Going back after 4 year hiatus

[deebs]

We are going to WDW in November 2014. It's been 4 years since our last trip, but we've been to Disneyland. So much has changed. We have 5 day hoppers and the free dining plan. In 2010, we could be spontaneous and pick a park, pick a restaurant etc. I booked 2 weeks ago and now I'm thinking of canceling. It's too much work and too planned out. How do you make it fun. I can't even get dining reservations for restaurants I want, and the family is arguing about what park to visit twice. Once upon a time, we could wake up and choose a park, but with fastpasses, you need to know in advance. Please convince me it's worth it, and let me know how you decide which parks which days etc. thx

 

[mcconnellfam96]

Since you have park hoppers, you have the flexibility to visit any park twice! To decide which park to schedule two days of FPs, I would decide which park has the most e-ticket rides you are interested in. For us, this would (hands-down) be MK.

Since ADRs are hard to come by for you, maybe you could try some new places that are less busy? If there are any must-dos that you can get at odd times, you could let that make you decision on which park to be on what day. (i.e., if you MUST do Crystal Palace and they have a 9:30 p.m. reservation one evening, make that an evening you will be in MK).

When you are at DHS or EPCOT - if all the in-park ADRs are limited, look at what is available around the Boardwalk area. You can take a break from the park and head over by boat to your ADR.

Good luck! While the new system is more planning, it still makes for an enjoyable trip!

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

I think you can still manage without FP. Wake up, spontaneously decide which park you want to visit and get there for RD. You'll still get a crack at the main rides with little standby times. As far as food goes, no matter the park, you can always find a place that is taking walkups. If there are places you truly desire that are unavailable, keep the web page for that restaurant in a window on your cpu minimized with the date/time you want. Every so often pull it up and refresh it. Something may pop up. Whole process takes less than 10 seconds.

 

[Beer Me]

My last visit was 5 years ago. I read about the difficult ADRs and FP+ and stressed out about planning for a few days. It was made worse by the fact that I was planning just a few weeks in advance. It seemed hopeless, like there would be no restaurants or FPs available.

Anyway, about 6 weeks in advance I booked a week at CBR, made dining reservations (there were plenty of choices but granted I wasn't trying for the hottest ADRs) and got all the FPs I wanted. We chose which days for each park almost randomly. I probably spent no more than 1 hour on the entire process.

 

[Disfan1968]

I am like a dog. I do like routine. I like knowing and planning what park I go to which day. I don't overplan. Really all I plan is what park I am doing, make an ADR and book fastpass+. Other than that I wing it. It's not really that much planning, but you might want to be on top of your 180 and 60 day marks.