KISS principle?

[planitdad]

Do you feel like we do? With all the start here finish there park hopping, ADR- making moving around based on best days touring plans etc., we feel like it is just better to avoid the over-thinking it and just keep it simple.

What works for you?

 

[vicki_c]

Planning works better with my family, with some flexibility built in for spontaneous moments. In other words, if we see a really great character opportunity or have a magical moment with a CM, I try not to stress over - "oh, we're supposed to be getting line for XYZ" now.

But I think for us to go without a plan (meaning which parks which day, and a touring plan that at least puts the attractions in the order we want to do them), Disney would not work for us.

 

[larryz]

Take it in small bites.
1. Decide when you're going.
a. Which park is your favorite?
b. Any tours you want to do?
2. Make your resort / tour / airline ressies to match para 1.
3. Do your ADRs when you can.
4. At 3 months out, plan your packing.
5. At 2 months out, check your ressies.
6. At 1 month out, finalize your park plans to manage crowds, etc.
7. At 2 weeks, get excited.
8. When it's time, go and have fun.

But remember, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, er, I mean, the objective...be flexible and roll with the punches.

 

[joshsmom]

The first couple of times I was not flexible at all. I had the plan and THAT's what we were doing. Then one morning when we were standing in a line at ASMo for Magic Kingdom with 400 OTHER people going to MK, I looked over at the Epcot line with 4 people in it. At that moment, my mother and I decided that sometimes plans are meant to be changed!!!!!

So, we plan our park days and our ADRs, but we, as a pp said, just roll with it. Sometimes spontaneous changes can make a truly awesome experience!!

 

[pepe of ohio]

Sure makes the vacation easy and relaxing. Long ago we gave up the intense planning, we were never die hard stay in the parks from opening to close. We've hit the WDW vacation 40 times now and just wake up, got to the bus or boat station and grab what comes along first. We decided long ago that the length of our stays makes all the difference is our strategy. We never cared for package, just booked room only and went from there, we never done ddp, again no use for a schedule to eat, heck, how are we supposed to know 180 days out, what we want to eat and where let alone if we're hungry. We stay 10-12 nights and relax finally on the excursions, we see what we want, eat when we want and what we want. If we want to blow a day or 2 and loll around the pool, so be it, we have plenty of time to pick up where we left off and see it all.

Hey, we enjoy boating to FW, last 10 stays have been at WL, just to waste an evening at Crocketts Tavern, ritual, eating pizza and downing pitchers of beer and then strolling or sitting on the porch, so comfortable and carefree. We have picnics every day at the pool and drinks, late night swim, you bet and catch the EWP. Carefree.....relaxing..... yes, all without a plan or schedule.. Our rules for a Disney vacation, never say how many days are left, no laundry or ironing, no cooking, no computer or cell phone and no watches. We have enjoyed these kind of stays the best and look forward to the next and we never leave saying we need a vacation form the vacation anymore. not for all but its just our way.

 

[goofy4tink]

Just the other night an acquaintance came up to me and said she had heard I was like the resident Disney expert. She is going, with her family, in August for their first trip ever. She asked me for any special hints and those 'not to be missed' things. Now, I firmly believe that my 'not to be missed' things are not going to be the same as someone else's list. And I truly believe that WDW is no place for spontanaity...at least not on the first ever trip. So, I told her to make use of the FP system, to get to the parks early and take a mid-day pool break at their resort. They'll be at the Polynesian so it will be a ton of fun for the kids. But the big thing I told her was this....get a guidebook, sit with your dh and make a list of the things you want to do. The kids are all under the age of 7 so mom and dad will have to make choices for them I would think. I told her to make a list of the things/attractions that were the most important to them..then, do them first at each park.
After they do the 'must do' things, they can be spontaneous.

Yes, sometimes we can tend to overplan. But, it's always good to have some kind of plan in place. Otherwise, you'll be one of those 'dread' families...standing in the middle of Main St, maps in hand, saying 'What do you want to do first? And how do we get there?'!!!

