Obsessive planning for 1, make that 2, now 3 trips

[lovedonaldduck]

If you check out www.touringplans.com, I think for like $9 you can get access to all of their touring plans, and they have a lot. I take their plans and then modify them based on my family - for example, DD was scared on Buzz Lightyear and Peter Pan last time, so we just skip over those. What I like about a touring plan is it eliminates the whole, what should we do now conversation that you normally have every 30 minutes or so. It gives your days some direction. The thing to remember is it is a guideline, so if you walk by a character the kids want to meet, or a ride they can't wait for, you just go ahead and do it and then jump back into the plan. It is really just a guideline, but I think it helped minimize our waits in April. Check out the website, they have some free touring plans you can view without purchasing so you can get an idea if it would work for you or not.

 

[lovedonaldduck]

I checked out a ton of guidebooks from the library before our trip because we had only been once and that was just a day trip to Magic Kingdom. I think the good thing about the website I recommended is their is a guidebook associated with it so you can look up details on rides, resorts, and restaurants if you are a member just like you would if you had the physical book. There's no one you'll be able to see everything, but when you read through the ride descriptions you can narrow down what you want to see so you only spend time seeing the stuff highest on your list. Another idea I have read that I would love to try is letting each person in your group pick one or two must dos at each park and you can just hit that list and then if there is time you can do other attractions. I would think that would help keep everyone happy too, since they all get to do their favorites.

 

[lovedonaldduck]

I am hoping to spend my lunch hour working on our Disney plans so I can update with Day 2 of our trip this afternoon or sometime tomorrow.

 

[KAMKIM]

I am hoping to spend my lunch hour working on our Disney plans so I can update with Day 2 of our trip this afternoon or sometime tomorrow.

Cant wait to see day 2....maybe I'll just steal your touring plans

 

[KAMKIM]

Of course if I steal your plan you will need to come up with 5 more days and post them within the next 2 wks LOL

You mentioned you never know if you plan too much or too little - if it ends up being too little I'd move on to the next list for that park - and start at the top...that way after its all said and done you can just relax and do some things twice maybe

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Cant wait to see day 2....maybe I'll just steal your touring plans

Of course if I steal your plan you will need to come up with 5 more days and post them within the next 2 wks LOL

You mentioned you never know if you plan too much or too little - if it ends up being too little I'd move on to the next list for that park - and start at the top...that way after its all said and done you can just relax and do some things twice maybe

If there is anything at all in my plans that you can use, steal away. I'm not sure I will get 5 more days done in the next two weeks, but you never know, I am going to try to plan day 3 at lunch today, so maybe I'll make it.

The way it worked out last time, we never made it through one of my plans all the way, so I guess I plan too much and not too little. Oh well, I'd rather be over prepared.

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Day 2

This day is a full Hollywood Studios day!

• Get to the park by rope drop
• Head for Toy Story Mania, ride if wait is up to 30 minutes, otherwise Fastpass - if we ride and DD likes it, we will Fastpass once we get off the ride for later in the day
• See Voyage of the Little Mermaid
• See Playhouse Disney - if I can convince the adults to sit on the floor
• Ride Star Tours - I need to check with my Dad and DH to see if they have any interest in this one, I can take it or leave it and my mom doesn't do motion simulators and DD is not tall enough
• See MuppetVision 3D
• Let DD play in the Honey I Shrunk the kids playground - while she is playing, if we have reached our Toy Story Mania fastpass time, I will run and fastpass Tower of Terror
• Lunch - still trying to figure out which counter service, maybe Backlot Express
• Break time - if possible, fastpass Rockin Roller Coaster before leaving
• We should be back to the park just in time to check in for our 4:20 at 50's Prime Time Cafe, if we have to wait for our table and still need fastpasses for anything, I will run and get them
• After dinner we will have to use all of our fastpasses, Tower of Terror, Rockin Roller Coaster, and Toy Story Mania
• I think this will get us to park closing, if not Beauty and the Beast
• Indiana Jones
• American Idol
• Backlot Tour

On our last trip all we got to do at DHS was American Idol (bad timing on our dinner reservation plus a ridiculously long wait) so I still have way too much on our to do list for this day. Hopefully, we can get through a lot of this on our Labor Day trip and then I can tweak these plans accordingly. Something that is not on the list that is a must do is taking DD to meet characters at the animation studio.

