How do you plan?

[mamateacher]

Do you just plan your ADRs and FPs for the day and go with the flow for other rides/attractions? Or, other than scheduled FPs, do you plan what rides/attractions you will do in order from the minute you walk into the park?

Do you use Touring Plans or the Unofficial Guide's plans?

 

[Hootch]

We don't do a lot of table service meals in the parks, but we will plan a couple. We schedule our three FPs and after that we look for short lines or additional FP opportunities. We have a general idea of what attractions that we want to do and look for those.

We "use" easywdw.com as an input to understand the early morning waits and flows so we can get somethings done prior to the start of our FPs

 

[Meg1031]

I'm a planner, so I usually make a pretty detailed plan with times I'm going to ride attractions and where I'm going to eat. I then sort of play it by ear when I get there (other than FP). I'll look at what I have next on the schedule and then decide whether I feel like doing it or not, or if I feel like eating somewhere else, etc. It really just depends on the person. I get overwhelmed pretty easily, so I find it comforting and a little less stressful to have a gameplan to fall back on (its also fun to make it), but others will prefer to go with the flow. For touring plans or unofficial guides, I used one when I went to DLP, but I'm so familiar with WDW that I don't bother when I go there.

 

[Shanti]

Do you just plan your ADRs and FPs for the day and go with the flow for other rides/attractions? Or, other than scheduled FPs, do you plan what rides/attractions you will do in order from the minute you walk into the park?

Do you use Touring Plans or the Unofficial Guide's plans?

I plan the FP's & ADRs, and also consider the other attractions we are interested in that will likely have lines, & make a basic plan of when to hit them. This process is easier for those with a fair amount of experience in the parks.

If I'm spending the whole day in one park, and maybe will visit that park more than once, I'm pretty relaxed in my planning, and take what comes at the park. If I'm only going to be at that park for a half day or less & want to get some favorites done, my planning gets quite meticulous.

Never used Touring Plans for ride order myself, but I've heard it can be helpful.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Do you just plan your ADRs and FPs for the day and go with the flow for other rides/attractions? Or, other than scheduled FPs, do you plan what rides/attractions you will do in order from the minute you walk into the park?

Do you use Touring Plans or the Unofficial Guide's plans?

We look at what days we want to be in what parks and plan our ADRs around that. There aren't too many, if any, WDW restaurants where I'll take any ADR I can get for that restaurant on any day and then plan my park day around the ADR.

I use Touring Plans' personalized touring plans to put in a plan for every attraction we want to do that day, then look at the projected wait times to plan our FP+ selections. But we don't strictly follow that personalized touring plan lockstep after the first couple of hours. It's just something to fall back on after that.

 

[kay1864]

Do you use Touring Plans or the Unofficial Guide's plans?

Neither. We use RideMax. I let it generate our touring plans and when to schedule FPs. If we have ADRs it plans around them.

Saves us easily 2 hours a day in line (so that's 2 hours spent riding instead of standing in line looking at our phones).

 

[Gophers]

I plan out the day based on what we deciding on doing. We have our FP's and ADR's for the day. Then any shows we want to see. This trip is just my wife and me so we want to slow down and try to enjoy the surroundings better. Most of our trips have been with multiple families and it just seemed like we never took time to just check everything out. Looking forward to a fun time

 

[gatorlisa]

We plan our 3 FPs based on what parks I think we'll be in each day. Park hours help determine this as we like to spend as much time as possible in the parks. That's it for planning. Even that is a pretty loose plan as we're more than willing to change our minds and reschedule fastpasses if we feel like going somewhere other than where our pre-planned FPs were done. We don't do ADRs, and don't plan our our days as far as which rides in what order. Works for us.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

My three teenagers and I each pick a favorite restaurant, and a new one we'd like to try, and I make ADRs. I make FP for the parks where the restaurants are in, and that's about it.

My kids all have the My Disney Experience app on their phones, so they know when and where dinner is. We all do our own things. I usually pick the park for the day for myself by whatever bus shows up first.

 

[stayathomehero]

We were going for free dining, so made reservations at places we enjoyed and kind of shaped our park schedule around that. We then made FP to fit that, but other than that, it will be go with the flow. Fun times.

