I feel bad for people who don't research

[TravelandLeisure]

I guess I'm an odd fish because I absolutely LOVE all aspects of planning a trip. Instead of thinking of it as a chore, I get genuine enjoyment from the time spent reading the internet sites/message boards, guidebooks, watching videos/travel specials (Rick Steves!), etc. Since I usually book trips around a year in advance, it's the only way to keep myself sane during the long countdown.

 

[mamamelody2]

I guess I'm an odd fish because I absolutely LOVE all aspects of planning a trip. Instead of thinking of it as a chore, I get genuine enjoyment from the time spent reading the internet sites/message boards, guidebooks, watching videos/travel specials (Rick Steves!), etc. Since I usually book trips around a year in advance, it's the only way to keep myself sane during the long countdown.

Exactly! Currently I'm at 157 days! Can't wait!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I can name 5 domestic locations off the top of my head that take more advance planning than Wdw, that's the thing: SF, Boston, Yosemite, Washington D.C, NYC. I'd probably add Hawaii too. At least during high season and if you're on a budget. If you can throw 400-500 dollars/nt towards a hotel, things get easier. If you don't care about restaurants, then even better. But still, museums, historic sites, shows, all that tends to sell out, or develop huge lines. 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. You can't get a last minute reservation at a hot new restaurant in Chicago or NYC or SF for love or money most weekends.

But again. There are entire guide books on the topic. All they have to do is flip through one and realize it's a bit more complex than six flags.

Editing that I do agree largely with your domestic point- in my post you quoted, I was specifically replying to the poster who claims to do very little research for international trips.

Ok so I have some points to your points.

~So I went to D.C. multiple times last year to visit my husband who was working Southern MD at the time. You see just about all we wanted to do was Smithsonians, Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetary. There was absolutely no need to plan more than 6 months in advanced for that. We went to many museums. If you want to know we actually were in D.C. in mid-April (did a Capitol Building tour) as well as Baltimore Harbor and most Smithsonians along with Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetary right around 4th of July (our trip started a few days before 4th of July and ended a few days after 4th of July) as well as mid-August we did a few more things in D.C. before coming home..I'd call that high season. As for budget many of the Smithsonians are free. The only thing that actually required advanced planning was our White House tour since you have to request that in advance through your State Rep--we tried to do that mid-April with about 6 weeks notice but they didn't have someone from our state available they were however able to get us for the White House for our July trip (that was with about 3 1/2 months notice as they don't typically tell you if you are able to tour the White House until approximately 2 weeks before your desired tour date). I should say it's not that I learned more for my July trip from my April trip we just didn't have a huge amount of time in April to do stuff.

~We went to Hawaii this past September. We booked our time slot for Pearl Harbor the day before as that is when they released early purchase for the next day.

~We haven't been to NYC since Memorial Day 2011. Now we did have to pre-book the Pedestal of the Statue of Liberty and we did do that weeks in advance. We did order a NYC Pass but it sure as heck wasn't more than 6 months in advance that we did that. We did a ton of sightseeing too without pre-booking more than a few days in advance for certain things and a lot was just the day or two before. We did Ellis Island as a spur of the moment (should we go today or tomorrow) type thing. Now I will say being that it is over 6 years later and times have changed things may have also changed too.

~We're going to Vegas this upcoming October and we did just book nearly a week ago 2 shows (Blue Man Group and KA) but that's largely because my mom is coming with us and for budget reasons she really wanted to know her total with enough time to save up some $. I think most people understand with shows such as these the longer you wait the less liklihood for good seating. That isn't the same necessarily for Disney as there aren't pre-selected seats. The FP is what comes into play but you will also see many people speak to the differences not being that big for views of FP seating and SB seating.

