I feel bad for people who don't research

[IrishNYC]

Well, any trip you can have a good time. That's not dependent on planning. Not even at wdw.

But you're telling me you booked a plane ticket to somewhere like Rome, booked the first hotel you found on hotels.com and just showed up at the airport without any idea of what you wanted to see or do? Any idea where your hotel was and how to get to sights from it? Or any restaurant reservations? Because if you don't have table reservations, you're unlikely to be eating well at popular Roman restaurants, unless this is off season. And trains to day trips take research, knowing opening times and days for museums and shops takes research, what sights to see take research. I feel like someone in your family must have researched this stuff.

Even given that all of the above is true- are you saying there is nothing in any of those places that you were disappointed that you missed because the attraction was closed or the line was too long or some other reason? Because that I find hard to believe. Research prevents possible snags. That's the whole point in researching- so that the trip runs smoothly.

But to each his own, I guess. I just can't imagine booking an expensive plane ticket, and spending thousands of dollars on a trip where no one researched hotels or restaurants or attractions or anything else.

How do you go to Europe without planning? Unless you've already lived in those cities.

I need to plan. I'm not wasting my vacation time figuring out where to go. Now I don't need minute by minute, but I certainly want to figure out (beforehand) what sites I want to see, what restaurants I want to try, any festivals going on, etc.

Before the internet, guidebooks were awesome. And Rick Steves!

Nope, never a reservation, in Europe. We don't need to eat at popular, or "the best." We like to eat where locals eat. We've always chosen our destinations, domestic and foreign, with some sights in mind we want to see, but I can honestly say with the one exception of pre-booking a tour to Pompeii, we never book anything in advance. We have never regretted any trip, we have never missed any "must-sees," and never had a bad time.

I was the first one in my family to travel outside the US to Europe. My best friend and I got on a plane to London with about $500 to spend. We had the best time.

Then DH and I went to Ireland. We landed in Dublin, spent a day with family, then took off driving. Our only plan was to get back to Dublin for our return flight, and even that changed - halfway through the trip we rebooked our flight to leave out of Shannon, instead. We didn't even book lodging for the evening until around lunch time every day.

Rome - we asked the gentleman at the desk where he likes to eat, and off we went. As for sight seeing, we woke up in the morning, decided what to do, made sure it was open, and off we went.

No complaints at all.

Edit: @Westcoastwild you asked specifically if I booked air and hotel without knowing what to do once we got there, that's not really how we plan vacations. It's more, "Hey, I want to see the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, and Pompeii, let's go to Rome" and we go. But we don't pick those locations because we researched vacations there, we just know it's something we wanted to see or do, so we go.

 

[Shanti]

Of course, then there are the people I've seen going around with an excel spreadsheet detailing every minute yelling at their family members that they are "ruining their vacation" because they want to stop and buy a beer at Epcot.

 

[Auntie_Maim]

We have the advantage of living near DL/DCA, so later this fall when we go to WDW, at HS we won't worry about the Toy Story Mania ride as we have it out here, and we're skipping MK entirely.

I discuss with DH and DS which FP+s we want to do and what ADRs we want. Beyond that, I ask everyone to think of the one or two things they want to do, and we roll from there. If we don't get to something, no biggie - we'll make sure to make it a priority next time.

 

[North of Mouse]

We don't do very much advance planning because we enjoy spontaneity too much, enjoy PH'ing. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to enjoy vacations - even Disney! But, don't feel sorry for us - we leave very happy and relaxed!

We do everything we want. Sure, I make a couple ADR's for don't miss restaurants, FP's that we move around, even the day of, but nothing is 'fixed'. Would drive us nuts! We don't do rope drop anymore, summers, or holidays (never), but we always get any FP that we want, plus lots of short SB's. Just a month ago did short SB's for Frozen, Soarin' and 7DMT, plus our FP's - even day of FP's.

