Going Without a Plan...OH NO!!!

[TinkHappy]

I decided this time, we will not have a plan. I usually go with an itinerary for everyday and pass them out to everyone each day so everyone knows what we are going to do that day.

This time I have decided (I think) we will not do the "itinereary thing" and sort of "play-it-by-ear" as I say this, I am starting to shake.

We are going in January, so it shouldn't be too crowded.

Am I making a huge mistake?

Any and ALL opinions are welcome!!

 

[mamaprincess]

You are one brave soul! I would like to be more spontaneous when I go but I'm to affraid of missing out on the things I just love to do. Best of luck to you and tell us how it works out.

 

[jonestavern]

do you go often? if so, this may just be fun-- serendipity happens!

how are the other members of your party with yr decision? do they go often enough so they can enjoy a 'seat of the pants' style? they actually may simply prefer spontaneous? On the other hand, perhaps they are accustomed to the structure & may find free form a little bewildering. Just know yr crowd

Perhaps a happy mix of the 2 styles with some minimal planing--you know, we'll do the Fantasmic dinner pkg on Thursday, Segway tour Friday, Princesses breakfast Saturday, & the rest is by ear?

I'm sure we'll wing it, somewhat, one of these trips!

Jean

 

[Liisa]

I think going without a plan would be fun - so long as you can just roll with it! In fact, it might get you to try things you haven't tried before. For example, lets say you want to eat at Le Cellier, but it is booked solid and you have no ADR's...so you wonder around and see that Mexico has availability...so you try it! Could be very fun!!!

I don't have that many trips under my belt so there are still a lot of "must do's" on my agenda. But I can't wait for the day when I can go down and not have a complete itinerary laid out in advance.

I say that if you can relax and not stress too much... GO FOR IT!!! And be sure to let us know how it went!

Liisa

 

[Camping Griswalds]

I think that this is a great thing to do except that for me half of my fun and enjoyment is the planning. Maybe you could plan and then throw it all away when you get there?!?!? That would be the best of both worlds for me!!

 

[murcor]

I love going in January, with the smaller crowds it allows you the chance to be spontaneous! Each evening we do discuss which park we will go to the next day.
Honestly, I dont know how someone can be so specific and plan an entire vacation before they leave home.

I think you will have a blast!

 

[msmayor]

We have never, ever gone down with the type of plan that says "On this day, go here at such-and-such time, then go there, then here...blah, blah, blah."

Matter of fact, this past August was probably the most planned trip and it only meant we had ADR's for the free dining plan!

Each person in our family (DH, 2 kids) gets to choose one "must do" for every vacation. The "must do" is exactly that...it WILL get done. That means that there are only four things we absolutely must do, and everything else just happens.

I live by a schedule and time line every day, juggling household responsibilities, school/sports/work schedules. I refuse to do the same on vacation and prefer to let the fun just happen. I find that by letting go of a daily plan, and giving the rest of my family the chance to decide what to do on a particular day, is a great 'vacation' for me.

And its true...the most magical moments can be the most unscripted. One of the happiest times on our August trip was completely unplanned. We walked down to the beach/dock area at the WL about 30 minutes early for our Wishes cruise. It was virtually deserted but for some birds, and there was a tether ball pole there. My daughter and son decided to play while we waited, and my DH and I just relaxed on a bench nearby. My kids played with huge smiles, while hubby and I enjoyed their pure laughter. The sun was slowly setting, a beautiful peace falling over Bay Lake. It was pure joy, and is now a 'happy place' for me to go in my mind and remember why I love Disney vacations so much.

 

[mommaU4]

I agree, you are brave. But I think it's a great idea especially if you've been before and are going again so you won't really "miss" anything.

Personally I am physically incapable of not planning so I could never do what you're doing. Besides after this trip I don't know when we'll go back so I have to make sure I don't miss anything. My aunt goes yearly though and she never plans. Never. She doesn't even pack until the night before they leave! I shudder at the thought. But she likes it that way and they always seem to have fun.

So I guess I'm saying go for it!

 

[gigi1313]

i love the planning! could not imagine just showing up w/out a general idea in my head... but all the previous planning will have planted something in my head anyway, so even unscripted i'd still have an idea of what to do when, kwim? (okay, clear as mud, i'm sure! LOL!)

when we go, i do all the pre-planning... then i drop subtle hints about where we should go and what we should do and let dh think he's in charge... it's a bit tricky (while not being in charge) that we just "happen" to be in front of lecellier at 5:45 when we conveniently have a 6pm adr... but we are

 

[JMD]

I never use an intinerary. Just go and have fun.

No offense to anyone who likes to use an intinerary, but I've never understood the need to have every single thing planned out beforehand. I've read dozens of threads where people are almost in a panic trying to plan everything.

