Help me learn from our past mistakes!

[Liz311w]

We have been to WDW twice.

1st time in 2010 was a huge family trip (15 people) where we didn't really get a say in what we did, but it was pre-fast pass and we had a Park Hopper and we had a special needs child so lines weren't an issue.

2nd trip 2015 Family of 7. We opted not to do park hopper and just plan our ADRs, etc, for the park we would be in that day. We obviously screwed up our planning of fast passes & ADRs because really all I remember from our trip was rushing and focusing on making sure we were at the next FP or ADR on time. It felt very rushed and very disorganized. We also had to split the group up because we had small kiddos so FP took twice as long.

3rd trip will be this coming May for *ONLY* DH & I. (squee!!!) Our 11th Anniversary!

How do we plan our trip so that we don't feel like all we are doing is rushing to the next scheduled item???

We have the Park Hopper this time and we have our ADRs scheduled already with only a couple of days where we have ADRs in multiple parks. We want to be able to explore and really enjoy WDW this time...sans kids. (Not that we don't enjoy it with them, we just wont have the added stress of the kids this time. )

 

[courtneybeth]

How many days are you taking for the next trip?

MK and EPCOT seem to be two-day parks and you can probably do a half day at AK and a half day at HS.

Book your FP+ for later in the evening during peak times so you can leisurely enjoy the parks during the morning and afternoon.

 

[tobikaye]

I rarely feel rushed when I go to WDW with park hoppers. I usually only plan about 5 things a day and then everything else is just a bonus and I still see and do plenty. I usually only plan out part of a day based on something specific at a park.

So, before the trip, I might plan out a 4-6 hours of each day of the trip. Then when I am actually at WDW, during the non planned part of the day, I go where I feel like that day and do as I want.

 

[Liz311w]

How many days are you taking for the next trip?

MK and EPCOT seem to be two-day parks and you can probably do a half day at AK and a half day at HS.

Book your FP+ for later in the evening during peak times so you can leisurely enjoy the parks during the morning and afternoon.

We will be there for 7 days.
Thanks for the suggestions!!!

 

[Liz311w]

I rarely feel rushed when I go to WDW with park hoppers. I usually only plan about 5 things a day and then everything else is just a bonus and I still see and do plenty. I usually only plan out part of a day based on something specific at a park.

So, before the trip, I might plan out a 4-6 hours of each day of the trip. Then when I am actually at WDW, during the non planned part of the day, I go where I feel like that day and do as I want.

That's a great idea! It will be so different without the kids too so I'm hopeful that in itself will help not feeling rushed... Those bathroom breaks and constant 'I'm hungry/thirsty/hot/etc..." breaks eat up a lot of time too.

 

[taythecray]

I would say when you make fastpasses, only make them close together if they are close together in the park. For example I wouldnt grab a mine train fastpass from 10-11 and then big thunder from 11-12 because I would feel rushed having to run across the park. I also wouldn't schedule anything too close to ADR time and just play things by ear. I also agree with booking fastpasses in the early afternoon unless you want to try grabbing a 4th, 5th etc

 

[tlmadden73]

1) You won't be rushing around as much if it is just the two of you. Two moves around a LOT faster than 7 .. especially with small kids. Honestly .. it will be "A whole new world" .. I've only traveled with ONE child and the difference was night and day between the last trip my wife and I took before kids.

2) I would reconsider some of your ADRs. I like having only ONE ADR per day (at most) for special restaurants you really want to try (like Be Our Guest) and enjoy the flexiblity of eating when and where you want the rest of the meals. I think ADRs over Fast Passes are what cause more stress and "rushing". ADRs don't have any flexiblity built-in and there is a penalty if you can't make it (unlike Fast Passes). Why stress out over a meal?
Minimally I would not make ADRs in TWO separate places/parks. Added stress due to transportation.

Make your one ADR a day at somewhere special and make it the big meal of the day and just do quick service or just wait standby at a restaurant for the other meal. I've had days where I've had a lunch and dinner ADR and I feel like I am up against a wall time-wise all afternoon because of that. Plus .. no stress if transportation is running late .. or you are moving slow.

