Going From a Mega-Planner to Laid Back - Is It Possible?

[Dr Gunnie]

My family of four has been to Disney 3 times over the last three years and we stay on site. I'm the planner - I have the spread sheets, do the fast passes, have everything planned out weeks ahead of time and color coded. Reservations, parks every day, arriving a rope drop... I'm sure a lot of you are like that too. Well, I think that type of vacation has taken it's toll on my kids where they were wanting something different because they didn't like the rushing around and the sometimes hectic pace - they really wanted to just relax for this next trip.

We are going to be going in June again and this time we are going to go low key. Will be there for five full days, but only going to get two days of parks (staying at Beach Club and just doing parks so we can stroll around Epcot and have some meals there). It's really going to be a sleep in, hang out by the pool, stroll around the boardwalk type of experience. It's going to be totally different for me - kind of looking forward to it, but it's really out of my comfort zone when it comes to Disney.

I guess my question is, has anyone else been a mega-planner like me and done a trip where it was a more laid back, hang by the pool type vacation? How was the experience for you? Crazy as it sounds, I'm a little nervous. We will still make a reservation or two, and maybe grab some fast passes, but is it possible to go from one extreme to the other? Would love to hear others who might have had a similar experience.

 

[Magpie]

I was a "mega-planner" for our first few trips. This was before FP, so I had written up detailed touring plans - rope drop, ride this, ride that... lunch, ride, etc. My husband said I was planning to storm the beaches of Normandy!

It worked, but gradually over time we found we didn't need it. We started deviating from the schedule. We began playing things by ear. I even started scheduling in time to be "spontaneous".

Interestingly, FP has assisted in the process of letting go and being more spontaneous. Now that I've got a couple "big" rides in my pocket, I feel much freer to just get on whatever we happen to walk past if it's got a short queue. No more trying to keep to a precise schedule. And booking my FPs in the morning, means we can park hop over to a different park in the afternoon, if we want. Or just spend the afternoon at our resort! Sometimes we skip our Fastpasses, if we've changed our mind about what we want to do.

For me, the way to be "laid-back" at Disney is...

1. Don't schedule more than 3 or 4 sit down meals in an 8 day vacation. Trust there'll be somewhere for you to eat, when you're hungry.

2. Have park hoppers.

3. Have ridden most everything at least once at some point in your life, so you won't feel you're missing out. (We have APs.)

Personally, I don't think I'd be happy just sitting at the pool for three days, with Epcot only a short walk away and me not able to set foot inside it. I'd rather have those tickets, even if I intend to sleep in and even if I might decide not to use them. I like having the freedom to go where I want.

Also, I find sitting beside a pool gets really boring - and hot! - after about 15 minutes.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Yes! I was a mega-planner for years and stopped doing it a few years ago. It was far too much stress. With most trips, now, I pick two or three must-do's and the rest is go-with-the-flow. It's really fun. I became amazed at how much the resorts have to offer - pools, pool parties, movies, etc. I am planning a little more for our upcoming December trip and I'm really regretting it (MVMCP really through a wrench in planning in trying to get events in during the party and it's causing more stress than it's worth, unfortunately). Next trip will be much more like yours!

 

[pitpat]

You can become more laid back after a few visits because you're not trying to hit "everything" anymore. Stroll around, hit your favorites and some things you missed or off the beaten path stuff...

But I couldn't do only 2 park days, especially being there for 5.

 

[disneyvoice]

After years of super planning my DH and I ONLY do laid back trips now. You can still have the fun of pre-planning yet have a laid back trip. I still figure out the best days for each park and get FPs and ADRs based upon that schedule. But I make those plans knowing they are only tentative. If we want to sleep in later than planned we do it. If we get tired and want to leave a park early we do it. If we aren't hungry or want to eat someplace else we cancel (reschedule) our ADR. We are perfectly happy if we decide we just want to get something at a QS place instead of have a big meal. We don't race back and forth to fit in as many rides as possible. If we are no where near an attraction when it's time for our FP we simply cancel it or change it to something else. If a line is more than about 20 or 30 minutes we just skip that ride. We spend a LOT of time just enjoying the sights and I have found that I enjoy taking my bigger camera to take pictures. We spend a lot of time at Epcot just kind of strolling around and enjoy the countries. Many of our meals end up being appetizers and drinks in a WDW bar. We go to one of the water parks, rent one of the umbrella spaces and take a nap. I also bring a coloring book and colored pencils and color in the shade - it's awesome!!

I wouldn't limit yourself to only two days at the parks. Instead I would just enjoy that you will be at WDW for 5 days and do whatever you feel like doing each day. How old are your kids? My DH and I gained an entirely new appreciation for WDW when our son was old enough to go off by himself. At 10 we allowed him to go to rides by himself and then meet us right after he got off. By 12 he was doing the parks by himself, including using the WDW transportation by himself. We would check in with him via text and then sometimes meet for meals, other times he preferred to just grab a hot dog and ride Space Mountain all day long. That was when I realized how much I LOVED being laid back at WDW.

