Going next week just cancelled all fp's and adr 's

[eeyoresmom]

It would be intriguing if they didn't have the deluxe dining plan.

It wouldn't be a big deal to not have ADRs without the plan. But the OP is paying big bucks for the plan and will end up eating at where ever has an available table.

Seems like a big waste of money, to me.

It won't be a waste of money. There's plenty of availability for TS restaurants even for today. With a car and eating late we will be fine.

 

[otten]

Just a thought but if you're concerned that the trip is feeling too regimented, I'd drop the dining plan, not because of availability but because I found that the dining plan was dictating how I ate like some days we maybe didn't feel like table service but we had credits to use and also in terms of what to order in restaurants. If you're going so far as to cancel fastpasses for a more relaxed trip I don't think the dining plan is for you.

 

[TeresaWen]

Twelve days? What do you do at WDW for 12 days without going on attractions? Or did you just wait in the standby queues? Twelve days of Food and Wine? Is it really worth the money? I can think of twelve other places I'd rather be for 12 days than WDW without going on the attractions...

We did whatever we wanted. Did not say we did no attractions. Just that the only one I cared enough about to plan around was FoP. Others were all same day when the mood struck. We don’t get into a queue unless the posted wait is 20 min or less - and that is pushing it.

We are very lucky to have the time to spend in Disney. And the other 12 places are probably places we go to when not at Disney.

So many people are rushing between scheduled fast passes and ADRs. There is so much in between to enjoy.

I keep a journal on my phone. I update at the end of each day. Here is the one from the last trip.

Disney October 2017


Oct 21

Easy flight

Check in / shop

Cooked dinner in villa


Oct 22

Slept in

EPCOT f&w booths

Italian Wine Bar


Oct 23

Relax in villa - lunch on porch

Mizner’s

Tambu Lounge

The wave lounge for dinner

Magic kingdom - fireworks Desert Party

Happily Ever After

GF for coffee and desert wine


Oct 24

Animal kingdom

Lunch at nomad lounge

Pandora

FoP (twice)

Navi River Journey - pixi dusted

Drinks at Yak & Yeti

Everest - twice

Rivers of Light


Oct 25

Epcot

Italian pairing lunch

Hollywood Studios

Indiana Jones

Beer garden in HS

Boardwalk - Italian restaurant


Oct 26

Wine seminar

F&W booths

Pizza & Italian wine in plaza

Billy Ocean

Ample Hills - ice cream flight


Oct 27

Tequila Lunch

La Cava tequila bar

Wine in Italy

Voices of liberty

Animal kingdom

Nomad lounge

Meerkats!

Dance party

Stroll Pandora at night

Nomad lounge again

Polly - trader Sam

Halloween wishes


Oct 28

Rest day - pool & porch

Artist Point

Grand Floridian

Desert!!


Oct 29

Boma for breakfast

Disney Springs

Boathouse for drinks

Sanna for dinner

Boardwalk for walk


Oct 30

Epcot

F&W Booths

Sparkling Seminar

F& Wine Booths

Living with the land

Figment

Booths - Desert

Soaring

Germany

Italian wine bar


Oct 31

Epcot

Booths

Space ship earth

More booths

Liquid nitro truffle

Hanson Concert

Slushees in France

Creme Brûlée

Illuminations


Nov 1

Booths

Voices of liberty

Frozen

More booths

Lots of champagne

Acrobats in China

Swan - Italian wine & pizza

Perfect vacation


Nov 2

Slept in

Home

 

[GeneralTso]

It's important to do the trip the way YOU want to do it. I see your point. It gets silly with the booking dinners 6 months out, then all of a sudden you are tied to a specific place at a specific time.
It's also miserable realizing you have to settle for a hot dog cuz you can't get in anywhere. That's why I book, then cancel as we go along. I like to have something in my back pocket just in case. Same with rides. We let a FOP FP go because we just didn't feel like it. We'd already ridden it, didn't want to go all the way back to AK.

You will have a great time on your vacation, doing it your way. These boards can get you caught up in a wave that isn't even your style. There are people with spreadsheets and plan every day until they depart. There are others that stroll into the park and just do what's available. And everyone in between. You'll figure it out. Have fun.

 

[pooh2001]

We like only having 2 ADR's for a late breakfast or a lunch for a 7 day WDW adventure. We do not do the WDW dining plan.
We save more money, not being on the WDW dining plan.

Yes we do FP's - and yes we have given them away to strangers (at least the paper kind years ago)

Some of the most wanted FP's are not our cup of tea.

 

[hsmamato2]

personally I'd decide what I really wanted...loose and relaxed=no ddxp to use up the credits for..... or ddxp= making sure I used up every single credit to maximize the money spent. I fell like it's an either/or situation with those two factors. and a big reason I don't much like the dining plan, it feels like we're hemmed in by plans way too much.

