How do you plan without knowing park hours?

[kmermaid]

We are going in April and trying to plan what parks to do what day and figure out PS's. But I don't see how I can with out going crazy because I don't know when they will have spectro or what parks are open late! ARRGG! Well at least I'm not trying for any of the popular meals like Cindy's. I just want to get this done!

 

[mketting]

Driving me crazy too!

 

[kilee]

Best thing is to pretty much plan w/ flexibility. This way if the park hours are way off from what you anticipate then you won't upset every last little thing by having to switch a PS or EMH day.
If there is a meal or 2 you really, really want then I'd go ahead and book the PS for a time that the restuarant is most sure to be open and wait for the hours.

 

[bytheblood]

Best thing is to pretty much plan w/ flexibility. This way if the park hours are way off from what you anticipate then you won't upset every last little thing by having to switch a PS or EMH day.
If there is a meal or 2 you really, really want then I'd go ahead and book the PS for a time that the restuarant is most sure to be open and wait for the hours.

I agree. I find that planning too much and trying to stick to it takes all of the fun out of the vacation. You get frustrated trying to stick to schedules and such and you frustrate others in your party by doing the same. Just kind of....go with the flow!

 

[momsgoofy]

We are going in April and trying to plan what parks to do what day and figure out PS's. But I don't see how I can with out going crazy because I don't know when they will have spectro or what parks are open late! ARRGG! Well at least I'm not trying for any of the popular meals like Cindy's. I just want to get this done!

I had this exact problem when we went to WDW for Thanksgiving 2003. As an obsessed vacation planner I was so frustrated until I came up with an alternate way to plan. What I did was to use the previous years park hours for the week we were there...you can find this on the DIS site and at Deb's unofficial site. Typically the park hours will not be any shorter than what has been done previously so set your PS and such for a schedule to fit in that time frame. However, it's not fail proof!

After preplanning our trip based on the previous coulple of years hours, early entry park schedules, using the DIS PS calculator...which is one of my favorite tools here...I was set. I gave a copy of the PS calculator so my TA could do the calling for me...worked fine. I wasn't trying to get into Cindy's castle for breakfast...my 12 DS wasn't into girls yet so we were shooting for lunch on our first full day...Sunday before Thanksgiving. We got it no problem....until WDW switched the early entry days...MK was now an early entry day on that Sunday! That park was a madhouse! We went anyway...did a few rides...ate...did a couple more rides and left by mid-afternoon.

So, be warned that the powers that be can slip one on ya, but if you are prepared to just have a magical time...you will!

One bit of advice...if you plan to eat at any place you can make a PS and you know when you want to do so...make the PS ASAP...you can always cancel according to the cancellation policy.

Laura ºoº