How many times do your plans change?

[married2mm]

About a thousand times a day before the trip, about ten thousand times per day after the trip, lol.

IF several things fall into place, and IF I can make a few things happen, I just might be able to put together a trip for the first week of December. Already I've considered about 700 possible scenarios, and that's just for the first two days alone!

I like so many replies-however I love this one.

 

[married2mm]

Half a dozen times usually. I'm getting ready to rearrange our short 4 day June trip again since my husband has said he'd like to meet with the DVC people. I'm excited about that - I've been trying to talk him into buying DVC for years.

Oooh, how exciting.

 

[Duckiedee]

I tweak a lot! But I find it fun, not stressful.

• I pick our resort. This year is it AoA because we really want to see the immersive environment and my daughter REALLY wants to do animation classes there. That said, should free dining for August happen to come out (It did last year for Canadians and our dollar has tanked.) I will likely change us over to CSR or CBR because we are staying in the Little Mermaid Rooms which are usually not offered discounts. We added a separate single night booked at AoA and will be relaxing Day 1 at the pool/Disney Springs so this would turn our trip into a split-stay.
• I pick our park/water park days based on crowd Calendars/fireworks/special events.
• So far we always do DxDDP, so once I know our park days, I pick my ADRs around the park we will be touring. Then if I come across something like MBYBBQ that is only available on certain days, I tweak the park days to match.
• Then I add things like Kids' Clubs based on where hubby and I are having a Signature meal while the kids can chillax. Pirate's League, Harmony Barbershop etc. Around ADRs
• I then goof around with Ridemax trying to match crowd levels and days of the week.... looking at how things are fitting in, I might stretch out our ADRs and move appointments a bit if needed. Also we try to take advantage of pre-opening ADRs where available.
• Next stop is FastPasses when they open. This will be my first time dealing with that. I've already figured out which ones I want to try for each day and I will also try to set up times based on suggestions by Ridemax.
• With everything, I'm up early or having our travel agent booking things right away. We've gotten really lucky on getting times that are right on, or very close to what we are hoping for.
• Lastly I am waiting to confirm variables - like the new night shows in AK, Star Wars at DHS or whether we will be affected by the new Early Park Openings... also will be checking often to see if park hours have been changed for our days so I can jig accordingly.

I like to be over-planned. I like to really fine-tune and have choices up front... that said... once I'm there, this frees me up to be really loosey-goosey. I have no problem letting plans fall by the wayside if they aren't working out during the actual execution of the day. I absolutely never freak out if there are changes, delays etc at the last minute caused by a broken down ride, a tired kid who we need to shuttle to the hotel for a nap, or a change in mind by my family.

I do planning because I enjoy it and it helps me look forward to the trip! I love researching everything as I find it makes it all so much easier when I get there.

That said, my family loves how I plan our vacations, and I put their desires and wants at the top of my list - so it works out good for all of us.

 

[loves to dive]

My planning process is to decide what sort of kinda dates I'm going on then I find the resort I think I want to stay at. Last March, I rebooked my room 4 times (3 of them the same hotel just with different discounts). Otherwise, I don't make plans, I don't even know what park I'm going to be at until the day before. I have an AP so park hopping makes it easy to not plan. If I make ADRS they are normally the day of, if I really want to eat at a specific place, I'll look about a week before I go and book it but it never determines the park I'm going to be at, again park hoppers.

 

[married2mm]

I tweak a lot! But I find it fun, not stressful.

• I pick our resort. This year is it AoA because we really want to see the immersive environment and my daughter REALLY wants to do animation classes there. That said, should free dining for August happen to come out (It did last year for Canadians and our dollar has tanked.) I will likely change us over to CSR or CBR because we are staying in the Little Mermaid Rooms which are usually not offered discounts. We added a separate single night booked at AoA and will be relaxing Day 1 at the pool/Disney Springs so this would turn our trip into a split-stay.
• I pick our park/water park days based on crowd Calendars/fireworks/special events.
• So far we always do DxDDP, so once I know our park days, I pick my ADRs around the park we will be touring. Then if I come across something like MBYBBQ that is only available on certain days, I tweak the park days to match.
• Then I add things like Kids' Clubs based on where hubby and I are having a Signature meal while the kids can chillax. Pirate's League, Harmony Barbershop etc. Around ADRs
• I then goof around with Ridemax trying to match crowd levels and days of the week.... looking at how things are fitting in, I might stretch out our ADRs and move appointments a bit if needed. Also we try to take advantage of pre-opening ADRs where available.
• Next stop is FastPasses when they open. This will be my first time dealing with that. I've already figured out which ones I want to try for each day and I will also try to set up times based on suggestions by Ridemax.
• With everything, I'm up early or having our travel agent booking things right away. We've gotten really lucky on getting times that are right on, or very close to what we are hoping for.
• Lastly I am waiting to confirm variables - like the new night shows in AK, Star Wars at DHS or whether we will be affected by the new Early Park Openings... also will be checking often to see if park hours have been changed for our days so I can jig accordingly.

I like to be over-planned. I like to really fine-tune and have choices up front... that said... once I'm there, this frees me up to be really loosey-goosey. I have no problem letting plans fall by the wayside if they aren't working out during the actual execution of the day. I absolutely never freak out if there are changes, delays etc at the last minute caused by a broken down ride, a tired kid who we need to shuttle to the hotel for a nap, or a change in mind by my family.

