No Itinerary: Is it just me?

[DisneyDotty]

Hi OP! Your thread topic is the cause for much consternation for compulsive planners like me!
I do have an itinerary for our upcoming trip which lists which parks are recommended by the UG and TGM as being least crowded and those are the parks we'll hit that day. I also have most days filled with one ADR--mainly 'cause my family has requested we eat at those restaurants and I don't want us shut out.
I don't have a ride-by-ride schedule, and could care less if we spend 4 hours eating lunch!
I find my WDW trip starts with the planning--ie, I really enjoy it--so I can't help but do it! However, I 100% agree that vacations are to be enjoyed--not to be made into work. Which is why I did all my work beforehand, and now I'm ready to enjoy! For me though, it's not really work--it's a labor of love.
Have a magical trip!

 

[maelstrom]

We make ADR's for Chef Mickey's before we leave home. We never go to EMH mornings. I make a calendar before we leave with park hours and show times (Wishes & Spectro Magic). That's about it. We have never planned every second of our trip beforehand. The most planning there is is me saying that I want to go to Epcot tomorrow.

 

[Disney Doll]

We might make an ADR for a place or two that is popular, so we are sure we can get a spot, but other than that, we pretty much wing it.

We own DVC and are fortunate enough to be able to go fairly often (usually 2x/year) so we now live by the "if we don't see it this time, we'll see it next time" rule.

 

[Robo]

Time: 1:30pm
Date: Summer, any day
Place: MK Fantasyland

Look out at the sea of people.

90-99% of them have not made any kind of advance plans.
So, no OP and others here, you are not alone.

There is an underlying message in this thread that says, "Planners are too "rigid" to enjoy their vacations. I can enjoy my vacation more if I don't have a plan to follow."

Here is a different take.

"Planning," for me, is like EXTENDING my WDW vacation for several months ahead of the actual trip.
I can visualize different scenarios of what we might be doing at a given location, write that into an outline that's the basis to start our fun.
I then take that outline and "fill in the blanks" with options that may exist because I NOW know when we will be "nearby to X" or "passing by Y".

Third go-thru is when I determine that if I make a CHANGE to a given day, I can eat at a new or favorite restaurant that I hadn't planned earlier, or visit a couple of other resorts for shopping, or take a boat from PO to DTD, etc.

Its like working a "puzzle" that can make what seems like a "Briar Patch" to many guests, actually an easy workable plan that makes negotiating WDW like visiting a "second home" to me.

OTOH, could I be "beamed into" WDW on any given day and still have fun?
Sure!
And I could maximize THAT experience just by making A-or-B decisions as I encountered them.

But when I PLAN the days in advance, my trip is so EASY!
I simply hit my bus-times, hit my ADR times, hit my show times... and have a more "complete" experience time than the 90-99% of those 'floating by" in a sea of oblivion, missing many of the things they COULD have easily done (can anyone say, "HOW long is the WAIT to eat?"), if they took the time to plan the trip logically.

A principal reason the DISboards are popular is so guests can find out, in advance, what is available that they might want to see and how and when to see it.
Doing that, in itself, requires a "plan", even if its just something a guest has kept in her/his head.
I write mine down so others in my party will know what's happening.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Oh, can we see Fantasmic! tonight?"
"That's tomorrow, when they have a 2nd show... tonight we can see Wishes from the Poly Beach."
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I'll turn this around to say that I feel sorry for folks who don't experience the pleasure I find in making a WDW plan.

But I can see how its like speaking a foreign language to those "seat-of-the-pantsers" to say that I LIKE to make these plans.

 

[schoen]

I am a very loose planner. I have a list of parks to avoid on certain days, and I also look up when there will be EMH at the parks. I do not feel like it is important to stick to a specific schedule. I do have an ADR made for every dinner while we are there, but that is basically only to ensure us a spot. If we get there and decde we would rather go somewhere else, we just cancel our existing ADR and make a new one. So think there can be a happy medium. I hope I exist somewhere within said medium. What is key is that every family does what is best for them.

 

[CheapMom]

We have never done morning EMH- because we are late sleepers (7:30 or 8:00 - only late by some standards) we usually plan to avoid the EMH park.
Before my upcoming trip I have only ever made 1 ADR in my life- and I didn't really like the feeling of obligation that went along with it.

