How do you plan?

[lsutigger2]

We pretty much wing it also. For our trip in Oct. we are bringing friends with us so we do have a few ADR's, DH has golf tee times, and we have Keys to the Kingdom booked. Everything else will be whatever we feel like doing.

 

[DVC Grammy]

We tend to wing it, too. The one exception, and I'm not sure this is exactly planning, is for our F & W trip, our schedule tends to be determined by which seminars we want to attend.

 

[Granny]

PLAN? We don't need no stinking plan Honestly, we make a couple of ADR's for the week and half the time we end up cancelling those. Sometimes we just wander down to the bus stop and get on whichever bus comes first.

This is very close to what we do. Sometimes we do play "Theme Park Bus Roulette" and let the next bus decide our destination.

Usually we make very few ADR's and even then not until we arrive at WDW. Usually just a Fantasmic Dinner Package somewhere along the way and maybe one other for a typical 7-10 day stay. The exception to this was when we went during Christmas week. Then our entire schedule did revolve around ADRs and though we loved being there at Christmas it confirmed that we would probably never do the DDP or make a lot of ADRs if we didn't have to.

Aside from that, our only planning is trying to avoid the park that had morning EMH.

 

[zackspal]

start with ADR's, than EHM & any thing else that is schedualed while we r There. After that we just wing it & always have a great time. Our next trip is week after Thankgiving. Will be 3rd visit this year

 

[DISNEY FIX]

To those of you who wing it, I am jealous! I would like to but the German in me comes out. Our family needs a little more structure to get moving.
I posted this question to find out a different or better way to get my group moving in the any direction in a timely manner. Through this I have also learned that the first full day needs to be at MK. Since we know our way around MK it is very easy to have a great start to a trip. We will have to learn our way around Epcot a little better it get me a little disoriented at times. Since DD(2) needs a nap during the day we can dine anywhwere then move onto the PM activities.
As much as I would love to take advantage of the EMH, getting my bunch out of bed (enough with the hair and makeup already) and ready is aggrevating enough......I just thought of, maybe next trip I drag DS(6) out of bed early and leave DD(2) and the wife behind.....hmmmmmm does anyone currently do this????
Thanks
Chris

P.S. do you guys know of a good stroller that will lie down flat so DD(2) can nap in?

 

[rkandmjsmommy]

For us, we plan, then change then plan then change, then make ADR's, then change them, then plan no park days then change to a park or 2 everyday, basically all I do is plan

For our Dec Trip we used the christmas stuff to plan, first we picked our MVMCP night, then our CP night then decided to throw in Osbourne lights. We try to plan our park days and then eat dinner where it fits in. Planning is fun

 

[xipetotec]

Our method up to date has been very specific for specific reasons.
so far, we've gone every two years and managed to do it on frequent flyer points with Air Canada. That being said, 356 days in advance, we book our flights. Once we have dates confirmed, 11 months in advance, we book our rooms.

Then we wait for park hours to be published. Once those are out. we base ourselves on Evening Magic hours first cause we *love* the parks at night. So meals are booked accordingly. And the rest we just kinda "wing it" and let it fall into place as it will.

 

[TinkGirl]

My family likes to have input on where we go each day. Ready-made spreadsheets wouldn't work with us. I am in info-gathering mode for our June trip right now. First, I get the EMH for each park. At 180 days I will make some dining reservations and try to avoid making ADR's on days the parks have extra magic hours. I've already polled my husband and kids on where they'd like to eat. I'll also throw in a new restaurant to try. I will have lists of all the events/times (like parades and fireworks) and emh when we go. We'll decide what we'll do each day based on that. Of course, I'll be ready with that spreadsheet in my head and make persuasive suggestions.

 

[mikron]

We wing it, depends how busy the parks are and the weather, it can rain without notice.

