Just back....broke many "rules" and had a blast

[Noel22]

Sounds like a wonderful vacation! Thanks for sharing!

 

[cruisingkat]

We just got back from WDW yesterday and this was a new kind of trip for us. We broke many of the rules we had set based on the unofficial guide, DIS, and past trips. Yet....we had an amazing time!

Here are the rules we ignored:
1. We did not make a park opening.
2. We did not make many ADRs.
3. We never wore sneakers.
4. We did not order from Garden Grocer or pack any food other than cereal.
5. Other than checking in and out we had no plan.

I wish that everyone could have the type of trip we enjoyed if they so desire. We relaxed a lot, had a ton of pool time, leisurely meals, hit our son's favorites in the parks, and generally enjoyed every moment.

We also ignore the same rules you do - well, with the exception of wearing sneakers. We love not having plans - in fact we often play bus roulette at the resort - whichever park bus comes first is the one we go to. By not having a plan, we can enjoy the little suprises that come up - for example: the rare character sighting that we just happen to see - that we would miss if we were rushing around following a plan.
Of course we have annual passes, so we also find that we don't feel that we have to spend all day at the park - in fact there have been some days where we have only spent about two hours in the park.

 

[Mamu]

Glad to hear your trip was Magical.

We threw away the commando list many years ago. Although I do think our upcoming trip may be a little more hectic then what we would normally experience.

The Force of Star Wars Weekend may draw us our of our less then usual desirable speed and put us into hyperspace mode.

 

[IlliniMouse]

Sounds like a great trip! It's good to hear that you really can go to WDW without every minute planned out and have a good time. We loosened up a bit for their trip (our third) and had a great time.

To the poster who plays "bus roulette"- I think that's a great idea! No getting frustrated as you see buses coming and going for every park but the one you planned on going to!

 

[francie57]

Great report. We do our trips the same way each year. We go every Aug. and usually get a 2 bedroom villa at the BW (not available so far so we are at the BC this year) and spend more time enjoying the quiet pool each trip. We gave up doing commando long ago. We get park hoppers so we go where we want and are in no rush. We do make ADRs since there are certain restaurants that are must each trip. Most of the places are between the BW area and Epcot so we can leisurely walk to them. The only park that we get to for an early day is AK. We get there for EHM and are gone by 1:00 since we have already done everything we want to do. Doing trips this way, with no set plan other than dinner, it is much more relaxing and enjoyable.

 

[Missytara]

I did one of those trips last year.

I stay at POR; normally in Oak Manor by the quiet pool. This year, they put me in Parterre Place, corner king bed room, right off the river. It was wonderful.

The weather was so nice the first few days and I had brought a couple of books with me, I just pulled my chair out in the "nook" off the doorway, and read. Each evening, I took the water taxi down to DTD and hopped on a different resort bus each night to go to dinner. I left it completely to chance (but I was alone, so it was easy).

After a few days, it didn't seem like a good idea to waste an 8 day ticket on only four days at the parks. So I just finished out the week at the resort, did a bunch of resort hopping, spent a lot of time at DTD and around my room. I finished all four books, and I had a blast - never went to one park in eight days!

 

[River Country]

I hear ya, i told the DW i want to relax this time. DD is 4 now she was 2 last time and we tried to do so much i wanted to be pushed her stroller!!!!

 

[Poohrulz]

We don't plan and always have a great time. This upcoming trip will probably be a little more stressful because my brother in law and sister in law are coming along, and she's a "take charge" kinda woman. Just trying to get her to chill and roll with the flow will be fun.

 

[TLinden16]

I'm going to move this to our trip report board.

 

[DougK]

So from reading this thread it seems the tip you are giving to us is:

Walt Disney World is even more enjoyable when you don't have to pay to get in.

Thank you, I never would have thought of that.

 

[beebeeryan]

Relaxed is the way to go isn't it! We did that last year even though it was our first trip in 12 years and the first trip for the kids. Our kids go to bed early and are up early usually and we didn't want any meltdowns so we planned on rope drops and afternoon swim breaks everyday. Only did MK evenings since we could hop the boat to the WL and no we didn't see lots of things (like Illuminations ), but we saw most everything we wanted to. I do plan the park days based on morning EMH and things, but always leave the last day free choice and we can change things up if we need to. No commando here. We had such a great time, no cranky tired kids and so much fun that we decided we weren't gonna wait 4 years to go back like we planned, we're going back again this summer. It helps we go at a less crowded time at the end of August and most rides were walk on or less than 15 minute waits. We did have ADRS for most of the nights, although we ended up cancelling 2.

For this summer I made 4 ADR's all close to our hotel or in the parks we plan on being in that day. We'll see. The only real must see this trip is The Magic The Memories and You castle projection show as many times as I can catch it since a video clip of DS5 is in it (it's why we picked CR to stay at, so we could get to MK sans transportation dependence) and I do want to get to WS this year and see Illuminations again, been way too long. Other than that, we'll just follow the kid's leads.

 

[danceteachermom]

fun to know we are not the only ones wwho can find the time to slow down and enjoy things.

Our two days just at the resort with meals in DTD were my favorites.

A few things I forgot to mention...just observations.

We did the Stitch "ride" or shall I say experience at MK. I thought it was a total waste of time.

I think the Pooh ride at MK has the absolute best line experience...my son had just as much fun playing in line as he did on the ride. I wish Disney had more lines like this. I think the TSM line is interesting but not entertaining like the Winnie the Pooh line.

I know many say the hype for TSM is too much and that it is overrated but I LOVE LOVE this ride. It is so much fun.

I still have a list of things I have not done that I want to do on future trips:
1. Nemo Show
2. Fantasmic
3. Splash Mountain (It is usually closed when we go. Our DH is still too short.)
4. Hall of Presidents (Since they added President Obama)

Things I like that many don't...
1. The People Mover "ride" in Tomorrowland
2. Lining with the Land at Epcot
Did both this trip.

I think I had at least two pool bar drinks a day - great thing to add to the budget.

We did use old refillable mugs on this trip. I was surprised the mugs had already changed again since we were there in January but the old mugs worked just fine. I have some original CSR mugs too from when they were shorter and wider, had a CSR logo, and blue caps. They will still accept these as well.

We are already thinking of a repeat trip next year. So much fun!