I usually have a rough idea of which park- which day (and MK is always 1st- like the OP) but that is all- and that is how we like it. The kids ride stuff over and over. We definately don't have a park stratgey- we just wander around using a very loose logic regarding efficency. We are laid back chronic slackers but we have a blast.

 

[dairyou]

I used to plan and go to the parks commando style, but since we have our DVC we don't anymore. The only thing we plan is what night we'll go to a favorite eating place. One thing that helps is we always go off season. There are never any lines, I think the longest we've ever had to wait was 30 minutes for Soarin.

We sleep late also..which is 10:00 am We make breakfast or lunch together and then hit the parks around 12:00. 5 years ago I didn't think I'd ever do that, but with DVC it makes a huge difference.

DH is not a commando type guy and never has been, so he likes it the way it is now

To each their own though. One way is not wrong or right.

Deb

 

[DisneyJade]

I especially like the people that have a written schedule of when they expect to be at each ride each day and how long they allow for meals etc.

Oh No!!! That's totally me! It's like you peaked inside my WDW folder and saw what I was doing!
Truly, though, I am one of those planners only because I can never get a full week's time in the world. Both my last trip and my upcoming trip have been bascially 3 1/2 days. To see everything we want to see in that time, I have to plan. If I had a full week, I'd definitely go with the flow and just make a few more ADRs.

 

[GarrettJD]

Robo hit the nail on the head for me. Planning is a very imortant part of our WDW vacation. If all I did was show up at the parks one day without knowing the park hours, EMH schedule, etc etc, there's no way we would enjoy our trip as much.

There are two levels to our plan: the "written plan" and the "mental plan."

The "written plan" consists of the basics of our trip-- flights, resort reservations, and park passes. For us, the written plan also includes park hours and EMH schedules, as well as ADRs, as well as which park we're planning to visit on any given day.

The "mental plan" is everything else-- our touring strategies, counter service choices, and attraction choices. This plan isn't written down-- it's something that naturally forms in my mind based on my knowledge of WDW and our previous trips. In other words, I pretty much know how we're going to do our park touring beforehand, but I never actually write it down, save for the basic outline of which park/ADR.

I have a feeling that a lot of those people who claim not to be planners really plan more than they realize-- especially if they are WDW veterans. It just occurs in thier mind on a more subconcious level than written plans.

(Just call me the "Theme Park Psychiatrist. )

 

[Raysplus1]

We also go without an iternary. The trip in Dec. we do have dining res. at Cindy's Castle and that is it. We most likely will do the Candlelight Processional.

But we have never planned a day by day strategy. If we miss aride or a parade we will see it next time. For those that only go once every 5 or so years I could see pllanning to get the most out of it. But we go every year and know what we like and want we don't mind missing.

 

[bctripp]

Ok, i'll start by saying that we usually go with my DH, DD8, DD5, and MIL. If we didn't plan where we were going, we'd never go anywhere. The first time we went, we were only going to WDW for the last 2 days of our trip. We mad ADR's when we got there, and naturally had to pick from what was left (and that was in Sept). I had a loose plan when we went in 2004 to the GF. This time, i've got TGM, and am following the info on his site. I'm up by 7:00 am on most every day, so sleeping in isn't an issue for me. I really think sleeping to 8:00 AM is sleeping in . Basically, all the times i've planned out have been much better for us. Makes it easier to get along, DH and I spent a whole afternoon at MK not speaking to each other b/c we didn't a agree on where to go. I stay at home with DD4, so that leaves me plenty of time to plan.

 

[oxfordcircus]

We've gone with a plan and we've gone without a plan. We felt like we had more fun with a plan. For us, though, a plan consists of deciding a few days ahead of time which park we'll be in. We had to plan for the Cinderalla's Royal Table thing for my daughter's birthday. Then we had to do a little more planning to be fair to my son. Then the kids like to list the rides they want to ride first. But we've never had a "touring plan". We are going to try that one day on our next trip, just to see how it goes.

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

My mother is challenging me to do this trip without an exact touring plan. I don't know if I can do that. i asked her if I could at least have a starting point, and she said no. We're just supposed to go through the gates and go "wherever the wind takes us". For those of you who do it without a plan, do you criss-cross allover the park? How does it work for you? Do you ever feel like you're missing things?

 

[lustergirl]

My mother is challenging me to do this trip without an exact touring plan. I don't know if I can do that. i asked her if I could at least have a starting point, and she said no. We're just supposed to go through the gates and go "wherever the wind takes us". For those of you who do it without a plan, do you criss-cross allover the park? How does it work for you? Do you ever feel like you're missing things?

