marriedmarylander said:
DH just argued with me because I try to make a plan for our vacation. He's just like "Wake up when we wake up, go where we want to go." He says to just go and stay in one place - don't go somewhere, hop somewhere else, come back to the park, etc. Needless to say he says "Why do we need extra hours at the park? Who cares about that". I guess I did try to over-schedule some things
One reason I wanted to have a plan is because DH wants to go to Islands of Adventure for a day so I need to know when to rent the car. If I don't reserve in advance, a car may not be there or we may end up with higher rates.
Another reason was because I want to swim with sharks at TL and visit BB because I've never been before. (I don't know what I was doing on my last TL trip that I didn't do the swimming with sharks). So I am not sure how to fit two water parks into the schedule. DH says going on water slides isn't that important and I should just pick one or the other.
Someone just tell me I'm going crazy and don't need to go commando with it... or how you guys plan thing out?
I will have my attorneys contact you so you may begin the process of divorcing this boor and taking him for all he is worth.
Ok just kidding. Truth is - if you show up at WDW without some type of plan... you are either stupid, a masochist, a WDW virgin without the slightest clue of what you are getting into...or you are so laid back that it really doesn't matter to you that you will be paying serious dollars to; 1) be late to everything, 2) to stand in long hour and a half lines, 3) to get heat stroke as you stand there baking in the sun. Paying premium pricing dollars to; 4) get on very few rides 5) see very few shows from the worst seats or standing, 6) wind up with a whole slew of hassles because you didn't spend the time to plan or anticipate them.
Here is the deal - you plan like a banshi, then you plan some more, then you change your plans and modify ... you eventually get exasperated and throw your hands up in the air thinking, "We are screwed". All of this planning however is a learning experience. You start to internalize things at WDW. That knowledge in and of itself prepares you to be more flexible in your daily routine once you get there.
Imagine if you will. You have done no planning whatsoever. You have no idea what to expect. You have no insider secret tidbits from the DISboards. You just show up. You go to the parks whenever. Lines are an hour long. You don't have any idea of what to do next. Maybe we will go over to shops on mainstreet. "Eeekkk...husband doesn't like shopping all day."..." Ok well lets go sit down and have lunch." "Eeeek you have to have a what? A priority seating? Really?" So then you decide to get counter service. You break out your map to find a counter service restaurant cause you don't know where they are because you have not planned so you have no idea where anything is. BIG MISTAKE... its parade time and wham you are stuck in a huge throng of people... while you or your hubby get to listen to your stomach growl. You finally get to shove your way threw a huge crowd that is amply incensed that you are shoving your way rudely through to get to a place to eat. You finally get to the place to eat and it is crammed full of people and is at least a half hour wait. You say to yourself, "wow this sucks". And unless you are either mahatma Gandhi, an incredibly mellow person, or on Thorazine you are finally getting pretty frustrated or worse still ...pissed off. Then in the heat of the day you or your husband says some asinine sarcastic or acerbic remark at the other and Wala!!! you are officially having a crappy day. All because you haven't the slightest idea of what you are doing or how WDW works.
The beauty of planning is not that you have to follow some order moment by moment. The beauty of planning is that you are better equipped to adapt as circumstances arise. The beauty of planning is the information you learn in the planning process. Nobody likes unpleasant surprises; they tend to ruin an otherwise ok experience....and if you don't plan and learn you for sure will have several unpleasant surprises on your trip.
In case anyone here reading this believes in spontaneity as I do... If you don't plan there will be little spontaneous and free flowing about your trip. Let me explain - one example. I used to be a professional musician and songwriter. I would practice the same musical scales at extremely slow speeds, highly disciplined, no originality, no emotion, and no fun. All work. Other musicians would rag on me for being an uptight guitar and song writing nerd. When I put together a show or concert we would play the exact same thing over and over and over again until we could play it with our eyes closed with earplugs so we couldn't hear. Now that is disciplined planning with nothing fun or spontaneous about it. But the result of that planning is it made it extremely easy for us to go off into musical solos and wail. The result of all that uptight planning was more spontaneity, greater flexibility, greater ability to adapt to others' mistakes or technical glitches, the ability to be freer to improvise, and a mind-boggling level of fluidness.
We had a saying - SPONTANEITY COMES WITH PRACTICE.
After all, if the G string on your guitar flies off and smacks you in the eye and you built 1/3 of your solo around your G string you are in deep trouble unless you are so well versed that you can close your eyes, adapt, improvise and wail like a mutha while shifting your entire solo into a one handed solo so you can continue playing effortlessly while you simultaneously change your string. And that kind of spontaneity doesn't come from being a free spirited undisciplined person all the time. It comes from practice and planning. It is the difference between not knowing how to adapt to a negative situation, or being able to take any negative situation and with ease turn it into a positive. Its the difference between boos or screaming fanatical applause.
It isn't fanatically sticking to the plan that matters. It is the process of planning that matters. It is that process that gives you the insight and ability to adapt, to be more flexible, and to be more fluid, and paradoxically to be more spontaneous.
I went once without a plan and we wasted what added up to HOURS asking "What do you want to do?" and we missed out on so much! So we're never going w/o a plan again. We always leave a couple days open, but we plan to see all the parks in the begining. Once an overview and the "not to be missed"s have been hit, it's anyone's game. 
and to me it is PLANNED OUT! 
). I actually don't mind it. He knows how much I love doing the planning and such, and leaves it in my hands. I might give him a couple choices as to which resturant he would like to eat at, but other than that, I ask him nothing more.
This is the mode I would enter: 