The thing I think can be hard for people to get over when they attempt to do "laid back" at WDW is the thought that you have to do as much as possible to get your money's worth. We decided that we were spending X amount of money on our WDW vacation which happened to include tickets for each day we were there. But we agreed that we wouldn't care of we "wasted" a ticket day because we decided to do something besides a theme park one day. There are often days that we just hand out at the resort or go to Disney Springs and then maybe go to Epcot ONLY for dinner.

I think you will find that you LOVE being laid back at WDW. We actually find our WDW trips to be very relaxing now. If we get tired we leave and take a nap or we just find a bench and sit and talk. It's so nice not to get home from a WDW trip and feel like I need days to recover from the experience.

 

[Klayfish]

You can become more laid back after a few visits because you're not trying to hit "everything" anymore. Stroll around, hit your favorites and some things you missed or off the beaten path stuff...

But I couldn't do only 2 park days, especially being there for 5.

Yep, exactly this. I could never do just 2 park days if I'm in WDW for 5 days. But from the planning perspective, yes, you absolutely can do that. We were never planners to the extent OP is. Never did a spreadsheet, etc... But we did rope drops, had clear plans and agendas, etc...for our first trip. We quickly realized it definitely wasn't for us. The trip we just completed for Thanksgiving...I kid you not...we sketched out our plans on the back of a Dunkin' Donuts napkin. Simply wrote what park we wanted to "try" to be in on which day so that I could make FP+ at 30 days (we stay offsite and bring our own food in) and that was it. We slept in as long as we wanted, changed plans pretty much daily...well, to be fair we did stick to the parks that were on the napkin but changed rides, did impromptu things after finishing our first 3 FP+, etc...

We wouldn't have it any other way. I could never do a vacation that required a spreadsheet.

 

[Mome Rath]

I've been going for about 30 years and have been at every point on the continuum, even the teenage, "I don't want to go, fine, you made me, I'm not going to enjoy it," stage and I will say this; if you've been a mega-planner it is actually a lot easier and efficient to transition to laid back because you already know how it all works and you can make good decisions on the fly. Definitely try it, you may love it and if not you can always switch back.

 

[srwarden1928]

I am a planner when it comes to WDW. Maybe not to the extent that some are, but a planner nonetheless. If I am in WDW I want as much park time as possible and as many attractions as possible. I do say attractions, not rides, because some of the shows and walk through attractions are as important to me as the rides. I can appreciate a laid back, sleep in, lay around type of vacation. When that is the vacation I want, I don't go to WDW; I go to the beach.

 

[labdogs42]

I'm a reformed mega-planner. Although, I do still have a spreadsheet LOL. But, the things on the spreadsheet are flexible. I still try to pick what park we will be at on which day and do some dining reservations, so that's all that's on the sheet, really. We just got back from a pretty laid back Thanksgiving trip, actually. I don't like to do the go-go-go trips anymore and knowing that we will be back again sometimes soon takes the pressure off having to "do it all".

 

[prprincess]

Former mega-planner here. I still have a park day/FP+/TS spreadsheet for trips that we plan months in advance, but lately we have been taking super spur of the moment trips where we just have winged it. With that being said, I still think that there are some aspects that should be planned, but otherwise, we take it easy and go with the flow. We've been so often that we've done mostly everyone once, and so if we miss out on something, we know we'll be back and will be able to do it in the future.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I'm letting go of the planning stress. When I saw how many "hard to get" ADRs were available the night before during Thanksgiving week I was floored. I am not going to worry about them as much. We also didn't rope drop every single day and it was just fine.

The only thing I will get up early for is FP, because FoP is worth the struggle.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Sure.

How much you plan is really all about you and your comfort level.

Take what you know, and use it only to strategize instead of explicitly planning details, though it is very hard to avoid all rushing at WDW. That's kind of how the whole place is structured.

Like if you have an ADR, but the boat/bus/monorail is slow to arrive. Sometimes the only way to make that ADR or FP time window is to rush. Maybe WDW will someday find a way to fix the problems, but for now, they just are.

Then again....

You might try going to Universal, getting hopper tickets, and staying at one of the three deluxe onsite hotels for the Express Pass. Express Pass really helps us to slow down.

We also go to places beyond the mouse. We used to attempt on-sight non-park days, but the cost of the on-sight hotels is now absurd. We do worlds better spending a few days in a place like Tampa. We get better hotel+food for less $, and spend a lazy day at the beach or something less stressful than WDW.

 

[heidijanesmith]

As we get older and just going as adults DH has put his foot down on my commando type touring. I can totally relate to your style.

I still plan; ADR's, FP+, park hours and get park hoppers. I just now plan 1/2 days. We will take a morning off or an evening off everyday. I will also plan a water park in the AM, TL is our favorite!!

