Help Me Have a More Relaxed Trip

[TiggerManiac]

I need some help in changing my touring style! We’re usually commandos, in the parks from rope drop to park close, trying to do it all. Our trips have been great and tons of fun, but I’m ready for a change.

TL/DR bit: If you’re not a park commando, please share your tips for more relaxed touring styles. I’d love to know your typical daily schedule, what you do to make yourself actually slow down.

My first trip to Disney was with DH for our one-year anniversary. Back then, we didn’t need all the FP and ADRs. We spent a lot more time wandering around, checking out little nooks and crannies, people watching, and things were a lot more relaxed and not so go-go-go.

DH and I returned Dec 2016 for our second just-us. I had intended that trip to be a return to a more relaxed, leisurely trip, but I failed spectacularly. There was so much new stuff since our last trip 6 years prior, that we both quickly returned to commando mode.

I am determined NOT to do that this trip. I want to be more spontaneous. I want to take time and really SEE and EXPERIENCE things. We’re also renting DVC points and will be back at my favorite resort, AKL, so I want to spend time there. We’ll have no more than 1 ADR each day, and I’ll schedule 3 FP each day. We’ll have 7-day Park Hoppers

2 MK days
2 Epcot days
1 HS day
1 AK day (FP for FoP)
1 hotel day (will probably schedule a FP for Navi River Journey)

I’d love to try a schedule that lets us return to the hotel in the middle of each day, so I can really I’m erse myself in AKL. We also love to visit all the hotels to see Christmas decorations.

Sorry this is so long! Please help me leave my commando ways behind!

 

[sbrost13]

You've got a few options:

Rope drop & commando tour until lunch, break at resort, then go to another park or same park at night.

Rope drop & commando tour through lunch, then head to resort early evening/late afternoon & hang at the resort or hit up Disney Springs.

Our last July trip was by far my family's favorite and I think the main reason was we did take breaks at the resort every day. We typically rope drop the park that has AM EMH, so that's a lot of early mornings.

AKL is a fabulous resort so you can definitely find plenty of things to do during a resort break.

I think Disney Springs is worth the time to check out. There are several awesome restaurants and besides the obvious shopping, we were able to sit and see live music, which was really relaxing!

 

[pitpat]

after a couple trips, you can focus on just your favorite attractions and the ones you are interested in, but haven't made it to yet instead of trying to do everything.

Make a list of new snacks to try and hidden gems to check out. Fit in things like riding the Main. St. Vehicles, Riverboat, etc.

 

[TinkSassy]

I have trouble with this too. My last trip was solo so that helped a bit as I only had to please myself. But it was the first time I had any success in slowing down. I made a list of my priorities - what was truly important to me.

Epcot I rode 2 rides that I deemed unskippable and focused on Food and Wine all day. Having a focus and giving myself permission to miss some things in favor of others was liberating on the schedule - I saw world showcase entertainment I never made time for before. Did the same thing at MK - though this is my hardest park as I LOVE IT ALL. But I had a better time as I wasn't stressing myself out as what was getting done was already decided before I arrived - anything else was a whim as I came across it.

It sounds counter intuitive but having a plan in this case was freeing.

 

[TiggerManiac]

Yes, maybe a loose schedule of a few must-not-miss things each place, and time to return to the resort. I really want to spend time at the resort each day. There are so many activities at AKL & AKV.

I also plan on doing the Wanyama (Sunset) Safari at AKL.

 

[PrincessStinkerbell]

I’m following along with you, Tigger! We are going down in a couple of weeks, taking our school-aged kids for the first time (they have been to DLR before but not WDW). I am hoping to go home after our trip feeling relaxed and not in need of another vacation. But it’s so hard when you love All The Things...

 

[nighttowll]

We also struggle with the commando verses relaxed touring. I’ve gotten great at relaxed touring at Uni. It is so easy to do that there. Disney I’m still working on.

I think the biggest thing with not doing commando is being ok with not doing everything. If you go into it wanting to ride everything multiple times, you’ll end up disappointed or fall back into commando style. Pick your favorites and learn to be content if those are all you fit in. Then anything extra you have time for is just a bonus. For instance, you’ll never enjoy sleeping in or an afternoon rest break, if you’re stressing about missing something. Know how much you are ok with giving up to be more laid back.

Try to focus on family time over number of attractions. Look for the fun in the little things, pick activities that don’t involve lines, waiting, or require you to do them at a certain time. This will allow you to more easily go with the flow.

Have hidden Mickey contests. Get one of those secrets to Disney World books and go looking for all the little Easter eggs hidden around. Have a scavenger hunt. We took half a day at Universal one trip and did a scavenger hunt. It was so much fun, and we ended up exploring areas we don’t normally take the time to appreciate. Do some of the interactive games like Pirates Adventure or Sorcerers of the MK. Those are great ways to take it slow and just enjoy being in the parks. Take time to watch street performers, shows, and parades as you come across them. One of our favorite things to do is to watch the Jedi Training at HS. We usually get a snack and have a great time watching the kids while we eat. They are so cute and funny fighting off the bad Sith. Explore the animal trails at AK or collect the Wilderness Explorers badges.

