how you start your planning?? tips please!

[merrick]

so my ADR date is june 16. our first holiday, our agent booked us a couple of reservations, we had no clue what we were doing and booked our fast passes when we arrived at the resort on my disney experience.

my last two aborted trips, i booked resort, determined park days and then booked ADRs... upon more research some of my planning was short sighted... based on EMH and MVMCP (booked dinner at cali grill for 9pm on our MK day... but due to party, park would have closed early. no big deal but i had been planning that to be our later park day).

so *this* time i have done even more research. i am signed up for touring plans, have crowd calendars, EMH, MVMCP dates, some restaurants i want to book BUT am overwhelmed on where to start.

oh wise ones... how do you break it down? ADRs first, book parks around those... or pick park days and fill in ADRs on those dates?

any advice would be much appreciated!!

 

[SaharanTea]

I pick park days first using one or more crowd calendars. Then, I start filling in ADRs and everything else.

Basically, I start from the highest level (park days) and keep zooming in until all the details are worked out. For me, that means a fully fleshed out itinerary (which is not necessary or desirable for everyone).

 

[Elsaalltheway]

I agree, I look at do we even want to attempt rope drop or avoid those parks as sometimes they can be more crowded due to single day pass holders trying to get the most for their buck. I also try to look at when we are going and if there are any events going on in certain parks, Such as MNSSHP and the xmas parties. Those parks are good for the afternoon because they tend to be avoided because the early close day and the non park hoppers avoiding them.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Park hours start as my general guide. Then I pick what days I want to go to what parks. Then I pick where Im going to eat. Then I pick what night time shows we will see. Then I pick what dessert parties we will do.

I basically stick with the basics and avoid parks with EMH, only attend parks with evening EMH close to or during those EMH. Things like avoiding Hollywood on Sunday because of morning EMH, Animal Kingdom on Monday, Epcot on a Friday night, etc.

 

[srwarden1928]

I actually booked California grill at 8:30 pm on a MVMCP day, thinking I can see the fireworks from there, even though I don't have a party ticket.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

Same here. We pick our park days and try to get restaurants for those days. If we can't get those restaurants then we switch days - but that doesn't happen that often. We love late EMH at MK - we start there. We then pick the other parks. We give EPCOT, HS and AK 1 day and several days for MK.

Then we pick the restaurants and book the hard ones to get first. Then when we get closer we pick the Fastpasses. I hope that helps.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I go by how many days/times I want to be at a specific park. I won't dictate my exact schedule until I figure out what ADR's I can get though. My schedule usually changes about a 1,000 times between ADR set-up + FP set-up to the actual vacation.

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

I actually booked California grill at 8:30 pm on a MVMCP day, thinking I can see the fireworks from there, even though I don't have a party ticket.

You'll be escorted out at party time. You'll need a ticket or you'll need to change your ADR.

 

[srwarden1928]

You'll be escorted out at party time. You'll need a ticket or you'll need to change your ADR.

At California Grill? In the Contemporary Resort? That is a surprise. I thought you only had to leave the Magic Kingdom, not the area resorts.

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

At California Grill? In the Contemporary Resort? That is a surprise.

Lol, sorry. I thought we were talking about a restaurant in the MK. My bad. Haha. Imagine being forced to look away from the fireworks at the hotel and they close all the blinds! haha.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

First: plan my park days with a crowd calendar

Next: book desired ADRs

Then: make a spreadsheet with desired FPs and times; book

Finally: obsess and move things up and down five minutes until it's time for the trip

 

[msk]

I usually try for hard to get ADR's. When the schedules come out I play with those and choose which parks. I often change the ADR's to conform with which day in which park.
I have made the mistake of eating at too many resorts which cuts into park time so choose wisely.
I then make a spreadsheet with Fast Passes and book.

 

[kiramay]

I pick my parks days based on hours, crowds, and how many days we want as each park. Then I plan ADRs with the harder to get ones towards the end, and the easier ones in the beginning. Then I have my list of "must get fastpasses" (like 7 dwarfs and flight of the avatar, I'll take whatever times I can get) and after those fill in my own "2nd level" fastpasses around my free time (usually in the late mornings).

 

[merrick]

thanks everyone for your feedback. the general consensus seems to be pick park days first, then dining. that probably makes most sense for us since there are no real hard-to-get/must have ADRs for us.

we only had coral reef, ohana and tusker house for "tougher to get" ADRs. i don't want to go back to coral reef, would like ohana but wouldn't be heartbroken if we didn't get it and while i would go back to tusker house, i really wanna try boma for our table service credit on AK day. AND there are so many other places i am keen to try.

