My Nifty Notecards

[forgetyourtroubles!]

I'm big on flexibility but I hate to be without a clue so I think I have something I will like and I won't need to carry a guidebook along with me. (Also, I have 2 crowd-a-phobic people in my party)
2 kinds of notecards-
First, one 3x5 card for each day. Saturday, Day One - I have the park hours noted, which park is EE, which park WDWIG or Unofficial guide says is generally least crowded. I put our PS res. # on the card and I noted at the bottom of the card that Spectro/Fantasy are scheduled on this night. One of these for each day listing our most likely plan, but also other good options for us on this day in case our plan isn't working well.
THEN..I made a second little notecard with a little help from kinkos and my Unofficial Guide. I got the touring plans and suggested attraction visitation times for least crowds as shown in the back of the book. I reduced them, cut them out, and mounted them so that the "touring plan" is on the front of the card and the attraction visitation time is on the back of the card. Then I laminated them.
SO...if the park is not crowded, we have a nice little suggested visitation time sheet and if the crowd is very large, we can use the actual touring plan.
One more thing I did.. I looked up on Steve Soares entertainment site and wrote in show times on my card before I laminated it.
I'm excited about this geeky little thing. I think I will be glad I took a little time to do it today.

 

[colleen costello]

This is a FABULOUS idea. Thanks for sharing. I LOVE my Passpsorter but there is no way I'd lug it around all day -- too heavy! I like your "day at a time" plan with info you'll need right there. One index card is NOT too much to carry around! Making these will be occupational therapy on a day when I am feeling like our trip will NEVER come!

 

[Simba0319]

Sounds like you've got it all under control. Have Fun!!

What is Steve Soares entertainment web site?

Thanks

 

[forgetyourtroubles!]

http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/
This link will give you showtimes for each park. Thank you, Steve.

 

[tjkraz]

I did something similar for our last two trips.

I had purchased Disney lanyards from eBay. Then I went to Office Max and purchased clear plastic pouches that were about 2x3" in size. The pouch was punched with a single hole and hung from the Lanyard.

Then, for each of the days of our trip, I created two-sided insert pages for the pouch. One side of the insert would have a map of the park we were visiting that day. I "borrowed" the black & white maps from the touring plans in the back of the Unofficial Guide.

On the other side of the insert I had information on Priority Seating (with times and confirmation numbers), park operating hours, times of the parades and shows, and even cell phone numbers for the other members of our party.

Yes, we looked like dorks. But it gave us all of the info we needed in a single place. No digging for PS info. No fighting with the huge fold-up maps.

Worked out great for our party.

 

[jaysue]

Brilliant idea - I would not feel geeky at all...a lot easier than carrying this around in pockets, backpacks, mouse ears etc.



thanks
jaysue

 

[ZerasPride]

I have our itinerary on regular 8x11 paper with all the details of each day. I go over and over that plan getting it just right. Then I make 3x5 cards for each day with all the pertinent info like park hours, ps #s, where to watch fireworks/parades, etc. These cards come in particularly handy on arrival and departure days too. I list the phone number of the airline, assigned seat numbers and confirmation #s for the hotel plus the number of the towncar service we are using. It's just so easy to pop the index cards in my backpack so I have all the info ready at my fingertips instead of having to dig through a bunch of papers in search of something.

I love being organized!

 

[suzimar57]

i've been doing this for years!!!!! i print daily 3 x 5 index cards with park info (EE or not, hours, parades), any PS info for that day, and any other info i might need to be reminded of (souvies to buy!) so glad i'm not alone in my obsession!

 

[jenelope]

You think that's geeky? I have gone to considerable trouble to make a tiny itinerary booklet that's a little larger than a credit card, but has sixteen pages. It has my flight information, hotel information, confirmation and PS numbers, one page for each day, my restaurant "wish list," two pages of addresses, and three pages for notes. I've used it on two of my last three trips. I'm not exactly a Disney commando, but I do like to list which rides are priorities and I like to have a quick reference for opening times, parades, fireworks and closing times.

 

[carone0318]

I have the handy dandy spreadsheet. It has columns for the days that I am visiting and the rows are the park hours for ea park and I bold the EE. Then I have 3 rows which are breakfast, lunch and dinner. I then put all of our PS. I also have noted in a row E-night and SpectroMagic info. In my spreadsheet I have little reminders of when to use my AP to get 10% off.

During my prep/research/planning phase, I have a folder that comes with me to work everyday. All the info that I find I put in the folder. I also keep all ressie info, hotel, plane, car and such in the folder. The folder comes on the trip with us, along with the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet travels daily with us to the parks, but the folder is in the room for reference. At the end of the trip, I empty the folder and start with the new info for the new upcoming trip. The spreadsheet also works great if you are travelling with a group. Last yr there were 3 families and I made 3 copies of the spreadsheet. Everyone laughed and thought that I was very anal and OCD, but they sure did use it. There were no excuses for missing a PS.