 

[jellybeans0607]

we go often so i dont overplan at all. but there are some things i do feel the need to plan.
1. if you want to eat in the parks, its best you plan your ADRs
2. it really doesnt hurt anyhting to take a look at the crowd calender and have an idea which parks will be crowded and when
3. its good to know when your EMH are, in my case to avoid those parks
and
4. i always have a list of things id like to do for that vacation, but simple things, this year my list is eat a dole whip(havent in years), bring my youngest to sit in the front of the monorail and get a grand marnier slush in france.

other than taht i like to wing it. i love to see where the magic takes me.

 

[USCGamecocks]

We believe in planned flexibility. We choose which parks to hit which days, take into consideration EMH's we may want to do, decide the main rides we want to hit and the best order, and decide FP we will want to make sure we get a couple rides in on some things. We do not make ADR's and are more than willing to park hop if it will get us to less a crowded park.

 

[paintnolish]

ADRs the last few trips (since the ddp is so popular) is as far as I go! I've been there a bunch, though. I can understand the strict planning if you don't go that much- you are probably afraid of "missing" something. That's just too stressful for me!

 

[Wonders10]

We're florida residents so we go often, making a commando style of touring unneccessary for us. I only plan as much as I need to - what days we're going, where we are going to stay, any ADR's we might need/want, and what parks we will go to on what days. That's about it. Once we're there we just take things as it comes.

 

[Stitchfans]

I plan what park for what day going along with the ADRs. But yes we can be very flexible in case the park I chose is too crowded then we can hop over to another.

 

[sharadoc]

Here's what I'm doing (from the DIS board, of course):

1. Reading EVERY restaurant menu and saving everything that I think we'll like.
2. Based on past experiences, highlighting all of the attractions I know the kids will like.
3. When park hours come out for January, plan which days in which parks based on special events, Spectromagic nights, etc.
4. Have a list of "must dos" and "nice to dos" in each park - attractions restaurants and shops.
5. Print out everything listed above from the DIS onto some 3 hole punch notebook paper and file it by categories into a binder.
6. Bring the binder with us and review it daily, since my brain can't hold all of the info that we'll need.
7. Make up any notes, maybe an index card and take it with me each day.
8. Be relaxed and flexible - we're in Disney World and that's all that matters.

I'm not anywhere near done building my binder yet, but I feel satisfied that I'll have everything I want and need by the time our trip comes along. I'll feel satisfied that I'll have done all of my research and left no piece of information un-read. We won't have any regrets that we didn't know about something, or missed something.

I am so grateful for the DIS and the boards and the info from everyone. Thanks to all of you.

 

[Laurie222]

My DH won't let me plan (he gets grumpy if I have every minute accounted for). As a result, I read and was on Disboards so I knew what was here (like that DHS had a new attraction), and had an idea of where to go each day (remembering that if we traded days, that's okay). I made ADRs for every other day, roughly, and lucked out to get a last minute ADR for a character dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern ( Friday 5:00pm for an 8:20 ressie; the CM said there must have been a cancellation) when my DH decided he wanted to eat sit down at MK. That ended up being magical because we left just as the Spectromagic parade was starting and we just stayed on the porch and watched (couldn't have planned it better!)

I don't think we saw as much at the parks as other folks, but my DD 10 1/2 and DS 9 were happy to spend 1 1/2 days at Typhoon Lagoon doing things like surface scuba diving. We all had a great time, and after all, isn't that what its all about?

So, I plan, but I also plan to change!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I make a plan and 99% of the time I stick with it. The only time I haven't is when I got sick on one trip.

 

[drinkme]

When going to DLR, we can pretty much skip the planning (except for maybe figuring out which morning we want to get there at Early Entry for rope drop). But at WDW, we definitely have to make a plan. My dh HATES that I plan everything, but the few times I gave in to him and didn't plan something, we just walked around the parks and wasted so much time trying to decide where to eat, where to go, what to do.

I think if it's 2 adults going to WDW, you can be more flexible. If it's a family of 6 (like we have), then you definitely have to plan things. For example, I know how long my kids can go in between meals. If we have an ADR planned for 5pm and it's 2pm, then the kids can get a large snack. I love the DDP because it's cheaper for my family, especially since the kids like to have their own meals and not have to share. So, with the DDP, you really have to make ADRs. Which means you have to plan which parks you're going to on which days.