3) Schedule your Fast Passes near each other (time-wise and location-wise) .. I tend to schedule them in the late morning to early afternoon so you are free to schedule a 4th fast pass as soon as possible. This also allows you to get stuff done at rope drop OR sleep in. Scheduling them one after the other also lets you either hit two in a row .. or have a big gap of time between two to get a few other things done. Once your three fast passes are done then the rest of the day is pretty non-rushed!

4) Again .. it is just the two of you .. plan on going to the park early (rope drop) .. or staying late (until close) or BOTH. You'll be able to get more done and enjoy the freedom of shorter lines.

5) You may not even need the hoppers, but, again .. it will be fun to have that flexibilty and park hopping IS fun if you don't have to worry about getting kids to move along.

 

[NYHeel]

I would take a different approach. Since you're without kids I would try to see more and do more. Not taking it slowly. Schedule FPs a little earlier so that you can get 4th and 5th FPs. Remember it's much easier to get them since you're only 2 people. Schedule some other time to do things out of WDW (like Universal or Cape Canaveral). Lots of things to do in the central Florida area outside of Disney.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I second trimming down the ADRs. The only trips we've ever felt rushed (and we are 2 adults) is trips with a lot of ADRs. They can be incredibly restrictive, especially now with the cancellation fee. Do maybe 1 a day, I'd even suggest trying to have one day without any and see how you like it.

 

[theyoungs07]

I went recently with just my teenage son, so no little kids...it was very different. We joke that we weren't visiting our "favorite ride" at the parks nearly as much this trip. When the whole family goes it seems our favorite ride is the bathroom because we are there so often...which happens when you have 8 kids 14 and under.

Anyways, I scheduled our FP+ for close to noon or a little after so we could do whatever we wanted during the slow times, then do our FP+ and then have a dinner res or hop to another park. We did 3 parks in a day with only Disney Transportation...would never have done that with littles! We had flexibility in our evenings which was nice. I agree with the ADRs making you feel rushed...which is why most of my family trip ADRs are breakfast, first thing (pre-park opening if possible). It was great to get a 4,5,6 FP+ with him late into the night.

I realized this trip how enjoyable some of the TS offerings are, and how freeing it is to just eat whenever and not worry about the fact that you have a super-expensive ADR in 1 hour and no one is hungry.

 

[Skywise]

I agree with the comment about over planning the ADRs but I will warn that I tried this in my last 2 trips and it ended badly. I felt that I was overplanning the trips and locking everybody into a plan and wanted to be more "free" But in both trips I ended up with several scenarios where it was a struggle to find a QS place to eat (TS restaurants being completely out of the question as they were booked solid) that wasn't packed or was a place that we all agreed on and, most surprising, that people in the group adopted different times as to when they were hungry.

One tactic that did help me was putting all the FP's together in one block at one time of day (EG 3-4, 4-5 and 5-6) That one allowed us to alter the schedule one day to park hop at a different park for the morning then return to the other park in the afternoon and then go elsewhere for the later evening. As opposed to spreading your FPs out over the day. I also tied a dinner ADR to just after that FP block so it was "ride, ride, ride, eat" and then I could open up the schedule to see what the group wanted to do.

 

[Ladyfish77]

You can also change FP+ on the fly. Several times we just weren't going to make one of our FP+, so I just changed it on my phone. You can change your first 2 FP+ on the MDE app. Anything after that you have to do at a kiosk in the park. That way we didn't feel rushed to get to a FP and even though not everything might be available, it was enough of a choice that we could pick something we all wanted to do.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Basically with my planning strategies we didn't feel rushed at all when we went last year. We had 1 quirk with my amazing planning and that was the monorail being down for the first 3 days (didn't plan for that, lol). Anyways the way I do things is I make my ADRs at 180 days and then I basically plan my days around them. So lets say I have lunch scheduled at Liberty Tree Tavern, I will schedule FPs for stuff close to that. Like POTC, Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain...That sort of thing. I also didn't schedule FPs back to back I might schedule 2 in the morning and then the 3rd 1 after lunch. With Park hoppers what I would do if schedule all your FPs in the afternoon for your afternoon park and RD the morning park. But don't start your FPs until like 2 or so, that gives you time to get to your 2nd park have sometime to eat and then head to your FPs. I never got more than my first initial 3 FPs. To me thats just rush rush rushing around. Anyways when I plan I look over all the park maps and see what is close to what. Next trip my planning get a little more complex bc the 3yr old is going to want to do certain stuff and my 10yr old is going to want to do certain stuff, lol...So now I have to look at ok what is the closest FP ride to Space Mountain that hubby can take the 3yr old on while I take the 10yr old on Space Mountain, lol. It takes a ton of research and a ton of planning but after you get a few trips under your belt you see what works and what doesn't work.

