Late Risers, Non-Commandos, Free Spirits, Unite!

[nansmama]

Surely I can't be the only person on this board who feels restricted by too much planning. I'm not against the tour plans for other people, they're just not for me. I get by too much scheduling, especially on vacation.

I'd love to hear from other non-planners/mellow people how you maximize your enjoyment of the parks or resorts. Any fun places to sit for a while and people watch? What do you love best about the parks at night just before EMH closing after most people have left? What are the best restaurants for walking into without an ADR?

Here is my list of Disney sins!

1. The only ADR's I have ever made are for CRT and Akershus. I get annoyed at having to arrive somewhere at a certain time on vacation.

2. I have never seen rope drop and probably never will. We usually don't even make it to the parks until 11:00-12:00, or 10:00 at the earliest.

3. We only use fast passes if we really want to get on a ride. Hauling ourselves across the park to ride an attraction at a certain time cramps our style.

4. We have never been on TSM as a result of #2 and #3.

5. Our "plan" for our Disney vacations involves printing out the evening EMH schedule so we have an idea of where to park hop. Everything else is decided on the spot.

6. We have entered a park, seen how crowded it was, and turned around and walked right back out again to go somewhere else.

7. We much prefer the parks after sundown. No worries about the sun, and the buildings and rides look prettier with all their lights on.

8. We have ridden the buses around to different resorts just for fun. No plan in mind except to sightsee.

Add yours!

 

[shalom]

Surely I can't be the only person on this board who feels restricted by too much planning.

There's actually a thread floating around here for "laid back planners", however they took the name "Desperados," which is not one I particularly identify with -- in my world, a desperado is someone who is desperate and frantic. Point is, nope, you're not alone.

I'm not against the tour plans for other people, they're just not for me. I get by too much scheduling, especially on vacation.

I schedule like a maniac. But my schedules are pretty laid back, usually with only a couple of rides in the beginning of the day and then it's stuff like, "Go looking for Lady and the Tramp's footprints in front of Tony's" or "sit and watch the Fountain of Nations for a while" or "get some tea from Ananadapur's Tea Stand and kick back somewhere." Even when my plans are a bit more serious, I'm fine with abandoning them in the middle of the day and heading back to the villa for swimming or even watching TV. (We don't have broadcast TV at home and my younger ones think watching TV is a big part of vacationing. )

Any fun places to sit for a while and people watch?

I like to sit on the dock below Fort Langhorn(?) on Tom Sawyer Island and watch the runaway trains go by on Big Thunder Mountain. If you stay there long enough the riverboat goes by, but a kid usually hauls me off before that happens. The pavillion by the rose garden in front of the castle is a nice shady place to people watch, although I would rather pick a table by the water, myself.

1. The only ADR's I have ever made are for CRT and Akershus. I get annoyed at having to arrive somewhere at a certain time on vacation.

Those are two I'd like to do sometime but so far I have yet to commit to an ADR in the parks. I really want to do the Wishes Dessert Party next time out, and that's one I have actually called on before, so it might happen. All the others sound great right up until I have to pick up the phone and commit to a time and date, at which point I usually cop out.

2. I have never seen rope drop and probably never will.

I loooove rope drop. I love getting there in the cool of the day, and it's got a quiet excitement that appeals to me. I hang back and wait until the crowds clear before strolling in, however, which is not what most people mean by making rope drop!

3. We only use fast passes if we really want to get on a ride.

Never used Fast Pass, although I might yet do so. Jungle Cruise and Kilimanjaro Safari are the only rides I'm particularly into that offer it, but I usually schedule those first thing in the day. Keep thinking I'll get one to do Jungle Cruise at night but hasn't happened yet.

4. We have never been on TSM as a result of #2 and #3.

I miss most of the headliners for various reasons. So has my one kid who has it the Disney parks (we have yet to go as a family ), but neither one of us cares much. We always have a great time, and you can't do absolutely everything anyhow, so why worry?

7. We much prefer the parks after sundown. No worries about the sun, and the buildings and rides look prettier with all their lights on.

This is something I want to do. So far, those I've gone with always wanted to leave earlier, and weren't interested in coming back. I hadn't planned on a "parks" vacation then anyhow, so I didn't really mind, but this next time I am doing it for sure.

