I find that most of the planning that occurs, either with many of the details people post about on here or in our own experience, is done because of ADR's. First you make the ADR's, then you have to plan around them because the ADR's are in certain parks at certain times of day. It can get to be a lot like work.
We've been there and done that recently, mainly because we've gotten the free dining package once and then paid for the
DDP twice since then.
We're thinking about going again in October, but we haven't even gotten a room ressie or park tickets. We don't need to do that bit of planning so early this year, because with the weak economy, I've seen every single resort with plenty of availability for the week we'd like to go, plus we're affected by the economy and I don't know yet if we can afford it, but will know by mid-August.
But even if we do go, we're not going to do the DDP. To really make the DDP worth it, you really need to plan out all your TS meals with ADR's, because the "savings" of the plan is that you get one TS meal per day. But we normally would never eat that much per day, nor do we need to spend that much per day this time. So if we make any ADR's at all, this time we'll make them the week we're there when we have a better idea of which parks we feel like going to each day. I'd be perfectly fine just getting counter service meals for the most part, and a big breakfast in the resort, with maybe a Hoop De Doo meal in the middle of the week (need an ADR for this, definitely) for a break from CS food. We used to do it this way before we ever tried the DDP, and I have to say it was a more relaxed way of doing this for us. Whenever we felt like having a TS meal, we never had to wait more than 45 minutes or so for a table at even some places like Le Cellier. With the weaker economy and the free dining package being done for the year by the time we go, I really think we can return to a less ADR-filled vacation.
The one area of planning we will probably stick to is heavy use of fastpasses. It requires a little bit of tactical planning each day at the parks, but isn't that involved, and conversely can lead to a more relaxed day overall because you have some time to have a break that would not be spent in a long standby line.
In short, though, we will definitely "go with the flow" more this time (if we can go) than the last several trips where we've had all our room reservations, park tickets, ADR's, etc. planned out weeks, even months, in advance.
I have lists of things to buy, bring etc taped to the walls of my office and I add tips and items from this board everyday.
