New attitude...if we miss it, so what??

[msmama]

That was the best part of the AP as far as I was concerned. I knew I'd be back so I didn't have to worry about missing anything. I made 4 trips on a year with my AP. Didn't save me a penny.

 

[joannamet]

If you've been before and plan to go again, its a great attitude to have. There will be a lot less stress, enjoy!!

Now that we've stopped rushing around to hit the "must-do's" we've discovered some wonderful attractions we never had time for before. Last trip we couldn't get FP for 7DMT so we had time to do Carousel of Progress for the first time. DD loved it! Likewise at AK we finally had time to ride the train to Conservation Station and discovered a wonderful area for kids that most people skip.

 

[gypsicat]

That sounds like a terrific plan, gypsicat!! That's like a dream come true for me. My problem is that we are teachers so are always planning extended weekend trips. There is so much to squeeze into 4-5 days!! Dream of the day we can come for 7-10 days and have a resort gravity day. Sigh.

True, I have the luxury this trip to really take my time and have time to relax. I'm honestly not sure how our 5 day trip morphed into an 11 day stay...I think that I would definitely be more stressed and try to "squeeze everything in" if we had half the time.

 

[dreiwhit]

After I saw how much fun we were having, and how much we all loved Disney, my attitude became "if we miss it, we'll see it next time."

That was a great stress reliever. There were some definite must do's, but for everything else, we'll just make it a priority next time.

 

[BigredNole]

This has been our strategy the last couple of trips. We really enjoy it far more than structure and forcing ourselves to be somewhere. We do what we want, when we want. If FP times are not good for us, we change them on the app. If we want to eat somewhere, we show up at an odd time to see if we can get in (like Crystal Palace at 3:30). It turns the struggle many have with Disney into a real vacation. The last trip we took was July last year. I was completely ready for the trip to be the worst. It wound up being one of the best.

 

[MommyTaraLee]

I'm leaving for a surprise 10th birthday trip with my daughter on Friday, and you've summed up my whole approach to this trip... We were just there last year, and this is a bonus trip.

 

[travelbuffnj]

Too funny, my BFF's name is Tara Lee. Small world!! Have fun!

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

Annual passes made it very easy to say "if we miss it so what" We went in May 2015 September 2015 December 2015 February 2016 and April 2016 and every trip (except for April) it didn't matter if we got to do XXXX because we would be back soon enough. Now that the family doesn't have a trip planned at all and actually probably won't until April 2018 I'm kinda sad...but that was a great Disney 12 months.

ETA: The January 2017 trip in my signature is just me and just for 1/2 marathon Saturday. I don't even have park tickets at this point.

 

[Davey Jones II]

If you have an AP and are planning to go back a lot, why not take this attitude? For us, we go to Orlando roughly every two years, so it is a bit of a mad dash -- but we enjoy the adrenaline rush.

For others, rushing around is not their idea of a vacation. There's nothing wrong with a more relaxed experience, as long as you don't expect to see/do everything (this time).

 

[georgina]

Thanks! Perhaps I need more coffee

I'm glad you asked. I've never seen that before either.

 

[Poppybeach]

I agree! We are doing more and more "stopping and smelling the roses" each trip we go on. It's really given us time to focus a bit more on the quality time we are having with each other. Taking pictures and slowing down to capture the memories. We also are able to find something special each trip that we never noticed in the previous ones. We really changed touring styles half way through our first one (we fell into the "we may never be back" feeling before our first) and have continued ever since.

 

[Vernie822]

We have become like that as well. Our first trip together, I had no clue when we'd be back so we did anything and everything we could. Now, we go back about 2 times a year, so we usually try to do a few specific things, and anything else is a bonus! I understand not everyone can have that mentality if they don't come back as often, which I absolutely understand. But it was nice, I think our 4 day do-as-we-please make ADR's on the fly trip was probably one of my best memories!