If this is your first attempt to not do commando style touring, maybe compromise with half day commando, half relaxed. You may feel more ok with taking it slow after a commando morning that let you hit all your favorites.

 

[nighttowll]

Something else to think about is booking ADR. I know that may seem counterintuitive because you are scheduling things, but actually it helps us relax and take it slower. When we are commando style touring there’s no time for long relaxing meals. We are too busy rushing around. Planning long sit down meals, especially ones with entertainment, actually helps us slow down and relax. Think about it; instead of running all around the park tiring yourself out, you get to sit inside in the air conditioning for a couple hours and just enjoy family time.

 

[mamaofsix]

Here are some of our strategies for slowing down and taking it all in. No easy feat with 6 kids and the grandparents along last trip! But it was actually very relaxing.

#1 We only spend about half of our vacation days physically at the parks. We only ever do 3 or 4 park days, with a full day "off" between each day at a park. It is just too stressful for us to go to a park every morning and then take a break, and then back to the park. Instead, we do a full 3 or 4 days at the parks - which means only 3 or 4 days that we have to worry about transportation, security, tickets, lines, etc.. On our "break" days, we sleep in, play in the pool, go mini-golfing, see a movie, nap. Our favourite day last time was relaxing on the sand at Cocoa Beach. The relaxed days left us refreshed and excited for our "Disney" days.

#2 We schedule in 'rest times' AT the parks. So between 2 or 3 rides, we will schedule in a show, or relax somewhere (our favourite places to relax are Tom Sawyer Island at MK and the gardens at the UK pavilion in Epcot). We only go on rides that we really love and skip the rest. Our favourite attractions often have barely any lines and don't need a fp - the People Mover, Carousal of Progress, Living with the Land, the steam train around MK. We also design our plan around the least amount of walking possible so that our kids don't get too tired out or sore.

#3 A well-planned day IS relaxing. lol. Each park day is planned pretty heavily for us. We've tried to "wing it" and that is so much more stressful for us! It usually means waiting in long, long lines or everyone whining. The key is to make the 'plan' really do-able and not too packed with activities so that we are not rushing from place to place.

#4 Mid-day ADR's. Such a great thing to do in order to slow yourself down in the middle of the day and relax.

 

[fhtpdw20]

Last trip was solo for me. I did not ride any rides but my focus was on doing backstage tours and character meals. This next trip I am planning a photo safari through the parks while my DS and DDIL do their thrill rides. Other areas of focuses could be doing the theatrical shows and park entertainers times in each park, character autograph/photo, photo pass photo safari, or resort hopping. There is also shopping around the world. I took time to visit Epcot World Showcase to collect something under $20 from each country. When I got home I had Michaels make a shadowbox of my finds as my trip souvenir.

 

[IndianaRRT]

We plan our restaurant choices and ride choices first--well ahead of the 180 ADR mark. We prioritize based on level of difficulty of ADR or FP. That turns into a loose park plan. Then, we plan 3 objectives for each day. These are the 3 things that we really don't want to compromise on.

For instance, on our upcoming trip, DH wanted to do the HEA dessert party. It became our #1 priority on that park day. So priorities 2 & 3 filled in around that--an early BOG dinner ADR and a 7DMT FP. We had a couple alternates in case we couldn't secure something. We were able to get all 3 priorities for that day in a "late day" timeframe keeps our plans together.

All of this fits a flexible schedule. We can relax in the morning, or we can explore a resort. We can head over to MK early or another park. A WDW vacation to us is a luxury we've worked hard for--and we want to enjoy it.

Other "rules" we abide by: with only very rare exceptions for birthdays or other celebrations, no more than one ADR per day; booking no more than 2 non-refundable activities per trip no matter the trip length; planning a "rest day" if trip is longer than 4 days; being honest with each other about when it's time to call it a day.

Good luck as you figure out what will help you in making a great vacay even better, and I sincerely hope your next trip is the best yet!

 

[pooh2001]

Mid trip break - we do laundry. pool, Disney Springs, maybe one park just for a couple of hours
Bed early to do an EMH AM Park (our choices are MK and EPCOT)

We feel refreshed for the rest of our WDW vacation

 

[CynBeth]

Something else to think about is booking ADR. I know that may seem counterintuitive because you are scheduling things, but actually it helps us relax and take it slower. When we are commando style touring there’s no time for long relaxing meals. We are too busy rushing around. Planning long sit down meals, especially ones with entertainment, actually helps us slow down and relax. Think about it; instead of running all around the park tiring yourself out, you get to sit inside in the air conditioning for a couple hours and just enjoy family time.