Now all that being said we love to plan, we love the research part (it's sorta part of the vacation to us) but we did not need to book our restaurants 6 months in advanced, we did not need to book tours 60 days in advance (liking this to FP selections), etc. What was more important as far as research is looking at what you even want to do but there's no actual set time frame like there is for Disney. My go-to place for researching is Trip Advisor which is awesome by the way if you actually at your destination and want to find stuff to do. There's nothing stopping people from deciding the day before or the day of if they are in D.C. to go to a Smithsonian-we did that a bunch as far as we're done at the Air and Space Museum so what's next type thing. But it might be easier on them if they know what museums they are interested in to begin with which could help with hours of the museums and how to get to the museums they want to go to.

I think you have points but I also think you're assuming a lot of how other people think about WDW and other destinations. I'm not sure why you would assume that because people care about restaurants at WDW that they would automatically go into booking a ton of reservations at other destinations. One of my favorite things to do while on vacation is go to the places locals go to and that tends to be low key places rather than fancier need reservation type places. But on this upcoming trip I would like to sit at a few sit down places and at WDW that requires ADR because that's how they've decided to do it versus just walking up. Now international would be different for me simply because the only international travel I have done was 1 time on a cruise and 1 time for my honeymoon at an all-inclusive resort. And researching goes into my own personal comfort level of how I vacation.

ETA: I should mention I didn't even talk about my trip to Boston about 4 or so years ago. But the planing was the same as it was for D.C. largely-no pre-booking stuff really.

 

[Ava]

I traveled around Europe for 6 weeks when I was 23 and didn't plan to the specific level that I do for a WDW trip. We mapped out a route, booked a place to stay in each city, and had a Eurail pass to cover our transportation from city to city. In most cities we had a few big sights that we knew we wanted to see, but we didn't buy tickets for anything in advance and a lot of the time we just winged it. Some of the best things we did were tours that we picked up a brochure for in the hostel lobby and booked the day of. (This was also 15-ish years ago so the internet wasn't as advanced as it is now. I'm not sure online reservations were even available for a lot of places.) No restaurant reservations either, but we didn't have the money to eat at high-end places anyway. We had a guidebook and asked hostel staff for recommendations for places to eat or directions to a sight if we needed them. I know we barely scratched the surface of the cities we visited but I feel like I hit the "highlights" and it was an amazing experience.

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.

Same! Usually it's childless friends who are asking, so I just tell them I haven't eaten anywhere that doesn't have high chairs and a kids menu in the last 8 years so I'm probably not the best person to ask, lol.

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).

Glad I'm not the only who gets twitchy listening to Rick Steves! I used to watch his TV show a lot and fairly recently discovered his website & podcasts. I couldn't get through even one podcast though. I guess the visuals of the TV show distracted me from how annoying his voice is!

 

[Aurora0427]

There will always be people scanning their FP+ for IASW at 9:10am. What can you do?

Omg, this KILLS me. I see so many people do this!

 

[MickeyWaffles]

My trips revolve around our kids now and I don't bother with FP for things they can't go on yet. I spent plenty of time at WDW pre-kids and right now I am loving doing lots of character meets, shows and other things I didn't take a lot of time to do before I had kids.

We definitely make FP decisions at times and for attractions that would probably make mega planners laugh but work for our family. I dont want anyone to feel sorry for us for having a FP to Disney Jr because we picked it for a reason.

We do go back every other year or every year so since it isn't one and done we don't stress too much about making it on specific attractions. We have favorites and try to do them but we don't stress about lines or second guess our decisions. I've never felt pressured to make it to the next ride or next experience. We often go at rope drop but leisurely walk down Main Street enjoying the sights, sounds and smells. I hate rushing to attractions right when we enter the park. I know I will have to wait longer for some stuff later. I never want to get to a place where I am rushing ride to ride. It's just part of who I am! We stay in the park rope drop to close and mostly play it by ear aside from a few ADRs and FP that we inevitably shuffle around.

I stay home right now, but my career involves heavy planning. As in every minute of every day is planned and billed and tracked. Because of this, I never enjoyed scheduling things to do at WDW - even though I LOVE WDW. WDW had always been my escape and I truly do not enjoy scheduling out days there. It feels like work. Part of the fun for me is just being there and enjoying it without a strict plan.