 

[pjhootch]

OP I think it sounds like a great idea. It wouldn't suit everyone- but clearly it suits you this time, for this trip. We don't go often, but we go every couple of years or every few years. Sometimes we are on the other coast and go to Disneyland instead. Every now and then we will do an unexpected day or two with no plans or reservations. It was easy to do that with the old FP system. Now- it is much more challenging to just wing a trip with little or no planning, depending on what we want out of a trip. The difference for us is that we are really into the rides and less into everything else. So the FP + system means I have to do more planning than I would previously have enjoyed. I do really try to minimize it. I find extensive scheduling stressful.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

It won't be a waste of money. There's plenty of availability for TS restaurants even for today. With a car and eating late we will be fine.

Keep a good thought.

 

[rstevens333]

I think that sounds really cool. If you watch wait times and keep your expectations low, you may enjoy some fun surprises.

 

[DisneyMom93]

Eeek. I would have kept the FPs and ADRs as a back-up. Better to not have regrets.

I hope you get to go on all the rides you are hoping to get on!

 

[BigredNole]

The planning for Disney is out of control. They need to end it all and go back to Day-of planning. You want a FP, go to the kiosk at the ride to get it. Instead, it is constant anxiety. 180 days out, you freak about dining reservations. Then when you think everything is good, FP come due. Then you have to change an ADR around a FP time. Then, you have to decide to skip something to either get to the FP or ADR or risk missing one of those.

 

[Gehrig1B]

The planning for Disney is out of control. They need to end it all and go back to Day-of planning. You want a FP, go to the kiosk at the ride to get it. Instead, it is constant anxiety. 180 days out, you freak about dining reservations. Then when you think everything is good, FP come due. Then you have to change an ADR around a FP time. Then, you have to decide to skip something to either get to the FP or ADR or risk missing one of those.

Please no!

Planning is not out of control. No anxiety here. At 180 days we make ADRs. We change if we want as time gets closer. Have never had to change an ADR around a FP time and never skipped anything. Not sure how you're planning. I just don't get why people find this so difficult or nerve wracking. It's not like we are designing a new attraction! And no, I don't create a daily schedule or meticulously have each park down to the minute.

1) Pick park(s)
2) Choose restaurant(s)
3) Make Fastpasses between 10:00-2:00 each day
4) Relax and enjoy the holiday

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Please no!

Planning is not out of control. No anxiety here. At 180 days we make ADRs. We change if we want as time gets closer. Have never had to change an ADR around a FP time and never skipped anything. Not sure how you're planning. I just don't get why people find this so difficult or nerve wracking. It's not like we are designing a new attraction! And no, I don't create a daily schedule or meticulously have each park down to the minute.

1) Pick park(s)
2) Choose restaurant(s)
3) Make Fastpasses between 10:00-2:00 each day
4) Relax and enjoy the holiday

I'm with you.

NO way do I want to go back to same day fast pass.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I was getting too worried about all the shows I wanted to see, we are slowing down doing the meals and fp+'s but we won't obsess anymore. Just try and have fun now.

 

[DisneyDad2015]

No ADR's or FP's? Sounds stressful to me lol.

But I'm also one of those people that actually enjoys the planning process and I feel like it helps the time leading up to the trip go by faster.

I do hope you're able to get into all the restaurants you want to though. Check back and let us know how it goes.

 

[clayfolks]

We did this in September and loved it. We were hurricaned out and had to change our dates. We had no reservations and no FPs. We would go online when we had an idea of when we wanted to eat and see what ADRs were available around that time. Easy-peasy. There were always tables. It was the best, most relaxed WDW vacation we have ever had. We frequently do split stays and pick up the deluxe dining plan for the first, shorter stay. We, otherwise, eat OOP. We are really looking forward to doing this again.

 

[maxiesmom]

You have to do what works for you. Me, the idea of having the Dining Plan and no ADRs, that is what I find stressful. Having my ducks in a row helps me relax. But it is not the same for everyone.

 

[bizeemom4]

I’m almost to the point of the OP. Been there done that enough (will have 8 weeks onsite just this year).

If you look at what is available for today and tomorrow, the good stuff is available especially for a small party. Keep your dlx dp and ENJOY.

Laugh at all the people running from place to place to stay on schedule while you sit and relax.

 

[DieHardJoe]

We have been many times to Disney and our trip we just retuned from during the last week of F&W was the first time we went with just one ADR. We wanted to try Homecomin and were glad we had the reservation. Not having other ADR commitments gave us more flexibility to do what we wanted ( a couple visits to Epcot for F&W) and gave us a chance to try a couple other new places (we now LOVE Blaze Pizza!) while still allowing time for one of our favorites for beakfast - Olivia's. As for FP, we made sure we had a handful of the FP's we wanted, such as Test Track, Soarin, TSM and especially FoP. I understand what OP is saying about being flexible, but with our FoP FP our total time was no more than 40 minutes from the time we walked by the FP line entrance to the time we walked back out. To me, that gave us way more flexibility than the people in the Stand-By line with a wait time of 2 1/2 hours (and I heard that last week it was a 4-hour wait at times!).

 

[maxiesmom]

Laugh at all the people running from place to place to stay on schedule while you sit and relax.

Was that necessary? Should people laugh at the OP if they can't get into a restaurant they want? Sheesh.