Maybe I'm weird or missing something. . .

[lindaprvs]

So a little history: We live in GA, our family has a timeshare at Bonnet Creek so we stay off site at no cost to us. . we love Disney. . . but have never stayed on property and it isn't a high priority. I am planning our 2nd trip to disney in October. . we went when our kids were 2 & 4 but only to MK for 2 day park visit. This will be our first time taking them to all of the parks. . (and my first time to Animal Kingdom) We are staying a whole week and will have 5 day tickets.

While I agree a Disney trip is alot of $$ and it is worth the time spent planning everything out, sometimes I read blogs or posts and think-- wow! I have done so little in comparison. . . Of course I want us to have fun, and I do generally try to plan our our days- but we are much more laid back. I'm personally NOT excited about having to pick our fast passes so far in advance. . I loved just grabbing them in the park when we felt like it. I hate waiting in lines, and refuse to wait in super long lines just to take a photo with all the characters. We do 2 character meals usually.. one for our daughter and one for our son. .

Am I weird? Or am I missing something because I am not stressing or over planning every moment of our day? ?

** I am in NO way saying that people who do are weird. . better.. or anything else! Please do not take offence cause it is not intended in any way. . I just wanted to know if I am alone in my thinking***

 

[Kristina4109]

Of course you're not weird! You just have a different take on how to vacation. What's important is what works for YOU and your family. I personally love to plan in advance, but that doesn't mean I think everyone has to.

 

[Shrimp332]

I wish I didn't feel like I had to do so much planning so far out and it could be laid back but from what I read, it means we will miss more... I feel like we already didn't some restaurants we wanted like BOG...

 

[MandiC]

Different strokes for different folks Neither is weird. I like feeling like I have a 'plan', I don't plan down to the minute (or even the hour, unless we are talking about ADRs but the rest of the day is free to explore) but I do like planning. It's just how I am, I am that way with everything. Honestly in everyday life I *need* a plan or my house would fall apart and kids wouldn't get where they needed when they needed so it probably comes from that

 

[G719]

I like to plan the trip and think about the things we are going to do. But I don't plan which exact rides we are going to do at a certain time. We pick a park and pick an area to explore and ride. If the line is long we skip it. We schedule the rides we don't want to miss with FP+ and our ADRs but the rest of the day is whatever we feel like at that moment. We don't get disappointed if we skip something. Whatever else we did was just as fun. So I guess we fall into the loosely scheduled group.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I love having a general plan of attack, but having to choose where I'm going to eat 6 months out? Forget that. Also not a fan of choosing FP's ahead of time. What if weather alters my plans and I don't GO to that park that day? Too much hassle. So, I guess I'm weird too. Can I join the club?

 

[dhardawa]

I think the level of planning necessary varies depending on when you're going too. Fall is relatively slow which allows you to do less planning. If you were going at peak time, you'd need to plan.

I agree with you on the fast pass. I hate, hate, hate the new system. I'll have a fast pass for, say, Space Mountain thinking it will have a long line. Then, I'll get there and it's a 10 minute wait, but something that is rarely busy like The Jungle Cruise will have a 45 minute wait. Of course, I have no fast pass for that and can't get one. I much preferred getting them in the park as needed. I also don't like being limited to one fast pass per ride per day. In the past, we could get a fast pass, ride, get another fast pass, and ride again later. Not now!

 

[PartOfYourWDWorld]

For me, all the planning is fun, not stressful. I enjoy thinking about our trip months before. It really builds up the excitement and anticipation. I don't do touring plans or anything though so booking fast passes is definitely different for me, but in the end I think we'll really like the new system.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

Not weird at all. I am very A-type and have anxiety, so I know that by having a "plan" I will be able to relax and enjoy the magic. That being said, I don't plan every minute of every day, and I don't like the general idea of having to pick ride times. I liked the old FP system, but its gone and we have to adapt.

I like to plan which park for what day and where we are eating. We've been often enough to know what rides we really "have" to do, So I'll grab FP for those and just try to not worry about it.

 

[rewilliams]

I wish I could be so laid back! I am plan EVERYTHING but I don't get stressed if doesn't go that way or we change things.

 

[MandiC]

I agree with you on the fast pass. I hate, hate, hate the new system. I'll have a fast pass for, say, Space Mountain thinking it will have a long line. Then, I'll get there and it's a 10 minute wait, but something that is rarely busy like The Jungle Cruise will have a 45 minute wait. Of course, I have no fast pass for that and can't get one. I much preferred getting them in the park as needed. I also don't like being limited to one fast pass per ride per day. In the past, we could get a fast pass, ride, get another fast pass, and ride again later. Not now!

You can change FP+ the day of so long as they are still available. In February I changed plenty of ours right in the park on the MDE app. It was our first trip so I found scheduling FP+ really stressful since I really didn't have any idea how we would tour or what rides we would want to go on, ect. I wouldn't count on changing for things like the Anna and Elsa meet or Mine Train since it is so new but most other rides I would imagine wouldn't be too hard to change up.