 

[OKW Lover]

Late afternoons & nights are spent in EpCot - whenever possible right in front of Off Kilter
I try to avoid early morn hours and do each park at regular opening time. The other mornings are for tours (well except this Nov I put aside the morn after my 50th birthday to just chill)
AR lunches are at the parks before I switch over to EpCot or I may leave the parks and start the EpCot afternoons w/AR there

That pretty much describes our plan of attack. Except for the Off Kilter part - never developed a taste for them. Must be the bagpipes.

 

[pbharris4]

I used to plan, plan, plan. Now I just plan..some. We do 2 parks each year and whichever park we decide on we go on EMH (morning EMH). Pick a restaurant at the park and as far as the actual park itself..the kids let me know what rides they really want to do and we plan the park outing around that. I only plan 1 ADR per day depending where we want to go. I never wing it with ADRs. I did once or twice and got lucky the one time. I find it a little more relaxing if I don't plan too much.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

I'm surprised at all the planning. We don't plan anything ahead, except the arrival time and the departure time. Everything else is.... as it comes. We're empty nesters, so we enjoy taking it as it comes. Makes for a very relaxing time. And I think very quality time, since we can change our schedule ongoing. We have never scheduled our stay around eating. If our kids were still young I would probably think differently.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

I am fairly certain we haven't head from our planners who have things down to the hour I know your out there or there wounldn't be half of the questions on these boards. Cmon' fess it up.
Thanks

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

P.S. do you guys know of a good stroller that will lie down flat so DD(2) can nap in?

Highly recommend the Maclaren Triumph or Quest - both are lightweight, sturdy, a dream to push and hold up to 55lbs, and very comfy for a wide range of sizes/ages. They also have carry straps for quick "fold up and go" events (such as getting on trams! LOL). Both lie almost completely flat - enough so that either my 14mo. old or 3.5 yr old can sleep comfortably.

 

[JodyTG]

I'm the planner in our family. Basically once park hours and EMH are announced, my fun begins.

I first plan our park days around EMH...night is worse than day but I try to stay away from them both. (Pre-DVC was different though. We didn't go as much and tried to make the most of every minute.)

One I get the parks decided then we pick restaurants for ADRs. We don't make as many of these as we used to. Fast food is perfectly fine for most of the days. Like others have said, we usually end the day at Epcot.

 

[BroganMc]

I am fairly certain we haven't head from our planners who have things down to the hour I know your out there or there wounldn't be half of the questions on these boards. Cmon' fess it up.
Thanks

Ok, I do get into hourly schedules once I'm down there. But it mostly depends on the weather forecast, how I'm feeling physically and what latest cool thing I've read about here.

I can't imagine planning like that 3-6 months out. So much changes. Then again if I had no plan at least the night before, I'd sleep in every day, find half my favorite rides completely jammed and wait 2 hours to eat (or subsist on junk). By dinnertime I'd be in such a foul mood from the disappointment I'd pick a fight with my travel buddies and be in serious danger of being fed to the aligators.

The trouble with planning comes when you are living for the schedule and miss the chance to improvise. So all my plans carry a disclaimer of "May change if I feel like it or my group riots."

One thing I always experience is that no matter how often my travel group says they want things "laid back and unplanned", they are always turning to me to ask "what do we do now?" Or worse, they ask me the plan for tomorrow just when I'm climbing in to bed. I then take the next hour jotting down notes and possible schedules worrying about who likes what, whether it will rain and how long can I exist without sleep before I'm too exhausted to do any of it.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We used to be very detailed trip planners for Disney, but DVC has changed all that. Now we make our ADR's and write them on a scheudle so we KNOW when and where we eat each day. Then we mostly go to the EMH mornings and then to the least crowded park the rest of the day. Our days are also filled with lots of going back and forth to the villa, so it's all very relaxing unless we have guests with us! When we have guests, we plan the parks to do each day, and once we get them started, we take off about noon and "do our thing". Then we meet up with them again toward evening in the villa and either have our meal or go to our table service spot.

We always plan to have at least 3-5 days at the end of a trip without guests! That gives us time to "do our own thing" more, and we usually spend it hitting our favorites over and over again! We spend a lot of time at Epcot, and Animal Kingdom!