Long story short, I understand why people love planning WDW trips. It's because they love WDW. I also understand that people are wired differently - some don't like planning and they love WDW just as much. Some want to squeeze as many attractions in as possible and some take it slower. We're all different!

 

[Westcoastwild]

Ok so I have some points to your points.

~So I went to D.C. multiple times last year to visit my husband who was working Southern MD at the time. You see just about all we wanted to do was Smithsonians, Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetary. There was absolutely no need to plan more than 6 months in advanced for that. We went to many museums. If you want to know we actually were in D.C. in mid-April (did a Capitol Building tour) as well as Baltimore Harbor and most Smithsonians along with Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetary right around 4th of July (our trip started a few days before 4th of July and ended a few days after 4th of July) as well as mid-August we did a few more things in D.C. before coming home..I'd call that high season. As for budget many of the Smithsonians are free. The only thing that actually required advanced planning was our White House tour since you have to request that in advance through your State Rep--we tried to do that mid-April with about 6 weeks notice but they didn't have someone from our state available they were however able to get us for the White House for our July trip (that was with about 3 1/2 months notice as they don't typically tell you if you are able to tour the White House until approximately 2 weeks before your desired tour date). I should say it's not that I learned more for my July trip from my April trip we just didn't have a huge amount of time in April to do stuff.

~We went to Hawaii this past September. We booked our time slot for Pearl Harbor the day before as that is when they released early purchase for the next day.

~We haven't been to NYC since Memorial Day 2011. Now we did have to pre-book the Pedestal of the Statue of Liberty and we did do that weeks in advance. We did order a NYC Pass but it sure as heck wasn't more than 6 months in advance that we did that. We did a ton of sightseeing too without pre-booking more than a few days in advance for certain things and a lot was just the day or two before. We did Ellis Island as a spur of the moment (should we go today or tomorrow) type thing. Now I will say being that it is over 6 years later and times have changed things may have also changed too.

~We're going to Vegas this upcoming October and we did just book nearly a week ago 2 shows (Blue Man Group and KA) but that's largely because my mom is coming with us and for budget reasons she really wanted to know her total with enough time to save up some $. I think most people understand with shows such as these the longer you wait the less liklihood for good seating. That isn't the same necessarily for Disney as there aren't pre-selected seats. The FP is what comes into play but you will also see many people speak to the differences not being that big for views of FP seating and SB seating.

Now all that being said we love to plan, we love the research part (it's sorta part of the vacation to us) but we did not need to book our restaurants 6 months in advanced, we did not need to book tours 60 days in advance (liking this to FP selections), etc. What was more important as far as research is looking at what you even want to do but there's no actual set time frame like there is for Disney. My go-to place for researching is Trip Advisor which is awesome by the way if you actually at your destination and want to find stuff to do. There's nothing stopping people from deciding the day before or the day of if they are in D.C. to go to a Smithsonian-we did that a bunch as far as we're done at the Air and Space Museum so what's next type thing. But it might be easier on them if they know what museums they are interested in to begin with which could help with hours of the museums and how to get to the museums they want to go to.

I think you have points but I also think you're assuming a lot of how other people think about WDW and other destinations. I'm not sure why you would assume that because people care about restaurants at WDW that they would automatically go into booking a ton of reservations at other destinations. One of my favorite things to do while on vacation is go to the places locals go to and that tends to be low key places rather than fancier need reservation type places. But on this upcoming trip I would like to sit at a few sit down places and at WDW that requires ADR because that's how they've decided to do it versus just walking up. Now international would be different for me simply because the only international travel I have done was 1 time on a cruise and 1 time for my honeymoon at an all-inclusive resort. And researching goes into my own personal comfort level of how I vacation.

ETA: I should mention I didn't even talk about my trip to Boston about 4 or so years ago. But the planing was the same as it was for D.C. largely-no pre-booking stuff really.

I agree with all of that to a certain extent. I do think if I didn't research, I'd miss a lot of incredible things off the beaten path which I often enjoy more than the top sites.