So, here's what I plan:

1. Which restaurant we want for our table service
2. Which park, which day
3. Top 2 rides at each park per person
4. The approximate time we want to get to the park in the morning
5. The approximate time we want to leave the park in the evening (this is always flexible)
6. Where to eat for our counter service
7. When to swim

 

[kaffinito]

I plan to a certain extent. I try to avoid the heavy traffic parks and follow UG's suggestions. I also make ADR's 'cause we're on the DDP and I like to have a sit down dinner when I can touch base with my oldest and find out how his day went. (He tours by himself). I have to have some maps and a plan so my youngest won't have a "magical meltdown" (he's ASD). Other than that, I just follow my youngest around all day and pretty much go where he wants to go and I do pretty much what he wants to do. We have a pretty fun trip that way!!

 

[Cool-Beans]

I thought this would be Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley related to Disney thread and am a little disappointed to find that it is a "Plan or Not Plan" thread.

I like to plan when I go with everyone but a very close friend who is a huge Disney/Universal fan. She and I are in agreement on almost everything and just do our own thing. We don't need a plan, but we do figure out which parks on which days so that we don't have to get up every day and look up which park will have Early Entry and all that jazz. And we have to switch to a Uni hotel for those days, so we need to know what we're doing when.

When I travel with everyone else, I want to make sure they get eveything they want to get done and that I get a few things I really like that they don't care about, too. So, I find a plan is necessary.

I make ADRs if I can, but the only one I am gung-ho, gotta-do-this that I might miss if I don't have an ADR is the Crystal Palace breakfast. I also like the Garden Grill for lunch, but that's going away. I've never not been able to find somewhere to eat. If I did, I have no problem eating in a hotel or off Disney property.

 

[dani blaski]

Do you feel like we do? With all the start here finish there park hopping, ADR- making moving around based on best days touring plans etc., we feel like it is just better to avoid the over-thinking it and just keep it simple.

What works for you?

I am guessing you don't mean KISS as in Gene Simmons Family Jewels...LOL

Sorry--I could not help myself even though it is so corny!!!

 

[jkCT]

My planning for our first trip in 13 years (this past April) consisted mostly of familiarizing myself with what rides/shows/parades were in what park, and seeing what the kids were interested in. We then researched what ADR's we'd like to make (we were on the dining plan), which then determined to some extent what park we'd be in that day. Other than that, we really did go with the flow a lot. We also split up a fair amount, me with younger dd who is not as adventurous, and dh with older dd who was more interested in the scarier rides. This allowed us to hit what each kid wanted to do without lots of waiting around. Our cell phones were invaluable...allowed us to call and say "where are you? When are you done? Okay, meet us here..."

DH laughed and rolled his eyes at all my dis-ing in months prior to our trip. Once we were there he was glad of my knowledge, though!

 

[Aliceacc]

This is our first trip in 19 years, and the first for my kids.

And this has been my project since last August, and I LOVE projects!!!

All that said, I'm hoping that all my planning (OK, "obsessing" if you prefer) will make it easier for us to Keep It Simple.

We got a wonderful resort on the monorail and lucked into a 40% PIN. (But if I hadn't known enough to actually READ it, it would have been tossed as junk mail.) We WILL get back each day for a swim, regardless of which rides or attractions we still haven't seen.

The kids will have fanny packs and autograph books and pins for trading, all ready for them, no fuss or muss-- because Mommy planned ahead of time.

We're on the DDP and will have dinners the kids and the 2 of us will all love. (Including a diver and personalized menus at the Coral Reef.) We can wing lunch. I just ordered breakfast from Garden Grocer.

I know which parks are tentatively scheduled for each day, and will have a rough draft of a touring plan before we leave.

Remember Christmas when you were a kid? You woke up one morning and all there were presents and stocking stuffers and a wonderful turkey dinner, and it all just appeared???

It only LOOKS simple. Somewhere, sometime, someone put in some effort and made it wonderful for you. That's what I'm hoping will come from all my work.