We have been staying in June also at the EPCOT resorts recently as well. It's so nice to just stroll into EPCOT when ever we feel like a spontaneous trip.

 

[DisneyFive]

Nope, I cannot imagine going away from my planning ways.

Hope you have a great time. Love the look and feel of the Beach Club area of WDW.

Dan

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I try to do a different trip each time, so we've tackled the parks all kinds of different ways. My go-to would be what I consider minimal planning - pick a park, make key ADRs based on park choice, and make FP+ reservations. We also try to do Universal each trip, and just by design, it is a lot more laid back. We enjoy not having to be anywhere at a specific time sometimes.

 

[tlmadden73]

My family of four has been to Disney 3 times over the last three years and we stay on site. I'm the planner - I have the spread sheets, do the fast passes, have everything planned out weeks ahead of time and color coded. Reservations, parks every day, arriving a rope drop... I'm sure a lot of you are like that too. Well, I think that type of vacation has taken it's toll on my kids where they were wanting something different because they didn't like the rushing around and the sometimes hectic pace - they really wanted to just relax for this next trip.

We are going to be going in June again and this time we are going to go low key. Will be there for five full days, but only going to get two days of parks (staying at Beach Club and just doing parks so we can stroll around Epcot and have some meals there). It's really going to be a sleep in, hang out by the pool, stroll around the boardwalk type of experience. It's going to be totally different for me - kind of looking forward to it, but it's really out of my comfort zone when it comes to Disney.

I guess my question is, has anyone else been a mega-planner like me and done a trip where it was a more laid back, hang by the pool type vacation? How was the experience for you? Crazy as it sounds, I'm a little nervous. We will still make a reservation or two, and maybe grab some fast passes, but is it possible to go from one extreme to the other? Would love to hear others who might have had a similar experience.

Sure. I like to plan for my trips, but I wouldn't consider myself a mega-planner.

You've been there before .. so why not be laid back? To me that's what makes WDW magical .. just experiencing it and stopping to smell the roses! There is so much to see that doesn't need a dining or fast pass reservation. You'll be fine!

I've done the following on some on my recent trips (with younger kids) which I consider "laid" back and flexible
1) Only one ADR a day (if at all) .. and it has to be in the park you are planning on that day.
2) Plan fast passes for the morning (done by lunch) so you have the afternoon wide open for whatever .. going back to the resort, shopping, getting a 4th fast pass, just wandering around and grabbing a snack or seeing a show.
3) Leave early .. as much as I would love to stay until closing time, that creates some tired, cranky folks that night or the next day.
4) Have a day "off" that is strictly for resort exploring (either your own or just taking a bus/boat to another resort to check it out).
5) Explore Disney Springs on a day off as well.

Sure .. maybe we didn't get on all the big rides, or maybe we weren't "efficient" with our time, but we got to spend time seeing things that we may not have if we were on a tight schedule .. like street shows, or getting photo pass shots taken, or playing in a playground, seeing a wandering character, etc. etc. etc.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I am a planner when it comes to WDW. Maybe not to the extent that some are, but a planner nonetheless. If I am in WDW I want as much park time as possible and as many attractions as possible. I do say attractions, not rides, because some of the shows and walk through attractions are as important to me as the rides. I can appreciate a laid back, sleep in, lay around type of vacation. When that is the vacation I want, I don't go to WDW; I go to the beach.

This is why I like to try to distinguish between planning and strategizing.

I absolutely try to maximize how much we strategize, but try to minimize how much we plan (specific things to happen at specific times).

Vacation highlights tend to follow one of two paths:
1. Repeating an old favorite
2. totally unexpected surprises

I plan a few #1's, but strategize ways to allow as many #2's as possible.

Planning allows all of us to know what we enjoy. Strategizing allows us to go with the flow in the moment.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

3) Leave early .. as much as I would love to stay until closing time, that creates some tired, cranky folks that night or the next day.

I have to chuckle because after dark is our favorite time to be in the parks!

While part of me would prefer a later start, I also appreciate mornings in the parks. It isn't even lower crowds per say, as much as the parks are pretty/refreshed in the morning that makes the mornings enjoyable for us.

 

[KenHutch]

I admire you for the attempt to go laid back but I could never do it. As an IT Project Manager I organize everything. I make vacations for the girls as seamless as possible. I even plan the CS meals we go to. And since this can drive girls crazy I schedule a shopping day in town for them every year while I go resort hopping and try not to think of them "Just Winging It". Works well for us (LOL).

 

[Lovetherodent]

I don't think I can. I may try, though! Going with my girls in March, but what if a year from now I went with just the H to see the decorations? I usually don't want to take him because he tours like a Labrador puppy, wandering about with no real purpose beyond the squirrel he saw. But, if I kept telling myself that my goal was to see the decorations, maybe I could do it?