 

[BrooklynnsMommy]

Just wanted to let you know about MNSSHP. I would be over in line at Mickey's Judges tent before the official start of the party if you want pictures with him and Minnie in their costumes. I would definitely catch the parade and the Villians Mix and Mingle in front of the castle. The candy trail that is located between ToonTown and Tomorrowland gives you a lot of candy without having to stand in line. We didn't really ride anything either time we have been. We just concentrated on getting the things done that we wouldn't be able to do on a regular Magic Kingdom Day. You can read pictures from our first MNSSHP on our Baby and the Tramp report starting on page 45.

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Thanks so much for coming over to my pre-trip report, I am loving reading yours. And thank you for the information about MNSSHP, I went right over and read your past trip report, thanks for the perspective. I had it in my head that we could do all the Halloween stuff and still get a ton of rides in, but that doesn't seem very likely. I think I will be modifying our MNSSHP plans today. Do you remember what time you guys got to the park and what time you left when you did the party? Did it feel very crowded?

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Good news - last night DH said he was ready for our trip already. I mentioned that our passes are only blacked out until August 13th so we could squeeze in a trip before our Labor Day trip and he said yes! So, we are headed down for a day trip to Magic Kingdom (DD's request) on August 15th! DH doesn't want a sit down meal so we are all set.

I am starting to stress out a little trying to simultaneously plan 3 trips. The more I am looking at my plans, the more I am wanting to change things so I think I am going to go back to the drawing board. Tonight is DH's night to put DD to bed so I am going to use that time to myself to start over.

I am also working on dates and renting DVC points for our 2010 trip. I guess if I have to be overwhelmed by something, at least I am glad it is Disney.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Just wanted to let you know that I am here -- I am headed back to the beginning to catch up!

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Glad you made it over. There isn't too much to catch up but I am working on it.

 

[lovedonaldduck]

I was making myself crazy trying to plan our family vacation at the end of September when we have 2 weekend trips planned between now and then. So I decided to start at the beginning and work from there. For our weekend trips, since we don't know exactly what time we will be arriving I decided not to use touring plans. I can't believe it myself. What we are doing is each picking two attractions that we don't want to miss and incorporating that into the plans for the day. I still don't know if my mom will be joining us for the day trip in August and she is on vacation this week so I don't have her picks for the other parks so I will have to fill those in later. This is what we have so far:

Magic Kingdom
DD - Dumbo and Peter Pan - the child did not like Peter Pan at all in April but is now in love with Tinkerbell. I reminded her last night that she didn't care for Peter Pan last time, and her response was "Well Mommy, we can still try it again." I told her we might not be able to ride Dumbo (my maximum wait time for a ride is about 30 minutes and I am pretty sure we will miss rope drop since we will be driving down that morning, so Dumbo's wait might be too long for us) so she chose meeting Ariel as her back up.
DH - Pirates of the Caribbean and Hall of Presidents - no surprise there
Me - I discovered something last night, I don't really have MK favorites , I think I just love it all. If my mom decides to come, my choices will be Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (only DH and I will ride) and Astro Orbiter. We have never done Astro Orbiter so I'd like to give it a try. If my mom doesn't come, I will chose Goofy's Barnstormer instead of BTMRR.
Mom - don't know yet

Hollywood Studios
DD - Toy Story Mania and Playhouse Disney Live
DH - hasn't decided yet
Me - Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster
Mom - don't know yet

Animal Kingdom
DD - Safari and train
DH - Safari and train (I called that one too)
Me - Expedition Everest and Maharajah Jungle Trek
Mom - don't know yet

Once I have my mom's choices I will try to put them into some kind of touring plan order so we are not walking back and forth across the parks all day. We will be catching extra magic hours at AK and since DH and DD chose the same attractions, I think I may make this 3 choices each.

I feel so much better with those 3 days "planned" (at least I have a plan to plan them ). Next I am going to revisit the family vacation and start getting that in some order.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Just wanted to tell you that I'm here and caught up!

Your plans look great so far!

 

[KAMKIM]

Good news - last night DH said he was ready for our trip already. I mentioned that our passes are only blacked out until August 13th so we could squeeze in a trip before our Labor Day trip and he said yes! So, we are headed down for a day trip to Magic Kingdom (DD's request) on August 15th! DH doesn't want a sit down meal so we are all set.

I am starting to stress out a little trying to simultaneously plan 3 trips. The more I am looking at my plans, the more I am wanting to change things so I think I am going to go back to the drawing board. Tonight is DH's night to put DD to bed so I am going to use that time to myself to start over.