 

[Delirium]

We use the following approach:

• We use the logic formerly outlined on easywdw to determine the first park to visit each day. Most of our 'touring' is done in the morning.
• We tackle a section of the park at a time. For example, if we start in Tomorrowland, we'll finish it off before moving to a different part of the park. This would include low priority attractions in like Carousel of Progress, Laugh Floor, etc. We'll do them while in Tomorrowland, regardless of the time of day. We avoid crisscrossing the parks at all costs.
• Fastpasses are sometimes used in the morning if they fit into the touring schedule for that day. But, they are most often saved for the afternoon. FP scheduling is planned to the most extreme level of detail possible. TOT will have a FP time immediately after RNR, Splash will have one immediately after Big Thunder, Character Spot in Epcot will be paired with Soarin, while Mission Space will be paired with Test Track, etc.
• We almost always hop. The 2nd park is usually reserved for FPs, Concerts, Fireworks/Shows, other nighttime entertainment, etc. We rarely do any general touring in the evening, except for World Showcase at Epcot. We use FPs for specific attractions we want to do at night.
• We rarely tour Fantasyland during the day. Whenever possible, we block the last hour or so of a late night at MK to do it after the main crowds have left.
• We only do table service if we have free dining. That's only happened once in the last half dozen visits, so we generally count on early lunches at quick service in the park and either an early QS dinner at the 2nd park if we're going to be in the park late, or at the resort food court if we're back there by 9:30-10:00. One tradition we do every trip is eating at Casey's Corner 10-15 minutes before close on a late MK night.
• I have never used an official touring guide. I trust my own judgment and experience more than I do a service such as Touring Plans.

 

[Oneanne]

I usually start with a few ADR's, booking them for at most half of my days. I have a few favorite places to eat but also like to try new ones, so I search based on time and then see what comes up. The ADR's will usually set my park for that day, with the exception being if I'm eating late at EPCOT because I seem to park hop to EPCOT most evenings. I book my FP+ late morning to mid-days for any attractions I really want to do, and take advantage of lower crowd levels earlier in the day. I leave my afternoons and evenings open to do whatever suits me at the time.

 

[gap2368]

Do you just plan your ADRs and FPs for the day and go with the flow for other rides/attractions? Or, other than scheduled FPs, do you plan what rides/attractions you will do in order from the minute you walk into the park?

Do you use Touring Plans or the Unofficial Guide's plans?

I do not do a lot of ADR but in a week long trip maybe 2 and I do plan my 3 FP after this not much really I might have something that I would like to do like a show I do not normally see or a ride I really like that I was not able to get a FP for. but I go to disney a good bit so if I do to do or see something there is more then likely a next time for me.

 

[davper]

We plan on which park or no park each day. Then choose what ADR we want for that park each day. Get our FPs. Rough plan in place.

Upon arrival, the plans get thrown out because "we" change what day "we" go where. Then "we" complain that "we" don't have good FPs.

I dream of going alone someday.

 

[cluvsdisney]

We make a loose plan with ADRs and work FPs around them from home. We'll fill in any gaps and make changes as we go along while we are there. There are very few set in stone things in our itinerary.

 

[IvyWinter]

Go with the flow around FPs and ADRs. its much easier to do that...what if a ride in your itinerary is down? do you have to then have a backup? I dont want to have to think about that. We don't finish a section at a time; but thats because i often go with other vets, so we're all for hopping around to whatever has the lowest wait times, even if it means going across the park and back again.

 

[wdw&sonny]

We never have used a 3rd party planner. We have all the info we need here on these boards. We are experienced with WDW.

Like many others, I plan the ADRs, then FPs and fill in the space between. BUT, unlike those that said they tour one ares, we don't do that.
We rope drop and hit many of the headliners early, regardless of location. We don't mind walking back and forth or around the park a couple of times. We get the big stuff done early, save FPs for 2nd park or later in day, if not hopping. We always park hop in summer with afternoon break. We sometimes hop in winter.
While my planner will have a specific order, we are experienced enough to default to the best plan for the moment. We adjust our plan based on actual waits, weather, crowds, tour groups, temporary closures and all the other unpredictable variables.