Is it possible to be to efficient?

[trouttigger]

I'm loving reading how everyone strikes this balance. For us, being at RD (or close to it), doing commando style until lunch, works. We like having a day off in the middle to sleep in and enjoy our resort. The balance for us is 6 park days. Being structured in the morning means getting to the rides that will have long waits after lunch. I cannot stand the thought of being in line for more than 20 minutes. To me, that is the worst waste of time, so it is worth all the time I put into planning our mornings (Thank you, Disboards) to know that won't happen.

 

[Marionnette]

I think that having another trip already planned and an AP in my pocket goes a long way toward slowing me down. I don't have that urgent feeling that I need to squeeze as much as I can out of each park day in order to "get my money's worth". And I also know that if I don't see it this trip, I'll get to it on the next one (or the one after that).

I just got back from 8 nights at F&W with my sister. We did all of the thrill rides that I can't do when I travel with my husband. I followed the FP+ advice that people posted here and managed to do multiple attractions at the MK with very little wait. We slept in, did rope drop only once, lingered at the Premium Pass locations at F&W and cooled off for an hour at the Chase Lounge. I saw MSEP, FoF parade, and did MNSSHP until after midnight. If I could change two things about the trip, it would have been that we would have enjoyed the resort pools more and did fewer ADRs.

I still think that I was highly efficient in accomplishing what we did without exhausting ourselves. But I also know that my husband would tease me mercilessly about the pace that we had set (which is why I went with my sister and not him!). So, when I go with him next month, I have no FP+ scheduled at all. We have 4 ADRs for a 5-night trip because TS dining is important to him and the couple we are traveling with. And while we have tickets for the Marathon Finish Line Party, which goes on until 4 AM, I know that we will be back at our resort by midnight (if not sooner).

 

[loves to dive]

I have an AP and go twice a year at least, for F&G and F&W. I think there are two things that work for me: 1. knowing that there is no way you are going to see everything and do everything in one trip so don't sweat it. After 30 something years of going at least every other year until year before last when I started going twice a year, I still haven't seen and done everything. I have my favorites and try to hit those but I don't it's no big deal. 2. Having an annual pass I know I'll be back so if I miss something, I know I'll always catch it again. Of course, that can back fire, I've never been a Christmas time so have never seen the Osborne lights cause they would always be there. Not. I had planned a short trip in December this year but it looks like that won't pan out. Oh well, can't miss something you've never had.

I rarely make FP before about a week before I go now, chances are even those are going to get changed either the night before or the morning of, just according to how I feel. I rarely make ADRs any more, we never did even before the new system. We kind of like just going to GS the morning of at whatever park we are at and asking what they can find available that night. Since we've always had PHs the park doesn't matter and now that DS is an adult, time doesn't really matter either. We get to discover new restaurants that way. My last trip was 2 weeks ago, solo for F&W. I got there around 2:30 so after I went to my room and got settled I hopped over to Epcot to get my passport stamped for the free AP wine glass, grabbed something to eat at a couple of booths, walked over to BC/YC and caught the bus to HS and rode everything I wanted to without a single FP, had a FP for the late Fantasmic that night but just got in line about 20 min. before the first show start, went right in and got a seat in not a bad place. Didn't hurt that it had been pouring down rain most of the day. Next day I switched resorts so I checked out of resort 1 about 7:15, drove to YC and checked in. Room wasn't ready but they knew what room number it was, score got upgraded from a garden view to a king room with an awesome view of the lake and BW. Left my bags in my car and headed over to MK where I spent the morning had tea at GF, then headed over to Epcot where I spent the rest of the afternoon until around 5 when my room had been ready for a while. Went back to Epcot and spent the evening just wandering around the booths. Next day did AK in the morning at rope drop (that wasn't on purpose I was just up) rode everything I wanted to, back to Epcot where I spent the day. Next two days I just sort of hopped back and forth between MK, Epcot and HS, riding rides that didn't have waits, shopping and eating myself silly. I usually made my FP while waiting at the bus stop or the night before. The only ADR I had was for tea but I knew I was eating all my meals at F&W.

 

[dlavender]

I don't believe one can be too efficient. I've done trips on both spectrums - going all day, seeing all we can, riding almost everything (like we are doing in 2 days!), to taking our time, taking in the sights, taking resort breaks. I enjoy the former style. My family may disagree, but they know what they are in for when I am in charge of the plans.