 

[Liz311w]

1) You won't be rushing around as much if it is just the two of you. Two moves around a LOT faster than 7 .. especially with small kids. Honestly .. it will be "A whole new world" .. I've only traveled with ONE child and the difference was night and day between the last trip my wife and I took before kids.

2) I would reconsider some of your ADRs. I like having only ONE ADR per day (at most) for special restaurants you really want to try (like Be Our Guest) and enjoy the flexiblity of eating when and where you want the rest of the meals. I think ADRs over Fast Passes are what cause more stress and "rushing". ADRs don't have any flexiblity built-in and there is a penalty if you can't make it (unlike Fast Passes). Why stress out over a meal?
Minimally I would not make ADRs in TWO separate places/parks. Added stress due to transportation.

Make your one ADR a day at somewhere special and make it the big meal of the day and just do quick service or just wait standby at a restaurant for the other meal. I've had days where I've had a lunch and dinner ADR and I feel like I am up against a wall time-wise all afternoon because of that. Plus .. no stress if transportation is running late .. or you are moving slow.

3) Schedule your Fast Passes near each other (time-wise and location-wise) .. I tend to schedule them in the late morning to early afternoon so you are free to schedule a 4th fast pass as soon as possible. This also allows you to get stuff done at rope drop OR sleep in. Scheduling them one after the other also lets you either hit two in a row .. or have a big gap of time between two to get a few other things done. Once your three fast passes are done then the rest of the day is pretty non-rushed!

4) Again .. it is just the two of you .. plan on going to the park early (rope drop) .. or staying late (until close) or BOTH. You'll be able to get more done and enjoy the freedom of shorter lines.

5) You may not even need the hoppers, but, again .. it will be fun to have that flexibilty and park hopping IS fun if you don't have to worry about getting kids to move along.

So I went back and looked at our ADRs and we do only have one ADR/day scheduled! The only day we have 2 is our Anniversary day and we have BOG (QS) for breakfast and Teppan Edo for dinner, so that shouldn't be too bad!

Thanks for the useful ideas!!!

 

[mumumouse]

I agree that you have to watch where your fastpass selections are located!! Lookout in AK. That place is enorMOUSE!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I have a tour at MK from 8 till 11am. It is supposed to end at Carousel of Progress. I have a fastpass window for Buzz beginning at 10:30 and I think ending at 11:20. I will just eek through, hopefully. They are right next door to one another.

I have other attractions I would have preferred to grab the first pass for, but with the tour ending where it does...I thought what the heck.

Then we have Anna and Elsa. Can't remember which day, but I actually got an "overlap" message.

It was due to my BOG lunch reservation, which I did not want to change.

So, wish me luck.

I got a little confused when making my passes after midnight and on till 2am. Kept having things pop up as my preference or something or other. They even thru Test Track at me, which I have no intention of riding.

You can go back and tweek things as needed.

With any lucky, we will get some others after those 1st three are gone. I never have booked firework viewing at MK for that reason alone.

 

[scrapquitler]

We have been to WDW twice.

1st time in 2010 was a huge family trip (15 people) where we didn't really get a say in what we did, but it was pre-fast pass and we had a Park Hopper and we had a special needs child so lines weren't an issue.

2nd trip 2015 Family of 7. We opted not to do park hopper and just plan our ADRs, etc, for the park we would be in that day. We obviously screwed up our planning of fast passes & ADRs because really all I remember from our trip was rushing and focusing on making sure we were at the next FP or ADR on time. It felt very rushed and very disorganized. We also had to split the group up because we had small kiddos so FP took twice as long.

3rd trip will be this coming May for *ONLY* DH & I. (squee!!!) Our 11th Anniversary!

