I tried to warn them!

[FortForever]

I have some family members that are maybe the worst time management specialists on the planet, and yet I don't know how you stand in a park FULL of rides and not accidentally get in line and get shoved on to more than ONE ride in a whole day.

They didn't arrive until lunch time or so. Then stood in line for hours at those two rides, then had to make a dinner reservation. The were totally done with Disney after that. They are not stupid people. Cousin is a doctor, his wife is an RN. They just didn't understand how Disney works and thought they could handle it.

 

[cuteandfluffy626]

WDW is sooooo different from other theme park! You HAVE to plan in advance! While with others parks like Hershey, Six Flags... you can plan the night before.

 

[MagicallyMom]

I will say, FWIW, that I think overplanning can also kill a trip. Our first trip i planned activities and coordinated outfits and let me tell you, there was no room for the human element. No enjoyment of simple discovery, no "I'm tired, let's have a nap."

VERY CRANKY PEOPLE. Luckily it was a long trip, and buy the end we'd slowed down.

 

[bbak30]

Sooooo frustrating. I attempted to help a friend plan. His 3 year old loves animals so I wrote out a plan for AK. Specifically the safari, lion king and nemo. Told him all about dinoland and the play area.
He comes back, "it was like the local zoo."
Me: he didn't like the safari with all the giraffes and zebras? Or the awesome lion king show with the the acrobats?"
Him: "wait, there was a safari and shows?"
Me:

 

[Accident]

With all the stuff going on, ending, starting I've been around the parks a lot these last 3 weeks. How did they get no same day fastpasses? i got anything I wanted...

 

[LisafromIndiana]

We will soon be on our Disneymoon, and DH has not been since he was 5. It was his idea to go, but he is definitely in the "let's just show up" Camp. I started off by talking wwwaaaayyyy too much about the planning, and he thinks I'm crazy! Lol. I have shut my mouth for the most part, but he knows there is a plan, not commando because that's not my style, but a far cry from just showing up. When he sees that we have ADR'S for places that others will be turned away from, and FP for rides that would otherwise be an hour or more wait, I know he will be thrilled and fully understand.

 

[DekrRini]

I just got back from a trip with friends. I'm a planner, they're not so much. Mostly we met for a few ADRs and wandered around a bit together. Both groups got to do most of the things we wanted to do. But they did go in knowing that they might have to wait for the headliners or hope for a same day fast pass. I went to rope drop, they slept in. But both groups had a great time, just with different expectations.

I go twice a year and have done most of the attractions I'm interested in multiple times so it shouldn't be a big deal not to ride those attractions. I promise myself every trip that I'll just wing it that trip. Never happens. I have too many must do ADRs.

 

[klmall]

Sorry that they didn't plan and then didn't take advantage of all the options even without Fastpasses. Disney is overwhelming and then add crowds, heat and inexperience and you have a recipe for disaster. Even with extensive planning and many trips under our belts we couldn't do nearly as much last month as usual. Hopefully they will give it another chance. And this experience will prove far more valuable than any advice you could give them!

 

[Auntie_Maim]

Him: "wait, there was a safari and shows?"

Did he not even look at a park map? Go figure.

 

[bbak30]

Did he not even look at a park map? Go figure.

Damn men.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

And while it sounds like it will be more fun to "wing it," it will just leave you feeling frustrated and not enjoying the trip to the fullest.

I completely agree. However, "winging it" varies from person to person. Another poster mentioned their version of winging it which won't match someone else's.

To me what's more important in this context is what each person's version of "winging it" is and what their expectations are. If "winging it" means no plans period then you'll have to set your expectations right. Sounds like the family in the original post had zero idea of what WDW is and to them "winging it" meant zero plans. Well with zero plans and zero idea of what WDW is....

Personal opinion here but one doesn't have to do uber planning if they don't want to but one should know some basics at least and have the correct expections.

 

[deedubb]

I'm astonished they didn't see any of the night time shows!

 

[mom2rtk]

With all the stuff going on, ending, starting I've been around the parks a lot these last 3 weeks. How did they get no same day fastpasses? i got anything I wanted...

Maybe it was harder to book for a larger group? Maybe they weren't inclined to keep checking their phones?

 

[mom2rtk]

Some people don't want to have to plan a vacation like they're an invading army. And that's ok too. It's not a personality flaw.

 

[deedubb]

Some people don't want to have to plan a vacation like they're an invading army. And that's ok too. It's not a personality flaw.

True, but when you're spending the kind of money it takes to go to Disney, it seems absolutely silly not to book a few FP+ at a minimum. That takes very little time and can mean the difference between an enjoyable trip vs one that is draining because of wasting hours standing in line.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

True, but when you're spending the kind of money it takes to go to Disney, it seems absolutely silly not to book a few FP+ at a minimum. That takes very little time and can mean the difference between an enjoyable trip vs one that is draining because of wasting hours standing in line.

Haven't been to WDW since FP+ was introduced (only used paper FPs) but to me there's a difference in knowing you can book a FP and choosing to book a FP.

 

[mom2rtk]

True, but when you're spending the kind of money it takes to go to Disney, it seems absolutely silly not to book a few FP+ at a minimum. That takes very little time and can mean the difference between an enjoyable trip vs one that is draining because of wasting hours standing in line.

Some people don't even know where the rides are in proximity to the other, what time they will be seeing shows, how that day is going to fit. Most posting here can do that in their sleep. But if I didn't know the parks, I would probably be intimidated by committing to times for things I couldn't even point to on a map yet.

 

[NinaBella]

I wonder if this is the same OP I saw post on another thread that dad was hoping they would be eliminated quickly? That makes me sad. Families spend thousands of dollars on cheer and some teams came from other countries. This was not a inexpensive trip and the focus is on cheer, not the parks. Cheer Competitions are not family vacations. Sounds like this cheerleader competed on Friday (Wildcard round) which means the parents wouldn't have been able to plan anything in the parks (in advance) for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Once eliminated then they could have look to see what they could fit in. Our gym treats cheer competitions seriously. Our coach wasn't even going to give out the tickets until a few hours before our warm up time on Saturday so no one could go to the parks. Our coach specifically stated none of our cheerleaders were allowed in pools or in parks until after we were done with the competition on Sunday. After many parents asked for the ticket to watch/support teams on Friday she did give them out early. Our gym had 14 teams at the D1 Summit.

We did go to the Sunday night party at Hollywood studios. It was from 10PM to 2AM. We arrived around 9PM and it was already chaotic. We left about 11:30 because we had just been to Hollywood Studios on or FL Ressie passes 2 weeks earlier. The wait times for ToT and RnR were over 2 hours. ToT the line came down the road way past Beauty and the Beast. Cast members were tying to direct people in line who didn't realize that was the end of the line for ToT. RnR line came out around the corner too ending about in front of Beauty and the Beast. My daughter walked around with friends for a bit, then she was like "I'm out!" She wasn't about to stand in line. I did ask ToT CM about using my disability pass and was told disability passes would not be honored for the special event. I was okay with that. I just grabbed a bench and chatted with random parents from other gyms across the U.S. until DD was ready to go. We didn't both to go into any other parks that weekend. We have been a couple times since March so we have had our recent fill. I have Busch Gardens/Adventure Island passes I just purchased for the rest of 2017.