How do you type /organize your itinerary?

[fairytinkerbell]

:space:
I made a TABLE for the entire week of the trip - dining plans only.

I can't fit the ENTIRE SCHEDULE (which includes every ride we must do, every snack to try, etc) in the table.

What do you all do to organize your schedule?? (what format, printout does it look like??)

TIPS?

 

[stacy6552]

I carry one of those tiny spiral notebooks in my fanny pack.

 

[sk!mom]

I use the very low-tech 4x6 notecards and a baggie. I print each days info on a separate card (conf. numbers, notes on aything that I should remember) and then carry it around in a zip-loc baggie. I thought about laminating them but with the baggies I can take the card out and add things if necessary. This works well for me.

I don't have an "hour by hour" plan. Just general plans of what park to go to each day- planned around EMH. The major info on the cards are my conf. numbers.

 

[Disney Doll]

WOW!!! You guys really organize!!!!! We kind of "wing it", if you know what I mean.

 

[jimmiej]

I have each day planned out. I'll carry each day's hour by hour plan plus the UG touring plan for the planned park. I'm a good Boy Scout-always prepared!

 

[Bete]

because I rather go with the flow on rides. I won't wait an hour even for my most favorite ride at a park. I feel the best bang for my bucks is to go on three other rides in the same time period that are less crowded. There's always another day or another time to do the rides. Noone in my family disagrees with this course of action, either. We have learned through the years.

I make many PS on every trip and I always have them noted by day. If I'm using coupons like entertainment coupons I will have them organized by the day. I have a portfolio (reusable) with each pocket marked for a day of vacation. It will include reservations for resorts, car rental, air tics, etc. For the parks, I will note down showtimes of parades, fireworks, etc. per each day that we may want to enjoy. I even include nap times or pool times. I've learned to use bought sides of the paper; so, I can always fit all our day's activities on one sheet. I carry the sheet with me most of the time. At Christmas time, I'm even more of a planner with the different events at that time of year. Any special event like MVMCP, Food and Wine Fest, Flower and Garden show, etc. I will have noted any special activities that I would like to participate in. I could go and on but planning ahead makes it so much easier for us once we are there. I don't want to waste time at the resorts or parks to decide what's next. I'm not rigid with my plans, either. I don't pack so much in that's there no room for spontaniety in our schedule. It seems much less stressful to have your day planned.

 

[eljojo]

After someone on this board suggested it, I went out and bought the Disney Passporter. It's really great for organizing and has pockets to store receipts, tickets etc. And my daughter said it will be a great scrapbook of our trip when we return.

 

[CamColt]

I type out the basic plan for each day, which parks at what times and meals. I dont carry that with us as I usually have it pretty much memorized.
I do break down what rides we are doing on each particular park visit on index cards that I carry in my fanny pack. I mark off and number everything we do as we do it, and write in any extra. This helps greatly when writing my trip report.

 

[princesstommi]

MIL and I worked on a MS Publisher calendar for our last trip. It had park hours, parade times, PS times and confirmation #s, golf times and confirmation #s, resort conf. #s, and all of our cell phone numbers on it. It was a handy tool, and since we didn't plan every day out completely, it was very helpful.

 

[zippehsmom]

I usually type up the whole itinerary using 2 columns and print landscape so that 2 days fit onto one page.

I usually include confirmation no.s, PS, parks, rides basically hour by hour. We are always flexible, but it gives us a great guide. I usually bring like 2-3 copies with us because DH & DS likes to have their own copy.

I also like to make notes of anything we did differently. It helps with the planning for the next trip, and also gives me a quick disney fix when I want to relive the trip.

zippehsmom

 

[mmorizio]

I carry my trusty four-year-old Palm Pilot in my camera bag. I keep the entertainment schedules, menus to all the WDW restaurants, and lots of other WDW reference material on it. I also keep PS numbers, travel info, etc. Other than that, We don't do any sort of itinerary.

 

[mkymouse4ever]

I am so low tech!

I get the small size white poster board and a few markers make a homemade calender for our time down, write in different colors with pen each park hours, and extras (spectro, fireworks, etc..) & then I add e nites, early entry, late entry dates etc... Then finally based on this knowledge I make some PS's for lunch & dinners. During our trip I bring down our board, check to see where we are headed that day, and do we still feel like it, then off we go!

My sister said I was crazy planning! now I don't feel so bad, I'm going to tell her about note cards and baggies! (just kidding sk!mom)

MKY

 

[4greatboys]

We usually just wing it. But thats when its just our family. This trip there will be us (6), my bil family (4) and my mil. So with 11 of us I knew we couldnt just pop in a restaurant and be seating anytime in the near future. So I made atleast 1 ps each day. I just write down the day, what park we are hitting, where we are eating and the ps number. I did write a rough draft, another one and then I typed it up.
I really enjoy all the planning, its almost as much fun as the trip itself

 

[lenshanem]

I plan on my palm, then print it out and stick it in my fanny pack. I have a rough outline of each day, planning around our PSs and fireworks, etc., always including either a resort break midday, sleeping in or back to room early for bed.