But I would like to point out that you in turn are making the assumption that everyone has to plan 6 months out for Wdw. I really don't think you do. If you have a really large family, maybe, or if you have your heart set on a select few restaurants. But you won't be without fast passes or table service options if you wait until 30 days out. You'd have to be more flexible but you will still get to sit down and eat, and you'll probably still get to ride everything you want to ride, especially if you rope drop. You won't walk up to BOG or Ohana, but people who haven't been before wouldn't know what they're missing unless someone here told them.

I don't know. I love planning trips. I plan more than most people I know in "real life". But the friends I've helped plan Wdw trips largely stay off site, book what they want to book a few weeks out, and have a blast. And a lot of the table service restaurants I ate in at Wdw had plenty of tables available. I couldn't book le cellier or v&a but that was it. There are just so many options all over the resort that I didn't mind a lack of availability in the few I couldn't get.

 

[WineTraveler]

...

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...

I feel for ya. My worst luck was scheduling a visit to the Pergamon Altar in Berlin 8 months in advance for September 2014. They had a renovation plan since 2000 but only got the approval to start work the week after I bought my plane tickets. Oh well, they say it will be ready to reopen in 2023. I missed the Kite Museum in Tokyo because the owner had to go downstairs because the sink broke in his restaurant. And don't get me started with trying to see the Rijkmuseum or the Mona Lisa Gallery at the Louvre. Disney is a breeze compared to places like that.

 

[Westcoastwild]

I feel for ya. My worst luck was scheduling a visit to the Pergamon Altar in Berlin 8 months in advance for September 2014. They had a renovation plan since 2000 but only got the approval to start work the week after I bought my plane tickets. Oh well, they say it will be ready to reopen in 2023. I missed the Kite Museum in Tokyo because the owner had to go downstairs because the sink broke in his restaurant. And don't get me started with trying to see the Rijkmuseum or the Mona Lisa Gallery at the Louvre. Disney is a breeze compared to places like that.

Ah, finally a kindred soul.

A family member had recommended a toy museum in rothenburg that I spent half a day hunting for before someone told me it closed a year or two ago. Also the criminal museum only posted their summer hours on their website, not winter which were considerably shorter. That turned out great though- I ended up in the city museum which was far better. I'm still bitter over l'orangerie and Mona Lisa (although louvre I will admit was a vast improvement over Vatican crowds)

Pergamon altar might just open again by the time I get back to Germany. And thanks for the tip about the kite museum- I think I'll have time to kill in Tokyo and I love kites!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

But I would like to point out that you in turn are making the assumption that everyone has to plan 6 months out for Wdw. I really don't think you do. If you have a really large family, maybe, or if you have your heart set on a select few restaurants. But you won't be without fast passes or table service options if you wait until 30 days out. You'd have to be more flexible but you will still get to sit down and eat, and you'll probably still get to ride everything you want to ride, especially if you rope drop. You won't walk up to BOG or Ohana, but people who haven't been before wouldn't know what they're missing unless someone here told them.

You know I didn't say that everyone plans 6 months in advance for Disney..not sure where you got that. I did however say Disney has a time-table for things (adrs, FPs). Of course there are so many people who do things on the fly...here's a hint I was one of them for my 2011 trip. We bought tickets a few weeks in advance back then . You for sure don't have to tell me about being flexible and whatnot.

I don't know. I love planning trips. I plan more than most people I know in "real life". But the friends I've helped plan Wdw trips largely stay off site, book what they want to book a few weeks out, and have a blast. And a lot of the table service restaurants I ate in at Wdw had plenty of tables available. I couldn't book le cellier or v&a but that was it. There are just so many options all over the resort that I didn't mind a lack of availability in the few I couldn't get.

I don't care a ton about availability either. Disney has however said you need to book an ADR rather than being able to walk up (generally speaking) for sit down place. Of course you can book day of but Disney's time-table for that starts at 180 days which was my point.