How do we plan our trip so that we don't feel like all we are doing is rushing to the next scheduled item???

We have the Park Hopper this time and we have our ADRs scheduled already with only a couple of days where we have ADRs in multiple parks. We want to be able to explore and really enjoy WDW this time...sans kids. (Not that we don't enjoy it with them, we just wont have the added stress of the kids this time. )

ADRs in multiple parks in one day would totally stress me out. Multiple table service meals and travel between parks are two of the most time consuming things you can do in a day. Figure and hour and a half per meal, and an hour of travel time between parks, and that's four hours of your day right there. I'm hyperventilating just thinking about it.

 

[ZoZo]

I would reconsider some of your ADRs. I like having only ONE ADR per day (at most) for special restaurants you really want to try (like Be Our Guest) and enjoy the flexiblity of eating when and where you want the rest of the meals. I think ADRs over Fast Passes are what cause more stress and "rushing". ADRs don't have any flexiblity built-in and there is a penalty if you can't make it (unlike Fast Passes). Why stress out over a meal?
Minimally I would not make ADRs in TWO separate places/parks. Added stress due to transportation.

Make your one ADR a day at somewhere special and make it the big meal of the day and just do quick service or just wait standby at a restaurant for the other meal. I've had days where I've had a lunch and dinner ADR and I feel like I am up against a wall time-wise all afternoon because of that. Plus .. no stress if transportation is running late .. or you are moving slow.

I totally agree with this! With the $10 per person penalty if you miss your ADR, they can cause a lot of stress. I would have one ADR per day, max, then "wing it" on the rest of your meals. Also, if you have more than one ADR per day and don't time them correctly (factoring in enough time in between meals), you may still be feeling full from your previous meal, and won't have any flexibility in changing your meal time. If it's really hot, I know I don't feel like eating a bunch of big meals, and often might delay my next meal by an hour or two, or maybe just having a snack to tide me over if I'm not especially hungry.

For me, the key to not feeling stressed is to avoid planning too much in any given day. I like a "loose" plan, with a few definite things scheduled/planned, then going with the flow the rest of the time.

 

[Accident]

I would also minimize the table services. It takes a long time and if you hoping all around property, you need to replan those days to keep everything closer. If you must do it and you can't fit it in, you have to decide if that adr is worth the hours of extra do nothing traveling you have to do. For me, it's not worth it and we'll enjoy the next trip if there is time..

What's really helped my father/daughter trips (she is grown) is we make a don't do list now. I do the planning if you want to call it that and knowing up front what the don't want to do, don't care about things are you can really focus in on what is on the todo list, you don't need to sprinkle things. Also going more frequent our must do list is generally much smaller. One trip it might be all about trying a new restaurant and seeing all the rides we haven't done in a long time. that's hard to plan for someone else when you know the popular rides aren't important this trip. doesn't mean we won't do any, we just wont' plan our day around making sure we get on them.

And this is an adult trip, it's been so much better now that my daughter is grown. The things that really matter are being there, enjoy others company and whatever else happens is just gravy. enjoy yourself, slow down, smell the flowers, look up and take it slower. disney will be there again the next trip.

 

[BudgieMama]

I think a key difference is that in 2007 you had no say about FP times, but with FP+ you can sort out times to suit and reschedule on the fly if you need to. Obviously, you're limited to availability when the reschedule but it's still possible. Others have given great tips about planning those, so I won't repeat them!

 

[msmama]

I feel like if you're wanting to do to much, no matter what, you're going to feel rushed. So maybe change your mindset rather than your plans.

Usually I have my son and I each pick three things that we want to accomplish every day (maybe only 2 if we're traveling with others, or a busy time of year). If we accomplish those 3 things, we consider it a successful day!! We've NEVER NOT accomplished what we wanted, and usually do A TON more. So really, it feels like we got a ton done!!

Now that you've been a few times, you know what rides you can skip (or really, don't mind missing - I know, I'd always love to do them all, but sometimes I'd rather move more slowly than rush to another line, and that's okay). If you've been big riders with your kids, slow down and see some shows. If you've been trying to fit in all the shows with your kids, then do some rides you've never done before.

Another mind trick I play with myself to slow down is to remind myself that it's not my last trip, there will be plenty more time to explore the World!