8. We have ridden the buses around to different resorts just for fun. No plan in mind except to sightsee.

I like wandering the resorts. We've done all of them except the All Stars, Caribbean Beach, and Coronado Springs, which I hope to pick up next time. The only one no one enjoyed was Old Key West.

But we like the boats best -- love to take the boat from Wilderness Lodge to the MK, because you get to go on that overpass canal, plus there's the island and a nice view of the Contemporary (which will always be "The" WDW resort hotel to me ). I really want to take the boat from Riverside to Downtown Disney but haven't done it yet. Also want to see Piano Bob at Riverside and Eliot Dyson at French Quarter.

And get my picture taken by my birth year (and take hubby's and the older kids' as well) at Pop Century, which we didn't do the one time we visited. Haven't seen AoA yet; wasn't on my wants list last time because it wasn't open yet, and I have to confess that's one that doesn't really excite me so I keep forgetting it. I've heard it's more impressive in person, I dunno. Eldest daughter's only request for our next trip is the tie-dyed cheesecake at Pop, so I guess we'll be finding out!

 

[nansmama]

I don't think we've done any of the boats except the one that goes across World Showcase. We'll have to do that next time. When we did our "tour" of the resorts last time we just hopped whatever bus came next. There was no rhyme or reason to it, haha. We had a great time though and tried the buffet at CSR and the counter service place at OKW.

Your schedules sound nice. We usually do have a mental list of things we want to do, and we get around to them at some point. I just hate locking things down to a very specific time. We usually have an idea of which parks we want to visit by looking at the EMH schedule. We like to do MK at night. We don't do AK anymore as my kids don't like it. We take one day to do our "Epcot Eatfest" (in which we get snacks in as many lands as we can without exploding) and always get a Fantasmic viewing in. Tom Sawyer Island is one of our favorite places to picnic--love the Haunted Mansion view from the covered dock.

My kids do the birth decade at Pop too! Here our our 2008 and 2012 photos:

 

[shalom]

If you go to Wilderness Lodge, give the boat a shot. It's different from the World Showcase ones because it's open and the scenery changes, or at least it was open when we went. We took the boat to the MK and then the monorail to the Contemporary (or you can walk, of course, but I'm only going to do that in the morning, thanks!), then after we wandered the Contemporary a while (gotta get something at the Contempo Cafe, of course, usually a cupcake), we took the boat from the back of the Contemporary back. That one loops over to Fort Wilderness first (I think the MK one coming back does as well), so they both take a while (20 minutes?).

We always take the boats from one end to the other at Downtown Disney, too. Not at all speedy -- we just like them.

I just hate locking things down to a very specific time.

I don't schedule by time so much as by location -- I do check to see what park is supposed to have the fewest crowds, but I also have a list of stuff I want to do organized by area. The first place I go is according to whatever ride(s) I particularly want to do, but after that I try to minimize walking. I've learned not to set specific times to be anywhere, because as soon as I abandon the plan and start start criss-crossing the park for stuff, I'm sure to get a blister.

My kids do the birth decade at Pop too!

Middle daughter did that! I'd forgotten. If I ever get my act together and get some pictures on the Internet I'll post it. But I was talking about the yearly ones posted on "Memory Lane" down by the lake. They've each got a bit of info for each year. This is the one linked from one of the Pop Century threads:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t3/vatman65/Disney 2007/Pop Century/IMG_3195.jpg

I particularly like the one of your kids inside the "0" -- it's different, and it's so classically a "kid" pose!

 

[nansmama]

Oh yes--I always forget about those year signs in between visits! We love to do that walk along the lake. That's so cool you have pics of your family near them... a better idea than the decade numbers, really.

I also organize by location rather than time. Generally, the first time we go to a park we through it doing as much as we can without long waits. Then the next time we go we decide whether the stuff that had a wait is worth waiting for. It works pretty well and gives us time to wander. I think this is one reason we love World Showcase so much... it's perfect for the meandering person who likes to stop and see little things.

We definitely have to check out the boats! I believe there's one from OKW to DTD.

 

[shalom]

That's so cool you have pics of your family near them...

We haven't taken those pics yet, but we want to! I do have middle daughter at the "90" in the back:

Would have made more sense to take one in the front, where you did, but oh well!

Yep, there is a boat from OKW to Downtown Disney.

We haven't gotten to World Showcase yet -- I'm really looking forward to wandering that. Sounds just my speed.