I am also working on dates and renting DVC points for our 2010 trip. I guess if I have to be overwhelmed by something, at least I am glad it is Disney. [/QUO

how awesome is that!?!?!?! Too bad we'll miss you guys by 2 days! My DH and I alternate days putting the girls to bed too - he does bathes, I do bed, I do bathes, he does bed...works out quite nicely for us.

 

[KAMKIM]

I was making myself crazy trying to plan our family vacation at the end of September when we have 2 weekend trips planned between now and then. So I decided to start at the beginning and work from there. For our weekend trips, since we don't know exactly what time we will be arriving I decided not to use touring plans. I can't believe it myself. What we are doing is each picking two attractions that we don't want to miss and incorporating that into the plans for the day. I still don't know if my mom will be joining us for the day trip in August and she is on vacation this week so I don't have her picks for the other parks so I will have to fill those in later. This is what we have so far:

Magic Kingdom
DD - Dumbo and Peter Pan - the child did not like Peter Pan at all in April but is now in love with Tinkerbell. I reminded her last night that she didn't care for Peter Pan last time, and her response was "Well Mommy, we can still try it again." I told her we might not be able to ride Dumbo (my maximum wait time for a ride is about 30 minutes and I am pretty sure we will miss rope drop since we will be driving down that morning, so Dumbo's wait might be too long for us) so she chose meeting Ariel as her back up.
DH - Pirates of the Caribbean and Hall of Presidents - no surprise there
Me - I discovered something last night, I don't really have MK favorites , I think I just love it all. If my mom decides to come, my choices will be Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (only DH and I will ride) and Astro Orbiter. We have never done Astro Orbiter so I'd like to give it a try. If my mom doesn't come, I will chose Goofy's Barnstormer instead of BTMRR.
Mom - don't know yet

Hollywood Studios
DD - Toy Story Mania and Playhouse Disney Live
DH - hasn't decided yet
Me - Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster
Mom - don't know yet

Animal Kingdom
DD - Safari and train
DH - Safari and train (I called that one too)
Me - Expedition Everest and Maharajah Jungle Trek
Mom - don't know yet

Once I have my mom's choices I will try to put them into some kind of touring plan order so we are not walking back and forth across the parks all day. We will be catching extra magic hours at AK and since DH and DD chose the same attractions, I think I may make this 3 choices each.

I feel so much better with those 3 days "planned" (at least I have a plan to plan them ). Next I am going to revisit the family vacation and start getting that in some order.

Well the one good thing about not having a tour plan for the 2 weekends is that you know you are going back so anything you dont see, you'll be able to plan better for your next trip. I envy you that you live so darn close How long of a drive is it for you guys anyways? What is this train you mention for Animal Kingdom?

 

[lovedonaldduck]

We are about 2 and a half hours away, not too bad at all. When we did day trips to Sea World last year, DH would drive down in the morning and I would drive home in the afternoon and it worked out well.

There is a train at Animal Kingdom that takes you to the Conservation Station. We've never done this, but from what I've read, there is a chance you can see animals with the vets, getting a check up or a small procedure done at an observation area looking through glass. There is also a petting zoo area with goats. It has never sounded too interesting to me but DH and DD love trains, and DD loves animals so we are going to give it a try.

 

[lovedonaldduck]

Just wanted to tell you that I'm here and caught up!

Your plans look great so far!

Thanks for joining! Sorry I missed you last week, not sure how that happened. I feel much better now that I have tackled our shorter trips first, now I'm ready to move on to the week long trip!

 

[jenjolt]

Wow I'm loving your plans!!!! You really do have your ducks in a row!!!!! Also enjoyed reading your must dos!!!! You guys are going to have so much fun!!

Can't wait to hear more about your trips!!

 

[Lynn5700]

We are about 2 and a half hours away, not too bad at all. When we did day trips to Sea World last year, DH would drive down in the morning and I would drive home in the afternoon and it worked out well.

There is a train at Animal Kingdom that takes you to the Conservation Station. We've never done this, but from what I've read, there is a chance you can see animals with the vets, getting a check up or a small procedure done at an observation area looking through glass. There is also a petting zoo area with goats. It has never sounded too interesting to me but DH and DD love trains, and DD loves animals so we are going to give it a try.

I wish I lived that close!! Lucky!!

We have never been over to that area either. Next trip we are definitely doing it.