We are all different, so stands to reason our vacations would be also. Planning, scheduling months in advance would stress me out - no way. But, if that's what anyone else wants - that's great for them.

I sure do see a lot of people though rushing through meals, etc. because "we need to get to X at such and such time, so hurry"!! See a lot of unhappy kids too. Many times on these forums people will ask "how long will it take to eat at X because we need to be at XY soon"! Relaxing at Disney's very expensive TS's is part of the experience for us.

 

[Westcoastwild]

Nope, never a reservation, in Europe. We don't need to eat at popular, or "the best." We like to eat where locals eat. We've always chosen our destinations, domestic and foreign, with some sights in mind we want to see, but I can honestly say with the one exception of pre-booking a tour to Pompeii, we never book anything in advance. We have never regretted any trip, we have never missed any "must-sees," and never had a bad time.

I was the first one in my family to travel outside the US to Europe. My best friend and I got on a plane to London with about $500 to spend. We had the best time.

Then DH and I went to Ireland. We landed in Dublin, spent a day with family, then took off driving. Our only plan was to get back to Dublin for our return flight, and even that changed - halfway through the trip we rebooked our flight to leave out of Shannon, instead. We didn't even book lodging for the evening until around lunch time every day.

Rome - we asked the gentleman at the desk where he likes to eat, and off we went. As for sight seeing, we woke up in the morning, decided what to do, made sure it was open, and off we went.

No complaints at all.

That is pretty cool! I do about half plan, half winging. The winging is sometimes awesome, sometimes awful. In Venice, I got 1 great food rec from front desk and 1 terrible touristy food rec from the front desk (two different staff members). And in London, I didn't do my trip to Bath because it turns out last minute train tickets are expensive. So lack of planning tends to make me nervous sooo nervous.

 

[Farro]

Nope, never a reservation, in Europe. We don't need to eat at popular, or "the best." We like to eat where locals eat. We've always chosen our destinations, domestic and foreign, with some sights in mind we want to see, but I can honestly say with the one exception of pre-booking a tour to Pompeii, we never book anything in advance. We have never regretted any trip, we have never missed any "must-sees," and never had a bad time.

I was the first one in my family to travel outside the US to Europe. My best friend and I got on a plane to London with about $500 to spend. We had the best time.

Then DH and I went to Ireland. We landed in Dublin, spent a day with family, then took off driving. Our only plan was to get back to Dublin for our return flight, and even that changed - halfway through the trip we rebooked our flight to leave out of Shannon, instead. We didn't even book lodging for the evening until around lunch time every day.

Rome - we asked the gentleman at the desk where he likes to eat, and off we went. As for sight seeing, we woke up in the morning, decided what to do, made sure it was open, and off we went.

No complaints at all.

Sounds like it works for you. Us, we would never go blind into a completely unfamiliar city. And honestly, if you already knew the sites you wanted to see, you must have done some research. Researching a trip doesn't mean booking things in advance.

Also I have to giggle at the digs about eating at the popular or best restaurants, like it's a bad thing. Sometimes places are highly rated for a reason. That's what we research - what are the best restaurants in the city. Not the best tourist restaurants.

*** edited, I suppose I should answer the original post. While I would never go to WDW w/out research, I don't feel sorry for those that do. They are still in WDW after all.

 

[Westcoastwild]

Sounds like it works for you. Us, we would never go blind into a completely unfamiliar city. And honestly, if you already knew the sites you wanted to see, you must have done some research. Researching a trip doesn't mean booking things in advance.

Also I have to giggle at the digs about eating at the popular or best restaurants, like it's a bad thing. Sometimes places are highly rated for a reason. That's what we research - what are the best restaurants in the city. Not the best tourist restaurants.

Yeah, the whole point of researching restaurants (at least for me) is to eat at the great holes in the wall places and NOT at tourist spots. But sometimes popular restaurants are both touristy and local hang outs- I can't imagine going to Chicago and not eating at one of the old fashioned steak houses...and that usually requires a reservation.

