How extensive is your planning?

[I'm mikey]

the only thing we plan in advance is hotel reservations, other than that we wing it.

 

[Disneyanajc]

Planned in advanced are the hotel reservations, Fantasmic Dessert Buffet, and Napa Rose...but this year we are adding to our list: Carthay Circle Restaurant
jc

 

[isisisme]

I have tried planning before, but by the time I get under the tunnel.."poof" it is all out of my head. So now, we plan any meals that I make reservations (rule is only one a day!), and if we do F! dessert dining (we usually do for our annual Oct trip). We always ride POTC and HM as our first rides, after that, it is always "What do you want to do next".

But, it is just me and my wonderful husband. So, no kids to please.

 

[SilentFeline]

Even though I live in the SF Bay Area and not too far from DLR, I only go once every 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years because of expense. As a result, my trips are always 5-6 days, and in my opinion that requires planning. I try to justify it, but actually you can count me in as one who likes to plan, at least to an extent.

I have a list of restaurants in DLR (broken up into DLR location) that my boyfriend and I like or are are interested in, as well as dishes or snacks that appeal to us at each restaurant so we can make a decision about where we want to eat based on what we feel like having at the time. I change the list accordingly based on menu changes. I do plan what meals we're going to have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on each day ahead of time, but having the list of all of our options allows us some flexibility, which is always nice to have on any vacation. Of course, meals for which I make reservations are an exception, although we made a last minute decision not to show up for a DTD reservation at least once.

Additionally, I print out a compilation of helpful parks tips, many of which are pieces of HydroGuy's various threads here on the DIS boards. I break all of the information up into categories, omitting things I already know to make it shorter, and form separate packets, which I include in a folder along with my restaurants list and dining plans. The folder goes into a backpack that I bring on every trip. These tips also change accordingly.

I have kept most of my old packing lists for different trips, and I use those to make my packing lists. I make various notes on my lists after my trips are over so that I know if something may or may not be necessary on our next trip. My packing list length varies depending on whether or not I'm flying, but I always drive to DLR.

As far as rides, we know which FPs to get and the order in which to get them, but when we go on the rides is based on how long the lines are. So we kind of wing it after obtaining the FP. If DLR decides to enforce FP times like they're doing at WDW, it will drastically change that, but it works for now.

I have a DLR folder on my laptop desktop that contains any miscellaneous tips, dining plans and options, parks hours for my trip, and entertainment info so that I can easily make additions or omissions as necessary.

I must confess that I have no idea how my planning is going to change with the addition of Cars Land, but my next trip isn't until mid to late 2013, so I still have plenty of time to think about it and plan accordingly. This message board has been an asset to my planning on both of my adult trips, so keep yourself updated on here and utilize the information as much as you can to fit your own needs. Most importantly, have fun planning! It doesn't have to be a daunting task if you just start early.

 

[sammons70]

I've been on both extremes. I have had a 3 day, down to the minute typed itinerary on some trips, and I've leisurely wandered the parks and done whatever strikes my mood. The strict itinerary has never ideally worked because it is too hard to predict wait times, and decreaseing energy of myself and others in my party. I will determine which day to se my Magic Morning, and some special meals, but that's it. My wife and I don't care for the parades or nighttime shows, because we don't like to give up that much riding time. We do plan to be in a part of the park that will not be impacted by crowds for those events. I feel that minimal planning is best.

 

[chrissiecutie]

I'm a planner!

I plan, plan and over plan every vacation (Disney or not) that we take. My boys like knowing what comes next & where we are going to eat, etc.

My best advice is be willing to make changes to your plans. We've been in the park on a day that was *supposed* to be slow but we suddenly had 1.5 hour waits for POTC & HM. So we decided to change plans & bail. Head back to the hotel for dinner & a swim, then come back into the parks for nighttime fireworks. This change actually worked out much better then I ever could have planned!

Since we've been 3 times as a family, I now have great insight into what my boys like doing & where they like to eat. So the small details, I don't have to really plan anymore. I just decide what park on what day to start in, decide what days we are going to *attempt* to see a parade, show, fireworks etc and what general order we are going to see the park- ie. start in Fantasyland & move to Toontown.

Plan the priorities and be flexible.

 

[KateDrake]

I loosely plan with main objectives. We had some bad meals last year, so I'm planning more extensively on that (but that's more knowing more about restaurants, menus and locations) We also go in August, and leave for naps, and aren't in the park at nap time.

So 'main objectives' would be having a chedule and putting 'parade' in the afternoon. I also do ridemax plans but may follow that loosely as well. I thought going in August made all of that helpful and made sure we saw what we wanted to see.(particularly with shows that have set times-we had to plan around them).

Where were your bad meals? We tend to just go to our favorites, but with so many new places, we're going to try branching out on our next trip, but I don't want to try something bad!