____________
I know I either had this discussion before with you or others have pointed it out before but I really do think you have this notation that people vacation exactly like you. I went to D.C. and did some of the things you were interested in, I've been to Boston, I've been to Hawaii, I've been to NYC and what you described is not in any way how I vacationed or how I had to vacation. The only thing I had to book in advance was the White House because you have to go through your State Rep. I never waited to get into any museum nor Mount Vernon nor Arlington National Cemetary nor the Monuments at all and I was there in April, July (around the 4th too) and August. Never had an issue with Pearl Harbor touring nor did I have issues in Boston. Most of my vacations are history or beach too. Your statement "I can name 5 domestic locations off the top of my head that take more advance planning than Wdw" is way too much of a vast generalization which is why I commented. Those places take knowledge of what you want to do but not necessarily advanced planning.

 

[Westcoastwild]

You know I didn't say that everyone plans 6 months in advance for Disney..not sure where you got that. I did however say Disney has a time-table for things (adrs, FPs). Of course there are so many people who do things on the fly...here's a hint I was one of them for my 2011 trip. We bought tickets a few weeks in advance back then . You for sure don't have to tell me about being flexible and whatnot.

I don't care a ton about availability either. Disney has however said you need to book an ADR rather than being able to walk up (generally speaking) for sit down place. Of course you can book day of but Disney's time-table for that starts at 180 days which was my point.

____________
I know I either had this discussion before with you or others have pointed it out before but I really do think you have this notation that people vacation exactly like you. I went to D.C. and did some of the things you were interested in, I've been to Boston, I've been to Hawaii, I've been to NYC and what you described is not in any way how I vacationed or how I had to vacation. The only thing I had to book in advance was the White House because you have to go through your State Rep. I never waited to get into any museum nor Mount Vernon nor Arlington National Cemetary nor the Monuments at all and I was there in April, July (around the 4th too) and August. Never had an issue with Pearl Harbor touring nor did I have issues in Boston. Most of my vacations are history or beach too. Your statement "I can name 5 domestic locations off the top of my head that take more advance planning than Wdw" is way too much of a vast generalization which is why I commented. Those places take knowledge of what you want to do but not necessarily advanced planning.

How are you defining advanced planning? Actual booking or research? Because I'm defining planning as research in general, which is required for gaining knowledge. (I got the 6 month thing from you saying that you didn't think other places had to be planned more than 6 months out, which I assumed was a reference to Wdw's 180 day rule.)

But I'm not sure what point we're really arguing here. I think you're arguing that you plan a lot more for Disney than elsewhere. I'm arguing that I've found that planning for Disney takes a lot less research than other trips because I don't need to go to multiple websites to book stuff or figure out transit at all. Hotel location is much less of a concern. And then there's the fact that WDW might be large but it's under one company's umbrella and it's nothing compared to an actual city. We can both be right, even if we have different experiences.

I don't think other people vacation exactly like me, but I also don't think the vast majority of WDW visitors obsess as much over their theme park trips like most of the people on this board either.

 

[agavegirl1]

Partly because of my my obsessively planned WDW and other trips, we started doing fall road trips with very little planning. We book hotel rooms on the fly from my phone when we figure out when we want to quit driving. They are fun too. We have gone west two years in a row with the plan of seeing as many national parks on a one year pass as possible within our itinerary. Hubby likes these trips.

I do come across many families that don't plan. We were in line to check in for our ADR at 50's Prime time and the family seven in front of us were talking to each other about the line. I asked if they had an ADR and they said "Oh, this is one of those restaurants you don't need one for". I suggested that may be wrong. They got to the check in list and were told they "may be able to be seated at 2PM...it was 11AM...they left swearing and grumbling and gave us dirty looks as we were cheerily checked in.

WDW is a different animal. I have taken trips to Italy with a guidebook and three pre-booked reservations two months out.

I feel little bit sorry for people who get bad information or do no research but I also feel it makes my planning more worth it so it is a trade off in feelings of sorts I guess.