You have gorgeous kids!!!!!!

 

[lustergirl]

Last year's trip I drove myself nuts by planning, planning, etc..... This year I have made our ADR'S and have a general idea what parks on certain days. I know our first full morning will be spend at AK so my sons can ride EE, other than that we are going to wing it this year. Wherever our food ressies are at will be where we end up. On friday 9/22 we are attending the halloween party so I have an ADR at LTT at 5:20pm, so that is planning I guess in a nutshell. Whatever floats everyone boat is what I am trying to say........

 

[benamin]

We are headed on our first trip to WDW I Don't plan, I am spontaneous, I hate schedules (my bad! ) but I have now spent hundreds of hours on this site and am going down fully armed with tips and info to make a correct spontaneous decision. My wife is the planner in our family, she has planned all our vacations. For some reason she is leaving the biggest one ever up to me, Mr.Do-Whatever-Whenever, Oh the Pressure!


A little Later.....


NO! DON'T MAKE ME DO IT! i WON'T DO IT!

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!

We are the Dis, we plan! Resistance is futile!


More Later.....


My designation is
7 of 100000000, Unimatrix DIS
Resistance is Futile! We Plan!


Now...


Gotta plan, Gotta plan!


And this is the way of things

 

[ReneeA]

Planning is part of the fun for me. I enjoy it. We went during free dining last year, and are going again for it this year. I'm glad I made ADR's last year since only 1 out of 7 TS restaurants were taking walkups. Everyone else was turned away.

Once we get there, we loosely follow my tour plans. With young kids, you just don't know what they are going to feel like from day to day, and I don't push them.

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

You have gorgeous kids!!!!!!

Awwww, thank you. Those are my girlies.

 

[Boncho]

We never make plans unless there is a particular restaurant we want to go to, then I will make one adr. While we are eating breakfast, we will decide what park we are going to that morning. We always take a break at the pool in the afternoon when we start to get tired and while we are getting ready to go back to the parks, we decide which park we are going to for the evening. After the third or fourth day, we go over our park maps to see if there was anything we wanted to do but didn't and if there was we do it, if there wasn't, we just keep on going as we had been. We find this much more relaxing than sticking to any kind of schedule.

 

[teamagic]

"Planning," for me, is like EXTENDING my WDW vacation for several months ahead of the actual trip.
I can visualize different scenarios of what we might be doing at a given location, write that into an outline that's the basis to start our fun.
I then take that outline and "fill in the blanks" with options that may exist because I NOW know when we will be "nearby to X" or "passing by Y".

Third go-thru is when I determine that if I make a CHANGE to a given day, I can eat at a new or favorite restaurant that I hadn't planned earlier, or visit a couple of other resorts for shopping, or take a boat from PO to DTD, etc.

Its like working a "puzzle" that can make what seems like a "Briar Patch" to many guests, actually an easy workable plan that makes negotiating WDW like visiting a "second home" to me.

OTOH, could I be "beamed into" WDW on any given day and still have fun?
Sure!
And I could maximize THAT experience just by making A-or-B decisions as I encountered them.

But when I PLAN the days in advance, my trip is so EASY!
I simply hit my bus-times, hit my ADR times, hit my show times... and have a more "complete" experience time than the 90-99% of those 'floating by" in a sea of oblivion, missing many of the things they COULD have easily done (can anyone say, "HOW long is the WAIT to eat?"), if they took the time to plan the trip logically.

A principal reason the DISboards are popular is so guests can find out, in advance, what is available that they might want to see and how and when to see it.
Doing that, in itself, requires a "plan", even if its just something a guest has kept in her/his head.
I write mine down so others in my party will know what's happening.

So true! When we go to Disney, we usually have 6 to 8 people go with us. Without a plan there is no way we would get anything done. We would stand there in the park and ask "What do you want yo do?" "I don't care. What do you want to do?" Planning is a way to have some idea as to where we are going to be and what we are going to try to get done that day. My DH loves to have at least one sit down meal each day and he will not wait a long time for a table. So ADRs are a must. Also, I know that my DD(4) will eat something. She will not eat most things found at counter service - french fries(unless they are from McDonalds), hot dogs, and chicken fingers. She prefers to have soup, mashed potatoes, and grilled chicken.

I like to plan our trips and have everything in place for our up coming trip.