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

Last December we were upgraded to AK Lodge from CSR. After the upgrade I totally redid our schedule to allow for more resort time.
We still had 2 ADR's each day & hoppers to go everywhere we wished & FP booked but our pace was slower.
Last week we had a convention in Orlando & we ended up with 3 part days to spend at Disney. I had 4 ADR's ahead of time but we ended up changing our park plans & rescheduling 3 of this meals to a different available restaurant at the last moment.
I scheduled no FP as I really didn't know when we might be at a park.... Plus we have rode everything anyway.
Ended up at Epcot on a rainy day with no crowds & I loved the flower festival... So we changed another days plan to repeat Epcot again & landed a last min LeCellier lunch.
I changed my MK plans at the last moment to AK & saw Nemo & flights of wonder & ate at yak & Yeti . This was a solo day for me.
No plans worked excellent for us on this trip.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I tried, I really did, but it's very hard when timing is so hard to make. I was definitely ok with missing individual attractions. We were at MK 2 full days and 2 half days and didn't get to several things including things we enjoy like Mickey's Philharmagic. None of the kids even noticed. We didn't come close to shoe horning everything in at DHS (it's only a half day park if you've already seen the shows). I was ok with missing Indy and the new Star Wars show and jettisoned the plan to get back to TSMM right at park close to just do Star Tours again since we were there. We toyed with trying to RD 7DMT the last day. I pointed out the crowd of people around the tunnel and said they were probably all going there. But none of our kids asked to go on it again (they would have loved to but it didn't ruin their vacation not to) so we decided a more leisurely trek to PP was better.

All that said, there was still a lot of running around to get to RD, to get to FP times, to get to show times, to get to ADRs, to get to the bus in time to get DS3 to the resort to get in enough nap time to get up to get to the bus to get back for said ADRs. We ditched a lot but still felt very rushed. If we go again, we're going back to no park on departure day (we already don't do arrival day) and one full day at the resort (we had that planned but added in a half day at MK since we could get those tickets for free). It was too much for us and killed some of the Disney Magic for DH and me. But it's hard not to try to get a lot in when you don't plan to go every year. It's hard to say we'll do it next time when you don't know when that will be.

 

[pa. dad]

Life goes on!! Planning a surprise Memorial Day visit for my DD10. It will be a mother/daughter trip. We were here during Jersey Week this past November and I got sucked into an AP, essentially so I could buy the TIW card. (Brief pause here to apologize to the poster who wants to cut back on acronyms. Oops!)
Hence, the quick return trip to justify the AP. Saving $$?? I think not.

Anyhoo, all of this backstory to say that I am taking it easy this time. I do have FP's and a few choice ADR's but I want to stroll and take advantage of the F&G booths at Epcot, spend some time in the hotel pool, sit on a bench at MK and eat a Mickey Bar, etc. I don't want to be the first family at the rope every day for EMH's 5 days in a row like last trip. I almost killed my family and it wasn't pretty.

We are going to take our time and smell the roses (pun intended w/ F&G) this trip!!

I am a natural planner so this goes against every fiber of my being. I want to actually share some special moments with my DD this trip, and feel the magic, not be dragging her behind me in a mad dash not to miss our FP window or ADR.

Just thought I would share my game plan (or lack thereof!)

With a repeat visit, I think this becomes a lot easier. You'll still have "musts" that you want to do at each park but after you've seen most of the attractions, it becomes a lot easier to put more into the "if time permits" category.
And it becomes a lot less stressful when you have an attitude that some of the attractions you'll either catch them when you;re nearby or you'll pass them this trip if the lines are too long. And even some attractions that you feel once was enough and no need to do that one again.

 

[Satchmo128]

Thanks! Perhaps I need more coffee

I couldn't figure it out at first, either

 

[GillianP1301]

When you've been several times and you plan to go back several more, this approach is a lot easier - even for an uber planner. I somewhat have the same approach now. I still like to plan my days completely and by the hour, but mostly just for the fun of it. I do book ADRs and FP, but if I miss a few, I don't care. I'm willing to take a penalty on a missed ADR for a meal or two (we are a party of 2, which helps in this regard). I few times on our last trip, I had a plan to go one place and we went a totally different way and just winged it, grabbed a last minute ADR and had a great time. The planning helps to make spontaneous changes, because you're well versed on options. So yes, I definitely think it's possible to be a super planner and have a more relaxed, take it as it comes type vacation.

 

[Eastern]

What is happening lately?? There are a few threads about acronyms/initialisms and suddenly I keep seeing new ones I'm not familiar with. What an education. . . What's this one?

I was just kidding.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We are going to try the same thing on our November trip. This will be the 7th year in a row we have been, so my DH said "Can we slow down a little bit - we don't have to do everything every time". That is a really hard concept for me to wrap my brain around, because I want to do every single attraction every time, but I am really going to try.

 

[Shanti]

I actually scheduled a complete resort day for this trip, something I've never done before. This might be our last WDW trip for a couple of years (we've been 3 times in a little over a year, so we're due for a break), and I want to be very peaceful and present throughout the trip, focusing on quality time with my son. I have a must-do list, but it's in modest proportion to the length of our trip this time, rather than dominating our trip.