 

[PrincessofPrideRock]

We have an early morning FP for KS at AK and I'm pretty stoked about it actually! My thinking is that we will get to AK at RD and then head straight to KS (the best time to see the animals being active is in the morning or evening...or so I've heard through all of my research lol). I figured we will try to walk-on without our FP's, then get off and use our FP to ride again! (our FP time slot is 9:10-10:10)
Now, we do have a FP for The Seas w/ Nemo and Friends at Epcot...but that's only because we were late signing up for our FP's in the first place. We are staying at SD via SPG points and it took a while for MDE to link our reservation. I was able to snag a FP for Test Track, Spaceship Earth, and The Seas. We had 0% chance of getting one for Soarin', so we just went with the three that I felt were "worth it" for us. (No way in Hades we were going to waste a FP on Figment though!!) We figured we may as well use the FP and if we end up being able to walk-on anyways then oh well.

 

[jsmla]

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 Epcot.

There always a balance in planning vs. just going with the flow, and the trend at Disney has certainly been moving more and more in favor of the planning crowd.

A spreadsheet? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard!


I had a little notebook


Seriously, I thing my kids had maybe two attractions that they both enjoyed. I had one thrill junkie who thought princesses were "lame" and one character hound who refused to ride anything wilder than Dumbo. The one thing they did agree on was how to pass time in line:
DD: Maaaaawwwwmmmm! He's touching me!
DS: She touched me first!
DD: Nuh-unh, you're always touching me and you're stinky!
DS: (touch, touch, touch)
DD: (well aimed kick)
Me: Stop it, stop it, stop it! If you two don't cut it out we're going straight back to the camper, do you hear me?
DD: No fair! It's not my fault. Quit touching me!!!!!!!
DS: (touch, touch, touch)
LSDH (Long Suffering DH): Do they sell beer here?

So, in the days before FP of any kind I always had a pretty detailed plan. It was the only way to meet Cindy and ride Space Mountain without making a scene. To this day I have an irrational fear of lines.

 

[TwinkleKS]

I think you can be happy doing WDW last minute and planning ahead. We go for Christmas and I plan that one ahead, getting up to get the ADRs and everything else. We decided last week to go for July 4th and I still don't have anything planned. We basically didn't have anything else we wanted to do for summer vacation and I want to see Pandora.

However, I do think there is some misleading information out there and I can see how people can go expecting one thing and not being able to get it. Especially when it comes to dinning / dinning and character meals. I know that for those that research there are ways around it, but come on ... there are people that try to go through security every time I get on a flight that have huge bottles of water ... even though there are ten signs, a verbal announcement and the rules have been the same for over ten years now. Back to my point There are a lot of advertisements on dinning with the princesses, etc. and I could see where it would lead one to believe it is super easy to eat at CRT, like you can just walk up and do it (yes I know some people actually do). Or people get talked into buying the Deluxe Dinning Plan for a trip two months out.

 

[mommyboys3]

I'd personally replace "heartbreaking" with "mind boggling stupidity".

I couldn't agree more. Our trip about a month ago we were waiting in the FP line at Buzz & 2 guys were debating which line they needed to get in. Here's their conversation:

Guy 1: This one says Fast Pass. Do we have a Fast Pass?
Guy 2: I think we do have a Fast Pass.
After waiting in line a minute
Guy 1: They've all got those bracelets. I think you need a bracelet. I guess we don't have a Fast Pass.

I did feel bad for them but can't imagine going to a place like Magic Kingdom & not doing at least a little bit of research. I guess there are still people left that just show up, pay gate price & expect to be able to ride whatever they want.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I couldn't agree more. Our trip about a month ago we were waiting in the FP line at Buzz & 2 guys were debating which line they needed to get in. Here's their conversation:

Guy 1: This one says Fast Pass. Do we have a Fast Pass?
Guy 2: I think we do have a Fast Pass.
After waiting in line a minute
Guy 1: They've all got those bracelets. I think you need a bracelet. I guess we don't have a Fast Pass.