 

[mm1971]

So a little history: We live in GA, our family has a timeshare at Bonnet Creek so we stay off site at no cost to us. . we love Disney. . . but have never stayed on property and it isn't a high priority. I am planning our 2nd trip to disney in October. . we went when our kids were 2 & 4 but only to MK for 2 day park visit. This will be our first time taking them to all of the parks. . (and my first time to Animal Kingdom) We are staying a whole week and will have 5 day tickets.

While I agree a Disney trip is alot of $$ and it is worth the time spent planning everything out, sometimes I read blogs or posts and think-- wow! I have done so little in comparison. . . Of course I want us to have fun, and I do generally try to plan our our days- but we are much more laid back. I'm personally NOT excited about having to pick our fast passes so far in advance. . I loved just grabbing them in the park when we felt like it. I hate waiting in lines, and refuse to wait in super long lines just to take a photo with all the characters. We do 2 character meals usually.. one for our daughter and one for our son. .

Am I weird? Or am I missing something because I am not stressing or over planning every moment of our day? ?

** I am in NO way saying that people who do are weird. . better.. or anything else! Please do not take offence cause it is not intended in any way. . I just wanted to know if I am alone in my thinking***

Nope, not weird. We will plan out FP this trip since we have to, but will also leave it open to change them if we decide to do something different while we are there. We usually just plan the parks we will go to each day in order to book ADR's. Other than that, we are pretty much "go with the flow" type of vacationers.

 

[tzolkin]

For me planning is half the fun of the trip.

That said, I would describe my style as more "having all the info/ making myself familiar with things/ being prepared" so we can be spontaneous rather than "planning and scheduling". Not sure if that makes sense.

My extended family thinks I'm a crazy Disney planner and tease me all the time because they think I schedule everything down to the minute, but I really don't usually schedule anything. I make color coded charts with the park hours/fireworks/etc for each day as well as printed index cards. Our first trip or two I even made index cards with what attractions were open during EMH, what the heigh restrictions were, and menus for the CS restaurants in each park.

I have found that this makes decision making better for my family because we can see all the info at a glance and are better able to compare things. I do not plan out where we are going and what we are doing each day, but I have all the info on hand to say, "AK has EMH this morning. Let's go there and ride Everest and then see where we want to go from there."

This is also why my family prefers to not do the dining plan. We enjoy nice meals, but at Disney we prefer the flexibility of not being tied to ADRs. We did it one trip with my parents because they insisted, but we really felt that the whole two weeks revolved around the meals and we often felt "stuck" in a park waiting for our reservation or rushed away from something else we would have preferred to do at that moment.

Not really looking forward to the new FP system, but we will see how it goes.

 

[Svhadden]

Not weird at all. Do Disney the way that works for your fam. Comparison is the thief of joy, I read recently. If the way y'all plan/don't plan works and your fam has a great time, then go with it .

I, too, am not a fan of having to choose FP's so far in advance. Don't get me wrong, I'm a planner because you HAVE to be, to a certain extent, when planning to tackle WDW, but I'm a bit more laid back than some. I don't know how often I come to the boards and read something similar to this: "We're taking our fam on our first/third/fortieth WDW vacay, and I'd love tips on how to make every second of the 14 hour drive simply MAGICAL for my little sugarplums." I'm like, "Uhhh, we're going to DISNEY WORLD lol. That's magical, right??? You're welcome."

So my point is that it all works differently for different folks, and if y'all have a great time, then mission accomplished.

 

[sunkissed4]

I don't like to plan, but I feel like I have to even when we do quick day trips. I'm a control freak!

I wish I could be more laid back. When DH takes over we go in with no plan and we still have a great time. Whatever makes your family happy is a perfect plan for you!

 

[OasterP]

I think I'm in between. I haven't been to WDW in over 25 years, and I pretty much don't remember anything about it, so it's all new to me.

I absolutely love planning the ADR's, just because it gets me excited thinking about the trip way in advance. I also planned what day we will be at which park. Then I'm sure there will be a few things I want to attempt to get a fast pass for, but other than that we will definitely play it by ear. Really booking a specific time for the ADR was enough planning for me. We are also planning on getting park hoppers in case we change our mind about what park we want to be in.

We are traveling "with" some friends, and we do have a couple of things booked together, but for the most part I hope it will be somewhat relaxed.

 

[nat8199]

Personally, I love planning. I LOVE that all decisions for dining, stay, and which parks which days, even which part of parks which days, are already made by the time we get there. With everything pre-decided I don't have to think at all when we are there and that is a vacation for me!

If I didn't pre-plan, then the whole trip would be me constantly being asked what to do next or the kids fighting over ideas. DH has NO INTEREST in making Disney-related decisions, even when we are there. This will change when the kids are older, but for now we need a game plan.

Also, my plans don't mean that the kids' wants don't influence things. We rode the Carousel 5x at rope drop last year for all 3 MK days because that is what my twins wanted. Plans just mean that a lot of decisions are already made so that I don't have to make them on the fly.

 

[mcconnellfam96]

I agree with PPs - for me, planning is part of the fun! Definitely builds the excitement of the trip! Even prior to the Fastpass+ sustem, I was accustomed to planning out the framework of what park we would do each day - to be able to make decisions on ADRs.

During our April trip, we had a few days that we wanted to make adjustments and I did that easily from the MDE app.