 

[Chim Chiminy]

I put everything on an Excel spreadsheet.
It has five columns.

Looks kind of like this.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date-------------------------------COST---------------Remarks
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meals--Park------Days info------cost info--Further info
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bfast-- ---In room-----------free--------EMH AK
--MK----Brenne's BDAY
Her choice rides-- ---------Fantasyland
Lunch-- -----GF Tea 2:00 ---------Treating Mom&Dad
PS #00000000--$75---------
--Epcot--arrive after lunch-- ---------stay for Illuminations
Dinner- --Counter Service--$40---------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jan 27--------------------------------COST---------------Remarks
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meals--Park---------Days Info----Cost Info----------Further Info
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bfast-- ----In room-----------Free--------------EMH MGM
MK------Meeting Lisa &----- ----------Take kids to
family.--------------- ----------Fantasyland
Lunch-- -------Counter service--$40------------
-------Swim break------- -----------
Dinner- -------Cindy's Gala------$120----------Brenne's Bday dinner
-----PS #00000001----- ----------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course I am not much of a keyboard illustrator.
Couldn't figure out how to do vertical lines!
But each column is seperated by borders, the COST column adds itself up and puts the total at the bottom of the file.
Makes it very easy to keep track and budget.
I put in times, PS #'s, pertinent phone #'s, activities we are doing.
Resort info and reservation #'s go at the top.

I send out the file every few months to everyone going on our trip, so they can look over it and give opinions. Then once we arrive I have copies for everyone.
I reduce mine and carry it with me for easy referencing in the parks.

Hope this makes sense!

 

[scotthart]

I use an excel spreadsheet also, this is an example of a day on our forthcoming trip.


Morning Mon May 31
Epcot Princess Breakfast 8:50 30170667
9:00-9:00 Goofies Epcot Guide

Ice Cream Social 2:50 30170681

Afternoon
Epcot
Le Cellier 6:00 30170673

Meet at Yacht Club 8:15 30170514
Illuminations 9:00

I print all of these very small, laminate them, and put all of them on a mickey key ring in my fanny pack. This way I have them all of the time. I would share more, but I have to pack. Check my countdown!

 

[BrianMonk]

I use a palm pilot as well. I bought a bare bones model, NIB, from ebay for around $40 (inc. shipping).

I put our schedule in and then with the "notes" section on items, I'll cut-n-paste things of interest and use the provided software to dump it into the palm. Like where to view Illuminations (from TGM), PS #'s, etc....

 

[Disrookie0704]

I bought a passporter too and think it will be a wonderful "scrapbook." I also got turned on to this website that has a program you can download.

You can put your itinerary in it plus it has some useful tips. I plan to print the pages out and place them in the pockets of my Passporter.

The website is:

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/dvp/

 

[Chicago526]

I don't think you need to plan it hour by hour and ride by ride if you're going in October, the parks just are not that full. Just make a list of the "must do's" for each park, and check it off as you do them. The order won't matter much other than things like Mision Space that require either a FP or to get in line 1st thing when the park opens.

But you will want to plan which park for which day so you can do your PS's for park restaurants, and note parade/show times. Here's what I did, I used an Excel spread sheet.

Going across the page I lable each column: Date, then Monring, Afternoon, and Evening. In the DATE column each day of the trip is listed going down the page. Then for each date, going across, I list the park hours for the park we're going to, show and/or parade times, and PS's for that day in the apropiate Morning/Afternoon/Evening column. I plan out the whole trip in advance so it's easy to see if we are spending too much time in one park, or have too many PS's in a day (you dont' want to become a slave to meal times). And the show/parade times are just handy to have, especialy when some of the evening shows don't run every night. You can plan to be in a park on the evening they DO have the show! Once it's time to make PS's, I just plug in the confirmation numbers so all the info is handy. Also, on the arrival/departure days I have my flight information, limo confirmation, hotel confirmation etc.

I like this because everything is on one piece of paper. This works for the planning phase, I'm still working out what I'll be bringing to the park each day so I can referance PS info and such.

 

[mmtdevlin]

Originally posted by Chicago526
Going across the page I lable each column: Date, then Monring, Afternoon, and Evening. In the DATE column each day of the trip is listed going down the page. Then for each date, going across, I list the park hours for the park we're going to, show and/or parade times, and PS's for that day in the apropiate Morning/Afternoon/Evening column. I plan out the whole trip in advance so it's easy to see if we are spending too much time in one park, or have too many PS's in a day (you dont' want to become a slave to meal times). And the show/parade times are just handy to have, especialy when some of the evening shows don't run every night. You can plan to be in a park on the evening they DO have the show! Once it's time to make PS's, I just plug in the confirmation numbers so all the info is handy. Also, on the arrival/departure days I have my flight information, limo confirmation, hotel confirmation etc.

I like this because everything is on one piece of paper. This works for the planning phase, I'm still working out what I'll be bringing to the park each day so I can referance PS info and such.

This is exactly what I do too!