How to stay organized? HELP

[G. Fite]

Hello!

How do you all keep your plans organized? I have tried a spread sheet, a note book, various charts and index cards.

I am trying to decide where and when to eat, which parks to visit each morning and each evening, when to go to the water parks, when to sleep in, when to swim, when to nap, when to see the fireworks and on and on!

I can't seem to get it all together.

I currently have a little notebook where I am writing down our plans but it is some what difficult to see the whole picture.

Plus I need to track CS meals and TS meals because we are planning to do the dining plan!

Thanks for the info!
PS-DH thinks i do such a great job that he leaves it all up to me!

Gina

 

[maxiesmom]

I have a notebook that I write (and re-write) everything in. I just plan in steps. First, where to stay (write that down), second, decide if I want to do early entry days (write that down), and so on. I usually do a day by day plan. My trip isn't until October, so I am going on what they are estimating will be operating hours, but I know I might have to change plans. For instance, we are not doing any early entry days, so I will plan to avoid the early entry park on that day. And in October I know the Magic Kingdom will have the MNSSHP so that park will close early on tcertain days so I must either go to a different park or party!!

I also surf many different Disney related sites and jot things down.

Hope this helps

 

[beckmrk04]

I would be a total mess without my Passporter- it is the best guidebook I have come across. It has worksheets for all of your important info. (ADR's, itinerary, conf. #'s, and in the back it has pockets to hold tickets/paper, random little notes; also, the back pages can be filled out to keep track of your journey, and pages for jotting down what you did/plan to do each day, including where you ate/how much you spent, etc. I bought one for my honeymoon in 2004, and I just bought the updated 2006 version for our upcoming trip in May. I seriously plug this thing so much I should be getting my royalty check any minute!!

 

[mjh8955]

I needed to see a "big picture" of our trip so I created a week-long calendar and on each day noted which parks were EMH (we wanted to avoid them). Then I figured out which park(s) would be the least crowded on each day and that's how I decided where we would start that day. On each day I wrote down our ADR's and numbers. At the bottom of the calendar I wrote out phone numbers we might need (reservations, etc.) This is the one piece of paper I took with me. I thought about laminating it to keep it from getting wet or ruined but I wouldn't have been able to fold it.

For planning, I used a binder with tabs labeled:
packing lists (kids backpack, purse, my carryon, suitcases, etc.)
reservations (plane, rental car, resort, ADR's)
Orlando info. (if you are doing anything off-site)
maps (Orlando, and all WDW maps)
menus (we had one picky eater in our group)
WDW info (any tips and suggestions I had read or heard)

Any notes or information I gathered went into that binder. By the time we were ready to leave I could consolidate most of the info I needed onto that one page calendar. I brought the maps and the calendar. The husband took custordy of all the reservation info. The bidner stayed home.

 

[momof2mouses]

Hey I ran across this web site when looking for sample itineraries. There are lots of planning tips and you can even plug in your dates and lists of things to do, restaurants/ADRs. Great website.
www.touringplans.com

 

[dbarker]

Momof2mouses: Thanks for the info on the website. It is awesome. I now have another site added to my *Favorites*....and more planning tools. Thanks for sharing.

 

[bjkj]

Once you have made all of your plans, think about getting a small expandable file folder. I found it very easy to organize all of my important documents. It fit well in my carryon. It also served well as a great place to keep my little paper keepsakes from the trip for my scrapbook.

 

[Selket]

I use those small soft sided photo albums you can pick up at Target or a craft store for about $2 each. Then I (ultimately) put all the info on one park in that album - so I have 4 - one for each park. I belong to Tour Guide Mike so I print out his touring plan and recommendations on 4x6 index cards. I make cards for each day and slip the appropriate card into the book for the day and take the book with me to the park.

When I'm still in planning stage I just use a notebook or my journal to keep up with the info. But I've got the planning thing down so I don't keep as much info as I used to. I've also got a large binder of printed out TGM stuff I take with me.

I just recommend some sort of binder or system where you can add and subtract pages (unlike a notebook). That way you can update, rearrange, and take out what you need for each day.

 

[ougrad86]

I have a spreadsheet I made with our itinerary on it, one row for each day, divided by hours, and color coded (parks, eating, travel, etc.) I also have a Word document that I have open when I go through DIS and the guide books, with a chapter for each category for tips. I can just cut and paste. Just before we leave, I will print it out, can reread it on the plane, and each day before we visit the park.
I got a deluxe Passporter since I can remove the sheet. Each day, I will take what I need with me rolled up in my fanny park and leave the rest, since it won't all fit .
When planning, I had all the EMH's and parade and what we wanted to do written down so I could just consult those as I put the SS together.

 

[Deputycoz]

OK, put the books/spreadsheets/notes down and back away.

I was the same way before we left for our first trip, I had notes and things everywhere. The smartest thing I did was put our two ADRs (yes, I only had 2 ADRs for a 7 day trip) in my husbands pda/cell phone. Once we got to WDW and got settled into the hotel we just kinda went with what we felt like doing and out trip was great.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Just remember the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Only plan what you can control because over planning is just useless. What if the day you have planned to go to the water park ends up being rainy and stormy and you wasted time trying to organize every little detail only to have a bump in the road happen. I say make a list of things you would like to do and then plan you vacation once you get there based upon how the weather is and how you feel. You might feel like hanging out at the pool at the hotel/resort verses spending money to go to the water park.

Don't stress go with the flow. Remember this is a VACATION not the military. Things don't have to be on a time line.

 

[dyna]

I started years ago with a notebook binder thing that I carried with me to the parks now that I been many times the last few years I use a 5x7 yellow envelope for each day or each park. Last vist I didn't even use that but took them with me just pulled out the info I had to have such as ressies for our meals along with the time we was to be there just stuck that in my back pocket with the park guide for the day.

 

[we3disneygo]

I have a binder with all info. air, hotel, car rental, dining. to plans meals at home I use poster board and sticky notes....Days of week divided into the times of day. I only take the Passporter with us. hope this helps!