How do you "Plan your WDW vacation"??

[rescuetink]

We were suppose to go on a DCL trip later this year, but now we have a wedding in Fl so we're going to WDW for a week, Oct 19-25. My DW and kids, DS 10 and DD 7, will be traveling and my kids are not big fans of rides. We do not plan to go to Epcot on the trip since my DW doesn't want to do the parks every day, and I want to do a water park one day. I know that the Food & Wine Festival and MNSSHP are that week also.

So here's my question... I keep hearing if you don't go to WDW with a "Plan" then your crazy!! So where do you start making a "plan"? I know if you don't reserve dining super early then you'll never get a reservation. But the rest, like Magic Bands and getting around the parks so your not wasting time is all confusing!! And we have never been to the MNSSHP so I have no idea what to expect there!!

So I seek help from you, my fellow Disney Freaks!! Thanks in advance!!

 

[harbin]

I go by the crowd calendar on easywdw to determine which park(s) we will be in and then plan our FP+ around that as well as our ADR's. Have fun! For me planning is half the fun!

 

[pepe of ohio]

Plans, we make so few....basically, become familiar with the parks layouts you plan on visiting...EMH' s are beneficial ( extra magic hours)...

We're not foodies so dining plans don't interest us and with very few ADR's we enjoy counter and food court meals just fine.

All this planning to us is a lot of hype...it's an amusement part, a little pre reading, layout looking and basic direction is all that's needed to enjoy WDW...you don't have to be entertained every minute while there...relax, enjoy the sun, resort pool and life in WDW, you'll never see it all...

 

[MPB82]

I am 1 time Disney Vet, went with my girlfriend last year and we made "semi" plans. I would say no planning is crazy, but planning every step is also crazy as things change.

Get one of those Disney books (or Disney websites) that list all the rides, go through it with your family and make a list of everything that is a **MUST** and then go online to see when those rides are really busy and try to book those first (fast pass or getting their real early) and then (use a map) see what is around them and kind of do a general idea of what you are going to do.

There is so much there you won't do everything, but if you get all the big hitters done (including character meals if you are interested) then you will feel like mission accomplished.


There are TONS of websites (this included) and books that have great advise for first timers (learn to walk long distances, I didn't and by the 3rd day I went from being a 30 year old excited about Disney to a 5 year old who wanted to be pushed in a stroller)

But it gives you advice on food, parades, rides, parks, crowds, what to bring what to avoid.

As I said earlier, you have to prepair because the place is HUGE but if you over do it your family will consider you a dictator and it will take away some of the fun. Enjoy the moment walking around do not just put on blinders to get from the entrance to Space Mountain, etc.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Well if you kids are not big fans of rides you really don't need a plan unless there are certain places you want to eat. Then you will need to make dinning reservation. When they refer to having a plan they mean planning so that you can ride the popular rides by securing fastpass times before your Disney vacation starts thus planning your day based on your FP times.

Those who want to ride rides and eat at certain places but don't "plan" ahead of time spend countless hours waiting in line to ride things and never get to eat where they want because its nearly impossible to do walk up to table service restaurants. That is why you will hear people say that going without a plan is crazy.

We never make any plans. I don't like to pay inflated prices for Disney food so we always eat 99% of the time off site. We have ridden the rides enough that if there are no FP it doesn't bother us. We also don't go to the parks everyday. I like to go to the different resorts and walk around or spend an afternoon at the pool.

 

[oldfastpassxpert]

I plan a lot. Most Disney rides aren't over the top scary rides- so I'm not sure how much your kids aren't into rides. You could get a decent planning book, or just look online and get a good idea of what rides or attractions you want to see. You can park maps online- even personalized ones from Disney. Animal Kingdom has the most shows and non-ride stuff, plus one of the best rides at WDW. MK, we love Mickeys Philhamagic. You know your kids better than us, so I would suggest doing some research as to what is at each park, then ask questions- I love answering WDW questions. Birnbaums (sp?) WDW planning books are good and have good tips, but you can get most of the info you need off of the internet. Good Luck and let us know how it goes!

 

[Tasmen]

First thing I do is pick the dates. These are usually in May and coincide with the DD's birthday and a Star Wars weekend. We love going in May. The weather is great and the crowds aren't too horrible.

Then I wait... and I wait some more before I can make all my dining selections. I make a list of all the places we must eat at (our staples) and those we want to try that we haven't before.

Our park planning is usually pretty easy. We always try to arrive on the same day of the week and leave on the same one. Epcot is our first day and MK our second. After that, I go by the crowd predictions. I highly recommend using touringplans.com. Great info and you can get a smart phone app from them for free (with your subscription) that tells you current line waits in the parks. Unlike the Disney app, it works outside of the parks. You can be like me and be bored in a meeting at work and look at what the lines are like at the World and wish you were there

The magic bands are a new thing for me and I am not sure what we are going to think of FP+. We were FP runners that would arrive at rope drop and then load up on FPs. Any extras we had when we were done with the park for the day, we would give to some one else to share the magic.

What I've seen recommended is to continue hitting rope drop for the park of your choice and then put your FP+ options for the evening or later in the afternoon when the lines have built up.

