Has anyone gone without any plans?????

[Trish Bessette]

Is it wrong to go without having any major plans? I've only been once back in 2002 where I was there for 9 days. I'll be going soon for only 5 days and I'm thinking about winging it and take the trip day by day. I do have a few meals ADR and I'll taylor my park visits to which ones I can stay late at at night but other than that I'm planning to enjoy each day as it comes.

Am I nuts

 

[Finally08]

That's what I am doing in a couple weeks! I was just there this month with the family, and in June dd and I are going along with my sister and her family, but we will likely just be doing our own thing away from them most days. I have 2 adr's, neither I may keep, and we are just gonna wing it. I don't feel the need to accomplish anything in particular this trip...we just want to enjoy being there!

 

[fredster]

Hi Trish,

I look at it like this: I am spending several thousand dollars to take my family on a vacation. The time and the money are both very valuable. The last thing I want to do is stand in the park in the midst of several thousand people and say, "Okay, now what do we want to do?" We did this the first time we visited Disney. It was fun, but we found having some sort of plan was a lot more fun. It doesn't have to be detailed down to the minute, but having an idea of where you are going and what you are doing is a good idea.

 

[scotas]

I have never had more than a few ADR's planned. I wing it the rest of the time. When I am home I plan everything. Vacation I like to just see how I feel. This year we are trying a few plans, mainly because I want to go to MNSSHP and the balloon at DTD, maybe even a tour. Next year I am pretty sure we will go back to winging it.

 

[Trish Bessette]

Hi Trish,

I look at it like this: I am spending several thousand dollars to take my family on a vacation. The time and the money are both very valuable. The last thing I want to do is stand in the park in the midst of several thousand people and say, "Okay, now what do we want to do?" We did this the first time we visited Disney. It was fun, but we found having some sort of plan was a lot more fun. It doesn't have to be detailed down to the minute, but having an idea of where you are going and what you are doing is a good idea.

Good point fredster. I think I will have it where I know what park we are going to on which day however once at a specific park I'm thinking of just taking it as it comes. Our DD's are older too 12 & 15 so it will be easier to do whatever and stay up late at night to take advantage of the EMH.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

Other than ADRs (and just a few per trip), we make no plans.

My everyday life is lived on a schedule. That's not what I want on vacation. I want to poke along at my own pace and get to what I get to. For me, the atmosphere of WDW is what keeps me going back. It's not the attractions, the parades, the fireworks...it's the peace of mind I find there. If I don't get to ride Dumbo this time it is no big deal.

 

[disnywd]

We make ADRs and have a list of EMHs for each park. When we get back to the room each night, we look at the schedule and talk and plan out what we'd all like to do the next day.

8 days!

 

[nin7474]

I'm going without ADR's but planned each day according to the Park hours, so we can get as much out of it. And maybe Park Hop

 

[kingcrab]

Pretty much winging it for the 7+ days.

- only (2) meal reservations - Cinderellas Royal Table for a lunch, and Sanaa for a dinner

- I have a notepad with the rest of the dinner plans/ideas for the rest of the week, all off the Disney property(it has changed a few times)

- only one day thankfully @ MK, the rest of the time is going to be spent relaxing by the pool.

- one day trip to Cocoa Beach, day TBD.

Other than the one day at the parkwe are pretty much going to do what comes up for that day. Life back hoe is structured enough for me, I dont like my vacations to be run by a timetable, or too much planning

 

[MellyBeans]

Back in High School, I traveled with a friend and her family to Disney. There was no plan. We did what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. It was a great trip.

Having said that, for all of my trips I have a tentative plan. I basically know what parks I want to do what day, and base these around ADRs. Other than that, I don't go to crazy. I don't have rides mapped out in order or anything excessive like that.

 

[kparc]

This is why I'm so lucky! My DW has been planning our Disney trip for over a year now. We arrive in Disney August 18th this summer, for a 11 day - 10 night stay at CSR. She covers all the basics - Parks Early openings - Late closing - ADR's - attractions such as - Fastasmic - Wishes - Fireworks at MK - best days and nights for mini-golf, shopping or just hanging around the resort, which flights to take going and coming back - we stay at CSR - (I wanted to stay at the AKL - but $ got in the way). I take care of bookings: the flights - the resort (and the particulars with that - park harper tickets, room requests, etc.) and the ADR's. She maps it all out for me, which makes so easy.

