How do you create your plan?

[jd019]

Hi. I've been reading lots for the past two months but this is my first post. My question is what strategy do you use when making your touring plan. List? Spreadsheet? Sticky notes? I guess I am feeling overwhelmed! This will be my first trip with DH DS5, DS2. DH and I have been before and always just went with the flow but I feel like we need a plan this time. I know which parks on which days and dinning but I'm not sure how to best tackle rides and shows. Thank you for any help!

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

I've spent the last 5 hours today laying everything out via TouringPlans.com.

It's $10 for a year subscription and lays out a perfect day for you to avoid major lines based on you choosing from a list of attractions and interaction you wish to experience. It lets you factor in breaks and meals as well. You can then tinker with their plan. I've been having a lot of fun with this.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

I use a combo of spreadsheet & word document. It helps to keep all reservations and confirmations in one place

 

[agavegirl1]

Spreadsheet for the overviews (full trip and each day) with separate Touring Plans from the website (TP subscription) with detail for each day.

 

[ajwolfe]

Spreadsheet for me and then I have started using putting things in a Word format by day and the placing on an index card. That way we can see the day's plans in a quick glance.

 

[BrianL]

I keep the a spreadsheet, that can be printed as a wallet-sized card (perhaps a fold-out depending on length of trip - 3 days to a side). On this I keep the park I'll be at, hours of the earliest and latest places we will be and a list of ADR's with confirmation numbers, or just a planned meal if it is quick service. I also have added FP+ times and any needed transportation information as well. I do not make a ride by ride toruing plan and just go with the flow while there. The reference card is wonderfully handy.

 

[juliebug1997]

Well, like at MK, we go straight back to Fantasyland and ride Peter Pan's Flight first. That line can get pretty bad. We then usually go to Pooh and then slip back into the new part and ride "The Little Mermaid" ride. After that, we either go ride the Haunted Mansion or Buzz Lightyear.

At Epcot, we go straight to Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush.

At DHS, we used to do the Toy Story Mania walking of the bulls; now, I'm not sure how we'd handle that.

At AK, we go straight to the safari since the animals might not be out later in the day.

Something that we decided we would never do was use our FP+ on shows/videos (Laugh Floor, Philharmagic, Muppets 4D, etc). They are on a continuous loop and start every 10-15 minutes, depending on the show. It's not a terrible wait at all.

 

[Dan Murphy]

As to where do I keep my what days/what parks, special attraction and DR confirmation numbers, I keep that stuff on my Google calendar which syncs with my Outlook and phone and tablet. I use Evernote to keep copies of confirmation emails, photos of tickets, Photopass vouchers, or anything that might require a picture of something. Everything is in my phone/cloud.

I do print out Josh's day suggestions for the days of my trip and do put the days' lineup, best to worst in my calendar also. Most everything is built around those best/worst days. When I am meeting folks from the boards there, that goes into my calendar also.


Basically, everything is in my calendar, available to me anywhere and able to be updated anywhere.

I also keep links to various websites...Deb's menus, Steve's entertainment, Josh's cheat sheets, TP's Lines, MousePerks, Mary's Mousesavers, Kenny's and MDE....in a folder on my phone's home page.

 

[mcconnellfam96]

Hi. I've been reading lots for the past two months but this is my first post. My question is what strategy do you use when making your touring plan. List? Spreadsheet? Sticky notes? I guess I am feeling overwhelmed! This will be my first trip with DH DS5, DS2. DH and I have been before and always just went with the flow but I feel like we need a plan this time. I know which parks on which days and dinning but I'm not sure how to best tackle rides and shows. Thank you for any help!

I make a Word document. I include all our FP+ times, ADRs with confirmation numbers, Park hours for each day, and parade or firework times we might want to catch and any lose plans we have for what we want to accomplish that day. I even include our fight information and our resort reservation information.