 

[IrishNYC]

Sounds like it works for you. Us, we would never go blind into a completely unfamiliar city. And honestly, if you already knew the sites you wanted to see, you must have done some research. Researching a trip doesn't mean booking things in advance.

Also I have to giggle at the digs about eating at the popular or best restaurants, like it's a bad thing. Sometimes places are highly rated for a reason. That's what we research - what are the best restaurants in the city. Not the best tourist restaurants.

No, eating at the best places isn't a bad thing. We've eaten at most of the greats in New Orleans over the years, but it was always spontaneous.

I guess I don't consider "I want to see Pompeii" and off we go to be research, because I knew since I was in third grade that I would go see it in person some day. I saw an exhibit when it was at the NY Met then, and 30-ish years later we had the means to travel and I said it was time. That's all the "research" I did.

People always ask me for NYC recs for food since I live here, and I'm zero help. We've eaten at a few destination places, and I could give some casual recommendations, but nothing trendy.

 

[Farro]

Yeah, the whole point of researching restaurants (at least for me) is to eat at the great holes in the wall places and NOT at tourist spots. But sometimes popular restaurants are both touristy and local hang outs- I can't imagine going to Chicago and not eating at one of the old fashioned steak houses...and that usually requires a reservation.

I live in Chicago. And yes, the "best" restaurants are notoriously hard to get into. Mostly those of us who live here trying to get reservations! (and tourists who research ) And thanks to shows like Check Please, even when you find a hidden gem, someone announces it and all of sudden you can't get in on a Thursday night!!!

We really are such a great food town! And we all like to eat.

 

[Westcoastwild]

I live in Chicago. And yes, the "best" restaurants are notoriously hard to get into. Mostly those of us who live here trying to get reservations! (and tourists who research ) And thanks to shows like Check Please, even when you find a hidden gem, someone announces it and all of sudden you can't get in on a Thursday night!!!

We really are such a great food town! And we all like to eat.

Your town is a FABULOUS food town. (And great for theater and biking too) I really hadn't expected the food scene even after my research. I did a lot of research and it paid off beyond my stomach's wildest dreams

Although my wallet probably would have been happier if I'd stuck to pizza...

 

[bumbershoot]

Now I don't need minute by minute, but I certainly want to figure out (beforehand) what sites I want to see, what restaurants I want to try, any festivals going on, etc.

Before the internet, guidebooks were awesome. And Rick Steves!

Yep!

It's counter-intuitive to think that such a carefully crafted family vacation resort as WDW would require so much work on the guest's part.

But my friends who have gone without asking for help have managed to do all the planning and FP+s etc simply because they read the website and the emails they read, and they did what they were told.

there are the people I've seen going around with an excel spreadsheet detailing every minute yelling at their family members that they are "ruining their vacation" because they want to stop and buy a beer Epcot.

Remember that those spreadsheets were probably created because the family had certain wants, and the planner is trying to make it all happen.

We like to eat where locals eat.

I wouldn't know that unless I had researched ahead of time.

we have never missed any "must-sees,"

I wouldn't know if that's true unless I researched ahead of time.

As for sight seeing, we woke up in the morning, decided what to do, made sure it was open, and off we went.

That's a certain sort of fun, but for me it's more fun to know what's there and what we want to do ahead of time. I've read too many Rick Steves books!

 

[Westcoastwild]

Yep!



But my friends who have gone without asking for help have managed to do all the planning and FP+s etc simply because they read the website and the emails they read, and they did what they were told.



Remember that those spreadsheets were probably created because the family had certain wants, and the planner is trying to make it all happen.



I wouldn't know that unless I had researched ahead of time.



I wouldn't know if that's true unless I researched ahead of time.



That's a certain sort of fun, but for me it's more fun to know what's there and what we want to do ahead of time. I've read too many Rick Steves books!

Yeah, Disney basically spoonfeeds you the information. That's why I don't understand the people who seem to think Disney has created some kind of complex system no newbie could possibly hope to understand. It's DESIGNED for newbies.