 

[Baklava]

We're booking all our ADRs and FP+ but we've decided that while I will probably *make* touring plans, those plans are "more like guidelines than rules." The planning is already way more than we're accustomed to and we don't want to miss the magic moments of doing nothing.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

The bad part is we are now Annual Passholders so we are going back in 65 days.
Not sure why we did it the way we did but the DW and I both are talking about how we can slow the pace down and still keep the kiddo happy. The Christmas stuff will be out so hopefully we can slow down and enjoy that. We do have a Late LE Cellier ADR so that will be one night of leisure.

I tend to make up scavenger type hunts before we go - DH and DD enjoy finding things (photo scavenger hunt) or tracking down the answers to questions etc so it makes them (and me) slow down and enjoy the details in each park. We do go to RD everyday and hit the rides/ characters etc then slow down and do a bit of scavenger hunting before heading off to our afternoon park

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

We are doing our first trip to the World in December and I am planning almost exactly like Happy 2 B tours. We are also doing 10 days, 6-7 days in the parks. We are Disneyland vets, so the important thing for us is the rides that are different, but mainly the shows and general ambience and details that are different from our two parks. I plan to rope drop and then break for lunch back at the resort, all of our FP+ are early afternoon or evening, ADRs, then chill.

When we do Disneyland, it really depends on our length of stay. When we have a short stay, 1-2 days, commando, anything longer and we tend to relax after lunch (we always do rope drop). It also helps that we get to go fairly frequently, I had 5 trips to DL in the past 12 months.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We like to hit the headliners multiple times but rarely arrive in the parks before noon. We've been to the parks enough times that we know the general crowd flow and patterns and have a pretty good idea when to visit the main attractions without rushing around.

Night time is for headliners. Afternoon/early evening is for FP+ and the "once only" attractions.

 

[davidwalden05]

I got my fast passes booked on all the big rides from 10-1 everyday in each park and a few ADR's, other then that we are going to fly by the seat of our pants which is what I prefer. I hate being regimented by a schedule and I like to go with the flow.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Our Stratagey for our trip this past may was 1 rest day for every 2 park days and Scheduled through mid-day and then break and our evening park was very lax. While in ways we did enjoy it, there was a part of me that cringed at how inefficient we were being. However, it did make for a great compromised balance.

 

[tinka-belle]

It's not so much "too efficient" as it is no time left for a little spontaneity. Some of the unplanned moments can be the real magic at WDW. The lack of those pleasant surprises makes the trip seem too planned and predictable.

We go to WDW 2 or 3 times a year, always have ADRs and FP+ done, BUT look on them as guidelines rather than must dos. End up changing them the day before for some of our days every trip. Also it's a "rule" for us to try at least one new attraction and one new restaurant that we haven't done before or haven't done in a long time for every trip. And we build a little downtime into our schedule now for sleeping in (esp. after late EMH), pool time, mini golf, shopping, or repeating some favorite attractions and rides.

 

[Flamingeaux]

Another person who plans out the morning but just wings it after lunch. We usually check out the shows after lunch.

 

[Nigel Channing]

We would have liked to slow down a bit on our last trip but every time we did so, our 4 year old and 9 year old turned into monsters. When we were on the go they were much better behaved.

 

[scrapquitler]

We just got back from a 5 day trip that included our very first MNSSHP, first F&W and first off-site stay.
We had a blast and enjoyed ourselves. This may sound stupid but I feel like we were too efficient. When I say that I mean we did everything we wanted multiple times but it felt like we never stopped. It was a pace I'm not sure I want to repeat. IDK if was because my DD9 has made the transition from characters, which we saw plenty of, to wanting to do more thrill rides but it was an exhausting pace. The bad part is we did afternoon breaks, we ate everything we wanted to try at F&W(even though we did it Saturday&Sunday) and had a great sit down meal at Mama Melrose but I felt we missed some of the magic because of our efficient touring plans.
Is there any way to find a balance between doing what you want and having time to experince the pixie dust or do you have to choose one over the other?

Yes I feel that way sometimes, too.

What I do is that I plan down time. I plan: after we do these 4 things, we are going to sit down on a bench and chill out for 15 minutes to watch the crowd walk by. Or After this snack, we are going to stop and watch the next performance we walk by in World Showcase, no matter what it is.

If I don't force my husband to do these, things, we end up running around all day.

When we go in two weeks, my husband still has to work despite us being at Disney, so the plan is for him to work in the morning until noon. DS and I will hit the parks and take things slow until my husband meets us around 1, then we'll tour commando with him for a couple hours, and hopefully slow down again in the evening after a late afternoon break.

