. A couple of ADR's and a few park days (maybe) based on crowd projections. We try to stay flexible and do what we want, when we want. Some days we sleep in, other days we just do our favorite rides and attractions and come back to our resort.

We learned early on that we can't control everything, rain, heat, people, delays, attraction breakdowns, poor service, bugs, dirty rooms, stuff happens. Having these things pop up that aren't on your schedule just makes things more stressful and a luxury vacation shouldn't be stressful.

Bill

Bill, its funny but once there none of that matters to me. I never complain about room issues , broken attractions etc. I really go with the flow and spend a lot of time just soaking up the atmosphere. Its the preplanming I get carried away with, annoying myself!

 

[disneynutz]

Bill, its funny but once there none of that matters to me. I never complain about room issues , broken attractions etc. I really go with the flow and spend a lot of time just soaking up the atmosphere. Its the preplanming I get carried away with, annoying myself!

I guess it matters from a planning perspective. Having a FP for a ride to find out that it broke just before you get there from across the park, missing an ADR because you are in your room waiting for a manager to inspect your room or because you are soaking wet after a downpour. The point that I was trying to make is that best made plan can often not be a plan at all, so we don't plan.

Bill

 

[eeyoresmom]

Totally get that. Sometimes when it is just DD and I we will just do "whatever" for the second half of a longer stay. This trip is just the 4 nights and there are a few "must do's", hence the fp and adr's.....

 

[WilsonFlyer]

You know, my (now) wife took me kicking and screaming to WDW the first time about 20 years ago. We didn't even know anything about no planning. We just went. I wasn't ever going back anyway.

FF about a hundred trips...

We still don't "plan." Never have and never will. Can't even imagine putting ourselves under that kind of pressure on vacation! We go 2-3-4 times per year, depending on the year, and if we don't do something this time, we'll do it next time.

We take advantage of FP+ (and see it as an advantage) and make an occasional ADR but that's about it. Outside our FPs, we rarely even know which park we're going to when we walk out of our DVC that particular morning (or afternoon). Yep. You heard that right. That's how we roll.

It may not work for everybody but it works for us. I'm on vacation and I'm going back until I can't walk anymore. It's all about the moments with the family at WDW to us. We enjoy the moments and we have been blessed with many, and most of them were unplanned and unrehearsed.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

On vacation or running to your next event or ADR? Disney isn't going anywhere and you will be back in a few months so what's the rush?

We stopped planning for the most part. A couple of ADR's and a few park days (maybe) based on crowd projections. We try to stay flexible and do what we want, when we want. Some days we sleep in, other days we just do our favorite rides and attractions and come back to our resort.

We learned early on that we can't control everything, rain, heat, people, delays, attraction breakdowns, poor service, bugs, dirty rooms, stuff happens. Having these things pop up that aren't on your schedule just makes things more stressful and a luxury vacation shouldn't be stressful.

Bill

This. Exactly this.