If I could EVER figure out how to post a picture to these boards I would show you. LOL

 

[It's A Happy Day]

I start with a calendar - look at the crowd calendar and pick my park

After the park is picked I pick my ADR's for that park and estimated time frame that we would like to eat so when my 180-day window is open I can hopefully get something within an hour of that window.

I keep my 1 sheet calendar with park & ADR place and confirmation # on it on 1 side.

On the other side of the above sheet I list the 4 parks and the things the kids "must" do under each park. This is my only packed for the day list that I bring with me into the parks.

As for what to do once you hit the park so you don't miss anything... well I think that is open more to interpretation than anything else. If you are going during high/peak season (think summer months/school vacation time) then I would have a highly intricate plan to hopefully avoid those crowds. If you are going during a less crowded time (which is what we do) you will find your over-planning could have been alot of wasted time IMO. I still say plan what things you want to do but I've found that when we've gotten there we've just kind of went with the flow. I had a starting point - Pirates of the Carribean last time and then went from there. Our last trip, one of the MK days there was literally NO line in the que for Splash Mountain. We rode it 3 times in a row with nobody else waiting in line! While I know this isn't necessarily the norm, I think your planning strategy depends on when your going and how much of a plan person you are. We are the type of people that if the line is long we'll check later and only IF it's a matter of missing out entirely on that event that we will stand in line. I think the longest we waited last time was 10-15 minutes at Toy Story Mania.

 

[jd019]

Thanks, everyone! We are going Aug 21-26. I'm a teacher so vacation time is dictated by the school schedule. I started by looking at the crowd calendars to pick parks. We are doing H&V for breakfast one day because my boys love Disney JR. We planned the trip well after the 180 day mark so dining has been limited. I keep checking Chef Mickey's like a hopeless lunatic hoping something opens up. I think we will do rope drop. If the park opens at 9am what time should we plan on being there? It seems like many people get there super early????

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

I've spent the last 5 hours today laying everything out via TouringPlans.com.

It's $10 for a year subscription and lays out a perfect day for you to avoid major lines based on you choosing from a list of attractions and interaction you wish to experience. It lets you factor in breaks and meals as well. You can then tinker with their plan. I've been having a lot of fun with this.

~I totally agree with this! I *love* Touring Plans & use a combination of Touring Plans, EasyWDW & Ridemax.

~EasyWDW has a fabulous new book available at Amazon.com called --->~The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit 2014~<---

~I make the most elaborate detailed plans because for me it's fun and I thoroughly enjoy it! However, realistically I am prepared to adjust & go with the flow as needed. There's always a chance of inclement weather, rides go offline at anytime, or sometimes you just feel like doing something else. Happy planning & have fun!!!

 

[LSUfan4444]

First thing I do, 8 months in advance is start thinking of where we want to eat. What new places do we want to try, etc. and what other activities do we want to do (run disney events, water parks, cirque de soleil, hard ticket evente etc).

Then, when the hours are released we figure out what parks we will want to be in on what day, then we know what days will be available for where we want to eat....once done, this is what you get:

Most of planning help and approach comes from easywdw.

 

[SillySallySews]

Thanks, everyone! We are going Aug 21-26. I'm a teacher so vacation time is dictated by the school schedule. I started by looking at the crowd calendars to pick parks. We are doing H&V for breakfast one day because my boys love Disney JR. We planned the trip well after the 180 day mark so dining has been limited. I keep checking Chef Mickey's like a hopeless lunatic hoping something opens up. I think we will do rope drop. If the park opens at 9am what time should we plan on being there? It seems like many people get there super early????

I booked our trip (which starts on Sunday!) way less than 180 days out and got CM at almost the exact time I wanted. I had to keep checking multiple times a day for awhile, but they do pop up. We're also doing the H&V breakfast one day since we have one kiddo obsessed with Doc. The Easy WDW site has some great pictures showing the progression of RD crowds. If you want to be at the head of the crowd, earlier is probably better. We usually get there around 8:45 and are in the back of the crowd, but still able to do a lot within those first couple hours. Have fun!