I actually booked California grill at 8:30 pm on a MVMCP day, thinking I can see the fireworks from there, even though I don't have a party ticket.

this is what i was trying to accomplish as that was our last dinner on our last evening in 2014. we stayed at the contempo though so we went back to our room, had swim, showered and got ready for dinner. when i booked yacht club, i just didn't realize if i got kicked out of the park... i would be hanging out at the contemporary resort for a couple of hours before our reservation. mind you, i am sure we would have rode the monorail or checked out the poly or the GF. never a bad thing!!

First: plan my park days with a crowd calendar

Next: book desired ADRs

Then: make a spreadsheet with desired FPs and times; book

Finally: obsess and move things up and down five minutes until it's time for the trip

yah... in hindsight, i do feel like ignorance was bliss on our first holiday! we had no idea all the info out there so just went about our merry way. i do remember being cranky cuz everyone kept asking if we were DVC everywhere we went. really, i just spent $11,000 (cdn$) and feeling left of out some kinda cool club!?! lol!

I have made the mistake of eating at too many resorts which cuts into park time so choose wisely.

this is why we chose the yacht club this time and park hoppers. we *loved* the contemporary but felt the food options were a bit limited. i like the idea of being able to pop over to epcot (or the boardwalk) for tasty quick service or table service meals.

also went from 7 days to 9... so we have a little more flexibility to go back and hit things if it just isn't working out on a particular day.

off to review my crowd calendars. thank you everyone!!!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Well, long before I book anything, I have an idea of what restaurants I want to eat at. Then, after I make my room reservations, I start thinking about how best to fit those restaurants in. For example, we have yet to eat at Beaches and Cream, despite wanting to for several trips. Because of its location, B&C is best done on a day when one is at Epcot, DHS, or both. It can't be a breakfast place, but it would work for lunch or dinner. So then, I take a look at crowd calendars and (to a lesser extent) park hours. I get a general idea of where I want to be on which days. If I have special events I want to attend (e.g., MVMCP or a booked tour), I figure out the best dates for those and adjust my touring plans accordingly. I find a day where I'll be near B&C for lunch or dinner, and pick the date/time which makes the most sense. Then, I make dang sure to be up at 6am on day 180 to get what I want when I want it.

Things were a lot easier back in the early 2000s.

 

[IndianaRRT]

All of this advice is really good. We normally look at parks first, then book ADRs that align with our touring plan. However, on this last trip, DD wanted Rose and Crown as arrival night dinner, so we planned arrival day around that. If you would like something difficult to get (BOG dinner, Ohana or CG at fireworks time, etc), book that first and adjust your touring plan.

 

[Hopefully]

After many years I have an idea of park strategies. So I do look at crowd calendars as a general guide, but I pick which park on which day first. Then I choose restaurants to make ADR's based what we like to eat that is in or near that park for that day.
Once we have our parks and our ADR's our FP+ are easy to slot in.

 

[KimBean]

I figure park I want to be in for each day using a combination of crowd calendars and just personal preference. We like MK first day and last day. Also this trip first full day is in Epcot even though it will be crowded but to avoid that we would have to do first full day in HS and everyone was meh about that. I never choose crowd calendars over experience they aren't that accurate anymore.

Then I choose which nights we will stay for nighttime entertainment at each park. That gives me a ballpark of how many dinners I need inside which park or out at resorts and Disney springs.

Once I have the count I pick restaurants accordingly. Instead of looking at the entire list of restaurants I can work it like a system, what is my top MK TS, filling in my needs. Believe me this makes thisbtask much easier.

I'm usually shooting for dinner but stay flexible on adr day. Some of my early dinner wants turned into lunches. That works too.

Then once ADRs are behind me and done I will plan out FPs. This is really simple. I just take how many days I will be in a park and pick my 3,6,9, or 12 MUSTs that aren't walk on. Now I have FP list.

As far as times for FPs some days will be different but we usually rope drop so I schedule first FP for 10 but arrive late for this window utilizing rope drop for first 90 minutes. Then right on to my 11 FP. Grab early lunch and then on to my 12 FP (which is good until 1) then look for more FP or just tour more leisurely at this point. I like to go early get a lot done, but afternoon be slower about stuff taking in ambiance, pin trading, shopping, snacks, just hitting rides that aren't too busy.

Hope that helps.