I did feel bad for them but can't imagine going to a place like Magic Kingdom & not doing at least a little bit of research. I guess there are still people left that just show up, pay gate price & expect to be able to ride whatever they want.

I have a friend that has been to Disney numerous times. But not once in 8 years.

She laughs at my planning. Tells me all I have to do is eat at off times and "go left." You see, everyone goes right, it is natural. So, when you walk into a park, go left. You will leave the crowd in the dust and ride whatever you want.

I've tried to explain how things have changed and she is sure that they haven't. If she or her family ever go back, they are in for a rude awakening.

No, she doesn't have to work planning as a full time job for 6 months, but a little planning goes a long way.

 

[Gillbob316]

I was in Disneyland the weekend before last (first time ever!), and before I get to my point, let me just say Disneyland lines are truly a different experience. Most of them stretch outside the ride, into the streets and down the regular walking paths. There’s very little interior queueing. FAR less than Orlando. From what I understand it’s mostly because rain is far less a constant concern in California than it is in Florida (and just because the park is 60+ years old and some queues were built without foresight)… BUT I digress…

On topic, some of these lines would stretch for a whole block beyond the ride building, because there was simply no queue space AT the ride. The one that truly baffled me the whole trip was Matterhorn. It would wrap the bottom side of the mountain, stretch WAY beyond the entrance, out of fantasyland and toward the central hub… It was always 60+ minutes… yet it had a single rider line that was practically walk-on and fastpass availability within an hour all day (IE. You get your fastpass, eat a hotdog or ride the teacups for 30 minutes, then get on Matterhorn)

I could not even fathom for the life of me why anyone, ever, in any situation would stand in that astronomically long and clearly visible line with those two options at their fingertips.

I understand the concept that some groups DON’T want to split up, and I get that, but A) Matterhorn has single seat bobsled cars (like Space Mt. In Florida) so you’re sitting alone either way, whether you’re in the same train as your party or not. If you have a small child I guess I could see where you might not want to split up, but for adults/teens it makes very little difference. BUT OKAY… lets say you don’t want to split.

The fastpass kiosk is RIGHT THERE… and there are A HUNDRED other things to do at Disneyland to kill the 20-45 minutes it takes for the return window to start. Standing in a long line for a Tier 1 attraction is just silly! You could be using that queue time on a smaller rider and walk on the big tickets with fastpass. So much wasted time!

It baffled me continuously throughout the weekend.

 

[fbb]

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.

My wife and I split up every time on EE. The best use of 30 minutes of her time is 3 or 4 times through the single rider line. The best use of 30 minutes of my time is in the standby queue, which I find really interesting, and one ride.

 

[tlmadden73]

Then that's where our values work best - you use the ride FP, I use the show. We aren't competing for the same spots. And Im not going to say that your use of the Ride FP is a waste, even if it's not how I would have used it.

Each person values their time differently. I just see no reason to feel bad about those who value their time differently than you do, pre- or post-vacation

True ..

I am not trying to criticize those who CHOOSE to get a show FP. I am criticizing the system.

My point really is that I don't think Fast Passes for shows should exist AT ALL and I feel that newcomers get "duped" into making them without knowing any better that they aren't saving you any time like skipping a LONG ride line does.

The only reason there are Fast Passes for shows is because there simply isn't enough attractions at Epcot, DHS and AK to make it work well without all the popular rides filling up quickly, so they are literally just filler. They exist simply to get people to spread out their Fast Passes .. and those people who unknowingly take those Fast Passes - newcomers who don't know any better.

I mean why does Muppets take a Fast Pass but Country Bears does not? They are essentially the same type of show. You go to a waiting area, after 10-15 minutes you go into a giant theater, take a seat and watch a 10 minute show.

All that being said, I think adding Star Wars and Toy Story attractions to DHS will help immensely (though I bet they will keep the tiering to help divide out the new attractions). Epcot is still hurting though with a lack of "FP-worthy" attractions.