 

[danny1649]

We have sticky about " Looking for Live Reports and Just Back Threads". I would normally move to Trip Reports, I will make exception for your post and this thread. Danny

 

[THEJOEL]

We have sticky about " Looking for Live Reports and Just Back Threads". I would normally move to Trip Reports, I will make exception for your post and this thread. Danny

Sorry sir it won't happen again.
I was honestly looking for guidance and strategies on how not to do this again. You would think after 5 trips I would know how to balance it out but it seems that having gone so many times actually worked against me this time.

 

[kathy884]

We usually have a list of about seven things that are must do attractions for us at each park. We've been lots of times before. Anyway the efficient part for us is that we are there at rope drop on a non EMH day and have a touring plan and hit those in an efficient order. If it's not that crowded a day, that means being done with our list early afternoon. That puts is in savor the park mode -- hit some shops at Main Street USA, have a late leisurely lunch and get a Mickey Bar. Repeat a favorite if the lines aren't too horrible (Often, though, we see that what we already did now has an hour line and decide to skip. And we think about how great it was that we did all our stuff in the mornings.) Do another minor attraction or two that has a short line. Maybe call it a day and go back to the condo to swim, play tennis, sit out on our balcony and talk.

On and on a seven night/six day trip, we usually only do four park days. One is the MK, two are SeaWorld (love that second day for $15 deal), and one is something else (we mix it up -- a different Disney one, Universal on occasion if they have something new we want to see, etc.) // SeaWorld is a savor as you go kind of park and a very relaxing park.

 

[cjparker0110]

I think it's easy to fall into this trap. You spend so much money on the trip and you feel you need to get your money's worth. You start going as fast as you can because you need to beat the crowds for anything you don't have FP for. You have a blast every time you do an attraction you wanted to do. Then at the end of the trip you realize you're exhausted and don't really remember much other than the constant running.

Slowing down is counter intuitive. However, it allows you stop and really notice the theme of the area around you. You can take in the scents, see the little details, enjoy everything about it. You can also enjoy each other. I always ran as a kid (as did my parents....and there were only a couple of parks then). The last couple of times I went I slowed down...of course I was going every year which made it easier to really enjoy it.

When I go in 2017 with my family, we will be going slower anyway because of the ages of our kids. I am looking forward to doing that and truly enjoying our time at the parks!

 

[GreatLakes]

We don't do the non-stop attraction and show hopping any longer. My wife and I like to take our time and enjoy the atmosphere. We'll grab a drink or coffee and sit down for a bit and soak it all in. Running around and sticking to a schedule or trying to cram in one more attraction is just not what we enjoy. We like to just chill out in the parks for a little while between attractions and shows.

 

[redkel]

I have compromised with myself/my family on this one. We do very commando touring for the first couple hours of park time, then approach touring in a more relaxed way for the rest of the day. We still follow a schedule to some extent, because we are just built that way, but there is free time built into that schedule, along with the freedom to change it up on a whim if desired. Getting so much accomplished in the morning allows us to feel more open to just doing whatever later, as we know we've already hit our must-dos.

THIS right here is our approach as well. We rope drop, tour efficiently and effectively til mid-day/early afternoon, have a slightly later lunch (1pm) and then relax our touring style a bit in the afternoon/evening. We like to park hop and that travelling down-time really helps us rest for a bit and re-group for a meal or activity at another park.

I know it's expensive to go to WDW...I know there's so much to do...and I know there's no way to do it all -- so we're happy to be able to afford a trip and that we're together -- seeing and doing things that others don't get to and feeling thankful. The meals and extra things are just the gravy on top of that great combination.

Especially this upcoming trip as we probably won't be back for a good while and just want to soak everything up and enjoy being together as a family.

I think that a lot of folks miss that point when planning and re-planning and over planning a trip. I'm a type A personality. I'll admit it right here (because I know I'm not alone), but I have worked hard not to let my brain's need for control, scheduling and maximizing our value overrule my heart's need for hearing my daughter laugh and scream on SM and BTMRR, ooh and aah over the animals at AK, and eat Mickey Bars.

Spending a lot of money doesn't always = a good time. Everyone has to put some personal effort into it as well. You need realistic expectations, a positive attitude, established priorities, a good level of participation, and the ability to roll with the punches. These things will do more for your vacation than any amount of $$.

Priorities and realistic expectations go a long way to making a vacation good before you even leave your home. Things will happen that you don't plan, but really -- unless there's a medical emergency (and I pray there isn't for anyone), as long as you're together...it's all good!