I agree. I have a few family members with food allergies so we have to eat all meals TS and find that the time spent at the restaurants for lunches and dinners helps us to relax and recharge. Also we are not huge thrill ride people so especially in MK we do attractions which offer a nice place to sit or stand and rest such as the COP, Philharmagic, HOP, Muppets, riverboat, Tiki Room, and Country Bears. At Epcot in WS we like to walk around the countries and see the movies. At holiday season you will have the storytellers. As far as visiting resorts for the decorations we tend to make ADRs for breakfasts at some of our favorite restaurants at resorts and a few of those places are WCC at WL so we see the lobby and walk outside for the geyser and Cape May at BC so visit BC, YC, and Boardwalk right before the meal. Sometimes we get to see GF and CR on our travel by monorail on our way to MK and sometimes we leave briefly and come back depending on our schedule.

 

[eeyoresmom]

We stay at deluxe resorts which helps with the park commando touring because we feel like we're missing out it we don't have daily resort time. We usually do rope drop through lunch then back to the resort for pool time or naps. Our breaks are usually 3-4 hrs. Return to parks for dinner , a few rides and night time show. If it's a longer trip, we may sleep in a bit on the second day we visit that park but always arrive by 10 am.

 

[JenLovesMM]

I remember reading a thread at one time about the psychology of MK, things that were done during design of the park that enhanced our experience even though we don't realize it. There is an old thread with that info, it dates back a few years, but I bet a lot of it is still relevant. I've looked at it a few times over the years and I will again before our next trip. Perhaps some of those ideas would give you the chance to slow down a bit in MK! to find it, search the forums (title only) and type: psychology of MK.

 

[lovethattink]

@TiggerManiac we stopped being commando in 2004.

If you are morning people, take advantage of rope drop.

If you are evening people. Sleep in, make fast passes later in the day.

Take time to enjoy the architcture and pay attention to details. Go in search of hidden Mickeys. Enjoy the fiber otic light patterns in the ground in future world. Play the games after attractions in Epcot. Take time to stop and smell the roses.

Enjoy and explore your resort.

 

[Micca]

We've been going to WDW for 40 years, the first 25-30 years were commando style. When we became DVC members we began touring the parks in a much more relaxed manner knowing that we'll be returning sooner rather than later. We haven't made a RD for years but we try to get out of our resort by 9AM. We make FP plans for late morning/early afternoon, filling in time between FPs by enjoying attractions where standby is not more than 30 minutes. We also like to shop, so we stop in all of our favorite shops (which is most of them.)We're seldom in a park more than 5 hours, and we only do one substantial meal per day--either lunch or dinner. We eat at the resort the rest of the time. We usually don't do evenings/nights at parks either, after dinner we're hangin' at the resort and not staying up too late. If we want to see MK fireworks we'll view them from the Top Of The World Lounge (DVC) at BLT.

In our commando days if you told me we'd be this casual about going to WDW I'd never have believed you. We did RD-to-close more times than I can remember. It helps that over a period of 40 years, you conveniently get 40 years older and no longer have the stamina to not "stop & smell the roses."

 

[abaldacci]

I need to try this I always do comando

 

[loves to dive]

We are totally seat of our pants type people. We have APs and if not, then park hoppers and always stay on site. We never schedule FPs until the night before at earliest, normally day of since we usually don't know what park we are going to on any given day. We also don't make ADRs in advance, we always book them day of while walking around, that's one of the advantages of being able to park hop, you can go anywhere you want. Most of the time we will head back to the resort mid-afternoon and spend some time in the hot tub at the pool and enjoy a refreshing adult beverage or two then head back to the parks or to supper. We aren't really ride-centric. We do ride rides but it's not our main focus. We do what you mentioned you used to do, take our times in the parks and looking at the details and just enjoying the place. We rarely do rope drop unless it's by accident, we are up and say what the heck. We also rarely close the parks down as we aren't fans of most of the new night time shows. What park we go to is usually determined by where we are staying, our mood and where I can get a FP first. If we are staying at a moderate we will go to the bus stop and just get on the first park bus that comes (unless we went there the day before) and I'll look for FPs on the bus. We don't mind doing stand by for rides if we really want to ride the ride and rarely even look at wait times since how many rides we ride isn't our goal. There is a lot of walking by something and either me or my son saying, want to ride that/ see that/ eat there? And we go from there.

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

We stay at AKL & I find the animal watching is usually better midday.

So if you rope drop & eat lunch & arrive back for a couple of hours about 3 to 5 you have time to rest up & enjoy the animal viewing before you head out for more park time or supper.

We also so enjoy miniature golf one day during the afternoon as a relaxing pastime. We did the winter summerland one this December & it was so cute.