 

[momoftriplets]

We just returned from our 2nd trip to the world. I am such a planner that I couldn't imagine winging it. I plan what park we will be at on a given day, based upon info from these board concerning lowest volume days. Then I make our ADR's for those parks. Other than that, we were fairly flexible. We had "scheduled" Typhoon Lagoon one day, but were just beat from being at MK for EMH until midnight the day before, so we needed that day to rest at the resort. It worked out great. We got some much needed down-time & were set to go the following day. IMO, as long as you're flexible to your groups needs/wants, & know what they want to do, a schedule is fine to a certain extent. Like other posters, I look forward to the time when we've been there so many times we can just go & "see what happens".

 

[Ride Junkie]

The only thing we plan is getting there!! We never do any type of itinerary. We just get there & decide what we're in the mood for each day. My DH is very spontaneous, so even if we did plan out a day, he'd probably change his mind anyway & want to do something different. We make the occasional dinner reservation, but only after we get there.

So yes, it is perfectly okay to play it by ear! We do, and we have a great time every time we go.

 

[RussH]

Well my plan is I have a resort reservation for a certain day staying X number of nights. That is the total extent of my planning. This years I am meeting a few DISers one afternoon so I guess my trip planning has doubled this year.
At least in my case because I spend enough time here on the boards and have been to WDW so many times the informatin is just sort of floating around in my head. What ever system you use just remember to have fun.

 

[Pyrotechnics Man]

We "wing" the parks everytime we go. We are fortunate enough to be able to go often, so we know what we like and we do it, just not on a strict schedule.
We LOVE to eat all over the world. We usually strategize our dining and plan our park days around that.

 

[bytheblood]

Not a mistake. There is nothing wrong with fly-by-the-sea-of-your-pants planning. It may be more relaxing for you.

I cannot believe how many people I saw standing around with a piece of paper saying things like, "well, we need to ride splash mountain at 3:00 and be on BTMRR at 3:35, so we cannot ride HM until Tuesday." That would not be a vacation to me. I think I would find work more relaxing.

Enjoy your time planning your vacation while you are there.

 

[deebs]

I'm going in January and I'm not really planning either. I'll look to see which days are to have the lowest crowds, but thats about it. I'm really hoping with the low crowds we'll be able to do what we want anyways

 

[TinkHappy]

Thank you everyone for all of the great coments!!! We go every year and when we do miss a year it is because we went on the Disney Cruise. We love our Disney!!

Don't get me wrong, I will plan which park we will be at each day and have a good idea of where we want to eat. But, I am going to try to stop myself from planning every second of the day.

It will be tough, as I have always had a plan. I too love to do the planning and I agree that is half the fun, but this time, "whatever will be, will be"

We'll see!!

I am sure I will start having shaking fits when I read the Dis and everyone else is planning I am not sure I will be able to help myself

I am really counting on low crowds in January to help me through this.

 

[Danauk]

The first time I went to WDW was in the last 2 weeks of August a few years ago when it was not crowded at all. We made a plan before we left as to what parks on what day which we eventually kind of stuck to but did make some changes. We made a few ADR's that we really wanted. Other than that we played it by ear and it was great. I think this only worked though as it was quiet. We managed to make ADR's for Hollywood Brown Derby a few hours before we ate there, the same with Chefs de France, Artists Point and the Yachtsmans Steakhouse twice. We did stick to some of our plans but most got changed. This was when I thought I knew enough about WDW before we went (I was wrong!) This trip though we are planned well and have ADR's for every day and a plan that we will stick to. This is only beause we are going Christmas week though. If we went in a slower time again I probably wouldn't plan as much.

 

[NeverEnufWDW]

That's fine -- don't plan.

Just don't come on these boards after you return and start screaming and crying about how crowded the parks were, how you couldn't ride anything, that you didn't get into any restaurants, and that your kids were cranky...

okay ?

 

[kima86]

My DH & I have been going the week after Thanksgiving for the past several years when there's low crowd levels. We've never had a schedule - we find it more relaxing to both of us (maybe it's because our sons, ages 20 & 16, don't come with us - they both can't stand Disney, imagine that!).

We are currently in a rut as to what parks we visit on what days each time we go - I think it's because we have used the Unofficial Guide to know which parks are least busy on each day while on vacation (Epcot on Monday/MK & MVMCP on Tuesday/MGM on Wednesday and the rest of the time is just going with the flow!). We do make sure we have advance ressies for the restaurants we really want to dine at to avoid any disappointment.

I know you might be a little nervous about going down without a plan, but it really is a great way to enjoy your vacation! Have fun and "go with the flow!"