I do planning because I enjoy it and it helps me look forward to the trip! I love researching everything as I find it makes it all so much easier when I get there.

That said, my family loves how I plan our vacations, and I put their desires and wants at the top of my list - so it works out good for all of us.

I enjoyed reading how you tweak.

 

[galaxygirl76]

Park days rarely change. Once we pick them based on operating times and EMH they are usually left alone. ADR's can change even when we are already at wdw. On our last trip I mentally tried to change park days pretty much up until we left but could just not work it out in a way that made sense.

 

[pa. dad]

our forthcoming trip is beginning of May-

with the recent changes-I've played around with my days soo much....


How many times do you rearrange park days or simply make slight tweaks?

Not that much. I start out slowly and research which attractions will be closed during the trip and what new things may be opening. Then I'll let the rest of the family know that and we'll figure which parks we will go to and which ones we'll skip.
Figuring out which parks to go on which days can be a little slow. I'll look at the hours of operation and the crowd levels and any special events. That can bog me down sometimes. But after doing that comes the fastpasses and the ADRs.
In the old days, I think it was easier to change the park planned for that day before the FPs and ADRs. Some parks might be a little better on a rainy day than others. Knowing that I'm not likely to get FPs and ADRs at the last minute nowadays, there's a lot less tinkering done.

 

[Chrelaine]

I do planning because I enjoy it and it helps me look forward to the trip! I love researching everything as I find it makes it all so much easier when I get there.

That said, my family loves how I plan our vacations, and I put their desires and wants at the top of my list - so it works out good for all of us.

This is me, also. I really enjoy the planning and always volunteer to help friends if they hate that part My DH thinks I'm crazy, but also really appreciates my research/planning. I remember winging a trip to Cape Cod one year, and my DH told me later how much he missed my plans! I don't book every minute of our time but I always make sure we have a guideline and then we change it on the fly as needed.

 

[PSUGuy]

In order to get a DVC studio at BW on rented points we have to book that 11 months out. I have a Word calendar for each year's trip with all details. As soon as I have the room, I rename last year's calendar to Oct 2016 for example and the modifications begin. I book a car ASAP, booking and re-booking as better deals come out, 3 times at Dollar so far. I put all reservation numbers in the calendar, we have a sleep 'n fly at PHL the night before, 2 Southwest seats with early bird and I just put the good/bad park days from easywdw and so I know pretty much which days will be spent at which parks. Next week we book Raglan Road and Cape May at the 180 day mark, no more TS than that as we 'Graze Around the World' at F&W. One of the Eat to the Beat acts for our week, Christopher Cross, is known, still looking for the rest, we should see at least 4, maybe 5 acts in our 10 day stay. We'll be at WS by 11 am, Oct. 12 for 10 park days. Planning is half the fun.

Bill From PA

 

[moesy4]

Do you ever feel like you got it right? We are cruisers and I spend months looking at cruises and eventually I find the perfect one... And then I am happy not looking anymore. This will be our first full trip to Disney and since we don't plan to go more than a couple of times since there are so many other great vacation spots, I have switched our plans for where to stay at least a dozen times. Our last switch was from an off site villa with private pool to Fort Wilderness with a rented camper, and this was my first choice all along, and I am still fretting if we will regret not having the extra space and use of a car. I haven't even looked at park days yet lol

 

[married2mm]

Do you ever feel like you got it right? We are cruisers and I spend months looking at cruises and eventually I find the perfect one... And then I am happy not looking anymore. This will be our first full trip to Disney and since we don't plan to go more than a couple of times since there are so many other great vacation spots, I have switched our plans for where to stay at least a dozen times. Our last switch was from an off site villa with private pool to Fort Wilderness with a rented camper, and this was my first choice all along, and I am still fretting if we will regret not having the extra space and use of a car. I haven't even looked at park days yet lol

I don't ever think perfection is achieved-I just want it all to flow effortessly when me & others start to actually put my plans in action...

 

[dkrauss]

I usually plan out a year in advance.........we rent DVC points. Things change all the time............sometimes it will be something I see here..........sometimes my wife will say something. We just recently added a day to our November trip.....we'll be arriving Saturday instead of Sunday. This will allow us to time to settle in for our 1 night stay at POR...........get our AP's ...........then a drink at Trader Sam's..............Dinner at the Kona Cafe..........and close out the day/night with Yeehaaa Bob! Then the next day my brother and his family arrives for out AKV stay........Phewww I'm worn out before we start!

We have ADR day coming up in a bit more than 3 weeks.............so things are gonna move Its inevitable

Doug

 

[3smithboys]

Let's see... We booked our dates, then added an extra day. Then, we decided to fly our son down to look at FL colleges, so we decided to stay for July 3rd so he could go to MK and see the fireworks...

I use easywdw to pick my park days and usually, that's that.... but with the introduction of the new Extra Magic Mornings/Evenings... I've been up in the air with several MK days, and finally gave up and decided to just go with my original plans and ADR's (even though, I'm not thrilled with the thought of all of the people who will already be in the park when I get there, but I'm over worrying about it.)

I've changed ADR's multiple times.... more times than ever before... probably because it's just DH and myself, and we want to try new places. When we took the kids it was always about seeing characters... I knew where we wanted to eat, and which ADR's to get.... now I keep changing my mind!

Also, last night DH and I started talking about possibly going to Discovery Cove for a day... that adds a whole new aspect into the planning....