My neighbor is making me very nervous!

[Lucky4me]

We try to go on a couple vacations every year. Disney is our working vacation.
While I don't plan every moment, I do research to see which park should have the least amount of people in it and we go there that day at opening. We stay a few steps ahead of the pack and for us, it makes the trip more enjoyable. We walk miles and are exhausted at the end of each day. It's fun, but to us it's not relaxing. We witness tired screaming babies, tired bratty kids, rude teenagers and grumpy parents every year for a week just so we can be at a place we love very much. That description has fit us too and there were times we couldn't even stand ourselves.
We also know that in a few months we'll be on a beach for a week with nothing to think about but that difficult dilemma- Pina Colada or Strawberry daiquiri? That makes going to Disney much more fun too.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I think some people do better when they "wing it" than others. When my family made our first trip to WDW in '88, I don't think my parents really knew what to expect or how much planning to do. It worked for us because we were laid back, curious, enjoyed being together (usually ), and had a sense of humor (usually ). Later trips had more planning, but we never achieved the planning greatness I have now learned is possible!

When I went with my college friend in the '90's, I started getting into more planning, but discovered I planned for what I'd like, and it wasn't to her tastes. In the end, my planning wasn't used at all, but my friend didn't do well with winging it either (it was hard to know what she wanted... ).

I did months of planning for our most recent trip, and most of it got used, but it helped to have done the research so when we did need to go off the plans I knew what the best options were and what wouldn't be advisable.

Before I learned all that I now know about planning a trip to WDW, I would have been fine with winging it. I wouldn't have seen everything, but that wouldn't matter to me because I wouldn't know what I was missing. Now, however, I know how wonderful and amazing and fun everything is, how there are ways to beat the crowds, and I want to maximize my time, so I think I'd go nuts without having some sort of plan.

So who knows - maybe some of these folks who are out there winging it are having a marvelous time and don't know (or even, dare I say it, don't care?) what they are missing and are fine...

 

[eeyoreiscool]

If she is planning on doing the marathon, then she may not want to have the total Disney experience. She will be busy enough with getting up at 2:00 in the morning for the marathon and then finishing it. Afterwards, most people are a little too sore to go roaming around the parks.

 

[HarryLeg]

We 'Wing it', but I do plenty of research so that I know what to do and the opportunity costs of doing it. We have a relaxing vacation, taking breaks at midday. All that being said, I never go anywhere on vacation without trying to know all the possibilities.

 

[Flyerfan]

I know what you mean. My DH's brother is leaving today with a friend who, shall I say, is not the best of planners. They are running the 1/2 on Saturday but will be there 4 days before. I could have given him all kinds of advice but he's the type that would brush it off. I just hope he experiences the magic. I'm curious to see how he likes it.

 

[rileyroosmom]

I understand the original poster. I know 2 families who are going during Martin Luther King week. 1 called me to ask for some advice, (she ended up not taking my recommendations to use Ticketmania and book everything separate, however, I saved her $$ when I found out her husband booked the trip w/2 rooms at ASM with a preferred view and hopper plus tickets, basically the CM on the phone sold him a "top of line" package. We shaved off t he preferred view and the plus options).
The 2nd family only booked their hotel this weekend (off site). When I started to give her a few tips, she told me I was over reactig. She went on to tell me she had been to WDW 8 years ago so she knows all about it. I tried to tell her so much has changed and she should plan a little (this is her 2 youngest's first visit and her oldest was only 3 her first time).
Oh well!! To each his own. I told her have a great time. After my last tip to her (arrive early and use fastpass) she told me, "if I have any questions, I'll ask you" YIKES! Just feel sorry for the kids, they will only be there 3 full days, 2 half days for traveling, I just wanted to maximize their value.
Oh yeah, in November I told her about Ticketmania, she never purchased the tickets. When she told me she had booked the hotel (off site because WDW is too expensive) I told her too bad she didn't purchase her tickets earlier because now there was a sizeable price increase, she said, "what difference does it make, when you pay $1000 for tickets, what's another $200?"

 

[bedgraynexl]

We winged it our first trip. DW had been to DL many times as a child so knew some stuff. We were pretty lucky in that when we went in April it wasn't very crowded. We were able to get on most of the rides we wanted, and eat walk-up where we wanted. We tried to get into the castle for dinner(knew it was a very long shot) but ended up enjoying Tony's and Crystal Palace with minimal wait. Really no more than we expected at home.

Of course all of this was before I knew about DIS. We had read UG and some other books, so we knew about fastpass (just didn't use it til the third day) (then for nearly everything thereafter) {I couldn't believe how many people thought you had to pay extra for it, or be a resort guest}

We also had an idea of what to expect, crowds, timing and the limitations of our family. Yes, we could have done more (not waiting for an hour for Peter Pan or Dumbo) but we really enjoyed our vacation. We made up for some of the lines with EMH and skipping Parades.

To each their own, but now I think forewarned is forarmed. I will do more planning for our next trip (Adr's and the like)