She knows her way around the parks once we get there, which part opens on early openings - which rides we should hit first - which fast passes I should run to get while she and my 2 DD's get in line for the first ride of the day. Yes, she waits for me before she gets on the ride! She doesn't map out the whole day, just where we need to be at certain times (lunch - dinner - shows). We've even openned MK one year when we were one of the first families to get in line!!! Our trips to Disney (8th since we've been married for 20 years!) seemed relaxed, thought out and NO Worries that we will miss anything. She is on these Disney boards everyday to check on something new or changed. (Her favorite thing is looking at food pics!.

So, yes PLAN!

 

[bas71873]

Other than ADRs (and just a few per trip), we make no plans.

My everyday life is lived on a schedule. That's not what I want on vacation. I want to poke along at my own pace and get to what I get to. For me, the atmosphere of WDW is what keeps me going back. It's not the attractions, the parades, the fireworks...it's the peace of mind I find there. If I don't get to ride Dumbo this time it is no big deal.

DITTO here. I swear that Disney pumps in "happy air" so that you forget about everything that may be going on at home, work, etc. Just makes me happy

 

[Trish Bessette]

I think I'm going to stick with what little I have done so far...knowing which park we want to do on which day and our few ADR's. Other than that, enjoy it as it comes.

Now I'm a very organized person so by somewhat "winging" this trip it's making me feel like some sort of warrior

 

[Danauk]

If you think you will enjoy your trip without planning and think it will be more relaxing then go for it, after all it is your trip to enjoy.

I personally am a planner so our trip is planned in a lot of detail, but thats how I like to plan WDW trips (daily schedules planned, ridemax used to plan order of rides etc). When I go to Disneyland Paris where I feel I know the parks really well I do not plan nearly as much, just 1 meal a day (but we are food people and restaurant experiences are a big part of any trip we take.)

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Other than ADRs (and just a few per trip), we make no plans.

My everyday life is lived on a schedule. That's not what I want on vacation. I want to poke along at my own pace and get to what I get to. For me, the atmosphere of WDW is what keeps me going back. It's not the attractions, the parades, the fireworks...it's the peace of mind I find there. If I don't get to ride Dumbo this time it is no big deal.

DH and I agree completely. We go with a few ADR's and that's it. We (as I suspect many here agree) know what we want to do....when it's best to be in the park and have an outline in our heads when we arrive - but that's it.

We enjoy the flexibility.....far more fun for us this way.

 

[amery]

You need only be 'nuts' about Disney so welcome to the club!!

If you are not traveling with little ones and aren't married to high-profile character dining (CRT for example), you don't need a commando game plan. If you plan on attending Fantasmic than it makes sense to be in Disney Studios that day. It might also behoove you to do that as a package with dining.

Your existing ADR's may already dicate what park you are in for that day and/or night. If you are staying on site which it sounds like you are, you can take advantage of EMH whihc will obvioulsy afford you more Mouse for the money.

Enjoy your return trip!!

 

[livie1205]

The only we plan is ADRs for dinner...other then that we just wake up and decide which park to go to that day.When we are on vacation it is to relax and have fun,and there is no way planning every part of our day is fun for us.I just dont get why someone would want to plan what ride to go on and when...but hey that is THEIR vcation and not my buisness. Sometimes we just go sit on a bench and let our little girl watch the monkeys (ak)! That is just as fun for us as running through the park to every ride.

 

[PrincessTaylorsMom]

If there are certain characters my kids want to see, or certain rides/attractions they want to go on, I try to plan the best way to see and do with the minimum amount of wait time. And I do book ADRs because we like to be able to sit at a nice place, relax and be waited on while we're on vacation.

I don't think anyone has fun being or being with the "commando" mom/dad who makes the family run around the parks to keep on a schedule.

You're on vacation, right? The main thing is to relax and have FUN!

 

[eastcarolinafan]

imho, going to disneyworld without a plan for anything other than a day trip is insanity. Far too much to see and do to just walk around hand-picking where to go.

It's not Bush Gardens or Six Flags.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

imho, going to disneyworld without a plan for anything other than a day trip is insanity. Far too much to see and do to just walk around hand-picking where to go.

It's not Bush Gardens or Six Flags.

Nope, but it IS merely a grouping of theme parks and doesn't require the level of planning often seen on these boards. What it requires is a general knowledge of the parks and what you want to do. It doesn't require flow charts or GPS systems.

I've managed to have fun on the many trips I've taken using a very low key, low stress approach.