And no such thing as too much Rick Steves! His voice still drives me crazy but I have whiled away a little too much time in his edmonds travel center/library.

(He really needs to branch out to Asia and India. I would love that).

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I think more than having a plan is being informed about your destination.

Our best wdw trip was our least planned. We knew we were going about 4 weeks before. I made some ADRs and off we went. I didn't really have a plan but I read here and I knew basic things. Which rides fill up fastest, that FP (legacy) doesn't hold you to the exact times, eat at off times to avoiding the crowds, Etc. For me, knowing all of those little things were more important than a plan.

I think going in some want to know everything and some want to be suprised.

 

[Westcoastwild]

I think more than having a plan is being informed about your destination.

Our best wdw trip wasn't our least planned. We knew we were going about 4 weeks before. I made some ADRs and off we went. I didn't really have a plan but I read here and I knew basic things. Which rides fill up fastest, that FP (legacy) doesn't hold you to the exact times, eat at off times to avoiding the crowds, Etc. For me, knowing all of those little things were more important than a plan.

That's all research or experience. No one (or at least I am not) is talking about planning stuff. It's just that you need to research to know what there is to know. Booking takes an hour tops. Research (which I am assuming what people are doing when they mention 6 months planning for WDW) is a lot more time consuming.

 

[Beer Me]

Planning for Disney is more like planning a city vacation just for the sheer number of options but it's actually much easier because everything, hotel, meals, entertainment etc can all be booked in a single place.

We have done family vacations to NYC, DC, Chicago (among others) that were much more complicated to research and plan. Like Disney, lots of planning isn't required - there will be plenty to do and see if you wing it - but if you want good tickets to the show or game or a table at a popular restaurant it will take some work.

 

[kiramay]

We are in AK last Friday and rode EE single rider. The standby wait was around an hour. They now have wait times posted for single rider and ours was 10 minutes. While we were waiting we saw two people come off the standby line, both singles. I could only shake my head.

Yeah, I was in the single rider line and rode with a single guy who had waited in standby for over an hour. I waited like 7 minutes. I educated him.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

That's all research or experience. No one (or at least I am not) is talking about planning stuff. It's just that you need to research to know what there is to know. Booking takes an hour tops. Research (which I am assuming what people are doing when they mention 6 months planning for WDW) is a lot more time consuming.

I agree. There is so much information to absorb when it comes to wdw. I read here a lot and didn't know about single rider line until my second or third trip. You can read here for months and still not Know everything.

We are doing a weekend trip to D.C. and it took me 30 minutes of research tops and I think we are going to have a great time.

Wdw is a completely different beast. It's a lot more time consuming

 

[Westcoastwild]

I agree. There is so much information to absorb when it comes to wdw. I read here a lot and didn't know about single rider line until my second or third trip. You can read here for months and still not Know everything.

We are doing a weekend trip to D.C. and it took me 30 minutes of research tops and I think we are going to have a great time.

Wdw is a completely different beast. It's a lot more time consuming

DC gets more complicated the more you go, I think. First couple of trips I didn't plan at all, and now I end up doing a lot more research to hit stuff I've missed previously. But admittedly that's because I usually only get to travel during high season. Last trip was for cherry blossoms, and the crowds were really something!

And to be fair, I wasn't a Disney rookie when I started going to WDW- I had been to DL before. So I knew all about single rider and shows and what I liked. It really was just fast pass, magic bands, and ADRs that I had to read up on.

 

[SorryI'mNotSorry]

And I'm assuming that people who spend 6 months planning a Wdw trip really care about ADRs, so that would lead me to believe they care about restaurants elsewhere.

This made me stop and think about my planning tendencies for a minute. Last summer, we went on a 10 day trip split between the Smoky Mountains and Myrtle Beach. Obviously those are big touristy places with no lack of things to do, but we didn't plan anything aside from booking hotel. We went to Dollywood theme park, ripley's aquarium, went parasailing, etc. and never planned in advance or made reservations early. I bought the Dollywood tickets the night before and made the parasailing appointment/reservation the morning of.