Back to the OP, we don't plan a ton at Disneyland. I usually make a list of "must dos" and then try to fit them in at some point. It helps that we stay for at least 3 days and usually go in the off season, so that makes it easy to just kind of wander.
We do some more planning once we get there and grab a schedule to see what time/which days things are happening. We grab the schedule the night we arrive, and then make our game plan, but even then it is usually just which park we are starting at and which FP we are getting first. Then we kind of just wing it from there!

 

[StephNJer]

I love thinking about and planning our upcoming trips to DLR. I will usually figure out if we want to do any character meals or eat somewhere that will require a reservation first. Other than that, we don't plan out every single detail, for a number of reasons. The first being that our kids are still very young, and you can't plan out your entire day with two kids five and under. We never know how tired they may be, and if they want to stay up late, or go back for a nap. We plan to try to see fireworks/WOC/shows, but those are contigent on if our kids are happy enough to stay up late. We just returned from a trip a few weeks ago, and had plans to catch the fireworks on our first night and WOC on our second. Both are kids were pretty tired while we were sitting and waiting, but perked up once the shows started. However, if at any time they became cranky and whiny, it would be back to the hotel. We just don't feel it's worth it, especialy to those around us, to put them through that.
Anyway, so we sort of play things by ear. I imagine once they are older and can handle stayingup later, and also are able to ride the big rides, we'll do more planning as far as FP are concerned.

I have a friend who makes an itinerary for her family's trips to DL. Complete with times when they will stop to eat and what rides they will ride first, written down, and she checks them off. To me, this is excessive and really gets in the way of an enjoyable vacation. When we are on vacation, we don't want to worry about schedules and rushing to be some place by a certain time. We do that in our daily lives and escaping to DLR should be just that. But that's just my opinion.

 

[hlbtimes2]

We mostly wing it. We usually decide in advance which evening we are going to do Fireworks, WOC, F!. Our last trip was for 5 days. We had reservations made for 2 meals out of the entire 5 days. Other than that we plan to get up early and be at the park at opening. We plan to take a rest in the afternoon, but time is based one what is currently going on.

 

[Lissame]

I know my family, and my daughter and husband are TERRIBLE if they don't eat regularly. So one of the main things I plan is where we are eating each meal. I make PS reservations for those that accept them, and plan the rest out so I know where we're heading instead of getting into a big argument when we're all saying "I don't know where I want to eat" and then waiting in long lines once we finally decide.

I also plan the "big" things--which days we're going to watch parades, fireworks, Fantasmic, WOC, Aladdin. Spread them out throughout the trip so we can fit them in.

Other than that, we've been so many times that rides and other attractions are just what we feel in the mood for/have a FP for at any given time.

 

[cgh]

Where were your bad meals? We tend to just go to our favorites, but with so many new places, we're going to try branching out on our next trip, but I don't want to try something bad!

Back to the OP, we don't plan a ton at Disneyland. I usually make a list of "must dos" and then try to fit them in at some point. It helps that we stay for at least 3 days and usually go in the off season, so that makes it easy to just kind of wander.
We do some more planning once we get there and grab a schedule to see what time/which days things are happening. We grab the schedule the night we arrive, and then make our game plan, but even then it is usually just which park we are starting at and which FP we are getting first. Then we kind of just wing it from there!

For bad-it was more bad for us. We had one evening where we had some mistakes with a parade time and direction, waiting for longer we anticipated at dinner time, were starved, and I was focused on getting a toddler meal (and remembered where all those were) for our 2 1/2 year old. We went to the restaurant in fantasyland which was basically burgers and DH wanted something different. He was getting particular with his eating and I didn't know where else to go. (and well, he didn't know what he wanted) It was kind of stressful-hungry toddler, cranky husband etc. So, this time, to combat that, we are doing a few more sit downs, and I'm sending him menus. We'll still have flexibility but we aren't grasping for where to go so much on the fly, if that makes sense. With a preschooler, he has particular eating issues too (he's been on a grilled cheese for lunch kick for a while). We'd also like vegetable options too so I'm making note of where we can get salads and healthier fare.

I just don't want to be in the park trying to find food.

 

[SomeDude78]

Not much planning here because like some previous posters I live in the SF Bay and am at DLR a lot for weekends and what not. Sometimes we take it so easy we barely get 2-3 rides in during a trip... If I lived farther away I think I'd definitely get a basic plan in place for "can't miss" rides though (but would probably still leave the rest flexible as I do with other vacations).

If you have "must do" restaurants that are popular then getting a reservation for those probably isn't a bad idea either. I usually just wing it and call while we're down there, oftentimes you can find last minute cancellations and just sneak in as a result. But that's another thing where if I were coming from far away and really wanted to eat at Napa Rose, for example, I'd probably play it safe and reserve in advance.