 

[Loki0panda]

even if you plan nothing else, plan on your dining and get reservations. Otherwise you're going to be severly disappointed when you get there and all those cool looking places to eat are completely booked.

Other than that, we didnt really plan much beyond getting an idea of where thngs were and what time we had to get up and factor in travel from your hotel to the park of choices for the day.

 

[curlyblonde]

Well, I think I would say it depends on your group and how you like to travel. Some would tell you to plan everything out down to the hour or something. Others might tell you to look at crowd calendars to decide which park on which day and then just wing it. *I* say, know your travel party.

If you're going with kids (or adults) that have some ride or attraction they feel they absolutely *MUST* do or else their trip is ruined, I would plan that in advance. Get a fast pass for it if possible.

If you like your sit down dinners and wouldn't be able to stand burgers and fries for a week, I *Highly* suggest making dining reservations. Especially if what you want for dining includes character meals. But if you're bringing meals from home or are fine with counter service, don't sweat it.

And if you are not exactly "morning people" who would be happy getting up in time for rope drop, I might plan out which park you want to go to next day and get your fast passes the night before for the more popular rides.

If you love to plan and would be stressed about what you might be missing without one, plan everything out! Just be willing to be flexible just in case. But for me, I'll get dining reservations, and show up for rope drop and see what happens.

That's my two cents!

(Also, sorry for the lack of any signature, after reading these boards for weeeeeks I finally created a login today. This is my first post!)

 

[gaunce78]

My family is going for 10 days this October, and will be leaving the magic on the 18th. With that said, I have used touringplans.com for the past 6 years taking my girls who are 7 & 8 now. I look to see the expected crowd level for the days and choose which park to go to that way. We have also done the MNSSHP every time we go in October. I absolutely LOVE going to the MK on those days. In the past 6 yrs, we have never had to wait for a ride, except maybe Peter Pan about 20 mins on the party nights. There are party haters, but my family loves them, loves dressing up, and you can get in the park in your party ticket at 4pm. We normally make reservations for the girls to do BBB and then eat with the princesses or BOG. This is the first time for us to use the dining plan through Disney, in the past the girls didn't eat enough to pay for it, but now that they are a little older, they enjoy eating at the nicer places now. For a family of 4, we are paying just a little under $1600 for a 10 night plan, which we easily paid $160-200 each day for us last year. You can start making dining reservations 180 days out from your trip, so for BOG, you need to book as soon as you can. Last year on our 10 day trip, we have to wait until the last Christmas party before we left to get to eat there. We actually rent points from DVC members for our trips, but I always go ahead and book a cheaper place in case the other doesn't come through. This way, if there's a waiting list we can still go ahead and book our reservations. I love planning vacations, especially to anything Disney!!

 

[mkmomto2]

I agree with the previous poster, I love touringplans.com. I enjoy the planning, so whether we will actually follow it or not, that remains to be seen; however, I have made all the ADRs and so we will at least be following my plans loosely. I also created a PowerPoint for my trip in August that I can't wait to share with my sister and friend. Planning is individual though, like the others have said. Know who you are going with and how much they will want to follow a plan and then simply enjoy whatever way you all decide to do Disney

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Do easywdw and touring plans have crowd predictors/emh hours at 180 days out?

 

[hops&dreams]

I always turn my friends to All Ears' First Timer Primer. I think it gives you a TON of information in a good, readable, digestable way without overwhelming you - because you're right, planning for WDW can be very overwhelming.

Good news is that you're going in Oct, which is a decent time, crowd-wise. You also have the advantage of being there during MNSSHP, which I've heard mixed reviews on.

As pps have stated, I would at least go on to Easy WDW and plan your parks (which parks on which days) around the predicted crowd calendars. Also go through park maps and make a "can't miss" list for each park - Even though your kids aren't fans of rides, there are many attractions and shows at each park that might interest them. Be sure you mark which ones are FP+ and be sure you get those either at your 60 day mark if you're staying onsite, or in the morning when you get to the parks if you're staying off-site.

I'd also plan your dining (keep in mind the parks you'll be in each day) and make your reservations. There are a lot of fun ones - we like Hoop Dee Doo Revue at Ft. Wilderness (dinner and a show, with a large price tag) and Sci Fi at HS.

There are also lots of "off-the-beaten-path" things to do - take the monorail to check out different resorts. Watch WISHES from one of the beaches (it's lovely from the beach at Poly), watch the electrical water parade from one of the resorts.

Have fun and good luck!!!

 

[Kristina4109]

If you've never been to WDW before, you can be very surprised once you get there. A big complaint I hear from first timers who never did research before leaving home is that once they got there, there was too much that they wanted to do and didn't have enough time for it.

Another common complaint is when people get home and realize there were a couple of things they would have LOVED to do...if only they knew about it.

 

[mkmomto2]

Do easywdw and touring plans have crowd predictors/emh hours at 180 days out?

touringplans.com does, I can't speak for easywdw. Touringplans.com has the crowd predictors, emh hours and you can create your own touring plans or use theirs. They also have a place that you can choose the resort that you are staying in and they will tell you what rooms they recommend for you to request with the views from that room. It has been a really nice site. I got directed there when I bought the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (I guess they own both). I had to sign up for it, but it has been great.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Thanks!