Now, that said... that actually sounds really stupid, doesn't it? We could have been screwed and not been able to do any of those things. I did research the prices (with the excepting of parasailing which we decided to do last minute), but I didn't do much more than that. We winged it when it came to eating, which was sort of a pain because the restaurant at the hotel wasn't great and I have a bad back for walking, so we had to drive up and down the strip a lot, but I don't think that would have changed any unless we changed hotels. And we really liked the hotel.

I've been sitting here thinking about it, and I've come to the conclusion that I think the appeal of Disney planning is a jonesing thing. Everyone is doing it. It's like gambling. We're all fighting for those same ADRs and FP+s. It could be an adrenaline thing. Sure, there are blogs and articles about planning vacations in tons of other places, but is there really more of a rush than logging into the disboards or going on the fb groups and seeing what the new "thing" is happening at the parks or what is happening there right now, while we wait for our own days in The World?

You know, I do feel bad for the people who don't plan. But at the same time, I'm not sure I want them to plan better since it makes my plans more difficult to make. Disney planning is just different than planning everywhere else. It's like a compulsion and we are all one big self help group gone wrong.

 

[Westcoastwild]

This made me stop and think about my planning tendencies for a minute. Last summer, we went on a 10 day trip split between the Smoky Mountains and Myrtle Beach. Obviously those are big touristy places with no lack of things to do, but we didn't plan anything aside from booking hotel. We went to Dollywood theme park, ripley's aquarium, went parasailing, etc. and never planned in advance or made reservations early. I bought the Dollywood tickets the night before and made the parasailing appointment/reservation the morning of.

Now, that said... that actually sounds really stupid, doesn't it? We could have been screwed and not been able to do any of those things. I did research the prices (with the excepting of parasailing which we decided to do last minute), but I didn't do much more than that. We winged it when it came to eating, which was sort of a pain because the restaurant at the hotel wasn't great and I have a bad back for walking, so we had to drive up and down the strip a lot, but I don't think that would have changed any unless we changed hotels. And we really liked the hotel.

I've been sitting here thinking about it, and I've come to the conclusion that I think the appeal of Disney planning is a jonesing thing. Everyone is doing it. It's like gambling. We're all fighting for those same ADRs and FP+s. It could be an adrenaline thing. Sure, there are blogs and articles about planning vacations in tons of other places, but is there really more of a rush than logging into the disboards or going on the fb groups and seeing what the new "thing" is happening at the parks or what is happening there right now, while we wait for our own days in The World?

You know, I do feel bad for the people who don't plan. But at the same time, I'm not sure I want them to plan better since it makes my plans more difficult to make. Disney planning is just different than planning everywhere else. It's like a compulsion and we are all one big self help group gone wrong.

That is such a perfect way to describe the Dis.

I think you're right that it's like gambling. There is definitely a bit of adrenaline involved in snagging that elusive BOG reservation or another fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain.

And that may be why I tend to roll my eyes at the people who whine about the "difficulty" of booking this and that and how Disney in the good old days involved no planning at all. Disney is not the one overcomplicating things. They tend to do it to themselves.

I'm an obsessive trip planner, partly because I REALLY like food and partly because my interests are unusual. Tours I tend to want to take are limited and sell out quickly. Museums I'm really interested may be open only on alternate Saturdays or half days on Wednesdays. Wdw is my "easy" trip. You book everything in one place, the rules and deadlines are clearly posted, and no transit research is required. Hotel and camping availability is pretty much unlimited. I mean I know holidays sell out, but it's not like somewhere like Yosemite where everything for the whole summer will sell out by March.

How did you like the smokies and Dollywood? That's on my bucket list. Nearly did it this year but the car rental would have cost a fortune for my dates, so I had to put it off.