Have I gone wacko?

[llrain]

Here we are 120 days away...starting to think about it more and more but am making an iternary. Not just a what to do one...
An hour by hour one.....is this normal...? Have i gone crazy..?

I mean it somewhat seems "OK" to be doing this...but is hour
by hour too anal?
I Know its not going to be able to be followed to a T but it is helping to be able to get everything we want in.....
On the other hand it seems like by doing this that there
will be no surprises.......no spur of the moment stuff....
but feel more organzied in what we are doing by having this list...


so which to do?

iternary?
Spur of the moment?

 

[B'rer Karen]

I don't think it's just a choice between itinerary and spur of the moment. I do an itinerary, but I don't plan it down hour by hour. What I usually do is plan which park(s) I'll be going to that day, fit in and priority seatings, and then make a list of what rides I hope to fit in around that. For example, I may decide to spend my morning in the Magic Kingdom, having lunch at the Whispering Canyon Cafe at 1 pm. After lunch I'm heading to Epcot for the evening. I plan on getting to the park at 9 and leaving at noon as I would like to look around WL a little bit. So I make a list of what I think I can reasonably hit from 9-12. Then I do the same thing at Epcot for the evening. This helps me have an itinerary and make sure I get everything in, but keeps it flexible enough for the spur of the moment things. Maybe I didn't have the Indy Cars on my list, but if I'm walking by and there's a short line, I'll ride it. Maybe I'll see a bunch of characters I want my picture taken with, maybe I won't.

All that being said, it's your vacation. If you enjoy planning this way and will be able to have fun on a strict schedule, then that's all that matters.

 

[grinningghost]

I think a mix of "spur of the moment" and "itinerary" would be good. Make your PS arrangements, which would fall under the "itinerary" category, and then kind of wing the rest. Getting too rigid takes some of the fun out of it. It can get exhausting while planning, and you don't want to do that.

 

[>>^..^<<]

Remember to schedule bathroom breaks

>>^..^<<

 

[daannzzz]

Go ahead and make your itinerary. Read it and shuffle it around. It is fun and gives you a good idea of what you want to do.
My first trip I made one that was down to the 10 minute incraments!!!!! Virtually had it memorized by the time we got there. We followed it to a degree but also took things on the spur of the moment. As long as you are not obsessive it doesn't hurt!!

 

[Rikku]

We go completely off the cuff. I can understand why people may want to plan out every small detail...but for us, we prefer the "surprise around every corner" plan of attack. Suffice to say that if left to my own devices I would plan everything out...but my wife would hang me out to dry.

 

[Hockeychic]

till we leave and I spend at least an hour a day on these sites.

I don't plan hour by hour but definatley can tell you where we will be on what day.......my husband says I enjoy the planning part as much as I love the trip.............he may be right.........lol

 

[KSgirl]

I agree and follow about the same procedure as B'rer Karen. Planning IS half the fun, so I like to fill in what parks we will be at, when we have priority seatings, when we are taking our breaks, and what rides we'd like to hit while we are there. I think it's a good idea to have a loose "plan" of what you would like to get accomplished each day, though I know realistically, we won't stick to the "plan" completely...and that's OK. But I certainly don't want to be standing around with four children trying to decide what in the world to do next!

I like to use Outlook Express to make columns for each day and divide the days into what we'll be doing. I even go as far as to color code the parks so I can see at a glace where we're going to be when! I note when I need to call to make PS and fill in what we'd like to do at each park. I've changed it about a million times already for our December trip...but, again, that's part of the fun of it. I like having my schedule done this way because I can see the whole week on one page.

I don't think we'd be able to see nearly as much with our crew if I didn't have a plan!

 

[Emy'sMom]

I usually break each day into sections - Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Night and make general plans and PSs for each section. I don't plan in hour increments .... that's getting too detailed, I think.

This way we have a structure for the overall trip but it allows for lots of flexibility hour-by-hour.

Debbie

 

[Terry S]

I also break my day into 3 sections. Morning, Afternoon and Night and plan which park we will be in on those 3 sections and then plan PS's around them.

 

[YesDear]

DW has an excel spreadsheet she starts the day she makes reservatins. It includes park scheds, events we wish to make sure we do, breakfast lunch and dinner plans and assorted other items. It is a work in progress until we leave then a copy is given to all!!!

She usually has the first few days highly refined to make sure we get done what we need to. She will slack off a little towards the end of the trip so we can adjust according to what we want to do again.

She go so lax that on our last trip I think I had 3 whole minutes without something to do!!! LOL Of course that was in the wee hours of the morning.

I guess you can tell by my screen name that I am good at doing what I am told to do!!! LOL